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Welcome to My Agent Secret

Dear Aspiring Writer

Don’t worry, you’re not late finding us.

Tilly Vercoutre

speaking, editor/designer/publisher of My Agent Secret––working with owner of Mulcahy Sweeney Literary Agency and co-founder of agency group MMB Creative Ivan Mulcahy since 2019.

We started this Substack together three years ago and we’ve been adding occasional insights about book publishing ever since. You can catch up easily. I’ll tell you how below––you can even listen on your way to work.

Most of the posts here are written by Ivan Mulcahy.

So far he’s written three series of articles that offer guidance to writers about the book world. Obviously, Ivan writes this newsletter when he has the time. Obviously, being a literary agent, he never has the time. But the pieces appear anyway.

As of now (2025) we will be increasing the range and the volume of information we make available in order to help you find your way towards success as a writer (however you choose to measure that success).

If you’re looking to find an agent, secure a publishing deal or create or grow your readership then you’d be wise to subscribe to our newsletter. It’s free (for now)

(To the 2500+ subscribers we already have—HELLO. I see you. Thank you for being here. Some of you have already told me our content has proved valuable and we are aspire to do more and better.)

Stay tuned.

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Now a word to those who are late.

(Don’t worry I’m always late.)

I suggest you find time for three bits of back-reading.

This is the core text. This is the reason you have to worry about any of this stuff in the first place:

1. THE PROBLEM OF TOO MANY BOOKS (X 2)

The Problem of Too Many Books (Part 1)

For a new writer this post has to be the publishing business equivalent of the red pill.

If you want to be successful (in terms of books sold and costs covered) you’ve got to familiarise yourself with the deep workings of the industry because there are forces you’re up against.

I’ve worked for Ivan for almost seven years now, so yes I’m biased. And yet, I still proclaim that I have not found anyone else articulate the challenges of publishing as clearly or as charmingly as Ivan does in this post^^. Get reading.

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2. QUESTIONABLE QUESTIONS (A SERIES)

In 2025 we’ll be offering you the opportunity to discuss your publishing questions with Ivan in a video room. In anticipation of this you should brush up on what Ivan refers to as his “Questionable Questions”.

These are the questions he gets asked most frequently as a literary agent.

They aren’t stupid… but they do reveal some misunderstanding about how the industry works.

Do your homework:

Questionable Questions Series: Introduction & No. 1

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3. YOUR AGENT SECRET (A SERIES)

And then finally there’s the “Your Agent Secret” Series which revolves around two core ideas:

(1) making you think like an agent, &

(2) making you connect like an agent

Did you became an author to avoid the world of business? Sorry but as it turns out this is a luxury you cannot afford if you want your books to find a large readership or as my dad would say “big dollar”.

Our goal is that eventually you will find your ideal literary agency (and maybe that’s us, or maybe not)––or your best choice of book publisher, ––or a flood of new readers…

Achieving that goal is a process.

Let us help guide you through it:

YOUR AGENT SECRET

We will be recommencing and deepening this series with more frequent and focused posts (I have three new ones on my desk to edit…) and a few new series too.

Even if you only embrace some of the insights Ivan is sharing here (for free, for now) you’ll be much stronger, clearer and—bluntly—more commercially astute about your book publishing.

We can give that new writer the understanding of an author who has been published for twenty years.

You will know how their publisher thinks, how the marketplace works and why their readers buy.

That’s how you make your reality match your dreams.

Our best,

Tilly Vercoutre and Ivan Mulcahy of My Agent Secret