WHERE THE HELL IS MY AGENT? - by Lu Hersey

 In case you didn't realise, I hacked the title from Raye's song, WHERE IS MY HUSBAND? The point of song being she doesn't actually have one, but she's ready and waiting for one, so where the hell is he? 

And that's how I feel about my agent.

I did have one once. I learnt many useful things from him. Like how to cook simple Italian dishes, and where to find great fossils on British beaches. Basically he was fun to hang out with as a friend, but being an agent really wasn't his priority. He spent far more time diving with sharks.

He genuinely couldn't cope with the increasing pressures of the publishing world. In the end he disappeared in a cloud of mental health problems, leaving his entire business behind. He'd definitely chosen the wrong career path for someone with chronic anxiety, and I hope one day he'll resurface as a marine biologist or something he'd really enjoy. He's certainly clever enough.

But meanwhile, what about me?? 

What have I done about finding another agent? 

Not a lot, to be honest. I tentatively tried a couple I liked the sound of, and they were very kind and gave me positive feedback, but sadly... (Another thing I learnt from my last agent is that they have to not only really love your work, but believe they can sell it. Which they didn't.)

I also tried a couple of publishers, whose websites informed me I didn't need an agent to be considered. Result? They simply ghosted me like they were online dating or something. Which seems unnecessarily rude when it's easy to email back a standard rejection from a template, but sadly that seems to be the publishing industry's attitude towards writers. We're all totally dispensable. I ended up feeling like a piece of used clothing, destined for the charity shop. 

I guess all publishers need to see the potential for commercial success in your writing - unless you're celebrity so they know your books will sell anyway (they can always find a ghost writer to actually write the books). Publishing is an increasingly competitive market - and getting worse. Don't even get me started on books being written by AI...

However, once a writer, always a writer. I told myself I simply needed to change direction for a while. So I've been writing a non-fiction book about Somerset dragons, which will come out sometime before Christmas. Seems there's not so much stigma attached to self publishing local books, as no agent or traditional publisher would consider the project anyway. It's kept me busy and I love research...

But unfortunately, what I like writing best is teen fiction. And any writing for children involves gatekeepers like parents and teachers, who need to know the book is good (preferably traditionally published and well reviewed) before they buy. Which means you still need the publishing industry to back you. 

And for any publisher to even consider your book, you need an agent to present it to them - practically no publisher takes unsolicited manuscripts. (Ignore all those stories like JK Rowling's sending out to zillion publishers and how it only takes one, blah blah - that simply doesn't happen any more.)

So I'm stuck with a hole in my bucket syndrome and there's only one way out... 

WHERE THE HELL IS MY AGENT?

Lu Hersey

https://www.lu-hersey.com/

The many levels of rejection - by Lu Hersey

Most of us have to deal with rejection at some point in our writing lives. Hopefully this post will help you a little feel better about it.

Stage 1: You're starting out on your writing journey and you've just subbed your first manuscript to a few favourite agents. You've spent months, maybe years getting your draft ready and you feel very excited as you press 'send' and the sub flies out.

It's tough out there and getting an agent is hard - sadly, your favourite agents might reject you. If this is the case, you won't be the first writer it happens to, and you certainly won't be the last. The best thing to do is to start collecting your rejections like war medals, and possibly print them out ready to start wallpapering the bathroom. This process may take time. I'd also suggest not sending out your sub to too many agents at once as you may want to take any feedback on board before sending it out to your list of second favourite agents...

Stage 2: Perhaps you've struck lucky - an agent has asked to see the full manuscript! This is a very good sign, even if the same agent later rejects the full manuscript further down the line. It means you can write and somebody has acknowledged that. Read your rejection very carefully to see if you've been given any useful information, then add it to your bathroom wallpaper reject pile.

Hopefully you've now reached stage 3 - you have an agent, they like your corrections, and your manuscript is going out to publishers! Enjoy this time and don't get over excited or wish time would speed up. Sorry, but there might be further disappointment ahead. Publishers, like agents, have particular tastes. Added to that there are market trends, and a group of people called 'sales and marketing' who are paid by publishers to know about these trends and reject manuscripts, even if commissioning editors love them.

Stage 4: You've just hit the jackpot and a publisher is going to publish your book! This is definitely a time to celebrate and put the wallpapering on hold. It might be a year or more before the book comes out, so enjoy this time and come up with several more ideas for the next novel - because sadly, your days of having manuscripts rejected might not be over. If you have a two book deal, be happy in the knowledge that you will get another book published, sooner or later. Hopefully. I've known a few writers whose publishers have broken the contract - but it's rare, so don't worry about that for the time being...

