Piatkus triumphs in four-way auction for Emily Austen’s guide to living smarter 

Piatkus has acquired Smarter: 10 Lessons for a More Productive (and Less Stressed) Life by Emily M Austen after a four-way auction.

Publisher Jillian Young acquired world English language rights from Morwenna Loughman at The bks Agency for publication in November 2024. 

Billed as Atomic Habits meets Manifest, Austen’s Smarter has been touted by the publisher as an “indispensable, highly practical and myth-busting guide to amplifying your talents, increasing your productivity and improving your work-life balance – whatever career stage you’re at”. 

The synopsis says: “Everywhere you look, there is positive reinforcement that hypocrisy is the cornerstone of modern feminism. Be self-aware but not self-assured. Successful but not a show off. A mother but not in the workplace. A chief executive officer but not a boss bitch. Outperform our competition but not by too much; no wonder women are so exhausted. As we jostle for our position, we also have to balance work, family life, fertility, misogyny and mental health. We have been told that working hard, running ourselves into the ground, working late, over-caffeinated, being the first in and last out, sacrificing our personal lives and eating on the go are conducive to succeeding long term. But instead, women are burnt out.” 

It continued: “Smarter will encourage women to prioritise themselves to work smarter and stop draining their energy into bottomless sources. It will help them to reframe the idea of over-productivity equalling success and will ultimately teach them that those who work smarter, are those who achieve more long-term success. This is not about unlearning what you’ve been taught, it’s modifying what you already know.” 

Austen founded EMERGE PR in 2012 when she was just 22, using the £250 she’d earned from selling clothes on eBay. She now works with the likes of Spanx, Huel, the Soho House Group, Red Bull, Beauty Pie and Bumble and is the strategic PR adviser to UN Women UK. She is also a columnist for Stylist and Sheerluxe. 

She said: “Jill and her team immediately got Smarter and felt as inspired as I am to bring this message to women everywhere. As an ambitious young woman wanting to do it all, I wrote Smarter for those wanting to do the same. Those who understand that you have to make a deposit to be able to make a withdrawal. For those who have skin in the game. For the overlooked; the underappreciated. I am hugely proud and excited to work with Morwenna from bks and Jill from Piatkus on this new type of business book for women.” 

Young added: “This book should be essential reading for all women. We are so excited to work with Emily to spread the Smarter message far and wide – to take off some of the mental load with easy tips for anyone to implement for a more successful, and less stressed life.”