Submissions
We are always on the hunt for exciting new voices and welcome your submission. We endeavour to respond to everyone who sends their work in to us as per the below guidelines and have found a huge number of our talented authors in this way. Each agent has created their own boutique list, which is a reflection of their individual tastes and the genres they specialise in, so please look at the list below and choose the one person you feel would be the best fit for your book.
During the submission process please do let us know if another agent has requested your complete manuscript or offered you representation.
We look forward to hearing from you.
How do I submit?
For all submissions, please send us a covering email containing a one-line elevator pitch and two or three comparable books, together with a blurb that you could imagine on the back of your book jacket.
For fiction submissions please also attach:
- A one page synopsis which tells us the outline of your story from start to finish.
- The first three chapters of your manuscript.
For non-fiction submissions:
- Most non-fiction books are sold on proposal, so you do not need to have a complete book at this time. Please send us a proposal outlining what your book is about, why you are best placed to write it and a twenty page writing sample.
Which Person Would Best Suit My Book:
Sarah Ballard 'I am currently closed for Submissions'.
I have extremely broad taste in fiction and non fiction. Broadly speaking I’m looking for storytellers who are obsessive, or who surprise me with a twist, or a view point, or a voice that broadens my world. That could be meditative nature writing (I’d love to read about swimming right now) or inspirational memoir (currently obsessing about Glennon Doyle), rediscovered history, or a novel that holds me by its first page and doesn’t let go (send me your big-idea, emotionally-charged literary fiction…). Have a look at my page here for more about what I’m doing.
Always interested in serious fiction and non-fiction (history, science, diaries) but taking on very little
I adore finding exciting new submissions and have discovered many of my clients that way. I am always on the hunt for new crime and thriller novels, reading group fiction, high concept hooks, upmarket commercial fiction and beautifully crafted non-fiction with a strong voice. Some of my favourite recent reads include The Silent Patient, Educated, I Am Not Your Baby Mother, The Flat Share and Daisy Jones and the Six.
Jim is a founding partner of the agency. He has worked in publishing and literary representation since 1995.He acts for a broad range of both fiction and non-fiction authors writing for the general-trade market, and is always on the look-out for the original and the excellent.
Jodie represents authors and illustrators of books for children, from picture books to teen fiction. She is always open to hearing from new talent using words and pictures to speak to today’s young people.
I’m on the lookout for exciting debut authors of both commercial and literary upmarket fiction of any genre (excluding SFF), with a particular focus on women’s fiction, thrillers and historical fiction. I am especially interested in finding more great zeitgeist novels for our generation and discovering new experiences and places through people’s writing. With regards to non-fiction, I find myself largely drawn to memoirs and narrative non-fiction with a distinct writing style, an incredible story, or an underrepresented voice or topic.
I am a founding partner of United Agents, head of the Literary Department 2012 – 2014 and was the Bookseller Industry Award for Literary Agent of the Year in 2011. I have an interest in science, psychology, cultural history and environmental issues. I enjoy gripping adventure fiction, speculative fiction and emotionally driven commercial fiction. Submissions should be sent to my assistant Kate Walsh by via email, with a synopsis and first three chapters. Please do not send submissions via the post, postal submissions will not be considered or returned.
I represent an eclectic range of strong voices, and am always open to the strange, ingenious, surprising and subversive.
Sophie joined United Agents in 2013. She is interested in excellent writing of all types, with a focus on thought-provoking, serious non-fiction, and literary fiction from writers who are unafraid of being bold and inventive. Submissions from those who have specialist knowledge which they would like to communicate to a wider audience are particularly welcome, as is anything which displays a commitment to beautiful writing, on any subject.
I am an Agent working in the office of Jodie Hodges, and I also have my own list representing authors and illustrators of picture books, middle grade and teenage and YA books. I have a passion for great characterisation and am on the hunt for a distinctive, new voice in children’s literature, as well as illustrators with a unique style that is relevant to the world of contemporary children’s books. I also work with Children’s Nonfiction and am happy to receive proposals as long as the subject matter is geared towards the right age group.
Anna Webber is an agent and founding partner at United Agents. She represents both fiction and non-fiction, with a special focus on literary fiction and voice-driven non-fiction. She is open for submissions, but can only take on a small number of new clients per year. Initially, please send a short outline and some sample chapters.
Associate Agents:
I am open to submissions of literary novels and short story collections set anywhere in the world, especially those which are formally or stylistically unconventional in some way and/or are written with clarity and precision. I am looking for essays and narrative non-fiction in the vein of works by Janet Malcolm, Leslie Jamison, Anna Funder, Claudia Rankine, and Philippe Sands; I also love true crime, particularly The Adversary by Emmanuel Carrère and The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson, and I enjoy anything with an investigative element based on meticulous research. I do not represent Children’s, YA or sci-fi/fantasy.
I am building a list of scifi and fantasy authors across both adult and children’s books. I love anything with high stakes, characters you would follow anywhere, big stories, expansive worldbuilding, breathless romance, and threads of adventure running throughout.
Eli Keren 'Closed to submissions’.
In non-fiction, I am particularly interested in smart and engaging popular science. My own background is in chemistry, but I'm fairly omnivorous and happy to look at any non-fiction that grips me, be that science, history or something else. I enjoy books by writers completely obsessed with a niche subject who are skilled enough communicators to make the rest of the world fall in love with their passion too, whatever that passion might be. I am interested in any books that will change the world for the better. In fiction, I'm happy to look at commercial, literary and anything in between. I don't tend to work with science-fiction or high fantasy, but am open to grounded speculative fiction and magical realism. I do not represent authors for children's and YA literature.
Kate Walsh joined United Agents in 2015 and, alongside assisting Robert Kirby with his list, is actively building her own. She's on the lookout mainly for commercial non-fiction, with an eye specifically on music writing or anything with a political or current affairs slant, and anything that feels like a fresh and original way of looking at the world. She is especially drawn to 20th and 21st century affairs, and anyone willing to speculate on what comes next. Whilst Kate is working mainly with non-fiction, she is always excited to read anything, fiction or non-, with a strong and transporting sense of place and time. For submissions, please do send a brief cover letter, a one page synopsis and the first three chapters of your work.