News from Rohan Gavin’s KNIGHTLEY & SON US book tour!

After KNIGHTLEY & SON was selected for the American Booksellers Association “Indies Introduce New Voices” and the “Kids’ Indie Next List”, Bloomsbury US arranged an American author tour starting with Rohan’s first ever school visit. With his trusty publicist, Lizzy Mason, Rohan began in San Francisco before travelling to Petaluma, Los Angeles, Houston and San Antonio, where he addressed hundreds of children in packed gymnasiums, holding them all enthralled with the escapades of Knightley & Son.

The father-and-son duo’s adventures have won the hearts of UK readers too, with a Sunday Times Pick of the Week and KNIGHTLEY & SON proving the fourth highest selling debut in Children’s Fiction in the six months since release.

Here's a glimpse of the tour:

Rohan talking to kids at Harvard Elementary, Houston, Texas.

Rohan talking to kids at Harvard Elementary, Houston, Texas.

Rohan talking to 300 students at Bowditch Middle School, CA.

Rohan talking to 300 students at Bowditch Middle School, CA.

Preaching to students at St. Vincent’s Elementary, Petaluma, CA.

Preaching to students at St. Vincent’s Elementary, Petaluma, CA.

Rohan adds:

“The final leg of the tour took us to San Antonio, home of the Alamo, and the awe-inspiring Texas Library Association mega-conference, culminating in a twenty mile cycle ride to promote local libraries. I rode alongside my US Publisher Cindy Loh, marketing director Erica Barmash, fellow Bloomsbury author Megan Frazer Blakemore, and thirty or so librarians (one on a unicycle!) but little did our intrepid crew know we’d be pedalling through some of the lesser travelled parts of San Antonio, where we were greeted by pickup trucks with tinted windows and an unleashed Rottweiler that threatened to eat the hapless bookworms as they cycled by. It would have been great material for the Knightley & Son sequel K-9 (yes, it’s about savage canines), were it not for the fact that I’d already finished writing the new book, and hoped to live to see its release this August. Fortunately Cindy Loh practiced excellent author care and jangled nerves were soon soothed in the safety of a Mexican cantina.

Many thanks to Bloomsbury US and all the kids, teachers, librarians and booksellers who made the tour such a success.”

Praise for KNIGHTLEY & SON:

‘Dangers are faced in London in an engaging, characterful debut … with enjoyably convincing family relationships.’ – Nicolette Jones, Sunday Times, Pick of the Week

'Heaps of mystery, dry humor and tweed abound in this exemplar of crime fiction à la Doyle... Darkus’ skill at deduction, perpetual observation and sang-froid are spot-on Holmes-ian… Heroes, villains and settings are all fully realized through proficient description, and contemporary technology gives way to sheer brainpower… A rousing page-turner with one fault: It ends.' - Kirkus (Starred Review)

‘Skillfully done. This is a quick and fun read; a great choice for those looking for a new mystery to dive into’ – School Library Journal (Starred Review)

‘Gavin deftly paces the story...Fans of this debut will be glad that the ending leaves the door open for sequels' – Booklist

‘Danger and excitement—not to mention quirky characters and wonderful writing—lurk around every page!’  — Chris Grabenstein, New York Times bestselling author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, Treasure Hunters, and I Funny: A Middle School Story

For more on the series visit www.knightleyandson.com or tweet @rohangavin



Carole Blake on ‘Does a writer still need an agent?'

This post originally appeared on Alison Morton's Roma Nova blog.  Alison Morton is the author of three Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS and SUCCESSIO. Watch the trailer for the hotly anticipated SUCCESSIO here!

I'm delighted to welcome my friend Carole Blake to my blog today to give an insight into one of the hottest questions in the publishing today. Carole has just celebrated 50 years in the publishing business, so she probably knows a thing or two. In 1977, after 14 years in publishing, Carole started her own literary agency which merged with Julian Friedmann’s agency to become Blake Friedmann in 1982. She is a past President of the Association of Authors’ Agents and author of From Pitch to Publication, a must-read for any writer wishing to understand the publishing industry. An updated version is due out in 2015.

Welcome, Carole. In the changing publishing world, one question I see debated everywhere, and with enthusiasm, is whether a writer needs an agent in today’s publishing environment.

