Publishers engaged in bidding war for writer's debut novel

It took 37 rejections before Mullingar writer Anne Griffin succeeded in finding a literary agent prepared to try to find a publisher for her debut novel – but within two weeks, four publishers were engaged in a bidding war for the manuscript.

In the end, Anne signed a two-book deal with the prestigious British publishing house Hodder and Stoughton, which last Thursday, under its Sceptre imprint, released ‘When All Is Said’.

In March, the book will be published in the US and Canada. Harper Collins Holland is publishing it in the Netherlands. It is also being released by publishers in Germany, France, Poland and Lithuania.

Anne’s publicist reveals that the US deal involves a six-figure sum.

“I was so excited when I heard Sceptre were interested, because I love so many of the authors published under that imprint,” says Anne, a Dublin native who moved with her husband to Mullingar 14 years ago.

At a time when so many authors find themselves having to publish and market books themselves, Anne’s success is significant.

“I was nine months looking for an agent,” she says – revealing that despite methodically working her way through the lists of agents in the ‘Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook’, it was actually her response to a tweet from her now-agent that set her on the road to publication.

“I had begun to work through the UK agents, and I was taking a break one Friday and I said I’d go on Twitter,” she recalls, going on to explain that for writers, Twitter is a great source of ideas and information and inspiration.

It was then that she spotted a tweet from her now-agent: “She put up a tweet saying she was looking for submissions. She had recently joined the Zeno agency and was trying to expand their writer list,” Anne continues.

In start contrast to the long process of submission and rejection to which Anne had become accustomed, progress became turbo-charged once she responded to the tweet.

“That was a Friday that I sent it in and by Monday she signed me.”

The bidding war started almost immediately, and while coy about the financial side of the deal, Anne is delighted with how things panned out.

 

Greenway

The inspiration for ‘When All Is Said’ came from a chance encounter Anne had with an elderly man in a west of Ireland hotel bar as she and her husband and son took a break for refreshments after cycling on the Westport Greenway.

“He was the only man in the bar, and he had a pint and came over to chat us, and he wanted to know what we were doing,” she recalls.

“He told us he had worked there when he was younger, as a boy.”

Some other visitors arrived in, and the man took leave of Anne and her family to speak with the newcomers.

“But before he left he said: ‘I’m not going to see the morning’.”

Anne was really struck by what he said, and the sentence kept running through her mind all that night.

The next day, despite the rain beating down “slantwise”, and still obsessed with what the man might have meant, she got back on her bicycle to cycle alone to Achill, while her husband and son drove the journey.

“On that cycle I came up with the plot,” she reveals.

The plot involves an elderly man, in a bar, who over the course of five hours raises five toasts – one for each of the five most important people who had been in his life.

“That unlocks the mystery of this man’s life,” Anne explains.

She admits that she never did learn whether the original man actually saw morning.

Her story, and her skill have made ‘When All Is Said’ a memorable read. Authors John Boyne, John Banville and Cecelia Ahern have all endorsed the book, Ahern and Boyne both stating that it left them in tears, and Banville describing it as “a rare jewel”. Graham Norton has described it as “masterful”.

 

Loreto

This new phase in Anne’s life, and the drive to craft her second novel prompted her to give up her job in the accounts office at Loreto College.

Originally from Dublin, Anne and her Navan-born husband made Mullingar their home 15 years ago, after a spell living in the West of Ireland.

After graduating with a BA in history from UCD, Anne spent eight years working with the booksellers Waterstones, and then moved to the charities sector, working with Women’s Aid, Youth Work Ireland and the Dyslexia Association of Ireland before her career took her to Loreto College in Mullingar.

In 2013, she started to write, and a friend suggested she consider doing a creative writing course. That led Anne to enrol for an MA in Writing in UCD, by which time she had the draft of her novel written.

“That was a massive help,” she says of the UCD course, enthusing about how greatly it both challenged and assisted her.

“The difference between writing on my own and working with people was immense and I learned how much the process is about rewriting and editing.”

It was “terrifying”, she says, putting her writing out for the scrutiny of her peers: “I wasn’t used to producing my work for other people and presenting it for critical analysis; and that taught me about the industry and that the industry is a process, and if you want to do it, you have to dedicate yourself 100 per cent to reading all the time and writing all the time and being open to critical evaluation by other people.”

• The Mullingar launch of ‘When All Is Said’ takes place in Mullingar Library at 7pm on January 31. Artist and writer Dolores Keaveney, is to perform the honours.