New Literary Agent Listing: Sonny Marr
firstwriter.com – Friday September 26, 2025
Represents commercial fiction and non-fiction. She loves a strong hook, brilliant pacing and authors who think big-picture when it comes to their careers. Actively looking to grow her list and is always looking to work with artists who have a vision for publishing a book. No children’s books, sci-fi/fantasy or YA.
Private Equity Firm Acquires Two Leading Hybrid Publishers
publishersweekly.com – Thursday September 25, 2025
Greenleaf Book Group and Amplify Publishing Group, two of the country’s oldest and best-known hybrid publishing companies, have been acquired by Civica Media, a new publishing company formed by the private equity firm BlackBern Partners.
Civica is headed by CEO Laura Albero, whose background includes leading business development for Lezen Holdings, the publishing company anchored by Arcadia Publishing, and has done strategic advisory, financial modeling, and investor material development for a number of publishing houses and literary agencies. “Greenleaf and Amplify are two of the strongest independent publishing brands in the market today,” Albero said in a statement. “They exemplify the potential of the hybrid model, and we’re excited to provide the resources and platform to help them scale.”
Greenleaf was founded by Clint Greenleaf in 1997 and has been led in recent years by Tanya Hall. It has seven imprints including Wonderwell Press and Kiplinger Books and also provides distribution services. Originally known as Mascot Books, Amplify was cofounded in 2003 by Naren Aryal, who remains CEO and publisher. Amplify has six imprints, including RealClear Publishing.
Mark Manson Used the 4-Hour Rule to Write a Bestseller. Science Says It’s the Secret to Doing Great Work
inc.com – Tuesday September 23, 2025
The author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k struggled for 15 months to write his best-seller before he stumbled on the 4-hour rule. It changed everything.
Back in the 2010s Mark Manson was a well-known blogger, leveraging social media algorithms to attract eyeballs to his Millennial-focused self-help content. His success earned him a book deal. But he was far from sure his online formula would translate into the world of publishing.
Then his book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k came out. It became an instant cultural phenomenon that spawned countless copycats, selling 20 million copies and counting.
“There’s no way to expect that,” Manson told an interviewer. “It’s [a] complete life change.”
So how did a guy known for slinging accessible but smart advice manage to write a book that you now see on basically everyone’s bookshelf? On LinkedIn recently, Manson revealed his struggle to write the book and the essential time management rule it taught him.
It’s a rule that’s backed by a ton of science and that applies to basically anyone who hopes to do great work.
BBC 500 Words creative writing competition returns for children across the UK
bbc.co.uk – Tuesday September 23, 2025
The Royal celebration of children’s creativity invites young writers to submit original short stories, showcasing the best in homegrown storytelling
The UK’s most successful writing competition for children, BBC 500 Words, opens today, Tuesday 23 September.
The competition, supported by BBC Bitesize for Teachers, encourages children of all abilities to dive deep into their imagination and write the story they would love to read in 500 words or fewer, without fear of spelling, grammar or punctuation errors.
Open to ages 5–7 and 8–11, the competition’s return was revealed by Alex Jones on Monday’s episode of The One Show, where she also revealed that the grand final will be held at the iconic Windsor Castle.
The judging panel are Malorie Blackman, Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Sir Lenny Henry, Charlie Higson and Francesca Simon, and, chaired by Alex Jones.
Alex Jones, The One Show presenter and 500 Words judging panel chair said: “We are so excited to be back for 500 Words! It’s a highlight in The One Show calendar and being invited to Windsor Castle for the Grand Final feels really special. I can’t wait to read the brilliant stories and celebrate reading, writing and imagination!”
New Literary Agent Listing: Krista Van Dolzer
firstwriter.com – Tuesday September 23, 2025
Looking for all things MG and YA as well as several flavors of adult nonfiction: narrative, sports, applied but accessible science (especially in mathematics, economics, or psychology), and journalistic narrative.
New Hilary Mantel prize to help emerging writers
bbc.co.uk – Monday September 22, 2025
A new literary prize in memory of author Dame Hilary Mantel has been set up to champion new writers.
The Hilary Mantel Prize for Fiction is being launched on the third anniversary of her death after her private correspondence revealed she had mentored aspiring writers throughout her life.
Organisers of the new biennial prize said it was open to unpublished writers without an agent living in the UK or Ireland, and the winner would get a cash prize, mentoring from an agent and a place on an Arvon Foundation residential writing course.
Devon-based Dame Hilary herself won the prestigious Booker Prize twice and is probably best known for her book Wolf Hall that became a BBC TV series.
