BFLA Open Week: My Life as an MA Publishing Student

Written by Finlay Charlesworth

There are many different roads into publishing: whether through bookselling like Tabitha, going straight in from an English literature degree, or crossing over from an entirely different career path, there is no one set path into your dream publishing job. I was in my final year of undergraduate studies, doing English Literature and Creative Writing in Leeds, when I decided to continue down the academic route and apply to study MA Publishing at University College London, as my first decisive step into industry.

My interest in publishing as a field had been kindled by my course, but not, as initially anticipated, from producing my own work as a writer: I realised what I really loved was having conversations with my peers about plans for their work in the future, how to develop their texts, work out who their audience is, and make the leap from the word document to the world. There were two main factors that pointed me towards the MA – first of all, a lack of understanding about the industry: the specific roles available, how publishers function as businesses, and what the norms and expectations are within the industry. The second factor was COVID – by the time I graduated in the summer of 2021, I had lost about eighteen months of being a student, and I wasn’t yet ready to relinquish the freedom to learn and explore.

Through my Masters, I’ve had the opportunity to explore so many areas and ideas within the field of publishing. Starting with the huge, macro-level lessons about the different sectors within publishing, understanding who the major players are and getting to grips with the history of publishing; then drilling down into different specialist areas and being able to investigate my own interests in incredible depth; the course has opened my eyes to so many possibilities and niches in publishing that I never knew existed.

A Publishing MA gives you a chance to start by looking at the industry from the widest possible view, and through your studies roam between different sectors, roles, historical contexts, geographical markets, external influences on publishing and more, and to pursue your own interests as they emerge to you, no matter how broad or esoteric. We are prepared for working in the industry by being asked constantly, ‘how are you going to change publishing?’ – to use our academic playground to work out how we can apply what we’ve learnt, to shake up the industry and write the next chapter in publishing history.

Though it varies from university to university, it is important to stress that the course isn’t entirely based on long, complex works of theory and long, serious academic essays – I’ve been able to try and develop a great number of practical skills too, like proofreading and book reviewing; I’ve produced marketing materials for made-up books, I’ve designed book covers, I’ve produced profit-loss statements for fictional publishing companies, I’ve even coded an eBook despite having no coding experience whatsoever. I’m now building up to my dissertation, a chance to really get my teeth stuck into an extended piece of original research, interrogating the relationship between authors, illustrators and readers, which I am incredibly excited for.

The main benefit from studying publishing at university is definitely the people – both the people who run the course, a brilliant group of field-leading academics, and the guests from the industry we have the chance to meet, but also – and perhaps more importantly – your fellow students, who are heading out into the publishing world alongside you. I’ve had the privilege to meet some of the most esteemed figures in publishing on the course – from Bloomsbury founder/CEO Nigel Newton to the Managing Director of the Booksellers’ Association Meryl Halls, to authors, editors, book collectors, archivists, salespeople, marketing executives and many more. What has delighted me most of all though in recent months is hearing how my friends and colleagues from the course have found their way into the industry since graduating. I’ve always found making connections, the dreaded ‘networking’, one of the scariest parts of publishing – fearing that if you aren’t the most popular person in the room, you will be left behind. Doing the course has provided me with a ready-made network, extending across many different areas of the industry – some of my brilliantly talented friends now work in editorial, marketing, bookselling, agenting and scouting, in both trade and academic publishing, across London and beyond. It’s really exciting to know that we started our publishing journeys together, and we’re continuing onwards and upwards, through the industry, together.

One factor that held me back, however, was the cost – further study, especially in London, isn’t cheap, and I quickly realised there was no way I would be able to afford it unless I took the course as a part-time student and worked alongside. While it did worry me a lot to start with though, I have found that studying part-time has actually been one of the best decisions I have ever made. Studying fewer modules has afforded me more time to reflect on each one and consider the application of what I have learned to the books I read, the shops I see, what I hear in the news and so much more, which has definitely benefited my studies.

