Cork writer Louise O’Neill, whose feminist-dystopian YA debut Only Ever Yours was released in 2014 to rave reviews, on attracting agents and publishers I floundered a bit when I came home from New York in 2011… I had done a post-graduate in fashion buying and spent a year with Elle magazine but I wasn’t completely enamoured of the fashion industry. I just wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I decided I was going to take a year off and write my ... Read the Post...
6 Ways to Annoy an Agent
Struggling to get an agent? You’re not alone. An Irish literary agent once told me she gets between 60 and 70 submissions every week, but usually only takes on one new author a year. So in order to get noticed, your submission has to really stand out from the crowd… but not for all the wrong reasons. Here are some tips gleaned from agents I've interviewed over the years: ... Read the Post...
“I targeted the chief editor” – Aifric Campbell
Orange Prize-nominated author Aifric Campbell explains how the tenacity she learned as a bond trader helped her to break into the world of publishing The idea for my first novel… started way back. I came across this natural language theorist who had been murdered in 1971. I was absolutely fascinated by the idea that someone so brilliant had been killed and the murder hadn’t been solved. I knew somehow I had to find a way of writing his story. It ... Read the Post...
“There was an advance, and there were earnings beyond that”
Booker-nominated author Ed O’Loughlin on his lucky break It took a long time to write my first novel… because I had to fit it in around the job I had, which was Middle East correspondent. I was always on the call. I would go on the road for weeks at a time. And even when you’re at home, you’re not always in the mood to do side projects. You’re producing an awful lot of words for your newspaper. It takes up the same kind of mental energy, so it ... Read the Post...
