Industry Spotlight: Q&A with Literary Agent Janne Moller

Janne Moller, literary agent

Fabulous human and incredibly talented literary agent Janne Moller sat down with me to discuss her experiences in publishing and her thoughts on the future of the industry. Read her interview below to find out more.

1.      Tell readers a little bit about you.

I am Danish and live in Copenhagen. I am a literary agent for children’s books and YA at Gyldendal Group Agency (GGA), which is part of Gyldendal, Denmark’s oldest publishing house, more than 250 years old. I have been at GGA since early 2022. Before then, I lived in the UK for 21 years—first in London, then in Edinburgh—working as a literary agent and as a rights manager.

2.      What was your career path to publishing like?

I am a librarian by degree, but after I graduated, I got a job straight away at Gyldendal as an editorial assistant in their book club division. I was there for four amazing years learning lots of different things. I then got the opportunity to move to London and work for a literary agent—in all honesty, I didn’t even know what a literary agent was back then, but I dreamt of moving to London so I gave it a go. And I discovered what an amazing dream job that is!

I worked four years in London and then I was lucky enough to get the chance to be the administrator of a writers’ retreat at an old castle just outside Edinburgh in Scotland. It was an amazing experience, living and working in a castle, creating a great atmosphere for the writers coming in the fellowship. I was at the castle for eight months and then I moved to Edinburgh, where I got a job at a small independent publisher, initially as an admin assistant, but I noticed they didn’t do anything with translation rights, so I started handling that side of things and soon I got to work mainly as a rights manager, handling all things rights related.

After 17 happy years and lots of amazing publishing experiences, I moved back to my hometown Copenhagen, where I was extremely lucky to find a job at Gyldendal. Back where it all started

3.      How has your role in publishing changed since becoming a literary agent?

I have more or less always worked as a literary agent one way or another since I started working in publishing, so my role as such has not changed much throughout my career. However, the roles I’ve played in different companies have varied slightly.

The agency in London was a small, independent agency, where I got to be a big part of everything and was handed a lot of responsibility straight away. When I was at the writers’ retreat, my responsibilities more administrative, social and practical, and nothing to do with being an agent. At the publishing house in Edinburgh, my role had various aspects—I was predominantly responsible for rights, but in a small company you always get involved with many different things, and I also helped with editing and other aspects of the publishing process.

Now, at Gyldendal, I solely work with translation rights, and being part of a big house is different to the smaller, independent setups I’ve previously been part of. But overall, at the heart of it, the role as an agent is more or less the same.

4.      Describe your current job, your company, or anything else you’d like readers to know about you.

As a literary agent for children’s books and YA, my job is to handle translation rights for authors published by Gyldendal and find as many fantastic homes for their books out in the world.

As I mentioned, we are the oldest and one of the biggest publishers in Denmark, and we have a very big and varied list of children’s books—from some of the biggest classics to exciting contemporary books, literary as well as commercial, for the youngest readers up to YA and crossover readers. It’s an absolute treasure trove of books for all ages.

5.      How do you see AI impacting publishing or your role specifically now or in the future?

That is quite a question! Well, to keep it fairly short, I think—like with most things in life—there are pros and cons. There are definitely worrying and complex aspects of AI and publishing in terms of rights, content, translations and many other areas, but I also think that AI can be an effective tool in more mundane, time consuming, everyday tasks, which can free up time to focus more on the essence of my job.

As for my role specifically, it’s hard to predict the future, but I feel an essential part of being an agent is to have an extensive network of contacts and knowledge about the individual editors’ lists and taste, and these things are accumulated over years and not easily replaced by AI (but could, of course, very well be "famous last words").

6.     What would you tell an aspiring author who wants to break into the publishing industry?

Have patience! Getting published can be a long journey—finding an agent can be just as difficult as finding a publisher. Submit to more than one agent/publisher at a time. Network as much as possible, meet people in the industry if possible, join writer’s groups for support, feedback and exchange of experiences etc. and above all, keep going.

Big thank you for Janne for taking time out of her busy schedule to feature on my blog. If you'd like to learn more about Janne and her company, check out Gyldenal Group Agency on Instagram: @gyldendalgroupagency.