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United Agents director and literary agent Robert Kirby has brokered a deal, for Irish independent Liberties Press to publish a debut novel by Gerry O'Carroll, where there is no advance and the profits are split between author and publisher.
This is Liberties' first foray into fiction, and Kirby's first deal on a profit-share basis. Liberties acquired Irish rights to The Gathering of Souls, with both publisher and agent looking to sell on further territories and translation rights during the London Book Fair. O'Carroll has retained all non-book rights, such as film or TV.
Kirby said the split - which sees him receive 15% of the author's share, with the publisher taking on the cost of marketing and publicity - was "a new way of doing business, a way forward, particularly with smaller independents".
He said: "Perhaps the time is right - advances are generally lowering, big authors and trademark names seem to still be attracting the sort of advance they have in the past, but if you are breaking through a new author without any extra PR support, or working with a smaller company when you don't want to tie up the cash, this makes sense.
"You have to think what is the point of the advance - and whether you would be better off using that money for marketing and promotion."
Although he acknowledged that "the author is taking the risk as much as the publisher", Kirby said that O'Carroll - a former detective whose autobiography The Sherriff was a bestseller in Ireland - was "very happy, partly because Liberties were so passionate about the book". There was already "very strong support" for the book from retailers such as Eason's and Hughes & Hughes.
Kirby added there was "a degree of trust in me, and what I can do in terms of rights sales". As part of the plans to sell on rights during LBF, Kirby said he and Liberties would be "sharing resources" at the fair, and making joint meetings with scouts and publishers.
"Part of the journey is for us to find a UK publisher," he said, adding that he would prefer to sell into the UK on a traditional basis, although was "open to discussing alternatives".
The Gathering of Souls is due out in Ireland in May as an A format paperback, priced €12.99/£11.99, with a mass market paperback due out the following year.