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The bks Agency has appointed Jessica Killingley, one of its three co-founders, as managing director.
Killingley started the agency with ex-Hodder & Stoughton colleagues Jason Bartholomew and James Spackman in 2018. In 2021, the agency merged with Midas, the cultural communications agency where Bartholomew is the c.e.o.
Killingley commented: “When we started the agency, we did so alongside our other businesses: Jason at Midas, James running Pursuit Books at Profile as well as his training business The Book Pitch Doctor and my coaching and consultancy business. The merger with Midas afforded us the opportunity to bring on full-time staff Joanna Kaliszewska and Morwenna Loughman, allowing us to grow our rights offering, and we’ve been thrilled to see the agency go from strength to strength and represent some incredible writers.
“At a time of such fast-paced growth, we decided it was time for one of us to be fully focused on driving strategy for the business. Whilst I have loved building my own business for the last seven years, the opportunity to take on running the agency on a day-to-day basis was hard to say no to.”
Killingley, who represents authors such as romance fantasy novelist Kate Dramis and personal development author Noor Hibbert, also looks after a number of neurodivergent authors, an area of her list that she’s keen to grow. She said: “As well as working on curating my own list, I want to build the agency into a place where everyone who works with us – staff and authors – can really flourish, finding and supporting voices that we believe there should be more of in the world.
"I think there are going to be aspects of this industry that will be unrecognisable in a decade, and we have an exciting chance to be a part of shaping what that looks like.”
In addition to author management, the agency also runs regular training programmes for in-house publishers, entrants to the industry and aspiring writers. Spackman will take on responsibility for growing this training, coaching and mentoring arm across both The bks Agency and Midas.
Spackman said: “Supporting and promoting my agenting clients will always be my priority, but I’m excited to expand our activities in training and speaking. Within bks and Midas we have a wealth of experience and know-how to pass on to authors and publishers, and a shared impulse to demystify and spread knowledge. We’re lucky that Jessica has agreed to devote her formidable strategic and leadership qualities to managing bks full time and guiding us through our next phase of growth.”
Bartholomew said: “Since 2018, the three of us have played interchangeable roles in building The bks Agency and now, as we continue to grow, we recognise that the time is right to formalise a managing director role within the company. I have no doubt that Jessica’s experience, expertise, agenting prowess, and industry knowledge will bring an energy and focus to the strategic direction of the business, taking us to even greater heights over the years to come. I look forward to the three of us continuing to work closely and I’m excited to see what the future holds under Jessica’s leadership.”