Our Agents

The Alive Communications team consists of individuals with proven track records in the industry–people known for their knowledge of words, strategic thinking, negotiation skills, business acumen, relational abilities, and marketing savvy. They understand the creative process and know contracts inside and out. They are devoted to ideas and expanding opportunities. They’re big-picture thinkers who sweat the small stuff. They understand words because they’ve written and spoken widely themselves. Most of all, they’re people of integrity and character. They’re people you can count on; a team you can trust.

Rick Christian

Rick Christian has had a life-long passion for words and great writing. He is the founder and president of Alive Communications, the premiere literary agency, with more than a dozen NY Times #1 bestsellers to his credit. He launched Alive Communications in Los Angeles in 1989 and moved operations to Colorado Springs in 1991. Books represented by Alive have sold more than 150 million copies, have also occupied the #1 slot on best-selling lists compiled by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly, and been optioned by numerous independent producers and film studios including Columbia, Disney and Sony.

Christian’s efforts on behalf of top authors have been widely chronicled in leading newspapers and magazines, from the NY Times and USA Today to Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and Publisher’s Weekly. His biography and record of achievement appear in Who’s Who in America.

Raised in San Diego and a 1977 graduate of Stanford University (communications and creative writing), he also studied at Capernwray Bible School in England and the University of Southern California where he pursued graduate work in professional writing. Christian launched his publishing career as a newspaper reporter and columnist, followed by a career switch to magazine publishing. He served as associate editor of Campus Life magazine, executive editor of The Saturday Evening Post, and then transitioned to executive leadership in book publishing. Along the way, he wrote several books himself, including Alive, The Woodland Hills Tragedy, A Gift of Life, and Silent Night, which was adapted for the television series “Sue Thomas F.B.Eye.”

It is as a literary agent that Christian became renowned, particularly for his entrepreneurial efforts behind such mega-sellers as the Left Behind series (66 million copies with millions more in 27 languages), Eugene Peterson’s The Message (15 million copies), Karen Kingsbury’s novels (20 million copies), Lisa Beamer’s post 9-11 Let’s Roll (1.5 million copies), and the Life Recovery Bible (2 million copies). He is also celebrated for his literary efforts on behalf of Billy Graham and his family, Brennan Manning, Emerson Eggerichs, and Rwanda President Paul Kagame, among others. Other Alive phenoms include Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz (1 million copies), Ron Hall and Denver Moore’s Same Kind of Different as Me (1 million), and Heaven is for Real (6 million). Christian’s representation of high-profile properties, negotiation for major theatrical adaptations, and pioneering work to develop cross-over markets and leverage support across all formats and mediums, earned Christian and his Alive Communications team its second-to-none reputation as Agents of Change.

Christian also serves on the board of Tirzah International, a network of national movements encompassing over 150,000 women leaders worldwide, addressing issues of injustice affecting women and girls. He and his wife Debbie have a blended family of seven children and live on a ranch in Black Forest, outside of Colorado Springs. His interests include real estate development, winter sports, boating, mountain biking, fishing and hunting. He is an avid reader, travels broadly, and finds special challenge in the Wall Street Journal and NY Times crossword puzzles and hiking mountains over 14,000 feet.

Little Known Facts: Rick was a paper boy, yo-yo champion, Eagle Scout, and high school student body president. He has hunted cape buffalo in Africa, alligators in South America and bear in Colorado. An avid fly fisherman, he has also landed king salmon in Alaska and marlin in Cabo San Lucas.

Lee Hough

Lee Hough is the vice president of Alive Communications. His 18 years in the publishing industry include stints as a co-author, editor and agent. In 2007, Lee was given the “Agent of the Year” award by Thomas Nelson, one of the largest publishers in the world. Lee first studied the art of storytelling at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. After rigorous mentoring by seasoned writers, along with numerous collaborative efforts on best selling titles, Lee became the Senior Acquisitions Editor for David C. Cook. Capitalizing on his experience, Lee joined Alive Communications as an agent in 2001. Over the years he has earned the respect of publishers and peers through hard work, meticulous follow up, and a passionate dedication to his authors and projects. That passion has resulted in the current NY Times bestseller, Same Kind of Different As Me, which holds Thomas Nelson’s record for consecutive weeks on the NY Times bestseller list, as well as:

• Teaming Lynn Vincent as the collaborative writer on Governor Sarah Palin’s memoir Going Rogue (Harper)

• Never Surrender (Hachette), by former Delta Force Commander, Lt. General William “Jerry” Boykin

• The Bishop of Rwanda (Thomas Nelson), by Bishop John Rucyahana

• The Blood of Lambs (Simon & Schuster), by former terrorist, Kamal Saleem, and,

• All In:  From Laos to Las Vegas, the Jerry Yang story (Medallion Press); by Jerry Yang, a Hmong survivor and 2007 World Poker Champion

