John Connolly's latest crime novel The Reapers debuted in The Sunday Times Hardback Fiction List at No3 and No2 on The Irish Times Bestseller List, on a partial week's sales. Just fantastic. "It is great to see everyone's favourite hitmen massacring the opposition...". - Says his publisher Sue Fletcher at Hodder: ‘It’s a must-read...offering a rare insight into the background of the slightly dark and dangerous duo who have featured in this series, where death and demons go hand-in-hand.’ - The Evening Telegraph "This painstaking recreation of realistic settings sets the former journalist’s works of fiction apart from many of his contemporaries." - The Evening Herald
In the first two weeks of her writing career Jane Costello went straight to No23 with her fantastic debut novel Bridesmaids! After six weeks she's at No30 and continuing to sell strongly. With less than an hour to go before her best friend, Grace, is to walk down the aisle, Evie is attempting to fulfil her most important bridesmaid role: to deposit the bride at the start-line at the appointed time. But with a bride famed for her chaotic sense of time, and the bride's daughter busy mashing Molton Brown into the expensive hotel carpet, minus underwear, the odds are stacked against her . . . At least she has her new 'chicken fillet' boob-enhancers to make her feel special. That is, until these are spotted poking over the top of her dress.
Patrick Woodrow's debut novel Double Cross has become an instant bestseller in Taiwan!
This week Martina Cole reads a specially written piece for Radio 4's Week of Anger called So Many Things The theme of the series is anger and the group of authors contributing includes Andy MacNab, Joanna Briscoe, Oliver James and Lord Falconer. In this very personal piece Martina describes how she turned anger into a catalyst for positive action. Her own experience and righteous rage have led her to a campaigning role for the charity of one parent families. Tune in to Radio 4 at 1998 LW on Wednesday 21st May at 3.30pm to hear it.
Three of the Agency's loved and longest standing authors Anne Baker, Tessa Barclay, Joan Jonker feature high in the Top 100 most borrowed books in the UK. Between them they have written 48 books, well establishing them each as some of England's favorite writers of women's fiction.
Lee Weeks' debut novel The Trophy Taker is Harper Collins's biggest selling crime/thriller fiction title this week. Hailed as The Female James Patterson Lee's stunning novel is No28 in the Bookscan Bestseller List.
Our very own Patrick Lennon’s Corn Dolls has been longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2008! Patrick joins 19 other top crime writers including Reginald Hill, Peter James and Alexander McCall Smith. Past winners are Mark Billingham and Val McDermid and 2007’s winner was Allan Guthrie.
Carmen Reid is the proud author of six fabulous novels and the first book in her new YA series called Secrets At St Jude's, and New Girl will be published this summer!
Another successful signing for Sheila Quigley at Murder Ink with fellow crime writers Martyn Waites and Ken McCoy.
Martina Cole on telly! Martina will examine the stories of female serial killers in a new series for ITV3. In the six-part “Martina Cole’s Ladykillers”, each 60-minute episode will feature a high-profile case. The show will include a criminological perspective and will feature both contemporary and historical stories and reconstructions. The series is scheduled to air on ITV3 in autumn 2008. A further two Martina Cole novels are also being developed by Sky One and the production company Warner Sisters.
International bestselling crime writer John Connolly's novel The Unquiet this week sits at No7 on the New York Times Bestseller List, in his third week on the lists. To read an interview with John about The Unquiet click - here:http://www.johnconnollybooks.com/interviews_unquiet.php It's a standing ovation for the Agency's own Master of Menace! !
Lee Child is No1 on the New York Times Mass Market Bestseller List with Bad Luck and Trouble. Yes that's right. THREE UK and US Number ones. An Emphatic Transatlantic No1 Success. Bad-a-bing! Here's an excerpt of the biggest selling mass market novel this week by Lee Child: - The man was called Calvin Franz and the helicopter was a Bell 222. Franz had two broken legs, so he had to be loaded on board strapped to a stretcher. Not a difficult maneuver. The Bell was a roomy aircraft, twin-engined, designed for corporate travel and police departments, with space for seven passengers. The rear doors were as big as a panel van's and they opened wide. The middle row of seats had been removed. There was plenty of room for Franz on the floor. A third man came out a gray door and walked across the concrete. He bent low under the rotor and held a hand flat on his chest to stop his necktie whipping in the wind. The gesture made him look like a guilty man proclaiming his innocence. He tracked around the Bell's long nose and got in the forward seat, next to the pilot. # The Bell was rated for a 161-mph cruise, so twenty more minutes took it almost fifty-four miles, beyond the mountains, well out over the empty desert. The pilot flared the nose and slowed a little. The man in the forward seat pressed his forehead against the window and stared down into the darkness.
This week Lee Child joined an elite group of authors - those with simultaneous DOUBLE NO1s - that includes James Patterson, Danielle Steel and Terry Pratchett. Except that Lee must be the only author in this group to have acheived this with only his 11th and 12 books... Lee's latest novel Nothing to Lose - is No1 in The Sunday Times Bestseller List on a four day week - in its first week on the shelves with sales of over 14,000 (double those of the book at No2)! Bad Luck and Trouble is in its second week at No1 in The Sunday Times Paperback Bestseller List with emphatic sales to date of more than 70,000 copies!! Lee's books sell a copy a minute around the world and this year Lee's been shortlised for the Crime Novel of The Year at The British Book Awards. At last year's awards the nomination went to Martina Cole. Lee will give interviews on TalkSport (25th March) and with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio Five Live ( 27th March). And as if this wasn't enough Lee's six year old title Without Fail has just entered the New York Times Mass Market Top Twenty at No18!! Bad-a-bing!
This year sees the publication of Margaret Dickinson's 23rd novel Sing As We Go. So its big congratulations from everyone at the agency and an interview for her army of fans!
Milly Johnson is hosting a charity raffle to celebrate the publication of her second book The Birds and the Bees. It's on Sat 23rd February from 11am onwards (until as long as it lasts) and in the semi-open market in Barnsley at the Bookshop stall (situated next to Stoddart's flowers). There are loads of Bird and Bee book related giveaways like bee chocolates and honey and shortbread!
And lots of shops and people have donated great prizes and many authors around the country have sent signed books.
DO COME ALONG!
The Darley Anderson Agency shows itself again to be the Agency of Bestsellers...with three authors in the top echelons of the Bestseller Lists in the same week! Lesley Pearse hits the lists with her TWELFTH UK BESTSELLER - Faith is in at No3 in the Top Ten Paperback Fiction Bestseller List selling nearly 25,000 copies this week. "Master of Menace" John Connolly is at No8 in the Top Ten Paperback Fiction Bestseller List with The Unquiet selling over 16,000 copies this week. And in the Top Ten Non Fiction Bestseller Constance Briscoe's Beyond Ugly sits at No2! Its prequel Ugly spent six months on the bestseller lists after it was published last year.
The Darley Anderson Agency congratulates Lucie Whitehouse on the publication of her debut novel The House at Midnight! A group of university cohorts arrives at Stoneborough Manor, the spooky country pile left to their friend Lucas after the suicide of his uncle. And after the house has left its malevolent mark with a clutch of unravelled relationships, sexual tensions, deadly feuds and disturbing familial revelations, the bunch wish they'd stayed away. Reminiscent of Donna Tartt's brooding The Secret History, this is an eerily atmospheric debut.
Annie Murray and Janet Macleod Trotter have been longlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2008! A panel of RNA members will now select six books for the shortlist, to be announced 14th January. The winner of the 2008 award will be decided by the judging panel, which this year includes comedienne Helen Lederer, Good Housekeeping Books Editor Kerry Fowler, and Chris Rushby, Buying Director of Bertram Books, Britain's leading book wholesaler. The 2008 winner will be announced at the Awards Lunch on February 4th at the Royal Garden Hotel, London.
It is officially announced today that The Book of Lost Things has been chosen as Books.com's Fiction Book of the Year and sold 1,049 copies in only one day.
Former journalist and crime buff Camilla Bolton will be working closely with Darley Anderson in an editorial and agenting role to develop the careers of other talented new crime and thriller writers.
Cathy Cassidy has won the Royal Mail Scottish Children's Book Award in 'older readers' category. Winners were announced at a spectacular ceremony in Glasgow. This award is voted for by young readers all across Scotland. Congratulations Cathy!
Tana French's novel, In the Woods, is number eight on The Sunday Times paperback lists. An outstanding achievement for a debut novel. Congratulations Tana!
In a major coup for the Agency the Boston-based bestselling thriller writer Chris Mooney has moved from the William Morris Agency in New York to Anderson for Worldwide representation. Published by Atria in the US and Penguin in the UK, Mooney has just delivered his new novel The Secret Friend featuring his series character Darby McCormick for 2008 publication. Says Anderson: “Chris Mooney is rightly regarded as one of crime fiction’s rising stars. A master of suspense and mystery, his writing is often scary and always thrilling. He’s also a lovely man, a highly promoteable author and a delight to work with.”