Stage 5: However, if your deal is for one book only, here's a piece of sound advice -  KEEP  IN TOUCH WITH THE PUBLISHER! Make sure they like your next book idea before you write the whole thing. (I learnt this the hard way.) You may need to be very resilient. I've written 3 books since Deep Water, and so far have only a tenuous agreement (no contract signed yet) for the second one. As yet, I have no publishing offer on the third - but it's early days. And on the plus side, the rejections are getting much nicer. They love my writing, but... kind of thing.

I'm currently tweaking the fourth book, having no idea if it's any good or not, or if it is any good, whether it will ever tick the right boxes for any publisher or their sales and marketing team. At this point I have to say a massive thank you to my agent for believing in me and my writing, and still sending my books out there...

Anyway, after the latest publisher rejection, I was feeling really sorry for myself. In fact I was finding it hard not to cry. It was election day, which didn't help and I was in town to do some Christmas shopping, which didn't help either. I stomped along thinking writing is the only thing I'm good at, but if no one likes what I write, what is the point of me? That kind of thing. It was also pouring with rain and bitterly cold.

I passed a homeless man, sitting in a shop doorway, clutching a wet sleeping bag to try to keep himself warm. He was crying. I hate to see people cry, so I turned back. 'Nobody cares. Nobody f**king cares,' he said. 'I wish I was dead.' I couldn't think of anything to say to make him feel better, so just stayed to listen to him for a while. He talked about the election, and how he couldn't even vote because he hadn't got an address. We both agreed that Boris would win and his situation as a single homeless man was only going to get worse. 'It's like what Greta Thunberg said, all the promises are just window dressing - no one actually does ANYTHING!' he said.

Turned out he was an avid fan of Greta and worried about the future for the two children he had somewhere, which in his state, with no money, no place to live and a string of previous convictions, he would probably never see again. He started crying again and I felt like crying too.  'Man - look at the state of me!' he said. 'I've hardly any teeth left and nowhere even lets you in to go to the toilet. It's worse than being an animal. People like animals.'

I asked him about hostels and he told me he'd only have to do another two years (he's in his early thirties and has been homeless for two years already) before they found him a flat - 'so long as Boris doesn't make changes to the system when he gets in'. It was the best he could hope for, and he was clinging to that hope. In the end we just hugged and I said I hoped he'd get a place sooner than that. 'Thanks for listening,' he said. 'Have a good Christmas!'

I was choked. He'd taught me something very important. There are many levels of rejection and I'm incredibly lucky. I'm nowhere near the bottom of the reject pile.

If you're upset about this year's rejections, just write something else next year. It's what we writers do. And maybe send fewer Christmas cards and donate the money to a homeless charity, if you can.


Lu Hersey
luhersey.com
@LuWrites

Take my money, the value of a good agent - Ciaran Murtagh

The relationship between writers and their agents can sometimes feel one sided. We do all the hard work and they take 15% of the rewards. That doesn’t seem fair! 

We live in a world where the need for an agent seems less clear. We can publish ourselves in a variety of ways and if we wish to go the traditional route then access to those who can help us has never been more transparent. Thanks to Twitter and Facebook we can make direct contact with publishers and their emails are often in the public domain – so what is it an agent brings to the party?

In the rose tinted halcyon days of the Hampstead set, they were a confidant and a friend. Taking you out for long lunches to discuss your latest career defining masterpiece. Moulding you into the visionary they always knew you were. Then there’s the more modern view of agents – hardnosed short termists who’ll drop you as soon as the hits stop coming.  Thanks Ed Reardon.

So every now and then, it’s natural, as writers, to find ourselves questioning the role of our agent and whether or not we need one. Could we do this better on our own, or at least just as well and take all the money? Often, when things are going well, we probably could. When editors are approaching us directly for our next idea, when books are coming thick and fast, it seems a doddle. All an agent does is say ‘yes’ and ‘how much’ – we could do that.

The truth is, I’ve found you should never judge a value of an agent when things are going well. The true value of an agent emerges when things hit the buffers. My best agents have always been the ones who phone to check in when they haven’t heard from you for a while. The ones who call you in for a meeting to discuss your next idea when you don't actually have one. The ones who set up a meeting with an editor they know you’ll like just to see if something sparks.

Most importantly, they’re the ones who’ll wade in when the money isn’t coming or isn’t what it should be. A project I’m working on recently went very wrong. It was my biggest job of the year. The money coming from it was significant and without it I was going to be in trouble.  Without my agent I’d have lost the lot, as it stands her intervention has saved the project and renegotiated the deal in my favour. Has she earned her 15% -  one thousand times over, just don't tell her that.  And it wasn’t just the money, the emotional support, the advice,  the reassurance, all of that gave me the feeling that I wasn’t on my own in a business where you often are.

