There are no two identical days in this job, which most of the time keeps it interesting and occasionally makes it frustrating! But I have always loved the variety of the work: not just on the books, but with my authors and my colleagues.

Each book agent looks after their authors’ UK, US and any other English-language rights (including audio). Our colleagues at Blake Friedmann handle Translation Rights and Media (film/TV/theatre etc.) Rights, so we talk a lot in-house about what’s going on with manuscripts and whether they’re ready to share outside the agency (e.g. with translating publishers or TV producers), and check in on delivery, covers, press, sales – the updates are constant!

Here’s one of my days, last week:

I’m at the Post Office first thing to post off some edits on a new novel, which I’ve done on the paper pages of the manuscript with a red pen. This author is not a fan of Track Changes on the screen (and to be honest, neither am I)! I email the author to let them know to expect a delivery tomorrow. Once they receive the pages, they send some emails with queries, and we bounce ideas back and forth as they edit the manuscript so it’ll be ready for imminent submission to publishers.
An author, editor and I review the first draft of the cover copy for a new novel, publishing next year but being announced soon (and so the book will be going up online with booksellers in time for the announcement, meaning we need to get the blurb nailed!). The editor’s done a brilliant job but half of one of the sentences troubles me because it switches the mood from something joyful to something ominous, and I try to explain my doubts to the author and editor to see what they think. Sometimes these conversations are straightforward and sometimes they’re more painful, but I love being involved in the collaboration of details like cover copy – I feel very privileged to make even a small contribution. And, of course, I want to ensure my authors are happy and sometimes they aren’t sure about voicing their own concerns to their publishing team, so it’s my role to do that for them.
I receive and pass on/decline several requests a day for my authors to read and endorse other new books; sometimes I write those requests and send them off on behalf of my authors too, but this is more often an editor’s job.
My media colleagues email to check that film & TV rights in a novel first published in 2000 are free, so we can respond to an interested producer.
I ask a radio producer to confirm rates for a commissioned short story for Radio 4 (rates are usually as per public BBC guidelines!)
One of my cookery authors is recording content for a supermarket PR campaign, and delivering the videos for approval. I watch the videos of them cooking and get hungry as they eat a delicious-looking plate of pasta!
I receive a call from an editor to discuss improving their one-book offer to a two-book offer, and then call the author to tell them the good news! I will wait for the official revised offer in writing, review the deal memo again (the main terms of the publishing contract) and the editor and I will negotiate on those until the author and I can formally accept the offer. I love this stage, of course, and I really relish the challenges of negotiation.
Alongside my Translation Rights team, I edit my entries in our London Book Fair Rights Guide and chat to them about new books to pitch at the Fair. Looking through the books to come is always cheering, and it’s lovely to swap in some new titles and update existing listings with news of endorsements, press quotes, prizes and translation deals.
My colleague Sian and I have a Zoom meeting with a Publishing Director, who has recently moved from Hachette to head up another publisher’s non-fiction arm. The PD talks us through their revamped imprints and the editors working for the imprints, and what they each acquire. These conversations are always helpful, as we can then direct our submissions to the best editor. We’re familiar already with publishers and their lists, but when they undergo a lot of change then checking in to hear about their new ambitions is essential.
We introduce ourselves and our lists in turn, and then pitch a few non-fiction projects we’ll have coming up for submission soon, and note down which editors will be the better fit based on advice from the PD. After the call, the PD sends through an ‘editor brochure’, which is a list of the editors and their tastes that we can share with colleagues and keep for reference (until the editors all switch around again; something that’s constantly happening in publishing where editors move frequently!).
I run a check on existing submissions (i.e. a few books that I have on submission with publishers), chase a few editors, send out to some new editors, and plan a US submission for a book recently sold in the UK.
First copies of brand-new cookbook, THE EDIBLE FLOWER, arrive and it is such a beautiful book! I’m so pleased with how it’s turned out and send a note to the authors to tell them how beguiling it looks and what a great job they’ve done. It’s their first book and does justice to all their hard work – there are only a couple of weeks until publication, so they’re working hard on press opportunities and spreading the word with their publicists.
I catch up with my colleague, Roya, who works closely with me on my list of authors.
I do some spontaneous research on French women’s names for a novel set in 1940. I found some amazing websites including one which has graphs to show the popularity of any name you wish to search for, in any year! God bless the internet.
I respond to a load of emails inviting my authors to promote campaigns that include cosmetics, sex aids, holidays, hotels… really not as glamorous as it sounds, although I did get a bit of envy when sending luxurious gift hampers was all the rage a couple of years ago.
An author sends me a long, exciting email about a new non-fiction book idea – completely out of the blue, but I’m delighted to see it! I respond to ask that they start filling out the idea for us both by drafting a chapter outline so we can look at the structure of the proposed book and ensure it offers all the idea promises. I’m already thinking about which editors and imprints might like this new book idea, and mention it to my Translation Rights colleagues as the author has a keen and very supportive German publisher who I hope might love the idea too.
I fill out some tedious tax and payment forms on behalf of an author who is later speaking at a university in Chicago, so the author might invoice once the talk is done.
I do a little bit of title brainstorming for a second novel; the novel has recently been sold to a publisher and we’re thinking about whether the current title will do the best job of drawing people towards the book. It seems like the ‘right’ title has become more important in the last few years, so we’ll see where we end up with this book. It’s a beautiful, devastating literary novel, and we want the title to do the best possible job of ensuring that readers find it.
I respond to a few submissions that have been lurking in my inbox and I’ve had a chance to read on my Kindle. Throughout a single day I get around 6-8 submissions; I read every email (usually as those submissions arrive), send on chapters/proposals to my Kindle, and read the material as/when I can (on the bus or train; sometimes on a quieter Friday afternoon; often in a grabbed hour at the weekend/in the evenings). Unfortunately, I cannot reply to every single email because that would be more than a full-time job in itself, and I have all the above keeping me busy 9-5 – and all the books my own authors are working on!
I email one writer from the submissions above to ask them for their full manuscript, and cross my fingers…

I usually sign out of work once my son finishes childcare, or if I have an evening event to head off to. I might do a little reading in the evenings, or I might need to switch off completely with a glass of wine and another episode of Couples Therapy (I consider it research for all the books about troubled relationships I’ll represent in the future!).