RAFT PR Serial Rights NewsWe've got a cracking line-up of titles with serial rights available in the New Year - details below....
Contact Details: Adrian Weston
Office Number: 01273 730 070
Email: adrian@raftpr.com
RAFT is a niche literary and PR agency based in Brighton on the South Coast of England. The PR division was founded in 1996 and the Literary Agency in 2006.
Adrian Weston is the founder of Raft and now exclusively handles the Literary Agency and also serial rights for a number of UK publishers.
Raft is currently handling serial rights for an exciting line-up of titles covering:
• Politics & Current Affairs
• Biography & Memoir
• Business
• Self-help, image, beauty
• Psychology
Current TITLES
1) Lynne O’Donnell – High Tea in Mosul
Biography/Memoir/Journalism
2) Wendy Salisbury – The Toy Boy Diet
Memoir/Mass-Market Non Fiction
3) Joshua Gidding - Failure
Autobiography/Memoir
4) Shirley Collins – America Over the Water
Memoir/Music/Culture
5) Kristen Buckley – Tramps Like Us
Autobiography/Memoir
6) Adjiedj Bakas – Megatrends Europe
Current Affairs/Politics/Business
7) Elise Valmorbida – The Book of Happy Endings
General Non Fiction
8) Judith Uyterlinde – The Baby Void
Pregnancy/Childcare
9) Dorothy Rowe – My Dearest Friend, My Dangerous Enemy
Psychology/Self-Help
10) Ceril Campbell – Discover the New You
Health/beauty/celebrity
11) Don Letts – Culture Clash
Black/Music/Autobiography
12) Imogen Lloyd Webber – The Single Girl’s Guide
Self-Help/Humour/Autobiography
13) Jane Cunningham & Philippa Roberts – Inside Her Pretty Little Head
Business/Marketing
TITLE: High Tea in Mosul: The true story of two Englishwomen in war-torn IraqAuthor: Lynne O’Donnell
Publisher: CYAN
Status: Uncorrected Proofs Available
Rights: 1st Serial
2nd Serial
Date: August 2007
Category: Memoir/Journalism
About the Work: High Tea in Mosul is the extraordinary story of two Englishwomen who lived through the uncertainties and deprivations of Iraq under Saddam Hussin.
In April 2003, as the war in Iraq accelerated, Lynne O’Donnell was among the first journalists to enter the city of Mosul. At the city’s hospital, the senior heart surgeon introduced her to his wife – Pauline Basheer, a middle-aged mother-of-two from Lancashire who has lived in Iraq for almost 30 years. While they were having tea, they were joined by Pauline’s friend, another Englishwoman, who arrived in Iraq in the mid-seventies with her Iraqi husband whom she met as a student at Newcastle University.
This book tells the story of these two women, who married Iraqi men and relocated to Mosul where they assimilated, raised families within the traditional Iraqi family structure and endured life under Saddam. It was a time of food rationing, thought police, anti- Westernism and almost constant war.
About the Author: Lynne O’Donnell has been a journalist for 25 years, writing for a wide range of international publications, including the Wall Street Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle, The Times, Observer and The Australian.
Title: THE TOYBOY DIETAuthor: Wendy Salisbury
Status: Finished M/s available
Rights: 1st Serial
2nd Serial
Category: Humour/Biography
Date: TBC
About the work: Wendy’s own words are probably the best introduction to the book… already described by one editor as “publicity dynamite”
“I like older men but I couldn’t eat a whole one. A younger man? Now that’s a different story…
My toyboy adventures began when I was forty-two, one New Year’s Eve high in the Swiss Alps. Alcohol processes quickly at altitude which is probably why, as the clock struck midnight, I inadvertently found myself writhing naked underneath a nineteen-year-old. That first drink from the fountain of youth proved so intoxicating, I developed an unquenchable thirst.
As an attractive, twice-divorced mother of two, I returned to my respectable life, running my business, dating suitable suitors and fighting my darker passions. I gave up the fight whenever a handsome young man crossed my path: an ex-boyfriend of my daughter’s, the detective in charge of my mugging, the estate agent who valued my flat and then moved in.
Later, to feed my addiction, I placed a personal ad in a newspaper and received over fifty replies: Eye-Candy Andy, Six-Pack Jack, My Boy Lollipop, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Tom…a bevy of Benjamins to my real-life Mrs. Robinson.
The Toyboy Diet is a sexy, candid, bittersweet account of the highs and lows of autumn/spring liaisons, the fastest growing trend in Noughties society.”
About the Author: 60 years old and 60 years glamorous, Wendy Salisbury follows on from her successful title for Robson: Move Over Mrs Robinson, a survival guide for the more mature woman in search of fun. Rights for Move Over, Mrs Robinson are also available.
