My kind publishers, Toby Mundy and Margaret Stead of Atlantic Books, have commissioned me to write the life of Queen Victoria.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I had several publishers, and they were all the same. They all wanted salacious. And everybody is writing autobiographies, and that's one reason why I'm not going to do it. If young Posh Spice can write her autobiography, then I don't want to write one!
You have to remember that in addition to running a literary agency, I am also an ebook publisher.
When I was growing up the publishing world seemed so far away. When my mother wrote a book, she would look up the address of publishers on the backs of the books she owned and send off her manuscript.
I write literary, not commercial, fiction - or so I've been told by my publishers who are proud I write literary fiction but secretly wish I wrote commercial.
I wanted to be an author for as long as I can remember.
I didn't think I would be an exceptional writer, and I thought I might be a useful publisher. I've never regretted it.
I've written many nonfiction books, but that's a special gift.
As I said, I had no publisher for What a Carve Up! while I was writing it, so all we had to live off was my wife's money and little bits I was picking up for journalism.
This book was company for me - I wrote these things when I was in hotels, far from where I normally live. I never intended to publish it.
I'm a commercial writer, not an author. Margaret Mitchell was an author. She wrote one book.