Darley Anderson Literary, TV & Film Agency

NEWS
TOP TIPS TO FROM A * BESTSELLER* *In it's sixth week Stolen* by Lesley Pearse has remained strong on the Paperback Bestseller List. After going in at No.1 in the first week of sales, Stolen has proved itself to be the top read of the summer. Having sold over 150,000 copies to date Lesley's latest novel is at No.11. Here are some of Lesley's top tips on how to write a bestseller:** -Persistance. You have to stick at it. I finish everything. That’s the secret of life- finish the things you start. -Don’t tell anyone what you're doing as then you have to give progress reports. - Read widely. Research properly. That will give you ideas you hadn’t thought of. - To keep the peace in my marriage I used to wait until my husband was asleep and then sneak downstairs and write all night. I was driven. You always have time to write. If you say you don’t, you’ll never do it. If you really want to do something you’ll find the time to do it. - Don’t count words. What’s the point in boasting that you’ve written 3000 words in a day if they’re all rubbish? I don’t count until I get to the end of the book. (Taken from and interview with Lesley Pearse The Times, Saturday July 31st) *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* *After hitting the NYT list on August 1st, 2010, at #23, The Whisperers* by John Connolly is continuing to pick up fantastic reviews.** "Connolly displays a real knack for fusing the detective and horror genres, providing a rational chain of evidence and deduction for the plot while simultaneously creating a real atmosphere of numinous dread that reminds us that mystery can refer to more than a mundane tale of crime and human justice." Publisher's Weekly “In the hands of a lesser writer, this could easily be a bit too much, but in Connolly’s skilled hands, it turns into a page-turning thrill ride that you won’t want to put down.” Sacramento Book Review *The Whisperers* is John Connolly’s latest Charlie Parker suspense thriller. Along with the current success in the US, the novel was also a hit here in the UK, spending nine weeks in the Hardback Bestsellers List. *The Whisperers* will be available in the UK in paperback next January. To read more about John click here. *BESTSELLER* FRENCH'S FAITHFUL FANS Faithful Place remained strong on the New York Times Bestsellers List for another week. Tana French's latest hit went straight into the No.8 position and after three weeks has worked it's way up to No.19. Not only has Faithful Place been doing extremely well on the NYTimes Bestseller List, but has also been making an appearance on many other Bestsellers Lists accross the US. Picking up fantasic praise along the way. No.8 on the Indie Hardback Bestseller List (originally at #1 July Indie Next List Great Read) No.3 on the Boston Globe Hardcover Bestseller List No.8 on the Denver Post National Bestseller List No.17 on the Los Angeles Times Hardcover Bestsellers List No.18 on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover Bestsellers List (originally went at No.9 where it stayed for two weeks) 'French's emotionally searing third novel of the Dublin murder squad (after The Likeness) shows the Irish author getting better with each book' Publishers Weekly 'The mesmorising new novel by bestselling author of The Likeness' The Indie List Her (Tana French) name should be writ large on every mystery lover's must-read list. Her first novel, "In the Woods," swept up the Edgar, Barry, Macavity and Anthony awards. "Faithful Place" is the third installment in her ongoing saga about the Dublin Murder Squad, and it's breathtaking -- an elaborately twisted ballad of class resentments, family burdens, regret and passion. The Washington Post *BESTSELLER* Lesley Pearse's Stolen has spent its fourth week in the in the top five on the Papaerback Bestsellers List. With Stolen having spent spent time in No.1 and No.2 on the List and selling over 115,000 copies to date, it appears that the wonderful Lesley is giving other summer reads a real run for their money! *BESTSELLER* TOP OF THE TIMES On the week of the 19th July Darley Anderson Authors made up 10% of the New York Times Bestsellers List. *Faithful Place* by Tana French shot to no.8 joining The Whisperers by John Connolly at no.23 and 61 Hours by Lee Child, no.30, both of which had already spent a good number of weeks established on the list. It is an amazing achievement for Tana's third novel Faithful Place to enter onto the NY Times Bestseller list in such a high position. A huge congratulations to all three authors. *NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER* LESLEY PEARSE TOPS THE CHARTS Bestselling author Lesley Pearse has topped the charts at No 1 with her fantastic novel Stolen. The paperback edition smashed her previous weekly sales personal best by more than 12,000 copies. Stolen, her 18th novel, sold 38,244 copies in its first full week on sale. Congratulations to Lesley on her most deserved success. *STAR REVIEW* USA STAY FAITHFUL TO FRENCH "Expertly Rendered" "Gripping" - Are the two words Janet Maslin, New York Times Reviewer used to describe Tana French's latest novel A Faithful Place. It's another rave review that reflects Tana's ever growing US fan base. With now over 100,000 copies on the shelves A Faithful Place is set for great great things! The past haunts in Tana French novels. That which was buried is brought to light and wreaks hell - on no one more so than Frank Mackey, beloved undercover guru and burly hero first mentioned in French's second book about the Undercover Squad, *The Likeness. Faithful Place* is Frank's old neighborhood, the town he fled twenty-two years ago, abandoning an abusive alcoholic father, harpy mother, and two brothers and sisters who never made it out. They say going home is never easy, but for Frank, investigating the cold case of the just-discovered body of his teenage girlfriend, it is a tangled, dangerous journey, fraught with mean motivations, black secrets, and tenuous alliances. Because he is too close to the case, and because the Place (including his family) harbors a deep-rooted distrust of cops, Frank must undergo his investigation furtively, using all the skills picked up from years of undercover work to trace the killer and the events of the night that changed his life. * SPINE CHILLING SUCCESS* Chris Carter's latest spine chiller The Executioner has hit the shelves. It follows The Crucifix Killer and is destined for great things! Detective Hunter is on the trail of an elusive and sadistic killer. Someone who can sense what scares his victims the most. Someone who will stop at nothing to achieve his twisted aim. Imagine your worst fear - and then meet your worst nightmare.... *AWARD NOMINATION* THE FINAL 15!! Carolyn Jess Cooke has been shortlisted for the prestigious London New Poetry Award 2010. The Award is put on by the London Fringe Festival. Carolyn has made it down to shortlist of 15 poets, out of 77 nominations. A Poetry Panel of three judges will meet at a London location to deliberate quality, innovation, craft, relevance and sheer poetry. The winner will be announced on Monday August 16th at Pizza Express in Soho. Click here to read more LESLEY PEARSE'S GREEN FINGERS Lesley Pearse is not only a talented author, enchanting readers worldwide with her fantastic novels, she also has other talents hidden up her sleeves. A keen gardener, every other summer Lesley showcases her beautiful garden to the general public, in her villages Open Garden Day. The proceeds raised go to help projects in the community. This summer, the money will help pay for the restoration of the village’s 12th century church. Lesley’s latest novel Stolen is out in paperback on the 8th July. Click here to read more about it. Q&A with RANI MANICKA June How did you get started in writing? I was bored with the restaurant trade and naively decided I wanted to be an author, but by some incredible piece of luck I sent my three chapters to the Darley Andersno Agency, who signed me on. What was the last book you bought? The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins What books would you take on a desert island? The Road by Cormick McCarthy and The Greatest Secret by David Icke tell us about your latest book.... Very broadly it is the story of love, forbidden and otherwise. And what's in the pipeline? What's in the pipeline is still naked and faceless. How do you go about doing research for your books? Same as everyone I suppose. Library, internet, face to face interviews, overheard conversations etc. Why did you approach the Darley Anderson Agency? They were the only ones who seemed unembarrassed about money. What advice do you have for people hoping to find their first publisher? None. Where there is a will, there is a way. CHECK OUT THE AUTHOR PAGE FOR MORE AUTHOR Q&As *BESTSELLER* JACK REACHER CONQUERS THE WORLD Published in the US on the 18th May, 61 Hours, by Lee Child has wasted no time in hitting the top spot in the New York Times Bestsellers List (Hardback Fiction) this week. He has dominated the charts across the World over the last few months, having been No.1 on the Hardback Bestsellers Lists in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Now Lee Child can add another territory to the list that 61 Hours has successfully conquered as he creates a storm stateside. 61 Hours is continuing to pick up fantastic reviews.... Former military cop Jack Reacher wanders into a town, finds himself in the middle of some ticking time bomb of a situation, chooses a side and kicks major a Miami Herald BESTSELLER SOLDIERING UP THE BESTSELLER LIST ! Annie Murray’s Soldier Girl has continued to climb up the Paperback Bestsellers List this week. After one week of sales Soldier Girl charted at No.45 in the list. Annie Murrays latest novel then proceeded to jump up the chart to position No.29, and after another successful week of sales has reached No.25. Soldier girl is a sequel to The Hopscotch Summer. It tells the story of Molly Fox, who has grown up in the back streets of Birmingham at the mercy of her cruel grandfather and her drunken mother. Though she has grown into a tall, beautiful woman, Molly is haunted by terrible family secrets. When she is found lying drunk in a gutter, Molly reaches a turning point. She decides to escape by joining the army as an ATS girl. At first her new start seems fated to be a disaster but the army gives her the encouragement she hungers for and soon her life is flourishing. But war brings tragedy as well as triumph, and when Molly receives news from home, it becomes clear that she can’t escape her past so easily… TWEET TWEET The Darley Anderson Agency is proud to announce that they have joined the likes of Stephen Fry and have opened their own Twitter account. Follow us by clicking HERE, where you will be able to hear whats going on in the agency, exciting news stories, latest releases and much more.... BESTSELLERS DA AUTHORS TAKE OVER THE CHARTS! It has been a fantastic week for Darley Anderson Authors, who have made up 10% of the Paperback Top 50 Bestsellers List. Milly Johnson and Annie Murray have joined Jane Costello, Lee Child and Martina Cole this week in the Bestseller chart, who between them have already managed to tot up a total of 19 weeks in the list. Current Positions: No.4 Martina Cole HARD GIRLS No.19 Lee Child GONE TOMORROW No.23 Jane Costello MY SINGLE FRIEND No.41 Milly Johnson A SUMMER FLING No.45 Annie Murray SOLDIER GIRL Soldier Girl is Annie Murray’s 14th Novel. Published on the 7th of May, the book sailed straight onto the Paperback Bestseller List after only three days of sales. Soldier Girl is the Story of Molly Fox, who has grown up on the streets of Birmingham at the mercy of her grandfather and her cruel, drunken mother. Although she has grown into a tall, beautiful woman, Molly is trapped by her impoverished past and haunted by terrible family secrets. Read more about Annie Murray and Molly Fox here. Following on from a successful book launch, Milly Johnson’s fourth novel, A Summer Fling, topped the Tesco’s chart at No.9 on its week of publication, and carried on to join the Bestseller Lists. A Summer Fling tells of a summer that won’t be forgotten. When dynamic Christie blows in like a warm wind to take over a department, five very different women find themselves thrown together… Read more about A Summer Fling here. BURTENSHAW'S DARK DEBUT UNVEILED The day of publication has finally arrived for the eagerly awaited Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw (£6.99 Headline).