Pursuing work as well as my studies has also been massively rewarding – almost every guest speaker we have ever had on the course has sung the praises of bookselling as an ideal way to understand what is actually happening in publishing: from what books actually sell (yes, English Literature graduates, commercial fiction is important!), to how they’re sold, and even though I was only working at Waterstones for a couple of months in the run-up to Christmas, it was a foundational experience. After that, I worked returned to working in the NHS, supporting people with complex mental health conditions, and soon after I was able to secure my first job in the publishing industry at Blake Friedmann – and the rest is history!

BFLA Open Week: A Day In The Life Of A Book Agent

Written by Juliet Pickering

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!).

BFLA Open Week: What Do Rights Agents Do All Day (At Book Fairs)

Written by Nicole Etherington

If you are an aspiring author or a publishing hopeful, you might have heard those in the industry making reference to book fairs. A book fair is an international trade event where rights agents, scouts, and publishers from across the world come together to talk about books. There are several book fairs each year, held in cities across the world – London, Bologna, Turin and Frankfurt, to name a few – but the purpose is always the same: to showcase the authors and titles we represent to publishing individuals worldwide, and to build and sustain international relationships within the publishing industry.

            Although book fairs are typically held over a few days, they are the culmination of months of preparation. Ahead of the fair, we prepare our rights guide (a catalogue of our book fair titles and key information which we use when pitching to publishers), we hone our pitches, we meet with scouts to discuss upcoming titles and we put together our meeting schedules.

            During the fair, you will find me and fellow translation rights agents at tables in the International Rights Centre (IRC). Each literary agency is designated a series of tables in the IRC where they hold meetings for the duration of the fair. Meetings are often held in thirty-minute slots. During meetings with editors from international publishing houses, we try to get a sense of their taste, what genres and formats are performing well in their markets and why, and if there have been any unexpected successes. Then we tailor our pitches to the editor and what they’re looking for. I like to think of bookfair meetings as publishing speed-dating. After the fair, we follow up with editors and send them the materials they have requested.

            The pandemic made in-person fairs impossible in 2020 and 2021, and meetings migrated online. Although it has meant that Zoom and Teams etc. are now a more ready part of our toolkits, it is hard to recreate the buzz of a fair through a computer screen. Luckily, we were able to return to in-person events in 2022. Our preparation for the London Book Fair in April this year is well under way!

BFLA Open Week: Media Rights - The Inside Scoop

Written by Anna Myrmus

How our work is split between IP and screenwriters

The Media Department really serves two roles at Blake Friedmann: primary agenting for our media clients and facilitating Book to Film/TV options for the wider agency’s book clients.

On the media side, that means finding screenwriting talent, developing that talent, and pitching and submitting scripts to producers, before hopefully negotiating deals based on those scripts.

On the Book to Film side, since we’re not the primary agents, we don’t develop the material with authors (we leave that to the Book Department!) but we actively submit books to producers, based on what we’re hearing from them in meetings. So, in a way, we do assess material, but only for its Book-to-Film potential. We then negotiate the option agreements for Film and TV, to make sure our authors are getting the best deal possible.

Finding screenwriters

Sourcing screenwriters happens in many ways. The first is through the submissions we receive to our media submissions email. We also find writers by regularly attending different events like showcases, fringe theatre nights, and networking drinks. And on top of that, we try and keep on top of certain screenwriting competitions like the BBC Writers room to find emerging talent.

When it comes to submissions, we always ask for a CV and cover letter as well as a script. The CV is a way of finding out the work a writer has done so far, including any credits they might already have. I always like when the CV includes a list of their scripts, even if they’re uncredited, so we know which projects we could work on with them initially (if we were to like their sample script). The cover letter is a chance for us to hear more about a writer’s background and the kind of stories they want to write, and why they think we could be the agents for them.

When we read a script that we love from a writer, we’ll ask them for other samples, so we can get a sense of their style. Then, if we feel passionately about their work overall, we’ll arrange to meet to talk through our feedback, plus to hear about their ambitions for their writing, i.e., the kind of show or films they would like to write for and why. It’s also always useful to find out which producers they may already have spoken to or submitted to, so that if we do take them on, we know who we could build further relationships with, and who not to double submit to!

If that all goes well and we take on a writer, the first step is developing the script that we’ll send out to producers.

