Robertson to leave Faber to start new literary agency

Charlotte Robertson, sales and marketing director and paperback publisher at Faber, is to leave the company to become managing director of a new literary agency in association with Arlington Management.

Robertson will leave the company at the end of the year and start her own literary agency with Arlington Management, a talent agency which represents people such as Kirstie Allsopp and Ben Fogle. Faber will announce plans regarding the appointment of a successor in due course.

Robertson joined Faber in 2015 in the role of sales and services director, replacing Will Atkinson, who left to become m.d. of Atlantic Books. Before then, Robertson was a literary agent at United Agents, where she represented a list of 50 authors, including TV presenters Dr Linda Papadopoulos and Anna Richardson.

She was previously group sales and marketing director at Simon & Schuster, and UK sales director at Pan Macmillan and Penguin General.

Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page said Robertson has "brought great energy, experience and brilliance" to the company since she joined in early 2015.

"She transformed our sales success as sales director and did so not only for Faber but also for all members of the Independent Alliance. She then took on other agendas, as head of our marketing team and in her role as paperback publisher", Page said. "All this was alongside her wider responsibilities as a board director. She's been part of a refreshed team that has launched a series of strategies that is taking Faber into an exciting future and that has also delivered one of the most successful periods in Faber's ninety-year history. We will, of course, miss her, but the opportunity she has is irresistible. Everyone at Faber will wish her well in this next adventure."

He added: "Fortunately, as she will not take up her new position until early in 2019, she’ll continue in her role through the autumn. We’ll now reflect on the best course of action in finding her replacement and announce our next steps later in the summer."

Robertson said: "I’ve loved working with everyone at Faber and the great independent publishers that make up the Alliance. I will miss my amazing Sales, Marketing and Paperback teams, who have all helped deliver record sales over the last three years, and our wonderful authors who have been so great to work with."

She added: "The opportunity to start up my own literary agency with the fantastic team at Arlington Management is incredibly exciting, and I look forward to announcing more when we launch in January."