** With the help of Headline’s fantastic trailer (which can be viewed here) there has been huge hype surrounding Jenna’s début as bloggers and reviewers jump on the Burtenshaw bandwagon. From 13th May Wintercraft is taking over www.teentoday.co.uk for 10 days and we are very excited to announce that this July Jenna will be the first author to be featured in Sugar Magazine’s brand new Book Club. If you read one UK debut this year, make it Wintercraft www.wondrousreads.com A must read www.books4teens.co.uk This book truly shows that there are no boundaries when it comes to true friendship. I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It was full of danger and excitement so you never knew what was going to happen next. Katie Moore, 13 years old Click here to read more…. *BESTSELLER* ONE MAN AND HIS DOG TAKE ITALY BY STORM Graeme Sims is described by the Italian press as "The Guru of Italian dog trainers". Graeme has recently set up and run a series of workshops teaching people how to communicate with their dogs. Tickets for the events sold out in a matter of days. *THE DOG WHISPERER* has now seen five reprints since publication. De Agostini originally published in 2008. His sequel GIVE A DOG A HOME was published by Sperling & Kupfer in 2009. *BESTSELLER* MY SINGLE FRIEND'S A HIT WITH THE GIRLS *After its second week of sales Jane Costello’s fantastic new novel My Single Friend* shot into position No.12 in the Paperback Fiction Bestsellers List. My Single Friend charted at No.29 in the Bestsellers Lists last week only three days after publication, but after another successful week of sales, and over 8000 copies flying off the shelves, My Single Friend has jumped up the Bestseller List. My Single Friend is Jane’s third book, following on from the hilarious novel, The Nearly-Weds which was recently presented with the Romantic Commedy of the Year Award by the RNA, beating the likes of Jill Mansell’s, Rumour Has It. Read more about My Single Friend at www.janecostello.com WINTERCRAFT'S SPELL SPREADS TO THE US The children’s agency has secured another significant six figure deal from the States….. Madeleine Buston accepted a significant six-figure offer from Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins for US rights in Jenna Burtenshaw’s Wintercraft trilogy. The VP and publisher of Greenwillow Books, Virginia Duncan, wrote to the author herself saying: ‘Wintercraft is compelling, terrifying, surprising, and so very inventive and memorable-I find that I am still thinking about your characters and the world you have created, even all these days after reading it.’ Steve Geck, Jenna’s US editor, said ‘It’s been so gratifying to see my colleagues fall under the spell of Wintercraft. A manuscript hasn’t thrilled me in this way in a very long time. And Jenna Burtenshaw is simply an astounding writer’. They will publish in Spring 2011. Headline is publishing in the UK on May 13th and their fabulous trailer can be viewed here. BESTSELLER JACK REACHES ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD Lee Child has been commanding the charts in all corners of the world, with Jack Reacher topping the New Zealand charts, aswell as reaching No.2 on the US Bestsellers List. Lee's latest book, 61 Hours went straight in at No.1 in the International Bestselling Fiction list in New Zealand. The most recent in the Jack Reacher series, has been following in the footsteps of Lee’s last novel, Killing Floor which on release also went in at No.1. Killing Floor has remained firmly in the charts, currently holding on to the No.7 position. Along with hugely successful sales of 61 Hours in the UK, Australia and NZ, Lee's previous Jack Reacher Novel, went in at No.2 in the New York Times Bestsellers List. Lee has seen a 30% increase in sales accross the US, which is fantastic and unheard of in the current climate. TWO WONDERFUL WINNERS AT THE RNA The Darley Anderson Agency is extremely proud, that two of their authors have won prestigious awards from the Romantic Novel Association. On the 16th March, the winners were announced at the RNAs Pure Passion Awards lunch, in London, hosted by critic and television personality Barry Norman. The Nearly-Weds, by Jane Costello beat the likes of Jill Mansell’s, Rumour Has It, receiving the Romantic Comedy Novel of the Year Award. The book was picked by a panel of readers and writers who had been asked to pick the book that really tickled their funny bones. The judges went on to say that The Nearly Weds was ‘a witty, at times laugh out loud romance, full of great characters. This was a new award introduced this year to mark the 50th year of the RNA awards ceremony, to help showcase this popular genre and help readers get to know fantastic new writers. Nell Dixon picked up the hotly-contested ‘Love Story of the Year’ award for her novel Animal Instincts. Katie Fforde, Chair of the RNA commented ‘These Pure Passion Awards have enjoyed a higher standard of entries than ever before but the judges were unanimously won over... Nell Dixon, whose character development and storylines kept us hooked to the very last page." Nell was also awarded this prize in 2007, for her book Marrying Max, which was when Darley Anderson signed her up. BESTSELLER SONS AND DAUGHTERS Margaret Dickinson’s latest novel, Sons and Daughters has shot straight in at No6 in the Bookseller Top 20 Fiction Heatseekers list and at No.39 on the overall Bestsellers List. At the age of 25 Margaret Dickinson began to live her childhood dream of becoming a writer, with the publication of her first novel, Pride of the Courtneys. After the publication of seven more novels, Margaret took a seven year break. However in 1991, with some encouragement from her husband, Margaret picked up her pen again and started to write. She soon found Darley Anderson, renowned for his commercial bestselling successes, who championed her to write a new regionally based saga with strong central female characters. Since this point there has been no looking back. Margarets recently completed her latest title, Sons and Daughters, is her 17th book to be published with Macmillan UK, and 25th overall. To promote this novel, Margaret has embarked on a promotional tour, where she is visiting 28 book shops across the UK. The tour kicked off to a great start in Skegness, on the 5th of March. Margaret moved on from here to Lincoln, where over 200 loyal fans were waiting eagerly to greet her, armed with books for her to sign and over 300 copies of Sons and Daughters** were sold. 'When it comes the writing and promotion of her wonderful Sagas, Margaret’s talent and professionalism is as good as it gets. I’ts been a real privilege and pleasure to be her Agent.' Darley Anderson ‘An Author to really value and Cherish, and an extremely genuine and lovely person.’ Trisha Jackson, Senior Commissioning Editor, Fiction, Pan Macmillan For more information see: www.margaret-dickinson.co.uk KILLER CAMPAIGN FOR A SPINE CHILLING DEBUT Huge thanks to the team at Simon & Schuster for their phenomenal nationwide poster campaign for the The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter. The Crucifix Killer is available in paperback from the 18th March. IN THE WOODS: US PICK OF THE DECADE Recently, the editors of Amazon US were given the exciting challenge to pick ten books that they felt best represented the past ten years. Tana French'sdebut novel, In the Woods(2007), was picked as being one of the Top Ten best reads of the 'Noughties'. The psychological thriller was described as being 'among the first we reread when we want to remember what the decade was like'. Also chosen was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling. TIM'S TOPPING SUCCESS IN BATH March 2010 Tim Weaver had a hugely successful book launch on the 26th of February at the amazing Toppings Bookshop in Bath. The Venue was packed out and 91 copies of Chasing the Dead were sold, helping Tim reach No. 31 in his first week in the Charts. Huge thanks to Toppings, Penguin and everyone who came to support Tim. 'IMPRESSIVE DEBUT' The Guardian March 2010 We are immensely proud to announce the publication of Chasing the Dead by Tim Weaver. Published on 25th February by Penguin, this thrilling début is already number 24 on the W H Smith charts and set for great things. To date foreign rights have been sold in five countries. Read more about Tim here and a Q&A session with him here. *AWARD WINNER* HEAVENLY SUCCESS February 2010 Cally Taylor’s debut novel Heaven Can Wait was awarded Debut Novel of the Year award and Book of the Year in chicklitreviews.com book awards 2009, beating the likes of Sophie Kinsella and Cecilia Aherne. Heaven Can Wait was also first book ever to receive a 10/10 review on chicklitclub.com!! *AWARD NOMINATION* EVERYBODY LOVES CATHY February 2010 Angel Cake by Cathy Cassidy has just been shortlisted for the Red House Children’s Book Award. Angel Cake has made it from the 50 longlisted books down to the final 10 shortlisted. Cathy told Red house that she thought ‘It’s fantastic! Red House is one of the coolest book awards ever as it is voted for by children…’ Cathy is now off to China for the Beijing International Bookworm Festival. *BESTSELLER* CONNOLLY'S LOVERS SAIL INTO THE LISTS February 2010 John Connolly's The Lovers hit two paperback bestseller lists simultaneously in its first week on the shelves. At No5 on The Sunday Times Bestseller List and No4 on the Irish Paperback Bestseller list - with great sales up by 23% like for like last year. Charlie Parker was still a boy, his father, a NYPD cop, killed a young couple, a boy and a girl barely older than his son, then took his own life. There was no explanation for his actions. Stripped of his private investigator's license, and watched by the police, Parker is working in a Portland bar, holding down a job and staying out of trouble. But in the background, he is working on his most personal case yet, an investigation into his own origins and the circumstances surrounding the death of his father, Will. It is an investigation that will reveal a life haunted by lies, by his mother's loss and his father's betrayal, by secrets kept and loyalties compromised. And by two figures in the shadows, a man and a woman, with only one purpose: to bring an end to Charlie Parker's existence... PHENOMENAL MARTINA COLE SIGNS RECORD BREAKING NEW CONTRACT January 2010 Darley Anderson is proud to announce a major new four book deal for Martina Cole with her long term publishers Headline. Her latest novel *Hard Girls* has already sold 250,000 in hardback on Bookscan in the nine weeks since publication and sales are a phenomenal 30% up on last year’s hardback of *The Business. Martina Cole’s first novel Dangerous Lady* was published by Headline in 1992 and her 16th, *Hard Girls, was published in October ’09 instantly knocking Dan Brown off the top of the bestseller lists. In the intervening years, Martina has written 14 bestselling novels with combined sales of over 10 million copies. In 2009, Martina became a TV sensation with the documentaries Girls In Gangs LA* on Sky and ITV3’s *Ladykillers, and the BAFTA-nominated four part dramatisation of The Take* which was the night’s most watched multi channel show when aired and described by The Guardian as ‘a cross between The Sopranos and Ashes to Ashes.’ Her next TV series will be a six part adaptation of *The Runaway* on Sky One in mid 2010. Darley Anderson says:” I’m delighted to have done a new four book deal with Headline for Martina. Martina’s relationship with Tim, Jane, her editor, and Louise, her publicist, goes back to the very early days of Headline with her sensational bestselling debut *Dangerous Lady. Such continuity has been priceless in building Martina to the megaselling author she has now become. Martina herself is unique in our industry. A story-telling genius who like Catherine Cookson before her is truly LOVED by all her readers”. Group Chief Executive of Hachette Tim Hely Hutchinson said: “Publishing Martina Cole is a source of the greatest pleasure and satisfaction both for me personally and also for the whole Headline team. Martina is the most loyal, hardworking and brilliant of authors. Hers is a unique voice in fiction writing, which many have tried to copy without any success, because the authenticity of her experience and research and her cutting edge skill as a contemporary novelist are in a different class. I am so delighted that Martina’s success has now been extended to an even wider public by her achievements on television; and that in turn is helping us to take her books to new heights. We are truly honoured that Martina continues to entrust her work to us, and we shall do everything in our power to justify that confidence.” Q&A with PATRICK WOODROW December 2009 Tell us about your latest book, FIRST CONTACT.* FIRST CONTACT is an adventure thriller about a young couple who get lost in a deadly rainforest on the other side of the world. When the book opens they have been missing for twenty-eight hours, and we find them without food, water or hope. Then they stumble across a couple of skeletons in a crashed helicopter and the fun begins. For readers who loved DOUBLE CROSS, what can they expect in your new book? There are a number of features that are common to both books, which are part of the brand identity that I’m trying to create with my novels. Foremost among these are the exotic locations. DOUBLE CROSS begins in the Caribbean and moves to Malaysia via Amsterdam, London and Singapore. FIRST CONTACT oscillates between Papua New Guinea, London and Cambridge. With both books there’s plenty of opportunity for armchair travel. Secondly, my heroes are ordinary people rather than cops or detectives, and it’s their ability to overcome extraordinary circumstances that sets them apart. I hope this makes it easier for the reader to build a relationship with them. Thirdly, I would suggest that there’s a “feel-good” element to my novels. There’s plenty of violence and some extremely vicious villains – but you also get loads of fresh air, sunshine and escapism. Ultimately, the resolution of the mystery should bring a satisfied smile to the reader’s lips. Finally, there are a number of other similarities, which you’ll hopefully find in any book I write: feisty heroines, dangerous wildlife, graphic fight scenes and a hook at the end of every chapter. Why did you decide to go down the adventure thriller route? Two reasons: one personal, the other commercial. As a kid, I always loved adventure stories. I was captivated by Treasure Island and The Jungle Book. I even started writing my own adventures at the age of six. You can read one of these on my website (www.patrickwoodrow.com). From there it was a natural progression to Willard Price and Wilbur Smith, whose early novels still set the standard for any adventure writer. Like many authors, I simply write the same sort of stuff that I like to read. The second reason has more to do with what I perceived to be a gap in the market. I wanted to do something a bit different – draw back the curtains, throw the windows open and let some air in. Wilbur Smith and Clive Cussler own this space at the moment but there’s definitely room for one or two more. What made you decide to write standalones? I did toy with the idea of making Ed Strachan [from DOUBLE CROSS] a series character but I thought that his job as an underwater photographer was a bit *too* niche. I would’ve had to ingratiate him with some sort of law enforcement agency, otherwise him stumbling on adventure after adventure was going to look a bit contrived by the third or fourth book. And, as anyone who has read DOUBLE CROSS will know, Ed is now retired. He’s quite happy, thank you, lying in his hammock, sipping cold beer, listening to reggae and watching the girls walk by in their bikinis. A lot of people assume that sticking with the same character is somehow easier than starting afresh each time but I’m not sure that’s true. There’s a lot of skill involved in making the same character as real and as interesting in your eighth book as he was in your first. Lee Child is the master of this. Your books are full of non-stop adventures and danger - where do you get your ideas and inspiration from? Much of the action is driven by the setting. The sea and the jungle both offer endless scope for interaction with the environment and its wildlife. So too, the mountains, desert or ice-caps. Fact is always stranger than fiction so newspaper articles can also be a great source of ideas. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit the places I write about, so often it’s just a case of imagining what could go wrong while I’m there. How do you decide on a title? With great difficulty and usually by process of elimination. FIRST CONTACT was originally called COLD SWEAT but my publisher felt that “sweat” wasn’t a very attractive word and might put people off. So then it became CRASH POINT, which wasn’t bad but perhaps a little anodyne. Next, it spent a month or so as ABSOLUTE RISK, which is a medical term. The hero’s a doctor so this worked quite well. Right up to the point when a friend of mine said it sounded like I was trying to sell insurance. I eventually settled on FIRST CONTACT, which is an anthropological term used to describe the discovery of a new people. One of the main characters in the novel is an anthropologist so this made it very apt. And “contact” is a dynamic, energising word, which demands attention. What is one piece of advice you’d give to new authors? If I had to pick one, it would be get a good agent. Seriously. How else are you going to get your manuscript in front of the world’s leading publishers in such a short space of time? And how on earth are you going to negotiate translation rights in Bulgaria, Taiwan and Latvia? Someone once told me that agents are a necessary evil – but that’s nonsense. Writing commercial fiction requires teamwork just like any other business. You’d be a fool to think that you could do it all on your own. To get a good agent you need talent, a thick skin, and clear understanding of who you’re trying to appeal to. When I meet unpublished writers they very often struggle to give a concise summary of their work. If you can’t pitch your book in a maximum of two sentences then you’re probably doomed. What books do you read when you are not writing? Not as many as I’d like, is the short answer. My wife and I have recently had a baby and I can’t see myself settling down with a good book any time soon! Having said that, there are a number of authors that I find it hard to overlook: Wilbur Smith, Lee Child, Boris Starling, Carl Hiaasen and Gerald Seymour all form part of my staple literary diet. Your books feature incredible countries and cultures, where would you most like to go? The Middle East and Africa are the two parts of the world that I’m least familiar with but I’m hoping to address that with my fourth book. In the meantime, I’d love to explore the Arctic Circle and see the northern lights. Greenland is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit but I’m going to have go soon otherwise everything will have melted. What one book would you take on a desert island? It would have to be Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. Another childhood favourite, they’re a unique blend of imagination, wisdom and humour. And like all good children’s literature they’re often quite dark. Some of them read like adventure stories, others like parables, and some of them are still profoundly enigmatic. As well as entertaining me, they might have some practical value too. Each story demonstrates Kipling’s incredible lateral thinking, which might inspire me to find an ingenious way off the island. Then again, if the diving was any good, I’d probably stay. And finally, what can we expect next from Patrick Woodrow? I’m currently working on a third novel, provisionally called HIGH RISK or COLD BLOOD. I can’t decide which is better. Or worse. Having written an underwater thriller and a jungle thriller, we’re off to the mountains next. The story features an experienced alpinist with a short fuse and a thirst for revenge. We start in the Pakistani Himalayas and then move to a secret (and extremely remote) location in the southern hemisphere, via London and Buenos Aires. It’s already shaping up to be my most action-packed book to date. Hopefully it will make The Eiger Sanction look like Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. CHECK OUT THE AUTHOR PAGE FOR MORE AUTHOR Q&As Q&A with HELEN GRANT November 2009 How has your first year as a published author been? Hectic! We moved from Germany to Belgium a few months before The Vanishing was published, so I was checking proofs at the same time as I was unpacking, fighting my way through a new bureaucratic system and starting to learn a new language. When The Vanishing was actually published, I was in the middle of writing my second novel, The Glass Demon, which is coming out in April 2010, and working up to my first year Dutch exam. So it’s been a very busy time, but also incredibly exciting. Since I was a child it has been my ambition to hold in my hand a book with my name on the front, and now it’s finally happened! For anyone who hasn’t yet read THE VANISHING, what can they expect? Lots of German culture, a mystery, and a very grisly denouement! I lived in Bad Münstereifel, where the book is set, for seven wonderful years. It’s a place with a long and fascinating history and simply bursting with ghoulish legends, which I have woven into the story. I didn’t need to make them up – I think it’s the most haunted town on the planet! What is one piece of advice you’d give to new authors? Be very clear about what you want. There will be obstacles to overcome – rejections, constructive criticism from your editors, revisions, maybe disappointing reviews (though one hopes not!). It’s easier to get over these if you always have your ultimate aim in mind, whether it’s to publish one book, or get onto the bestseller list ten times in a row. I talked to members of a writer’s group this year about the publishing process, and one writer came up to me afterwards and said that if that was what it was like, he felt he would be happier writing for himself rather than trying to write commercially. It’s okay to decide that! The main thing is to be clear-sighted about what you want. What books do you read when you are not writing? I like Victorian literature – Trollope, Dickens, George Eliot (The Mill on the Floss is one of my most re-read books). I also read quite a lot of crime novels – I’m having a bit of a craze on Scandinavian crime novels at the moment – and ghost stories. When I’m getting towards the end of writing a novel and my head is full of it, I often re-read old favourites rather than start reading something new, which is just distracting. And finally, what can we expect next from Helen Grant? I’ve just started a third novel set in Germany, and I’m very excited about that. Like my other German novels, it’s inspired by historical events and local legends, in this case the witch trials which took place in the sixteenth century. It’s a fascinating but horrifying period of history. In the longer term, I’d love to set a book in my new home of Flanders. That’s still some way off - I’d like to be better at the language (Flemish, a dialect of Dutch) first – but it’s something I’d really like to do. It’s such a quirky place. Santa Claus arrives by helicopter here and they have a pumpkin-weighing contest every year – there has to be something to say about that! CHECK OUT THE AUTHOR PAGE FOR MORE AUTHOR Q&As *BESTSELLER* A HARD GIRL TO BEAT November 2009 In her fourth week Martina kept on breaking records. Through this week we saw sales of 23,942 hardbacks - another breakthrough record. She's a hard girl to beat. Hard Girls was The Sunday Times No.1 for hardback fiction with sales of 30,547 copies