Books intern

Salary: Book Agents’ Assistant: from £27,000 depending on experience. Books Department Intern: £26,000

Location: London

Closing date for applications: EOD Sunday 2nd August

Start your publishing career by supporting a literary agent and gaining insight into the day-to-day work of a literary agency

David Higham Associates is one of the world’s leading literary agencies, and last year celebrated ninety years at the forefront of the international literary and publishing landscape.

Two exciting opportunities have arisen to support the DHA books team:

Books Department Intern:

We are looking to recruit a publishing hopeful to take on a six-month in-house internship that will comprise of two parts: general reception duties and office managerial tasks for the company as a whole; and more specialised administrative and reading support for literary agent Christabel McKinley. We see this as a role for someone who is starting their journey in publishing, although experience in other industries is actively welcomed and valued.

The ideal candidate would be approachable, comfortable with a front-of-house receptionist role and willing to turn their hand to various ad hoc tasks to ensure smooth running of the front desk. Alongside this, a passionate long-time reader of fantasy would be instrumental in helping Christabel manage and read her submissions, work editorially with her authors alongside her (please see her agent page for a sense of her list and tastes), and provide help with basic administrative tasks. These will introduce the intern to the day-to-day workings of a literary agent, including a basic understanding of contracts, databases and editorial, and aim to provide a strong foundation for progressing into a publishing career.

In your application, please outline what you would like to take from the internship experience and what relevant and/or transferable experience and skills you would bring to the role. Please feel free to approach this as laterally as you would like – we consider every career, educational or voluntary experience as valuable, and are particularly interested in candidates who can bring a fresh perspective to the role. Any skills or background in the wider arts, visual or cultural industries, design, languages, education or marketing are of particular interest. We are also very interested in hearing about your own personal reading tastes and habits and would love to hear a few lines about a book or story you enjoyed recently and how you came across it.

Book Agents’ Assistant:

We are also looking for an assistant to support two of DHA’s book agents, Lizzy Kremer and Maddalena Cavaciuti. This busy full-time role based in London would suit someone with energy and initiative looking for a permanent assisting role in publishing and is suitable for candidates who have prior experience as a book agent’s assistant, publishing assistant or intern, or strong administrative experience in another field.

This position represents one of the best opportunities to learn about agenting through sharing in the work and experiences of two agents who are known for their commitment to mentorship and curiosity about and insight into the business. It will suit individuals who learn quickly, work efficiently and take pleasure in their work. We are especially interested in applications from readers who are reading in the areas of romance, crime and thriller and romantic fantasy.

Everyday duties will be a combination of administrative and editorial. In this role you will be working alongside Orli Vogt-Vincent to provide administrative and editorial support to Lizzy Kremer and her list and her role as Managing Director. Responsibilities will include client and publisher contact, diary management, day-to-day administrative assistance, the creation and maintenance of website and database entries, processing contracts, tracking publication details and liaising with our film and translation teams.

Your role will also include reading and reporting on new manuscripts and proposals for Maddalena Cavaciuti, with a focus on the kind of popular romance and fantasy which shapes Maddalena’s list. The ideal candidate will already be reading widely in this space and will have an active interest in the online book community and the conversations which are driving excitement in these genres.

We are interested in hiring an assistant with a strong interest in and capability for social media content creation, although this isn’t essential for the role should you otherwise be the ideal candidate.

In your application we would be interested to learn why you are interested in working in agenting, at DHA and specifically across Lizzy and Maddalena’s lists and what you feel you would bring to this work. Your application should also include a couple of paragraphs of description of a work of fiction you have read and loved recently and why you would recommend it. Alongside your letter, you are invited to supplement your application with a video (of not longer than 1 minute duration in length) or a social media style reel/carousel on a subject of your choosing. We’re keen to hear from you in whatever formats feel most natural to you and for you to apply to us using your authentic voice and experience. What we are looking for above all is an individual with exceptional organisation and communication skills, curiosity, enthusiasm, an appetite to learn, and a positive attitude.

Additional information

DHA welcomes and encourages applications from any individual regardless of ethnic origin, gender, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age. All applicants will be considered on merit.

Our offices are based in Soho. Working hours are 9.15am-5.30pm, Monday to Friday. Please note that both of these positions are full-time roles and you will be expected to work a minimum of three days a week in the office and in the first year four days a week.

We are a company that takes pride in creating a supportive and collaborative environment where employees work towards individual and company goals as well as towards attaining a good level of autonomy in their roles, with training.

In line with DHA’s internal AI policy for employees, we ask that you not use AI in the preparation of your application, for example through use of Chat GPT or Claude.

We offer expenses for travel to London to attend interview. Please let us know if you require any accessibility adjustments during the application and/or interview process.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.