UK Agent submission material checklist

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So, you have your finished novel and have decided that you want to go down the route of publishing it traditionally.

If so, it’s time to find an agent to represent you and your work.

The process of querying can be daunting. It is essentially you admitting to yourself that you have taken your novel – your passion project that has lived rent-free in your brain for however long it may be – as far as you can take it.

Progressing to submitting your work to agents and seeking representation means handing your story over to people who judge whether it is good enough to try and strike a deal with publishing houses. It’s an exciting time but it can also be downright terrifying.

If you’re on this hamster wheel of searching for an agent for the first time, it can be difficult to know where to start and what you need to submit in order to get your story to stand out above the rest.

This blog has been created to cut all the wondering out!

Below, is a handy (and growing) list of UK agencies, with links to their respective websites. After that, you will find a handy checklist of all the different types of material you’re going to need to have in place that will make your life so much easier when it comes to submitting your story…

List of UK agencies

This is an always-in-development list of UK agencies that take a variety of fiction work. Below, we have a name, a link to the agency’s website, and what their preferred submission process is:

Literary Agency	URL	Submission preference
A.M. Heath & Co. Ltd	https://amheath.com/	Online submission form
Andrew Nurnberg Associates	https://andrewnurnberg.com/	Email
Anette Green Authors	https://www.annettegreenagency.co.uk/	Email
Antony Harwood Limited	https://antonyharwood.com/	Email
Bell Lomax Moreton Agency	https://belllomaxmoreton.co.uk/	Email
C+W	https://cwagency.co.uk/	Email
Curtis Brown	https://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/	Email
Darley Anderson Literary Agency	https://darleyanderson.com/	Online submission form
David Godwin Associates	https://www.davidgodwinassociates.com/	Email
David Higham Literary Agency	https://davidhigham.co.uk/	Email
DHH Literary Agency	https://www.dhhliteraryagency.com/	Email
Georgina Capel Associates	https://georginacapel.com/	Email
Greene & Heaton Ltd	https://greeneheaton.co.uk/	Email
Hardman & Swainson Literary Agency	https://www.hardmanswainson.com/	Email
Janklow & Nesbit UK	https://janklowandnesbit.co.uk/	Email
Johnson & Alcock Ltd	https://www.johnsonandalcock.co.uk/	Email
Jonathan Pegg Literary Agency	https://jonathanpegg.com/	Email
Kate Hordern Literary Agency	https://khla.co.uk/	Email
Kate Nash Literary Agency	https://katenashlit.co.uk/	QueryTracker
Luigi Bonomi Associates	https://lbabooks.com/	Email
Madeleine Milburn Literary	https://www.madeleinemilburn.co.uk/	Online submission form
Michelle Kass Associates	https://michellekass.co.uk/	Email
MMB Creative	https://mmbcreative.com/	Email
Mushens Entertainment	https://www.mushens-entertainment.com/	Email
Paper Literary	https://www.paperliterary.com/	Email
Perez Literary & Entertainment	https://www.perezliterary.com/	QueryTracker
Peters Fraser + Dunlop	https://petersfraserdunlop.com/	Email
PEW Literary	https://www.pewliterary.com/	Email
Rachel Mills Literary	https://www.rachelmillsliterary.co.uk/	Email
RCW Literary Agency	https://www.rcwlitagency.com/	Email
Rebecca Carter Literary	https://www.rebeccacarterliterary.com/	Email
Redhammer Management	https://redhammer.info/	Online submission form
Sheil Land Associates	https://www.sheilland.com/	Email
Sophie Hicks Agency	https://www.sophiehicksagency.com/	Email
Susanna Lea Associates	https://www.susannalea.com/	Email
The Bent Agency	https://www.thebentagency.com/	Email
The Feldstein Agency	https://www.thefeldsteinagency.co.uk/	Email
The Soho Agency	https://thesohoagency.co.uk/	Email
Watson Little Ltd	https://www.watsonlittle.com/	Email
William Morris Endeavour	https://www.wmeagency.com/story/	Email

How to identify the right agent for you and your novel

As we can see from the sample provided above, each UK agency has its own website and, thanks to the rise of digital, long gone are the days when you would need a postal address to send over your novel.

These websites are also incredibly helpful and they want authors to have all the information they could possibly need before submitting their finished manuscript.

Each of these websites has a page dedicated to providing information about submitting your work and will also link to their list of employed agents. This list is comprehensive and shares details about the agents on what types of stories they’re looking for, what genres appeal to them, who they represent, and also, importantly, how to submit.

What you will quickly find as you build up your bank of contacts via your own research or through a handy website like QueryTracker, is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to querying.

The agent submissions checklist

Below, is a list of all the types of material you’re likely to be asked for at one stage or another of your submission journey:

• Query letter

• Final manuscript (PDF + Word Doc)

• First three chapters (PDF + Word Doc)

• First 10,000 words (PDF + Word Doc)

• First 50 pages (PDF + Word Doc)

• First section – approximately 30,000 words (PDF + Word Doc)

• Novel synopsis (PDF + Word Doc)

• Novel synopsis in 500 words (PDF + Word Doc)

• Novel synopsis one-page (PDF + Word Doc)

• Spreadsheet to keep on top of all activity and response deadlines
  

The above list has been built from research into all of the above-mentioned UK agencies and the material their website suggests needs to be sent when querying.

Keeping all of the above in a single folder will help you tailor your query letter and the content you submit based on an agent’s request and preferences. It’ll also make the process as efficient as possible and ensure you’re already prepared before a single query letter is even drafted.