What I’m hoping for this Christmas by Harry Illingworth

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A Little Life, All Involved, Anthony Ryan, Asking for It, Cormac McCarthy, David Headley, David Mitchell, Del Rey UK, DHH Literary Agency, Fantasy, Harry Illingworth, Pierce Brown, Rebecca Levene, science fiction, Submissions, YA

At DHH Literary Agency, we’re all about finding talented authors and nurturing their career. Personally, I love the editorial process and work from start to finish with authors to find them a home in the difficult world of publishing. I learn everyday from my mentors David Headley & Broo Doherty. I assist David with all of his authors and we have a very strong relationship and work fantastically as a team. Recently we sold Mark de Jager’s debut novel, Infernal, to Del Rey UK. It is a dark and thunderous fantasy debut. The reason for this article is to tell you about what it is that I am looking for in submissions this Christmas, but also to tell you about my taste as a reader, so that you might get a better sense for what I’d love to land in my inbox.

I am predominantly looking for genre fiction, preferably on the adult side, (although I love YA and will happily also look at it, but certainly with a slant towards adult). Science fiction and fantasy is what I love. Some of my favourite authors are Joe Abercrombie, Pierce Brown, Anthony Ryan, Cormac McCarthy and many more I’ll go on to mention, and many more I won’t have the chance to. I love epic fantasy, in fact I love all fantasy. I like it dark and edgy, or grimdark as it is commonly now referred. Violence is no problem for me, I welcome it, though it doesn’t need to be gratuitous. I love a quest, and morally dubious characters. Abercrombie nails all this as his adult work is violent, yet darkly humorous, and his current YA series is also one of my recent favourites.

I like to get lost in big secondary worlds, anti-heroes and dangerous and dark arts. I like high-concept novels like Hugh Howey’s Wool trilogy and Claire North is magnificent, and I also love literary sci-fi type literature like Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. It was my favourite novel of 2015. I only recently discovered Ted Chiang’s work but he is pure class, and I’d also love to see some unique space opera stuff come my way. This year I’ve also loved The Hunter’s Kind by Rebecca Levene, her Hollow Gods series is outstanding, and YA crossover books like Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes and Francesca Haig’s The Fire Sermon have been very strong.

I also like to be made to laugh. Science fiction and fantasy doesn’t have to be serious and I don’t confine myself to the above. I just want to be entertained, Scott Lynch being a great example. Although I have to say I do love a strong, angry voice, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising trilogy, and his protagonist Darrow, being the perfect example. It is one of my favourite trilogies ever and finding something like that would be a dream. For me it is all about a strong hook and great writing that immediately affects me; that is bold and won’t allow me to stop reading. A truly fascinating, memorable protagonist is a huge thing, but it’s not just about the protagonist, but the supporting characters as well. And I know that’s what everyone says. To an extent, everything has been done before, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done again in different ways, I’d love to find something that makes what it is it’s own. Of course I’d like to find something that’s never been done before, too. But doesn’t everyone?

My taste is not confined exclusively to these genres, and many novels cannot be simply categorised. I love novels that cross genre boundaries, like Station Eleven, and anything by David Mitchell. The Shore has been a standout novel this year. Yet like the aforementioned it crosses genres, with a speculative edge. I’ll even be completely honest and say that my two total favourite books this year haven’t even been ‘genre’ books. A Little Life and All involved blew me away, for so many different reasons it could be a blog post of its own. Finally, I can’t write a wish list blog without mentioning Louise O’Neill. Asking For It is not only one of the best I’ve read this year, it is essential, and her writing is class. It is sharp, brutal and contemporary. Again, just what I’m looking for.

The reason I tell you all this is so that you see how varied my taste is. I read very widely, and I hope you’ll see the kind of thing that I’d love to find in my inbox when you come to submit. I’m happy to read anything, but the more I can help you understand my taste, the better for everyone. If you think my novel might be right for me, I’d really love to hear from you.

You can submit to me at: HI.submission@dhhliteraryagency.com. Please do follow our submission guidleines.

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I’m vocal on twitter and you can find me: @harryillers

On Agenting, Bookselling & Chasing Dreams by Harry Illingworth

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American fiction, Bookseller, Charles Bukowski, Cormac McCarthy, Crime Fiction, David Mitchell, DHH Literary Agency, Eleanor Catton, Eva Dolan, Fantasy, Goldsboro Books, Harry Illingworth, Joe Abercrombie, Literary Agent, Literary Fiction, Station Eleven, the luminaries

My job is one that takes on many forms. I work for both DHH Literary Agency and Goldsboro Books. But both of these jobs have one thing in common: I sell books, or try to.

Now I am not a literary agent myself yet, I do not have my own list. I am David Headley’s assistant at the agency and I help him editorially and indeed in all that I can with the authors he already represents, and those that we take on along the way. I also run our agency blog, publicise our authors on social media and generally help the other agents in the same way. It’s a very busy job, and as you can imagine I spend a large portion of my time with my head in a book or kindle. A lot of the material is that which I would read anyway but some isn’t, and that is part of the challenge; it certainly broadens my reading horizons. Over the last week we have submitted a few exciting manuscripts so fingers are firmly crossed in anticipation of good news for them. They are great books that deserve to find the right home. What makes this part of the process all the more fun is the fact that our team all get on so well and everything is a joint effort. No one is out on a limb, someone will always help and so submission time can be fun as well as terrifying.  This is one of the most thrilling parts of the job anyway; realising that the novel you have been working for God knows how long is ready to be released into the wild. You write a synopsis and what you hope is a killer pitch, and then watch it fly.

What I do know is that I have begun the journey towards discovering my first client, and that I hope I am not very far away from building a list. This is the driving force behind all that I do; it makes me want to learn and to be successful. But not only for myself, but for whichever author I can help to achieve their own dreams. I cannot wait to discover an author whose work I fall in love with, who I build a relationship with, and eventually sell on to whatever publisher it may be. That is the dream anyway, I haven’t found that author yet and besides, I can’t kid myself, I have a lot to learn. I’m sure that will never stop being the case.

With DHH Literary Agency and Goldsboro Books being connected, working at Goldsboro is the perfect complement to being involved in the agency. Goldsboro Books is a thriving bookshop in a time of trouble for many others. It is a place where every day I see what is popular with our customers. Indeed it is a place where I can sell the books that I have already read and loved and pass them onto the next reader. Seeing what the public relates to through Goldsboro helps me in every stage when I come to read a submission for the agency for example, or read a recently delivered manuscript from an existing client. I can cast a clinical eye over the words in front of me and truly think about it from two perspectives, that of an agent and that of a bookseller. It isn’t only that though, Goldsboro is a place where you are right in the heart of the publishing industry. I meet new people every day whether they are publicists, editors or authors that I have admired for years (Anthony Horowitz is signing upstairs as I type). Again, building these kind of contacts is invaluable and is only going to help when the time comes to send out that first solo submission.

So, a bit about my taste. It is varied. I am a huge fan of fantasy, I think there is some outstanding fantasy being published at the moment and I devour as much as I can. I love the darker and edgier side of it, Joe Abercrombie being my top dog, and this year I fell in love with The Incorruptibles and Smiler’s Fair (which we had as a book of the month at Goldsboro). Yet I am also an avid reader of general/literary fiction (from the beginning I loved The Luminaries and wanted it win last year’s Booker prize-I somewhat ignored the prize this year with the lack of David Mitchell on the shortlist). Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and The Bone Clocks have been real highlights for me this year as I find them genre bending and beautifully written stories – post-apocalyptic and fantastical, but literary genius. I think American fiction is wonderful; Charles Bukowski and Cormac McCarthy are two of my all-time favourite authors. US highlights this year for me have been The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld and Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson – both having echoes of Cormac McCarthy, and both outstanding debuts. Then I will always enjoy a great crime novel, A Pleasure and A Calling being my number one in this genre this year with its unforgettable voice, and Eva Dolan’s work has fast become one of my top crime series. The only genre I somewhat hesitate over is historical fiction, it just doesn’t do it for me in the same way as these others but you can always question what actually constitutes historical fiction nowadays as I’ll happily read something set in the past, especially if it has a twist to it.

To be honest, I’m just looking for a fantastic story, beautifully written and wrought with the vital ingredients of tension, comedy and wisdom. I am a complete sucker for quirky, stylish, original writing and a well written unreliable narrator for me is one of the most exciting things I can read. Vivid characters that both disgust and endear me I love in equal measure and I love both lyrical prose and sharp sentences (Bukowski…) Everything though, comes back to the writing, how the words transfer from the page to your brain, and the reaction that then takes place. I sometimes read books where I have to take breaks between chapters just to allow the words to sink in – that’s when I know I’m onto a good one. Anyway, I could go on because as you can see, I’m not fussy…

Follow Harry on twitter: @harryillers

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