in its first week. The second time she'd toppled Dan Brown from the top spot with enormous sales. Martina Cole has reached the top position of the Bookseller Original Fiction Charts every year since 2001. It seems the only records Martina can beat these days are her own! Londonlite review:" Die hard Martina Cole fans will not be disappointed with her latest novel, Hard Girls. It has all the tough, gritty and addictive components that are synonymous with her East End-set, bestselling books. From loveable gangster rogues to heart-warming, likeable prostitutes, to odious bent police and, of course, some kick-ass strong women you wouldn't want to mess with, this crime thriller has them in spades. Straying slightly from her usual dodgy, wheeler-dealer skulduggery, Hard Girls follows a criminal investigation into the impossibly graphic, gruesome and disturbing killings of local prostitutes. Cole geeks will be pleased to welcome back popular character DCI Kate Burrows. Anyone who enjoyed the author's 1993 novel The Ladykiller will be familiar with the hard-but-fair "filth", who also liked to brush (romantically) with the wrong side of the law. Kate is back to help the equally tough and dedicated leading detective, Annie Carr, track down the killer.Of course, if Kate's back then surely the smoother-than-silk but smoulderingly dangerous Patrick Kelly is too? Yes (thanks, Cole), and although Pat's officially "gone straight" and retired as a gangland boss, squeaky clean he ain't. Sure enough, after discovering that he's somehow up to his neck in dead brasses, love doesn't run smoothly for the unlikely pair. With enough dodgy characters and iffy situations to arouse suspicion everywhere, the meticulous and methodical killer is frustratingly impossible to catch. However, Kate is still at the top of her game and, with her trusted team, she works to bring justice to the streets. Packed full of suspense and twists, Hard Girls keeps you questioning "whodunnit" right to the end. The entertaining characters and straight-down-the-line dialogue that helped catapult Cole's previous 15 books, make it impossible to put down. It delivers everything fans would expect, with as much brute force, stomachchurning detail and tough talk as you could hope for. And if you are new to her books, it will no doubt have you running to the library to catch up." FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR October 2009 Head of Rights, Madeleine Buston, and Rights Assistant Kasia Behnke, have recently returned from a busy week in Frankfurt, meeting publishers from around the world and pitching all the Agency’s books. Madeleine says: ‘It was a brilliant Fair - quieter than usual but we did more deals than ever. We have such commercial books that they are recession proof and we just continue to sell and sell!’. A big hit at the Fair was debut author Carolyn Jess-Cooke’s book THE GUARDIAN ANGEL’S JOURNAL where we sold rights in major pre-empts and at auction to publishers in Italy, Germany, France, The Netherlands and Russia. John Connolly’s latest stand-alone THE GATES also generated a huge amount of foreign interest, as did debut author Sean Slater’s THE SURVIVOR, a compelling thriller set in Vancouver. On the non-fiction front the Freeman Brother’s latest book USE YOUR HEAD created a buzz around the world and Pea Horsley’s debut HEART TO HEART on communicating with animals struck many chords with foreign editors. Offers are coming in from publishers around the world and Madeleine and Kasia are now tying up deals and following up all the Frankfurt interest. A VERY WITTY REID October 2009 At a glitzy awards gala in Edinburgh, Carmen Reid won a Scottish Woman of the Year award! Scottish Woman readers voted Carmen winner of the Wit category – an award honouring Scottish women ‘whose work delights and entertains us in the arena of popular culture’. In Carmen’s own words… Dear Lovely People, Do you remember that Scottish Woman magazine nomination? Witty Scottish woman of the year? I just won it! I am shocked to say the least. I went to their awards dinner in Edinburgh last night and no one told me anything! So I had a jolly old time, drank about 15 glasses of wine, then suddenly I’m called to the podium to shake hands with the cast of River City. It was very, very surreal, let me tell you. Actress Tilda Swinton won the Style award. Nominees for the Style, Wit & Wisdom awards included Julianne Moore, J K Rowling, Edith Bowman, Sharleen Spiteri, A L Kennedy, Denise Mina and Ronni Ancona. This prestigious award comes during Carmen’s very successful ‘Girls Night In’ UK tour. And ties in perfectly with her next novel The Celebrity Shopper out March 2010. BOOKTRUST TEENAGE PRIZE September 2009 *Helen Grant's debut novel The Vanishing of Katharina Linden* has been shortlisted for The Booktrust Teenage Prize.** Launched in 2003 to recognise and celebrate contemporary fiction written for teenagers, the prize (which is judged by a mixed panel of adults and teenagers) has in the words of former judge Matt Whyman 'fast become the benchmark for quality young people's fiction in the UK.' Previous winners are Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Sarah Singelton's Century, Anne Cassidy's Looking for JJ, Anthone McGown's Henry Tumour, Marcus Sedgwick's My Swordhand is Singing and Patrick Ness's The Knife of Never Letting Go. Big congratulations Helen! The winner will be announced at a ceremony on the 18th November. KONIGIN OF CRIME September 2009 Tana French has joined the ranks of the German crime writing elite with her first two novels. The paperback of the Internationally bestselling In The Woods had pre-orders of 60,000 copies. Published on the same day was “Totengleich" AKA - The Likeness for which there have been outstanding reviews. Says Berlin's leading paper - Tagesspiegel: “This is not the first time that detective novel and detailed psychological realism meet in anglo-american literature. Authors like Minette Walters, Elizabeth George, Val McDermid and Ruth Rendell alias Barbara Vine have been setting benchmarks in this bestsellerprone subgenre and are being revered as Queens of Crime by their fans. Now the succession is secured: With her second novel at latest, Tana French, much younger than her colleagues, has claimed her seat at the Queens' table.” More rave reviews: “Tana French takes us into a Bronte-like word. With a skilled feeling for psychology and plot she develops a net of relationships and suspense that heightens over 800 pages into the showdown - in a lucid, delicate and poetic prose” - Buchjournal “Breathtaking - and powerfully narrated” HÖRZU “THE LIKENESS operates on the same high literary level as IN THE WOODS. No doubt Tana French is moving into Crime's First league” Schnüss A TALENTED TRIO September 2009 *Three agency authors are in the Top Fifty paperback fiction list this week. American thriller writer Chris Mooney's The Dead Room* with cumulative of 26,000. Long term bestseller Carmen Reid's well loved character Annie Valentine in How Not To Shop has sold a storming 24,000 copies to date. Lastly crime debut writer Lee Weeks - THE FEMALE JAMES PATTERSON - with her third novel Death Trip** has sold 12,000 copies in only its third week on the shelves. THE RAINBOW RISE OF CATHY CASSIDY August 2009 Cathy Cassidy'overall sales are now in excess of a million copies. For the second year running Cathy ranks in the Top 50 Children's Book Authors. It's an exciting year for the bestselling writer whose eleventh book Angel Cakes hit the lists this year. Cathy also launched her brand new Daizy Star series for 8-12 year olds this summer. Watch this space! KOREAN UPSURGE July 2009 The Agency has received the highest ever advance from a Korean publisher for John Connolly's new stand-alone The Gates. Munhakdongne, one of largest publishing companies in Korea, offered for the rights late last night. Their authors include Paulo Coelho, Cormac McCarthy and Ian McEwan. Danny Hong, our new Korean subagent, negotiated this deal and also sold Korean rights in Chris Mooney’s The Dead Room to Korea Price information in the few weeks he has been working with us. TRUE IRISH TALENT July 2009 Darley Anderson is well known for discovering and championing a stellar list of international bestselling Irish crime and thriller writers notably John Connolly, Alex Barclay and Tana French as well as Irish bestseller Paul Carson and German bestseller Pat Dunne. Equally Anderson has from day one championed the talent and huge commercial potential of Kilkenny born, Dublin based, romantic comedy novelist Clare Dowling. Clare is already a No1 Irish bestseller and Anderson believes she's now poised to achieve massive sales growth in the UK and overseas. November 2009 will see Headline Books launch her sixth novel Just The Three Of Us in both A and B format paperbacks. Many now share Anderson's enthusiasm for Clare Dowling: Marian Keyes: "Commercial fiction at its most entertaining." Cathy Kelly: "Very funny and original." RTE: "What sets this apart is the quality of the writing. It is great fun, a great read." Irish Tatler: "Sparkling and witty - a great beach read." The Bookseller: "For Sheila O'Flanagan and Cathy Kelly fans - a warm, poignant, Irish read." The Sunday Tribune: "Dowling has an adept touch for light and warm-hearted women's fiction. She has a likeable tone and warm, funny characters, and is similar in style to Marian Keyes. Wonderfully entertaining." Clare Dowling's previous novels are: Amazing Grace, Expecting Emily, No Strings Attached, My Fabulous Divorce and Going It Alone. CRUCIFIX KILLER - BESTSELLER IN GERMANY July 2009 THE CRUCIFIX KILLER has been released in Germany ahead of UK publication and it has already climbed to No.15 on the German bestseller lists. Ullstein published earlier this month and have done a huge publicity campaign with window displays in German bookstores, airports, train stations and cafes, as illustrated in the following slideshow HERE Simon & Schuster will publish on 3rd of August in the UK. Ullstein made Linwood Barclay’s NO TIME FOR GOODBYE a bestseller in Germany before UK publication. MARTINA COLE'S THE TAKE OUT THIS MONTH June 2009 Adapted from the best-selling novel MARTINA COLE’S THE TAKE is a gripping drama about love, power, jealousy and betrayal. THE TAKE will be broadcast as four hour-long episodes on Sky 1, with the first two scheduled for 17th June, with the third on 24th and the fourth on 1st July. After the mind blowing preview, Darley said, "This is going to redefine contemporary drama." Headline is planning a serious promotion together with Sky's lucrative advertising. IN THE WOODS - Bestseller in Taiwan! June 2009 It is official: one week on sale and IN THE WOODS has been reprinted twice, with 11,000 copies in print. It hit the Apple Daily fiction bestseller list at No.7, behind only Stephenie Meyer and Slumdog Millionaire. It also hit No.6 on the Kingstone fiction & literature list, behind only Dan Brown's ANGELS AND DEMONS, beating Meyer, Tess Gerritsen, The Reader, Jodi Picoult, and Stephen King. Tana French is now the No.2 bestselling Darley Anderson author in Taiwan, behind only John Connolly, whose THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS has over 40,000 copies in print. LESLEY PEARSE May 2009 Lesley Pearse went straight to No.3 on Bookscan’s UK paperback bestseller charts with GYPSY, published by Penguin. Sales to date are over 100,000 copies and rising. Lesley has also seen major success in Portugal. ASA launched her with REMEMBER ME (NUNCA ME ESQUEÇAS) last December and have sold over 50,000 copies to date. To give this some perspective, their average print run is 3,000 copies. Her Portuguese editor, Carmen Serrano, said of Lesley’s sales, “I believe she will be very happy to know that she is a case study in Portugal” GOOD ADVICE ABOUT WRITING A BESTSELLER From the author of The Godfather Mario Puzo told an American pubilsher friend that the hardest thing he ever did in writing was to cut eighty pages from The Godfather. He did it when the script was complete. "It was the best writing I ever did," he said, "and it explained the motivation of the characters. But I realized after my analysis of bestsellers that the reader wants action and anything that slowed the story was out." A FOOTLOOSE READ August 2009 10,000 promotional copies of The Personal Shopper were given out in Faith shoe stores to customers who spent more than £30 for 2 weeks in August. The promotional copies had the opening chapter of How Not To Shop in the back and ran a competition to win a holiday that attracted 10,000 entrants. HEAVENLY DEAL MAKING August 2009 *Cally Taylor’s Heaven Can Wait* has gone to auction in both Mainland China and Taiwan with several publishers bidding in each territory.