C&W Agency

What C&W Agency does

C&W Agency is a London-based literary agency operating as a subsidiary of The Curtis Brown Group, a diversified UK talent representation conglomerate. Founded in 2000, the firm employs between 11 and 50 people and represents authors in pitching and publishing their works.

The agency's core offering is literary representation, structured around four product lines: core author representation, translation rights sales to international publishers, film and television adaptation rights sold to producers, and a permissions service handling excerpt, reprint, and reuse requests for represented authors' works. The underlying operating model is traditional and relationship-driven rather than technology-led — source material explicitly states core technology is "not disclosed" and lists no proprietary technology, APIs, or integrations. Distribution to publishers and entertainment studios is conducted through direct, agent-led negotiations on a global basis.

C&W Agency earns revenue through commissions on rights deals (licensing and royalty-based economics), with no publicly disclosed pricing, commission rates, or financials. The go-to-market is sales-led, relying on industry relationships, an active Instagram and Twitter presence (@cwagencyuk), and a corporate website that includes author, team, news, and submissions pages. The primary customer is authors seeking professional representation; the secondary counterparty base is publishers, film studios, and TV production companies acquiring rights.

Name

C&W Agency

Legal name

C&W Agency

Website

https://cwagency.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

C&W Agency is a London-based literary agency and subsidiary of The Curtis Brown Group that represents authors and sells translation, film/TV, and subsidiary rights to global publishers and entertainment studios on a commission basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Literary Agency Services

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

General Trade Publishing (Adult Fiction & Nonfiction) (MPAJAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Publishing Administration (Catalog Admin, Global Subpublishing) (MPAIABAB)

Keywords

• Literary agency services
• Author representation
• Translation rights
• Film TV rights
• Publishing rights management

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Author Representation & Rights Sales: Literary agency representing authors and selling their rights (translation rights, film/TV adaptation rights, permissions) to publishers and entertainment companies. Revenue derived from commissions on successful deals.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

C&W Agency is a UK-based literary agency that represents authors by pitching their manuscripts to publishers and managing the sale of rights to those works. Its service offering covers translation rights sales to international publishers, film and TV adaptation rights sales to entertainment producers, and permissions handling for excerpts and reprints. The agency operates as part of The Curtis Brown Group and earns revenue via commissions on the deals it negotiates for its author clients.

Product overview

C&W Agency is a literary agency offering a unified suite of representation services for authors. The core offering centers on literary agency representation, complemented by specialized rights management services including translation rights, film & TV rights, and permissions handling. These services work together to manage the full lifecycle of an author's creative works across international and multimedia markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Literary Agency Representation

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• The Curtis Brown GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerC&W Agency is part of The Curtis Brown Group, a prominent talent representation agency in the UK. The Curtis Brown Group is a well-established company in the entertainment and publishing representation space, providing C&W Agency with institutional backing and industry connections.

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Andrew Nurnberg Associates: International literary agency specializing in translation rights representation across more than 30 territories. Directly comparable as a specialist rights-agency model with global publisher relationships — overlapping core competency with C&W's translation rights product.
• The Wylie Agency: Boutique literary agency with offices in London and New York, representing high-profile authors and selling translation, film/TV, and serial rights globally. Directly comparable premium positioning and rights-revenue model.
• Aitken Alexander Associates: London-based literary agency representing authors across trade fiction, non-fiction, and memoir. Closely comparable model: agent-led representation, rights sales to publishers and entertainment buyers, comparable boutique headcount.
• Blake Friedmann Literary Agency: Long-established UK literary agency offering author representation across fiction, non-fiction, and children's books. Direct peer given similar boutique scale, London base, and full-rights sales (translation, film/TV, audio) model.
• Janklow & Nesbit: Prestigious New York-based literary agency representing authors across trade fiction, non-fiction, and memoir. Comparable in serving premium authors, selling translation and film/TV rights, and operating a relationship-led agent model.
• Curtis Brown (literary agency): The flagship literary and talent agency within The Curtis Brown Group. Directly comparable business model (agent representation, translation, film/TV rights) and overlapping author base with C&W Agency, since C&W operates as a sister division within the same group.

Broad incumbents

• ICM Partners: Legacy Hollywood talent and literary agency (now part of CAA) historically representing authors alongside screen talent. Comparable author representation and rights sales, but embedded within a much larger full-service talent platform.
• Creative Artists Agency (CAA): One of the world's largest talent and entertainment agencies, with a literary division selling book and adaptation rights globally. Comparable on author representation and rights sales, but competes across much broader categories (acting, sports, music).
• William Morris Endeavor (WME): Global talent agency with a large books division representing authors and packaging literary IP for film/TV. Direct overlap on rights sales, but WME's much larger scale and cross-vertical integration provide leverage C&W cannot match.
• United Talent Agency (UTA): Major global talent agency with a sizable literary division representing bestselling authors. Overlaps with C&W on author representation and film/TV rights packaging, but operates at vastly greater scale across talent, TV/film packaging, and brand licensing.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cwagencyuk
• Instagraminstagram.com/cwagencyuk

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about C&W Agency