Representation

It’s been quite a week. First came the news I’d reached the shortlist in the flash fiction competition, and then the conversation with the agent who had read the full manuscript for the novel. I’ve been sitting on exciting news since Thursday, hardly able to trust its reality, terrified it would be snatched away, but now that I’ve signed the relevant documentation, I can share it: I have accepted an offer of representation!

It’s been a long journey. I first embarked upon the quest for publication in 2006 with a novel that I shelved several years later. Two full novels later, various concepts that never made it to completion, and six drafts of my current project later, I’m now a client at DKW Literary Agency under the representation of the lovely Camille Burns.

This is a bigger step than I ever believed I would take. Secretly, I expected, when I quit my paid job last summer, to be back in some sort of educational setting (probably tutoring) part-time after a year out without any glimmer of hope. I wouldn’t give up, but I’d shelve the current novel (having exhausted the list of agents that I thought might take an interest) and write a new novel, to begin the long process again. I have a novel already conceptualised, that I was planning to draft in January 2024. I was working to a five-year plan that would eventually lead to self-publication of several novels. It would be a route into publication, and maybe I would find some success, but it would not be my dream path…

However, gaining an agent means I have access to the traditional route into publishing and all the benefits in terms of connections and industry experts. Just in brief conversations with Camille so far, I’ve received feedback that I’ve never received elsewhere that has been transformative for the novel (and right now I’m planning out a major redrafting of the final third), and her works have also made me consider areas of publishing that I’ve never considered, things like overseas and translation. I don’t know if my novel will ever have the level of success to require those kinds of services, but I know that it’s the sort of thing that wouldn’t have occurred to me if I were going it alone.

This has all come about because of the Bradford Literary Festival sessions where writers could pay to meet an agent and receive a critique of their work. Meeting an agent face-to-face, in a setting where that agent was paid to consider your work (rather than look for excuses to skip over it since they have another thousand hopefuls to also consider that day), really did make all the difference. And it makes such a big difference to have someone who is really enthusiastic about your writing, who believes that what you’ve written deserves to be read. If you are reading this as an aspiring writer, I strongly encourage you to check out Jericho Writers – a website that facilitates conversations between writers and agents, similar (if more expensive) than what I was lucky enough to be involved in at the literary festival.

Telling people that I have written a book is often a process of ‘expectation management’, since people who don’t know the industry often believe that reaching ‘the end’ means the book will be published the very next day. Even with an agent, it might be years before a publisher takes interest in this novel, if at all. However, it’s a palpable step, and I’m very excited to see where this road will take me.

As always, I can’t thank enough the fellow writers on Critique Circle, who’ve always given me such valuable and thoughtful feedback on my work. And thanks to everyone who has celebrated my small successes over the last twelve months: I’m so grateful for all your support.