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things out into the void. So, the whole idea of I
nkwell and Writing.ie is about information and it’s about trying to provide that information and enabling writers to hone what they’re doing, so their submissions are a bit more targeted. It sounds a bit daunting and [like] a lost cause and you’re never going to get published if you send it out to the slush pile, but you do. These agents are actively looking for the next shiny thing. They need the next big thing, and they know it might be on their slush pile. So, they are looking to find that thing. So, it is down to sending it.” Sallyanne Sweeney compare yourself to somebody’s magnum opus, you’re always going to be disappointed, and they might have ten or fifteen books down. It does get easier! I can safely say that now, twelve books in! ” Even after achieving success with highlyread and discussed novels, Vanessa never forgot the challenges of securing her first book deal. “One of the big hurdles is understanding when to submit because, when you’re writing, you can’t see the woods from the trees, honestly, and you think the thing you’ve written is the most amazing thing ever, and I did. Back in the day, the first book I wrote was going to be a bestseller. I was completely convinced of it. It was genius,” she says of what trips most burgeoning authors up. Lydia Silver don’t think,” Vanessa says of Date with an Agent. “What I wanted to do was for authors to be able to meet agents because it’s a very specific path. Nicky Lovick For Vanessa, literary festivals are some of the most vital places for writers to learn the craft and gain industry information. She says, “I think a festival for a writer is absolutely invaluable because I interview lots of people – like, lots of people – across the spectrum of skills, [and] every single time I interview someone, I learn something new. Every single time. They’ll say something, and I’ll go, ‘Hmmm…that’s really interesting,’ and then I can absolve that into the way I do things or the way that I’m thinking about something. Molly Kerr Hawn “[Her agent] sent it out around the world, and it was rejected around the world. So, I think it’s understanding when something is ready to go that’s key, and that’s really important and one thing that people tend to fall down on, but then understanding how the business works and being able to network into that business is really, really important.” Wanting to pay the information she learnt forward to new writers, Vanessa began The Inkwell Group, a publishing consultancy firm, in 2006, and the writers’ resource website Writing.ie in 2010, to serve as a conduit between those outside the literary business and those within. “It was about providing information because, at that stage, I didn’t know anything about the industry, either,” Vanessa says of their formations. “So, when I first started sending out my manuscript… Well, I knew I was writing crime, so I had to find a crime agent. So I approached them, but you are sending “So, particularly for new writers, getting to every single event, even events that are outside of your genre, there will be a nugget of gold in that interview that will inform you and help you shape your practice. It might be that it makes you think, ‘OK, I’m less mad because this person, who’s a Booker Prize winner, thinks like that, too!’” “In Ireland, you can submit to publishers – all the Irish publishers take direct submissions – but it’s really vital that you get advice on that contract. So, if you do get a contract, brilliant, but get advice from the Irish Writers Union or The Society of Authors, because you don’t understand publishing contracts and your local solicitor isn’t going to understand a publishing contract because it’s a very specific thing. So, I just wanted to open up those opportunities. “I was running the Getting Published workshops through Inkwell, so I had met loads of editors and agents, and I was understanding the business and could see the barriers and how information is key to everything, so I wanted to make that process easier and open it as wide as possible. You can sit down and listen to them and find out what it is about your work and what can be improved. It’s absolutely invaluable. Getting fifteen minutes with anybody at this level is just like gold.” The Date with an Agent event will feature representatives from various literary agencies across a plethora of genres and styles, and, for the first time, at this year’s festival, there will be a second event specialising in children’s literature with experienced representatives in that field. This variety in genrefocused specialities was essential to Vanessa. “I think that genre specification now is a good thing because it means that those agents and specialists in that area, they know exactly what’s happening in the market, and they know who is looking for those books, so they’ve built relationships with the editors,” Vanessa explains. Nicola Barr It is with this in mind that Vanessa established the Date with an Agent event at the International Literature Festival Dublin. “This is in, I think, its eleventh year. I just had an idea that I wanted to make it easier for authors to meet agents, and there’s a lot of these types of events happening in the UK, but we hadn’t been doing them here, I 22 “From an author’s perspective, you’re finding somebody who is more likely to love your work because they understand what you’re writing because they understand your genre, and if you’re trying to do something a bit different or whatever, they’re going to appreciate that. But it’s important for writers to understand what they’re writing and what that genre is, so they approach the right people.” The International Literature Festival Dublin runs from May 16th-25th, with the Date with an Agent events on May 17th and 23rd. For more details, visit ilfdublin.com.