IN DEPTH
Agent Spotlight Gemma Cooper
including: Jessica Townsend, whose Nevermoor has been sold into 38 languages; Robin Stevens, author of the surging Murder Most Unladylike series; and Mo O’Hara, Cooper’s first ever client, whose My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish books have sold close to two million units in the US. Cooper rides into this Bologna with a monster book: B B Alston’s Amari and the Night Brothers, pitched as “Nevermoor meets ‘Kingsmen’”. South Carolinian Alston’s début Middle Grade fantasy trilogy was sold into nine territories in a frenetic couple of weeks before Bologna and, at this writing, there are offers on the table in a further four territories, with UK and US auctions scheduled to close during the fair. Alston’s road to his book deals is a sweet story. Late last year, Cooper had been closed to submissions as she was only recently back from maternit leave, but she noticed Alston on #DVPit, the Twiter hashtag through which writers from backgrounds which are historically underrepresented in publishing pitch their ideas to agents. For most of his twenties Alston tried to make it as a writer, but it never happened. In his mid-thirties, he went back to universit to train as a doctor, but gave #DVPit a go, trying for one last shot at his dream.
Cooper says: “I offered him representation on 23rd December; it was a nice Christmas giſt for both of us. I was talking to him yesterday and he said, ‘I might have to defer medical school for a while.’ I’m not sure he will, but he might, as [the deals] may be life changing. But that’s what you live for as an agent: to give your authors good news.”
A brief history Cooper had a circuitous route into agenting. She spent her very early years in Enfield, “until we got burgled and our cat got shot”; aſter that her parents decided that north London might not be the best place to raise Cooper and her twin brother. The family moved to rural Hertfordshire for what sounds like an idyllic, outdoorsy childhood. She atended the Universit of East Anglia then moved into
recruitment. When Cooper’s husband was offered a job in New York, the two upped sticks and she worked as a Manhatan real-estate agent (“there’s probably not an apartment under 100th Street that I haven’t seen”). But she was unfulfilled. A friend came over one night and they had a “deep, meaningful talk about hopes and dreams”, with Cooper revealing she wanted to write a book. She wrote a “terrible, Twilight-y” novel, but in the course of doing so atended a writers’ conference where the agent Joanna Volpe (shortly to sell Veronica Roth’s Divergent books across the world) gave a talk. Cooper says: “She was telling us what a literary agent was and I thought, ‘Hold on, I want to do that.’ From that moment on there was never going to be any other path in publishing for me.” Cooper interned with Volpe, then moved back to London and interned with Caroline Sheldon and Penny Holyrode. It was Holyrode whose advice helped Cooper build her roster: “I’ve oſten said without Penny Holroyde there wouldn’t be a Gemma Cooper. She was the mentor I needed. At the time, everyone was obsessed with YA, but she had this list with funny young fiction, Middle Grade, amazing illustrators… she made me realise that there was a whole world of kids’ books that I never considered.” There was a short stint at The Bright Agency, then she found her home at TBA aſter meeting Molly Ker Hawn, who had set up the TBA UK office a year or so previously. She says: “For the past six and a half years I’ve had such amazing colleagues, [TBA founder] Jenny [Bent] and Molly in particular. They are at the heart of why this is my dream job and I feel so grateful for their support, mentor- ing and the laughs.”
Bologna is one of the highlights of Cooper’s year: “I’m
very social and I love to be around my friends, and foreign editors I have known for years now. I love the agents’ centre. To me all it’s like we’re all going on a school trip. I know that makes the industry sound silly but I love seeing all these people. I imagine myself walking around Bologna when I’m 70—I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Four to Watch Gemma Cooper’s success stories
38
Territories Jessica Townsend’s novel Nevermoor has been sold into to date
9
Territories B B Alston’s Amari and the Night Brothers was sold into before this year’s Bologna, with offers from a further four
I love the agents’ centre. To me it’s like we’re all going on a school trip... I imagine myself walking around Bologna when I’m 70
Gemma Cooper
Jessica Townsend
Australian Townsend’s début, Nevermoor, was the hit of the 2016 Frankfurt Book Fair, and Cooper sold the Middle Grade fantasy series in 38 territories. The first book won the 2018 Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year, and is being adapted by “Cabin in the Woods” director Drew Goddard.
30 2nd April 2019
Sophie Anderson
Swansea-born Anderson’s The House with Chicken Legs—a reimagining of a Russian folktale—has been one of the stand-out débuts of 2018, short- listed for the Carnegie, Blue Peter and British Book Awards. It has been sold into 13 territories including Scholas- tic in the US and Usborne in the UK.
Sibéal Pounder
Pounder’s two series—Witch Wars and Bad Mermaids—are nearing the £1m mark through BookScan UK. A grow- ing reputation has been enhanced this year with a World Book Day title (Bad Mermaids Meet the Witches) and a deal to write a sequel to Eva Ibbotson’s The Secrets of Platform 13.
Robin Stevens
Stevens kicked off her Murder Most Unladylike series in style, with the first title winning the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize (5–12) gong. The series has gone on to be sold in 11 territories and shift £2.9m through BookScan UK, and the eighth book will be released in August this year.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36