Paramount Pictures has renewed its option for Killing Floor and the Jack Reacher franchise and plan to co-produce it with an impressive group of Hollywood notables.
Two of Martina’s bestselling novels The Graft and The Take will be adapted for television by Independent production company Warner Sisters Productions. As is usual for megaseller Martina both books went straight to Number 1 in the UK’s Sunday Times Bestseller list with The Graft topping the hardback charts for a record-breaking ten weeks. Lavinia Warner founder of Warner Sisters and creator of the drama series Tenko comments: “We’re really excited about the project. It is high time for more of Martina’s work to be available to television viewers. Her honest and tough novels, vividly revealing the effects of violence and crime on family life in the UK today, are absorbing and addictive. Her talent for strong characters and storylines makes the books perfect for TV adaptation.” Martina Cole adds, “I am thrilled to see two more of my books adapted for television. It really feels like I’m coming home - working and collaborating with Warner Sisters again.” Says Anderson who negotiated the deal: ”Lavinia Warner has a sure touch when it comes to overseeing the dramatisation of Martina’s books for TV. Dangerous Lady and The Jump - both four part ITV dramas drew viewing figures of nearly 10 millions an episode".
Darley Anderson has negotiated a high six figure deal for another three books by bestselling Irish crime writer Alex Barclay. Alex’s debut novel Darkhouse was a Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller and also made No3 in the French Top Ten list – a very rare achievement for a foreign debutant in that market. Wayne Brookes, her Harper Collins editor says of the new deal: “Alex has the unique ability to not only shock her readers but drag them screaming into a world filled with subtle, unnerving twists, menace and murder. She’s a genius at the thrill and I’m delighted that the relationship between Alex and Harper Collins will continue a long time into the future.” Another six figure deal negotiated by Anderson is for long time Saga writer Annie Murray who over the years has established herself as one of the top saga writers in the country. Her first novel Birmingham Rose hit The Sunday Times bestseller list when it was published in 1995 Imogen Taylor, her editor at Macmillan says:” I’m delighted to be in the lucky position of being Annie’s editor for her next three books. The first, Hopscotch Summer, tells the story of Emma Brown an eight-year-old girl living in one of the poorer areas of Birmingham in the 1930s. Through her we also meet her two friends, Katie and Molly, who become pivotal in the next two titles, taking us through the second world war and times of great change. Annie is one of those lovely authors who knows her characters well, embracing their foibles as well as their virtues. She researches the historical and social background meticulously, and understands the readership for whom she is writing. I can’t wait to publish Hopscotch Summer in May 2009”
Darley Anderson’s uncanny ability to spot talent early has brought many top bestselling writers to the Agency. Now he believes he’s discovered another future bestselling crime writer in Lee Weeks. Maxine Hitchcock, the Editorial Director of the new commercial Avon list at Harper Collins (UK) agrees and has bought Lee’s first novel The Trophy Taker and the follow up The Trafficked for a good five figure sum. Foreign publishers, scouts and US film agents are currently reading the manuscript which features, tough,Triad-hating, Hong-Kong detective Johnny Mann who will feature in all Lee Weeks future novels. Says Anderson: “Lee Weeks writes with fascinating authority about Hong Kong’s seedy underworld from first hand experience. And she writes with great pace. The Trophy Taker is a gripping, shocking, page-turning novel reminiscent of the early James Patterson.” Maxine Hitchcock says: “I’m hugely excited to be publishing Lee Weeks. In The Trophy Taker she invites us into the murky underbelly of Hong Kong – a world of hostess bars, corruption and Triad-ruled terror. Pacey chapters, nerve-jangling suspense and wonderfully drawn characters combine for a captivating adrenalin-fuelled read which left me thirsting for more.” The Trophy Taker will be published as a paperback original in the UK in March 2008.
Another new author to join the ranks at the Agency is Almas Khan whose stunning memoir charts the heart-wrenching and often hilarious struggles and conflicts she faced as a young muslim girl growing up in 1970s Bradford. The unique insight into the truth about being a muslim girl in a Western society was snapped up by Kerri Sharp at Simon & Schuster. Says Kerri: I’m delighted to be publishing Almas Khan’s dazzling, hilarious debut. Her refreshingly original memoir sizzles with rebellious energy.’ It was agented by Zoë King who says: “This absorbing memoir has all the ingredients for commercial success: brilliantly well-drawn characters, high drama and complete authenticity all against a backdrop that couldn’t be more relevant to readers in this day and age. Almas also has a wonderful ability to turn situations on their head and make us roar with laughter.” The memoir, provisionally entitled The Trouble With Almas, will be published in the UK in Spring 2009.
Clare Dowling's latest novel No Strings Attached has hit the No1 position in the Irish Bestseller Lists for the second week running! She scooped the No1 slot in her first week of publication -selling nearly double the book at No2 and ranking fifth across all categories. Tesco selected No Strings Attached for their book of the week for two weeks running and Asda included it in their weekly charts promotions! Clare Dowling is flying high with no strings attached! CONGRATULATIONS CLARE!
Hollywood heavyweight Kevin Costner will star in the film adaptation of the New Daughter by John Connolly - part of the stunning collection of short stories called Nocturnes. Gold Circle will produce the film which is to be directed by Luiso Berdejo and will also star Ivana Baquero (of Pan's Labyrinth) and plan to commence filming in Spring of 2009.
Amazon.com has chosen In The Woods as No13 for their Editors’ Picks Top 100 Books of the Year! And she's No3 in the Top 10 mystery and thriller category!
The winner of the Joan Jonker 'Molly and Nellie' award for outstanding friendship has been announced! The award was created by Headline Books in memory of Joan who was known not only for her wonderful novels but also for her work in setting up the charity Victims of Violence in Liverpool, which over a period of 23 years helped 12,000 people and opened the first shelters for victims in the country. Her long term editor and close friend at Headline Books, Clare Foss, said ‘Joan was an incredibly special woman whose novels touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and of all walks of life. A day seldom went by without a letter arriving from one of Joan’s adoring fans and it was little surprise when a few years ago Joan was voted “Lancashire Woman of the Year”. She was a treasured friend as well as favourite author and she will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with her family’. Her agent, Darley Anderson, said: ‘You don’t meet many truly special people in your life. Joan was one of the very few special people I have been fortunate to know. She touched so many people's lives and made them better.’
Martina has shown she is the emphatic No1 with her FOURTEENTH BESTSELLER Faces which has exploded onto the lists at No1 with sales of over 40,000 hardbacks in the first ten days on the shelves! She is now in her second week at NO1 in the Hardback lists. Congratulations Martina! Says Kerr Macrae, Deputy MD of Headline: "Our campaign for Faces was deisgned with a certain result in mind - to alert fans to the new book and bring the message to new readers and budding Martina fans. The aim is to stagger the profile with full blown activity from just before publication right through to December the 24th and beyone - we wanted to make it clear that the experience of reading Martina Cole's books was like a rough and tumble roller coaster right, where the reader has to draw breath before moving on...
It was a rapt audience that witnessed Dog Whispering extraordinaire Graeme Sims' incredible performance at his beautiful medieval home last week. “Publishing events don’t come more amazing than Graeme Sims’……. Watching our customers watching Graeme talk to fourteen dogs at a time, you realize what an extraordinary hold he has – over man as well as beast!
New author Tana French has won the Best Fiction Award at this year's Clarion Awards for her stunning debut novel In the Woods. The Awards ceremony took place at London's BFI Southbank (formerly the NFT) before an audience of 450 guests - from the Communications Sector, the Arts, Government and the Media - Sir Roy Strong, Hadyn Gwynne, Moira Stuart, Margaret Tyzack and Floella Benjamin joined with many other leading figures from business, to give their personal congratulations to the winners. The judges said of In The Woods:: 'Tana''s brilliantly crafted first novel embodies, in its story of a murder on an archeological site in Ireland, a fascinating critique of human emotions, social mores, environmental issues and complex personal motivation. It is an immediate, sometimes moving but always compelling reinvention of our most popular genre - the murder mystery.'
Cathy Cassidy's Sundae Girl has been picked by Richard and Judy to feature in their Top Reads for the 9+ category!
In Houghton-le-Spring it's Feast week, a time when all hell is let loose as the fair comes to town, and a frenzy of celebration and decadence provides a temporary distraction from the grim realities of everyday life. Join author Sheila Quigley and local historian Paul Lanagan on an investigation of the fictional murder scenes from Sheila's best selling books Run for Home, Bad Moon Rising, Living on a Prayer' and Every Breath You Take. The tour departs from Houghton Library and refreshments will be served at the end, when Sheila Quigley will be signing copies of her books and reading an exclusive preview from Book 5: Road to Hell. To find out more click on http://www.houghtonfeast.co.uk
Tana French's debut novel In The Woods has hit the New York Times Extended Bestseller List! Congratulations Tana! When he was twelve years old, Adam Ryan went playing in the woods one day with his two best friends.He never saw them again. Their bodies were never found, and Adam himself was discovered with his back pressed against an oak tree and his shoes filled with blood. He had no memory of what had happened. Twenty years on, Rob Ryan - the child who came back - is a detective in the Dublin police force. He's changed his name. No one knows about his past. Then a little girl's body is found at the site of the old tragedy and Rob is drawn back into the mystery. Knowing that he would be thrown off the case if his past were revealed, Rob takes a fateful decision to keep quiet but hopes that he might also solve the twenty-year-old mystery of the woods.
