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Getting my rights back
Posted on June 26, 2025 in Jaq Silver, News, Path to publication, Self-publishing
This week, Oneworld signed an agreement to return my publishing rights to me. It’s a major milestone in my writing journey, but also bittersweet.
In 2017, I signed with my agent, Juliet Mushens. We went out on submission with the first book in the Jaq Silver series, The Chemical Detective. I was over the moon when an offer came in from Jenny Parrott at Point Blank, the literary crime imprint of Oneworld. We signed the first of two x 2 book deals and I never looked back.
Oneworld are one of the few major independent publishers left in the UK and they publish ‘intelligent, challenging, and distinctive novels that sit at the intersection of the literary and the commercial: emotionally engaging stories with strong narratives and distinctive voices.’ I can’t tell you how proud I am to have been published by them.
Working with Jenny and the team at Oneworld was a fantastic experience. Jenny is a brilliant editor – perceptive, tough, wacky and lovely. The London office is a whole house in Bloomsbury, minutes from The British Museum.
We had lots of successes together.
But selling books is a tough game, and selling a female action hero like Jaq Silver is – apparently – even tougher. When the print run of The Chemical Cocktail (A Financial Times Best Summer Book of 2022) sold out, Oneworld informed me that they couldn’t justify a new print run.
So I spoke to my agent and together we asked for the rights back, not just to Book 3, but to all four books. And Oneworld said yes.
I am hugely grateful to to the teams at Point Blank and Oneworld for everything they have done for me as a writer and for being such a pleasure to work with.
I wish them every success and I really hope that our paths will one day cross again.
In the meantime, I have big and exciting ideas on how to use my newfound control – so watch this space!
