When Does Hindsight Arrive — Vicki Willden-Lebrecht

How do we measure a good year? Good work, a strong pipeline, a happy team, fulfilled artists, solid numbers – it’s never just one thing. For me, it’s a combination of many things. And although it’s been a globally unsettling year, this has ultimately been one of Bright’s best. Much of that is because we have such strong seeds already planted in the ground for next year.

I’m always looking ahead, and I know that a lot of this year’s success comes from work we did in the past. This year, I asked myself: when does hindsight arrive? When you’re always looking forward.

People often say, ‘Bright’s always doing something new,’ and it’s true – I’ve always been focused on moving forward, rarely pausing to look back.

But this year, through various endeavours, I realised something important: everything we’re doing at Bright now is the result of what we’ve done before. It grows from seeds we planted years ago – the decisions, the graft, the risks, the belief. We’ve spent years enriching the soil we work in, making it as fertile and fruitful as possible so our talent can truly blossom.

I always had a vision for how supporting creatives should be, and at twenty-two, naive but determined, I set out to build it. I did not inherit a list of established, published artists, but I also did not inherit the old traditions or the publishing rulebook that came with them.

The artists who joined Bright, many of whom are still with us today, came to us unpublished. What we built together was born from creativity, proactivity, vision and curiosity. And that approach didn’t just work . . . it took off.

For a long time, I felt like an imposter in publishing. It’s no secret I’m dyslexic with a generous dose of ADHD, but it’s exactly that curiosity, and the luck of being born in that gorgeous six-year window (1978—1984), where we had analogue childhoods and digital adulthoods, that shaped Bright’s direction. We learned to navigate both worlds, and it means we lead rather than follow.

I have guided Bright’s artist and author representation through a time of huge industry change successfully, enthusiastically and without fear. Not being anchored to the past gave Bright the freedom to build something new: a culture rooted in curiosity, imagination, innovation . . . and possibility.

I believe innovation is a responsibility. With crises in reading, broadcasting and the rise of AI, we have to see the world as it is and not how we wish it still was. That means rethinking and expanding the platforms through which stories are told and shared, and it means recognising that the book – our cherished, valued product – needs a shift in perception if it’s going to stay relevant.

We need to unlock the idea that reading is not a chore; it is how you get more of what you love. And within the experience of reading books, the depth, meaning and nourishment is delivered at a pace the brain can actually thrive on.

Whatever the future brings, empathy, understanding our history and maintaining compassion and curiosity for each other will only grow more essential. Our job is to ensure creativity continues to thrive. And despite all the fear-mongering noise, this is a genuinely exciting time to be creative, and to be working in publishing.

The National Year of Reading, and Go All In campaign from the UK government poses so many opportunities for us to get this message outside of our industry but in the mainstream parent and school narrative.

At Bright, authenticity isn’t a slogan. It’s a core part of who we are, grounded in the creative world our artists live and work in. It has always mattered to us.

When we were the first agency to get involved in driving artist discoverability and promoting their books through the bright emporium, an events space we opened to hold author and illustrator events in, people told us, ‘Agents do not do that. Stay in your lane, and let others handle that.’

But what if the lane is not going anywhere? We built our own road to get there, and the results were clear: our artists’ books took off. It was our artists that were making a wave into a very established red-house agent world.

The results: artists established themselves faster, royalties increased dramatically, careers accelerated in ways the traditional approach could never have delivered. It taught us something important. When the industry does not offer space, create it.

This year we welcomed Paul Black as Brand Director, heading up our licensing team, to expand audiences while protecting the heart of each book.

We are flipping the traditional publishing and licensing model. Where once a successful book led to licensing as an extra revenue stream, licensing is now increasingly a discovery tool especially through location-based and immersive experiences.

As books become harder to find in a crowded attention economy, licensing offers children new pathways into stories. Today, young readers encounter narratives everywhere: Lapland UK immersive events, gaming platforms, TikTok and YouTube – with libraries, bookshops and schools now part of a much broader ecosystem.

This is a fundamentally new landscape, and it demands new thinking. Discovery no longer starts on the page alone; it starts wherever children already are.

Our approach is simple. Every initiative brings us back to the book. Every plan honours where the book came from. Because old systems cannot build new futures. And old approaches are not going to help combat the reading crisis.

Many authors and illustrators are still relying on promotional methods designed for a world before algorithms and digital discovery. Today, LinkedIn functions as a CRM – a so-called ‘black book’ of contacts is suddenly available to anyone, Substack and Instagram offer their own unique benefits. With motivation and vision, the connections that once took years to build are now within reach.

But access doesn’t equal results. The real magic lies in relationships, authentic ones built on trust, understanding and shared ambition. That’s where Bright is heading in 2026 and beyond: solid, trusted, positive and creatively ambitious relationships with our clients, relationships, we believe, that can produce truly great work.

We know if you manage talent with a framework from the past, you cannot expect to grow into the future. Bright moves differently. When we represent an artist, we think forwards from day one. Where could this work live? Who should see it? What do we need to build around it?

We do not wait for momentum. We generate it. We pitch. We plan. We shape opportunity.

On a recent panel, someone asked ‘but is that not the publisher’s job?’ which, I think, is the wrong question. The real question is, how do we make this project work, together? How do we get this book discovered, how do we build the audience?

This is not the moment for professional silos, it’s a moment for collaboration.

Agents, publishers and artists work side by side to rebuild an ecosystem where children discover stories naturally, in the spaces they already inhabit.

Being outsiders has been to our advantage. It’s because we were not part of the old guard, that we were free to create our own way of working.

We help illustrators see success in real time, not decades later. We hire brilliant agents, many better than me in countless ways, because my job is to hold the vision and bring extraordinary people into the fold.

Our philosophy is simple: we are not administrators of careers, we are catalysts for them and that is why established artists join us and why heritage estates approach us. It’s why our talent stays. And now, we are not relying on instinct alone, we have instinct supported by experience, relationships and trust.

Bright is modern, agile, financially independent and built on real and current expertise. Our reputation was not inherited. It was earned. And the future belongs to organisations that adapt and act with purpose.

So, back to the question. When does hindsight arrive?

Perhaps now. We still follow our instincts, but we understand them. And that combination now with hindsight gives me real confidence in what comes next. In the years ahead, the publishing brands that matter, the IP, the vision and the creative leadership will sit with companies like Bright. Because we innovate, we adapt and we care. We are shaping the future of storytelling.

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