Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency / Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency

Yay! I am so happy you started this thread because they are my agency and I love them and I was feeling left out of the whole "do you know this agency" thing in this section.

They are fantastic and represent some of the top authors in the UK and the world. Lee Child is one of their clients, as is Martina Cole and John Connolly. All of these authors are internationally bestselling. Aside from that Darley himself is wonderful to work with, really nurtures talent, helps authors grow.

Julia left, yes. It made me most sad because she was my agent and fabulous and actually became a good friend. But Darley took me on when she left, assured me that I would not be left on my own, and has more than lived up to his promise. He is still looking for her replacement, but as far as I know they are still accepting submissions for children's literature.

Personally they have sold my book to over 10 countries, and got me excellent deals in all of them. They are there to help mediate any issues I might have with my publishers, and answer any questions I might have. I thank my lucky stars that they wanted to work with me.

You should know that they are particularly fond of commercial fiction though. They like plot driven, fast paced, marketable work. They do represent a wide range of authors, as you can clearly see from their website, but mysteries and thrillers are definitely up there on their favourites list.

Anyway, in conclusion, they are a fantastic agency, considered one of the top in the UK, wonderful to work with and definitely worth submitting to. Definitely.

Toothpaste, before you submitted to them, where did you find out what they represent? All your praise has made me really curious to query.

Also, I'm in Canada too, so I was wondering what you did to set up a reply. Did you submit with an International Mail Coupon, or were they willing to reply via email?

Thanks for any info

Fec - no problem. Yes I noticed that too about the children's link. I'm going to email Darley and ask, but I am guessing because it was Julia who kept that website going and now there is no one else to, it simply expired. I don't see it as meaningful, but I shall ask.

Barber - I was very naive before submitting to them. I had a list of about 14 agents that I took from The Writers' and Artists' Yearbook of agents that represented children's fiction. They were one of them. It wasn't until after they requested a full that I googled them. I not only found their website which says quite plainly who they represent, and has a "news" section that details all the successes with their authors, but I also found news of them all over the web and learned that they were considered one of the top agencies in the UK. It freaked me out I don't mind telling you. Up until that point I was just happy they wanted to read my MS, at that moment I really started to feel the pressure.

Unfortunately I cannot help you with the mail thing. I was living in the UK at the time, in fact their offices were in my neighbourhood. I will tell you that they replied by calling me on the phone. The key I think is making everything as easy for the agent as possible, if that means spending a bit more money on postage, I say go for it. As they say, you've got to spend money to make money! Trite, but true.

Do check out their website, it's very nice: www.darleyanderson.com (unfortunately now that the children's site is down you won't see my name, but they really are my agents, honest! )


ETA: emailed about the children's site. Yeah it's simply down because they are working on it.

That's a great response.
In my experience UK agents don't ask for reworking unless they are very seriously interested in your work.

The children's website above is working, although I don't know how current it is, but their main website, darleyanderson.com, seems to have been hijacked by some hacking program. Anytime I try it, Norton kills some pdf file that's trying to get into my system.

Just to confirm that the Darley Anderson agency is absolutely one of the best and most respected agencies in the UK. They tend to go for commercial rather than literary fiction. (This is not a criticism, by the way.) Good luck!

I submitted to them a few years back; ended with a rejection but I got some handwritten comments.

Which was really kind of them. Definitely the good guys.

That is odd about the main site, but I'm sure they are on top of it. They update it regularly.

FYI - they have finally replaced Julia with Becky Stradwick as children's book agent and she is just lovely. If the website was up you could read all about her and her fantastic credentials, she's pretty cool. We had a long chat on Tuesday, and aside from talking about me (lol), she did mention that she is working on getting the children's book part of the site updated and a bit more fresh. So, that's cool! Anyway. . . just thought I'd share!

Justine Alltimes had a partial of mine. She did reject it in the end, but she gave me a detailed and helpful rejection. I've now reworked the entire MS so I've resent her the first three chapters. Fingers crossed she likes it!

Website is up and working again. Looks like a good site, too.

Oh, and if anyone's interested, Julia Churchill is now at Greenhouse. They seem a very good agency.

Adrienne,

I didn't know that was your agency. Plot-driven commercial fiction, eh?

EDIT: Hmmm...no email queries...how would I go about making sure I had a properly stamped SASE to include with my query?

I've actually made two posts here about Julia Churchill at Greenhouse, and how the agency is looking for new clients. Please check the thread out here: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=130986

David - yup, and they totally rock! But I can't really help you with the SASE question because I was living in the UK at the time. Maybe someone else can help!

David McAfee said:

Adrienne,

I didn't know that was your agency. Plot-driven commercial fiction, eh?

EDIT: Hmmm...no email queries...how would I go about making sure I had a properly stamped SASE to include with my query?

Click to expand...

They will e-mail you a reply if you ask!

Toothpaste said:

David - yup, and they totally rock! But I can't really help you with the SASE question because I was living in the UK at the time. Maybe someone else can help!

Click to expand...

I sent you an email asking that very question (in addition to another one). You can feel free to ignore it, now (or you could, you know, email me back...hint hint, yanno, 'cause I'm so cool 'n stuff).

I'm glad I read this thread. I think I'll send them a query this weekend.

Toothpaste said:

...But I can't really help you with the SASE question because I was living in the UK at the time. Maybe someone else can help!

Click to expand...

Their children's website says "submissions must include an SAE or an e-mail address." The main website doesn't mention e-mail.

I have accessed the Darley Anderson web site a couple of times in the last few days, and every time, my anti-virus software (McAfee) has picked up and killed a TROJAN (something like a virus).

Darley Anderson - Want the whole book!

Hey

I'm Charlotte and I've been writing for a few years now on some variation of my novel. I've had positive and negative responses.

I've never got beyond sending the first chapter and getting rejected.

I sent a couple of chapters / synopsis etc to Darley Anderson Literary agency in London and he called me himself, to ask for the whole book.

What does this mean? Does it mean that they are considering taking me on?

I don't want to build it up into something it's not only to be let down!

Any help would be good, you see, i've never got beyond the thanks but no thanks...

I'm not familiar with London agencies or protocols, but in the States, if an agent calls and personally requests to read the full manuscript, it's a big deal. It means he or she sees something in the material, so keep your fingers crossed.

Question: you said you've been waiting for a few years on this novel. How many others have you written while querying this one? Anything new in the pipeline that you can start querying?

Darley Anderson is a premier agency. If they called you at this stage, I'd say interest is pretty high! Though of course there are no guarantees.

Since a specific agency is involved, I'm moving this to the Background Check thread.

- Victoria