UK literary agents who specialise in science fiction and fantasy

Brian G Turner

Brian G Turner

Fantasist & Futurist
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UPDATED: 30th April 2016

UK literary agents who specialise in science fiction and fantasy

You'll notice that not many are listed here. Although other agencies will work with science fiction and fantasy manuscripts, they are not many, and many more actively state that they will not accept submissions for the genre.

What does this mean? It means that you have to be all the more professional in your approach to literary agents in the first place.

Please also note that these agencies are looking for submissions for novels. Short stories are of little financial worth to an agency, and publishers tend to only risk issuing anthologies when they know the author name will sell, or else it is associated with a well publicised competition, such as the Nebula Short Story Awards. And you need to be magazine printed to enter for that.

NOTE: All of the ones listed are reputable established agencies, that do not ask for reading fees, and who recover their main fees as percentantile royalties from books sales of the authors they represent.


UPDATED LIST:
--------------

The Ampersand Agency
The Ampersand Agency

Conville & Walsh
Conville & Walsh Literary Agency | London and UK Literary Agents

Darlry Anderson
Darley Anderson Literary Agency, London and UK | Literary, TV and Film Agents | Specialists in commercial bestselling fiction

DKW Agency
DKW Literary Agency

Janklow & Nesbit
Welcome to Janklow & Nesbit UK

John Jarrold
John Jarrold - Literary agent and script doctor

LAW Agency
LAW Literary Agents London | Lucas Alexander Whitley Literary Agency

Marcjacq
MARJACQ |

Sheil Land
Sheil Land Associates Ltd.

United Agents
Books | United Agents

Zeno Agency
Zeno Agency Ltd. | A literary agency run by John Berlyne


Possible others:

Mic Cheetham - Established agency, but no website or means of electronic submissions
Abner Stein - represented David Gemmell, but the website does not list preferences, and the agents have no Twitter presence that I can find.
AM Heath - has previous represented speculative fiction, but is no longer clear if they accept SFF.
Caroline Sheldon Agency - doesn't mention SFF specifically
Hanbury Agency - doesn't mention SFF specifically, and postal submissions only




Original List:
------------------------

Mic Cheetham Associates
50 Albemarle Street
London
W1S 4BD
Tel: 020 7495 2002
Fax: 020 7495 5777
Director: Mic Cheetham
Takes: General and literary fiction, science fiction, some non-fiction. works with the Marsh Agency for foreign rights.
Fees: home 10%, overseas 20%
Website: http://www.miccheetham.com/
No unsolicited manuscripts


Dorian Literary Agency (DLA)
Upper Thornhill
27 Church Road
St Marychurch
Torquay
Devon
TQ1 4QY
Tel/fax: 01803 312095
Proprietor: Mrs D. Lumley
Takes: women's fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and horror, crime, thrillers, and mainstream
Fees: home 10%, USA 15%, translation 20-25%
No unsolicited manuscripts


London Independent Books
26 Chalcot Crescent
London
NW1 8YD
Tel: 020 7706 0486
Fax: 020 7724 3122
Proprietor: Carolyn Whitaker
Takes: Commercial, fantasy, and teenage fiction.
Fees: home 15%, overseas 20%



Marjacq Scripts
34 Devonshire Place
London
W1G 6JW
Tel: 020 7935 9499
Fax: 020 7935 9115
Takes: Crime, thrillers, science fiction, women's commercial fiction
Fees: home 10%, overseas 20%
Website: MARJACQ |



PFD
(incorporating A.D. Peters & Co. Ltd, Fraser and Dunlop Scripts Ltd, Fraser & Dunlop Ltd, June Hall Literary Agency Ltd, Watergate Film Services Ltd)
Drury House
34-43 Russell Street
London
WC2b 5HA
Tel: 020 7344 1000
Fax: 020 7836 9539
Takes: Full range of fiction
Fees: home 10%, overseas 20%
Website: Peters Fraser Dunlop (PFD) Literary Agents



Sheil Land Associates Ltd
(incorporating Richard Scott Simon Ltd 1971 and Christy & Moore Ltd 1912)
43 Doughty Street
London
WC1N 2LF
Tel: 020 7405 9351
Fax: 020 7831 2127
Takes: commercial fiction and non-fiction, including military, history, fantasy, romance, rime, thrillers
Fees: home 15%, overseas 20%
Website: Sheil Land Associates Ltd.



Artellus Limited
30 Dorset House
Gloucester Place
London
NW1 5AD
Tel: 020 7935 6972
Fax: 020 7487 5957
Takes: crime, science fiction, historical, contemporary and literary fiction; non-fiction
Fees: home 10%, overseas 20%


John Jarrold
Electronic submissions only - more infor here:
www.johnjarrold.co.uk
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the list Brian. The percentages are reasonable too. In Australia, a few agents I was interested in wanted 20 - 22% for local authors!
 
Hi there I am currently looking for an agent for a science-fiction / fantasy / adventure story. I am new at all of this but would like my work to be published and maybe eventually become a film.
 
Anubis Literary Agency 6 Birdhaven Close, Lighthorne, Warwick CV35 0BE Tel No: 01926 642588 Fax No: 01926 642588 Email: writestuff@btinternet.com Contact Steve Calcutt Genre fiction: crime, thrillers, horror, science fiction, fantasy (home 15%, USA/translation 20%). No other material considered. Send 50pp, a one-page synopsis and sae (essential). No reading fee. No telephone calls. Works with the Marsh Agency Ltd on translation rights. For information about agency writers' seminars contact: writestuff2@btinternet.com. Authors: Clients include Lesley Asquith, Christopher Golden, J.F. Gonzalez, Anthea Ingham, Tim Lebbon, Sarah Pinborough, Adam Roberts, Steve Savile, Brett A. Savory. Founded 1994.
 
