Conor Nagle, founder of The Nagle Agency
How I started in publishing
I started out about a decade ago now, when I took up a commissioning editor position with what was then Gill & Macmillan. I had always been interested in publishing, but in an abstract way; I had no contacts in the industry and no real understanding of its inner workings. It seemed impenetrable.
I had no contacts in the industry and no real understanding of its inner workings
Good fortune intervened when a friend-of-a-friend offered to introduce me to the late Fergal Tobin, who was then on the verge of retirement from Gill. He agreed to a meeting and, after recommending repeatedly that I move to London, conceded I could also apply to succeed him at Gill, where a position had just become available. I did the latter.
Where I work now
I’m fortunate to work for myself now. I’ve just founded a literary agency, The Nagle Agency, where I’m focused on helping Irish authors make the very most of their potential, whether that’s by helping them craft their work, identify the partners and collaborators with whom they can strike a creative spark, or develop a plan for the future.
Although I’ve jumped the fence separating publishing and author representation, the roles are actually quite similar
The best thing about my role
Although I’ve jumped the fence separating publishing and author representation, the roles are actually quite similar, in that they afford you incredible freedom to work with authors from an exceptionally wide variety of backgrounds, most of whom are experts in their field or people with especially urgent and valuable stories to share. It makes for a varied and exciting day-to-day.
A mistake I made
I ordered veal tartare by mistake at a lunchtime meeting with a senior executive at my company and a then government minister once. I’d been delayed en route and, arriving to find the waiter hovering over the table, pointed almost randomly at the menu, just to speed things along.
To this day, I remember almost every excruciating mouthful
The waiter immediately knew what I’d done and offered me the opportunity to retreat — “This dish will be served raw, sir,” — but I felt obliged to stay the course. To this day, I remember almost every excruciating mouthful. No book resulted.
My most fulfilling moment so far
It’s really difficult to pick one, but there’s nothing quite like the feeling of seeing a book you believe in really strike a chord with people — when it almost takes on a life of its own, in the process becoming a cultural event rather than simply a publishing one, if that makes sense.
The Aisling series was like that, but there have been quite a few others, too — like the memoirs we published with people like Philly McMahon, Jim McGuinness, and Charlie Bird, or Blindboy’s first collection of short stories.
What the future holds
The response to the agency’s launch has been immensely gratifying — massive thanks to all who’ve been in touch — so I’m just looking forward to building momentum over the next few months, by getting out and about to meet authors, as well as by sharing our first few projects with publishers.
Book recommendation this month
It’s a bit of curveball, this, and not especially current, but I recently returned to War and Turpentine, by Stefan Hertman. It’s an astonishing novel — an account of the author’s grandfather’s experiences of the Great War — and an exceptionally moving meditation on art, trauma, and memory. As worthy as it is, it’s also tremendously exciting and vivid.
