Our Agents

If you would like to contact our agents about your work, please first read our submission guidelines below, and then approach the agent you feel is most likely to respond to your work. Please don’t phone or email us to ask if you can submit to us, just follow the guidelines below and send us an email. We can only assess written submissions, we cannot assess verbal pitches over the phone. We do not promote or market already- or self-published books.

The Lennon-Ritchie Agency no longer represents screenwriters and directors; our sister agency Torchwood is a literary agency for film and television representing screenwriters, directors, and producers worldwide.

Please know that we very rarely take on new writers so do not be disheartened if you receive a pass from us.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Fiction

• We are interested in compelling fiction with a fresh voice and original point of view – Literary Fiction, Commercial Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Speculative Fiction, and children’s/YA.  We are not looking for fiction with no plot, high fantasy, poetry, rhyming children’s books, or short stories.
• We only accept email submissions in English (Aoife or Fourie) or Afrikaans (Fourie only).  Please email your submission to submissions(at)lennonliterary(dot)com and address the email either to Dear Aoife or Dear Fourie depending on who you feel is most likely to respond to your work. A pass from one of us is a pass from both of us.
• In the subject line please include the word Query, the title of your manuscript, the genre of manuscript, and your name.  E.g. ‘Query for The Cape Raider, Commercial Fiction, Justin Fox’.
• Include a paragraph about your book and one about you (not in the third person).
• Please paste the first ten pages of your book into the body of the email. Please do not attach anything unless invited to – your email will be automatically deleted.
• Please paste a full synopsis (with spoilers) under your pages.
• About your book: we need to know the title, the genre and the word count.  Who is the protagonist, what happens to him/her, why, why do we care?
• About you: please detail any previous publications, awards, and other relevant details.  Don’t worry if you don’t have any of these, the book is the thing.
• Please do not send an attachment without an invitation, the email will be automatically deleted.
• If we’re interested, we will ask to see a few chapters or the full manuscript, and a 1-3 page synopsis. The synopsis must outline the entire book including the ending. We endeavour to get back to you within three months.  If three months have passed and you have not heard from us, you are most welcome to gently prod us with an email reminder.  Please don’t phone us to check on your submission. We will get back to you. We do not have a ‘no response means no’ policy.
• Due to time constraints we are unable to offer feedback to writers.
• Don’t worry about personalising your email. We know this is a time-consuming business, and that you’re querying widely.
• Do query widely.  We do not request or expect exclusive submissions.
• Make sure you’re ready to start querying before you contact us. A few excellent resources to get you going: 
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAUp7-bCe5U
  • http://queryshark.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-query-shark-works.html 
  • Janet Reid says it best, again: http://queryshark.blogspot.com/2015/08/wpa.html
  • http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html 
  • http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html

Screenplays

The Lennon-Ritchie Agency no longer represents screenwriters. Our sister agency Torchwood is a literary agency for film and television representing screenwriters and directors.

Non-Fiction

• We only accept email submissions in English (Aoife or Fourie) or Afrikaans (Fourie only).  Please email your submission to submissions(at)lennonliterary(dot)com
• In the subject line include the word Query, the title of your manuscript, the genre of manuscript, and your name.  E.g. ‘Under The Sway, Photography, J.Fox’.
• Include a paragraph about your book and one about you (not in the third person!).
• Please paste a sample of your work, 10 pages or so, at the bottom of your email.
• Please paste a chapter by chapter synopsis under your pages.
• About your book: What is the book about?  What’s so important and special about this book?  Why should a publisher want to publish it?  Who’s the core audience for the book, and why will they care about it?
• About you: please let us know what qualifies you to write this book.  Why are you the best person to write it?  Are you an expert in the field?  Have you conducted extensive research? If you’re writing a book about people of a different race/gender/orientation to you, why do you feel this is your story to tell?
• Please do not send an attachment without an invitation, the email will be automatically deleted.
• If we’re interested, we will contact you for your proposal and sample chapters. We endeavour to get back to you within 3 months.  If 3 months have passed and you have not heard from us, you are most welcome to gently prod us with an email reminder.  We will get back to you. We do not have a ‘no response means no’ policy.
• Due to time constraints we are unable to offer feedback to writers.
• Don’t worry about personalising your email. We know this is a time-consuming business, and that you’re querying widely.
• Do query widely.  We do not request or expect exclusive submissions.
• Do not be disappointed if it’s a ‘no’ from us.  We turn down almost everybody. It’s not you, it’s us.
• Make sure you’re ready to start querying before you contact us. A few excellent resources to get you going:
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAUp7-bCe5U
  • http://queryshark.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-query-shark-works.html
  • http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html
  • http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html

We look forward to reading your work.