Lee works with a very select stable of authors, fiction and non-fiction, who are critically acclaimed and award winning. Authors like Terri Blackstock (over 6 million sold), Tom Carter, who has written nine NY Times celebrity bestsellers, Sheila Walsh (over 4 million sold), Nancy Rue (over 1 million sold), Tim Downs and Randy Singer (“gripping, obsessively readable” – starred PW review). As well, Lee represents top collaborative writers such as NY Times bestsellers, Lynn Vincent (Same Kind of Different As Me) and Mark Tabb (Mistaken Identity). Where did Lee’s love for words begin? When he discovered at age four that they had the power to get him out of a spanking after he set fire to, well, not the fireplace. Since then, books like West with the Night and The Yearling as well as authors like Pat Conroy, A.W. Tozer, Rick Bragg and many others have led him to healthier, more helpful expressions of his love for story. Lee is married to Paula, and they have a blended family with three great kids, Katie, Cole, and Molly.

Little Known Facts: In High School, Lee was president of TARS, an all volunteer organization that ran camps and day programs for special needs kids. Later, he worked as a gunfighter at Six Flags Over Texas; earned a masters in Biblical studies at Dallas Theological Seminary; trained indigent publishers in Sao Paulo, Brazil; climbs a “fourteener” every summer (Pikes Peak, 14,115 ft); and owns a signed 40th Anniversary Edition of To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee grew up in Texas and one of the “prerequisites” for citizenship in that sovereign state is bull riding. So, of course, he put on his hat, tied himself to fifteen hundred pounds of hostile beef and said, “Outside!” It was a short ride. As was the second one. His brother rode first on the third go-around and dislocated his shoulder. Lee decided then that he had earned his citizenship and hung up his spurs.

Joel Kneedler

Joel has spent much of his life studying and pitching great stories. While performing in numerous productions at the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts he explored many classical playwrights like Brecht, Chekhov, Shakespeare, Shaw and Wilde. Upon graduation, he pursued classes at Chicago’s Second City and graduate work at the University of Delaware. His passion for words led Joel to Multnomah Publishers, where he entered the world of trade book publishing as a publicist. His inaugural project was The Prayer of Jabez, which shattered sales records and became a fixture on The New York Timesbestseller list. He went on to manage publicity efforts at WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House.

Since joining Alive in 2008, Joel has enjoyed working alongside bestselling novelists Kathy Herman, Diane Noble, Donita Paul and Cliff Graham. All experts in their own category. Kathy Herman’s proven mastery of contemporary suspense has earned her the adoration of readers across the nation. Donita Paul’s love for children became the genesis for her Dragon Keeper Chronicles fantasy series and Diane Noble continues to send readers’ hearts soaring with her heart-rending historical romance. In 2010, Joel signed on Cliff Graham, a young novelist with a fresh voice whose riveting retelling of the ancient battles of King David and his mighty men are breathing new fire and passion into these legendary tales—so much so that a major film production company has optioned his novels.

2010 also saw the publication of the runaway hit Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent. The title quickly shot up industry bestseller lists, occupying the number one spot on both Amazon.com’s ranking list and paperback nonfiction list. In his book teenager Austin Gutwein rallied his peers into shooting free throws for A.I.D.S. orphans in Africa, igniting a movement called Hoops of Hope. To date, the foundation has raised upwards of two million dollars for kids in Zambia. Kim Meeder’s true stories from the “ranch of rescued dreams” have spawned over 800 similar horse ranches across North America. And Joel somehow managed to publish the venerable Hulk Hogan’s autobiography without getting stuck in a headlock.

Joel is married to Shawna and lives in Colorado Springs.

Little Known Facts: In 1985, Joel almost fell off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Andrea Heinecke

Andrea brings a broad publishing background to every project she represents, having worked as an editor, marketer, and agent, with award-winning and best-selling authors of both fiction and nonfiction adult, youth, and children’s books. Her love for the written word began early in life, and took her to Seattle Pacific University where she majored in English, studied Literature in London, and wrote for the university’s newspaper. Andrea started her career as a literary agent, where she contracted over 30 books with major publishers. She went on to work at NavPress, first as a publicist, where she directed and implemented publicity plans for the publisher, including release events, author signings, media appearances, and trade shows, and later as an editor, where she helped develop a new line of books targeting college students. Andrea was recently an acquisitions editor at David C. Cook, where she acquired dozens of book titles, including a Christy award winner, and a book that Publisher’s Weekly, deemed one of the best books published in 2008. In her free time, Andrea enjoys driving her red Jeep Wrangler, traveling, reading, hiking, and skiing.

Little Known Facts: Andrea is an avid traveler and her adventures have taken her on planes, trains, and automobiles around the world. She’s been scuba diving in Israel, ridden an elephant in Thailand, and worked at an orphanage in the Ukraine.