Fiction, non-fiction, children's, biography, travel. Full-length MSS (home 12%, overseas 20%), short MSS (12%/20%), film and radio (15%/20%), TV (15%/15%). Will suggest revision.
Authors include Charlotte Bingham, Terence Brady, Peter Willet, and the Estate of John Bingham.
hhb agency ltd was founded in 2005 by Heather Holden-Brown. The agency represents writers of non-fiction - in particular, journalism, history and politics, travel and adventure, contemporary autobiography and biography, books about words and numbers, popular culture and quirky humour, entertainment and television, business, family memoir, food and cookery - and commercial fiction. hhb agency ltd is always pleased to hear from talented writers. Please call or email before sending in your material.
Please do not send international postal vouchers with submissions. As a small agency which believes strongly in regular and consultative personal contact, they do not represent writers based beyond Europe.
Permissions: If you wish to quote from a book by one of their authors, it is suggested you write first to the Permissions Department of the publisher of the original edition of the book, setting out clearly details of the quotation/s you wish to use and for what purpose.
ltd was founded in 2005 by Heather Holden-Brown. The agency represents writers of non-fiction - in particular, journalism, history and politics, travel and adventure, contemporary autobiography and biography, books about words and numbers, popular culture and quirky humour, entertainment and television, business, family memoir, food and cookery - and commercial fiction. Read more
All full-length MSS, including commercial and literary fiction and non-fiction, crime, thrillers, commercial, women's fiction, children's, science fiction, history, biography, sport, travel, health. No poetry. Send first 3 chapter
Happy to review new work. Please note they do not represent stage plays or poetry. 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
Quality literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction, including: politics, history, military history, gardening, thrillers, crime, romance, drama, biography, travel, cookery, humour, UK and foreign estates.
Founded 1967. Full-length and short MSS. Agents in most foreign countries. The agency represents novelists and nonfiction writers as well as several major literary estates. Primarily an agency for English language writers, and currently represents over 200 authors including eight Pulitzer Prize winners and two Nobel Prize winners.
Quality literary and commercial fiction and non-fiction, including: politics, history, military history, gardening, thrillers, crime, romance, drama, biography, travel, cookery, humour, UK and foreign estates.
Also theatre, film, radio and TV scripts.
Overseas associates Georges Borchardt, Inc. (Richard Scott Simon). US film and TV representation CAA, APA and others.
Specialises in theatre, film, radio and TV scripts.
Welcomes approaches from new clients, either to start or to develop their careers. Preliminary letter with sae essential. No reading fee.
Clients include: Rose Tremain, Paul Wilson, and Bonnie Greer, Peter Ackroyd, Benedict Allen, Charles Allen, Pam Ayres, Melvyn Bragg, Steven Carroll, David Cohen, Anna del Conte, Judy Corbalis, Elizabeth Corley, Seamus Deane, Chris Ewan, Rosie Goodwin, Jean Goodhind, Robert Green, Susan Hill, Richard Holmes, HRH The Prince of Wales, Ian Johnstone, Irene Karafilly, Richard Mabey, Graham Rice, Steve Rider, Robert Rigby, Martin Riley, Diane Setterfield, Tom Sharpe, Martin Stephen, Jeffrey Tayler, Andrew Taylor, Rose Tremain, Barry Unsworth, Kevin Wells, Prof. Stanley Wells, Neil White, John Wilsher, Paul Wilson and the Estates of Catherine Cookson, Patrick O'Brian, Penelope Mortimer, Jean Rhys and F.A. Worsley.
). US film and TV representation CAA, APA and others. Read more
'The creative process is open to all. I don't believe in some magical creative gift, the exclusive possession of a few, nor need it concern big or sophisticated ideas. On the contrary, creativity may depend upon the recognition that our own thoughts and ideas are as valid as anyone else's; something which we knew as children, and which we were taught to unlearn. Read more
Open to unpublished and unagented writers from around the world.
No entry fee
Prize:
Prize of £3,000; publication with Tortoise Media; literary representation by RCW literary agent Laurence Laluyaux and other prizes
Fern Press and How to Academy have partnered on a new essay award worth £3,000, in association with Tortoise Media, for unpublished authors.
Fern Press was launched by Vintage last year, while the annual non-fiction essay prize is "for those working at the frontier of creativity and thought", organisers said. Read more
It's not a pretty word, 'blurb'; it smacks of nonsense, or slightly less than entirely honest marketing. Which is unfortunate, because a blurb is a useful and necessary thing; without it, your book is at risk of being a blank text, what you might call a closed book. Read more
'You want to write the twist so that it doesn't suddenly come out of nowhere. I tried to see a few things so that (the reader) thinks, of course! But it is hard to get that balance I think, of trying to get a twist in that is unguessable but not too "out there"... Writing in lockdown, 'So that was a bit of freedom in a way, I didn't have any expectations almost.
'You want to write the twist so that it doesn't suddenly come out of nowhere. I tried to see a few things so that (the reader) thinks, of course! But it is hard to get that balance I think, of trying to get a twist in that is unguessable but not too "out there". Read more
Waterstones managing director James Daunt said social media is reinforcing the reading of "proper" paper books among young people.
Mr Daunt, who is also chief executive of Barnes & Noble, said social media trends such as 'BookTok' on TikTok had been "hugely positive", as he was made a CBE for his services to publishing by the Princess Royal.
A new generation of romance novel consumers has moved a long-standing three-way conversation between reader, writer and publisher onto social media, industry insiders say, speeding up an already fast-moving segment of the publishing world.
When you are next visiting a bookstore, and find your way to the children's section, you might be forgiven for thinking that there is no longer such a thing as a children's author. Instead, you will be ambushed by piles of books blazoned with the names of actors, singers, comedians, DJs and people who generously exhibit themselves on social media.
A federal judge in California this week dismissed four of six claims made by authors in a now consolidated lawsuit alleging that Open AI infringes their copyrights. But the court gave the authors a month to amend their complaint, and the suit's core claim of direct infringement-which Open AI did not seek to dismiss-remains active.
For budding authors, the submissions process can be daunting. For anyone with little understanding of the publishing industry and how it works, it can be even more so. And for anyone whose writing sits outside of the established ideas of genre, style or content, it can be utterly baffling as to how to present that to an agent or publisher.
Children's creativity
'The creative process is open to all. I don't believe in some magical creative gift, the exclusive possession of a few, nor need it concern big or sophisticated ideas. On the contrary, creativity may depend upon the recognition that our own thoughts and ideas are as valid as anyone else's; something which we knew as children, and which we were taught to unlearn. Read more