publishing | Bookseeker Literary Agency

February 16, 2020
by bookseekeragency

We like to help…

… so if an enquirer sends round an email which, in our opinion, will put off potential agents, we tell them, politely. We don’t have to do this. It’s something we do as a courtesy, because we like to help writers, even if we can’t take them on as a client. Unfortunately this doesn’t always work, and someone emails us back like this:

Yes, we are lucky, lucky that most enquirers appreciate our help. We’ve only had this sort of response once. We won’t identify the person, we’ll just say, yes, we got over ourselves, and you’re welcome.

[Edit: It turns out that the sender was someone to whom we had previously extended an ex-gratia service, so he knows we like to be helpful! Folks, we go the extra mile that other agencies don’t go, even when we don’t offer someone outright representation. Like I said, most people appreciate that.]

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August 2, 2019
by bookseekeragency

Reviews, and news from Edinburgh Book Festival moving

Paul writes:

After several years writing event reviews for an Edinburgh-based organisation, I am now working as a freelance. I’ll be publishing my reviews on my occasional blog for light academic and other articles. But I’m also available if anyone else would like to engage me to write for their publication.

Also I’ll be moving my annual photo album of the Edinburgh International Book Festival from this site to the same place, so please feel free to follow the blog.

This agency works hard for its clients, often going further than many established agencies go on their behalf. It is therefore very irksome when an established publishing house does not bother with the courtesy to reply to a letter, even though a stamped envelope was included for their convenience. How much time does it take to pop a compliment slip into an envelope?

Then there is the major publishing house that does reply, but has on three occasions sent us an identical letter in reply to ours. The letter is the standard one they send to authors, advising them to get an agent, ignoring the fact that it was an agent that wrote to them in the first place! What is more, they have ignored letters pointing that out. It is discourteous, and actually plain damned negligent. Thankfully there is only one publisher in the whole UK that does this. We’re saying no more for now, but next time we’re considering simply naming them!

There have not been many updates here lately. This does not mean there’s nothing happening. We’re working towards at least one book launch before the end of the year, for example. Keep watching this space.

June 9, 2019
by bookseekeragency

Meetings, greetings, and web-sitings!

Elizabeth Mostyn

This week I had the great pleasure of meeting, once more, our client Elizabeth Mostyn, whose novel Wisp is getting closer and closer to its date of publication. Elizabeth is a prolific author, and is working on more novels, which the agency will take a look at. Be on the look-out for Wisp when it appears – it’s a corker!

I also travelled in to Edinburgh to meet Luka Vukos, who directed the prizewinning short Lose like a Human, all about artificial intelligence. We had a long chat about possible projects for the future. Edinburgh has been much on my mind lately, because I have to arrange visits to events at The Fringe and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I have all that to look forward to, but Time’s winged chariot isn’t exactly hanging about!

Meanwhile, Lyz Russo has just announced on her blog that P’kaboo publishers in the Republic of Ireland have a revamped web site. It has a look of the old one, but it has now been made phone-friendly. Again, it’s a case of “Watch this space,” because P’kaboo will be launching a series of books very soon – mainly fiction, but one very important work of non-fiction. At least I’d say it was. More news as and when it happens.

Paul

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November 3, 2018
by bookseekeragency

Launches and relaunches in Ireland and South Africa

By now you’re all well aware that P’kaboo Publishers has relocated from South Africa to Ireland, and is gearing up for big things. Amongst them is a writing contest for children between the ages of 8 and 18. So if you’re a young person living in Ireland, or you know someone who is, then take note and watch this space… because we’re watching their web site, and as soon as the rules are published we’ll let you know.

We do already know that amongst the prizes will be getting a story published in a book, along with all the other winning stories. And there will be a wonderful launch party in Cobh, Co. Cork.

Meanwhile, Pkaboo has retained an associate back in South Africa. Professional editor Les Noble, whom many of our clients have used, has taken over marketing and promoting their books in their ‘old country’, added to which he has started his own imprint – Noblest Publications. As you can see from the handbill below, he has planned a series of events in the city of Durban, including one that re-introduces Carmen Capuano’s excellent novel Split Decision.

poster-for-november-2018-launches

October 26, 2018
by bookseekeragency

Publishing successes and other news.

tada

Okay, we’ll allow ourselves that little bit of levity…

Since the agency announced a few days ago that our client Elizabeth Mostyn had signed a contract for a commercial publishing deal, things have started to move in a big way here. Let’s summarise what has been happening.

