What’s it like to have a publishing deal? How does your agent support you? How does the agent and publisher work together? And what are everyone’s obligations in The Chain of getting your book written, edited and on that shelf? Join author Kate Poels who attended last year’s I Am Writing Festival as a delegate, and is now joined by her agent Amanda Preston and publisher Nia Beynon from Boldwood Books to let you in on what happens behind the scenes, why publication takes so long and how a 5-book deal like Kate’s can be achieved! The three of them will be on hand to take your questions.Amanda Preston has been a literary agent for over 20 years and co-founded LBA in 2005. She won the RNA Literary Agent of the Year award in 2018.
Amanda represents commercial and reading group fiction, as well as a range of narrative non-fiction and memoir. She loves working with authors, championing them every step of the way, and works with them and their publishing teams to build them into brand names and award winning and bestselling authors in the UK and internationally. Whether commercial or reading-group, she loves innovative and well-written stories that hook her in from the start and whose voice stays with her. She is looking for novels that demand to be talked about and shared, whatever their genre, and that she is still thinking about days after finishing.
Agent one-to-one appointments are available with Amanda. Once you have booked your festival ticket you will receive link and details about Amanda’s available timeslots. Please note #Agent121 sessions are charged extra at £60 each.
She is on the hunt for a high-concept thriller which is character and plot driven, but also has a discussable issue at its heart i.e Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey and Girl A by Abigail Dean. She love thrillers where the location is as integral to the plot as the crime i.e The Dry by Jane Harper and The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse, and would love a good locked-room thriller but is only looking for fresh and unique ideas in this area.
She is also looking for a glorious book club love story that is doing something a bit different and special i.e Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus or anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid or Liane Moriarty! Or smart, contemporary, observant romcoms with a very strong emphasis on diverse / own voices.
Finally, she would love a historical that vividly brings that period to life as well as having a stunning plot i.e, The Familiars by Stacey Halls and The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal.