Jonny Geller: 'I won’t ever lose that hunger for discovery and some of the greatest moments in my career have been launching great debut novels'
Jonny Geller is one of the best-known literary agents working today. He joined Curtis Brown in 1993 as an assistant after a short career as an actor. He became a literary agent in 1995 after discovering a novel on the unsolicited pile which went on to sell rights around the world. After taking part in a Management Buyout in 2001, he became CEO of the Agency in 2012 and is now CEO of The Curtis Brown Group, the parent company of Curtis Brown agency and its seven subsidiaries.
Jonny represents a wide range of globally significant writers. Novelists, memoirists, Journalists, former Prime Ministers, thought leaders, business people, actors, musicians and screenwriters. Jonny has previously been awarded Literary Agent of the Year and has been listed on The Bookseller’s 150 every year since its inception.
Jonny is also Chair of CBC and has been closely involved with our courses since their inception in 2011. We’re delighted that he is leading our new four-week online course The Literary Agent – with Jonny Geller. He’ll share the inside track on what a literary agent does, how to get one, and how a good agent can help you build a career as an author.
In this interview we asked Jonny about how the publishing landscape has changed since he first started out, his career highlights and his advice for new writers looking for an agent.
Your career began when you joined Curtis Brown as an assistant in 1993. In 1995, you became a literary agent after discovering a novel on the unsolicited pile which went on to sell rights around the world. What do you think has been the biggest change to the way literary agents work in the past 30 years?
In some ways, very little has changed. The job of pitching and selling a new author/book to a publisher requires the same set of skills – knowledge and foresight in the market, huge enthusiasm, marketing and publicity vision and a deep empathy with the author. What has changed is that the role has moved from transactional to holistic. We need to have a view (and in some cases actively employ) marketing and pr resources, legal and accounting as well as editorial and commercial aspects. The commission structure has remained unchanged but the job has become more demanding and one of the greatest challenges for any agency – large or small – is time. How do you use your time in the best way for your client? Do you outsource rights management and other things? I have always taken the view that a client should find everything they need in one house and have the project manager, the agent, at the centre as their business partner.
Fast forward to 2023 and you are now one of the most well-known literary agents in the UK publishing industry, representing stellar authors such as John le Carré, William Boyd, Tracy Chevalier, David Mitchell, Nigella Lawson and Nelson Mandela. What have been some of your biggest career highlights to date?
Going to Johannesburg to explore Nelson Mandela’s archive and meeting the ANC former Robben Island prison inmates was something I’ll never forget. When I got the call from David Cornwell (John le Carré’) I felt so lucky and during our many years of working together, he taught me so much about literature, business, politics and how creative friction is not a bad thing. If someone had said to me when I was waiting by the phone as an unemployed actor that one day Gordon Brown, William Boyd and Bono would be calling for advice, I would have simply laughed. Ultimately, my working life has been full of treasured moments of inspiration and every author, public figure, politician or expert I’ve ever worked with has enriched my understanding of the world and forced me to think differently about my own life and my own choices. The names you mention above are just a few of those but each one has inspired me.
Although you have a prestigious client list, you still take on and champion debut authors, including several former CBC-students. What really grabs your attention in an exciting new debut?
We are all addicted to the new and the greatest pleasure I get as an agent is when I make the call to a new author to say their dream has just been made and they will be published. The deal is the easy part, to be honest. The belief you have in a new author and the hopes you have in them are very deep and you feel it when you fail. I miss that as I have too many jobs at present but luckily I know there are many brilliant agents at Curtis Brown and C&W who I can pass on anything I can’t take on. I won’t ever lose that hunger for discovery and some of the greatest moments in my career have been launching great debut novels by writers like Jake Arnott, Tracy Chevalier, David Nicholls, Hari Kunzru, Kathleen Tessaro, Nicholas Searle, Glen Duncan, Ruth Jones and more.
Can you give us one piece of advice for a new writer looking to find an agent?
Make peace with the fact it will not happen quickly and you will get knock backs. Try to learn from the reactions and be flexible. Above all believe in yourself. If you don’t, we will sense it and shy away. This is all about your inner reserves, your utter conviction that you have something to say and only you can say it and you will succeed. Remember – many debut novels are not the first novels of that writer.
We’re so excited about the new The Literary Agent – with Jonny Geller course. What was your favourite part of creating the course?
I was delighted to do this as I just want writers to cut through the weeds and understand some important basics so they give themselves the best chance of success. Getting to the right agent, presenting their work in the best way, understanding how to decipher publishing. I really hope writers come away empowered and confident and ready to embark on a long and happy career.
If you want to learn more from Jonny’s 30 years of agenting experience, join our The Literary Agent – with Jonny Geller course.