Tom Lloyd

No, nothing scientific, but here at Atlantic we’re expanding, building of the success of the White Tiger. This isn’t the case at other publishers, we’re an outlier and while it’s hard to tell how things are going elsewhere, it’s clear very little is being bought by most companies (unless they have Charlaine Harris to bankroll new acquisitions as my lovely Gollancz do). How can I tell this? Simple – these fucking agents don’t have enough to keep them busy so they’re bugging me! Some of the most respected and best established agents in the country are arguing over ridiculously tiny stuff, they’re all desperate to get money in and are generally just that little bit more ungracious and shitty about absolutely everything. If they had enough work to do they seriously wouldn’t be picking fights over the stupidest stuff – and when it’s the MD of the company who’s getting into it with me, you know there’s a problem.

On a completely different note, I also got an email from the agents who hate me more than any other saying ‘you’re right on all the points, I’ve amended the contract accordingly.’ Serious, what the fuck?! Where did that come from? These people two weeks ago were preemptively complaining about my conduct! I swear they’re doing it just to mess with my head….