How does a literary agency sell its authors?

Reading Time: 7 minutes How does a literary agency sell its authors? Bestselling agent Andrew Lownie says there are three elements to selling books to publishers: 1) an agency needs to have saleable books in the first place; 2) the proposals need to be the best they can be; and 3) one needs to know the right editors to approach and not give up too easily.

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10 things to consider when choosing a publisher

Reading Time: 3 minutes Choosing the right publisher is vital to the process of getting published, and with such a wide variety of markets and publishing options available, it’s critical that authors research those options. International speaker, author and thought leadership strategist Mindy Gibbins-Klein shares her top tips for making the right choice.

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How to use Wattpad to get a book deal

Reading Time: 4 minutes Serialized novels were popularised by Victorian novelists such as Charles Dickens. Today, free online tools enable anyone to do it – and reach an audience. But would you do it for free? What if it lead to a million hits and a two-book deal with HarperCollins? Emily Benet tells us how she used Wattpad as a launchpad, and shares her top tips for success.

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How Saul Wordsworth took Alan Stoob from Twitter character to published book

Reading Time: 5 minutes Twitter: Huge distraction? Waste of time? Like shouting into an empty field? That’s what Saul Wordsworth used to think. But now his Twitter comedy character Alan Stoob has become a bestselling book, and may become a Hollywood movie. He reveals how he did it – and how you can create your own Twitter character.

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How to write a winning book proposal

Reading Time: 5 minutes How to write a book proposal and what exactly it needs to include are two of the questions I am asked most frequently as a literary agent – and not just by new writers. Even seasoned authors and experienced journalists may not have written a book proposal previously. In any book submission process the competition will be immense and the turndown rate high, so it is worth taking the time to get a proposal right. But what does that mean?

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Emily Benet’s blog-to-book-to-sitcom success story

Reading Time: 2 minutes We’re all familiar with blog-to-book success stories. But what about blog-to-sitcom? Regular readers will remember Emily Benet. She won the 2010 Author Blog Award in the Published Author category, which was announced at the Publishing Talk tweetup at the London Book Fair. Her début book, Shop Girl Diaries, began as a weekly blog about working in her mum’s unusual chandelier shop.

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