The BIA was established in 2012 by Ben Illis to offer specialist literary representation, focussing on writers of Children's, Young Adult and crossover fiction and select clients who also write for adults. We work directly with publishers around the world, both directly and via a network of sub-agents and scouts. More after the slideshow....
Why us?
In this world of consolidation and conglomeration, many agencies and publishers are joining forces, pooling resources and growing in size to face off the competition. As a small agency, we can offer a personal service, working more closely with our clients to build their work into as commercial a prospect as possible. We are in constant contact with editors at UK and international houses - both large and small - as well as, of course, the Film and TV world - and pride ourselves on finding the right home on the right list for the right book.
What are we looking for?
Put simply: We are looking to be transported. We look for the sorts of stories that make us want to stay up late under the covers with a torch, squeezing in just one more chapter before we fall sleep.
Help us unleash the child within!
Here's just a few of the specifics we look out for:
VOICE - The toughest thing to fix. Voice needs to be authentic and compelling from the off.
POWER - Nothing worse than a kids' story in which adults retain power. Empower your kids in an original way.
POINT OF VIEW - If your protagonist is a child, let's see their world through their eyes AND from their height.
PACE - Get the story started and keep it moving. Watch chapter length. Keep prose spare and drive the story on.
NARRATIVE ARC - Sequels are important, but give your reader some satisfaction before leaving them hanging.
Help us unleash the child within!
Here's just a few of the specifics we look out for:
VOICE - The toughest thing to fix. Voice needs to be authentic and compelling from the off.
POWER - Nothing worse than a kids' story in which adults retain power. Empower your kids in an original way.
POINT OF VIEW - If your protagonist is a child, let's see their world through their eyes AND from their height.
PACE - Get the story started and keep it moving. Watch chapter length. Keep prose spare and drive the story on.
NARRATIVE ARC - Sequels are important, but give your reader some satisfaction before leaving them hanging.
The process...
Very rarely do we encounter a story that is ready to go. The first step is to meet with potential clients and discuss ideas and possible editorial directions for their manuscript. It is crucial that both parties agree they can work together and that potential clients demonstrate their ability to listen to feedback and take it on board, as well as, of course, defend their own intentions.
Some scripts take a couple of edits - of varying magnitude - some more. The important thing is that it is not a timed process. Books go out only when they are good and ready to compete in a highly challenging market. Keeping an open mind on the writer's part is key.
Some scripts take a couple of edits - of varying magnitude - some more. The important thing is that it is not a timed process. Books go out only when they are good and ready to compete in a highly challenging market. Keeping an open mind on the writer's part is key.
A bit more about Ben...
Ben has worked in many guises in the publishing industry over the past two decades. As part of the branch management team of Books Etc, he bought kids and YA books in stores across the whole of London fro almost 7 years. He was a co-founder of Old Street Publishing and has been both sales director and marketing director of small publishers. He has acquired, commissioned and edited; done publicity, picture research and ghost-written, all ahead of moving across into agenting in 2010. Ben is a published writer in his own right and has had the experience of working with agents both good and bad from the other (your) side of the fence.
Ben speaks regularly at writers' conferences and festivals; as well as to creative writing courses, such as The Golden Egg Academy, and groups like The London Writers' Group on writing for children and young adults and, of course, getting that all important publishing deal. Together with Rachel, Ben maintains a close relationship with all the major creative writing degree courses and keep a very close eye on promising graduates.
Ben speaks regularly at writers' conferences and festivals; as well as to creative writing courses, such as The Golden Egg Academy, and groups like The London Writers' Group on writing for children and young adults and, of course, getting that all important publishing deal. Together with Rachel, Ben maintains a close relationship with all the major creative writing degree courses and keep a very close eye on promising graduates.
But it's actually not *just* Ben, is it?
These days, no. Although it was for a while! Here's a rundown of the members of Team BIA:
Ben Illis, Founder and Literary Agent
Prior to the above, Ben initially trained as an actor – where he first discovered a passion for story-telling – which he did professionally for just over ten years. His day job during those years, alongside the bookshop, was as a freelance travel writer and photographer, with a special focus on adventure travel and wildlife stories. Now based in Brighton, he remains a very keen traveller, beach-comber, fossil-hunter and scuba diver and is proud to be the geeky bane of any poor writer who dares skip over any wildlife details in their manuscript.