Bestselling favorite Lesley Pearse' fantastic new novel Faith is at No5 on the Hardback Fiction Bestseller List! LESLEY'S ELEVENTH UK BESTSELLER!! For two years she's been battling for justice - insisting the police made a terrible mistake; pleading that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. With her spirits at their lowest ebb, she's resigned to her miserable fate - until, out of the blue, a letter is delivered to the prison.
This Saturday was the grand finale of Cathy's MY BEST FRIEND ROCKS competition for which thousands of fans wrote in to tell Cathy what made their best friends rock and! They were all then whisked off for an afternoon of Friendship Festivals and fun at the Innocent Village Fete, with Cathy and her van in residence. The magic doesn't end there however and this month sees the launch of Cathy Cassidy's first ever hardback, Lucky Star AND an exciting new competition with Top Teen magazine Mizz , WHSmith, cathycassidy.com and the brand new Planetarium at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Girls are being asked to explain what their star quality is, whether it's being a good listener, being able to run the fastest or being able to draw with their feet! The prize will be a VIP tour of the sights of London, with an exclusive dinner and Planetarium show with Cathy that evening. more details to follow!
John Connolly has been busy wowing readers across the globe on a promotional and book signing tour for The Book of Lost Things. Following a highly successfully tour of Australia, John hit Taiwan where the critically acclaimed The Book of Lost Things has debuted at No1 in Books.com ASWELL AS BEING VOTED THE BOOK OF THE YEAR. To view pictures click on this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_bear/sets/72157600932754751/ 'John was so friendly and charming, shaking every reader's hand, chatting and personalizing every signature, with drawings even! I don't think there's any foreign author who has been as friendly with the readers.' said Gray Tan, the Agency's sub-agent:
I'm currently working on a new book called 'Gypsy'. It's a story set in the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897, and in May I set off for Alaska and the Yukon in Canada to do the research for it.
When Janet MacLeod Trotter launched her new saga A Handful of Stars at Waterstones in Newcastle, they had to put out extra chairs and some people even ended up sitting on the steps! Janet's new novel A Handful of Stars is set against the background of 1930s fascism on Tyneside and is a gripping tale of love and survival against all the odds. Janet's husband Graeme helped dramatise readings from the novel which kept the large audience entertained and their was a sign reader there for a deaf guest. Janet followed this event with signings around the North East region.
John Connolly's latest thriller The Unquiet made a very unquiet impact in Australia where he hit FOUR TOP TEN BESTSELLER LISTS including The Australian, The Sunday Morning Herald, Cairns Post, and The West Autralian.
To celebrate the launch of Carmen Reid's fabulous new novel The Personal Shopper Tesco is running a competition with clothing line Florence & Fred to win up to £250 of F&F vouchers!! With a total prize fund of £1000, 14 lucky winners will win between £50 and £250 of F& F vouchers to redeem at a store of their choice. The Personal Shopper which hits the shelves of 440 Tesco stores was afforded a higher chart position than several other authors, including David Baldacci, Dean Koontz and Alexandra Potter, which is indicative of Tesco's enthusiasm for the new package.
It was queues around the block for Cathy at this year's Hay literary festival.
Cathy signed books for OVER AN HOUR for fans who had come from all over the country to see her.
Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble was an instant New York Times Bestseller List going straight in at No2 with number twelve in the Jack Reacher series. Bad Luck and Trouble - the thriller Janet Maslin, the top New York critic, calls 'Electrifying' has seen top bestseller listings coast to coast including The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle and Publishers Weekly. This outstanding success follows hot on the heels of ELEVEN WEEKS spent on The Sunday Times Hardback Bestseller List.
This week the Agency celebrates FOUR AUTHORS on The Sunday Times Bestseller Lists. Martina tells it like it is nabbing the No1 spot in the Paperback Bestseller List ONLY A PARTIAL WEEK'S SALES with her novel Close . Cathy Cassidy is sitting pretty at No10 in the Children's Bestseller List with Sundae Girl. In the Hardback Bestseller List John Connolly's The Unquiet is at No6 closely followed by Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble at No8. Lee Child is No1 in New Zealand AND No6 on the Italian paperback bestseller lis with Bad Luck and Trouble...closely flanked by John Connolly is No7 on the Italian paperback bestseller lists! CONGRATULATIONS MARTINA, CATHY, LEE AND JOHN!
Sheila Quigley packed a small bookshop to the gills with customers eager to get their hands on a copy of her latest novel Every Breath You Take.
"I was amazed at the huge number of people who turned up on a usually quiet Thursday morning to meet Sheila," said The Bookcase's proprietor Eileen McKnight-Smith.
Cathy Cassidy latest novel Sundae Girl has been storming the Children's Bestseller List this week in its fourth week! Cathy was the first children's author to be signed by Darley Anderson whose prediction from the beginning was that she was going to become a top bestseller.
Last week The Darley Anderson Agency took a day out to learn about how books are bought and sold in various book outlets outside of London. UK Sales Director at Headline James Horobin and Regional Manager Tony McGrath accompanied the Agency to Milton Keynes' Waterstones, WHSmith, Woolworths, Tescos and Costco. It was a valuable insight and an exciting day for the self-proclaimed ruthlessly commercial Agent Darley Anderson and his 'Angels', Julia, Emma, Zoe, Maddie and Ella. Many thanks to Headline and Asda.
Constance Briscoe has now spent RECORD SIX MONTHS IN THE BESTSELLER LISTS and has sold OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES of her stunning debut memoir Ugly in the UK alone. Constance's bestselling memoir sold over a quarter of a million copies in hardback. It was a No 1 bestseller that stayed in the charts for TEN WEEKS. The chart topping autobiography tells how the injustice Constance suffered as a child fuelled her determination to climb to the top in the legal world.
Bestselling agency writers Alex Barclay and Lee Child will take part in Booked For Breakfast - on online mystery and crime book club that sends a you a portion of a new crime, thriller, or mystery every Monday morning. Subscribe and read an extract from Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble and Alex Barclay's The Caller. To find out more or subscribe visit: www.bookedforbreakfast.com
Lee Child has hit No1 THREE TIMES in The Sunday Times Bestseller List with two titles - in the last three weeks!!! The Hard Way is in its third week in the paperback charts hitting the top spot in its very first week. Total sales now exceed 110,000 - a 27% increase on sales of One Shot in the same period last year. Bad Luck and Trouble grabs the No1 spot for hardback fiction for the second week selling more copies than the No2 and No3 spots combined. Two books. Two lists. Two No1s. In less than a month. Congratulations Lee! In Australia Bad Luck and Trouble hit the list at No5, the highest position ever reached in that territory. And in New Zealand Bad Luck and Trouble has hit the No1 spot!
SEVEN of the Agency authors areong the most borrowed from libraries in the UK!!! Joan Jonker, Anne Baker, Martina Cole, Rebecca Shaw, Freda Lightfoot, Janet Macleod Trotter and Elizabeth Waite prove they're among of the nation's best-loved authors by featuring in The TOP 100 list. 17 th April 2.30pm Haltwhistle Library Northumberland 17 th April 7.30 pm The Parish of Penrith Tuesday Club at St Andrews Centre Penrith 18 th April 10 am for 10.30 am Anchorsholme Library Blackpool 19 th April 11.am Castle Hill Library Tonge Moor Bolton 19 th April 2.30 pm Haydock East Library St Helens 20 th April 12 noon Bury Moorside Community Library Lunch Club 24 th April 10 am Macclesfield Library Cheshire. 25 th April 10.30 am Stockton Heath Library Warrington 25 th April Denton Library Tameside 26 th April 2.30 pm Keswick Library Cumbria 26 April 7.30 Kendal Library Cumbria 28 th April Prudhoe Library Northumberland
Ugly sees even more success with Hodder's Head of Publicity Kerry Hood, and Eleni Fostiropoulos, receiving The PPC Silver Trophy for Hardback Non-fiction for their outstanding work on Ugly. The PPC Awards ceremony was held on January 30th at a dinner at Mosaico, in Mayfair.
***FOUR AGENCY AUTHORS NOMINATED FOR*** CAROLE MATTHEWS for Welcome To The Real World - Fun and heartwarming. This is the gripping tale of Fern Kendal, a struggling singer working as a barmaid to make ends meet. When she takes a job as assistant to opera singer Evan David she takes on a whole lot more than she bargained for.
2006 marked the BEST YEAR EVER for the Agency in terms of the number of deals made with Foreign pubishers. Total value of the deals equates to over three quarters of a million pounds sterling - a 62% increase on the 2005 turnover.
