Madeleine Milburn on running her own literary agency, discovering "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" and what makes a perfect book-club book

Rachel and Simon speak to the literary agent Madeleine Milburn. She started her career in publishing as a foreign rights assistant at A P Watt, the world's first modern literary agency (now part of United Agents). She then moved to Darley Anderson as head of rights, where she represented her own clients and helped set up the children's division. In 2012 she founded the Madeleine Milburn Agencyand has since represented numerous bestselling authors, including Nita Prose ("The Maid"), Elizabeth Macneal ("The Doll Factory") and Ashley Audrain ("The Push"). "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman has sold over 3 million copies worldwide, was the inaugural selection for Reese Witherspoon's Book Club and is being adapted for the screen by Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine, and MGM. Madeleine won Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2018 and has been listed by The Bookseller as one of the 150 most influential people in the book trade every year since 2017. We spoke to Madeleine about her entry into publishing, setting up her own literary agency and her determination to make greater use of the slush pile.

In addition to the standard audio format, the podcast is now available in video. You can check us out on YouTube under Always Take Notes.  

We’ve also made (yet) another update for those ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠who support the podcast on the crowdfunding site Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. We’ve added a further 70 pages of new material to the package of successful article pitches that goes to anyone who supports the show with $5 per month or more, including new pitches to the New Yorker, Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Guardian Long Read. The whole compendium now runs to a magisterial 230 pages. For Patreons who contribute $10/month we’re now also releasing bonus mini-episodes. Other Patreon rewards include signed copies of the podcast book and the opportunity to take part in a call with Simon and Rachel.

A new edition of “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World’s Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is available now. The updated version now includes insights from over 100 past guests on the podcast, with new contributions from Harlan Coben, Victoria Hislop, Lee Child, Megan Nolan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Philippa Gregory, Jo Nesbø, Paul Theroux, Hisham Matar and Bettany Hughes. You can order it via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waterstones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. 

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