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.
