Debut authors

The Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency is always looking out for exciting projects by debut authors in both adult and children’s books, but out of the enormous amount we see, we select very few. There are occasions when we make detailed editorial suggestions and comments but we only do so when we see real promise in the work. We do not charge a reading fee.

We endeavour to reply to all submissions within 6 weeks, but during seasonal busy periods we may take longer; please bear with us. We prefer not to take telephone calls about submissions. We prefer to see work exclusively but if you are submitting to other agents at the same time please advise us.

To submit:

We request submissions by email only. Email the material to either Caroline Sheldon or Penny Holroyde. Do not send it to both of us! Use the subject line “SUBMISSION/TITLE OF WORK/NAME OF AUTHOR”. This will ensure it’s not deleted as spam. Just as if you were writing a letter of introduction, include full information about yourself and your work in your introductory email. Attach as the first attachment the first three chapters of the work. Please supply double spaced. Attach as a second attachment a brief synopsis (two pages maximum). Name the attachments accordingly so it is clear to us what we are looking at. If your work is shorter than 10, 000 words (e.g. shorter books for children) attach the whole typescript. If you write picture book texts attach a minimum of one and a maximum of three.