Wendy Salisbury was born in London in 1946 descended from Russian Jewish immigrants. She was educated at the French Lycée where she learned how to flirt in French, Spanish and Italian. At eighteen she travelled through Spain interpreting for two journalists writing the life story of El Cordobès, Spain’s leading bullfighter.
Newly single in her early forties, Wendy threw herself onto the social scene where she met a man twenty years her junior with whom she lived for seven years. During this time, she became a grandmother, antiques dealer and freelance journalist.
Now sixty, Wendy is still dating, mating and relating, collecting toyboys where she may.
Title: Failure: An AutobiographyAuthor: Joshua Giddin
Status: Uncorrected Proof Available
Rights: 1st Serial
2nd Serial
Category: Autobiography/Memoir
About the work: One man’s personal journey into the unexplored territory of failure..
Americans are taught to worship even celebrate success. But what of its flip side: failure?
In this genre-busting memoir, author Joshua Gidding breaks the silence by giving a personal account of his own failures and especially his enduring sense of failure which has shadowed him for his entire life. With an outrageous sense of humour, Gidding relates his struggles – not with the external enemies such as drink or drugs – but with the implacable foe that is himself.
From trying to fit in at an elite prep school, rejection from Harvard, dead-end jobs, a novel that flops, marital betrayal, Gidding describes his failures with an unflinching eye. He places his failings in a larger philosophical context to create a witty, provocative, and searingly honest exploration of the personal landscape of failuyre that will change the way you look at your oen life – and your own failures.
About the Author: Joshua Giddin grew up in Los Angeles and holds degrees from Berkeley and the University of Southern California. He has taught at USC and Holy Cross and currently teaches writing and literature at Dowling College on Long Island. He has published fiction, criticism and reviews, and worked for many years (without success) in the movie business.
Title: America Over the Water
Author: Shirley Collins
Status: Finished Copies
Publisher: SAF Publishing
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Category: Music/Memoir/History
About the Book: Destined to become a classic of women’s memoir, America Over the Water is a heart-rending emotional and personal journey into the cultural roots of traditional American Music with legendary archivist Alan Lomax. Shirley Collins, a young girl from the English South Coast embarks upon a relationship with a man twenty-years her senior and an epic recording journey through the Southern States on the cusp of the Civil Rights Era.
Shirley found herself a stranger in a strange land – encountering chain gangs, the iniquities of Parchman Prison Farm in Mississippi, and running the KKK’s gauntlet. The music she and Alan Lomax recorded on this journey is now ubiquitous – sampled by Moby, used by the Coen Brothers, reworked by modern musicians. But as strong as the music is, it is pale in comparison to the profoundly personal story of Shirley’s life with Lomax.
She and Lomax covered Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia - along the way encountering Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters and many others. Shirley’s eye is sharp and her prose pin-point perfect.
The book has also been adapted with support from the Arts Council England as a major touring stage presentation which is touring nationally and internationally 2006/2007.
About the Author: Shirley Collins is one of Britain’s foremost music figures as a singer and a commentator. She was honoured in the most recent New Year’s Honours list with an MBE. Her own recordings are frequently named as some of the most influential pieces of music by major recording artists. Billy Bragg describes Shirley as “one of England’s greated cultural treasures”. She has numerous acclaimed albums to her name and lives and works in East Sussex.
More information can be found on www.shirleycollins.co.uk
Title: Tramps Like UsAuthor: Kristen Buckley
Publisher: CYAN
Status: Uncorrected Proofs
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: April 2007
Category: Autobiography/Memoir
About the Work: A hilarious memoir about growing up in the wilds of suburban New Jersey.
Kirsten Buckley takes us on an emotional odyssey through the eerie hinterland of New Jersey populated by perverted gym teachers, local mobsters and timbale playing orang-utans.
Wickedly irreverent this New Jersey narrative takes us on a fun-filled, yet poignant, ride through the series of catastrophic detours she calls childhood. Leading a cast of characters – including her brilliantly wry mother, laconic stepfather, a trio of Korean orphans, two Jewish stepsisters, and one pot-smoking runaway – Buckley emerges as a thoroughly unforgettable young heroine who, like so many of us, is just looking for a place to call home.
About the Author: Kristen Buckley is a successful screenwriter. Her produced movies include How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and 102 Dalmatians. Her first novel The Parker Grey Show, was published in the US in 2003 to critical acclaim.
Title: MEGATRENDS EuropeAuthor: Adjiedj Bakas
Status: Finished Books
Publisher: CYAN (2006)
Rights: 2nd Serial
Category: Business/Current Affairs
About the book: It's 2050. The EU has been dismantled. Western Europe has become Islamic and has tied itself economically, politically, and culturally (although not governmentally) with North Africa and Turkey to become Eurabia. In Middle and Eastern Europe, a New Europe has arisen, where non-Islamic migrants from Western Europe have found salvation. This is one of the scenarios explored in this compelling book about the future of Europe and the impact it will have on the rest of the world. Written by a leading futurist, the book analyses the seven key trends (the so-called "megatrends") that will radically reshape European business, culture, people, thinking, belief systems, countries and cities over the next 50 years. Prepare yourself for a roller-coaster journey into the future, and a glimpse of the New Europe.
