Good Things Come by Sophie Claire

I’m so pleased to tell you I’ve signed a three-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.

There have been tears of joy, celebrations, and just a few nerves at the prospect of deadlines. 

It’s a dream come true, but it didn’t happen overnight. 

Oh no. 

There’s been so much waiting, nail-biting and doubt along the way, but I hope my story gives comfort to others that there is always hope. 

So here’s how it came about:

A brief background

My first novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex, was published in 2015 by a small press. It sold well, much better than I expected in fact, but it had always been my goal to have an agent, so when I finished my second book I sent it out. I signed with Megan Carroll of Watson, Little Literary Agency in March 2016. Megan loved my second book, a summery friends-to-lovers story set in Provence. She approached publishers with it, and although we had a few near misses and really positive feedback, it didn’t sell. I won’t lie, this was disheartening (for both of us – it’s easy to overlook how passionately agents represent their clients and how much work they do on their behalf).

During months of not hearing anything, I had to keep the faith, be patient (I’m not very good at that) and keep writing. 

And then…

On the bright side, the submissions process is a slow one, and by the time Megan had exhausted her list of publishers, I had almost finished writing my third book (a Christmas story, set partly in England and in Provence). I’m glad I did because book 3 attracted more interest, including offers from two publishers. 

Celebrate!

I was utterly thrilled and, after Megan’s call, I confess there were a few tears. This was what I’d been working towards for the last fifteen years, after all.

I signed with Hodder & Stoughton, who will publish The Christmas Holiday in October this year, re-release my first novel (under a new title) next year, and publish a third book which I’m currently writing in time for Christmas 2020. 

Yet to come

I’ve already begun working with my editor and her team, and I’m thrilled with how it’s going. Although I’ve been published before, Hodder & Stoughton is a large traditional publisher, and a lot of the process is new to me. I never realised so much work went into bringing a book to publication beyond the author writing ‘The End’. It’s exciting to be getting input from so many experienced professionals, and I know my book will be all the better for it.

The Novelistas have asked me to blog about the process of bringing a book to publication, so over the next few months I’ll be sharing my experiences with you.

One of the things I love about writing is that I’m constantly learning, and I hope that never stops.

Sophie.x

Northern Lights Writers' Conference 2017 by Sophie Claire

It's always difficult to report back on a conference because there's so much valuable information and advice to be gleaned from the speakers, and #NLWC2017 was no exception. The day's agenda was packed full with guest workshops and panel discussions with writers, agents and editors, as well as a keynote speech given by historical writer, Sarah Dunant.

Kicking off the day was a panel discussion on Genre Writing with Julie Crisp (agent & editor), John Jarrold (agent) and Cath Staincliffe (crime writer & scriptwriter). The discussion centred mostly around science ficiton, fantasy and crime (sadly, no romance/women's fiction), and I've listed below some of the nuggets of advice which came out of the discussion:

“Don’t write what’s current. Write what moves you.” (John Jarrold)

Be aware of the market but write what gets you in the gut.

Cath Staincliffe researched the crime genre after being told by an editor that the issues and themes in her sci-fi novel would lend themselves to crime. She read everything in the library’s crime section then put her own bent on the genre by setting her novels in her home town of Manchester, and featuring a single parent protagonist working as a private investigator (rather than the more commonly used detective or police professional).

“If it’s a good book it doesn’t matter what (genre) label is attached to it.” (Julie Crisp)

Readers are drawn to a writer’s voice.

What is the next big thing (in terms of genre)? – Nobody knows. Everyone’s hoping the Psychological Thriller will soon have run its course, but it still featured prominently at London Book Fair last week.

***

Later in the day Sarah Dunant gave an entertaining and thought-provoking keynote speech. Here are some of the highlights:

Sarah Dunant

Sarah considered the differences between literary fiction and all the other genres. Literary fiction’s first love is language. For Sarah, however, narrative drive is paramount. 

But this doesn’t mean she doesn’t love language too, and in her own work she uses the engine of the story to convey this as well as philosophical and political themes.

“Story is incredibly important.” It’s inbuilt in humans to tell stories. They help us make sense of life and our fears about the future.

Writing is hard, no matter how experienced or successful you are, and as a writer you need to constantly challenge yourself.

Sarah recounted how she had to pause from writing one book (60,000 words into it) and take a 5 month break because she felt it wasn’t working. However, the break gave her perspective and room to relax, and she was able to complete it later.

Sarah sometimes shows her critical voice out of the room (literally – she gets up, opens the door, ushers it out, then closes the door!) if she feels it’s not helping the writing process. Later, she allows it to re-enter, usually when she needs to analyse the shape or structure of the book.

