Gleam Futures launches literary division

Talent agency Gleam Futures has launched Gleam Titles, a literary arm which will have a focus on signing “digitally-minded writers”.

Gleam Titles is looking to represent “original, brave and exciting new voices” across fiction and non-fiction. In return, it can offer “an abundance of knowledge in new media” with a content IP department is based across London, LA and Sydney, the company said.

Gleam Futures manages the careers of social media stars such as Zoe Sugg, Alfie Deyes and Tanya Burr and recently began expanding its publishing interests by hiring expertise from inside the book industry.  

Gleam’s head of publishing Abigail Bergstrom (pictured) joined the company 15 months ago after developing a list of digital-leaning writers for Simon & Schuster as senior commissioning editor.

She said: "I’m passionate and excited about digital-first voices having seen the interest and influence they’ve gained amongst their audience. These are the voices that will empower change and inspire a generation.”

She added: “At Gleam Titles, our USP is digital-first and we’re excited to be working with writers to help them nurture a direct connection with their audience on social and in print.”

Bergstrom told The Bookseller in February that her role involved monitoring the landscape for new digital-first writers. She said: “A big part of the role is analysing the market to identify trends and opportunities… I see my role as acting as a bridge between [social media and publishing] in order to facilitate a positive, successful publishing experience for our talent.” 

Over the past two years Gleam talent has been behind 14 bestselling titles, including Username Evie (Hodder & Stoughton) by Joe Sugg and Girl Online (Penguin) by Zoe Sugg. Today it celebrates another bestseller with Louise Pentland’s debut novel, Wild Like Me (Zaffe). This year Gleam has sold nine books and Gleam Titles has already started signing its first authors to the list.

Dom Smales, c.e.o of Gleam Futures, said: “Books have always been an important creative outlet for our talent and I am so thrilled that Gleam will be able to represent more brilliant literary work.”