Ben loves unique voices, especially those we don’t usually hear from, and stories that transport him to places and spaces he's never been to or dreamed of, both real and imagined. As a gay former fat kid of part Jewish and part gypsy heritage, he welcomes the call for diversity in all its forms and is passionate that all potentially marginalised kids feel represented. He likes lyrical writing that engages all senses and doesn’t shy away from rhythm or non-verbal communication. He is a sucker for myth, magic and folklore, three-dimensional world-building, truly funny humour, a nod to nature and wildlife, genuinely exciting action and a deliciously unsettling darkness, where appropriate.
ben(a)the-bia.com
Rachel Hamilton, Literary Agent
Rachel’s journey to agenting has been a twisty-turny one, through ad agencies, a men’s prison, a building site, a secondary school and lots of lit fests. She fell in love with storytelling as an English teacher – perhaps because it was the easiest way to get students to stop talking and listen to her – and has been published by Simon & Schuster (UK), OUP (UK), Scholastic (US), and Motivate (Middle East). While promoting her books, Rachel discovered she preferred talking about other people's stories, so she trained as a moderator to chat with writing heroes, like Alexander McCall Smith, Onjali Rauf and Jasper Fforde. She wow-ed her mum by interviewing Richard and Judy (on a sofa), and disappointed an unruly mob of seven-year-olds by refusing to let them invade the stage while Nadia Hussain was icing gingerbread men.
After a spot of freelance editing, Rachel made the move into agenting and found her dream home at The BIA, where she's looking forward to building her own list. She loves books with humour, particularly if it's edgy and smart and triggered by characters' own actions, flaws and foibles. She is also a sucker for strong-voiced action stories that make you fall in love with a character and then plunge them into peril, pushing the 'what if' premise to extremes with a few clever twists and turns. There's no better feeling than being genuinely surprised, but in a forehead-slapping 'Dur! Should have seen it coming' way.
rachel(a)the-bia.com
Margot Edwards, Foreign Rights Manager
Margot Edwards has spent her professional life as gamekeeper turned poacher and is now both at once! Starting at Anthony Sheil Associates, then moving to Hamish Hamilton where she began her love affair with children's books, and on to Hodder & Stoughton where she became rights director of the Children's Division. When Headline bought Hodder, and with a growing family, Margot started Margot Edwards Rights Consultancy, representing clients such as Peters Fraser & Dunlop Children's Books, Piccadilly Press, Templar fiction and Aitken Alexander children's books. As well as representing the BIA she also represents other UK agents and publishers throughout the world. She regularly attends Frankfurt, Bologna and London Book Fairs, in person when possible or virtually in covid-times.
margot.edwards(a)rightsconsultancy.co.uk
Marc Simonsson, Film/TV/Theatrical Rights Agent
Prior to founding his own agency, SoloSon, Marc worked for agencies including The Agency (London) Limited, The Richard Stone Partnership, RCW and WME. SoloSon works with literary agencies and publishers across the industry, selling the dramatic rights for their eclectic lists of books to film, television and theatre producers. Like The BIA, SoloSon is boutique in size but grand in its ambitions for the titles that it represents. The company prides itself on its tailored approach to each title and its ability to find the right partner for each project.
marc(a)soloson.co.uk
www.soloson.co.uk
Fabienne Gladwin, Agency Intern
Newer to the world of kids’ books, Fabienne studied English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Kent before recently completing her MA in Publishing at UCL. Fabienne reads a lot, and has learned what children love to read by interacting with young people from all over the world, from San Diego to Cambodia; to the library classrooms in British schools, observing that all children largely want the same thing – to see themselves reflected in their stories. By some miracle, she met Ben at the checkouts of a local supermarket and after both expressing their love for colourful language (!) they met for a coffee and there it was, she was soon interning at The BIA - practically her dream job, she says, although she may need to work on dreaming bigger!
intern(a)the-bia.com
Kevin Stewart, Jackie Wilson, Charles Devine: Contracts People
Prior to setting up Contracts People in 2013, Kevin had already clocked twenty-five years in publishing contracts, and until 2008 was Director of Group Contracts for Hodder Headline, part of Hachette UK. Jackie too has lived and breathed publishing contracts for the past two decades. She started her contracts career at Harper Collins and set up and ran the Contracts Department at Orion. With “just” 9 years’ experience at Scholastic Children’s Books, Charles Devine might look to be the easy touch of the three – but don’t be fooled, he knows his stuff too! Together, they provide an all-round freelance publishing contracts support service to many smaller outfits, including running training courses. Kevin is also a long time contributor to the publishing contracts 'Bible’ - "Clark’s Publishing Agreements: A Book Of Precedents".
www.contractspeople.co.uk
Ben Illis, Founder and Literary Agent
Prior to the above, Ben initially trained as an actor – where he first discovered a passion for story-telling – which he did professionally for just over ten years. His day job during those years, alongside the bookshop, was as a freelance travel writer and photographer, with a special focus on adventure travel and wildlife stories. Now based in Brighton, he remains a very keen traveller, beach-comber, fossil-hunter and scuba diver and is proud to be the geeky bane of any poor writer who dares skip over any wildlife details in their manuscript.
