An agent's view Luck

Lucy Luck

An Agent's View

Is there a way we can convince booksellers that the short story is a form which gives readers an experience distinct from, but complementary to, reading novels?

I have worked in literary agencies for nine years, during which time I have represented both debut and established writers, first at Rogers, Coleridge & White Ltd, and then at my own agency, Lucy Luck Associates.

I am lucky to have had the opportunity to be involved with established and recognised authors, but the most exciting thing that can happen to a literary agent is to read the work of an unknown writer, to recognise something special, and to have a publisher agree and offer to publish the work. It is the beginning of a career, and you were there before anyone else.

Often, the first thing you will read from a writer of literary fiction is a short story. I am not quite sure why this is, but the short story does seem to be an effective training ground for fiction writing, an opportunity for someone who enjoys writing to test out their ability to describe character and control plot.

As such, the form is very useful. But it does go beyond this - while you can recognise talent from early short stories, there is something sublime about a short story that transcends this, that is more than an exercise, that uses the controlled arena of the form to allow a glimpse into the moment of a life, to demonstrate, dramatise a defining action, a crisis point.

There are many exceptional practitioners of the short story form. A very good example is Chekhov who, with his dramatic sensibility, manages in one sentence to paint the background to a moment, to establish the dramatic possibilities of one person in one situation, and then keeps the reader gripped by the story that unfolds, all within a small number of pages. I believe strongly that what can be gained from reading a short story is as valuable as any other form of fiction.

But, and this is where the agent in me has had to be realistic, it is a fact that fewer people, even those who buy and read books regularly, are tempted to buy collections of stories. And because fewer people buy collections, publishers have to be realistic about how effectively they can launch or progress a career in this medium. A first novel will gain more critical attention and shelf-space, as well as possible prize recognition and on-going publicity, than a collection of stories.

Any new collection will be compete with established and recognised writers, (Chekhov, Gogol, Somerset Maugham, Colette, Frank O'Connor, Katherine Mansfield, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, Haruki Murakami, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Bernard MacLaverty and many more).

How can you persuade a browsing reader to buy a new collection when there is no promotion of the short story form, no effective public forum for recognition of new talent, and a general apathy about what the form adds to the experience of reading?

If bookshops feel they can't sell new collections, then the publisher has to consider that the return on their investment will be negligible - aside from the advance given to the author for the right to publish their work, the overheads of any publication are considerable, and however much we like to think differently a publisher exists to make a profit by selling books.

I am lucky to have been involved, twice in my career to date, with the successful publication of short story collections by two previously unknown authors. In 2002, Panos Karnezis' first published book was an exceptional series of tales entitled Little Infamies. Is there a way we can convince booksellers that the short story is a form which gives readers an experience distinct from, but complementary to, reading novels? Could bookshops provide a section or even a shelf that is dedicated to short stories? Dan Franklin at Jonathan Cape read the manuscript, and saw the potential in Panos' writing and was convinced enough to offer to publish it, without the promise of a novel (although that did follow). Dan's enthusiasm was shared by everyone involved with the publication at Jonathan Cape, and then by reviewers, booksellers, and thankfully by readers. It established Panos as a writer of distinctive literary fiction, and led to an enthusiastic response to his first novel, The Maze, in 2004.

More recently, Philip O Ceallaigh's debut collection, Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse, was published in February 2006 by Penguin Ireland, and so far has been awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and has been shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor Short Story Prize. It has also received an impressive level of attention from reviewers, both in Ireland and the UK. I came across Philip's work when he was shortlisted for the Davy Byrnes prize in 2004; his story showed maturity, control and wit, and I asked if he had written anything else. Eighteen stories followed, each of which displayed a real talent, from the short intense depiction of a break-up ('Taxi') to the long, detailed and perfectly pitched dramatisation of the different experiences of those living in a Bucharest tower block during a single day ('In the Neighbourhood').

In the time between the publication of Panos' debut collection and my submission of Philip's work, I knew that the market for short stories had shrunk, due to publishers being squeezed by booksellers for shelf-space and profit margins, and it was going to be difficult to convince a publisher to take the risk of any return without the promise of a novel. But the response from the small number of editors I approached was positive, and Brendan Barrington at Penguin Ireland came through with an offer to publish, and Penguin have worked hard to make the publication a success.

But it is also true that there are other collections I have loved, showing huge ability and promise, which I have been unable to place with a publisher. This difficulty is partly due to the fact that sales of published collections are much lower than for a novel. So it is not surprising that editors and publishers are shy of putting the effort into the publication of a work which is unlikely to receive reviews, is exempt from inclusion in the shortlists of the major prizes, won't be considered for any of the major promotions of bookellers and doesn't have the continued support of backlist promotions. That doesn't mean that I despair of being involved in the successful publication of another short story collection (in fact, Kevin Barry's first collection Thirteen Stories is being published by The Stinging Fly Press early next year), but I have to be realistic about the chances of finding a publisher for a new collection.

The other, related, problem is that it is no longer possible for a writer to earn a living by publishing short stories to fund their writing. I support any efforts to publicise the short story in the face of market forces, and am delighted by the existence of this website, and The National Short Story Prize which proves there is an appetite for , and a real appreciation of, the form. However, one prize in any year for one story is hard to build a career on.

Is there a way we can convince booksellers that the short story is a form which gives readers an experience distinct from, but complementary to, reading novels? Could bookshops provide a section or even a shelf that is dedicated to short stories, including the acknowledged masters as well as new writers? To master the short story is very hard indeed, and made harder when there is such limited financial support.

But I do feel, strongly, that any attempt to master the form is beneficial to all fiction writing, both dramatic and novelistic. It requires anything extraneous to be stripped away, the characters need to be introduced concisely and the narrative has to be developed with economy and focus. To show a moment in life which takes in the past, present and future, involving one, two or many characters and make the reader feel the moment intensely, completely - that is a talent, and one which should be celebrated.

Lucy Luck

Lucy Luck started in publishing in 1997, and worked for over eight years at Rogers, Coleridge and White Ltd. In 2006, she set up Lucy Luck Associates, an agency focusing on writers of quality fiction and non-fiction.

The agency prides itself on its relationship with its authors and sees its role as encompassing all aspects of a writer's career, as well as offering focused representation in all markets throughout the world.

www.lucyluck.com