In short - we are selling MORE BOOKS to MORE TERRITORIES for MORE MONEY!
2007 got off to a successful start with the Agency's first ever book sold to Vietnam...
Onwards and Upwards!
John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things has been nominated for the prestigious Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on March 15th. The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults aged from 12 to 18. Find out more at: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/alexawards/alex07.htm
A FIRST OF ITS TIME AWARD which celebrates Friendship has been launched by Cathy Cassidy with her publishers Puffin called 'My Best Friend Rocks'. Girls will show how their best friend rocks through a drawing, photograph or piece of writing - and can either post or scan and send their entries to Cathy's website: www.cathycassidy.com
Lee Child is to feature in a stellar line-up of authors in the second season of US Court TV's hit series Murder By The Book. The popular original series features best-selling writers who offer insights into true crime cases that have long captivated or touched them in some way. Series one attracted over a million viewers.
The televisation of Danny King's hilarious novel The Burglar Diaries premiered this week on BBC Three - highlighted by critics as PICK OF THE WEEK. Entitled Thieves Like Us the six part sitcom follows classic comic double act Bex and Ollie, a pair of jobbing burglars who pull of jobs wherever and whenever possible. Bex has a steady girlfriend in Mel, whereas Ollie is somewhere in the top ten with Belinda. Each girlfriend has differing views about what their fellas do for a living and this can sometimes create problems, though at the end of the day both Mel and Belinda know what Tammy Wynette was banging on about when she sung her most famous song. Watch Thieves Like Us Monday nights at 8.30 on BBC Three!
***DARLEY ANDERSON AGENCY AUTHORS DOMINATE **Martina is in her THIRTEENTH week in the hardback fiction bestseller list with her compulsive novel Close...she hit the list at No1 AFTER ONLY THREE DAYS SALES... ***Constance Briscoe's stunning debut memoir Ugly has now spent ELEVEN weeks in the paperback non fiction bestseller lists... the hardback sold over a quarter of a million copies and spent 20 weeks in the Lists!!! ****Lesley Pearse has gone straight into the paperback fiction bestseller lists this week at No2 with her magical new novel Hope...selling over 26,000 copies! ***Thieves like us - the televisation of Danny King's hilarious Burglar Diaries was The Sunday Times' Critics Choice of What to Watch this week!!!***
Lesley Pearse's latest novel Hope is in its fourth week in The Sunday Times bestseller charts. Hope shot to the No2 spot in its first week - with sales of over 26,000 copies!!! Hope is Lesley's fifteenth novel. Hope tells the story of a young girl cast out from a world of privilege as living proof of her mother's adultery smuggled away from the Harveys and Briargate House to a nearby village, Hope grows up in the arms of the warm and loving Renton family, unaware of her true identity. But fate has harsh plans for Hope and a chain of events sees her forced to lead a vagabond's existence until she finds the courage to fight back and prove herself a fearless and able nurse, a vocation that takes her to the horrific battlefields of the Crimea.
Taiwanese rights (complex Chinese characters) to The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly have been sold to Rye Field for $30,000. The unprecedented advance is the BIGGEST for the agency in Taiwan and the BIGGEST DEAL EVER DONE by our sub-agent. Gray Tan our superb sub-agent for China and Taiwan had 16 interested publishers.Ten made initial offers and eight participated in the final bid.
Final offers ranged from $7,000 to $30,000 so we asked the four highest bidders to put together a marketing proposal for the book. Rye Field, who also bought Bad Men for £10,000 gave the most impressive marketing plan, and they are treating The Book of Lost Things as their SUPER LEAD TITLE in 2007.
In a pre-publication publicity stunt they plan to bring out 5 samplers before they publish; each sample will have a voucher inside and when you collect all 5 you get a discount on the book.
From the beginning of Lee Child's career, agent Darley Anderson has always believed his publishers should sell his hero Jack Reacher as the new James Bond. No lesser personage than Random House supremo and Jack Reacher fan, Peter Olson calls Reacher "The James Bond of the 21st century". Until now Lee's publishers have been reluctant to adopt this strategy. But last week all that changed. At the London premiere of the new James Bond film, Casino Royale, Transworld staff including senior copy writer Maria Goodwin and media buyer Jayne Lunnon, plus a number of glamorous models handed out free copies of Lee Child's latest bestseller and waved placards saying Emma White from the Agency, who sold the rights to the BBC back in 2005, spent a day on location with Danny and the crew.
She says:" It was amazing to see The Burglar Diaries being filmed. There were over 100 people on location from the film crew to the set construction team, and it's wonderful to think they are all there for the same purpose of making this six-part sitcom a huge hit. There was such a buzz on set - Danny has a whole new legion of fans!" The series is being directed by Ben Kellett (Two Ronnies, Swiss Tony, Swinging) and produced by Pete Thornton (The Smoking Room, Father Ted) and has several familiar faces acting - Gary Beadle (of EastEnders fame) and Roger Sloman, as well as some fresh new talent in the lead roles - look out for Tom Brookes who plays lead character 'Bex'.
Author and script-writer of The Burglar Diaries Danny King has even managed to secure himself an acting role in the production - watch out for 'Man at bar' ... Thieves Like Us is on BBC3, Mondays at 8.30. View a clip: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/thieveslikeus/
John Connolly is busy dominating the Irish Bestseller lists with his latest two novels. The Book Of Lost Things rises is the Irish Paperback Bestseller List to No8 in its fourth week on the shelves.
SWEET CHILD O' MINE... Lee Child's The Hard Way is blazing a trail across the globe -in its third week on The New York Times Bestseller List at No8 and in its EIGHTH WEEK on The Sunday Times Paperback Bestseller List - The Hard Way entered the paperback list at No1. Tenth in the Jack Reacher series - The Hard Way hit the NYT No3 slot in the first week and continues to be the bookshops' favorite : No1 in Borders US and No3 at Barnes & Noble. Other BESTSELLER CHART LISTINGS to date are: No5 on The Washington Post Bestseller List. Two weeks at No1 on the Book Sense Bestseller List, currently at No3. Voted No3 in prestigious trade rag Publishing Weekly - Lee's first top-five PW debut.
Another record year for the agency at the London Book Fair. We saw more publishers from more countries than we've ever seen before. Over 3 days the agency's foreign rights team took over 120 meetings with publishers from over 20 countries. A number of deals were brokered at the tables and well over 400 of our author's titles will be sent out over the coming weeks. Emma White, Head of Foreign Rights at the Agency, says: "It was a very enjoyable fair this year - back in West London the atmosphere was much more relaxed than last year in the Docklands! I'm happy to report that the Rights Department and had a record number of appointments with foreign Publishers that we've not seen before. I'm confident of a good number of deals in the coming months. I'd also like to congratulate Maddie on doing such a wonderful job at the fair. Having only joined the Agency 3 weeks before the fair, she was phenomenal!!"
The Book of Lost Things hits the Irish Mass Market bestseller lists at No9 this week - further proof of its continually growing popularity. John Connolly's masterful work The Book Of Lost Things caused a stir among booksellers and literary judges at home in Ireland and the UK and across the Atlantic. So far prizes and recommendations are as follows: - Shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Book of the Year Award. - Selected to be The Times Book Club choice for April ’ 07. In the US: The Book of the Month club will feature it in their main selection for the of the Book of the Month smart reader sub-club, in May.
We are delighted to announce that Madeleine Buston has now joined the Rights Department as a 'Rights Manager' as of the 26th March. Madeleine will be a full time member of the Rights Team and replaces Lucie Whitehouse, who is sadly leaving us at the end of March after 5 years at the Agency to pursue her already successful writing career.
The British Book Awards - the oscars of the publishing world - bring together and eclectic mix of literary giants, sports stars, comedians and bestselling mainstream authors. The winners will be announced on the 28th March. See the action on Channel 4 on the 30th March. Find out more at: http://www.britishbookawards.co.uk/pnbb_index.asp?
Read an interview with prolific author Sunday Times bestseller Anne Baker who this year sees her 22nd novel in print...
Lee Child with hard-man series character Jack Reacher has shot straight to No1 in The Sunday Times paperback bestseller list with The Hard Way! Janet Maslin in The New York Times calls Lee Child "THE BEST THRILLER WRITER OF THE MOMENT". Bad Luck and Trouble is published in the UK in April and the US in May this year.
Not only was Martina THE NO1 BIGGEST SELLING ADULT HARDBACK FICTION WRITER OF 2005! Spanning forty years of the criminal underworld Close is intense, shocking, unsettling and utterly addictive and features one of her strongest and most appealing heroines yet - Lily Diamond.
This year Bernadine Kennedy takes part in both the Essex Book Festival and the Southend Libraries Book Festival where she will be talking about her latest novel Past Chances. Both events highlight some of the best home-grown talent and feature readings, discussion and family events. Book tickets for these events go to:http://www.harlow.gov.uk/news/events/events and http://www.southend.gov.uk/resources/SBFbookletlowresproof.pdf In her compelling novel Past Chances Bernardine Kennedy brilliantly conveys how the damage caused in the past can cause one's life to spiral out of control.
