UK literary agents who specialise in science fiction and fantasy

[Anne Lyle]

I have seen the websites of some agents and all of them ask for a cv to know a little about the writer. I know it is difficult for a new writer to get noticed, However, does the experience count for anything?
I'm in the process of writing a story, I think its good but I have NO experience at all. I don't even have a degree. My cv is very lame, finished high school and basically I'm a full time mum.
How can I compete with experienced writers? Any clues?

Don't worry about previous experience, evester - all that matters is a great story. That's truly the only criterion - and you don't have to have experience to compete. I had precisely one short story sale before getting my three-book deal - but I wrote a book that an editor loved, and that's truly all that matters.

I happen to have a degree, but I didn't mention any of that in my query, because it's not relevant to my fiction. Just write the best story you can, and once it's the best it can be, submit it to the relevant people. And do your research on forums like this - there's no excuse to be ignorant about publishing nowadays

 

[malasorte]

Hello, new user here. So, I've written a full-length novel in English, finished, reviewed and corrected. The only problem is, I'm a native Romanian and English-written novels have absolutely no opening in my own country. I mean to publish it abroad, but I'm not sure about my chances as a foreign author of actually finding an agent...Any suggestions? Ideas?

 

[Anne Lyle]

Lots of agents deal with non-English authors - my own has Aliette de Bodard (French) and Lavie Tidhar (Israeli) as clients. As long as your book is good enough to be published in the English-speaking world, your nationality won't matter. Just submit your work to agents as per normal.

(And before anyone asks, Zeno is currently closed to submissions - but there are plenty of other agencies out there.)

 

[ctg]

(And before anyone asks, Zeno is currently closed to submissions - but there are plenty of other agencies out there.)

Define plenty, please.

 

[malasorte]

Lots of agents deal with non-English authors - my own has Aliette de Bodard (French) and Lavie Tidhar (Israeli) as clients. As long as your book is good enough to be published in the English-speaking world, your nationality won't matter. Just submit your work to agents as per normal.

(And before anyone asks, Zeno is currently closed to submissions - but there are plenty of other agencies out there.)

Good one, thanks! And now to begin the search in the large ocean of literary agents who may or may not be interested! Keep your fingers crossed!

 

[Flugel Meister]

I can confirm that MBA and Caroline Sheldon still take sci-fi.

 

[Colbey Frost]

Is there an up to date list somewhere?

 

[Rufus Coppertop]

The bad news is, it looks as though something has changed at Anthony Harwood after years of prompt and polite replies.

I sent AH an email query around the same time I posted this advice on the forum, but I haven't heard anything. What a shame. Checking my folders, I found the last prompt and polite rejection was in May 09, so maybe they've stopped replying with rejections. Sorry.

I think it's changed back. I queried them a couple of weeks ago and within ten days, I received a polite rejection.

 

[Kissmequick]

Define plenty, please.

Maybe not huge amounts in the UK*. But you don't have to have a UK agent (I live in Sussex. My hard working and frankly fabulous agent lives in Colorado)


*as for non responses, for one MS I sent to every UK agent for fantasy. Only 2 ever replied - one was an agent I'd pitched to in person. The other sent me a reject over a year after the book had been released. No response = no is getting to be much more common, probably due to the sheer number of people who query - email doesn't have the costs of snailing a partial!

 

[AnyaKimlin]

PFD - Juliet Mushens has moved to the Agency Group. Julia Churchill is also on the move. (unsure were she is going to)

 

[Mouse]

^ She's going to A.M. Heath and will be accepting subs from April 15th.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

^ She's going to A.M. Heath and will be accepting subs from April 15th.

Bummer I already submitted to Ben Illis there. Never mind.

 

[prizzley]

PFD - Juliet Mushens has moved to the Agency Group.

Their website says they are not currently accepting submissions.

 

[Hex]

Their website says they are not currently accepting submissions.

She has been -- she's building her list. Worth checking on Twitter.

 

[Dinsdale Imber]

Dinsdale Imber Literary Agency - now accepting submissions


Dinsdale Imber is a dedicated independent literary agency, specialising in the best of genre writing: historical fiction, thrillers, fantasy, science-fiction and horror.

We work in association with AM Heath & Co Ltd, one of the world’s leading literary agencies. AM Heath sell all translation rights on our behalf, as well as providing fantastic support in all other corners of our business.


We are always interested in hearing from new writers, and encourage submissions in all kinds of fiction and non-fiction on robert(dot)dinsdale(at)amheath(dot)com. While we’re not able to provide editorial feedback to all of our submissions, we will always endeavour to provide a personal service and feedback wherever possible.

 

[alchemist]

I've had a look at your website there, Robert (or Kirstie). What do you actually want in a submission?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Their website says they are not currently accepting submissions.

It does but she took mine and processed mine whilst the website said that. (About as wonderful as a rejection can get it came with some lovely comments but the reason for the rejection was the amount of YA High Fantasy she already had).

She wants a covering letter with a couple paragraph synopsis and three chapters.

 

[Mouse]

Their website says they are not currently accepting submissions.

I also didn't sub because of that. It says 'unless referred' so I passed.

 

[Mark_Lawrence]

not sure if I ever mentioned it on this thread but it was post #1 here that I worked through to get my agent. I wrote to one a month for 4 months then gave up. A while later the 4th one emailed me for my whole manuscript. I think one of the others sent me a form rejection a few weeks after I got my book deal and ther other two never replied.

 

[Brian G Turner]

not sure if I ever mentioned it on this thread but it was post #1 here that I worked through to get my agent. I wrote to one a month for 4 months then gave up. A while later the 4th one emailed me for my whole manuscript. I think one of the others sent me a form rejection a few weeks after I got my book deal and ther other two never replied.

Cheers for letting us know - good to see the forums proving useful.