Aug 9, 2026 · 54 min · 10 segments
**Season 4, episode 16 is here!** Louise Buckley Literary Agent has worked just about every side of books, from the shop floor at Waterstones to commercial fiction editor at Macmillan to literary…
Louise BuckleyGuest
David McIlroyHost
And so interesting to hear about your process, Louise, and about what you're looking for and that kind of thing and what you're excited about as an agent as well.
I think it's really cool as well just to hear that you are sharing this kind of stuff on Substack and kind of opening up to people and, as I said, demystifying things and helping people understand understand what the, what the old traditional publishing, um, industry actually looks like.
Um, what would you say just, just as a kind of like final question, um, a final like golden nugget of advice, I guess for, um, for anyone who is, uh, an author and is thinking about maybe, uh, trying to get an agent in, in future or has maybe plans to try and follow the traditional publishing route.
What would your one golden nugget of advice be for that? And that's hard to do, but.
I mean, I think it will be something that I've said already, and that is making sure that your kind of fundamental concept, your central sort of idea is...
It's all been done before, but feels fresh and is something that you can pitch to someone else.
Talk to them about the book that you've written or are writing and think, how can I pitch this? It doesn't necessarily have to be distilled into one line, but two or three lines.
What is it about? And if you can't do that, then I would suggest going back through the whole manuscript with that in mind and thinking about thinking this can't just be good enough, which, I mean, that's the opposite of what I say to, you know, to everyone else, you know, to my children, I'm like, it's fine.
You don't have to be perfect, you know, but unfortunately in this kind of very competitive market, I would say good enough isn't, going to be good enough and so it's got to it's got to feel fresh and different and unique and so if you can't do that work with someone you know a beta reader or or a friend or or an editor or someone who can help you um kind of make it stand out for the right reasons
And so interesting to hear about your process, Louise, and about what you're looking for and that kind of thing and what you're excited about as an agent as well.
I think it's really cool as well just to hear that you are sharing this kind of stuff on Substack and kind of opening up to people and, as I said, demystifying things and helping people understand understand what the, what the old traditional publishing, um, industry actually looks like.
Um, what would you say just, just as a kind of like final question, um, a final like golden nugget of advice, I guess for, um, for anyone who is, uh, an author and is thinking about maybe, uh, trying to get an agent in, in future or has maybe plans to try and follow the traditional publishing route.
What would your one golden nugget of advice be for that? And that's hard to do, but.
I mean, I think it will be something that I've said already, and that is making sure that your kind of fundamental concept, your central sort of idea is...
It's all been done before, but feels fresh and is something that you can pitch to someone else.
Talk to them about the book that you've written or are writing and think, how can I pitch this? It doesn't necessarily have to be distilled into one line, but two or three lines.
What is it about? And if you can't do that, then I would suggest going back through the whole manuscript with that in mind and thinking about thinking this can't just be good enough, which, I mean, that's the opposite of what I say to, you know, to everyone else, you know, to my children, I'm like, it's fine.
You don't have to be perfect, you know, but unfortunately in this kind of very competitive market, I would say good enough isn't, going to be good enough and so it's got to it's got to feel fresh and different and unique and so if you can't do that work with someone you know a beta reader or or a friend or or an editor or someone who can help you um kind of make it stand out for the right reasons
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