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Success Stories

Success story Russell Ash

Writer's success story 2

To support Potty, Fartwell and Knob, Extraordinary but True Names of British People, which was a UK bestseller in 2007, the author Russell Ash has created some entertaining little gizmos on his admirable website.

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Success story Colin Cotterill

Success story: Colin Cotterill

Colin Cotterill has had an interesting kind of life. In 1972 he took a gap year and never came back. He has been a teacher in Australia, a teacher trainer in Vietnam and a social worker on the Burmese border. He has worked on UNESCO literacy projects in Asia, set up an NGO dealing with child prostitution in Thailand and has established a programme to bring books into Laos.  Read more

Success story Brian McGilloway

Success story: Brian McGilloway

Brian McGilloway’s Borderlands has just been published in America. For the veteran of eighteen months of submissions and 20 rejections, this must have been a great moment.  Read more

Success story Evie Wyld

Success story Evie Wyld

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Success story Jax Miller

Success story: Jax Miller

Jax MillerThe latest sensational success story is that of Jax Miller, who has just sold two thrillers to HarperFiction UK.  Read more

Success story Hilary Mantel

Success story Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel is an intriguing example of an author who has written for many years and only recently achieved a breakthrough. Not only did she win the Booker Prize last autumn, but her book Wolf Hall has become the fastest-selling Booker winner since records began in 1998.  Read more

Success story Gillian Flynn

Success story: Gillian Flynn

Gillian FlynnThe announcement that Gillian Flynn had been declared Specsavers International author of the Year last week was only the latest accolade awarded to her.  Read more

Success story Christopher Paolini

Success story: Christopher Paolini

With the publication of Inheritance Christopher Paolini has brought to a triumphant conclusion his epic sequence. In the UK this book had a first week sale of 76,000 copies and the series as a whole has sold 1.2 million books to date in the UK. It had a first printing of 2.5 million in the US.  Read more

Success story Darren Shan

Success story Darren Shan

Darren Shan’s first book, Ayuamarca, was published in 1999 by Orion and didn’t have much impact. The sequel, Hell's Horizon, sold fewer copies than the first.  Read more

Success story Rosie Alison

Success story Rosie Alison

Rosie Alison has just been shortlisted for the all-female 2010 Orange Prize for fiction with her first novel, a great vindication for this author whose first book was many years in the writing.  Read more

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