So if you’re thinking about whether or not you need an agent in your life, get out there and meet some. Don’t take the first one that says ‘yes’, find the one who’ll have your back, no matter how tough things get – and if you’re planning to make a career out of your craft, they will get tough sooner or later and then you'll come to appreciate an agent's true value. 

Blinded by the Light by Paul May

‘Hi, nice to meet you.  What is it you do?’

‘I’m a writer.’

‘Ah, very good.  Have you had anything published?’

I think most writers have experienced some version of this conversation. So far I have managed to resist the obvious reply— ‘Why would I tell you I was a writer if I hadn’t had anything published?’—because I think they’re trying to be polite and, to be fair, everyone knows that for every published writer there are dozens more tapping away on their keyboards in garrets and garden sheds and cafés, all of them desperate to see their work in print.  

I was one of those people once, and I want to explore how the lure of seeing one’s name on the cover of a real book, a proper, published book, means that authors like me have no idea what they are getting into.  

I was a teacher.  When I sat down one summer holiday in the early 1990s to write a children’s book I knew almost nothing about the business of publishing.  I had a few not very good and not very original ideas that I soon abandoned, and one or two interesting characters who stayed with me and eventually did find their way into books.

I gave up my full-time teaching job and started working part-time.  I wrote two days a week while the children were at school.  I kept at it for several years, sacrificing quite a few trees in the process (I printed everything I wrote back then) and eventually I finished a novel.  One thing I thought I knew about publishing was that I should try to find an agent. So I sent off three chapters of my book, and waited.  Three months later a letter arrived asking for the rest of the book, and six weeks after that came an invitation to lunch.

Blurred, headless photo, taken by his young
 son, of the author with an
 encouraging letter from a literary agent.
(My family had already opened it!)

So, there I was having lunch in a swanky London hotel where it turned out I hadn’t quite got an agent yet, because although my writing was ‘lively and entertaining’ I had written a book that was twice as long as it should have been—for the market.  I told you I knew nothing about publishing. 

But now, suddenly, the glamour and the fame and (why not?) the riches, were almost within touching distance, dazzling me.  ‘No problem,’ I said airily over the petit-fours and coffee.  ‘I’ll remove a couple of those unnecessary sub-plots.’  

I didn’t ask how much I might get paid for all this work.  I didn’t ask about the chances of actually finding a publisher.  I didn’t consider what my hourly rate might eventually be.  The distant, sunlit uplands were in sight, beckoning me on.  It took three months to rewrite, and it was a few more months before a publisher expressed interest. But there was one small problem.  My young heroine was a girl who dreamed of becoming a professional footballer.  The publisher thought my sales would improve if the girl was a boy.

Living the dream - first book.

I did as they asked.  What was a few more months’ work, after all?  My agent was now my agent, thus reducing my hourly rate by 10%.  (I know—only 10%!  Those were the days.)  I was going to get an advance and it felt like a lottery win, albeit one that wasn’t paid all in one go.  A year later the book was published. I started looking for the piles of my book stacked up in the bookshops, but I couldn’t see them. Where was my book? ‘What’s it called?  By who?  Ah, yes, we had a copy last week . . . but we sold it.’

I was starting to learn.  My friend who was already a ‘published author’ had warned me, but I hadn’t been paying attention.  ‘If you want a launch party, you’ll have to do it yourself,’she’d told me.  And she may have said, ‘It’s not how you think it’ll be.’ I knew now that when a bookseller sold the last copy of a book they didn’t automatically order another, because more new books by other unknown authors would, by then, be jostling for attention.

But I was dead keen and working hard and I’d already finished another book and they gave me a two-book deal, which seemed great.  And don’t get me wrong, I was happy.  I had learned that if I wanted publicity from the local paper I had to ring them myself, so I did.  I did interviews on local radio.  My books were reviewed decently and my first book was shortlisted for the first Branford Boase Award. 

Three of us from the publisher were on the shortlist.  None of us won, but we had a little celebration anyway.  The publisher had brought along a well-known picture book illustrator who said, as we downed the consolatory champagne: ‘Enjoy it while it lasts, guys. When your sales start to fall they’ll drop you like a hot potato.  Only joking!’ he added quickly, as the publisher looked daggers at him.

It may have been a joke, but it stuck in my mind.  No one ever said anything about sales.  And I felt it might spoil things if I asked.  When the royalty statements started to come in I could see the numbers but I had no idea whether they were good or bad and neither my agent nor my publisher ever talked about them.  I sometimes wondered about this, but I was far too busy writing to investigate. Conversations with my agent and the publisher were always about my writing and almost never about money.  No one told me about PLR or ALCS or the Society of Authors. I’d imagined that the form I’d signed to do with registering my books with the British Library meant I’d automatically get PLR.  It was only a chance remark from another author that put me right.