Tana French's stunning debut novel In the Woods has now been sold in THIRTEEN TERRITORIES. To date In the Woods is sold in the UK, US, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Israel, France, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Romania and Lithuania...and all this before the book is even out in hardback! Listen to an interview with Tan here:
Clare Dowling's fabulous new novel No Strings Attached has now spent FIVE WEEKS IN THE IRISH TIMES TOP FIVE BESTSELLERS! After a series of toxic bachelors, Mia finally meets David. But the night before their wedding, David's car is discovered on the top of a steep cliff, with his clothes neatly folded on the bonnet. To add insult to injury, his credit card number shows up two days later in the south of France. Has he got cold feet? Or has something more sinister happened to David? Mia sets off to France in search of answers, accompanied by David's best friend Lenny, the most toxic bachelor of them all. He's on a mission to convince Mia that relationships were never meant to last forever. And he's game if she is!
Congratulations to David Wishart on publication of his ELEVENTH Marcus Corvinus novel - In At The Death hits the shelves in hardback on the 22nd March! FURTHER CONGRATULATIONS for breaking into the US with Ovid - the first in the Marcus Corvinus series. Paperback rights to Ovid and Germanicus have been licensed to Maggie Topkiss at Felony & Mayhem and Ovid will be published in Fall 07. **Comic, bawdy and extremely engrossing, Ovid is an intriguing tale of mystery and suspense*** "Like Chandler's Marlowe, Corvinus wisecracks his way through a weary world of murder and intrigue until he hunts down the truth. A taut thriller in which ancient Rome springs to life." "Wishart is a fine Scholar and perfectly at home in the period." - The Sunday Times "Ancient Rome's shrewdest and most sardonic detective...the best balance of hystery and mystery yet." - Kirkus Review. "Innate humour and pace carry one through to the tragi-comic climax." - The Irish Times
Successful talent-spotting Agent Darley Anderson - who when it comes to animals is well known for his love of cats (His own cat – called ‘Little Cat’ is something of a media star having featured prominently in the work of two Agency clients: an hour long documentary of ‘Sunderland’s Granny’ Sheila Quigley, and in the paintings oft Kwon Kuen Shan whose cat books Anderson sold to Random House) is convinced he’s found a big bestselling dog book, and Val Hudson at Headline – who has done a number of successful dog books in her time – agrees and pre-empted in less than 24 hours with a high six figure offer. The inception of the book was as follows: Darley, who is an avid reader of Country Life (“I’m a country house property voyeur” he says), came across a tiny piece about Graeme Sims – a clergyman, successful farmer shepherd and self-taught experienced dog trainer who had just come back from a successful US lecture tour on Dog Whispering. Darley Immediately sensed a bestseller – Graeme is so knowledgeable and so promotable – so signed him up and worked with him editorially until the manuscript was ready to submit. Graeme says:“ When Darley Anderson rung to say that Headline had bought my book I had two sleepless nights (not through worry but for joy) Everyone at Darley Anderson's seem able to combine professionalism with bucketfulls of charm and my meetings with Val Hudson at Headline have been my idea of fun and productivity. It means that I can afford to do what I have always dreamed of which is to live in the most rural area spending my mornings training my dogs and the afternoons and evenings writing about them. I learned about dogs as a shepherd among Celts now I shall return to sheepdog country where the place names have built in musicality and the valleys echo to the sounds of sheep and the whistles of the shepherds. My first real job was writing blurbs at a publishing house; I never, in my wildest dreams , imagined that one day someone might write one about my book. It's a great feeling!” Val Hudson says:“Thanks to Darley, we are now the proud publishers of the nation’s most renaissance author. Graeme Sims is an ex-advertising director, award-winning children’s book illustrator, country vicar and – most importantly – a man with the unique and uncanny ability to ‘speak dog’. His book tells you how you too can control, help and communicate with your best friend. His is a simple series of instructions, truly original and – quite simply – one that works like magic. I’ve published quite a few books about man’s best friend in my time, but Graeme combines sparkle and instruction and sheer ‘trustability’ in a unique way, one that I know will appeal to the Great British Dog-owning public. His books will be at the top of the lists, and Headline will have a lot of fun getting him there.”
US rights to two of Martina's titles have been sold in the US for a high advance to Jamie Raab of Time Warner. Close - which went into the No1 spot in the Hardback Bestseller charts AFTER ONLY THREE DAYS SALES - spent sixteen weeks in the Top Ten. WHSmith boasted selling a copy every 30 seconds.
Carole Matthews has been shortlisted to win the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2007 for her fabulous novel Welcome to the Real World. The Romantic Novel of the Year Award was established in 1960 by the associatin to recognise excellence in romantic fiction. Vote by visiting: http://www.rna-uk.org
Nicole Gallagher is the proud winner of the inaugural Lesley Pearse Women of Courage Award. The announcement was made at a special Awards lunch attended by the five Award finalists, their friends and family, representatives of Penguin Books, Love It!, Woolworths and of course Lesley's agent Darley Anderson. Elizabeth Smith, Penguin's Commercial Marketing Director, said:'We have been incredibly moved by the stories we have received; all the women nominated have shown such bravery and sacrifice in their lives. Nicole's story touched us all. Her selfless and positive approach to dealing with such a heart-breaking situation is incredibly inspiring; she is a deserving winner of the first Lesley Pearse Women of Courage Award. Karen Pasquali Jones, Editor of Love It!,said: ' Reading about how Nicole has loved and cared for both her children was an incredibly moving story. Being a mother is one of the hardest jobs in the world. All any mum wants for her children is that they can lead healthy and happy lives. Nicole is making sure that both her beautiful children manage to live fulfilled, contented lives, despite the challenging medical problems they face. The fact Nicole has managed to do so with such selflessness and grace shows that she is a true woman of courage, and an inspiration to us all.' Gerry Berkley, Woolworths' Books Trading Managersaid: ‘We at Woolworths are incredibly proud to be associated with the Woman of Courage Award and are delighted that the prizes went to such worthy and deserving winners’. Read more about Lesley and her bestselling books at: http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/lesleypearse/books.html#hope
Emma White has been promoted to Head of Rights at the Agency effective from the beginning of this year. White joined the Darley Anderson Agency in May 2004 as Rights manager.
ITS A FIRST FOR JOHN CONNOLLY. AND A FIRST FOR THE DARLEY ANDERSON AGENCY. A young woman goes missing from the streets of New York. Those who have taken her believe that nobody cares about her and that no one will come looking for her. They are wrong. She is “blood” to the killer Louis, the man who stands at the right hand of private detective Charlie Parker and Louis will tear apart anyone who stands in the way of his attempts to find her. But as Louis’ violent search progresses, Parker comes to realize that the disappearance is part of an older mystery, one that is linked to an ornate church of bones in Eastern Europe, to the slaughter at a French monastery in 1944 and to the quest for a mythical prize that has been sought for centuries by evil men: the Black Angel. Yet the Black Angel is more than a myth. It lives. And men are not the only creatures that seek it... Congratulations John!
Simon & Schuster is holding a competition to celebrate publication of The Yorkshire Pudding Club by debut novelist Milly Johnson. To enter email Amanda Shipp (amanda.shipp@simonandschuster.co.uk) with your name, work address and job position and the approximate baby due date.
Sobini films in association with Lionsgate have bought the film rights to John Connolly's bestselling thriller Bad Men. Sobini most recently produced Peaceful Warrior which was released by Lionsgate.
Read about Clare's books, where she gets her inspiration from, her heroes and favorite reads and what's in store for the 2006/2007!
The UK's No1 selling hardback adult fiction author Martina Cole is the FIRST EVER WRITER TO SPONSOR AN AWARD at the Bookseller Retail Awards.
John Connolly's dark and magical novel The Book of Lost Things is proving a massive hit in the US where it has been picked as December's Book of the Month by Booksense as well as starred and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by the Library Review.
t was another great year for the agency's Foreign Rights department who had over 150 meetings with scouts and foreign publishers. The Foreign Rights team say:
The Agency's oldest author Elizabeth Waite has just celebrated her 84th birthday! Her first book was taken on by Darley Anderson and bought by Little Brown when she was seventy years old.
Bestselling writer Lynda Page shone brightly at her first ever spanish book signing in Costa Blanca!!
Alex Barclay's debut crime novel Darkhouse is now published in FIFTEEN languages!!!
Darley Anderson catches up with Harper Collins Managing Directors Sally Gritten and Amanda Ridout at their wonderful annual author party at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington gardens.
It's official. The Lesley Pearse Women of Courage Award in association with The Sun and Woolworth's has been launched!
Cathy Cassidy flies into the Top Twenty Bestseller list at No17 with her latest novel Scarlett !! Can Scarlett manage her anger or will she die of boredom?
