HQ wins 9-way auction for debut by two authors known as ‘Evelyn Clarke’
HarperCollins has won a nine-way auction for The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, a pen name for two established writers.
Cicely Aspinall, publishing director at HQ, struck the deal for UK and Commonwealth rights. North American rights were simultaneously acquired in an 11-way bidding war by Sarah Stein, executive editor at Harper. Foreign rights have already sold in 11 territories, many in auctions and pre-empts.
HarperCollins declined to name the agents involved. “As speculation mounts about the identities of the authors, details of the agents and agencies are not yet being revealed to retain the secrecy,” the publisher said. The extensive marketing campaign has included a teaser running this week on The Bookseller website. The author’s names will be revealed at a later date, HarperCollins has confirmed.
The synopsis for The Ending Writes Itself reads: “Six authors are invited to the private island of the bestselling, world-famous Merriweather Press author Arthur Fletch. Unlike Fletch, none of their books has ever had the big marketing budgets or publicity opportunities. But they’re about to be presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Whoever writes a worthy ending to Arthur Fletch’s bestselling series will receive $2m and a three-book contract. They have just 72 hours, with no access to the outside world, just a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write. Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder.”
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Aspinall said: “When I finished reading this in one frantic sitting, I became exactly the sort of publishing cliché this book so brilliantly recognises, and emailed everyone saying: ‘We have to buy this.’ It’s a book that holds you in tantalising suspense one minute and has you laughing out loud at the skewering of the publishing industry the next, and all the while you’re marvelling at the diabolically brilliant plotting and exquisite characterisation.
“We’re thrilled that Evelyn Clarke trusted HQ to launch this this total genre-buster into the world, and we plan to make it the book everyone actually is talking about in 2026. The authors’ identities remain a closely guarded secret, but all will eventually be revealed, so watch this space.”
Clarke said: “We’ve been in this business long enough to know how rare it is to find champions as passionate as HQ. From our first meeting with Cicely and the team, we were blown away by their enthusiasm, creativity and humour. We can’t wait for them to bring our book to the shelves.”
