Rights Assistant (Book Agency)
Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency
The Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency is looking for an enthusiastic, organised and hard-working Rights Assistant to join their international rights and projects department.
Working closely alongside the Head of International Rights, we are looking for someone who is confident, communicative, methodical and unfazed by all aspects of administrative support. You’ll be an essential member of our growing team, so we need someone who is proactive, adaptable, reliable and eager to learn. This role would suit someone with experience in publishing, preferably in rights, contracts or royalties, who is ready for a fast-paced, dynamic role at a busy and growing specialist literary agency. We are open to people without publishing experience but they must have significant administrative experience to quickly get up to speed. And to be clear, there is a lot of reading of Children’s/Young Adult/New Adult books so passion in this area of the industry is essential. We are a highly collaborative, vibrant and dynamic close-knit team who sit in the same room four days a week, so there’s lots of discussions and meetings daily in the office. We all pitch in with general office duties and would expect the new member of the team to handle some of these exclusively to support the team in busy periods. Once the administrative support aspects of the job are mastered, the role would ideally expand into rights agenting as soon as possible.
Key Responsibilities include:
- Drafting sales emails for submission.
- Assisting in maintaining the rights and contacts database.
- Drafting and reviewing contracts and handling the signature process.
- Invoicing and managing payments.
- Handling the double tax exemption certificates.
- Co-ordinating and preparing rights guides.
- Liaising with clients, international publishers and co-agents.
- Scheduling and coordinating book fairs (Bologna, Frankfurt, London etc).
- Processing royalty statements.
- Reading the clients’ books quickly, offering feedback when required, and reading widely in the relevant age groups/genres.
- Researching potential partnerships.
- Providing general office support for the wider team.
Required Skills and Experience:
- Some publishing experience, ideally in rights/contracts/royalties, or significant administrative experience.
- Strong organisational skills and outstanding attention to detail.
- Excellent English-language skills, including a high level of written and verbal communication skills.
- Strong numeracy skills to process royalty statements.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Excel, Word).
- Ability to take initiative and work well both independently and as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
- A genuine passion for reading and children’s books, particularly in the YA and middle-grade sectors.
- A strong work ethic and dedication to completing tasks in a timely manner.
Non-essential skills/experience:
- Experience of rights management databases.
- Additional language skills.
Type of Role/Salary:
This is a full-time role (five days/37.5 hours a week) with an initial probation period. The ideal start date is August 2026 – though notice periods will be considered. We pay, as a minimum, the London Living Wage. This will primarily be an office-based role at our premises in Parsons Green (SW6) with two days hybrid-working to be introduced after the settling in period.
How to Apply
Please send a brief covering letter and CV (including two references) to [email protected] by 5pm on Thursday 2nd July, adding ‘Rights Assistant application’ to the subject line of the email. Please also tell us what you’ve been reading/watching/listening to recently as well!
While we have publicised this opportunity, please note that: (i) the application and selection process is managed by the advertising company/organisation; and (ii) we rely on them to: provide accurate, up-to-date details about themselves and the opportunity; ensure that opportunities are ethical and paid fairly. To report a listing, please email [email protected].