I'm very pleased to have organised foreign right representation for ALLi members again.

From January 2015, ALLi will be teaming up with Toby Mundy Associates (TMA) to provide a unique subsidiary rights service for author-publishers, through The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi).

I first met Toby when we were on a panel together at the Battle of Ideas, though I knew him by repute from his days at Atlantic books (I loved White Tiger, Atlantic's Man-Booker win). I was impressed by his speech that day, about the importance of long-form writing — books — to the wider culture and intrigued by his move from publishing to agenting.

We met in The Free Word Centre and had a long and delightful chat about all things literary and I was again impressed by his grasp of new publishing and the shift towards author empowerment.

Toby works in association with Ed Victor Ltd., which will give ALLi members the advantage of a new and nimble agency allied to a long-time agenting legend.

I'm looking forward to working with him and believe TMA and ALLi make a perfect pairing — and that, in time, we'll see many of our members' books in translation and on small and big screens, as a result of this collaboration.