Ben loves unique voices, especially those we don’t usually hear from, and stories that transport him to places and spaces he's never been to or dreamed of, both real and imagined. As a gay former fat kid of part Jewish and part gypsy heritage, he welcomes the call for diversity in all its forms and is passionate that all potentially marginalised kids feel represented. He likes lyrical writing that engages all senses and doesn’t shy away from rhythm or non-verbal communication. He is a sucker for myth, magic and folklore, three-dimensional world-building, truly funny humour, a nod to nature and wildlife, genuinely exciting action and a deliciously unsettling darkness, where appropriate.
ben(a)the-bia.com
Rachel Hamilton, Literary Agent
Rachel’s journey to agenting has been a twisty-turny one, through ad agencies, a men’s prison, a building site, a secondary school and lots of lit fests. She fell in love with storytelling as an English teacher – perhaps because it was the easiest way to get students to stop talking and listen to her – and has been published by Simon & Schuster (UK), OUP (UK), Scholastic (US), and Motivate (Middle East). While promoting her books, Rachel discovered she preferred talking about other people's stories, so she trained as a moderator to chat with writing heroes, like Alexander McCall Smith, Onjali Rauf and Jasper Fforde. She wow-ed her mum by interviewing Richard and Judy (on a sofa), and disappointed an unruly mob of seven-year-olds by refusing to let them invade the stage while Nadia Hussain was icing gingerbread men.
After a spot of freelance editing, Rachel made the move into agenting and found her dream home at The BIA, where she's looking forward to building her own list. She loves books with humour, particularly if it's edgy and smart and triggered by characters' own actions, flaws and foibles. She is also a sucker for strong-voiced action stories that make you fall in love with a character and then plunge them into peril, pushing the 'what if' premise to extremes with a few clever twists and turns. There's no better feeling than being genuinely surprised, but in a forehead-slapping 'Dur! Should have seen it coming' way.
rachel(a)the-bia.com
Margot Edwards, Foreign Rights Manager
Margot Edwards has spent her professional life as gamekeeper turned poacher and is now both at once! Starting at Anthony Sheil Associates, then moving to Hamish Hamilton where she began her love affair with children's books, and on to Hodder & Stoughton where she became rights director of the Children's Division. When Headline bought Hodder, and with a growing family, Margot started Margot Edwards Rights Consultancy, representing clients such as Peters Fraser & Dunlop Children's Books, Piccadilly Press, Templar fiction and Aitken Alexander children's books. As well as representing the BIA she also represents other UK agents and publishers throughout the world. She regularly attends Frankfurt, Bologna and London Book Fairs, in person when possible or virtually in covid-times.
margot.edwards(a)rightsconsultancy.co.uk
Marc Simonsson, Film/TV/Theatrical Rights Agent
Prior to founding his own agency, SoloSon, Marc worked for agencies including The Agency (London) Limited, The Richard Stone Partnership, RCW and WME. SoloSon works with literary agencies and publishers across the industry, selling the dramatic rights for their eclectic lists of books to film, television and theatre producers. Like The BIA, SoloSon is boutique in size but grand in its ambitions for the titles that it represents. The company prides itself on its tailored approach to each title and its ability to find the right partner for each project.
marc(a)soloson.co.uk
www.soloson.co.uk
Fabienne Gladwin, Agency Intern
Newer to the world of kids’ books, Fabienne studied English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Kent before recently completing her MA in Publishing at UCL. Fabienne reads a lot, and has learned what children love to read by interacting with young people from all over the world, from San Diego to Cambodia; to the library classrooms in British schools, observing that all children largely want the same thing – to see themselves reflected in their stories. By some miracle, she met Ben at the checkouts of a local supermarket and after both expressing their love for colourful language (!) they met for a coffee and there it was, she was soon interning at The BIA - practically her dream job, she says, although she may need to work on dreaming bigger!
intern(a)the-bia.com
Kevin Stewart, Jackie Wilson, Charles Devine: Contracts People
Prior to setting up Contracts People in 2013, Kevin had already clocked twenty-five years in publishing contracts, and until 2008 was Director of Group Contracts for Hodder Headline, part of Hachette UK. Jackie too has lived and breathed publishing contracts for the past two decades. She started her contracts career at Harper Collins and set up and ran the Contracts Department at Orion. With “just” 9 years’ experience at Scholastic Children’s Books, Charles Devine might look to be the easy touch of the three – but don’t be fooled, he knows his stuff too! Together, they provide an all-round freelance publishing contracts support service to many smaller outfits, including running training courses. Kevin is also a long time contributor to the publishing contracts 'Bible’ - "Clark’s Publishing Agreements: A Book Of Precedents".
www.contractspeople.co.uk