Headline Books will throw a lavish lunch party for bestselling saga writer Anne Baker to celebrate publication of her 21st book! Anne's editor Marion Donaldson says: "I'm thrilled to be celebrating publication of Anne's 21st book with Headline with her agent, Darley Anderson. Carousel of Secrets is the latest in a series of wonderfully evocative, page-turning sagas from an author who has won the hearts of legions of readers over the years, and we are thrilled and proud to have been her publishers from the very first one.We look forward to the next 21!" Carousel of Secrets was published on June 5th 2006.
Agency authors are featuring strongly on Bestseller Lists AROUND THE WORLD... *** Martina Cole's latest crime thriller The Take has taken the No1 slot on the Sunday Times Paperback Fiction Bestseller List IN ITS FIRST WEEK OF PUBLICATION!*** ***Constance Briscoe's memoir Ugly has now been on The Sunday Times Hardback Bestseller list for TWENTY WEEKS. *** ***Cathy Cassidy's Scarlett has entered the Bestseller List at No17 with her wonderful novel Scarlett*** ***Lincolnshire's queen of the romantic saga, Margaret Dickinson spent SEVEN weeks on the Heatseeker's list with Pauper's Gold - her latest heart rending story of love and survival .*** ***Lee Child's The Hard Way is now A COAST TO COAST BESTSELLER, listed on TWELVE BESTSELLER LISTS ACROSS THE US including the New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, the Dallas Morning News, the Independant Mystery Booksellers association,The NAIBA, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, the Denver Post, the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Rocky Mountain News and the San Francisco Chronicle.*** ***The Hard Way also celebrates a TOP TEN rating in the New York Times Book Review.*** ***Lee Child's thriller One Shot spent SIX weeks in The Sunday Times Top Ten Paperback Bestseller List.One Shot hit the lists at No2 in only its second week***.
US rights to Paul Carson's thrillers Ambush and Betrayal have been sold to Daniela Rapp at St. Martin's Press in the US. Betrayal will be published in Hardback in Spring ' 07 - followed up by Ambush in Spring 08.
Bruckheimer and Disney have bought the film rights for Ahmet Zappa's The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless for a monstrous $1.5 million through Helen Breitwieser of the Cornerstone Literary Agency,an associate to the Darley Anderson Agency. Walt Disney emerged victorious after the feverish auction with Buena Vista Motion Pictures and Warner. The screenwriter is Tim Firth - who's latest screenscript was Kinky Boots. Watch this space for more news on The Monstrous Memoirs' mighty screen appearance!
We've had a flurry of sales for Kate Wild's The Hercules Gene, published in Spring 2007 by Chicken House. Taiwanese rights go to Crown, Italian rights to Salani and Danish rights to Sesam, all in record breaking deals for the agency.
Watch this space for further news...
Exciting new talent Tana French has been snapped up by publishers Hodder in the UK, Hodder Headline in Ireland and Viking/Penguin in the US for her stunning debut novel In The Woods. Jointly acquired for a large six figure sum by Sue Fletcher at Hodder UK and Ciara Considine of Hodder Headline Ireland In The Woods is SET FOR GREAT THINGS. Darley Anderson says: "Tana has a great talent. Her characters are absolutely superb. So is her plotting. She will be a BESTSELLER." Emma White, who sells US rights at the agency, negotiated a six-figure sum with Viking/Penguin US for two thrillers by Tana including In The Woods. Viking's Kendra Harpster says: "Everyone at Viking was absolutely floored from the very first page of Tana's novel. We have a massively appealing masterpiece that readers are sure to love.This is a very exciting addition to the Viking list."In The Woods is a haunting psychological crime thriller that starts with the discovery of a little girl's body on an archealogical site just outside Dublin. Investigating the crime is detective duo Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox. What Rob hides from his colleagues is that the murder brings back memories of a traumatic event in his own past, and the investigation becomes inextricably entangled with that long-ago event. Sue Fletcher says: "It's hard to believe this is Tana 's first novel, because it is so confident and assured. She has superb plotting skills and the gift of creating sympathetic, flawed characters." Ciara Considine says: "From the first page this stands out from the crowd, completely engaging and full of surprising twists and turns. This surely marks the BEGINNING OF A BESTSELLING CAREER for Tana."
Thursday 6th April saw the hugely successful signing and launch of Sheila Quigley's latest thriller - Living On A Prayer at Ottakars in Sunderland. The event was a lively mix of fans, friends and family - with Sheila signing well over hundred copies! Over the forthcoming weeks Sheila will be touring bookshops nationwide!
On 7th April Pan Macmillan hosted a celebratory champagne tea at Ottakars in Lincoln for Margaret Dickinson - Lincolnshire's queen of the romantic saga. The party celebrated publication of Margaret’s 21st novel Pauper’s Gold and 50 years of writing – a staggering achievement! The party was attended by a wonderful mix of people. Philippa McEwan, Catriona Row and Sandra Taylor were there from Pan; Julia Churchill from the Darley Anderson Agency; Sue Coley, Dawn Bradley, Sue Walker and Sue McNair from Skegness Library; Gill Hart and Peter Lord were there from Ottakars. Friends and family also came, and of course Dennis, Margaret’s husband. The Mayor of Lincoln also came to toast Margaret’s success! Two of Margaret’s biggest fans were there too, having won a competition run in The Lincolnshire Echo. They had both read all of Margaret’s books – one of the winners even shares names with one of Margaret’s characters. That morning Margaret signed 250 books at WHSmith Skegness, with queues out of the door, and the following day she signed 115 books at Ottakars in Lincoln. She has a promotional tour of nearly 30 events and signings, on top of her normal busy schedule. She really is indefatigable... Find out where Margaret's next signing is at: www.panmacmillan.com/events
Ahmet Zappa's thrilling debut children's novel - The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless has been sold to Puffin after a very hard fought auction for an almighty six figure advance. Zappa, son of legendary rock star Frank Zappa, says it was his childhood obsession with monsters that provided the origins of The Monstrous Memoirs - the story of monster hunts, a kidnap and a daring rescue. Brother sister duo Max and Minerva McFearless set out to save their father - a renowned monster hunter - from the most loathsome diabolical monster in the universe. "Scientific data" on all the things that go bump in the night and recipes for keeping bloodthirsty beasts at bay abound in this fabulously illustrated hysterical adventure story. Sarah Hughes at Puffin says:"It has such direct child appeal, it's the kind of book that turns non readers into readers. This kind of distinctive talent doesn't come along every day." The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless will be published in the UK and US in August 2006.
Martina Cole takes on both the The Sunday Times paperback Bestseller List AND the Irish Bestseller List with her latest page-turning thriller The Take going straight in at No2!!!
Lee Child's highly acclaimed latest thriller The Hard Way is now in it's THIRD WEEK in The Sunday Times Hardback Bestseller List - after going straight in at No2.
This week long term Agency author Lesley Pearse climbed to No4 in The Booktrack HARDBACK Bestseller Lists with her latest novel Hope - her highest hardback position yet! Lesley has previously pipped the top spot at No1 in The Sunday Times paperback Bestseller lists...
It was another great year for the Agency at the Hay-on-Wye literary festival with Cathy Cassidy a favorite nominee for the Red House Children's Book Award. The Agency got together with authors, publishers, booksellers, and friends for a culinary feast and champagne, organised by Julia Churchill.
IT'S STANDING ROOM ONLY AT EVERY LEE CHILD EVENT across the US on his tour to talk about and promote his new book The Hard Way now in its second week in THE NEW YORK TIMES HARDBACK FICTION LIST. The Hard Way debuted at No3!! The highly influential New York Times critic Janet Maslin says The Hard Way : "TAKES OFF LIKE A SHOT...Jack Reacher is the rough, tough superman of the crime-busting genre...as smart and charismatic as he is unbeatable" 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?
The Hard Way is published in the UK on 3rd July 2006.
Martina Cole's bestselling novel The Take has won the prestigious Crime Thriller of the Year award at the British Book Awards 2006 - the Oscars of the publishing world. The Take - which went straight to No1 in The Sunday Times hardback Bestseller List - was the biggest selling HARDBACK ADULT FICTION title in 2005. Find out more at www.britishbookawards.co.uk
Lee Child's thriller One Shot spent SIX weeks in The Sunday Times Top Ten paperback Bestseller List.One Shot hit the lists at No2 in only it's second week. 'Sharp... addictive...a first rate thriller' - One Shot is our annual, much awaited Reacher-fix. 'Jack Reacher is irresistible.’ ‘Hot, indomitable… knockout...pure escapist gold.' Read about the man behind Jack Reacher at www.jackreacher.co.uk
It was a double whammy for Alex Barclay's stunning debut novel Darkhouse which went into both The Sunday Times Bestseller List at No7 AND Irish Bestseller List at No4 - quickly rising to No1 (ahead of Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code).
