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The Bright Agency, which represents children's illustrators and writers in the UK and internationally, is building its business in Australia and South Korea, where it plans to establish new bases within the next two years, said m.d. Vicki Willden-Lebrecht.
The company already has a US office, which it opened last year, and has seen its turnover double since early 2010 to £2.1m, with a staff of 14.
Willden-Lebrecht said: "We are seeking more opportunities outside the UK for the artists we represent, which may come through other sectors such as gifts and stationery as well as book illustration. We also want to bring publishers opportunities to work with fresh new talent that we source in these territories."
She added: "The Australian market is growing massively and they are looking to develop more of their own home-grown talent. In South Korea‚ while the market may not be huge‚ there is a lot of potential for illustrators, as they are often signed up not for one book but for 50 books in a series."
The agency is also eyeing up the rest of Asia, including China, Hong Kong and Japan. "Countries like China wouldn't work for us financially yet, but that may be very different in five years' time," said Willden-Lebrecht.