Agent Interview: Louise Buckley

Brilliant voice

My colleague Hannah Sheppard for striking out on her own and what she has put in place to break down some of the barriers for authors and make the agency more inclusive.

Such a tricky question as I'm an omnivorous reader. I like novels that focus on the underdog, or represent working-class people or children going through difficult circumstances and books I have loved in this area include Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal and Boys Don’t Cry by FÍona Scarlett (which I sold to Faber). I used to read a lot of classic horror like Daphne du Maurier and Shirley Jackson and that has influenced my tastes. Growing up, I was a huge fan of anything with a hint of magic, like Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and then later on books like A Discovery of Witches, or Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black. I love a good thriller but I like it especially if there is a really strong, incisive voice, so writers like Gillian Flynn and Jessica Knoll have been firm favourites.

I have a background working in-house at 'Big Five' publishers, so I understand how the industry works and especially what publishers are looking for and how they go about publishing books. I also have experience as a bookseller, as an editorial consultant working with authors at a really early stage and as a writer myself - I undertook an MA in creative writing before I realised I'd much prefer helping other writers than writing myself! So I've seen lots of different sides to the writing process and I draw on that when working with authors.

1) Follow the guidelines for submitting on our website. 2) Try to make your query letter as succinct as possible, making sure to focus on the hook of the book and the comparison authors. 3) Find someone to beta-read your opening chapters (and ideally the whole manuscript), who can offer objective, constructive feedback.

-Succinct
-Focused on the book and not the author
-Clearly understands where the book fits in the market, which means lists genre and comparison authors
-Features a word count that is withing normal parameters for that genre
-Is adult fiction or memoir and not children's fiction

A tricky question! It's very subjective, but I tend to connect to books that have a strong, distinctive voice right from the first page, good descriptive details and a character who feels relatable. Pace is also important, if it can retain narrative tension and conflict throughout then I'm more likely to continue reading. A killer hook always helps, too!

Sometimes writers don't have an understanding of where their book fits in the market. An author needs to present to the agent a compelling case for why they should take on that book, and how they could sell it to publishers. A large part of that, for an agent, is understanding where the book fits in the market so they can find publishers with gaps for that type of fiction on their list. So making sure the genre of your book is correct and clearly outlined at the top of the query letter is really important, as is finding appropriate comparison authors.

Not are huge amount at this stage - ideally a couple of sentences and any relevant writing experience. Though many authors don't have relevant writing experience, and that is okay! Agents can learn more about an author when they have the chat about representation.

Usually I can tell from the first page, but sometimes I need to read more and on other occasions it may not be until 30 or 40% of the way through that I know I'm not the right agent for it.

I send them an email suggesting we have a chat over zoom. We have the chat and I verbally offer representation. In the chat, we usually talk through how the agency operates, how I operate as an agent, what editorial work needs doing, whether our visions for the book align. Often. the author needs time to think about it and sometimes they let other agents know about the offer, in case another agent wants to offer representation, too. If they decide to accept my offer I send them our basic agency author agreement and we agree on a date we can announce the partnership on social media.

Varied! On any given day I could be:
-Editing manuscripts
-Meeting editors, co-agents or book scouts
-Negotiating contracts
-Reading submissions
-Brainstorming book titles
-Feeding back on covers
-Sorting out tax and payment queries
-Creating brochures for the major book fairs
-Updating our website