** Four publishers were part of the bidding war in Taiwan with the major publisher Crown winning the auction for Chinese complex rights. In Mainland China the auction was held between two publishers with Beijing Book Company, one of the five biggest publishers in China, coming top with the highest advance for a single book from a China publisher we've ever obtained for Darley Anderson! Heaven Can Wait will be their superlead title.	A REAL PAGE TURNER Tana French's New York Times Bestseller Faithful Place went straight into the UK Hardback Bestsellers List last week. Since it's publication on August 19th Faithful Place has been receiving excellent reviews and huge amounts of praise. And has been named THRILLER OF THE MONTH by The Observer. 'A gripping read' The Sun 'This is not your typical crime thriller, and it’s not meant to be a rip-roaring page-turner. But SAVOUR IT LIKE A GUINNESS and you can’t help enjoy the ride’ 4s' News of the World 'Mesmerising and impressibely written, you won’t put this fab thriller down’* Closer magazine 'A real page turner' Star Magazine ‘Darkness, tragedy and danger creep and crawl through this novel... ONE OF THE BEST THRILLERS SO FAR THIS YEAR... French’s skills as a storyteller that makes Faithful Place stand out, along with her best creation yet.’ Observer A GRIPPING TALE The Martina Coles bestseller The Take, adapted by Screenwriter Neil Biswas into a four-part serial drama is being re-aired. *The Take* is showing on Sky One and stars Tom Hardy (Bronson, Stuart A Life Backwards) as Freddie Jackson. The first episode was aired on Sunday 15th August, and will continue to be shown on the following three Sundays at 10pm. "Thanks to Tom Hardy’s superb performance as Freddie, this cocktail of violence, seedy sex and menace makes a gripping tale." Radio Times “The Take was my era – I wanted to capture that. The times changed then – the family dynamics changed. Every now and then I like to go back and take people back to another era and show them how something began.’’ Martina Cole *NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* 61 Hours by Lee Child has spent its 11th week on the New York Times Bestsellers List. *61 Hours, the 14th Jack Reacher Novel, originally went into the No. 1 spot in its first week of publication. In its 11th week the gripping crime novel held position No.35. "What heats '61 Hours' to the boiling point is Mr. Child’s decision to defy his own conventions. In the interests of pure gamesmanship he seems hellbent on doing everything differently this time..."* Janet Maslin, The New York Times. *AWARD NOMINATION* STEELING THE SHOW *61 Hours by Lee Child is one of seven books shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger was announced at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.* The winning author is awarded £2000 and also receives a unique 'steel dagger', which is handcrafted and inspired by the weapon used by Special Forces during World War II. Click here* to read more....* ALEX'S iHIT!! *Alex Barclay's stunning new Ren Bryce thriller Time of Death* has been chosen as book of the week on the iBook Store. Time of Death sold over 4000 copies after three days of sales and is featuring in Asda's summer reading promotion. NOWHERE TO RUN FBI agent Ren Bryce’s hunt for some of the country’s most dangerous killers is about to turn into a nightmare. There is unfinished business between Ren and those she is pursuing, and soon she is forced to confront both personal and professional traumas. NOWHERE TO HIDE Then someone close to Ren is murdered and secrets from her past look set to be revealed, throwing her into a world of fear, paranoia and danger. NO ONE TO TRUST Dark forces are at work and someone is determined to destroy Ren’s life. But time is running out and Ren must catch a killer before he catches her… BESTSELLER THE EXECUTIONER MAKES A KILLING AT NUMBER 18 Chris Carter’s thrilling second novel The Executioner is storming the charts and has hit the top 20 in hardback. After 10 days of sales The Executioner moved from no.24 to no 18 in the Hardback Bestsellers List. Chris Carter went to Harrogate's Crime Festival where fans were eagerly awaiting to meet the horror writer. BESTSELLER LESLEY PEARSE STEALS THE SHOW Lesley's latest novel Stolen swept into The Sunday Times bestseller list at No4 AFTER ONLY THREE DAYS SALES. Stolen sold 25,751 copies in just three days outselling Linwood Barclay (16,182) and Stephen King (11,559) both published on the same day. On publication day Lesley and the Mayor of Richmond- Upon-Thames did the honours at the grand opening of the new Teddington branch of British Bookshops & Stationers. Also lending a hand with the scissors was John Simpson, Chief Executive Officer of the bookselling chain Sussex, 2003. When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there. But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright. The girls met working on a cruise ship and their friendship blossomed as they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister influence of an older American couple. To her regret, Dale hasn’t seen Lotte since leaving the ship months earlier but the girl on the beach although badly bruised is indeed her much missed friend. Their reunion only marks the beginning of a dangerous tidal wave of secrets, lies and nightmares. Where has Lotte been? Who is the man who seems to want to kill her. And what has become of the baby she’s recently given birth to? Dale and Lotte must dig deep and find the strength to hold on against the odds if they are to rebuild their friendship and survive Lotte’s stolen and deadly past. PRIZE WINNER GONE TOMORROW GRABS GOLD The animated trailer for Gone Tomorrow has won gold at the PromaxBDA Design Awards in LA. The video that was commissioned by Transworld Publishers for the release of Lee Child's Gone Tomorrow. The video was entered into, and then won the catagory titled 'Other Design Applications: Music Video or Short Subject' Every year the the PromaxBDA awards are given out to recognise talent and creativity of promos, commercials and campaigns. Gone Tomorrow went into the No.1 position in the UK Hardback Bestsellers List and remained in the Chart for 21 weeks. The novel then went on to top the Paperback Bestsellers List and enter into the No.2 position in the New York Times Bestsellers List. AWARD NOMINATION QUEEN OF TEEN Cathy Cassidy has been nominated for the Queen of Teen award. Cathy Cassidy has been shortlisted for this award along with nine others authors, including the likes of Jaqueline Wilson. The award was created to celebrate teen authors that bring huge enjoyment to their readers, whilst dealing with real life issues. The shortlist is decided upon by teenagers’ nominations, with an online vote to find the Queen of Teen. You can vote for Cathy by clicking here. The winner will be announced in September. BESTSELLERS FIVE FOR FIVE For five weeks running, Darley Anderson Authors made up 10% of the2010 Paperback Fiction Bestsellers List. Martina Cole Hard Girls- 8th week in the Bestsellers List Lee Child Gone Tomorrow- 14th week in the Bestsellers List Jane Costello My Single Friend- 8th week in the Bestsellers List Annie Murray Soldier Girl- 5th week in the Bestsellers List Milly Johnson A Summer Fling- 5th week in the Bestsellers List The Whisperers by John Connolly and Lee Child's 61 Hours remain firm in the Hardback Bestsellers List. BESTSELLER SUCCESS For the fourth week running, Darley Anderson Authors have made up 10% of the Paperback Fiction Bestsellers List. Jane Costello’s My Single Friend and Milly Johnson’s A Summer Fling have both moved up in the chart. Martina Cole’s Hard Girls, Annie Murray’s Soldier Girl and Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child are the other DA titles featuring on the list. There is also news from the Hardback Fiction Bestsellers List, with The Whisperers by John Connolly still in the top 10, at No.8 and Lee Child’s 61 Hours at No. 13 after 11 weeks on the List. BESTSELLER THRILLING SALES John Connolly’s latest Charlie Parker thriller has been moving up the charts this week. The Whisperers,** dubbed by the Daily Mail as Sensational went straight into the Hardback Bestsellers List at No.4 last week after only three days of publication. However, after a fantastic week of sales John Connolly's latest has moved up to No.3 in the Bestsellers List. *The Whisperers* is continuing to receive superb reviews... Brilliant, terrifying and effortlessly seductive, I defy anyone to put this thriller down - it is sensational. The Daily Mail Another creepy thriller from a modern master The Daily Mirror This is one of Connolly’s darker, scarier novels, all the more effective for the way the supernatural elements arise organically out of realistic detail … Connolly is excellent as always at using primal archetypes to create an atmosphere of apocalyptic dread. Cancer-ridden antiquities collector Herod – ‘I am often asked if I am fond of children’ – is one of the most haunting characters in an oeuvre not exactly short of them. John O’Connell, The Guardian on Sunday . *BESTSELLER* CONNOLLY'S LATEST MUCH MORE THAN A WHISPER The Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lovers, John Connolly is back with a spine tingling new novel, and is storming the charts after only three days of sales. *The Whisperers, released on the 13th May, shot into the No.4 position in the UK Hardback Bestsellers List and into the No.1 position in Ireland’s, and has been receiving fantastic reviews. Tremendous stuff, as Connolly's novels always are. Mark Timlin, Independent on Sunday His latest plot is a clever mixture of quest and chase, written in prose that unfolds at warp speed, and rarely fails to sing.* The Observer The chilling new thriller, The Whisperers, sees the return of much loved hero Charlie Parker… The border between Maine and Canada is porous. Anything can be smuggled across it: drugs, cash, weapons, people. Now a group of disenchanted former soldiers has begun its own smuggling operation, and what is being moved is infinitely stranger and more terrifying than anyone can imagine. Anyone, that is, except private detective Charlie Parker, who has his own intimate knowledge of the darkness in men's hearts. But the soldiers' actions have attracted the attention of the reclusive Herod, a man with a taste for the strange. And where Herod goes, so too does the shadowy figure that he calls the Captain. To defeat them, Parker must form an uneasy alliance with a man he fears more than any other, the killer known as the Collector . . . *RAVE REVIEWS FOR REACHER* *The day of US publication for Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher novel, 61 Hours,* has finally arrived. Following on from the success of Gone Tomorrow, 61 Hours has been receiving fantastic reviews over in the US. Publishers Weekly says Child is a superb craftsman of suspense, juggling several plots and keeping his herrings well-rouged. He doesn't need the 24-like conceit suggested by the title as he counts down to the final confrontation-but it's not a major distraction. Best of all, this is a rare series book that reads like a stand-alone. Has Lee Child killed off his action hero? This is the 14th book in the Reacher series, so it's plausible the author could finally have tired of him. But readers obviously haven't. The series is a publishing phenomenon. If Child killed off Reacher, his publisher would be the next to go from a heart attack. We'll know for sure later in the year, when another Lee Child novel is scheduled to be released. The popularity of the Reacher series is due largely to its quirky and appealing hero and to the author's talent for sustaining tension on every page. The Associated Press 61 Hours is published in the US on the 18th May. MEGA MARKETING FOR MARTINA Martina Coles Hard Girls continues to storm the paperback bestseller lists having already notched up record sales in Hardback. Some of Headlines many many marketing initiatives for Hard Girls have been ground breaking. First, In Tesco an unprecedented Martina Cole Tower Dump Bin Promotion in 550 stores was placed on the concourse forecourt at store entrances reaching a new market for Martina. Secondly, WHSmith High Street and WHSmith Travel had an unprecedented promotion where Hard Girls could be bought for £2.99 with any magazine purchased in the store. Thirdly, in Asda The Hard Way was an Asda Bookclub selection which uniquely included the first chapter of Martina’s next novel The Family Fourthly, a Martina Cole app is just being launched and will be available for free download on the iPhone and iTouch, It’s designed in the style of 'entering the world of Martina Cole'. The visuals depicts a desk with relevant items from the book that are interactive, letting you find extra content and is Martina Cole generic. HERALDED AS THE STIEG LARSSON OF TEENAGE FICTION We are immensely proud to announce the publication of Carnegie nominated Helen Grant’s second novel, The Glass Demon (£6.99 Penguin).