When I got my first advance I could have sat down and done some sums.  Those sums would have told me that I’d earned about £1 an hour for that first book (the movie options never did roll in).  But that wouldn’t have stopped me.  I enjoyed writing (most of the time), and I used to tell people it was better than buying a lottery ticket, financially speaking.  The next book could always be the breakthrough book.

My agent did give me a little advice at one of our early meetings, after she’d asked me if I wanted to be a full-time writer.  If I did, she said, it would take me ten years to build up enough income.  I think she may have been optimistic.  She also advised me not to give up the day job and, thanks to that advice, I have a teacher’s pension that provides me with the time to write this.  She couldn’t have predicted that, had I carried on teaching during those two days a week, I would have earned roughly twice what I earned from writing in that time, and would have added several hundred pounds a month to my pension.

Better than the staffroom

But I don’t regret any of it.  Teaching full-time was slowly driving me crazy anyway, and I always enjoyed doing the school run and having lunch in the garden under the apple trees.  I’ve had the best of both worlds and I’m very grateful, but wouldn’t it be lovely if, when you signed up with a publisher or an agent, and you were contemplating with shining eyes the dazzling future ahead of you, a fairy godmother could appear through the glittering smoke and hand you a little book outlining all the things you might need to know in this new job you’ve just begun?

Paul May's website is www.paulmay.co.uk

PS If you're interested in Enid Blyton, who I've mentioned once or twice in previous posts, you might like to look at a couple of pieces by myself and by librarian Nazlin Bhimani from the Institute of Education over on the Newsam News blog. 

Online Dating vs Submitting to Agents by Jo Franklin

The last twelve months have meant a massive change in my personal life. It's been quite a year but ultimately a fantastic one. Now that I am single again, I decided to have a go at online dating with varying results and I now have enough material to write a three series sitcom, devise a stand up routine and to keep my girlfriends entertained for a year. But the one thing that stands out for me is that looking for love online is very much like looking for a literary agent (or a publisher for those who submit directly).

The Pitch

For a start you spend ages on your pitch or dating profile not really knowing who you are talking to. I met a few agents at networking events but most of my submissions were to total strangers. Some of the strangers in the world of dating are stranger than others, but like the literary agents out there, many of them are just looking for something special.

The Wait

Having sent off a submission to an agent there is an agonizing wait for a response. It's not unusual to hear nothing for three months and often the torture can go on for longer.
It's the same with dating. My early forays resulted in no interest. No one liked me! I thought I was going to have to resign myself to being permanently single which exactly echoed my feelings as an unpublished author. Total torture.

Financial Scammers

There are a lot of crooks lurking in the anonymous world of internet dating. I consider myself pretty savvy but I'm sure that I crossed paths with a few. It's pretty abhorrent that thieves target potentially vulnerable people looking for romance but even worse for me was the realisation that the sites themselves are not all that they seem. There are hundreds of fake profiles and automatically generated 'likes' so finding a genuine prospect among the artificial ones is tricky and time consuming.
Of course there are a few dodgy agents and publishers too. Vanity publishers masquerading as genuine. Agents purporting to be professional but behaving like amateurs. Thankfully I have avoided these but I know people who have been caught out.

Match!

The moment when an agent asks to see your full manuscript is a fantastic one. It's also terrifying. What do they think? Will they like it? Is this going to be the start of my dream coming true?
A mutual like on a dating website is just the same, although maybe less extreme. Eek! Someone likes me. Do I like them?

Rejection

A mutual like on a dating site can cause your heart to skip a beat, but next thing you know you are unliked or blocked. Yikes! Am I really that awful? It really shook me the first time it happened but then I realised that some people use blocking as a way of letting someone know they had changed their mind.
Rejection from agents can be similarly cutting. 'Sorry not interested' is hurtful in any forum.
But we all need to remember that REJECTION IS NOT FEEDBACK. I need to print that off and stick it on my computer.

Success

It took me a while to find my agent Anne Clark but now we've been together for over five years. I've had eight books published in seven countries. I'm a published author!

And my success with online dating? Let's just say it's a work in progress.

Jo Franklin

www.jofranklinauthor.co.uk

Ben's People! - Eloise Williams

I don’t get out much.

Partly because I live here ...

 

and it’s so beautiful.

And partly because I live here...

 

 

 

and it’s such a long way from everything.

