Communique founder writes second novel
PAUL Carroll, founder of the successful Communique PR agency in Manchester, has published his second novel ‘Written Off’.
In the book, Carroll draws on his 30 years of experience in the PR industry, plus his experiences of trying to land a book deal to deliver a satirical look at the modern publishing industry.
The Leeds-born and Manchester University educated Carroll claims that Written Off contains more genuine ‘how to get published’ information than most courses or workshops. And Carroll has offered to refund anyone who disagrees after reading it.
He started Communique PR in 1986 and grew it to become one of Manchester’s ‘big three’ PR agencies. The company, which operated from offices on Canal Street, won its first big account with Boddingtons and was perhaps best known for convincing Julia Carling to change her name to Julia Heineken in an award-winning PR stunt.
The company was sold to Burson Marsteller for £6.5m in 2001.
Carroll’s first book, ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ takes inspiration from his 
experiences in the media and at Communique. In the dark mirror style novel, advertising maverick Farren Mortimer sets up a new agency to bring bereavement into the 21st century and put the fun back into funerals.
His new novel, Written Off follows four aspiring authors with dreams of becoming published authors. Carroll claims that anyone who has tried to get published will recognise the all too familiar accounts of thwarted ambition, frustration and rejection.
Speaking about his own experiences trying to get published, Carroll said: “As I peered over my ever-growing pile of literary rejections, I was forced to ask myself: could anybody help me to land that elusive book deal? Well, there was no shortage of people offering to try. It was then I realised that the only ones making any money out of this particular gold rush were the people selling the spades.”
