Rowan Lawton

Submission status: Open
Submission route: Email
Response time: Not stated
Last checked: 12 days ago

About

Rowan joined The Soho Agency in 2019 after almost two decades in the industry.

She started her agenting career at WME and latterly ran Furniss Lawton, the literary division of YMU. Her authors are Sunday Times, Kindle, Apple and Audible number one bestsellers, and have been awarded and shortlisted for prizes including the British Book Awards, the Crime Writers' Association Daggers, the Irish Book Awards, the Sunday Times Sports Book Award and Romantic Novel of the Year. She has judged fiction prizes including Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller, the Bristol Short Story Prize and the Blue Pencil First Novel Award, and was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2012.

What they represent

Looking for

commercial, well-written genre fiction, particularly romantic comedy, crime and thrillers
accessible, page-turning literary and reading group novels
narrative non-fiction, often but not always written by women
moving and inspiring upmarket memoirs
narrative personal development
a love story, especially one with a twist, the more daring the better, or one sweeping in scope, contemporary or set against a Victorian or twentieth century onwards backdrop
high concept contemporary romance and romantic comedy with a strong voice
tightly plotted crime novels featuring female leads and compelling plots, regional even better
novels that use the crime and thriller genre to explore broader social issues
conversation-starting novels that hit on moral or emotional issues
emotional family drama
single or solo parenthood
diverse families
multi-generational ensemble novels
books that make her cry, or cry laughing

Not looking for

poetry
textbooks

Agency submission guidelines

Submissions are by email only. General submissions go to sohoagencysubmissions@gmail.com; children's, young adult and artwork to sohoagencychildrenssubmissions@gmail.com. Address your work to the agent you feel is the best fit, or to The Soho Agency Submissions if you are unsure. What to send: the first three chapters or first thirty pages, or the complete text if it is for young children and under 1,000 words, ideally in Word format. Include a synopsis with spoilers and a covering letter that pitches the book. Worth knowing: physical submissions are not accepted. The agency does not represent poetry or textbooks, and champions human creativity only. Given the volume received, it replies only to submissions it wishes to pursue. Let the agency know via the submissions email if another agent requests your full manuscript or you have an offer of representation. Security note: genuine emails come only from the two submissions addresses or an @thesohoagency.co.uk address. Be wary of approaches from anywhere else.

Agency AI policy

The agency says it only champions human creativity, representing work shaped by authentic imagination, craft and dedication.

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