Louise Buckley

Photo Credit: Clare Hughes Photography

About Louise

Louise Buckley has worked in publishing for over fifteen years. She was inspired to enter the industry after completing an MA in Creative Writing and then spent a hugely enjoyable year working as a bookseller for Waterstones, wishing that she could have a hand in publishing books.

After a year working at Dorling Kindersley, she then spent almost five years working in the commercial fiction division at Pan Macmillan, where she published a mix of commercial bestsellers and award-winning authors.

More recently, she was an Associate Literary Agent at Zeno Agency Ltd. After a brief stint working outside of publishing, she now works as an Associate Literary Agent at Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency and also as an Editorial Consultant. She runs a successful Substack account where she writes about how to edit your novel and how to get published.

Read about Louise’s values here.

What Louise is looking for:

Please note that I have challenging personal circumstances this year and have decided to only open to a few areas in October. After this, I will remain closed until February. I realise this will be disappointing to many of you hoping to submit to me in a different genre.

Adult fiction 

I am only looking for fiction in the following TWO areas at the moment:

I am looking for literary and book-club novels, especially novels that represent working-class people or children going through difficult circumstances (think Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart, My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal or Boys Don’t Cry by FÍona Scarlett). And I’m all for relationship-driven novels that emphasise messy relationships, like Blue Sisters, or mix humour and heart with something a little darker, like The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I would love to see a literary crime novel, too; something very smart.

I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction and would love to find some that offers a fresh take on a classic trope – something that mixes the compulsiveness of The Hunger Games with the bold and philosophical ideas in The Giver, but for adults.

Adult non-fiction

In non-fiction, I would love to see any submissions from experts or thought leaders in the following areas:

-Nature writing. For example, a nature memoir, books on foraging, gardening, permaculture, self-sufficiency, herbalism

-Climate change

-Psychology and human behaviour

-Self-help

-Psychiatry or neuroscience

-MBS (for example, the mind-body connection e.g. meditation, trauma release, Eastern modalities and energy practices such as acupuncture and tapping, or anything that sits at the intersection between science and spirituality)

-Parenting

-Neurodiversity

-Science

-Gardening and permaculture

-Art history if very commercial

I am NOT currently looking for:

-romantasy

-epic, traditional fantasy

-space opera

-traditional, issues-led ‘women’s fiction’

-children’s books

-Science fantasy

-Short stories or novellas

-Police procedurals

-Memoir

-Books featuring any of the following: war or war veterans, Covid, AI or robots

Find my favourite recent reads here and follow me on Twitter & Instagram.

Please use the submission form to send your work for consideration – but note that we are only open for submissions for the first week of each month.