Monday 21 November 2011

Twitter helps writer Maria Duffy get a book deal


I love Twitter. It makes me laugh, recommends everything from books to blogs to recipes and keeps me up to date with the news on a minute by minute basis. The only drawback is that it’s so addictive that hours can fly by without getting a stroke of work done. Lots of writers say they have to switch it off altogether between nine and five-thirty. Otherwise they wouldn’t write a word, let alone stand a hope in hell of hitting their deadlines.

But yesterday, thanks to a fascinating post by Chick Lit Club, I discovered that Twitter can even help writers get book deals. Dublin-based Maria Duffy explained how she got a message on Twitter from Curtis Brown literary agent Sheila Crowley.

“To cut a long story short, Sheila loved my Twitter voice and told me that if I could get that down into a book, I’d have something special,” said Maria.

The upshot was that Maria wrote the novel, Sheila sent it out to publishers and within a few weeks it had been snapped up by Hachette Books Ireland. Any Dream Will Do, the story of a group of people who meet (how else?) through Twitter hit the shelves earlier this month.
So next time you’re on Twitter, write the most superlative tweet you can. You never know, it could be the first step on the road to publication.

PS. Tom Stoddart, one of the best photographers in the business, was granted “exclusive, unprecedented access” to David Cameron and his family for a week. He snapped the PM sitting round the No 10 breakfast table with his family, poring over his red box, striding through rain-soaked Cannes at the G20 summit and being interviewed by BBC political editor Nick Robinson. But my favourite image by far was the picture on the cover of the Sunday Times Magazine. It showed the PM strolling at Chequers, his country retreat, with his baby daughter Florence strapped to his front. Somehow I can't see Nicolas Sarkozy following suit...

14 comments:

  1. That is amazing, I love Twitter

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  2. Having just looked back at my last two tweets, which relate to the lack of fog this morning and to my boredom with Garrow's Law ...

    Liz X

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  3. I was wondering about outright touting for a publisher on Twitter this morning and am taking this piece as a sign! Thx so much. You never, ever know!

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  4. It amuses me that everyone on Twitter thinks I am always cheerful and lovely, when actually I have a depressive, cynical nature. I suppose I am kidding myself to the world, in a good way. Smile of the clown and all that! (Have managed to evade it so far today)

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  5. Emma, there is an award for you over at my place.

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  6. Ouch! I started to write a script about some characters who meet on twitter, but my creative writing course colleagues didn't get it so I gave up. Interesting post, and good to meet you :)

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  7. Thanks so much for commenting, Pinkoddy. I love Twitter too.

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  8. Garrow's Law and the fog sound like good tweets to me, Liz. And anyway, you've got your book deal without Twitter! I can't wait to read it.

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  9. Good luck with it, Anya. Let me know how it all goes.

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  10. Daydream Believer, I just cannot believe you have a depressive, cynical nature. I hope you are all right today, though. And we must meet for that coffee some time.

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  11. Thanks so much, Maddie. That sounds very intriguing.

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  12. Thank you very much for commenting, The Alexander Residence. Perhaps you should keep going with your Twitter script - there must be potential for more. It's such a good idea!

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  13. Quite a few people on Twitter said that the voice they hear when they read my tweets is Joanna Lumley. But I'm American...

    Go figure!

    Jx

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  14. Your comment made me smile, Julia. And saying you sound like Joanna Lumley in your tweets is a compliment, I reckon!

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