This book has been a major bestseller in the Netherlands where over 60,000 copies have sold to date and it is relevant throughout Europe.
About the Author: Adjiedj Bakas is Europe’s leading trend watcher Born in 1963, he is Dutch of Surinam/Indian descent and is a director of Dexter Communicatie in Amsterdam. Bakas is a fervent supporter of the New Naughtiness (also a trend), and tries to initiate discussions with stimulating publications and pronouncements. In this, optimism is a key word.
He lives in Amsterdam and is a regular consultant on future trends to governments and corporations alike.
Title: The Book of Happy Endings
True Stories About Finding LoveAuthor: Elise Valmorbida
Status: Finished Copies Avilable
Publisher: CYAN
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: February 14th 2007
Category: Non-Fiction/Relationships
Two childhood sweethearts meet again as adults, a young woman defies tradition, new love grows from the ruins of an earlier relationship, exiles find home in each other, love flourishes later in life, and handwritten letters span the distance of oceans…
This is a collection of life-affirming stories about couples who met and fell in love. So you know the endings already. Or do you?
There is nothing predictable in this book – Valmorbida’s storytelling is inspired, at once poetic and real. The style is deceptively simple and the themes universal.
“Elise Valmorbida achieves something rare and precious, and she writes like an angle” – John Madden, Director of Shakespeare in Love
About the Author: Elise Valmorbida grew up Italian in Australia, but fell in love with London. Her first book Matilde Waltzing (Allen & Unwin) was nominated for two national literary awards. She currently runs a communications consultancy and teaches creative writing at the University of the Arts London.
Title: The Baby Void
My Quest for MotherhoodAuthor: Judith Uyterlinde
Status: Finished Copies
Publisher: Summersdale
Rights: 2nd Serial
Category: Pregnancy/Childcare
About the Book: Pregnancy is a natural and wonderful part of being a woman. The joy Judith feels when she becomes pregnant, however, dies with the twins inside her, and she embarks on a heart-wrenching quest to be a mother.
The Baby Void is the frank account of one woman’s desire for children, entangled with her desire to live life to the full. It reveals the frustration of longing for a child when women all around are conceiving effortlessly. In a direct and down-to-earth way, Judith exposes her inner struggle of longing and anger, determination and doubt, love and envy, which accompanies her on the IVF roller-coaster.
Told with humour and unreserved honesty, this is a story of love, determination and the choices made by a modern woman in her thirties.
About the Author: Judith Uyterline is an editor, translator and journalist. She lives in the Netherlands.
Title: My Dearest Enemy, My Dangerous Friend
Making and Breaking Sibling BondsAuthor: Dorothy Rowe
Status: Galleys Available
Publisher: Routledge
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: April/May 2007
Category: Psychology/Self-Help
About the Work: Stories about siblings abound in literature, drama, comedy, biography and history. We rarely talk about our own siblings without emotion, whether love and gratitude, or exasperation, bitterness, anger and hate. Nethertheless, the subject is one that has been ignored by psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists.
In My Dearest Enemy, My Dangerous Friend, Dorothy Rowe presents a radically new way of thinking about siblings that unites the many apparently contradictory aspects of these complex relationships. This helps us to recognise the various experiences involved in sibling relationships as a result of the fundamental drive for survival and validation, enabling us to reach a deeper understanding of our siblings and ourselves.
If you have a sibling, or you are bringing up siblings, or, as an only child, want to understand what is missing in your life, this is the book for you
About the Author: Dorothy Rowe is a clinical psychologist and author of 12 books, including the worldwide bestseller Depression: the Way Out of Your Prison. She is Australian, lives in London and has a BIG SISTER.
Title: Discover the New You
Celebrity Secrets to Transform Your LifeAuthor: Ceril Campbell
Status: Finished Copies
Publisher: Summersdale
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: 14th February 2007
Category: Mass-market Non-fiction/Celebrity/Self-Help
About the Work: Wanting to change can happen anytime, whatever your age. It can happen because of unhappy relationships, break-ups, pregnangcy or weight gain or loss. Maybe you don’t want a major overhaul, just a few tweaks to enhance your image.
Discover the New You could contain the answer. This book is not a diet and exercise plan.
It is not a quick fix…
Discover the New You takes you on a personal journey, step-by-step with Ceril, detailing how every woman can feel special regardless of weight, shape or size. This is the ultimate guide to making the very best of what you’ve got, whilst moving forward with confidence for the rest of your life.