Developing writers’ scripts

When we submit a TV pilot to a producer, we usually submit it with a pitch document, which gives the producer the writer’s vision for the series. The pitch document outlines the story, the main characters, the first series’ arc, why it’s relevant now, why the writer should be the one to write it, plus any other pertinent information. So, when we develop a project with a screenwriter, we are developing not only the pilot script but the pitch document. This is because often a pilot script can be amazing, but if the story doesn’t have the legs to span a whole series, it’s hard to get producers interested. In fact, when pitching for TV, the idea is often just as important as the sample.

Developing a script and its pitch document usually involves a few rounds of notes, depending on how structural the changes needed are. The more the overall story needs work, the more work will need to be done. For this reason, we usually prefer to work with a writer on a pitch before they write the pilot, so that we can help craft the outline, and because often if we know an idea will be a very hard sell, it’s best we guide them before they write the whole pilot.

Then once a script and pitch document are ready, we’ll submit them, along with our own submission letter, to the producers who we know could be interested.

Assessing IP

Being active on books means submitting them to producers who we know are interested in that kind of IP. When we’ve read a Blake Friedmann book that we want to be active on, we craft a submission letter which we hope will get the producer to want to read the book. The letter usually starts with some information about the writer (for example, if they’ve written other books, we’ll talk about the success they’ve had and perhaps where they’ve been optioned for film and TV). Then we tease the plot and make comparisons to recent TV series or Film so the producers know where the book could fit on their development slate.

Then, based on the relationships we’ve built with producers, and the recent meetings we’ve been having, we submit this letter via email to those whose taste we think aligns with the book.

However, just because we’re not active on a book doesn’t mean it can’t be optioned. There are often wonderful books which we’ve loved but which are less commercial in terms of Film and TV. With these books, we tend to keep them in mind in meetings, and pitch them on an ad hoc basis, especially if a producer mentions the genre or subject matter to us. And indeed, with those books often an option deal happens when a very passionate producer comes forward, independent of our submissions. So not submitting a book doesn’t mean it won’t get optioned.

Meeting producers

On top of submitting new books and scripts, we also keep all that material in mind when meeting with producers. Having both the Book to Film and screenwriting sides to our work means that we get to wear both hats in these meetings and pitch a whole range of material, depending on what the producer tells us.

Meeting producers is really for us to find out what different production companies are looking for, so we know what to submit where, and for us to build relationships in the industry which will help our writers going forward.

We’re constantly setting up meeting with producers, whether that’s because they’ve sent us a new brief, we have new material to catch them up on, or because we’re both attending events like Content London or Series Mania.

BFLA Open Week: Why Audio Rights Matter

Written by Roya Sarrafi-Gohar

The rise in the popularity of audiobooks is one of the biggest changes in the publishing industry in the past decade. While this means that audio rights to books are potentially worth a lot of money, many authors may not know that these rights can be sold separately to an audio publisher, rather than to the book’s print or eBook publisher. It isn’t always possible to hold back audio rights, and it is much more likely with some publishers than others.

If an agent can hold back audio rights when doing a book deal, then sell those rights separately to an audio publisher, this is most often likely to mean extra income for the author, as it usually comes with a separate advance, and a separate stream of royalty income once the advance earns out. Sometimes it is even helpful to have a separate offer for audio rights just to show an author the monetary value of those rights.

As with book design choices, control of the production of the audiobook, including choice of narrator, is ultimately with the publisher, but generally the publisher will at least consult with the author on their narrator choices. Choosing a narrator can be an exciting opportunity for an author to bring their work to life in a new way, and sometimes authors narrate themselves, if they pass an audition. Narrating a whole audiobook can be more taxing than it first appears!

Sometimes an agent will also try to hold back radio rights and try to sell these separately. This is usually a straight reading of an abridgement of the work on programmes such as BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime. A very small proportion of books get picked up for radio, but this is again a potential additional source of income. What’s more, it can often give the book sales a boost, as a lot more people become aware of the book, and if they listen to the whole abridgement, they might want to read the full unabridged version too.

This all goes to show that there can be a lot more to a book than just a print copy or eBook – there’s a variety of ways that a book can find audiences, and bring in more income for authors.