 But once in a while we get into our jalopy amidst pickled onion Monster Munch, a plethora of games I’ve made up since our radio broke - most of which involve singing and a grimacing husband – and generally some unidentified pungent foodstuffs rotting in the glovebox from the last road trip and we drive along the old M bore.

And this time it was worth it. SO worth it!

We’d been invited to two book launches. TWO!!!

 

 

Forgive the excitement but not many books get launched round this ‘ere parts.

(I’m not sure what accent that’s supposed to be. It certainly isn’t Welsh my lovely).

((Neither is that)).

 

Firstly, and only-just-made-it-because-of-Friday-traffic-ly, was the launch of Stefan Mohamed’s acer than ace, ‘Ace of Spiders’ the sequel to his outstanding ‘Bitter Sixteen’.  This was held in a really cool shop called Forbidden Planet which neither me or my husband had heard of because we are so far the wrong side of cool we can’t even see cool on the horizon.

 

‘Stanly is frustrated. Having set himself up as London's protector, he's finding that the everyday practicalities of superheroism are challenging at best, and downright tedious at worst. So it's almost a relief when an attempt is made on his life and Stanly finds himself rushing headlong into a twisted adventure, with enemies new and old coming out of the woodwork. However, even with his friends and his ever-increasing power behind him, he may have bitten off more than he can chew this time. The monsters are coming ...and nothing will ever be the same!’

 Bitter Sixteen was a compulsive read with superhero style reviews:

CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK, TIMES, SAT 25TH APRIL 2015
"Highly original... clever and funny... I didn't think the superheroes genre had anywhere left to go. Mohamed convinces otherwise. Daryl and Stanly have one of the greatest buddy relationships I can recall - the rapid fire dialogue between them enviable in its witty ease."
Alex O'Connell, Times

And the ‘Ace of Spiders’ certainly looks spectacular balanced at the top of my teetering TBR pile and enticing me into its web. I loved the first thereby proving that even though it is written with wit, intelligence and youth it also appeals to the slightly less young, less witty, less aware of interesting shops type reader. Stef is absolutely, mind-blowingly talented and I can’t wait to get stuck into it.

 

Just removed from the top of my teetering TBR pile for reading purposes (and with great fear of crushing small dog in the process) is Anna McKerrow’s ‘Red Witch’ the second launch we were invited to. And what a launch!

I’m talking Glastonbury, I’m talking a blessing from a real live witch, I’m talking the White Spring under the Tor, connecting with my own spirituality (and believe me I am a hardened cynic), barefoot wandering through spring water in candlelight to the sound of sweet singing and drumming, the works.

Anna McKerrow is a beauty in writing, spirit and appearance. She had us all completely ensorcelled as she explained to us the importance of the White Spring in her book and I felt completely privileged to be a part of the occasion.

 

‘Red Witch’ is the sequel to ‘Crow Moon’, a book I devoured last year as if it was a piece of chocolate cake, covered in extra chocolate, with a side order of chocolate, and it is absolutely divine.

Seventeen, heartbroken, powerful; Melz has run away from home, run away from the safety of the Greenworld. In the cities of the Redworld, Melz discovers she's special, desired. And not just for her magical talents.

When Melz meets the young but influential Bran, their attraction is instant and electric. In the Redworld, with Bran by her side, unrestrained by the customs of her former life, Melz knows she can reach her true potential.

​But the world Bran wants to give Melz is ravaged by war and violence. Oil is running out, and people will do anything to gain control of the remaining resources. Melz may be more powerful than ever, but even great power can be a curse when used against you.If you like witches, magic, fear,

"Deadly, sexy, and utterly spellbinding" Melinda Salisbury

"If you want to know how real witches work, summon your own goddess and read Red Witch!" CJ Daugherty

"Clever, gripping, but above all a terrifying cautionary tale for our times." Louise O'Neill

 

You are probably wondering how a totally uncool Welsh person who has never heard of Forbidden Planet managed to get invited to two of the grooviest launches going right?

Well I am lucky enough to be one of (what I call) Ben’s People!

 

We don’t look quite like this… well only on a night out in Swansea… but we are all part of the same Agency.

 

There are lots of us out there doing good work and writing AMAZING stories.

Lu Hersey, writer of one of the best books ever and winner of the Mslexia Children’s Novel Writing award was there too… this is me, name-dropping… I slept on the same bed as her cat, who incidentally has the loudest and most superbly satisfying purr you could ever imagine.

 

Eugene Lambert was there… his debut novel ‘The Sign of One’ is coming out imminently and will be launched at this cool little place I’ve been to called Forbidden Planet. Ahem....

 

 

 

I was there…

*pauses to attempt being somewhere near cool for a moment*

*fails*

There are other lots of other BIA beauties around too. A couple I am VERY excited about are Liz Flanagan's 'Eden Summer' which is out in July, eek! And Sophie Plowden's 'Jack Dash and The Summer Blizzard' which comes out in June, eek again!  

