Kate Burke
- Submission status
- Open
- Submission route
- Response time
- Assume no reply = no after 8 weeks
- Last checked
- 10 days ago
About
Kate is a literary agent at Blake Friedmann representing crime, thriller and women's fiction writers.
She was previously an editor for ten years, publishing fiction at Penguin, HarperCollins and Random House. Over the past ten years as an agent, she has built up a wide-ranging list of prize-winning and bestselling crime and thriller writers, and authors of contemporary and historical women's fiction. Her editorial background gives her a hands-on approach, editing and developing authors' work with a view to building long-term writing careers.
Genres
Looking for
- gripping fiction featuring characters they can't get enough of and whom they don't want to part with at the end of a novel
- dark stories
- uplifting love stories
- stories set in unusual or far-flung places
- dark thrillers that keep them turning the page long into the night and that surprise them with plot twists and interesting narrative structures
- crime series featuring new and fresh lead investigators
- high-concept thrillers (contemporary or historical) that have a 'what if?' plot structure and say something about our society now or then
- stories which combine a great sense of place and time (ideally, post-1800) with a mystery
- anything set in a spooky old house, so Gothic, atmospheric historical thrillers
- novels which have a discussable issue at their heart and could work well for a heated book club discussion
- sweeping family stories about mothers, sisters and daughters set anywhere in the world
Not looking for
- non-fiction
- children's and young adult books
- science fiction
- fantasy
- spy
- conspiracy or political thrillers
Agency submission guidelines
Submissions are accepted by email only; postal submissions are not accepted. Submit to only one agent at a time; agents will pass work to a colleague if it seems better suited. Children's books are not represented. Send an introductory email with a synopsis and writing sample as Microsoft Word (.doc or.docx) attachments (no PDFs, Pages or external links such as Google Docs); include the book title and author's name in the subject line, and a covering letter as the body of the email introducing the book (genre, comparative titles, blurb, relevant experience). For fiction: attach a full synopsis of 250-300 words covering the whole story including the ending, plus the first three chapters or first 10,000 words (not later chapters). For non-fiction: attach an introductory email with a proposal including a synopsis of up to 500 words, a chapter plan for the entire work with a paragraph on each chapter, and two sample chapters (one being the introduction/opening chapter); the total proposal is often around 10,000 words.
Agency AI policy
AI-originated, written or edited material (including cover letters or synopses) is not accepted.
Links
Clients include
- Nikki Allen
- Dani Atkins
- Johanna Bell
- Andy Briggs
- Emma Cowell
- Estate of Teresa Crane
- Will Dean
- Paul Finch
- Fiona Ford
- Jean Fullerton
- John Kennedy
- Beryl Matthews
- Sara Ochs
- Kate Thompson
- Mary Torjussen
Other agents at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency
Finlay Charlesworth
Finlay is an Associate Agent at Blake Friedmann, building a list of non-fiction and select fiction. Finlay joined the agency in 2022 after completing an MA in Publishing at University College London. Finlay works closely with Juliet Pickering and Isobel Dixon, and has worked with the Estates of Gilbert Adair, Tatamkhulu Afrika and K. Sello Duiker.
Genres:Historical (Non-Fiction) · Literary Fiction · Politics · Sports
OpenLast checked 4 days ago
Isobel Dixon
Isobel is MD and Head of Books at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, where she represents writers from around the world, including bestsellers and international prize winners. Her clients' work spans contemporary, historical and literary fiction, crime and thrillers, memoir, biography and narrative history. She was born and educated in South Africa and in Edinburgh, where she completed master's degrees in English Literature and Applied Linguistics.
Genres:Biography · Contemporary Fiction · Crime · Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction +3 more
OpenLast checked 10 days ago
Julian Friedmann
Julian represents script writers and book writers across a broad range of genres and formats. He started as an editor for two academic publishers in the early 1970s before setting up his own publishing company. He set up a literary agency in 1976, later merging with Carole Blake to form Blake Friedmann. He has lectured worldwide on the business of scriptwriting and published two books on the subject.
Genres:Crime · Thriller
ClosedLast checked 4 days ago
Juliet Pickering
Juliet is a director at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, representing fiction and non-fiction writers. She worked at Waterstones before joining A P Watt in 2003, then moved to Blake Friedmann in 2013, becoming Vice Head of the Book Department in 2017 and a Director in 2020. In 2021 she won the Romantic Novelists' Association Agent of the Year Award.
Genres:Commercial Fiction · Contemporary Fiction · Food & Drink · Literary Fiction · Narrative Non-Fiction
ClosedLast checked 4 days ago
Siân Ellis-Martin
Siân represents authors across a range of fiction and non-fiction, from commercial to the accessible end of the literary spectrum, at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. She is keen to hear from authors whose voices are underrepresented in publishing. It matters to her to work with authors from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Genres:Contemporary Fiction · Crime · Food & Drink · Historical Fiction · Narrative Non-Fiction +4 more
OpenLast checked 10 days ago