Yes. And no. Many authors, especially self-published ones, manage everything for themselves now and many do it really well. Many authors are writing in areas that will not attract agents, so they have no choice.

But, of course, I think an agent is only a good thing for a writer: I’ve been an agent for 37 years and I know there are many things we do for our clients that would be difficult for them to accomplish alone.

Handling your own marketing, selling yourself, takes time and a certain kind of personality too. Having an agent represent you gives you a broader spread of influence, a bigger reach, access to many more contacts  A good agent fights for you on many fronts and brings their experience to your career. I can’t imagine an author alone, negotiating their contract with a gigantic multi-national conglomerate publisher and getting the concessions that agencies do. An author without an agent simply wouldn’t have experience of enough contracts to know what was achievable. Even Amazon, with their ‘White Glove’ programme, offer agented authors who epublish via them, much higher royalty packages than unagented authors, and access to more promotions.

As publishers are sold, merge, go under, an agent represents stability in an unstable industry; continuity as publishing staff come and go. Agency staff change too, of course, but much less frequently than at publishing houses. Some of my clients have been with me for more than 30 years, yet they all find their editor, publicist or publisher (sometimes all three!) has changed. The market is a jungle. An author alone can’t expect to stay abreast of everything, especially if they are having to devote time to their marketing and are having to sell their own books.

In addition to wide negotiating experience, agencies have staff to sell the rights they withhold from UK publishers: US, translation, film, television, stage, audio being the most common. Every extra strand of income we negotiate for our clients, every new language, every new right, brings more income and a greater visibility for the author.

Agents only get paid when they pay their clients (by law we must have separate client accounts, like lawyers). That certainly focuses the mind! We have a common purpose, and we share together in the successes. And we are there to encourage if things go wrong.

Many of my authors are published in more than 30 languages. That means that every time they deliver a manuscript I can anticipate selling it over and over again, without the writer having to do any more work. My agency has a network of overseas agencies that sell our list, and we have staff who deal with publishers around the world. Our preparation for international book fairs is military-like in its precision. My staff and I bring our decades of experience to bear on the work of the authors we represent, and take a huge satisfaction in presenting them with multiple deals over a range of formats and languages.

Thank you, Carole, for such a clear explanation for the readers. I’m looking forward to your update of From Pitch to Publication next year.


Charles Lambert in London to promote his new book

Charles Lambert is in London this week to promote his new book, WITH A ZERO AT ITS HEART, published by The Friday Project last month.

Charles is doing a Waterstones Salon at Waterstones Piccadilly on Monday 9 June at 7pm – the event is free, but you can book your ticket here. On Tuesday 10 June, The Friday Project will host his launch at Belgravia Books, at 6:30pm.

WITH A ZERO AT ITS HEART has already been receiving great reviews, with Anya Lipska calling it “poetic, moving, memorable”, and the Guardian describing it as “carrying considerable emotional clout… poetic, tender and funny”. 

Charles Lambert’s literary thriller, THE VIEW FROM THE TOWER, was published December 2013 by Exhibit A, and launched in Rome earlier this year.

Praise for Charles Lambert:

'Charles Lambert is a seriously good writer, one deserving of encouragement and recognition.' -- Beryl Bainbridge

'Charles Lambert writes as if his life depends on it. He takes risks at every turn.' -- Hannah Tinti author of THE GOOD THIEF

'Lambert is really very good indeed.' -- Scott Pack

Praise for WITH A ZERO AT ITS HEART:

'Pearls or A String of Tiny Masterpieces ... Charles Lambert's stories are luminous miniatures, deceptively easy to read and yet every word, every detail offers a window to a much bigger world. I've seen something different every time I've read these stories - and I've read them many times already.' – Sarah Salway

'Beautifully crafted life in miniatures. Incredibly original.' - A.M. Bakalar

‘In breathtaking sequence after sequence, Charles Lambert demonstrates the unflinching honesty of a narrator unafraid to live, ultimately building WITH A ZERO AT ITS HEART into a stunning portrait of a loss and redeeming love.’ – Niven Govinden 

'A striking conceit... elegantly written and carries considerable emotional clout... poetic, tender and funny' –  Guardian