Sara O’Keefe began her career in the literary world at Book Club Associates, before moving on to Orion Publishing Group where she was a Senior Commissioning Editor buying crime, thrillers, and women’s fiction for ten years. She was then poached by Atlantic Books who had set up Corvus, a commercial fiction imprint, publishing a broad range of accessible and page-turning novels. As Publishing Director, Sara was charged with growing this young list into a powerhouse brand. She was the UK editor for Kevin Kwan’s international bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians along with the cult bestseller Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, which spent six weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Sara also built a flourishing list of Irish writing talent.
After twenty years as an editor and publisher, Sara felt she was ready for a new challenge and decided to set up as a Literary Agent. Sara wanted the autonomy that comes with an independent landscape and she landed in just the right place with Aevitas Creative Management. ACM is one of the largest literary agencies in the world with a list of veteran agents and A-list clients. Having offices in New York, LA and London (where Sara is based) gives the company enormous outreach. Sara has built a thriving list of talented and successful authors over the past few years. She is proud to be the agent for a stunning literary debut called Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili that was regarded as ‘the book of the fair’ at London Book Fair last year. It has since sold in sixteen languages around the world. She has also, more recently, completed major film and tv deals with top-level streamers for several of her clients. This would not have been possible without the support of ACM’s dedicated film and tv department. The exciting details on that are to be revealed very soon!
Originally from Waterford, Sara prides herself on her Irish roots and represents many Irish authors including Sinead Crowley, Catherine Ryan Howard, Rachel Donohue, Siobhan McGowan and Amy Cullen to name a few. Sara believes that Irish writers are at the top of their game at the moment. ‘Irish writers are producing brave and exciting work both in the commercial and literary space and the international publishing community has woken up to that. There is no better time to be an Irish writer.’ She told me about new writers such as Christine Anne Foley whose astonishing literary debut, Bodies, comes out next year.
With her vast experience in publishing and an enviable network of contacts in the publishing world, Sara is in a fabulous position as an agent. After twenty-plus years in the business, she has a deep understanding of the publishing landscape as a whole and works hard to develop scripts before submission, so that they have the best possible chance in the marketplace. When submitting to agents, Sara tells me that it is important to have your work as good as it can be. As obvious as that may sound, you’d be surprised by how many people send an unpolished manuscript or a half-finished piece of work. Given the volume of submissions agents receive, they are unlikely to look at the same thing twice, so it really pays to make the material as good as it can possibly be.
Sara receives around 1,000 submissions a year and she reads every single query letter. To get her attention, your letter must be clear and short; a two-paragraph pitch making comparisons to similar books showing that you know where your book will fit into the market. When it comes to your synopsis, 300-500 words should be more than enough. Sara is not interested in the breakdown of the plot, she prefers it to be more like a pitch, explaining what it is about and where it will sit. Your submission must be professional and don’t send links; agents are wary of clicking on links! She recommends following Query Tracker and to pay careful attention to an agent’s submission guidelines.
When I asked what trends she saw emerging, she told me that on the back of shows like Stranger Things, thriller horror stories both for young adult and adult fiction are popular, as are novels with elements of strong diversity. Young Irish voices are also gaining international interest. Sara loves to read upmarket thrillers and literary fiction as well as historical fiction. She represents literary, reading group, and genre fiction and is drawn to unique, engaging voices that are immersive and transporting.
Sara O’Keefe is open to submissions and you can find out more here:
https://www.saraokeeffe.co.uk/
https://www.aevitascreative.com/
Here are a list of the Irish authors Sara represents and their latest novels:
Sinead Crowley: The Belladonna Maze
Catherine Ryan Howard: Run Time
Rachel Donohue: The Beauty of Impossible Things
Siobhan McGowan: The Trial of Lotta Rae
Christine Anne Foley: Bodies
Serena Malloy: Wider Than The Sea
(c) Lucy O’Callaghan
