Getting Published
Why Writers Need an Agent
Who represents Marian Keyes? Who is Cathy Kelly’s agent? Who helped Melissa Hill climb to the top?
This is a Who’s Who of Popular Fiction Agents (with contact details!) by Sarah Webb, author of the Ask Amy Green series for young readers and nine bestselling novels.
You’ve written your novel and you’d like to get it publish, so what’s next?
If you are interested in reaching the widest readership possible, you’ll need to find a good agent. If you live in Ireland and would like to get published, it is worth trying the agents listed below as they all have a proven track record with Irish authors.
Why do you need an agent? Can’t you just go it alone?
Still Learning - Claire Allan
Last year I went to see a medium - which is something I do every now and again to convince myself there are higher powers at work out there. So we talked for a while about my writing and she told me how I was still learning, and still needed to learn more before I achieved the success I so dreamed of. Part of me - the big part labelled 'ego' - bristled at the notion that I had still more to learn.
Sure hadn't I written four books and had them published and (for the most part) received lovely reviews for them? I knew what I was doing, I thought as I crossed my arms with my lip petted and sat back to listen to her tell me what else the future would hold. With the hindsight of one year and a pretty intense writing /editing experience I have realised just how very arrogant I was to think I knew what I was at and to assume that because I had achieved a certain level of success there was no need for me to continue learning.
The After Novel Feeling - Nuala Ni Chonchuir
I bought a gorgeous little book at the LA Times Festival of Books called You Know You’re a Writer When... by Adair Lara. It’s blue – and I’m a bit of a bowerbird around blue things – it is beautifully designed and conveniently handbag sized. There are lots of pithy and amusing quotes in the book, but this one fits with what I want to talk about today: ‘You know you’re a writer when writing is the only thing you do that doesn’t make you feel as if you should be doing something else.’
For me, when the writing is going well, it makes me crazily happy; I get swallowed up in it and time flitters away like it never does when I am on kid duty. Having finished writing another novel this summer, I now realise that the long haul of novel writing suits me perfectly. I get to immerse myself in the world of the story and let the thing consume me; even when I am not sitting at my desk, I am mulling over the work. So happiness and lack of distraction and, even, giddiness get sustained over the course of about a year. Twelve months of feeling content – how could you beat it?
Finding the Time to Write
The toddler marched over to my laptop. I had been editing for an hour while giving a simultaneous commentary on her favourite CBeebies programme. Clearly this was no longer enough. She hit the power off button (She's two, but very bright) and hauled the laptop off my knee.
"Play with meeeeee, mammy," she pleaded and I had to realise that was my writing done for the day,
I was lucky to have had an hour and lucky to have a child who is easily distracted by the allure of CBeebies. I do fear my latest Work in Programme will have several random mentions of Mr Tumble or the Tweenies as my concentration slipped - but here is the thing - when you want to write you do it when you can.
How to Choose Your Agent
So you've done it. You've written your first book - a real, life, paper, blood, sweat and tears book. I remember the euphoria well - that sense of achievement. It's akin, I think, to having a baby. Only it hurts less (just a little mind...) And just like you look at your first born and feel pride, love and hope for his or her future, you look at your first book and wonder about sending it all out in the big bad world on its own. I remember finishing 'Rainy Days and Tuesdays' (well I say 'finishing', I think I still had 10,000 words to write when I decided, madly, to send my first three chapters out) and feeling so proud of myself. At that time I didn't really care if it ever got published (I am of course lying... I say I didn't care to sound cool. In reality it was my life long dream.) I was delighted to have actually completed a project I had devoted six months of my life too and while I know that many people don't strike it lucky with their first book, I was curious - you know, just in case anyone 'out there' might want to read it.More Articles...
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