Gamon

Firstly, publishing contracts have been signed by to other clients. Joshua Gamon’s The Brothers Thanatos was described by the publisher with the words “Wow, what a riveting story!” Well, we can attest to that – it’s an absolute blinder of a tale, and we can’t wait to see it published. Also Marie Marshall has signed a contract for her collection The Last-but-one Samurai and other stories. Marie’s publisher intends to relaunch her teen-vampire novel From My Cold, Undead Hand at the same time as the sequel KWIREBOY vs VAMPIRE is published, both with newly-designed covers. There’s also talk of a relaunch of her 2010 collection of poems, Naked in the Sea.

Cortes

Contracts are currently being negotiated with the estate of the late Hector P. Cortes for his novel Miura, and with the collective known as ‘The Firm’ for its non-fiction book Walk Proud, to be published in 2019 to mark the 50^thanniversary of the media ‘discovery’ of the Skinhead movement.

Shand

Meanwhile we have a publisher looking at Michael Shand’s Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, a cracking thriller set in the mean streets of Edinburgh.

And lastly, the ‘Bookseeker’ of Bookseeker Agency himself, Paul Thompson, has achieved an MSc With Distinction in ‘Literature and Modernity’ from the University of Edinburgh, and will be looking for a PhD place in 2019.

October 18, 2018
by bookseekeragency

Publishing deal! Update.

Students-at-St-Andrews-Un-007 The agency is very pleased to announce that it has secured a commercial publishing deal for its client Elizabeth Mostyn, in respect of her debut novel, Wisp. , set in and around St Andrews University in Scotland.

Over the next few weeks, Elizabeth will be working with the publisher’s editors, polishing the manuscript and getting it ready for publication. She has several more books in the pipeline, ranging from fiction to academic non-fiction, and the agency hopes to keep representing her literary efforts with equal success.

More news in due course. For now, well done Elizabeth!

May 20, 2017
by bookseekeragency

P’kaboo Publishers – an update

pkaboo Many of you will know that this agency has had a long-standing relationship with P’kaboo Publishers in South Africa. You may also have noticed that we removed all links from this web site to P’kaboo and to its sister publishing house Honeymead, shortly after the death of Iain Rossouw, along with some details of our relationship. The two main reasons behind these actions were firstly that the links to their web sites did not appear to be currently active and led nowhere except to an error notification, and secondly we were not sure what decisions were going to be made about the future of both houses.

Rather than intrude into what is still a very traumatic period for the Rossouw family, we decided to wait for a word from them. Recently Iain’s widow Lyz, who was the senior partner in P’kaboo, posted some news on her personal blog, to the following effect:

The web site is down, in fact, since January of this year, due to a server inconsistency and a subsequent dispute that remains unresolved. Other pressures mean that the dispute is not currently being taken any further, and indeed when I contacted Lyz privately we discussed the possibility of her looking for a different platform to host the house’s web site.

P’kaboo is currently ‘on hold’ as a publishing house. All P’kaboo’s current titles are still available through third parties however, notably Amazon, and the intention is to relaunch the publishing house as soon as the way becomes clear.

We wish Lyz and her family all the best, and look forward to seeing a revitalised P’kaboo in due course.

February 19, 2017
by bookseekeragency

Carmen Capuano in the news!

Click to see a larger size image.

August 30, 2016
by bookseekeragency

Edinburgh International Book Festival

1.1 I have just spent a long fortnight in and out of the International Book Festival in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. this has become an annual thing for me, and I have a whale of a time even though I’m actually engaged in hard work. while I’m there I’m writing, tweeting, talking, taking photos, so when I get back I don’t really want to write any more. So here’s an essay in photographs rather than words, about the scenes and faces at this year’s festival.

The photos were taken on a bog-standard Nikon D50 or an iPad.

Graham Swift

Ian Goldin

Ali Smith

A wave of beards swept through Charlotte Square. I think that’s author Philip Ardagh on the right.

Iain Macwhirter

Chris Close’s excellent photo-portraits of visiting writers etc. were on display again this year. The exhibition was better than ever – here are just a few faces, including Alexander McCall Smith, Gavin Francis, Joan Bakewell, Wilko Johnson, Ruby Wax, and Attila the Stockbroker. Thanks for letting me use these, Chris.

4.1 Alexander McCall Smith & Gavin Francis