Publication

…not an easy task

I spent around 18 months sending submissions to every Irish and UK agent I could find, plus Irish publishers who take submissions from un-agented writers. I got a few full manuscript requests but that’s as far as it went. In a final push, I sent it to around fifteen small presses based in the UK. And that’s how I found my publisher. Rose from Stairwell Books liked the premise and emailed to say she was about to read my chapters. Less than an hour later she emailed again and asked for the full manuscript. All very exciting. After a couple of months, during which I tried not to drive myself crazy checking emails, she got back to me offering a publishing contract. A day I thought I’d never see. But, as many writers said to me, you just need to find THE ONE.

I got very little sleep that night, unable to believe this was really happening. I think my somewhat jaded expression in this photo captures the experience of searching for an agent or publisher.