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Deborah Harkness is the best-selling author of numerous novels. Her debut, A Discovery of Witches, was an immediate best-seller, hitting #2 on the New York Times list, and was also a bestseller in the UK, France and Germany. The initial trilogy in the All Souls series has been translated into 37 languages. Her latest book in the series, The Black Bird Oracle, is just out.
We loved chatting with Deb and hearing how she became an author almost by accident thanks to a rainy holiday and a visit to a bookshop. What started as an academic thought experiment about what would happen if witches and vampires are real soon ballooned into a 1100 page draft, leading to her debut novel. We discussed her process, research, and also why you shouldn't chase trends as an author.
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Mark Lawrence is a best-selling fantasy author. His first trilogy, THE BROKEN EMPIRE, has been universally acclaimed as a ground-breaking work of fantasy. Following The Broken Empire is the related RED QUEEN’S WAR trilogy. THE BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR trilogy is set on a different world and is followed by the related BOOK OF THE ICE trilogy. There is also THE IMPOSSIBLE TIMES trilogy, a D&D/sci-fi work set in London in the 80s. All of these trilogies can be read in any order. His latest series is THE LIBRARY trilogy, with the second book, THE BOOK THAT BROKE THE WORLD, out now.
It was great having the chance to interview Mark live before an audience at this year's Cymera Festival in Edinburgh. We chatted about his journey to becoming published, and he told us how he hates planning and never does for his books. He also talked about how success in publishing is such a lottery, and why he created the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO) to try and help authors with that lottery.
Links:
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The SPFBO website
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Fehlende Folgen?
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Dan Malakin is a crime/thriller writer and data security consultant. His short stories have been widely published both in print and online, and he has twice been shortlisted for the Bridport prize. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from Brunel University, and his debut novel, THE REGRET, was published by Bloodhound Books in Summer 2019. His next thriller, THE BOX, was published by Viper Books in 2022, and his latest, THE WRECKAGE OF US, is just out.
We loved chatting with Dan and hearing how he honed his craft over the years before publishing his first novel (400 short stories!) We also hear how is is constantly revising his writing process to get the most out of his writing time, and why an early start is essential for his writing habits...
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Conn Iggulden is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today, with bestselling series on Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and the Wars of the Roses, as well as two stand-alone novels: Dunstan, set in the red-blooded world of tenth-century England, and The Falcon of Sparta, in which Iggulden returns to the Ancient World. Both instalments of his Athenian series, The Gates of Athens and Protector, and his recent Golden Age series, Lion and Empire, are Sunday Times bestsellers. With his brother, he also wrote the award-winning The Dangerous Book for Boys. His latest book, Nero, is just out.
We had a fun chat with Conn, talking about his journey which began with sending manuscripts direct to publishers across a variety of genres before his first novel was picked up. He tells us how his approach to writing historical fiction has changed over time, and why he loves every one of the characters he writes, no matter how despicable they may be.
Links:
Buy Nero and Conn's other books now
Visit Conn's website
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Ilaria Bernardini is one of Italy’s leading novelists, now writing novels in the English language, and an exciting emerging screenwriter. She has film and television projects in development and in production with Lorenzo Mieli's The Apartment, Andy Harries’ Left Bank Pictures, The Russo Brothers/Amazon Studios, Francesco Melzi D’Eril's (SUSPIRIA, BECKETT) MeMo Films. Ilaria helped adapt her own novel CORPO LIBERO for producers Indigo/ALL3MEDIA and Rai & Paramount+. She is also continuing to develop Bernardo Bertolucci’s final script (which Ilaria co-wrote with him) THE ECHO CHAMBER. For Amazon Studios, the Russo Brothers (as directors and creators) & Cattleya she is writing the international science fiction TV series, CITADEL. Her book, WE WILL BE FOREST, is just out in the UK.
We enjoyed speaking with Ilaria and hearing about her unusual route into publishing via approaching publishers and then authors directly (not a route that she recommends others follow!) Plus, we hear why she chooses to write some books in Italian and some in English, why she translated her own English novel, The Portrait, into Italian, and what it is like working with the Russo brothers on Amazon's CITADEL series.
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Watch this episode as a full video interview on our YouTube channel
Bob McDevitt is festival director for Scotland's premier crime writing festival, Bloody Scotland, and programmer for Glasgow's Aye Write literature festival. He has also worked in both sales and commissioning roles at Headline.
We had a fun chat with Bob, hearing about how he found himself organising two of Scotland's biggest literary festivals and just what goes into their organisation. We also hear why literary festivals are so important for authors and culture in general, and discuss the thorny and topical subject of festival funding as well. Plus, we get a preview of this year's Bloody Scotland programme!
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Have a look at Bloody Scotland's 2024 lineup and grab your tickets now!
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Gillian Redfearn is deputy publisher at Gollancz, publishing authors from Joe Abercrombie to Brandon Sanderson.
