The Gargoyle

It was a great pleasure for me to watch Andrew engage the audience at the Access Copyright annual general meeting as I had arranged his participation and it wasn’t easy making the case for bringing in a new Manitoba-based author to speak in Toronto, Canada’s publishing mecca. There were plenty of Toronto-based authors and creators to choose from as our keynote speaker. But somehow I knew Andrew’s story would be different and worth hearing. And indeed, it was.

The room was filled with small and large publishers and creators from all genres. Everyone was inspired by Andrew’s story of how he had been writing since the age of 16 (he is now in 49) with no commercial success. But somehow he knew the project he was working on would be different. And that it was worth publishing.

So he got himself “the best agent in the world” and in turn, got his debut novel published by Random House Canada (a subsidiary of Doubleday in the US) in August, 2008. Plus he got himself a 7-figure advance and has set some records in the process.

The book is available in 3 English jurisdictions and in 26 translations around the globe. An amazing story of success that has come through determination and vision–and a muse with wild hair named Marianne Engel.