News
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Duncan Falconer - How We Work Together
18 Jun 2014
Duncan Falconer is a former member of the Special Boat Service now writing best sellng thrillers in the tradition of Andy McNab.
I have written one auto-biography and nine novels. When I first decided to write a book it was without knowledge of any single part of the process. In Andrew, this was all resolved. He guided and supported me through each and every step. I was not a book businessman, nor did I particularly want to be. I had no interest in the process that followed the actual piecing together of words. It was a whole new world with so much mystery attached. Andrew secured me the publisher and the price for my work. He managed my expectations and helped me realise my value. He kept me informed of any opportunities related to my writing, including such things as a lecture tour on a cruise ship or appearing at appropriate book fairs.
My books have been published internationally thanks to his efforts and he continues to offer moral support and guidance on all things related to the promotion and exposure of my work. He also played a significant role in the selling of the film rights to my books. As a result, I’ve dropped off the book writing for a few years while I write movies, and Andrew is still there for me, keeping me informed, encouraging me, and letting me know just how wide the door remains open for when I’m ready to get back to books. To misquote the proverbial cliche, in the world of books, ‘I wouldn’t go anywhere without him’.
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Unravelled in Daily Mail
18 Jun 2014
An interview with Vikie Shanks - a double page spread in the Daily Mail today and the top story on Mail online - ties in to her memoir Unravelled published today.
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Piu Eatwell - How We Work Together
17 Jun 2014
Piu Eatwell’s first non-fiction book , an examination of myths about the French entitled They Eat Horses, Don’t They? The Truth About The French, was awarded the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award (category: multi-cultural nonfiction). Her next book, The Dead Duke, his Secret Wife, and the Missing Corpse, is a historical true crime and mystery thriller, published by Head of Zeus in September 2014.
I discovered Andrew completely by chance. Knowing nobody in the publishing industry and with the vaguest idea for a book, I simply emailed the list of agents in the ‘Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook’, working through it alphabetically until I got bored at the letter ‘m.’ Thank goodness I didn’t give up at the letter ‘k’! Otherwise, the course of history….at least, my small personal corner of history….would have been irrevocably, and no doubt depressingly, different.
As it was, I was thrilled when an email bounced back almost immediately from Andrew, responding to my book idea with enthusiasm and a raft of helpful suggestions. The reply was so quick that – coupled with the fact of it being a late hour on a Saturday – I felt sure this must be a new agent, desperate for work. I was absolutely stunned on checking Andrew’s credentials, to find that he is in fact the leading agent for non-fiction. Over the subsequent years, I have come to expect – but never fail to appreciate – this phenomenal rapidity in response.
I am now two books down the line from that initial book, and find that my professional relationship with Andrew has developed apace. Of course, he ticks all the boxes that a top literary agent should: he checks all contracts with minute attention to detail, and immediately highlights any areas of concern in the small print; he chases unpaid bills; he reviews all book proposals and makes incisive comments, before they are sent out.
However, Andrew is much more than all of this. He is my first sounding board for any new book idea. Whatever the subject, he is bound to have read every single competing book in the field, know if anything else like it will be coming out in the future, and – on at least two occasions so far – has even acted as agent for the author who wrote the previous leading work on the subject.
He also has an unfailing nose for the latest ‘new thing’ in any given genre, an instinctive feel for the market and for what publishers are looking for. If Andrew predicts that, say, murders with a European wartime backdrop are the next ‘big thing’ in historical true crime, then he will invariably be correct. Most of all, you know that if Andrew believes in your book, he will fight to the death to make it a success in the market. Which means that you, the writer, can make yourself a cup of tea, switch off the mobile phone, and do what you always wanted to do…..write books.
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Jeremy Dronfield - How We Work Together
16 Jun 2014
Jeremy Dronfield is the author of four novels and has ghosted four biographies.
I’m a ghost writer, biographer and book-doctor. It sometimes happens that the author of a biography, a history, or any other kind of non-fiction, having done the research and sketched out the book, struggles to bring out the qualities that would make it commercially viable. With a biography, for example, there may be a failure to capture the narrative drama of the subject’s life or the complexities of their character in a way that will captivate publishers and readers.
If Andrew believes that there is potential for a commercial book, but it’s just not coming through, no matter how many revisions the author does, he brings me in. If all parties agree, and if I believe passionately in the book, I come on board.
Sometimes it’s just the writing that’s lacking. In that case my job is simply to ghost or doctor it for finesse and readability. But more often the project evolves into full co-authorship; I go deep into the primary material, helping with the direction of the story and the analysis of the subject, and pursuing fresh lines of research. This is when the job is most satisfying – when I bring together my dual backgrounds in fiction and academic research. With me involved, a book gets the imaginative, vivid writing you’d expect from fiction, combined with the rigour of scholarship.
My recent books include the story of Robert Trimble, a WW2 pilot who undertook a secret mission to rescue POWs on the Eastern Front; a biography of Moura Budberg, the Russian spy who fell in love with a British agent during the Revolution and was haunted for the rest of her life by the shattering betrayal she suffered; the life of Peter Watson, millionaire art patron and doyen of the gay scene of pre-war Paris, who was murdered in his bath by his jealous lover; and the incredibly moving life of James Barry, a Victorian surgeon who was revealed after death to have been a woman, forced to disguise herself in order to pursue a career in medicine.
I always develop a close bond with my co-authors, but Andrew remains a crucial presence throughout, from inception to placing with a publisher, right up to delivery and beyond, as linchpin between me, my co-author(s) and publisher.