I’m currently working on a few novels and hoping, praying, chanting, casting spells and howling at the moon (that last bit is a lie, thankfully) that I will get a publishing deal soon.

And so a sincere bit without any weak jokes or tries at being cool.

I am so thankful to Ben for taking a chance on an unknown Welsh person with a short Welsh face and to Ben’s People for making me feel so much a part of a writing family. They all ROCK massively and you should go out and read all of their books. ALL of them. NOW!

 

*bewitches you with strange howling at the moon to buy all their books*

*stops howling when neighbour looks out of window*

*bewitches you with threats of further moon type howling ritual thingy* 

*is satisfied that you will buy all their books so goes back to reading. I'm alright noooowwwwwoooo!*

 

 

www.eloisewilliams.com

 

  

 

 

 

 

What are agents looking for? – David Thorpe

I had the pleasure last month of attending the Agents' Party at Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road, London, organised by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

It was called a party, but I'd say that's stretching the term; despite the free wine and nibbles, gratefully received, this was a place to pay full attention.

The agents attending were a good cross-section. Those on the panel were:

• Ella Kahn DKW Literary Agency
• Jo Williamson Antony Harwood Ltd
• Julia Churchill A.M. Heath Literary Agents
• Lauren Pearson Curtis Brown
• Penny Holroyde Caroline Sheldon Literary Agents
• Yasmin Standen Standen Literary Agency.

There were also other agents in the room:

• Alice Williams David Higham Associates
• Bryony Woods DKW Literary Agency
• Elizabeth Briggs LAW Literary Agents
• Eve White and Jack Ramm Eve White Literary Agent
• Hannah
 Whitty Plum Pudding Illustration
• Louise Burns Andrew Mann Literary Agency.

In the assembly were up to 80 of us writers and illustrators. On the way in we were handed two badges to fill in and stick onto our clothing: one saying our name, and the other our favourite children's character.

I spotted at least one person who'd chosen a character from their own book. There's confidence for you.

Who did I choose? – Skellig, the brilliant creation from David Almond's beautiful novel, a broken winged human found in a garden shed who, maybe, has miraculous powers. I thought he might bring me good luck.

Thus protected, I entered the airy new seminar room on the top floor of the wonderful new bookshop (they've moved a few doors down the hill away from the Crossrail engineering works. I went to the old bookshop first by mistake – shows how long since I was last there!)

(ASIDE: I remember the days when Foyles was completely disorganised, full of dusty piles of randomly assorted books that the overworked staff never got around to sorting out. If you wanted a book, it could take you days to burrow through them, like looking for a diamond in a snow drift, you'd have to take a whole week off work. While the old bookshop was definitely Dickensian, the new one is well into the 21st-century.)

Yes! There were a few familiar faces, very nice to see some old friends I hadn't seen for ages. (I confess I am a lapsed SCBWI-er, recently returned to the fold.)

So first of all there was a panel with Nick Cook as the ringleader, and lots of questions being asked about what agents are looking for, and how they make their choices, and then we could queue up to talk to them individually.

Here's what I took away from it:

In the younger age group, humour is popular and perhaps something with a strong literary bent. Others are looking for something more quirky, but above all they are looking for a powerful voice, something with attitude, strong and moving. Some of them were looking for a paranormal story, some for something with lots of twists.

Other keywords for older readers included dark, emotional,  historical, with flow, written from the heart, and another interesting thing was said by Ella: "I know it's ready to be submitted to a publisher when I get lost in it".

That is really important in the context of answering the question: "When do I submit? – Either to a publisher or an agent". The answer is, don't send it in until you are absolutely sure it is ready for publication; is it in the form that you would like to see it in print? Because if it is, then the agent or editor receiving it will stop looking for mistakes and become absorbed, as if they were reading a book that had already been published.

And then all the agent has to do is send it straight off to their favourite editor. With absolutely no work for them. What could be better?

In connection with this, another piece of advice was: take your time. There's no rush to submit, not even when an agent gets back to you and suggests some changes. It's far better to get it right than to get right back.

That certainly good advice and probably the best thing I took away from it.

Website: davidthorpe.info. My new book, Stormteller, is out at the end of the month.

Something new...About Time!

Everyone’s saying what an amazing time it is to be a teen/YA writer. YA lit is being taken more seriously. Over the last ten years, the teen/YA market boomed, expanding dramatically with books about the paranormal, myriad dystopias (always in a long series) and dark supernatural romances. These books became the next big thing, and then the big thing, as they were adapted and appeared in a cinema near you. Book shops were awash with one or two narrow genres, filling shelves until they were overflowing. But there was barely any space left for any diversity, and dare I say it, bar a few exceptions, anything original.

