What FMcM Associates does

FMcM Associates is a London-based literary PR and communications consultancy founded in 1998 by Fiona McMorrough. The firm provides publicity and marketing services to individual authors, publishers, literary festivals, book prizes, and international cultural organisations across the UK, North America, Europe, the MENA region, and Asia. Its client roster includes globally recognised authors such as Margaret Atwood, Marian Keyes, Peter James, Richard Osman, and Freida McFadden, alongside major publishers including Simon & Schuster, Bloomsbury, Dialogue Books (Hachette), Gallic Books, Dead Ink Books, and Divided Publishing, and recurring institutional clients such as the Cundill History Prize (administered by McGill University), Capital Crime festival, the Polari Prizes, and the British Council.

The agency's core offering spans campaign strategy, media relations, author promotion, festival and event publicity, prize promotion, and cross-border PR campaigns including translated press releases and territory-specific digital activations. It also represents international bookfairs and literary organisations (London Book Fair, Abu Dhabi Book Fair, BolognaBookPlus, European Writers Festival), and holds preferred supplier status with the British Council for MENA-region projects. There is no proprietary technology platform; service delivery rests entirely on the team's media relationships, campaign craft, and the founder's industry network built over 25+ years.

FMcM operates a sales-led, professional services revenue model with bespoke, quote-based pricing for individual campaigns and ongoing retainers. It has no external investors, no parent company, and no disclosed funding rounds, consistent with a founder-owned independent consultancy. The firm employs between 11 and 50 people at its 14 Little Portland Street headquarters in London and is privately held, with no indication of acquisition, expansion into adjacent verticals beyond books, or development of proprietary technology products.

Name

FMcM Associates

Legal name

FMcM Associates

Website

https://fmcm.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

FMcM Associates is a London-based literary PR and communications consultancy providing publicity campaigns, media relations, and event promotion for authors, publishers, literary prizes, festivals, and international cultural organisations across the UK and overseas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. PR and Marketing Services: FMcM generates revenue through professional PR and marketing service fees for authors, publishers, literary festivals, and book prizes. Services include publicity campaigns, media relations, event management, and strategic marketing for books and literary clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

FMcM Associates is a literary public relations and marketing consultancy that provides publicity campaigns, media relations, event management, and digital activation services for authors, publishers, literary festivals, and book prizes. Its portfolio spans fiction, crime, poetry, children's, and international books, delivering targeted media coverage in traditional and digital outlets and securing festival appearances for clients in the UK and internationally.

Product overview

FMcM Associates is an award-winning literary PR agency providing public relations and marketing services for writers, books, festivals, prizes, and industry initiatives in the UK and internationally. Their service offering spans multiple literary categories including fiction (crime/thriller), poetry, international publishing, and children's books. The agency works with publishers, authors, literary festivals, and book prizes to secure media coverage across traditional and digital channels. Services include campaign strategy, media relations, author promotion, and event publicity.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Author and Book PR Campaigns Targeted PR and publicity campaigns for individual authors and their titles, including media relations across traditional and digital outlets, reviews placement, and author platform building. FMcM represents internationally bestselling authors across fiction, non-fiction, crime, poetry, and children's literature.
• Literary Festival and Event Publicity End-to-end event publicity and on-site promotion for literary festivals and cultural events, including Capital Crime, Hay Festival, European Writers Festival, London Book Fair, Abu Dhabi Book Fair, and BolognaBookPlus.
• Literary Prize Promotion Publicity campaign management for literary prizes and awards including the Cundill History Prize, British Book Awards, Forward Prizes, Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, and Polari Prizes, covering shortlist announcements, winner coverage, and ongoing prize visibility.
• International Book Promotion International book promotion and cultural exchange services, including UK launches for foreign authors, cross-border campaigns, and territory-specific press releases translated into multiple languages for publishers such as Gallic Books.
• Publisher Marketing and Publicity Marketing and publicity services delivered directly to publishing houses and imprints, including title promotion, author visibility campaigns, trade press outreach, and industry event representation.