** The First Death Seventeen-year-old Lin Fox finds a body in an orchard. As she backs away in horror, she steps on broken glass. The Second Death Then blood appears on her doorstep- blood, and broken glass. The Third Death Something terrible is found in the cemetery. Shards of broken glass lie by a grave. WHO WILL BE NEXT? As the attacks become more sinister, Lin doesn't know who to trust. She's getting closer to the truth behind these chilling discoveries, but with each move the danger deepens. Because someone wants Lin gone- and won't give up until he's got rid of her and her family. Well-plotted and beautifully written, it is everything a young-adult novel should be. Helen, please keep on writing. The Independent A gripping, atmospheric adventure. The Observer *The Glass Demon is published by Penguin/Puffin UK and is available now. A SUNNY DAY FOR A SUMMER FLING Milly Johnson has had a successful book launch for her new novel A Summer Fling, at her local library in Barnsley. In line with the nature of the book being ‘Summer’, the event took on a ‘sun’ theme. Milly gave a talk about inspiration before signing books, giving away ‘Sunny Buns’ in the form of giant yellow cupcakes, Lush cosmetics, summer reading bundles and lots more sunny yellow gifts. The library was full to capacity with over 100 Milly Johnson fans turning up to the event, including Tara Hyland, author of Daughters of Fortune. Milly donated some of the profits made on the day to the Haworth Cat Rescue Charity, of which she is a patron. Selling more than 150 books, £240 was raised and donated. A Summer Fling* is on sale now and has jumped straight into the Tesco’s Chart at No.9. *AWARD NOMINATION* CARNEGIE MEDAL SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED... The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant has been shortlisted for Britain's oldest and most prestigious award for children's writing, The Carnegie Medal. The CILIP Carnegie Medal, established in 1936, in memory of the great Andrew Carnegie, who set up over 2800 libraries, is awarded annually to an outstanding book for children and young people. All eight books that feature in 2010’s shortlist, including Terry Pratchett’s Nation, have been picked for the way they deal with ‘some of life's most challenging issues in an intelligent and highly accessible way, offering heroes and heroines that young readers can relate to and a life affirming sense of hope.’ Carnegie Medal Press Desk Judges have described The Vanishing of Katharina Linden as ‘An accomplished, darkly comic debut novel which grips the reader as it builds its macabre layers to a horrifying conclusion. Its German setting, and Pia's family are extremely well captured as are the dark undercurrents in small-town society.’ The winning titles will be announced at an awards ceremony on 24 June 2010. For more information on the Carnegie Medal visit their website, www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk. *BESTSELLER* MY SINGLE FRIEND HAS MANY FANS Jane Costello’s My Single Friend has entered in at No.29 in the Bestsellers list after only three days of sales. The superb new novel, which featured in a recent article in The Independant on Sunday, titled ‘Can you judge a book by its cover?’, has followed on from Jane's previous book The Nearly- Weds, which won the RNA ‘Romantic Comedy of the Year Award’. At 28, Lucy is doing well for herself. She's got a great job in PR, her boss loves her, and her best girlfriends Dominique and Erin think she's great. More important than anyone's opinion is that of her flatmate, and oldest friend in the world, Henry. For twenty years they've been inseparable: beauty and the geek. Henry thinks the world of Lucy. So why does she feel the need to lie outrageously on dates? From rock-climbing to Chekov: when it comes to prospective boyfriends, Lucy is compelled to embellish her C.V. with unlikely porkies that always backfire - with hilarious results. Henry can't understand it. Lucy is so loveable: why can't she just be herself? But when Lucy turns the spotlight on Henry, he wishes he'd never brought it up. With a penchant for jumpers and NHS-style specs, Lucy decides that Henry is in need of a makeover - big time. Enlisting the help of Dom and Erin, it's not long before the girls have Henry out of the flat, and into the Topman changing rooms. A new haircut, contact lenses, a flirting master-class from Dom ...poor Henry doesn't know what's hit him. But nothing can prepare them for the surprise results! Before long, Lucy realises that their lives will never be the same again. . *AWARD NOMINATION* SHORTLIST FOR IRISH BOOK AWARDS Place your vote! Two Darley Anderson Authors, John Connolly and Tana French have been included on the shortlist for this years Irish Book Awards. Both authors are down to the final 50 for the title of 'Book of the Decade'. The nominated books are: John Connolly's The Lovers and Tana French's *In the Woods* To place you vote click here. The winner will be announced at the end of May. *AWARD NOMINATION* THE GATES IN THE FINAL 10! April 2010 The Darley Anderson Agency are extremely excited to announce that The Gates, by John Connolly, has been shortlisted for The Bisto Book of the Year Award 2009/10. The book awards, in partnership with the CBI, (National Organization for Children’s Books in Ireland) sponsored by Bisto, is the most prestigious award of its kind in Ireland. The awards are open to any children's book by an author and/or illustrator born or resident in Ireland, written in Irish or English and published between 1st January and 31st December each year. John is down to the final 10 contestants. The winner will be announced on Monday 24th May. Visit www.childrensbooksireland.ie for more details. KILLER SALES FOR CHRIS CARTER A huge congratulations to Chris Carter, whose fantastic debut novel, The Crucifix Killer went straight in to No.1 in the Booksellers Top 20 Fiction Heatseekers list. It is a fantastic achievement for a debut novel. Chris has followed in the footsteps of Margaret Dickinson, who was at No.1 last week with Sons and Daughters. The Agency are thrilled that for two consecutive weeks these two talented authors have occupied top spot. *BESTSELLER* THRILLING SALES *61 hoursstayed emphatically in No.1 position in the UK Hardback Bestsellers List and for the second week running 61 Hours sales eclipsed those of Ian McEwans literary offering, Solar,in 2nd position. Says Child in a recent London Evening Standard interview with David Sexton "People think they should really be reading the Ian McEwan but they are reading the Lee Child because they like it better and they feel guilty about that!" Guilty or not, Lee's second weeks sales, totaled more than the combined figures of Solar and the books in the 3rd and 4th positions. BESTSELLER* LEE CHILD STORMS UK CHARTS AFTER ONLY 72 HOURS *61 hours* shot firmly into the No.1 spot in the Hardback Bestsellers List this week. The countdown to publication of Lee Child’s latest thriller finally ended on the 18th March and after only 72 hours, a phenomenal 26,432 copies had flown off the shelves. His heart stopping new thriller has been receiving fantastic reviews. ‘Child's protagonist is a wandering knight who always finds trouble and inevitably solves it, with satisfying violence. As usual, Child's writing is superb… Fast paced and exciting, this is highly recommended for thriller fans.’ The Library Journal "This is Child in top form, but isn't he always?" The Booklist Winter in South Dakota. Blowing snow, icy roads, a tired driver. A bus skids and crashes and is stranded in a gathering storm. There’s a small town twenty miles away, where a vulnerable witness is guarded around the clock. There’s a strange stone building five miles further on, all alone on the prairie. There’s a ruthless man who controls everything from the warmth of Mexico. Jack Reacher hitched a ride in the back of the bus. A life without baggage has many advantages. And crucial disadvantages too, when it means facing the arctic cold without a coat. But he’s equipped for the rest of his task. He doesn’t want to put the world to rights. He just doesn’t like people who put it to wrongs. Read more about Reacher at www.leechild.com. MARGARET'S FIRST CHOICE FOR HEATSEEKERS The Darley Anderson Agency are immensely proud of Margaret Dickinson, whose latest novel, *Sons and Daughters* has gone to No.1 in the Booksellers Top 20 Fiction Heatseekers List. After the first three days, Margarets 17th saga had gone straight in at No.6 and after Margarets fantastic promotional tour of bookshops accross the UK, Sons and Daughters rocketed into prime position. A GOLDEN BEGINNING FOR TARA HYLAND Tara Hyland’s debut novel, Daughters of Fortune was discovered by Darley, who sold World language rights to Simon and Schuster UK and Atria US for a high six figure advance. Even before its official publication on the 18th March, it's been receiveing rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. ‘Hyland’s first novel intricately and effortlessly dramatizes the lives and loves of a rich and glamorous cast of characters.’ Booklist ‘In Hyland's sprawling debut, sparkling with Gossip Girl sizzle and Barbara Taylor Bradford melodrama’ Publishers Weekly 'Sex, glamour and fashion- perfect.' The Sun When asked how she felt about the publication, Tara said 'It's been three and a half years since I started writing Daughters of Fortune, and it's lovely to see it in print. I hope it's as much fun to read as it was to write.' Even the wealthiest family can’t afford to keep secrets… William Melville's daughters are heiresses to the world's most exclusive fashion dynasty. Beautiful and rich, they are envied by all. But behind the glittering facade of their lives, each girl hides a dark secret that threatens to tear their family apart. Smart, ambitious Elizabeth knows how to manipulate every man she meets, except the one who counts: her father. Gentle, naive Caitlin, the illegitimate child, struggling to fit into a world of privilege while staying true to herself. Stunning, spoilt Amber, the party girl with a weakness for bad boys; more fragile than anyone realises. As each of them seeks to carve out her own destiny, Elizabeth, Caitlin and Amber face difficult choices, which will take them in wildly different directions. But as old wounds resurface and threaten to destroy the foundations of the Melville empire, their paths will cross again. Because the simple truth is that, no matter how far you go, you cannot escape the claims of family. HERE TODAY: GONE TOMORROW March 2010 Lee Child’s masterful thriller *Gone Tomorrow* went straight in at No. 1 in The Sunday Times Paperback Bestseller lists and remained there for two weeks running. Moving into the No. 2 this week Nearly 30,000 copies of Gone Tomorrow were sold in the UK in THE FIRST THREE DAYS after publication. At the end of the second week on the shelves sales have reached nearly 60,000 copies. In addition *Gone Tomorrow* has beaten every other Bestseller Category both this week and last selling more copies than the three other No. 1s combined. Thirteenth in the Jack Reacher series the hardback of *Gone Tomorrow* went to No. 1 on both The Sunday Times and The New York Times fiction bestseller lists last year. 