We had a great chat with Gillian, hearing how she broke into the publishing industry, what. the day-to-day of an editor involves, and what sort of stories catch her eye when they are submitted by agents. Plus, we find out that she was less than impressed with Joe Abercrombie's first chapter... but fortunately she kept on reading!
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Becky Brown and Norah Perkins are both literary agents with a twist - they founded and head up Curtis Brown's Heritage section, meaning that they represent the estates of authors such as AA Milne, Iris Murdoch and many more. They also recently won Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards 2024 for their pioneering work in this field.
We had a fascinating chat with Becky and Norah about how they got started in this field, and learned about the differences (and similarities) with the "normal" world of agenting. We also chatted about why all authors with published works should think about their posthumous rights.
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Visit Norah's Curtis Brown webpage
Visit Becky's Curtis Brown webpage
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Julie Crisp is a literary agent and editor with over fifteen years’ experience working for three major houses across a broad spectrum of commercial titles within fiction, non-fiction and children’s. This also included three years spent working in the Australian publishing industry. For nine years, she headed up the UK arm of one of the largest global brands of science fiction and fantasy, Tor. She has worked on bestselling and award-winning authors such as Ann Cleeves, Peter F. Hamilton, China Miéville, Neal Asher, Amanda Hocking, Naomi Novik and TV/Game partnerships including Halo, The Returned, The Walking Dead and Twin Peaks. As an agent she is actively looking to build my list and is looking for historical fiction, crime/thrillers, bookclub fiction and science fiction and fantasy. Her clients include John Gwynne, Devin Madson, C.T. Rwizi and Sam Hawke.
We had a great time chatting with Julie and hearing how she got her start in the publishing world as an editorial assistant, and learn how she uses her editorial experience in her role as a literary agent. We also talk about the growing popularity of genre fiction, as well as talking in detail about queries: the importance of the query letter and comp titles, and what highlights certain things as red flags in some queries that she sees.
Links:
Visit Julie's website to query her now
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John Baker is a literary agent for Bell Lomax Moreton, focused on sci fi, fantasy and horror. He is the Secretary of the Association of Author's Agents and is co-chair of the AAA Bridge Committee. He also serves on the Kingston University MA Publishing Advisory Board. He is building a small but unique list of authors, who all share a passion for subverting expectations and creating rich new worlds of adventure, including authors like AM Shine, whose book The Watchers is soon to be a film produced by M Night Shyamalan.
We had great fun chatting with John about how he got started in the world of agenting, and hearing why he enjoys writing that takes a big swing and is different from what people might expect. Plus, he tells us about the importance of query letters and what can help make a query stand out in the thousands that he receives each year.
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Visit Bell Lomax Moreton's website
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Jonny Geller joined Curtis Brown in 1993 as an assistant after a short career as an actor. He became a literary agent in 1995 after discovering a novel on the unsolicited pile which went on to sell rights around the world. After taking part in a Management Buyout in 2001, he became CEO of the Agency in 2012 and is now CEO of The Curtis Brown Group, the parent company of Curtis Brown agency, C&W, Ed Victor Ltd, Curtis Brown Creative (CBC), Tavistock Wood, Markham Froggatt and Irwin, Cuba Productions and Chair of CBC.
Jonny represents a wide range of globally significant writers including novelists, memoirists, Journalists, former Prime Ministers, thought leaders, business people, actors, musicians and screenwriters. Jonny has previously been awarded Literary Agent of the Year and has been listed on The Bookseller’s 150 every year since its inception. He has also been named one of the Evening Standard's 1000 Most Influential People in London and was profiled in The Telegraph.
We had a great time chatting with Jonny and hearing how he got into agenting. We also hear why he thinks query letters are so important, and dive into what an agent's role really involves for their authors.
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Francesca Riccardi is a literary agent with Kate Nash Literary Agency who has over fifteen years of experience in the publishing industry, starting at RNIB where she transcribed books into accessible formats for blind and partially sighted readers. She has since worked in sales and marketing roles at publishers Canelo, Atlantic Books, Constable & Robinson and HarperCollins.
Francesca reads widely, especially across popular commercial genres, but is a particular fan of crime and thrillers, and loves a dogged detective or unusual sleuth. She also enjoys books about unusual family dynamics, toxic friendships and people keeping secrets.
We had a great time speaking with Francesca, hearing about what she looks for in queries and what aspiring authors should - and shouldn't - do to hook that agent! Plus, we hear how her time in publishing helps her in her role as an agent, and discuss how important the different parts of a query package are.
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Visit the Kate Nash Literary Agency
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Kim Sherwood is an award-winning novelist and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Her debut novel Testament (2018) won the Harper’s Bazaar Big Book of the Year Award and the Bath Novel Award, was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize. In 2019, Kim was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Kim is currently writing a series of Double O novels for the Ian Fleming Estate and HarperCollins, expanding the James Bond universe with a new cast of Double O agents for the 21st century. The first title, Double or Nothing, was released in 2022, and the follow-up, A Spy Like Me, is just out.
