Literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction. Contemporary and historical novels, crime, thrillers, women's fiction, memoirs, history and biography. No reading fee. Will suggest revision.
Commercial and literary fiction and non-fiction (home 15%, overseas 15%, film/TV 15%). Fiction: thrillers, crime/mystery; women's literary and contemporary. Non-fiction: biography; history and current affairs.
Send synopsis, first 3 chapters and sae (essential). No disk or email submissions. No reading fee.
Commercial literary agency based in central London representing commercial fiction and personality-led, media or current affairs based non-fiction in the UK, US and foreign language markets.
Handles rights in the majority of territories directly rather than via sub-agents, ensuring career development with publishers worldwide including film and TV rights.
Literary and commercial fiction, children's fiction; general non-fiction including current affairs, biography and memoirs, history, lifestyle, health and personal development; film and music, graphic novels.
Children's fiction and non-fiction; ages 9-12, teenage fiction, young adult, series fiction.
Also accept adult fiction and non-fiction. Read more
Fiction: general, literary and crime. Non-fiction: current affairs, social issues, travel, biographies, history.
No plays, poetry, textbooks, children's, technical, legal or medical books.
Submitted work must be double-spaced, single-sided, numbered, typed or word processed with clear contact details. Do not send an SAE as all rejected material is recycled. Read more
Specialises in fiction (no science fiction, horror or fantasy), biography, autobiography, show business, personality books, law, crime, politics, world affairs. Full-length MSS (home from 10%, overseas from 15%).
Will suggest revision. No reading fee, but preliminary letter essential.
Serious popular non-fiction, particularly science, history and current affairs, by academics and journalists; also novels of ideas (home 15%, overseas 20%).
Fiction and non-fiction (home 15%, overseas 20%). Commercial fiction: thrillers, mysteries, children's, romance, women's, ethnic, science fiction, fantasy and general fiction; also literary fiction with a strong narrative. Non-fiction: current affairs, health, science, psychology, cookbooks, new age, spirituality, pop-culture, adventure, true crime, biography and memoir. Read more
"Why isn't there more sex in your books?" I get this question a lot. In my DMs. In my email. In Zoom book club meetings, bookstore signings, and festival events. This, more than any other, seems to be the question my enthusiastic (and apparently thirsty) fans are burning to ask. Written inquiries are usually punctuated with fire emojis, or more commonly, a string of bright red chili peppers. Read more
I write dark fantasy stories for adults that explore survival after sexual trauma and war. My work focuses on the aftermath of sexual violence and the way my protagonists stubbornly live well after the unthinkable. There are no on-page depictions of SA in my work. Read more
I write a historical fiction series set in World War Two London. My protagonist is a Scotland Yard detective called Frank Merlin. I place great importance on being historically accurate in my books. I take the view that as I am attempting to transport my readers to a very different time and place, accuracy is a key element to doing that successfully. Read more
Booksellers report that more customers are switching to paperbacks as household budgets tighten, with agents and publishers also predicting a shift towards the cheaper format. Read more
A decade ago fiction was said to be migrating to digital-but in 2022 adult fiction sales were £164m greater than its 2014 low, propelling the market to a strong total in the past 12 months.
HarperCollins, which laid off a "small number" of workers last fall, is taking more drastic steps to reduce its workforce, and plans to cut 5% of its employees in North America by the end of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Some jobs were eliminated today.
For the first time since 2019, Nielsen was able to report data for the full year-and it seems most publishers have been reaping the reward of a bountiful few years, with a number posting all-time highs.
The backlist boom which surged during the pandemic continued with a mighty push from TikTok in 2022, as nearly two-thirds (£1.19bn) of Nielsen BookScan revenue last year came from editions published in 2021. This is the second-highest share of revenue for a TCM 12-month period coming from titles released prior to the beginning of that year.
'Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. Read more
'By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.'
Culture is a slippery concept; it's one of those terms we all know the meaning of until we actually think about it. For the writer, culture can be a two-edged sword: ignore it and your story lacks depth, colour and context; focus too much on it and you risk bamboozling - or worse, boring - your reader into putting the book down. Read more
Unpublished authors 18 years old or over resident in the UK.
Entry fee £8
Prize:
Book contract with HQ with advance of £7,500 and agent representation
The Primadonna Prize for unsigned and un-agented authors will, for the first time, offer the winner a book contract with HQ with an advance of £7,500 for world English rights. Read more
'I don't believe in it (writer's block). All writing is difficult. The most you can hope for is a day when it goes reasonably easily. Plumbers don't get plumber's block, and doctors don't get doctor's block; why should writers be the only profession that gives a special name to the difficulty of working, and then expects sympathy for it?'
'Go for broke'
'Go for broke. Always try and do too much. Dispense with safety nets. Take a deep breath before you begin talking. Aim for the stars. Keep grinning. Be bloody-minded. Argue with the world. Read more