Agent Peta Nightingale joins Bookouture

Bookouture has hired Lucas Alexander Whitley agent Peta Nightingale to the newly-created role of head of talent.

Nightingale has worked with authors such as Kate Mosse, Simon Toyne and Sophie Kinsella and will bring talented new authors to the digital publisher as part of her new role, working closely with the editorial teams and managing the submissions process.

Nightingale had worked closely with Bookouture as an agent before the company’s founder Oliver Rhodes and publisher Claire Bord approached her about joining the team.

“Leaving the wonderful colleagues and authors I’ve worked with for seventeen happy years at Lucas Alexander Whitley is quite a wrench,” Nightingale said. “But I have been working with Bookouture as an agent for the past couple of years and have admired the vision and energy they have as a company. When Claire and Oliver came to me with the idea of joining them, I knew I couldn’t say no. After nearly three decades in the publishing industry it’s so exciting to still be at the cutting edge and I can’t wait to be part of the team.”

Digital publisher Bookouture was founded in 2013 but has grown rapidly, last year hitting unit sales of 4.2m in the year to October 2016. At that point last year it also hired Lauren Finger, then managing editor at Atlantic Books, to the role of managing editor and Abigail Fenton as commissioning editor from her then role as senior editor and producer in the audio team at HarperCollins.

Rhodes said: “It is very important to us that we discover the very best talent – and also that we offer a quick turnaround and positive experience to authors and agents. Peta has a wealth of experience in identifying great commercial fiction – and also has an excellent understanding of digital publishing. As head of talent, Peta will manage the submissions process and, working closely with the editorial teams, focus on bringing on board talented new authors. I know she’ll do a fantastic job.”

Nightingale will begin at Bookouture on 6th February 2017 and can be contacted at: peta@bookouture.com.