The judging panel will be chaired by bestselling author Maggie O'Farrell.
She said: "Encouragement from a writer of Hilary Mantel's stature is nothing short of transformative. It's like winning a thousand lotteries for debut writers."
The two authors shared an agent and it was decided offering an award for unpublished writing was the best way to honour her memory.
5 new Australian publishers are making defiant, weird, grass-roots books
theconversation.com – Friday September 19, 2025
In the past year or so, three Australian publishing mergers happened within a few short months. Text Publishing, Pantera Press and Affirm Press were all absorbed into a larger company. Once a company has shareholders, like Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster (which acquired Affirm and Text), the business is geared to generate the greatest return for them.
Meanwhile, the closure of 85-year-old literary journal Meanjin has drawn the ire of industry insiders and readers in Australia and abroad.
But there’s also some good news in the launch of five new Australian book publishers: Perentie Press, Pink Shorts Press, Evercreech Editions, Aniko Press and Bakers Lane Books.
Their new work includes short books, graphic novels, short-story collections, experimental writing and literary fiction. Two are launching with prizes for unpublished work: one (worth A$2,500 as an advance towards royalties) for a graphic novel; the other a $10,000 award for an unpublished work of literary fiction by an Australian woman or gender-diverse writer, co-judged by Stella Prize winning author Emily Bitto.
Wattpad to Bestseller: Can Fanfiction Writers Really Go Mainstream?
theteenmagazine.com – Thursday September 18, 2025
In recent years, authors like Ali Hazelwood and Beth Reekles have moved from fanfiction to mainstream publishing. Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis began as Star Wars “Reylo” fanfiction on Archive of Our Own (AO3) before she reworked it into a romance novel. Reekles, who wrote The Kissing Booth, first published the story on Wattpad as a teenager, and later it became a global hit and a Netflix movie.
These success stories raise important questions. Does fanfiction-style storytelling translate well into traditional publishing? Do platforms like Wattpad and AO3 help or hurt new writers? And why is fanfiction so addictive in the first place?
Fanfiction has long been a space where writers can explore beloved universes such as Harry Potter, Twilight, and Star Wars. Over time, some of these writers have reworked their stories and found publishing success. Fifty Shades of Grey began as Twilight fanfiction before being retooled and published.
In Hazelwood’s case, her Reylo fanfic caught the attention of a literary agent on AO3, which launched her career. She then altered names, plot details, and pacing to create The Love Hypothesis.
Other writers have followed similar paths. Estelle Maskame posted Did I Mention I Love You? (DIMILY) on Wattpad as a teenager; the book attracted millions of reads before being traditionally published and selling over a million copies. Filipino author Jonaxx (Jonahmae Pacala) also built a massive Wattpad following that translated into bestselling novels.
AI could never replace my authors. But, without regulation, it will ruin publishing as we know it
theguardian.com – Thursday September 18, 2025
Basic principles need to be enshrined to protect the sacred craft of storytelling from this automated onslaught
The single biggest threat to the livelihood of authors and, by extension, to our culture, is not short attention spans. It is AI.
The UK publishing industry – worth more than £11bn, part of the £126bn that our creative industries generate for the British economy – has sat by while big tech has “swept” copyrighted material from the internet in order to train their models. Recently, the AI startup Anthropic settled a $1.5bn copyright case over this issue, but the ship has undeniably left the harbour and big tech is sailing off with the goods.
As a literary agent and CEO of one of the largest agencies in Europe, I think this is something everyone should care about – not because we fear progress, but because we want to protect it. If you take away the one thing that makes us truly human – our ability to think like humans, create stories and imagine new worlds – we will live in a diminished world.
Many great writers have written about why stories are the lifeblood of humanity and how an artist’s job is to tell us truths we may not want to hear. Having worked with writers such as John le Carré, Elif Shafak, William Boyd and David Nicholls, I know first-hand where great storytelling comes from.
Le Carré was born in 1931 and survived a childhood with a conman father and a mother who abandoned him when he was five years old. He came of age as the cold war began. Treachery and betrayal was his childhood and proved – to paraphrase Graham Greene – to be the bank balance of his writing life. During his time with the secret services, it was through writing reports – and getting feedback from senior officers – that he learned to write. His skill was derived from the personal, his upbringing and his craft.
New Literary Agent Listing: Natalie Barracliffe
firstwriter.com – Thursday September 18, 2025
As I grow my list, I’m particularly interested in fantasy, thrillers and romances in the Adult and Young Adult market. I'm also looking for a chilling horror to sink my teeth into, or a transportive historical fiction.
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