The Nagle Agency
Find Your Voice and Make It Heard
A literary agency dedicated to helping authors unlock their full potential.
About
My name is Conor Nagle, and for the past decade, first as a commissioning editor with Gill Books and later as Publisher with HarperCollins Ireland, I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with many of Ireland’s most exciting writers, thinkers, and public figures, not to mention a host of talented colleagues, to publish dozens of acclaimed and best-selling titles — a list that has, amongst other awards and accolades, earned over 25 Irish Book Award nominations, including wins in Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Children’s, and cumulative sales of a million copies in Ireland alone.
I’ve made publishing my life, because I’m passionate about ideas and can think of no more exhilarating purpose than helping those with an urgent message share it with the widest possible audience. The Nagle Agency is a reflection of same enthusiasm, but it’s also an answer to the questions posed by an industry increasingly in thrall to short-termism and expediency.
Authors need advocacy they can trust, not only to realise the full value of their work, but to safeguard their long-term interests and the integrity of their creative vision.
That’s where we come in.
Whether it’s by helping authors draw their initial ideas into focus, securing the partnerships that will allow them to thrive, providing ongoing creative support, or acting as a reliable source of practical advice on every aspect of the publishing process, our ambition is to liberate every one of our clients to deliver work that can inform, inspire, and challenge convention.
Work with us
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We’re looking for fresh and exciting proposals from across the publishing spectrum, with the sole exceptions of poetry and writing for academic audiences, and we’re open to working with authors of all backgrounds and levels of experience.
Our experience and ethos, which places a weight of emphasis on close collaboration, mean we have a particular affinity with work that either has its origins in Ireland or is likely to be of particular interest to Irish audiences.
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We’re always open to hearing new voices and ideas, and authors can submit their work via our open submissions portal (submissions@thenagleagency.com).
To give your proposal the best chance of success, we recommend including the following:
Non-fiction
— a letter introducing your idea, outlining its relevance, and telling us why you’re the person to develop it further
— a synopsis of the proposed work
— any available samples or supplementary material
Fiction
— a letter introducing yourself, your work, along with any noteworthy sources of inspiration
— for novels, a plot synopsis and substantial sample of the work (5,000+ words)
— for short story collections, a minimum of three individual stories
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We know that every proposal represents an extraordinary undertaking on the part of its author. That is why we’ll always take care to give new submissions the consideration they deserve.
Please note that his process can take some time — up to six weeks in some cases — and generally precludes us from issuing detailed feedback to opportunities we elect not to pursue.