Yes.  We are always keen to receive submissions from both established authors and first time writers, but this does not mean that we will take on anyone.

We are still very discerning and only agree to represent those authors whose work truly stands out.

Yes, of course.

Send it to enquiries@brandon-associates.co.uk 

In fact we no longer accept inquiries by snail mail.

However, you might like to give us a quick call on 01843 860610

Again the answer is Yes.

Send your submission to submissions@brandon-associates.co.uk

We know that many other agents still state that they do not consider email submissions and no doubt require submissions to be written on  parchment with a fine quill pen.   However, here at Brandon & Associates we are living in 2012 so we no longer accept submissions by snail mail.  

A short synopsis of your new work, ideally no longer than two pages.

Your relevant life experience C.V. again short if possible.

Enough of your book to give us the flavour, usually the first 30 pages or so.

But here at Brandon & Associates there are no strict rules about this.

It would be most helpful if you could attach your work to your email as a Word document.

Please do not send it as a PDF file.

The short answer is NO.

Sadly many writers either self publish or use a publisher outside the main stream and then find that their book is not selling well.  We regret to say that there is nothing we can do to assist at that stage.

Again,the short answer is No.

It is our policy not to open unsolicited CD's or DVD's

However, if for some good reason you need to send your manuscript on a CD please call us first.

NO.  This is 2012 and if you wish to be taken seriously by us you must produce your work as a Word document.

Brandon & Associates have made it their policy to acknowledge all inquiries and submissions by return.

If you have not received an email from us  please give us a phone call during normal office hours Monday to Friday.

Normally we will let you know within a few days if we would like to read your whole manuscript.

We receive literately dozens of submissions every week from hopeful first time writers.

Sadly, we do not have the time to reply to all of them.

If you have not received a positive reply from us within 2 weeks then regrettably the answer is No Thank You. 

If we ask you to send us your whole manuscript we will try to read it within 3 to 4 weeks, sometimes sooner.

But please be a little patient, we deal with dozens of submissions each week.

Remember we are reading and correcting your work for free.

Whatever you do, you should not wait months and months waiting for an agent to send you a rejection note.

No,

Do not worry too much about presentation or minor errors at this stage.

They will make little difference to whether we like what you have sent us and we can always correct them later.

We have a wide range of interests, providing that your work is commercially viable.

We are looking for full length manuscripts, both fiction and non-fiction.

Other agents will be better equipped to deal with your serious poetry or short story.

Please do not send us hard core sci-fi or your fantasy, supernatural or horror story.

Before sending us your memoirs please seriously consider whether your story is commercially viable,

 or merely of interest to your family and friends.

There are specialist agents and publishers who will welcome your religious work so do not send it to us.

Finally we will scream if anyone sends us yet another book on psychology or social work.

Yes.

Getting your first book published is very hard work both for you and your agent, and much harder than many first time writers hope.

The fact that your family or friends like your work is not a good reason for a publisher to take the risk and publish your book.

We receive well over 200 submissions per month, so you need to make a great effort but not by sending it in wingding or some odd shade of purple.

Start with an interesting and well constructed short letter of introduction.  This is important to us and many writers get it totally wrong or worst still do not write a letter at all.

Simply writing "Attached is my submission" is very likely to result in us pushing the delete button.

If there are two spelling errors in the first paragraph of your letter we are very likely to reject your work without reading any further.

Then put serious effort into writing your synopsis.   We know that this is a difficult task but it is your only  chance to sell your manuscript to us and if it is good we may use it to sell your work to the right publisher.

Sometimes we have made up our minds about a potential client before the end of their synopsis   If we are bored by the synopsis it is very unlikely that we will want to read your manuscript.

If you are sending us a synopsis about a novel please do not tell us the ending but write a synopsis that will compel us to read the whole manuscript.

Finally, and this is very important, go back to your manuscript and make sure that the first paragraph on the first page is truly gripping.

Whatever you do don't sent us pages from the middle of your manuscript.  We really do need to read from the first paragraph.   If you think that we should start at Chapter 69 then rip up Chapters 1 to 68.

If we believe that your manuscript is commercially viable

we will immediately send a draft agency agreement for you to carefully consider.

We have written our agency agreement in a straight forward and clear manner.

However, please feel free to take advice from your solicitor or the Society of Authors before signing the agreement.

Once we have a signed agreement in place

we will start the long process of convincing a mainstream publisher that your work should be published.

No.

We are not usually able to provide detailed feedback as to why we have rejected your submission because of the large amount of material we receive.

There are many reasons why manuscripts are rejected, so please remember that this is not necessarily a reflection on the quality of the work.

We regret to say that many promising manuscripts are rejected.

No

We work solely on commission payable once the book is published.

There are no hidden fees or expenses.

Maybe.

There are many great manuscripts out there that never get read by publishers and so in the right circumstances, with the right author and with the right manuscript Brandon & Associates may agree to publish your manuscript.

However, the decision to publish your work will still be made on strict commercial grounds.

If we can find the right authors with the right manuscripts then our plan over the next 6 months is to publish at least two books per month.