From Uber driving to huge book deal: Adrian McKinty's life-changing phone call

Despite awards and acclaim for his crime fiction, the impoverished novelist lost his home and was set to quit – then the phone rangIt was1.30 in the morning in Melbourne and Adrian McKinty had just got home after dropping off his last Uber customer of the night at the airport. His phone rang. It was Shane Salerno, agent to authors including Don Winslow, and it was a call that would pull McKinty into “some major league craziness”, ending in a six-figure English-language book deal and, last week, a seven-figure film deal from Paramount for his forthcoming novel The Chain.“Don told me you’ve given up writing,” said Salerno. McKinty, an award-winning crime novelist, had recently blogged about his decision to quit being an author. Beginning with his debut, Dead I May Well Be, written while he taught high school English in Colorado, and continuing with his award-winning series about Northern Irish detective Sean Duffy, McKinty’s books might have won him prizes and great reviews, but they weren’t making him any money. The family moved from the US to Australia in 2008 because McKinty’s wife, author and academic Leah Garrett, was offered a job there. Now the family had been evicted from the home they’d had lived in for eight years, and he was working as an Uber a cab driver (“the world’s worst,” he says now) and bartending in an attempt to actually bring in some cash.When they were evicted from their home, 'I was thinking to myself, "Oh God Adrian, what have you done with your... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-07-08 06:00:17 UTC ]
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Tate launches e-commerce site for books, gifts

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tablet Reading Apps Zite, Pulse Strike Publisher Deals

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[ AllThingsD | 2012-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers sign hot books ahead of LBF

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Los Angeles Review of Books' To Launch New, Enhanced Web Site

To coincide with its one-year anniversary on April 18, the Los Angeles Review of Books is re-launching its website in a multimedia platform that will include video, drop-down menus, and new feature articles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury US buys Fairchild Books

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Olympics to bring £16m books boost

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'The Beginner's Goodbye' by Anne Tyler

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'Lives of the Novelists' by John Sutherland

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book review: 'Damn Yankees' and the passions they stir

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Book review: 'Threats' by Amelia Gray

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2012-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How 200,000 Books Were Given to U.S. Troops

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Missing 20th Century: How Copyright Protection Makes Books Vanish

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[ The Atlantic | 2012-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing In Russia 2012: Publishers in a Changing Industry

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Duddle wins children's book prize

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[ BBC News | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Duddle wins Waterstones Children's Book Prize

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Film deal for Wilbur Smith Somalia novel

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Harry Potter E-Books Finally Arrive on J.K. Rowling's Pottermore

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