Diane Banks' agency rebrands with backing from Luke Johnson
thebookseller.com – Thursday May 31, 2018
Diane Banks Associates has relaunched as creative talent agency Northbank Talent Management, aiming to be a “new force in the agenting world”, in collaboration with business leader Luke Johnson, who is financially backing the venture.
Northbank's c.e.o. Diane Banks approached Johnson, formerly chair of Channel 4, last year with the idea of creating a “360 degree service”. The revamped agency will now give equal weighting to books, broadcast, brand licensing and public speaking.
Agent Kate Burke will be responsible for the fiction side of the books strand and Chloe Seager will oversee children’s, young adult and fantasy. Northbank’s executive director Martin Redfern will deal with non-fiction, James Carroll will handle broadcast and brand licensing, while Northbank's non-executive director Alex Hickman will head up the public speaking bureau which aims to be "market beating". Banks promises that "Alex and I will use our combined experience of the bureau and talent management models respectively to create a new model which integrates the two".
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Thursday May 31, 2018
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Areas include: Culture; Fantasy; Historical; Horror; Mystery; Romance; Science; Suspense
Markets: Adult; Youth
Preferred styles: Mainstream; Popular
Send query by email with first three chapters (fiction), or proposal, including table of contents and sample chapter (nonfiction). No picture books, poetry, or screenplays. See website for full guidelines and individual agent interests.
Banker sets up new publishing house offering budding novelists £24,000 annual salary
inews.co.uk – Wednesday May 30, 2018
Jonathan De Montfort knew he wanted to be a novelist at the age of 15, but went into banking after his parents encouraged him to pursue a more stable career.
It was when he took a break from his job as a hedge fund manager and finally sat down to write his book that he saw a gap in the publishing market.
The banker’s new publishing house, De Montfort Literature, offers new writers £24,000 a year to join its ranks while they write, develop and produce their novel. The aim of the company is to “make being a novelist a valid career choice for aspiring writers”, while also creating more best-selling writers, it states.
New Magazine Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday May 30, 2018
Publishes: Poetry
Markets: Adult
Preferred styles: Literary
Send between three and eight previously unpublished poems in the body of an email with a brief bio, between May 1 and August 1 annually.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Wednesday May 30, 2018
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Markets: Adult; Children's; Family; Youth
Focused on discovering, developing and launching the careers of writers of colour, disability, working class, LGBTQ+ and anyone who feels their story is not being told in the mainstream. Writers must be born or resident in Britain. No poetry, plays, or screenplays. See website for full guidelines and to submit via online form.
Writers & Books launches The Ladder literary conference
rochestercitynewspaper.com – Wednesday May 30, 2018
Writers are all too familiar with dry spells, creative roadblocks, and blank-page totalitarianism. The analogies are plentiful, and for good reason. But once victory is claimed -- finished manuscript raised triumphantly in the air -- what next?
In part, this is exactly the question that Writers & Books and its Executive Director Kyle Semmel want to answer with the new literary conference called The Ladder. The June 16 conference at Rochester Riverfront Hotel will be a marathon: a day-long boot camp featuring the expertise of more than 40 literature industry professionals -- published writers, editors, agents, and assorted panelists among them -- and 12 different workshops, all designed to help writers up their game.
New Literary Agency Listing
firstwriter.com – Tuesday May 29, 2018
Handles: Fiction; Nonfiction
Markets: Children's; Youth
Handles books for middle grade and young adults. No science fiction, fantasy, or picture books. Send query by email. No unsolicited mss or sample chapters. If no response after two weeks, assume no interest.
We're entering a golden age for radical publishing
thebookseller.com – Monday May 28, 2018
Hosted by the Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB), the London Radical Bookfair, held on this Saturday 2nd June, brings together a diverse community of radical booksellers and publishers from across the UK, showcasing the depth and breadth of radical publishing today.
But what does ‘radical’ really mean?
The Latin origin of the word denotes a change ‘from the root’ - and certainly a desire to create meaningful and positive social change from the ground up is what all those present on the day, booksellers and visitors alike, will have in common. Finding a single word to define a wide range of political positions is always going to fail to capture the many complexities covered: ‘radical’ is an imperfect word, but it is one with a rich tradition within British political struggle.
Another Romance Author In #CockyGate-Level Move
goodereader.com – Saturday May 26, 2018
Ah, who can forget only a couple of weeks ago when a romance author destroyed any hope of having a career and a dedicated following by being a jerk to other authors? Dubbed #cockygate, author Faleena Hopkins filed a dubious trademark-slash-wordmark on the word “cocky” as it pertains to her Cocky Brothers book series. She then moved forward with threatening other authors who had used the very same word in their titles, despite the fact that her wordmark was for the logo she created of the book series.
Publishers urge government on e-book VAT ahead of crunch EU meeting
thebookseller.com – Saturday May 26, 2018
Publishers are urging the UK government to support measures that would allow VAT to be removed on e-books, audiobooks and online newspaper and magazine subscriptions in the UK.
At a European Union meeting today (25th May) taking place in Brussels, finance ministers will consider new proposals that would allow all member states to reduce the amount of VAT they apply to e-publications, or not tax them at all.
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