We loved chatting with Kim and hearing how a very last-minute decision to enter the Bath Novel Award changed her writing life, as well as talking about just how she managed to land the dream job of writing the new Bond novels. We talk about what it's like to write for a franchise that is so big and beloved, and discuss the pros and cons that can bring.
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Jasper Fforde is the critically acclaimed author of The Last Dragonslayer series: THE LAST DRAGONSLAYER, THE SONG OF THE QUARKBEAST and THE EYE OF ZOLTAR, SHADES OF GREY, the Nursery Crime books: THE BIG OVER EASY and THE FOURTH BEAR and the Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR, LOST IN A GOOD BOOK, THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS, SOMETHING ROTTEN, FIRST AMONG SEQUELS, ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING and THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT. His latest book is RED SIDE STORY, a sequel to Shades of Grey.
We really enjoyed this chat with Jasper, hearing about how he dealt with initial rejections, and why you must persist with your writing in order to make it better. We also chat about not writing to market and hear how he develops initial ideas to full story, including the concept of the "narrative dare" that he as an author makes with himself. Plus, we talk about his rather unique author website!
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Eliza Chan is a Scottish-born speculative fiction author. Her short fiction has been published in The Dark, Podcastle, Fantasy Magazine and The Best of British Fantasy. Her debut novel FATHOMFOLK — inspired by mythology, ESEAN cities and diaspora feels — was published by Orbit in Feb 2024 and hit number 1 on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
We had a great chat with Eliza, talking about the differences in writing short- and long-form fiction, as well as the growing acceptance of wider representation in publishing. Plus, we talk about why Twitter isn't all bad (!) and hear about hopping vampires...
Links:
Buy Fathomfolk now
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The Submission Grinder
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Gareth Brown has been writing novels since he was a teenager. His first published novel - The Book of Doors - will be released in the UK (Bantam) and USA (William Morrow) in February 2024. Foreign language rights for The Book of Doors have also been sold to nearly twenty other territories including Germany. Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary.
It was great fun speaking with Gareth and hearing about his long writing journey, including hearing about why its so important to be patient as a writer. We talk about the difficulty of not selling a book on sub, and how to move past such disappointments, and why he thinks The Book of Doors has been such a success.
Links:
Buy The Book of Doors now
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Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, videogames, and non-fiction. An award-winning author and New York Times bestseller, his creations include Atomic Blonde, The Dog Sitter Detective, the Brigitte Sharp thrillers, and many more.
We loved chatting with Antony and hearing how he got his start as a professional writer through comics and graphic novels, including writing The Coldest City, which was the graphic novel on which the film Atomic Blonde was based. We also chat about his work in video games such as Dead Space, Shadow of Mordor and more (and hear about what it was like writing 4,000 orcish insults) and why he has recently moved into writing cosy crime novels with the Dogsitter Detective series. Plus, we talk about his process, which he has brought together in his book, The Organised Writer.
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James Logan (also known as James Long) has worked for years in the publishing industry, currently as Senior Commissioning Editor for Orbit. But for years, he harboured a secret - he really wanted to write his own fantasy epics instead of just editing them - and he has achieved that dream with his debut novel, THE SILVERBLOOD PROMISE, which is out in April 2024, and has already received rave reviews, including from the likes of Scott Lynch.
We really enjoyed chatting with James and hearing about his work on the publishing side of the fence, editing authors such as Richard Swan, as well as his desires to become an author. We hear how it too years for that writing to pay off, including what seemed like a doomed submission process with other editors only for it to be picked up just as he was considering self-publishing. Plus, we reminisce about our favourite Fighting Fantasy books.
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Buy The Silverblood Promise
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This episode is also available as a full video interview on our YouTube channel
Felicity Blunt has been a literary agent with Curtis Brown since 2005, and represents authors that span the literary to commercial spectrum, including Booker Prize shortlisted Claire Keegan, Women's Prize shortlisted Meg Mason, Rosamund Lupton, Renée Knight and Gillian McAllister in addition to NYT bestselling debut authors Abi Daré and Bonnie Garmus.
Gráinne Fox is a literary agent with UTA and represents award-winning novelists, New York Times bestselling journalists and academics. Her clients have been shortlisted for, or won, various awards including The William Hill Sports Book of The Year, The Booker Prize, The Women’s Prize, The Irish Book Awards, The British Book Awards, The Orwell Prize, The Plutarch Award, the RTÉ Short Story Competition, and the NBCC.
We were delighted to have the chance to catch up with both of them just ahead of the start of this year's London Book Fair to hear why that and other literary book fairs are so important, and to talk about what really happens at these events!
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We know - we've been away far longer than we said. This is a very short explanation/apology for that and a teaser of our imminent return!
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