AKA: The Secret Essex Girl
Agency: United Agents
Genres represented: Children’s and YA books – including picture books and illustrators.
Authors represented: Sophie McKenzie – the Girl, Missing series among others. Rick Riordan (in the UK) – Percy Jackson etc. Sarah McIntyre – illustrator of Oliver & The Seawigs Laura Dockrill – Darcy Burdock series Phil Earle – Being Billy; Saving Daisy; Heroic; The Bubble Wrap Boy Kate Hindley – illustrator of The Great Snortle Hunt and How To Wash a Woolly Mammoth Benjamin Zephaniah – Terror Kid (out in Sept) Peter Bently – author of King Jack & The Dragon; Cats Ahoy; Meet The Parents… Jim Field – illustrator of Oi Frog! Cats Ahoy; Magic Ink…
Recent deals:Debut author illustrator Rob Biddulph’s three book deal with Harper Collins after a busy auction. First picture book ‘Blown Away’ out in September, with US, France, Germany and Holland already on board. Debut YA author Abbie Rushton’s ‘Unspeakable’ with Atom (Little, Brown). Phil Earle’s move into middle grade with a four book deal, at auction, to Orion. His first ‘Demolition Dad’ out next spring.
Wish list: I’m open to anything and everything – that’s the beauty of looking after the whole spectrum of children’s writing and illustration. I love to see authors who know their audience and have an idea, however rough, of where there book would sit in the current marketplace. Who have spent time honing their writing so the vocab, dialogue and voice are exactly pitched right for their readers. And writers who are writing about something they know; I don’t often get that feeling from a submission, it often feels forced. In illustration I like to see a well-rounded portfolio – again, too often people do themselves a disservice by submitting too early or not having enough examples of the type of illustration you would generally find in a picture book – toddlers, pirates, dinosaurs, animals, domestic scenes, monsters, aliens….
Favourite books: I love Skellig deeply; I Capture The Castle; The Tiger Who Came to Tea; The Virgin Suicides (imagine something like that now – perfect!) As a young child my copy of The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark was unbelievably dog-eared, and I read and re-read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech when I was a teenager; it’s a beautiful book but I’ve no idea why it connected with me so much, I adored it.
Agent style: I’m very much led by the client. I think I’m primarily there to facilitate a happy, creative relationship between writer and editor (stepping in if and when things get less happy!) Debut authors will be more editorial at first, but I often step back editorially once the author has a working relationship with an editor (too many cooks!) Some authors like me to see their drafts before delivering to their editor, a lot are happy to work right up to deadline and deliver straight to the publisher. I’m happy whichever works for the writer.
How to submit:Fiction – synopsis and first three chapters Picture book texts – three separate texts Illustrators – a good selection of JPEGs or PDF of samples. All should have a covering e-mail. To jhodges@unitedagents.co.uk
Submission tips:Think of it as a job application. You’d personalise your letter for that, so please get my name right! Make sure you’ve followed the specific agents’ guidelines. There aren’t that many of us that this is such an arduous task.
Website:www.unitedagents.co.uk
Twitter:@jodiehodges31
Events: United Agents sponsors the Writing for Young People MA prize each year, so I’m going to speak to the students soon about that, and more generally about publishing, including taking a workshop on writing for under 10s, which seems to be the most unpopular area to write for, especially on creative writing courses, which is a great shame.
Do you have questions for Jodie? Leave them here in the comments. You have more than 140 characters!
Read Nicola Morgan: How to find a good agent
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