In 1971 Diana Tyler and Michael Bakewell formed MBA Literary Agents Ltd to promote the work of writers for television, radio, film and theatre, the media in which they both worked following a period in BBC drama departments.

The agency flourished through their excellent contacts and soon expanded into fiction, non-fiction and fantasy/science fiction books.

Michael left the firm in 1974 but steady growth under managing director Diana Tyler has enabled a wide range of writers in all fields, more recently including children's books, to work on cross-media projects.

MBA's ethos is exemplified by the absolute commitment of all members of the agency to nurturing and building long-term successful careers for each client.

Registered in England No. 1021584, VAT No. 234 6063 79

Registered office: 8 Fairfax Mansions, Finchley Road, London NW3 6JY

Member of Association of Authors’ Agents and The Personal Managers’ Association

Associate Member of The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain

MBA Literary Agents Limited
 
Since PFD imploded last year I think their genre agents were part of the mass exodus to United Agents
At any rate, Robery Kirby, (who represents Joe Abercrombie, John Clute, Alasdiar Reynolds, Christopher Priest and more) is with UA, so they should be added to the list.

They do take email subs but have some specific requirements, so check their guidelines (of course you will ;))

United Agents
12-26 Lexington Street
London, W1F 0LE
t. +44 (0) 20 3214 0800
f. +44 (0) 20 3214 0801

(can't put up the web or mail parts as my posts count dropped after the crash, but just google United Agents and you'll get there)
 
A new agency launches:

Zeno Agency - a new literary agency

John Parker
07787 747302
parker@zenoagency.com

John Berlyne
07956 660024
berlyne@zenoagency.com

Utopia Village, 7 Chalcot Road, London NW1 8LH

This is their press release:

"Literary agent John Richard Parker (formerly of MBA) has combined forces with
freelance literary consultant and experienced genre critic John Berlyne. Zeno Agency
Ltd will specialise in all kinds of fiction – Literary, Crime and in particular Science
Fiction and Fantasy - and also in serious non-fiction works. Zeno aims to bring writers
of excellence and originality to the attention of both the industry and the public,
developing their careers to encompass all aspects of the media worldwide. One of the
agency’s first priorities will be to establish a dedicated and pro-active web-presence
showcasing Zeno’s literary talent.
John Parker says ‘I am very pleased by the feeling of confidence in our venture shown
by so many of my clients - writers like Roger Penrose, Iain Sinclair, Ian Mcdonald,
Justina Robson and the Jabberwocky Literary Agency are happy to follow me to the
new agency. I am also delighted that a number of formidably experienced editors such
as Colin Murray have agreed to work with us as editorial consultants. We believe that
getting the right script and presentation is vitally important.’
John Berlyne said: ‘This is a fantastic opportunity to work with an agent of John’s
calibre and reputation and we’ll be using his lifetime of business contacts to open
doors for our clients. We’re out to develop the Zeno brand so that it means real quality
to publishers.’
All the pieces are in place to launch a vibrant new force on the literary scene, and
Zeno are looking forward to making their mark."
 
misscousins said:
How should one approach a literary agent firsthand?
Click to expand...

If you mean how do you submit a manuscript, you follow the agent's submission guidelines, sit back and wait. Be it just a query letter, or a synopsis and three chapters. For new writers agents are only interested in complete, polished till they shine manuscripts. Even then there will be a 99% of it being rejected.

Putting it bluntly agents are not going to be interested in "an idea for a book", unless you have a good publishing record. In that case you would most likely have an agent already.
 
And following on from the above this extract was lifted from Zeno's website:

Please note that as of 23rd March 2009, Zeno Agency remains closed to submissions. Please don’t even query us for the moment as we’re completely swamped. We’ll be monitoring our status and once we’ve cleared the backlog, will be open once again for approaches. Many Thanks.​

But the good news is that, sales of romantic and fantasy/scifi novels are going up!! Apparently people don't like the current reality we're in.....wonder why?​
 
Last edited:
Scorpiomale said:
Hi there I am currently looking for an agent for a science-fiction / fantasy / adventure story. I am new at all of this but would like my work to be published and maybe eventually become a film.
Click to expand...

You've gone to all the trouble of writing a novel. What you don't need is to trip yourself up, by stating that your book is a hybrid of genres. The business is very conservative and if you send in a submission stating that your work is SF, fantasy you risk being thought of as someone who can't make up their mind.
Be definitive in saying it's one or the other. Once you get that foot in the door then expand on your ideas.
It's sad but that's the way the industry is.

Good luck

gilford6
 
Christoper Little does look at SF and Fantasy. (J.K Rowling is one of their clients) But they are closed to submissions at present, as is Zeno.

Just keep checking their sites, the both put up when they are open for short windows.
 
I have a completed ms but am a complete novice.So many agents say no unsolicited manuscripts so how on earth does one get to them? Does it just mean you have to write first in the hope of being invited to submit or do you have to be recommended by a third party?-I am mystified.
 
Mandyt said:
I have a completed ms but am a complete novice.So many agents say no unsolicited manuscripts so how on earth does one get to them? Does it just mean you have to write first in the hope of being invited to submit or do you have to be recommended by a third party?-I am mystified.
Click to expand...

They mean, don't send the whole ms without it being asked for. Send (usually, in the UK) a synopsis and first three chapters with a covering letter. But don't send anything before you check the specific agency's requirements on their website, or in a publication such as Writers' and Artists' Yearbook.
 
Thanks Harebrain-you've been a great help.I was just crossing off all the agents who said that so you've opened up a whole new world of possibilities.:)
 
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