Agents, at least in the States, are saying they’ve had enough. The market has had enough. It’s all reached saturation point. Now agents are looking for something else. The problem is, they’re not entirely sure what that is.

The genres they now say they’re interested in are crime, psychological thrillers, gritty realism and contemporary dramas. The one-off, stand alone book looks to be making a comeback. If that’s true then hooray!

It is too often I hear people saying that boys are reluctant readers, and asking what we can do about it? Well, given the choice they’ve faced over the last decade, I’m not entirely surprised. I was in a bookshop the other week and a teen, a boy, was asking for recommendations. The shop assistant had very little to offer him – he’d read the small number of general action/adventure series that were on display there, and he wasn’t interested in paranormal or dystopian. Well maybe, finally, the kind of books boys like him might like to read will get a look in now. Of course many other factors will play a part, but this is a beginning, a small kernel, which needs to be nurtured and developed.

To read the full report from the Publishers Weekly about the changing focus of agents and publishers in the US follow this link:

 Publishers Weekly

Here’s another link to an interesting US blog post with literary agents there about what they’d like to see landing on their desks:

Adventures in YA Publishing

Of course the most important thing in teen/YA writing, and actually in any writing, is the voice and the story, no matter what the genre. But it is good to hear that, at least across the Pond, agents and publishers are showing an interest in manuscripts across many different genres, which means that the contemporary stand-alone novel has more of a chance to get its voice heard and to find some shelf space in a bookshop or library.

Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman’s work has been diverse, covering different genres, themes and age groups. She has initiated a YA convention to be held in London next year where she will be promoting Young Adult literature. It’s going to be held at the London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court in June 2014. The convention will include publishers and writers, workshops, signings, and talks. It sounds exciting and I’m looking forward to it. I hope it makes a difference.

So what are publishers and agents saying here in the UK where UKYA is on the up and up? I think it’s time to find out...

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@savitakalhan

Life as a writer - why (oh why) do we do it?

Disappointed writer

 I put this question to myself once every three months or so - usually when things aren't going too well. Why, why, why do I do it? Write, I mean - and all the stuff that goes with it.

I guess it has to be for love or something similar. It's certainly not for money. I've no wish to be a millionaire, though something in the way of royalties and PLR is always welcome. I suppose there's habit in there too. I write because it's what I do. To be honest, I think it's a kind of addiction. If I don't write for more than a few days, I feel dissatisfied and grumpy (just ask my family... though they might claim that I'm sometimes like that when I'm writing, too).

What part of writing, then, am I addicted to? I suppose it's those rare 'first draft' moments when everything goes well - when your characters take hold and run away with the plot and you're left struggling to keep up. For me, it's particuklarly those times when I feel fully tuned in to the thoughts and words (especially the words) of my characters, and I'm evaesdopping on their conversation, racing to get down every word they say. I think that's why I need silence when I write - I can't even stand good music in the background - because anything else distracts me from the voices in my head.

And that joy when you wake in a morning and realise that your brain has solved a knotty plot problem while you slept (though I realise this phenomenon isn't confined to writers). It's always a thrill, to be reminded that your conscious mind play a relatively minor part in what you create, and to realise that the brain has its own concerns you never even dreamt of.

Jumping ahead a few months (or years) - another wonderful thing is those times when your readers, especially children and young adults, tell you that they have read and enjoyed your books. And perhaps even better, when they ask you searching questions that make you realise that they have truly engaged with your characters and themes, perhaps in ways you never anticipated.

But there are also times when the whole process is so discouraging that you wonder why you go on. I'm in one now, in some respects. A project for young readers that I'm involved in is... not so much in peril as changing course, and my role in it may end up being rather different from what I expected. It's disappointing and frustrating, especially as I have no idea when the project will come to fruition. And I feel somewhat flattened - maybe I shouldn't, but I do. It's so easy, as writer, to lose confidence in your abilities. A bad review can run over you like a steamroller, in a way that you would never have expected. Being told by an editor: 'No, that's not what I want...' can take you back to being an eight-year-old at school, being sent away to do your homework all over again.

And, of course, in the early stages of a writer's career (and sometimes in the later stages, too), there are the inevitable knockbacks from agents, publishers, etc. There's the agent who gets all excited by your work and leads you to think she's about to take you on, but then changes her mind.  Even once you're published, there are (or can be, unless you're very lucky), those miserable afternoons sitting at a table in a bookshop, while no one stops to buy. There are the publishers who sign you up and then go out of business - or who decide that your books are not selling in Harry Potter quantities so they are going to pull the plug on you. It's all too depressing to think about.