Kate Feld with Sarah Dunant

Asked about plotting, she said; “If you plot too tightly there’s no room for the unexpected.”

Characters sometimes take over, but they can also lead you into dead ends. As a writer, you must strike a balance between the technical and imaginative, and know when to use which.

The Northern Lights Writers' Conference is held annually at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, Manchester and you can find more information here.

Sophie.x 

How NOT To Submit To An Agent - Reporting Back from York LitFest by Sophie Claire

I’m always keen to attend literary courses and conferences, but this panel discussion looked particularly interesting –  and it didn’t disappoint! 

Part of York Lit Fest, ‘How NOT To Submit To An Agent’ was an event run by the Writers & Artists and, contrary to the rather negative title, it featured a very positive and encouraging panel discussion with literary agents Jo Unwin, Sam Copeland and Sallyanne Sweeney.

Jo Unwin, Sam Copeland, Sallyanne Sweeney

Sam Copeland began by explaining what an agent’s role involves:

Firstly, editorial input. An agent works closely with his author to get the manuscript as perfect as possible. Once this is done, he then sends a pitch letter to the first round of publishers (usually between 8 and 10). If he gets an offer, then he contacts the other editors to let them know (the ideal scenario is to get lots of interest and competition for the book). Then, once an offer is accepted, negotiations begin on the contract. This can take between 2 days and 9 months(!) and the agent’s job at this stage is to ensure his author gets the best terms possible.

But an agent does much more than just negotiate book deals. He also helps his authors plan their careers, brainstorm new ideas, he serves as a sounding board and keeps authors aware of changing trends in the publishing industry. He also deals with publicity, reviews, press enquiries: the list goes on. Crucially, he mediates between authors and their publishers.

Sallyanne Sweeney then gave advice on approaching agents:

Most agencies have a website. Follow their guidelines! (They all vary a little, so give them exactly what they ask for).

Use the Writers & Artists Yearbook or the online service, Agenthunter, to find the right agents for you. Follow agents on Twitter to keep up-to-date with news, but do not pitch to them via Twitter – that’s a big no no!

Query ten agents at a time and make sure they represent your genre. Always address your submission to an individual, and update them if you get interest elsewhere.

Jo Unwin gave us tips for submitting to an agent:

Jo receives 8000 submissions per year. In 2015 she took on 5 authors, and that was a good year. Depressing, I know (but don’t be too disheartened - I'll explain in a moment). Given these statistics, it’s imperative that your submission stands out from the rest!

How NOT to write a query letter

Submission letter

We were given examples of a good query letter, and of a poor one (see left).

Show you’ve done your research about the agent and are certain they are a good match for you (e.g. look at their existing authors). Although it's depressing to learn that your query may be one of 8000, Jo reassured us that by writing a professional letter and abiding by the agent’s guidelines, you considerably increase your chances of being noticed.

Make clear what your book is about and where it fits in the market (ie the genre and/or similar authors). You also need a strong elevator pitch. This is crucial and it's used throughout the selling process, from pitching to publishers to, ultimately, persuading the customer to buy the book. 

It needs to intrigue. And, as with your opening page, it’s worth taking the time to hone this until it’s as good as you can get it.

Jo read out short descriptions of famous books (taken from Amazon – look them up, was her advice) such as Gone Girl, Life of Pi and One Day. The best ones could be condensed into one line. 

For example:

‘Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?’

(Before I Go To Sleep, SJ Watson)

We, the audience, were then invited to test our one-sentence pitches on the panel. (No, I wasn’t brave enough – wish I had been!) They gave constructive feedback, mostly about keeping it simple and clear with an element of intrigue.

Synopsis

Don’t worry too much about the synopsis, was the general message. It is necessary to show that the story is complete, but no one is rejected on the basis of their synopsis. Stick to one or two pages maximum, and include the characters, the setting and the plot’s conclusion – don’t leave it hanging as you would for a blurb.

Opening Chapters

In contrast to the synopsis, make sure your opening page is as polished as possible! Your submission hinges on this and the agents agreed that in 50-75% of cases, they don’t read past the first page of a submission.

They gave us some Do’s and Don’t’s for the opening paragraph:

Do’s: surprise, quirky, confidence, a clear voice, attention-grabbing, atmosphere, emotional connection with the main character, beautiful writing.

Don’t’s: describe a character waking up, describe the weather, a dream, flashback, a character looking at their reflection in the mirror, too many characters all at once, telling not showing, overly florid language, info dump.

Finally, the panel wrapped up with their current wishlists:

Sam would love to receive anything outstanding.

Sallyanne would like anything she can get excited about, or a gorgeous YA love story.

Jo said she never knows what she’s looking for until she finds it!