Monday 6th March 2006 Lee Child and Darley Anderson jointly hosted a lavish party to celebrate TEN YEARS OF WORLDWIDE PUBLICATION at the exclusive Westminster Penthouse overlooking the Houses of Parliament. Hailed as THE PARTY OF THE LONDON BOOK FAIR it was a lively mix of Lee's worldwide publishers, movie people, friends and fans from the industry. The atmosphere was buzzing - with champagne on tap and delicious canapes - and both Lee and Darley made a point of thanking the various guests for their hardwork and contribution to what will soon be the Jack Reacher phenomenon. Lee encapsulated the mood saying :"This party is for all of you". And there was huge excitement when Lee's Hollywood agent Steve Fisher proudly announced the sale of the Jack Reacher Book Series Film rights to Paramount. In his speech Darley looked back on what has been an amazing success story and recalled his excitement on reading the first manuscript about 'sex-on-legs' Reacher with that universal theme of "feared by the bad loved by the good, Robin Hood, Robin Hood." To further set the mood was an enormous world map showing in red the countries where Lee is currently published and the bold insignia - THE SUN NEVER SETS ON JACK REACHER. Click here to view the party snaps. Read more about Lee in his interview with The Bookseller at www.thebookseller.com
Another record year for the agency at the London Book Fair. We saw more publishers from more countries than we've ever seen before. Over 3 days the agency's foreign rights team took over 100 meetings with publishers from over 30 countries. A record number of deals were done at the table and well over 400 of our author's titles were requested and will be sent out over the coming weeks. **CHANCE ENCOUNTER ** In a chance encounter Darley Anderson gave one aspiring author Linda Chapple some key insights into the trade. Here's what she wrote: I'd been harbouring a grudge against Darley Anderson for eight years. Ever since he'd dismissed my phone call - and rather pathetic first attempt at a novel with 'I don't do issue books.'
One of the Agency’s newest authors, Milly Johnson, is celebrating going international with her debut novel The Yorkshire Pudding Club. Full of heart and humour The Yorkshire Pudding Club is the story of three Barnsley friends whose lives are turned upside down when they all become pregnant – shortly after a picnic on a prehistoric fertility symbol. At the centre of the book are moving stories about love and family. Early readers have compared Milly’s powerful, warm and funny writing to the books of Marian Keyes and The Full Monty. The Yorkshire Pudding Club will be published in the UK by Simon & Schuster and in March 2007.
We are delighted to announce the arrival of a major new talent in children’s fiction. Kate Wild's first two books have been acquired by legendary talent spotter Barry Cunningham at Chicken House. The Hercules Gene is the first in a series of adventure thrillers for 10+ featuring gypsy boy Freedom Smith. Two hundred years ago, legendary bare-knuckle champion Hercules Smith passed on a dangerous inheritance to his descendents - a rogue gene giving phenomenal strength and fighting skills. Sixteen year old Freedom has inherited it but all it does is cause him trouble. And things are about to get worse. Barry Cunningham says: 'Kate Wild is a great new writer - bold, exciting, and with a real grasp of terrific 'all action' plotting, plus a feel for unusual and colourful characters who will hook right in to children's imagination.' The Hercules Gene will be published in the UK and US in Spring 2007.
A major new deal will see Agency novelist Danny King's The Burglar Diaries transformed into a TV sitcom. BBC3 is described by the BBC as an outlet for "New drama, New talent, British comedy, top films and accessible news". Danny King's The Burglar Diaries will be in good company at BBC3, the home of Little Britain, The Smoking Rooms and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.
BBC Creative Head for Mainstream Comedy, Michael Jacob who commissioned the show said ' We're all very excited ... Burglar has the same feel as 'The Smoking Rooms' - classy writing, a bit out of the ordinary, great characters and very funny.'
Danny King's latest novel Milo's Run was published by Serpent's Tail on 15th March.
Watch this space for more news about 'Burglar' screening dates...
Constance Briscoe's childhood memoir, Ugly, made the hardback fiction No1 spot after only one week of sales. Ugly is now in its EIGHTEENTH week in the charts holding strong at No3 (UGLY Spent nine weeks at No2). Constance has appeared on numerous television and radio programmes, from GMTV to Newsnight and her story has also featured in most national newspapers including The Daily Mail, The Sunday Times,The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Independent. As a child, Constance was beaten and mentally abused by her mother, yet went on to become one of our first black female judges. Her autobiography, Ugly, tells how the injustice she suffered as a child fuelled her determination to climb to the top in the legal world.
John Connolly's latest crime novel The Black Angel flew to No1 in the Irish Bestseller List after going in at No2 in its first week of publication. The Black Angel swooped into the the Sunday Times paperback Bestseller List at No4 in it's first week on the shelves.
Joan Jonker died on Monday 13th February. Joan was a remarkable woman quite apart from being a bestselling writer. In 1976 Joan set up the charity Victims of Violence in Liverpool and over a period of 23 years she and her charity helped 12,000 people and opened the first shelters for victims in the country. She was recently voted one of the Greatest Merseysiders in a BBC poll. Her long term editor and close friend at Headline Books, Clare Foss, said ‘Joan was an incredibly special woman whose novels touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people of all ages and of all walks of life. A day seldom went by without a letter arriving from one of Joan’s adoring fans and it was little surprise when a few years ago Joan was voted “Lancashire Woman of the Year”. She was a treasured friend as well as favourite author and she will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with her family’. Her agent, Darley Anderson, said: ‘It was always a pleasure, a privilege and an education to be involved with Joan as her literary agent which I was for many happy and successful years. You don’t meet many truly special people in your life. Joan was one of the very few special people I have been fortunate to know. She touched so many people's lives and made them better.’
A Lesser Evil, Lesley Pearse's latest bestseller, went straight into the paperback lists at No3. Lesley's sales are up 30% on the Secrets paperback published last year. To win a copy of this latest book, send an email to enquiries@darleyanderson.com with the subject line "A Lesser Evil". Two winners will be picked at the end of the month..
Read about Bernardine's books, where she gets her inspiration from and what's coming up in 2006.
SPAIN’S COSTA DEL Sol became the Costa del Bestsellers when it played host to Headline’s top crime author Martina Cole, as she undertook a series of signings for holidaymakers and expats at resorts along the Mediterranean coast for the international launch of the hardback of The Take. Headline is planning a global “brand-building” strategy, to be launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair, when Cole will meet foreign publishers, booksellers and distributors. Read more about this story at www.publishingnews.co.uk Visit Martina's website at http://authorpages.hoddersystems.com/MartinaCole
Fifty years ago this year, at the age of fourteen, Margaret Dickinson sent her first short story to Woman’s Own. For as long as she can remember, Margaret dreamed of being a published author, determined that one day she would walk into a book shop and see her own paperback book there on the shelf. It was not accepted and neither were many more short stories and a first novel written between the aged of sixteen and twenty. But the rejections acted not as a deterrent but as a spur. Margaret was resolved to become a writer, typing out scripts on a portable typewriter in the evening after a full day’s work as a secretary. In 1968 Robert Hale accepted her novel Pride of the Courtneys. Between 1969 and 1984, seven other titles followed, but success was tempered by more rejections and today, seven novels (each representing at least a year’s work) lie unpublished in her loft. ‘And there they will stay,’ Margaret says. ‘If they weren’t good enough for publication then, they certainly aren’t now! But I look upon them as a learning curve.’ There then came a seven-year gap when Margaret had to set aside her writing ambitions because of family commitments. But in 1991 with her dream still unfulfilled – she hadn’t yet achieved paperback publication - Margaret had that piece of luck that everyone needs at some time in their life. She found Darley Anderson. It was the turning point for her. Darley advised her to write a regional saga and, eighteen months later, he was able to hold an auction between five paperback publishers for Plough the Furrow. A week of bidding followed when Margaret describes herself as being “on cloud nine” when Pan Macmillan won the auction and offered a two book contract. Plough the Furrow was published in September 1994 and a month later, Margaret walked into WHSmith in Cardiff (a fair distance from her home in Lincolnshire!) and the paperback was on the shelf. It had taken thirty eight years, but at last it was there! The dream had come true, 2006, as well as celebrating her fiftieth year as a writer, sees the publication of Margaret’s twenty-first novel, Pauper’s Gold, which is also her thirteenth for Pan Macmillan. And her future ambitions? ‘Ah well, now that would be telling, but Darley will be the first to know,’ Margaret says and then adds, ‘Of course, I could try another short story for Woman’s Own…’
Martina Cole has taken the prestigious Christmas number one spot for the second year running. She sold 25,000 of The Take harback in one week to bring her back up to the top spot in 2005. Congratulations Martina! M
The Agency is delighted to announce the arrival of a brand-new major crime talent. Patrick Lennon has signed with Hodder & Stoughton for the first books in a new series of Cambridge crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Tom Fletcher. The first novel in the series is Corn Dolls which Hodder will publish in August. Tom Fletcher begins to investigate a pair of suspicious deaths in an isolated fenland community and discovers a trail that leads him back to a trio of suspicious deaths in the 1970s and an enigmatic Russian gangster hell-bent on revenge. Corn Dolls is extremely accomplished, announcing Patrick as a writer of enormous originality and style. He has a unique voice, a real understanding of character and psychology and the ties that bind father to son, country to city, past to present…
Alex Barclay's outstanding thriller, Darkhouse, debuted at number seven in The Sunday Times hardback besteller list. Darkhouse caused a real stir when the Agency started to sell translation rights at last year’s London Book Fair, with some seriously hot bidding for the rights to publish. Successful bidders included Hakurosha of Japan, Luebbe in Germany and Editions Michel Lafon in France. Alex has since been invited to sales conferences across Europe to introduce her book to foreign booksellers. Her adventures have included a day of go-karting with German booksellers at the Schumacher brothers’ track!Read all about the author and her bestselling book in this month's author interview. Click on the Q&A to hear about how she got started and the bones of her latest work...
