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The pandemic has been responsible for a lot of things, a lot of them bad—not the least of which is this reporter’s extra padding, which I still can’t shake no matter how many damn HIIT classes I take. But there were also some bonuses. One of which is that it partly led to the creation of one of the UK’s newest literary agencies, Colwill & Peddle.
Charlotte Colville and Kay Peddle were on similar trajectories entering the pandemic. Both were veterans of the book trade – most of Colwill’s experience was in the book trade, including stints at Daunt Books and Foyles; Peddle was the non-fiction editor at Vintage, primarily at The Bodley Head, who had recently taken the step of setting up their own literary agencies. Both were mothers of young children and lived close to each other in south-east London.
Being new to the game during the lockouts had its obvious challenges and another agent, C&W managing director Sophie Lambert, suggested the two hook up. Says Colville: “She said, ‘There’s another agent who’s single near you, you should meet.’ So Kay and I started talking, at first just for support sessions, and that’s how we got to know each other. Our tastes really complement each other — and our whole relationship with authors and writing seems fine. So we talked about getting together for a while and decided this year. Sounds very romantic, doesn’t it? Peddle adds: “We were very happy to run our own independent lists. What really convinced us [to join forces] is that we shared a vision of wanting to open up the industry as much as possible and do things a little differently in terms of how we source writers. We just wanted to bring that energy together.”
The agency officially launched this month, and the duo is skipping the frying pan and going straight into the fire with their first trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair. The agency’s big headlines on submissions demonstrate the two agents’ largely complementary tastes. Peddle is exclusively non-fiction and is looking for “books that provoke discussion, that have the potential to change opinions and reveal hidden aspects of a familiar story”. One of her greatest contributions to FBF is the essay collections of Kimberly McIntosh, black girl, no magic. McIntosh was the first author to sign Peddle and has an interesting resume: social justice politician, opinion writer (for guard and The Washington Post) and a stint as a dating columnist in gal-them. “She does a very clever thing by being able to fuse quite abstract political ideas with the personal and make them accessible and fun,” says Peddle.
Colville, meanwhile, dabbles in non-fiction, but her sweet spot is increasingly in adult and children’s fiction, with the edgier end of genre writing particularly prolific at the moment. Janie Washington is a good example, with Colwill recently signing a two-book deal with Viper for the American literary horror writer. Colville says, “She just sees things from a whole new perspective. She’s steeped in the horror genre, but she also loves Japanese manga, so a lot of her stories are infused with those slightly dark and twisted genres.”
Pursuit of diversity
The big push for the WAA this year is generally about transparency and opening up the profession to be as broad-based as possible and to attract not only new writers, but to bring more people from different backgrounds into the profession. This happened regardless of AAA pressure, but Colwill & Peddle is almost like a perfect best practice case of how one would do this from the start. This starts with an open submissions policy, but also that the agency’s website is half showcase for clients and their work, half mini-writers and Artists’ Yearbookwith tips and tricks for new authors, insights into the publishing process and interviews with industry professionals such as book designer Anna Green and marketer Indira Birney.
The two have done this in part because they believe it will help the agency both build its profile and attract new, exciting writers. But they also unashamedly believe in the underlying ethos of trying to demystify commerce. Colville says: “It’s possible that we both came to the agency via slightly unconventional routes – we didn’t start as assistants at agencies that were decades old. We are not the first to realize that agency is a kind of tower in the clouds; people feel like they don’t know [the process]- what does a literary agent do. In terms of breaking into the industry or authors trying to get featured, it’s really bad because it shuts a lot of people out.”
Peddle adds: “None of what we do is revolutionary, as there has been a lot of commentary recently. But we need to grow the industry, and to do that, you need to diversify the people who work in it. They will naturally be interested and attracted to different books.”
Peddle adds that she feels passionately about this issue, as her entry into the trade was not the easiest. She is South African and moved to the UK in 2006 to do a Masters at Oxford Brookes. Typical posting so far. But breaking into the business was difficult: it was the era of unpaid work and internships, and she only managed to do it because she befriended someone else on her course who had a flat in London, and she managed to crash on his couch. The ducking and diving eventually paid off when she landed a job at Vintage, and she got a huge boost early in her career when, as an editorial assistant, she won the 2011 Kim Scott Walwyn Award for an audiobook project she created for The Bodley Head.
Peddle says, “It was a struggle. I really gave it up to allow myself to work in publishing. I remember thinking how valuable this prize money was to Kim Scott Wallwin [£1,000] and a professional development course [that came with it] it was. A decade later, things have changed for the better [for young professionals]but there is still much for the industry to do.”
Since childhood, Colville has been a “huge fan of history” – movies, musical theater and especially books. After studying English and Philosophy in Manchester, she did an MA in Publishing at LCC. While writing her master’s thesis, Colville interviewed an employee of Daunt’s named Max Porter, who told her that the bookseller had openings. She jumped at the chance and stayed for a decade (“I still love bookselling, I still miss it”). But being an agent was a dream she had put off during her days as a bookseller, and she decided to fail, joining Tibor Jones, then Jo Unwin, where she covered Rachel Mann’s maternity leave before to make the leap to “build my own list of my own interests”.
Going back to the formation of Colwill & Peddle, both believe that a business that has its roots in the pandemic has its advantages. Colwill says: “We still can’t afford the office in Kensington, but the way things have changed, luxury offices aren’t as much of a priority. In the past, many posts revolved in or near central London, at certain parties, at certain lunches. Which is good – I certainly don’t mind lunch and it’s great to see people in person again. But these days you can start in your bedrooms, like we did.”
This influenced the agency’s expansion thinking. “We’re going to prioritize hiring new talent over getting office space,” says Peddle. “We’ve been able to get off the ground with this ultra-agile model, so we’d like to bring more like-minded people into the company to help it grow.”
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