Call your Agent: How to Become a Successful Literary Agent

Luigi Bonomi read English Literature at University College London and at Dartmouth College in the USA. After working as a bookseller, in 1986 he joined the publishers Macdonald Futura as a children’s book editor. Subsequently he worked for Harlequin/Mills & Boon and Penguin Books, where he was an editorial director. In 1997 he became a literary agent, joining Sheil Land Associates, where he worked for eight years before setting up LBA in 2005. He has been personally responsible for discovering and launching the careers of many bestselling authors working on adult fiction, non-fiction and children’s fiction and many of his authors have become Sunday Times bestsellers and have gone on to win awards for their writing. These include fiction authors such as Susan Lewis, and Simon Scarrow; children’s authors Ben Miller and Lucy Strange, and several academics writing popular science and general non-fiction such as Professors Guy Leschziner and Alice Roberts.  In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious title of Literary Agent of the Year. 

Jamie started his career at a chain of Scottish booksellers, then work in a variety of roles in editorial and marketing before becoming MD of Hodder & Stoughton in 2004, then CEO of Hodder & Stoughton, headline, John Murray Press and Quercus. He has acquired and managed global brand authors including Stephen King, John Grisham, David Nicholls, Jodi Picoult, Mike Gayle and Sophie Hannah and the biggest non-fiction books including Alex Ferguson, Delicious Ella, Gordon Ramsay, Matthew Syed and Rolf Dobelli. He has also acquired and managed numerous businesses, including Quercus Editions Limited, Nicholas Brealey Publishing and Jessica Kingsley Publishers. He was Trade Publishing Director and a Board member of Hachette UK. This year he left corporate publishing to launch an independent - Bedford Square Publishers.