'No-one kicks butt quite as entertainingly as Lee Child does'- Kirkus Review *AWARD NOMINATION* ROMANTIC NOVELIST ASSOCIATION GO WILD FOR NELL DIXON February 2010 In the fiftieth year of RNA (Romantic Novelists Association) awarding prizes to the very best in the romance department, Nell Dixon’s Animal Instincts has been shortlisted to receive the Love Story of the Year award. The Love Story of the Year award is for shorter stories that concentrate on a growing central relationship and the winner will be chosen by three selected judges. The prizes will be awarded on Tuesday 16th March. MARTINA'S A KILLING SUCCESS ON ITV February 2010 Martina Cole’s Ladykillers, which was first aired on ITV3 last year is the first ITV3 programme EVER to be transferred to ITV1. It will go out on ITV1 every Tuesday night from 10.30pm for 6 weeks. Ladykillers has been shortlisted for the Royal Television Society awards History Category. All this is perfect timing for Hard Girls paperback publication on 15th April. *BESTSELLER* WHO'S THE DADDY? February 2010 After only three days on sale Lee Child's latest thriller Gone Tomorrow shot to No1 in The Sunday Times Paperback Bestseller Lists with 30,000 copies. Thirteenth in the Jack Reacher series Gone Tomorrow hit the Top No1 spot on both The Sunday Times and The New York Times hardback fiction bestseller lists in 2009. 'No-one kicks butt quite as entertainingly as Lee Child does'- Kirkus Review *BESTSELLER* LESLEY PEARSE STEALS THE SHOW February 2010 In it's sixth week, Lesley Pearse's latest novel Stolen is at No15 in the Bestseller Lists. Stolen went in at No3 in its first week only a hundred or so copies behind Dan Brown and James Patterson, at No1. Sussex, 2003. When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there. But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright. The girls met working on a cruise ship and their friendship blossomed as they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister influence of an older American couple. To her regret, Dale hasn’t seen Lotte since leaving the ship months earlier... but the girl on the beach – although badly bruised – is indeed her much missed friend. Their reunion only marks the beginning of a dangerous tidal wave of secrets, lies and nightmares. Where has Lotte been? Who is the man who seems to want to kill her? And what has become of the baby she’s recently given birth to? Dale and Lotte must dig deep and find the strength to hold on against the odds if they are to rebuild their friendship and survive Lotte’s stolen – and deadly – past... BRAINBOX BEHNKE January 2010 Kasia Behnke, newly promoted to the role of Rights Manager at the Agency, has been awarded 3rd place in The Bookseller Prize 2009. This hard won prize is awarded for the best dissertations presented as part of the Kingston Publishing MA. The Judges described the dissertation entitled: THE AUTHOR, THE AGENT AND THE PUBLISHER: Portrait of a Power Struggle 1989 – 2009 as: ‘An insightful overview of a vast, and frankly under-researched area of publishing.’ They also considered the work ‘very timely’. Kasia says, ‘Hearing about the award was amazing news! I have spent a year writing my thesis and to be acknowledged for my research into an area of publishing I love and work in – it’s just the best news for me!’ She continues, ‘I was absolutely humbled by the authors, agents and publishers who agreed to be interviewed for this study and this award would not be possible without their contributions. A huge thanks to everyone.’ Kasia who joined the agency in 2008 sells rights in the Baltic States, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Korea, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Thailand and Turkey. Kasia also handles large print and audio rights, and helps with Film & TV rights. Well done Kasia. We're very proud! THE VANISHING OF KATHARINA LINDEN IS A SUNDAY TIMES CHRISTMAS PICK December 2009 Quote: The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by newcomer Helen Grant (Puffin £6.99) starts with a bang, and dances its way exhilaratingly through a dark thriller about a girl investigating child disappearances in a small German town. You can see what good company Helen Grant is keeping by reading the full article here *BESTSELLER* CLARE DOWLING SELLS MORE COPIES THAN EVER November 2009 Clare Dowling's wonderful novel Just The Three Of Us has sold in excess of 70,000 paperbacks within the first two months of sales. In its second week on the Bestselling Mass Market Paperback Fiction Top Twenty Just The Three Of Us was at No18. In the same week was No1 in the fiction Heatseekers list. Congratulations Clare. *BESTSELLER* FRENCH IS A GERMAN HIT November 2009 "Totengleich" ("The Likeness") climbed from No. 3 to No. 2 on the influential "Crime World Bestlist". "Totengleich" has been on the Spiegel-bestsellerlist (hardcover) for 8 continuous weeks now; 33.000 copies have been sold with bookshops requesting more every day. "'Totengleich', is full of fatal twists and rich in high-volt-suspense – refined by a smart plot that pushes individual guilt into excess and the main characters into frenzy. ... Tana French is a virtuoso of unsettling." - Die Welt "Audacious and convincing!" - Frankfurter Rundschau "Beyond doubt Tana French is one of the genre's greatest talents – after 'Totengleich' one just can't wait to read a third novel starring Cassie." - NDR 1 "With her second novel the young irish author tops the great expectations raised by her debut. ... a breathtaking puzzle and a paralysing parforce-ride through worlds in-between." Bücher "A crime novel of rare and prize-worthy quality." Sächsische Zeitung "Suspense on highest literary level is Tana French's trademark." Büchermenschen HEAVEN CAN WAIT SHORT STORY WRITING COMPETITION October 2009 To celebrate the publication we are running a free to enter short story competition to give another unpublished writer a boost! The top 3 stories will win a one-on-one consultation with an agent from The Darley Anderson Agency. 1st prize: £100; A One-on-one consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency; Signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait"; Signed jacket artwork of "Heaven Can Wait"; Three books by Orion’s #1 bestselling authors - Ian Rankin, Maeve Binchy and Linwood Barclay 2nd prize: £50; One-on-one consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency; Signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait" 3rd prize: £25; One-on-one consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency; Signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait" 5 runner up prizes: Signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait" PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING RULES CAREFULLY By entering the HEAVEN CAN WAIT short story competition, you agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions; 1. Competition closing date is 15 January 2010. Entries received after this date will not be entered into the competition. The promoter does not accept any responsibility for lost or late entries. Proof of sending will not be accepted as proof of receipt. 2. Only entries received by post will be accepted. Entries will not be returned. Send your fictional story of no more than 1,000 words on the theme of “Heaven” to: 'Heaven Can Wait Short Story Competition' Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency Estelle House 11 Eustace Road London SW6 1JB NB: stories written for children will not be entered into the competition Your story must be double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font and pages must be numbered. Please include the title but NOT your name on your story. Please attach a separate cover sheet that includes the following: the title of your story, word count, your name, address, email address and telephone number. The competition is only open to residents of the UK and Ireland who have not had a novel or short story collection published and/or do not have a publishing contract, except employees of the Orion Publishing Group, any associated Hachette company, their families, its agents or anyone professionally connected with the prize draw. Only one entry per person will be accepted. You warrant that your story is original to you and does not infringe the legal right of any other party. You warrant that your story has not previously been published in print, on the internet or in any other format throughout the world. All entries will be read anonymously by Cally Taylor, Sally Quilford and Tamsyn Murray who will provide a short-list of twenty stories to the Darley Anderson Agency. Representatives from the Darley Anderson Agency and the Orion Publishing Group will judge the twenty shortlisted stories and select three prizewinners (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and five runners up. The results of the competition will be posted on this website (www.callytaylor.co.uk) by 15 of April 2010. The winning three stories will be published on www.callytaylor.co.uk by 15 April 2010 where they will remain online at the discretion of the promoter. Copyright in the stories will be retained by the authors who grant to the promoter and the Orion Publishing Group a non-exclusive licence to use extracts from the work to publicise and promote the competition, the website, Cally Taylor and/or “Heaven Can Wait”. All prize winners will be contacted by phone or email by 15 April 2010. The prize winners must respond within 14 days to accept their prize. (Prizes: 1st prize - £100 cheque, one-on-one 45 minute consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency, signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait", signed jacket artwork of "Heaven Can Wait", 3 novels by Ian Rankin, Maeve Binchy and Linwood Barclay. 2nd prize - £50 cheque, one-on-one 45 minute consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency, signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait". 3rd prize - £25 cheque, one-on-one 45 minute consultation with an agent from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency, signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait". 5 runner up prizes - signed copy of "Heaven Can Wait". No cash alternatives to these prizes will be made available. Prize winners attending a one-on-one consultation will be required to take up their prize before 31 December 2010 and to pay for their own transportation to the address of the promoter. The date of the one-on-one consultation will be arranged by the agent. Alternatively, a phone appointment may be arranged for prize winners unable to travel to the promoter. Entering or winning the competition does not guarantee an offer of representation from the Darley Anderson Literary Agency or publication by the Orion Publishing Group. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. A full list of judges and prize winners may be made available on request by writing to the promoter at the address below. The promoter reserves the right to withdraw or amend this competition at any time without notice. The promoter is Cally Taylor in association with The Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency Estelle House 11 Eustace Road London SW6 1JB A HEAVENLY DEBUT October 2009 There is great excitement over the publication of Cally Taylor’s fantastic debut Heaven Can Wait. Published on 15th October this fabulous novel it has already gone into the W H Smith charts. Foreign rights have now been sold to Goldmann in Germany, Konyvmolykepzo in Hungary; Crown in Taiwan; Beijing Booky Company in China; Bertrand Brasil in Brazil; Versatil in Spain and Eksmo in Russia. A WORDPOOL OF TALENT October 2009 Three wonderful agency authors took part in this year's Blackpool's Big Book Festival. Visitors were invited to signings and readers by the well loved authors Carmen Reid, Jane Costello and Milly Johnson. CONNOLLY OPENS THE GATES TO YOUNGER READERS October 2009 *John Connolly's young adult debut The Gates* is meeting with rave reviews in both the UK and US. In the modern classic - The Book of Lost Things - John used the trappings of fairy tales to tell a dark story for adults of a boy coping with World War II and the loss of his mother. Now with The Gates he gives himself completely over to the urge to write for younger readers, creating a slapstick modern fantasy that mixes quantum physics with metaphysics. An Amazon Top Book Of The Month - John Humphries also revealed himself a fan when he interviewed John Connolly on the Today program last week. To listen again visit: listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/today/ TATLER WOMAN OF THE YEAR NOMINATION October 2009 Tana French has been shortlisted for the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year Award - in the Literature category.** The aim of the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Awards is to both recognise and reward some of Ireland’s most influential and successful women. These prestigious awards seek to showcase women of high achievement whose successes have gained them public praise along with those who often work tirelessly to improve the life of others. The judging panel is made up of renowned and leading Irish women many of whom are past winners including Moya Doherty, Adi Roch, Caroline Downey Desmond, Tina Roche, Deirdre Purcell, Mary Davis, Carmel Breheny, Gina Quinn and Elaine Prenderville. Tana's debut novel In The Woods was a transatlantic bestseller and winner of five literary awards in the US. LEE CHILD HIJACKS DARLEY'S ANGELS September 2009 Lee Child re-named Darley's Angels the Reacher Creaturettes for a special evening of revels and celebrations. Glasses were raised to Dr Lee Child and of course to Jack Reacher - transatlantic bestseller and universal hearthrob. This year Lee hit the Top No1 spot on both The Sunday Times and The New York Times hardback fiction bestseller lists with Gone Tomorrow. SIX FIGURE DEBUT September 2009 Huge congratulations to Helen Grant, whose début novel The Vanishing of Katharina Linden and her second book, The Glass Demon, have been acquired in the US as an adult title by Kate Miciak at Bantam Dell in a six-figure deal. Hardback publication is scheduled for August 2010 - watch this space! FRANKFURT EXCITEMENT September 2009 The Rights Team at the Agency is gearing up for the Frankfurt Book Fair which has come around very quickly. Both Madeleine Buston and Kasia Behnke have fully booked schedules comprising back-to-back meetings with over 200 editors. The Fair takes place between 13th – 17th October and Madeleine and Kasia will be based in the Agent’s centre pitching new titles, liaising with new editors and creating a buzz around all the authors at the Agency. FABULOUS FOSS'S TWENTY YEARS AT HEADLINE September 2009 Congratulations Clare Foss on celebrating twenty glorious years as Editor and Publisher at Headline Books. From Darley to Clare - It has been a real pleasure and privilege to work with you over these years! And to share such wonderful authors together most notably Lynda Page, Anne Baker, Clare Dowling, Martina Cole and the late, great Joan Jonker whom you discovered and we miss so much. Clare, you’ve always been a fair but formidable negotiator. I still remember our very first deal together when despite all my powers of persuasion you would not budge a penny on the particular sum you felt was the right advance for the debut novel I was selling you. Just as importantly you’ve been a great editor of your authors’ manuscripts; a publisher of real flair and imagination and, when necessary, great tact; and above all a warm and caring person who has always made all her authors feel cherished. Everyone at Headline and all your authors have been very fortunate to work with you, as have I. Please keep on keeping on. Darley xx MARTINA HEADS THE MOORS SEARCH September 2009 Martina Cole will head an important new series with Sky 1 and indie Free@Last restarting the hunt for the Moors Murders Victim Keith Bennett. Bennett was one of five children raped and murdered on Saddleworth Moors by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley - whose grave tragically has never been found. *The Search with Martina Cole* was masterminded by megaselling Martina who wants to help Keith Bennett’s mother, Winnie Johnson, to move forward with her life and make a strong argument for re-opening the case which was officially closed in July of this year. Cole met Winnie Johnson last year while making the documentary *Ladykillers* and they have kept in close contact ever since. In the 2 x 60 minute series Cole will revisit existing evidence, interview the people originally involved with the case as well as some new witnesses. The series will air in early 2010. Watch this space for news closer to the time. THE FREEMAN BROTHERS GO STATESIDE August 2009 Dr Daniel Freeman and Jason Freeman's highly commercial must-have reference guide to emotional and pyschological health Know Your Mind has been snapped up by Sterling Publishers in the US. Sterling publishers are one of the oldest and most respected publishers of non fiction in the US. Know Your Mind which is published by Rodale in the UK is the only non academic book to been endorsed by the British Psychological Society. Professor Peter Kinderman, British Psychological Society calls Know Your Mind: "A tremendous achievement. The best therapeutic advice, based on the most up-to-date scientific evidence, presented in a wonderfully accessible and entertaining form. It deserves a place on everyone’s bookshelf." Professor Aaron Beck, the Godfather of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy says of Know Your Mind:“This is an engaging and lucid summary of the best psychological research and clinical practice. It will be enormously valuable to very many readers.” And Professor Allison Harvey, University of California - Berkeley, says: “If only all reference books were as entertaining and enlightening! Know Your Mind* is reliable and authoritative, but never dry or dull. It's a book we've long needed.”* SCHOOL OF REACHER August 2009 Lee Child has set up a series of scholarships for students at Sheffield University, in the name of his iconic hero Jack Reacher. A graduate of the university and visiting professor Lee will fund 52 Jack Reacher scholarships worth £2000 each. Lee says: “It’s upsetting to see bright and dedicated students contemplate giving up their studies due to financial pressures. Like my literary character Jack Reacher, if I see things are wrong then I want them put right.” To seal the deal Lee met the students at the Fat Cat pub in Kelham Island to enjoy the specially brewed Jack Reacher ale - slightly dark, mid-strength. THE METEORIC RISE OF JACK REACHER June 2009 Mega-selling Lee Child’s latest thriller GONE TOMORROW is a transatlantic super hit. In the US Gone Tomorrow rode high on thirteen different bestseller lists around the country. Gone Tomorrow won the No1 slot on the New York Times Hardback Fiction Bestseller list in its first week. Altogether Gone Tomorrow spent five weeks on the New York Times Hardback fiction bestseller list, four weeks on the LA Times bestseller list, six weeks on the Boston Globe bestseller list, three weeks on the Washington Post bestseller list and and three weeks on the Wall Street Journal bestselling fiction list. UK side Gone Tomorrow spent twelve weeks on The Sunday Times hardback fiction Bestseller List after hitting the top no1 spot in its first week. Gone Tomorrow is no 13 in the bestselling Jack Reacher series and its success follows on the heels of the previous thriller in the series - Nothing to Lose paperback - which spent five weeks on the New York Times bestseller list going in at No3. Jack Reacher is a smash hit success. Says Darley Anderson: "This is one of the all time great thrillers." Kirkus Review: "noone kicks butt as entertainingly as Lee Child" Omaha World Herald: "...And Gone Tomorrow is vintage Child, a compulsive page-turner head-and-shoulders above most of today's thriller writers." *Suicide bombers are easy to spot. They give out all kinds of tell-tale signs. Mostly because they're nervous. By definition they're all first-timers. Riding the subway in New York at two o'clock in the morning, Reacher knows the twelve giveaway signs to look out for. Watching one of his fellow-passengers, he becomes sharply aware: one by one, she ticks off every bulletpoint on his list. So begins the new heartstopping new thriller starring today's most admired action hero, the gallant and enigmatic loner Jack Reacher. But now Reacher is confronted by a situation so disturbing and deceptive that the truth eludes him. Has he painted targets on the good guys’ backs?* MARGARET DICKINSON'S FLOWER POWER A blooming lovely idea for a well loved author! A few years ago at a talk given by Margaret one lady bought her entire backlist there and then - 11 titles! She has collected every one of Margaret's books since. This same fan is now taking part in a flower festival near Spalding and she has chosen to create her flower arrangements around Margaret's book titles. Margaret's latest novel is Sufragette Girl and recently hit the Heatseeker's list at number 2. READERS ON THE RUN August 2009 *Martina Cole's Faces* is the seventh most often stolen book from shops. As the annual list of Britain's most borrowed books is revealed journalist Murad uncovers the underground top ten in which Martina claims the No7 spot. Other books in the undergound top ten are the Oxford English dictionary, The London A-Z, The Official Highway Code, and books by Terry Pratchett and JK Rowling. TANA IS THE FIRST LADY July 2009 Tana French's novels In The Woods and The Likeness simultaneously occupy hot spots on The New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller Lists -at No19 and No20 respectively.** In the Woods spent TWENTY WEEKS on the New York Times Bestseller list. The Likeness is in its second month on the paperback bestseller lists where it debutted at No13. Combined US paperback sales are just below the 600,000 copies mark. The Likeness has everything: memorable characterers, crisp dialogiue,shrewd psychological insight, mounting tension, a palpable sense of place, and wonderfully evocative painterly prose." - Thomas Gaughan, Booklist. EXCITING DEBUT AUTHOR LONGLISTED FOR TEEN PRIZE July 2009 The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant has been Longlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize. This is a fantastic achievement for a début author and huge congratulations to Helen. Previous winners include Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Marcus Sedgwick's My Swordhand is Singing. The shortlist will be announced in September. Copies flew off the shelves at a recent signing at the Treasure Trove Bookshop in Belgium which Helen followed by a talk at a local school where she led the discussion "How a book is born." "An impressive debut from an author to watch." - The Daily Mail "An absolutely compelling tale" -The Times "A remarkable novel" - The Independent "An eerily subtle page-turner...wonderful." - The Guardian CONNOLLY'S KINGDOM July 2009 Sales continue to grow for John Connolly’s The Lovers in its third week The Sunday Times hardback bestseller fiction list. The Lovers is at No9 having spend two weeks in the No4 slot but with sales ever increasing. The Lovers remains at No1 on the Irish bestseller list. “The Lovers grabbed me by the throat at page one and wouldn’t let go. John Connolly is simply one of the best writers out there. Book after book, he writes with the intensity of a mad man and the subtlety of a poet. If you haven’t read one of his spine-tingling, masterfully-crafted novels, you’re missing out on some truly great entertainment.” –Vince Flynn