Named customers16 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Capital CrimecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022FMcM has provided both PR and marketing for Capital Crime since its return in 2022, with 2023 seeing its most successful ever festival celebrating the crime fiction genre in London.
• McGill UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM partners with Montreal's McGill University to run the ongoing campaign for the international Cundill History Prize, administered by McGill. The partnership delivers campaigns in Canada, USA, and UK, working with world-leading historians as jurors and contenders.
• British CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM has won preferred supplier status to the British Council for their projects in the Mena region. Previously worked with the British Council in China, the Baltics and Mena region to promote cross-cultural exchange and literary initiatives.
• London Book FairmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM has worked with London Book Fair as part of their international bookfair experience, promoting cross-cultural literary exchange.
• Abu Dhabi Book FairmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM has experience working with Abu Dhabi Book Fair as part of their international bookfair promotion activities.
• European Writers FestivalmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM represents the European Writers Festival and grows its reach by implementing targeted media campaigns with territory-specific media.
• BolognaBookPlusmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM represents BolognaBookPlus, the fast-growing Bologna publishing trade show, growing their reach through targeted media campaigns with territory-specific press releases translated into numerous languages.
• Gallic BooksmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM works with Gallic Books across their list including with global literary superstars Antoine Laurain and Muriel Barbery, combining traditional and new media to introduce authors to new UK audiences.
• The Mosaic Rooms / A.M. Qattan FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM works on the Edward Said Lecture in London alongside London Review of Books and The Mosaic Rooms, promoting intellectual discussions on justice and peace.
• Polari Literary SaloncoreGTM or Marketing PartnerFMcM sponsors the Polari Prizes, the UK and Ireland's only dedicated LGBTQ+ book prize, demonstrating commitment to diverse literary voices and community engagement.
• PALFEST (Palestine Literary Festival)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFMcM has supported Ahdaf Soueif's PALFEST initiative over the years as part of their work promoting cross-cultural exchange in the Mena region.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Midas PR: A long-established UK consumer and corporate PR agency with a strong publishing and book publicity practice, serving many of the same author and publisher clients as FMcM and competing head-to-head for literary campaigns.
• Two Birds Communications: A UK PR consultancy with strong credentials in book publishing, literary festivals and cultural campaigns, offering publicity services to authors and publishers comparable to FMcM.
• Kate Nash Literary Consultancy: An independent UK literary publicity and book marketing consultancy working with publishers and authors on book launches and author campaigns — directly comparable in service scope and client base.
• Murray Regular PR: A UK arts, culture, and literary PR consultancy that runs author publicity, festival, and book prize campaigns — a direct competitor for the same author and publisher budgets.
• Riot Communications: A UK-based communications agency known for arts, culture, and publishing sector PR, offering media relations and campaign management closely overlapping with FMcM's book publicity offering.

Broad incumbents

• The PHA Group: A larger UK PR and communications group with consumer, publishing and arts clients; competes for the same publisher brand budgets as FMcM but with broader sector focus and deeper resourcing.
• Curtis Brown: One of the UK's leading literary and talent agencies, representing many of the same high-profile authors as FMcM, and serving as both an upstream referral source and a broader incumbent in the author services ecosystem.

Emerging players

• So What? PR: A UK PR and publicity agency with crossover into arts, festivals and lifestyle publishing campaigns; partial overlap with FMcM where clients sit at the intersection of books, events and cultural programming.

Others

• Faber & Faber: Independent UK trade publisher and recurring commissioning party for literary PR campaigns, comparable as a publisher-side stakeholder in the same ecosystem rather than as a direct competitor.
• Penguin Random House UK: Major UK trade publisher that is both a buyer of FMcM's PR services and a structural counterparty: it dictates campaign budgets and timing that drive FMcM's revenue cycle.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/JellybeanAgency
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fmcm-associates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

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 FMcM Associates