Rights in Rani Manicka’s sweeping epic debut, The Rice Mother, have now been sold into TWENTY languages. Russian rights were sold to the Ukraine-based Family Leisure Club. The Rice Mother has captured the imaginations of readers across the world. In particular, the Dutch edition has sold more than 100,000 copies and the Portuguese edition has been a number two bestseller this spring.
This month's author interview is with Lesley Pearse. Click on Q&A to hear about her latest offerings and insights.
21st March 2005 Rebecca Shaw, author of the hugely successful Turnham Malpas and Barleybridge series, proved that tales of village life are as popular as ever with her latest novel, Whispers in the Village, entering The Sunday Times hardback Bestseller List at an impressive No 8. The eleventh book in the Turnham Malpas series, Rebecca has been steadily climbing up the lists since the publication of her first novel, The New Rector, in 1994. Her enchanting tales of village life have secured her place as one of the most popular writers on Orion’s list.
21st March 2005 The Agency is delighted to announce that Kira Cochrane’s Escape Route for Beginners has been long-listed for this year’s Orange Prize for Fiction. Surreal, subversive and deliciously black, the novel is the second ingenious and extraordinary novel from Cochrane. Anderson instantly recognized her talent and secured a six-figure two-book deal on the basis of the first six chapters of her first novel, The Naked Season, making her the youngest author at the agency. Born in Essex in 1977, she studied American Literature at the Universities of Sussex and California before moving to London to work as a journalist. The Orange Prize for Fiction Shortlist will be announced on the 18 th April 2005.
21st March 2005 International award-winning author Rani Manicka has climbed the Portuguese bestseller list to a remarkable No. 2 with her debut novel, The Rice Mother. Translated into 18 languages, The Rice Mother won the South East Asia and South Pacific Region 2003 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize and has received international acclaim. She has also written Touching Earth and is currently working on her third novel.
24th February 2005 Anderson’s belief that he’d discovered a major bestselling children’s writer in Cathy Cassidy was proved right again this week as Cassidy’s second book Indigo Blue continued to soar up the Children’s Titles List to an impressive No. 25 in the charts. And with her third book Driftwood scheduled for Autumn publication this year, Anderson believes for Cassidy the only way is up. Driftwood is about four children, two girls and two boys, in a Scottish high school by the sea. It’s about being different, feeling lost…and falling in love. Anderson say’s simply, ‘It’s a masterpiece’. Indeed, Managing Director Francesca Dow and the Puffin Team, wanting high level involvement from the very top down, gave a copy of Driftwood to Pearson boss Marjorie Scardino who liked the writing so much that she rang Anderson to tell him what a great author Cassidy was and how thrilled she was that Puffin were publishing her. Have a look on Cathy's website for fabulous photo's of the Indigo Blue launch: www.cathycassidy.com/launch
This month's author interview features Linda Taylor. Click on Q&A to hear about how she got started, Grandad's Rizzlas, Desert Island Books and more...
The Agency is celebrating a record number of entries in The Guardian list of bestselling paperbacks 2004. Martina Cole with THE KNOW, John Connolly with BAD MEN, Lesley Pearse with REMEMBER ME and Lee Child with PERSUADER sold over a million copies between them last year and continue to sell strongly in 2005.
Now Little Cat features
in the bestselling gift book, THE PHILOSOPHER CAT by Kwong Kuen Shan.
It's a lavishly illustrated book of philosophy and cats, from the author
and painter of THE CAT AND THE TAO and a must have Christmas treat
for all feline fans.
November 11th, 2004 The Darley Anderson Literary celebrated its fifteenth birthday last week with a grand party at Dartmouth House in Mayfair. It was a generous affair, with an unending supply of champagne and cocktails and lots of tempting canapés, and toward the end of the evening - the better to absorb the alcohol - bacon butties.It was something of a love-in, with the eponymous Darley Anderson praising the work of his team, nicknamed Darley's Angels, and his gallery of authors many of whom - Elizabeth Waite, Martina Cole, Lee Child, Lesley Pearse and John Connolly - made for speeches, For Pearse, Anderson is "the dream maker" and he's certainly made a few dreams come true these past 15 years, enriching his authors beyond their wildest dreams. Sadly Anderson's partner, Adèle, who died suddenly last year, wasn't able to live out her dreams and the agent was close to tears as he bravely paid fulsome tribute to her. Publishers, who included Penguin's Helen Fraser, Headline's Clare Foss and Random House's Susan Sandon - many of whom knew Adèle - were visibly moved. But it was by no means a down-beat affair - indeed Connolly provided the evening's stand-up ragging poor Anderson mercilessly over his sartorial tastes, which run to white suits, pink jackets and loud ties. Article supplied by Publishing News Click here for party snaps
January 4th, 2005 The phenomenal Martina
Cole has done it again with the success of The Graft, her latest hardback
release.
The agency is delighted to announce the signing of a two-book deal for Patrick Woodrow with Random House. Oliver Johnson, a senior editor for the Arrow and Century imprints, secured the rights to Double Cross and Green Gold (working title) for an undisclosed sum after a spirited auction. Described by Random House as “a stunning debut thriller in the best-selling tradition of Clive Cussler” Double Cross looks set to make a big impact on next summer’s shelves. “We are thrilled and excited to have signed Patrick.” Says Johnson. “He has a huge talent and we will be using every sinew and ounce of energy to bring him the success he deserves.”
US rights have been sold in PERCEPTION OF DEATH by Louise Anderson to Kate Miciak at Bantam (US), part of Random House Inc. Having been with the agency for less than six weeks, Emma White has secured her first US deal by selling this debut thriller for a six-figure sum. The two book US deal (along with the sales already made in Germany, Sweden and a Dutch option) have proved the author will have a huge fan-base with international appeal. All this before her book is even published in the UK (5th August 2004). The Rights team are predicting more big sales after the Frankfurt Book Fair... watch this space for more information!
Thriller
writer Sheila Quigley is the subject of a fly on the
wall BBC1 documentary. The program will also feature Darley
Anderson and the Agency pet, Little Cat.
Three of the agency’s
leading female crime thriller writers have launched a top-level offensive
on the German market.
Lee Child’s
Jack Reacher series has been causing a sensation stateside. Child hit
the prestigious top 15 with THE ENEMY and PERSUADER. While
in the UK he spent 4 successive weeks at number 2 in The Sunday
Times hardback chart with THE ENEMY.
Rebecca
Shaw, author of the hugely successful Turnham Malpus and Barleybridge
books, is to sign new six-figure contract with publisher, Orion.
John Connolly's fifth novel BAD MEN, a stand alone thriller, has just been optioned in Hollywood by Graham/Rosenzweig Films and Steven Susco.
Bantam (US)
emerge victorious in the States after securing Alex Barclay’s
first two novels for a high six figure advance.
Carole says: 'Who says girls don't like cars? I've always been mad about motoring and my first brand new car was a Ford Fiesta XR2i - so writing these stories feels like a perfect fit. I've had great fun doing them and they're guaranteed to make you smile. Who hasn't dreamed of meeting their perfect man while driving the perfect car? And there are some car habits that are definitely peculiar to women. I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses her car like an extended handbag or gives it a pet name! If you see me around town in my new Fiesta, Flossie, be sure to give me a wave! Ford
says: 'Fiesta is a firm favourite with young, trendy
women and we wanted to bring the car alive in a contemporary way.
Carole is a bestseller and so is Fiesta... a great combination!'
HarperCollins
emerge victorious in battle for Anderson’s sensational new Irish
writing discovery, Alex Barclay.
Lee Child’s
US publisher Bantam Dell have announced a blockbuster print advertising
and promotion campaign in Time Magazine for Persuader. The Enemy
will be a Book-of-the-Month Club Dual Split Main Selection and Literary
Guild, Mystery Guild, and Doubleday Book Club alternate.
Top international
model, Lorraine Pascale, came to fame with the famous Häagen Dazs
ad campaign and was the first black British model to grace the cover
of American Elle. She is less known for her love of football and, and
like Darley Anderson, is a fervent supporter of Manchester United.
Martina Cole has topped the hardback and now the mass market bestseller lists with
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