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Jane Dismore - How We Work Together
15 Jun 2014
Jane Dismore’s next book is Duchesses : Living in 21st Century, a portrait of Britain’s non-royal duchesses .
I’m the ‘new girl on the block’ as far as being signed up by an agent is concerned. These days, when it seems everyone in the world has discovered that best-selling book inside them, many publishers won’t look at an author who has approached them direct, preferring to have the filtering process done for them. Those publishers who do accept a direct approach sometimes appear to think that an author has nothing better to do than spend the next aeon waiting for a reply, at the same time discouraging multiple submissions. It can be deeply depressing.
Enter the agent. Even then, the process is not for the faint-hearted or self-delusional. But with someone like Andrew, at least you won’t have to wait very long for a response. He replies to emails with impressive speed. He knows the market. He will tell it as he sees it, make suggestions on your submission if it needs it, and fight for better terms than the publisher seems prepared to offer. My next book is due out in September 2014, and I know he’ll be there to negotiate serial rights and do all the magic tricks to ensure I get the best deal.
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Professor Tom Devine knighted in Queens Birthday Honours
14 Jun 2014
Congratulations to agency author Tom Devine who is knighted in today’s Birthday Honours for services to Scottish history. He has held various chairs at Edinburgh University since 2005 and is the author of over thirty books including the best-selling trilogy The Scottish Nation: 1700-2000 , Scotland’s Empire, 1600-1815 and Scotland’s Empire: The Origins of the Global Diaspora. Devine has won all three major prizes for Scottish historical research, been a Trustee of the National Museums of Scotland and a Member of Council of the British Academy.
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Patrick Dillon - How We Work Together
14 Jun 2014
Patrick Dillon is a novelist, historian and architect whose books range from histories of Britain and world buildings for children to accounts of the 1688 Revolution and eighteenth-century gin craze.
My writing career has been unusually varied, ranging from serious history for adults, through children’s writing to fiction. Andrew hasn’t only been able to able to achieve excellent deals for all these books. He’s offered brilliant advice in choosing and shaping proposals. The starting point is clarity about what a book’s trying to achieve, whatever its genre. Andrew is invaluable in those early conversations. Who’s the book for? What’s distinctive about it? He brings clear thinking to the discussion, along with marketing nous and unrivalled knowledge of the trade. There’s no point expending time on an idea that’s unlikely to take off.
The same clear thinking helps shape the proposal. Publishers receive dozens of pitches, and it’s essential that what we make it clear what the book’s about, where the market is, and why people will want to read it. Andrew achieves his extraordinary hit-rate because he makes sure every proposal does the idea justice. If that means covering every base, it’s worth it.
Choosing where to send the proposal is very much one for Andrew. Success depends on his contacts, and his knowledge of each commissioning editor’s interest. When editors start to bite, it’s the agency that negotiates, and turns initial interest into firm offer and contract. It cuts in again when the book’s done. Publishers can’t always offer the marketing support a writer needs. Andrew has been brilliant in suggesting publicists and helping with contacts.
So Andrew is really part of a book’s life from start to finish. Long-term relationships between authors and publishing houses seem to belong to the past. For me, that continuity comes from the agency instead. Wherever my interest has shifted, Andrew has been ceaselessly encouraging. When an idea is being conceived, or a proposal shaped, in selling books and making deals, in helping when the process falters, and then giving my books the best chance in a highly competitive market – his support has been essential
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Carol Acton in the Irish Times
13 Jun 2014
Discovering an Irish nurse’s unique WWII diary A researcher’s chance find at London’s Imperial War Museum gives a frank insight into war by a feisty, honest young Irish woman
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Roger Crowley - How We Work Together
13 Jun 2014
Roger Crowley’s books include Constantinople: The Last Great Siege (sold in fourteen countries) , Empires of the Sea (sold in fifteen countries) and City of Fortune: How Venice won and lost a naval empire. His next book Lords of the Navigation: How the Portuguese launched the age of discovery and the first global empire will be published next year by Faber in the UK and Random House in the USA.
I have worked with Andrew for over ten years and four history books. Over this period the relationship has evolved in line with my writing career. At the outset, Andrew read my proposal, had his judgement checked with an experienced outside reader and took it on. This involved pitching it to a range of UK and US publishers, taking me on a series of meetings with interested publishers and conducting effective auctions.
Since then I have worked with the same UK publisher (though two different US ones) and the manuscript discussion tends to be direct with the relevant editor. Andrew pitches each new proposal to the publishers and works to improve the deals. He tries to dissuade me from ideas for books which he feels are unlikely to be sufficiently commercial or ones that deviate from the area of history in which I have built some reputation. His overall strategy has been to encourage me to develop a coherent profile (brand?) as a writer of history, though I’m not always inclined to listen. He purses his lips at the mention of writing a novel…
Andrew also works hard with sub-agents to squeeze every last opportunity for the books out of the translation market. It’s a good to see a little more money coming in from Korea or Brazil several years after the book was first published. He handles potential film and TV rights (we live in hope), suggests speaking engagements, passes on contacts and opportunities that are filtered through him and arranges occasional shared meetings with the UK publisher. From time to time I also like to have a face to face catch-up with him specifically to talk about the history and book market generally and potential future writing strategies.
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Peter Daughtrey interviewed on Capricorn Radio
13 Jun 2014
Peter Daughtrey’s interview with Capricorn Radio is now online. Peter is promoting his exciting new book which promises to reveal the true location of Atlantis.
