Short Successes

January was a busy month as I was editing the sequel to my first novel (I'm still waiting to see if any publishers are interested in the first book). I’m currently receiving feedback on the sequel's second draft from members of my writing group, and my current plan is to work on more revisions in March.

As the sequel was taking up all my attention last month, I haven’t submitted to any short story competitions for a couple of months, but I need to get started again. In the last couple of days, I’ve received some news worth sharing: a story that I submitted in December reached second place in a competition. It’s called ‘A Book Report’ and is available to read for free (along with the other winners).

While I was researching competitions today, deciding what to enter next, I also discovered that I’ve been longlisted for another competition. It’s too early to know which story caught the judges’ attention (I entered two) or how far it might get in the competition, but it’s good to know that I’ve received some recognition. Fingers crossed!

In other news, I’ve written an opening chapter for Fiction Express. I’m going to get some feedback from my writing group this week, and then I’ll be sending that off to my agent next week. Hopefully, the organisation will like the concept. I’m not sure I’ll begin writing for them in February/March (given how soon their next batch of stories will go live), but hopefully they’ll slot me in for their April books.

Steady progress overall, but the shorter works have a much quicker turnaround!

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.

Buns for Tea

 

I have exciting news: I can finally call myself a published writer!

This month, I reached a shortlist on The Bi-monthly FreeFlash Fiction Competition, which results in publication on the website and a small prize of £20 (minus the £3.50 entry fee, of course). A real earning from my writing! The story itself is only 300 words, so it ends up at about six pence per word. But the validation is priceless.

The shortlisted story is called ‘Lost Property’ and can be read here. Warning: it is a very dark story exploring how aspects of modernity may enable predatorial behaviour.

I should also give a huge shout out to all the critters on CritiqueCircle who gave feedback on an earlier draft of this story. I made a lot of substantial changes based on their input before I entered the story into this competition.

Write, edit, submit: the strategy is beginning to work.

How to Meet an Agent

 I have a little news: an agent has asked to read my full manuscript.

This is a tiny step that has never occurred before. It’s still very early days because the agent may read the entire novel and decide it would be too hard to sell. I’ve accepted that. However, she has promised to give feedback, so even in that scenario, hopefully her advice will make it more attractive to other agents. She’s already given me some excellent feedback on the opening chapters that I’m working to implement before I send it back to her.

Getting a full manuscript request has always been the stumbling point, the point at which I put my novels on hold and write something new. In some ways, the last ten months have been harder than when I was submitting to agents in my teens. Back then, I received a nice piece of paper with a generic rejection after a long wait. These days, the best I have received is an email, and in most cases, nothing at all.

It turns out that submitting work to the slushpile (the inbox of an agent) isn’t the best way to approach an agent. The route into communication with this agent came from a very different avenue: my attendance at Bradford Literary Festival.

I don’t know how typical this is of literary festivals, but I should note here that Bradford Literary Festival 2023 was an amazing event for emerging writers. They had many sessions which were pitched to unpublished writers, and as well as offering encouragement, real stories and practical advice, they also had a 1:1 event to meet an agent.

I booked onto this event through luck. I had no idea it was happening until a writing buddy on Critique Circle told me that she was doing it, and then I was lucky enough that I was in the country to attend, because the day before we arrived home from a holiday in Europe. Anyway, after wrestling with my own insecurities briefly (the terrifying prospect of receiving verbal feedback), I decided to go for it, because that must be the attitude to make something happen.

I had no expectations for the event. The website description simply said it was a chance to receive feedback from an agent. I thought it would be helpful to know which elements of my pitch were off-putting, and more specifically if the novel concept itself just wasn’t saleable and I should work on something else. So, it was an amazing experience to be told by someone in the industry that my writing style is good. It’s a huge validation of all the efforts I’ve put in over the years.

A third piece of luck I should mention is the agent I originally booked to meet was unable to attend, and the agent I met replaced him. From researching her, I was already happy, because her bio expressed her interest in Young Adult, while the original agent (from a pick of three not yet booked up) seemed only partially suitable due to his interest in Adult Fantasy.

The lesson I have taken from the festival generally is that this is a much better way to get in touch with agents. Meeting them in person begins a dialogue, allows them to see your passion and understand your aims much better than a sentence or two bio in a query letter ever can. Another statistic I learned from another session at the festival is that a big agent receives 700 to 1000 submissions every week to their inbox, of which they might accept just two new clients a year. I always knew the chances were slim, but statistics like that really hammer home just how infinitesimally slim the odds are. A really good question was asked in the general agent meet, when they referred to how most of their clients are not unsolicited. Someone asked how they find new writers, then, if they don’t find them in the slushpile, and the answer was: events like this one.

If nothing else, I know to look out for future events which involve agents. And that my writing is good.