Based on Ceril’s 25-years of experience in all areas of fashion and working alongside health, beauty & fitness gurus. Revealing the secrets behind red carpet glamour, she offers simple but effective advice on style and self-esteem.
About the Author: Ceril Campbell has enhanced the images of international celebrities, models, sportspeople, actors and even royalty. Her past clients include Ringo Starr, Jane Seymour, Darcey Bussell, Anna Kournikova, Cat Deeley, Katherine Jenkins and Zara Phillips. She now focuses on helping real women with their inner and outer confidence, style and self-development, helping them to feel good about themselves.
Title: Culture Clash:
Dread Meets Punk RockersAuthor: Don Letts
Status: Finished Copies
Publisher: SAF Publishing
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: 22nd March 2007
Category: Autobiography/Black/Music
About the Work:
Don Letts is a giant of the cultural scene of the past thirty years. As a first-generation British-born black, Don Letts quickly learned to assimilate aspects of Jamaican culture into inner-city urban London life. Leaving school, he gravitated to Chelsea’s King’s Road, inhabiting the fashion world alongside Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. As resident DJ at the fledgling punk club The Roxy, Letts pumped a roots-reggae soundtrack to a predominantly white audience that included members of The Clash and the Sex Pistols, forging a link between the two clashing cultures.
A chance meeting provided him with a Super-8 movie camera, the result of which was released as The Punk Movie and set Letts on a career resulting in over 300 influential promo videos featuring Sex Pistols, Pil, the Slits, The Clash, Bob Marley, and even the platinum-selling Musical Youth, and most recently Franz Ferdinand. His feature films include Dancehall Queen, the Grammy Award-winning Westway to the World—his documentary on the Clash—and Clash on Broadway. He recently directed feature documentaries for the BBC on Sun Ra, Gil Scott-Heron and George Clinton as well as a major BBC documentary for 2007, Soul Britannia, charting the impact of black music on British culture.
Alongside The Clash’s Mick Jones in Big Audio Dynamite, Letts pioneered dance culture and sampling techniques, hanging out with Africa Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and the cream of the New York City hip-hop scene.
Admired by Fellini, a friend of Bob Marley and John Lydon, and a documenter of The Clash, Don Letts has never pigeonholed himself. This book is a first hand account, told in Letts’ own words—it’s highly visual, revelatory, irreverent, entertaining, and staunchly individual.
About the Author: Don Letts was born in London, where he now lives. There is little that he has not done!
Title: The Single Girl’s Guide:Author: Imogen Lloyd Webber
Status: Sample Material
Publisher: Summersdale
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: April 2007
Category: Autobiography/Memoir/Self Development
About the Work:
You’ve laughed and cried along with Bridget Jones and Carrie Bradshaw; now meet their real-life counterpart in Imogen. The Single Girl’s Guide is a contemporary, tongue-in-cheek, but practical manual on life management for the modern bachelorette.
Make the most of unattached living with free spirit Imogen as your mentor. In this new release Imogen is set to reveal amusing anecdotes and advice on how to juggle bosses, colleagues and friends whilst giving guidance on how to manage your family and distractions of the male variety. Help keep the stresses and strains of singledom at bay and realise that the secret of successful life management lies in not letting those around you know that they’re being managed.
You have chosen not to settle for someone who doesn’t understand how amazing you are. You are whole, not half, and you don’t have to share your space. Armed with this book, you can steer a safe passage through the stormy waters, limit the seasickness, and enjoy the trip.
About the Author: Imogen Lloyd Webber is a writer and producer from London who is living and loving the single girl’s life. She’s had five parents, almost as many bosses and, despite multiple mistakes involving mobile phones and men, was still not desperate enough to accept the opportunity to find true love on ITV1’s Love Island. The 29 for-not-much-longer-year-old will be available for interview in the New Year.
Title: Inside Her Pretty Little Head
A new theory of female motivation & what it means for marketingAuthor: Jane Cunningham & Philippa Roberts
Status: Finished Books
Publisher: CYAN
Rights: 1st Serial/2nd Serial
Date: March 2007
Category: Business/Marketing
About the Work:
A book which looks in depth at the female target audience, and the huge opportunities that can be realized when sectors are analyzed through the lens of female motivation need. It provides an inspiring and invaluable guide to:
• The differences between men and women, their motivations and the ways they process information
• The four key components that make up a successful female brand
• The female purchasing process
• Creative work that appeals to women
• Shaping corporate culture in order to better realize the female opportunity.
About the Authors: Jane Cunningham & Philippa Roberts have worked together for over fifteen years at two of the world’s largest advertising agencies, first at DDB and most recently at Ogilvy, where they were respectively Planning Director and Client Services Director. They now run a marketing consultancy advising clients on how to maximize appeal to a female audience.
Wendy on her 60th Birthday
