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 |
