PICTURED, FROM LEFT: ABIGAIL BERGSTROM, CATHERINE CHO, KATE SHAW AND ALICE SUTHERLAND HAWES
answer to this, to have an agile, ambitious and focused list that carefully considered each client’s strategy across the US and UK and the rest of the world.” She adds: “I also wanted to have a list that allowed me to work with writers that really excite me, while utilising modern systems for client
care. With the pandemic, it also made me realise that the things we may have assumed
were necessary, like office space, are not.”
her own boss is that “we’re not a traditional agency, we’re also a 360-degree publishing consul- tancy, offering services to authors and working directly with other agents and publishers, so our revenue streams are abundant and diverse”.
Alice Sutherland-Hawes has also thrived since leaving Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency (MMLTFA) and launching ASH Literary, which focuses on the children’s market, a year ago. She says: “I have had a fantastic first year, earning well over my previous salary and building a business that so far is sustainable—though I am aware it is early days. I am so thrilled with the deals the agency has done, the creators I represent and the work they are producing.”
While she had always aimed to run her own company one day, the move was accelerated by the pandemic. She explains: “Aſter the fog of the first lockdown started to clear, I realised that I
TheBookseller.com
I have to do everything—all the social media, payments, database admin—and sure, it’s a lot, but the payoff is worth it for me Alice Sutherland-Hawes
had an opportunit to rebuild my life in a way that worked for me… I realised I didn’t want to go back to how things had been, clocking in for set hours and wast- ing time and money on commut- ing. I wanted the flexibilit to live anywhere, to work when works for me and to make my own deci- sions in the shaping of my list, the deals I do and how I work. And I also wanted to create a safe space for my clients to create in, which is something I am actively trying to do.”
Sutherland-Hawes feels that not being part of a bigger agency has not added to the challenges she is facing during the current climate. In fact, the launch was a “great distraction” from the pandemic, and she credits the industry and her clients—includ- ing authors and illustrators Poonam Mistry, Kereen Geten and Harry Woodgate—with being “so supportive and wonderful”. She continues: “I knew exactly what I was geting into when I started my agency. I have to do everything—all the social media, payments, database admin—and sure, it’s a lot, but the payoff is worth it for me… it’s so freeing.”
Paper talk
Another former MMLTFA staffer Catherine Cho, leſt to launch Paper Literary in May. “It had never been my goal to start my own agency,” she says, “but over the past year I had been thinking a lot about what a client needs. I started Paper Literary as my
She admits that the pandemic adds “an extra layer of uncer- taint to starting a new business” and that it was “a big step” to take, especially as she has two young children. However, the move has been “very liberat- ing and exciting so far”. Cho expands: “I’ve hugely enjoyed being my own boss, particularly for the small things, like being able to make my own decisions about everyday logistics.” Paper Literary struck its first deal in June and Cho has received several submissions—“in the first couple of days we received over 500”— but she has tried to keep the list small in the first year. She says: “There has been a lot to learn, of course, but there’s been so much positivit and support from the industry and people reaching out, which has meant a great deal.” All four women have high hopes for the next steps for their new agencies. Cho is “excited” to build the Paper Literary brand and to announce the agency’s first deal, while Shaw is also “very optimistic” about the future. As well as having “some fantastic books in the pipeline”, Sutherland-Hawes is planning to move her agency out of London in 2023. Considering exactly what the future may look like for her studio, Bergstrom says: “The thing about moving with the tide is different threads of the business are going to grow and develop—the direction of that growth is all to be played for.”
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