About The Authors' Agent

The Authors' Agent was founded by Averill Chase. At the end of 2011, Averill decided to retire, and sold The Authors' Agent to a long-time publishing industry colleague, Brian Cook, proprietor/director of the literary agency The Manuscript Agency. With effect from January 1st 2012, the two businesses were merged, under the name The Authors' Agent.

Brian Cook

For over four decades Brian Cook has worked closely with writers and illustrators to help them develop their ideas from nascence to publication, and has promoted and represented the work of Australian authors to publishers locally and around the world.

Brian has held senior publishing industry positions in adult and children's publishing, fiction and non-fiction. Since the mid-1990s he has managed his own (separate) manuscript assessment and literary agency businesses. His experience in intellectual property development, in contract negotiation, in publishing and editorial, in sales and marketing, and in buying and selling rights around the world, has enabled him to launch and guide the careers of hundreds of writers over the years.

Brian's passion for writers and writing, and his professionalism as an energetic advocate for his authors, are well known throughout the industry. To the Authors' Agent and its clients, Brian brings a profound understanding of both the traditional world of international commercial book publishing and the new world of fast-multiplying digital opportunities.

As sole agent operating a boutique agency with a focused, selective portfolio of clients, Brian draws on staff resources as and when required, but always personally handles every aspect of his clients' author management needs and the representation of their work to publishers.

The Future

As the agency name suggests, The Authors' Agent will always be an 'authors come first' agency, with a focus on building long-term writing careers for its clients. Under Brian Cook's stewardship, the strategic plan for the agency is to continue to provide second-to-none personal service to its authors, while steadily growing the business through seeking out 'unique, exciting, connected, market-savvy' writers who will be a good fit with the agency's style and ethos.