Etc, etc, etc. Yes, I know that life itself can be a depressing business. And I know that there are (there really are) much more important things in life than publishing contracts. I really do know that! But it doesn't always help as much as perhaps it should.

What I will say, though, is that if you can keep writing when all around you is disappointment and despair, then you may just have it in you to be a writer. Whatever the 'it' is - I'm not quite sure. I suspect it's a kind of madness, but I wouldn't be without it. What's more, I'm very thankful to all those writers of wonderful books who have kept going in the face of discouragement and produced work, maybe, that would never have surfaced otherwise.

So let's take heart and struggle on in our communal craziness. Knowing you are not alone always helps - and I must say that reading this blog is one of the main things that assures me I am not alone and helps me to keep going.

I recently wrote a travesty of Rudyard Kipling's 'If' along these lines, if you'd care to take a peep here.

Best wishes - and don't let anything (or anyone) stop you writing.
Ros

Author of Coping with Chloe (age 11+ approx).
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Pearly Gatekeepers by Rosalie Warren

In one of my recurring nightmares, I'm ascending the golden staircase that leads up to the pearly gates, and there stands St Peter in his robes and spectacles, frowning.

I clutch my bundle of documents, all 12 point Times New Roman double-spaced (or should that be single-spaced, where the synopsis is concerned? Or 1.5? I've consulted a bunch of archbishops on the matter - no one seems to know. Not that it matters to them, they're already in the system...)

I've counted my words, headed my headers and footed my footers. My printer's been well fed with the choicest cartridges and the smoothest, whitest paper money can buy. I've defined my genre and 'placed' myself with respect to other authors, though I haven't mentioned Charles Dickens, George Eliot or JKR. My pages are pristine, my sentences grammatical, my metaphors well-chosen, poignant and surprising (though no longer so surprising, after nine revisions, to me).

I hand over my submission with trepidation.

St Peter casts an eye over Chapters 1-3 of my life. Shakes his head, tuttting solemnly. 'Typo on page 2,' he intones. 'I'm afraid this is completely unacceptable. We can't consider anyone who has a typo on page 2 of their life story. And this is even worse - an exclamation mark on page 4!'

Chapters 1-3 are dropped (passive alert!) carelessly to the ground, which I notice is soggy and slush-like, consisting as it does of a thick layer of decaying manuscripts. St Peter glances at my letter and gives another frown.

'I didn't mention that my children love my work,' I venture (no, sorry, I say. One must never use a different word for 'say'). 'Nor did I tell you anything about my garden, my goldfish or my penchant for golden syrup sandwiches.'

'Adverbs...' intones St P. 'Three of them. To say nothing of four adjectives in the first two paragraphs of your synopsis.'

I bristle. 'There may be the occasional adverb, but only where strictly needed to make my meaning clear.'

'Strictly?' bellows St Peter. 'That's an adverb if I ever heard one. Save it for those dancing programmes on TV. I've sent devoted believers to hell for less.'

'But surely...' I adopt a pleading tone. No, make that a wheedling tone. 'St Peter, please. I've spent a lifetime honing and polishing my life story. Is there nothing I can do to get you to read it - so you can actually judge my life on its merits rather than on my comma use?'

Another bellow. 'Actually?'

I see my case is lost.

But no. All is not lost, even though I just repeated the word 'lost', after only a couple of sentences. I hurry (is it OK to say 'hurry'?) to the library, which fortunately (gulp!) for me is one of the old-fashioned kind that (a) still exists and (b) has books, including a large stock of how-to manuals for budding writers.

And I see where I've been going wrong. Long before I started to type my synopsis or concoct my letter. Long before I even began to compose my draft. The potions! The ointments! The fragrances. The offerings. The slaughter, the sacrifice. The call to prayer, the prostration (just checked and yes, it does have an 'r'...)

I've been doing it all wrong. My day needs to start with 5 hours of prayer to the God of all agents, to the Lord of blog posts, to the ancient guardians of the publishers' domain. I have not been sufficiently 'umble. No postcards of cute kittens or bottles of wine, apparently - but a lifetime of praise, prayer and devotion and then, maybe, at the end of it, good St Peter will let me into Agent Heaven.

Or maybe I'll choose to stay in agent-less hell, where I actually seem to be doing OK.



Best wishes
Rosalie

PS No agents were harmed (I hope) in the writing of this post. I don't have anything against agents anyway - it's the screeds of advice on how to appease them that sometimes get my goat...

Blogging at Rosalie Reviews
Author of Coping with Chloe for age 11+
New series for 7-9s coming soon!