Vanessa O'Loughlin

Vanessa Fox O'Loughlin is an Irish literary scout, agent and coach. She is also, as Sam Blake and Vanessa Fox, a published author.

Career

Vanessa Fox hails from St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. She moved to Ireland with her fiancé, a member of the Irish police force, Shane O'Loughlin, living first in Bray, County Wicklow, then in nearby Kilmacanogue.

In 2006, O'Loughlin moved from a career in event management to self-employment, founding Inkwell Writers Workshops to run fiction-writing workshops taught by bestselling published writers.[1][2] During the post-2008 Irish economic downturn, the company was renamed The Inkwell Group and became a publishing consultancy, assisting new writers to move forward with their careers. O'Loughlin published one romantic fiction novel as "Vanessa Fox",[3] and publishes crime fiction as "Sam Blake".[4]

In 2019 she was elected to the Management Committee of the Society of Authors.[5] In 2022, O'Loughlin was one of over 100 authors to contribute to 100 Ways to Write a Book – a compilation of author interviews put together by author Alex Pearl during the COVID pandemic.[6][7][8]

Sam Blake

In 2015, the Bonnier Twenty7 signed O'Loughlin to write a three-book series of crime novels featuring Garda detective Cat Connolly and set in Dublin.[9] The first book in the series was Little Bones, and was released, as were the two subsequent volumes, under the pen name Sam Blake. Little Bones went straight into the Irish fiction bestseller list at first place and stayed there for four weeks, eventually featuring in the Irish top ten for eight weeks. In Deep Water and No Turning Back also entered the Irish bestseller lists. All three were also released as audiobooks.

In January 2020 a standalone thriller Keep Your Eyes On Me was released by Corvus Books, together with an audio recording from Bolinda Publishing narrated by Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch. Keep Your Eyes On Me was also a No.1 Irish Times bestseller. In January 2022 a new book, The Dark Room, was published by Corvus Books.[10]

As Sam Blake, the author uses multiple communication channels, and hosts the Behind the Bestseller podcast (Headstuff) featuring interviews with bestselling authors from multiple genres.

Writing.ie

O'Loughlin founded writing.ie in 2011; it developed into an Irish writers' web resource that covers literary events and offers advice to writers.[11][9][1][12] The website continues to be developed and run by O'Loughlin.

The Irish Independent describes writing.ie as "a one-stop shop for authors."[11]

References
  1. McBennett, Fiona (11 January 2015). "Meet Irish women behind publishing powerhouses". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  2. Brennan, Marjorie (19 March 2014). "Writers' workshop proves a novel experience for best-selling author". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  3. O'Sullivan, Marése (19 March 2012). "Want to Write? – Interview with Literary Scout Vanessa O'Loughlin". A Younger Theatre. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  4. "Three-book deal for Sam Blake (20 May 2015)". crimeire.blogspot.com. Crime Fiction Ireland (blog). Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  5. SoA Newsletter 19 Nov 2019 - doubtless also on their website
  6. https://player.talkradioeurope.com/ondemand/Talk_Radio_Europe_in_Spain_2023-03-16_20-00-00.mp3
  7. "The Author's Saga Webinar Series Piick a Book interview" – via www.youtube.com.
  8. Admin, Writing IE (10 January 2022). "100 Ways to Write a Book by Alex Pearl and Charles Harris".
  9. "Vanessa O'Loughlin's book deal". The Irish Times. 22 May 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  10. "The Dark Room: Eason No 1 Bestseller!". 21 January 2021.
  11. "Paperback Writer: Do Irish writers make a living?". Irish Independent. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  12. O’Sullivan, Marése (15 May 2015). "Preview: International Literature Festival Dublin". UTV Ireland. Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
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