Sophie Claire's début novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex, is available from Amazon

www.sophieclaire.co.uk

Writing: Getting Serious by Louise Marley

I've always liked the idea of New Year's Resolutions. That chance to reinvent yourself every year, like the kind of books I read as a teenager: neglected female completely transforms into the belle of the ball with the help of a few mice, a pumpkin and - oh yes, a fairy godmother. Funny how these kind of stories always involve someone else coming to the rescue. I'm a proactive kind of person myself. If I'd been Cinderella, it would have been more a case of "B***** the Fairy Godmother, get me a pumpkin and I'll do it myself."

You see, as much as I love watching TV shows like The X Factor, there's always one thing guaranteed to infuriate me: whenever a contestant says something like, "I really want this, I've wanted it my whole life." OK, so they've really 'wanted' a singing career but they've never done anything about it? Never had singing lessons, or written a song, or formed a band, or tried to set up a few gigs? Basically, they've been sitting around waiting for a fairy godmother (Simon Cowell?) to come to the rescue.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

If your New Year's Resolution was to write a book, or maybe you've already written a book and you want to get it published, what have you done about it? Anything? Anything at all? Scribbled a few notes? Fantasised about the hot actor you'd like to play your hero in the movie adaptation? Stuck a pin in the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and queried a few random agents? Enjoyed a few daydreams about the glamorous life you're going to lead as a full-time author? (And that's a whole other blog post, trust me.) If you want to be a writer badly enough, I'm afraid you're going to have to get serious about it.

Understand that you'll to have to make sacrifices. Not the dancing-naked-in-the-moonlight-and-endangering-defenceless-chickens sacrifice, but the kind that involves the most precious thing of all: your time. For example, if you know you only have an hour a day to write, then write - don't waste that time faffing about on social media.

Perfect your craft. There are hundreds of books about writing (my favourite is Stephen King's On Writing). Or take a creative writing course and, once you've written your novel, pay to have it professionally critiqued before sending it out to an agent/publisher. Although I still feel the best, easiest and most fun way to learn how to write fiction is to read lots of it. It's not expensive. You can borrow books for free from your local library and there are always deals to be had on ebooks. If you feel you don't have the time to read, think about how you spend the time you do have. Sacrifices, remember? No one lies on their death bed wishing they'd spent more time on social media.

Having said that, social media is an effective tool for writers, but only when used in the right way. Unless you are already published, forget about all the things you've heard about creating a 'brand' and setting up a 'platform'. The most important thing is to be social; you'll get far more out of it. Make friends with fellow writers, new and established. Follow people in the industry, such as agents and publishers - but don't expect them to follow you back, and definitely don't pitch your novel unless invited to do so. Most publishers are great at posting about deals on books and will have competitions to win signed copies from your favourite authors. Some publishers have blogs where they post writing tips from their editors, tell you when they are open for submissions and what they are looking for, as well as running writing competitions to win a book contract.

Talking of which, don't overlook those writing competitions - that's how I got my first book deal - and I didn't even win. And, if you can afford it, attend writers' conferences and literary festivals. Editors and agents are less likely to ignore a submission if it's come from someone they remember (in a good way!) from a workshop or a one-to-one meeting at a writers' conference. But if you're not lucky enough to bag a one-to-one, don't despair. Sometimes you can learn more from attending an industry panel event, and listening to writers and editors talking about the current market - what's popular and what's out of fashion. You'll have the opportunity to ask relevant questions and learn more than if you had pinned all your hopes on a one-to-one where you might have either targeted the wrong agent/editor, belatedly realised your submission is not polished enough, or had plain nerves just get the better of you. Early on in my career I found myself sitting on a sunny bench at a writers' conference, drinking coffee and chatting about trends in fiction with a commissioning editor. I got far more out of that than if I'd tried to pitch her my book.

With fellow Novelista
Trisha Ashley

No one understands a writer like another writer. Try joining a writers' group, club or society. The Romantic Novelists' Association accepts unpublished authors under its New Writers' Scheme. Alternatively, find out if there are any writers' groups meeting in your area and, if not, why not start one? The Novelistas came about because Trisha Ashley moved to North Wales and put out a request asking if other local writers would like to meet up. Our group has now been going for almost fifteen years.

Compared to when I first started out, there are now so many great opportunities for writers. Don't waste time waiting for that fairy godmother or daydreaming about success. If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, you have to start taking your writing seriously.

And no one can do that but you.

Louise Marley writes romantic comedy and romantic suspense, and is a creative writing tutor with Writing Magazine. 

Her most recent book is Something Wicked.

Website

Twitter

Related Posts:

W is for Writing Groups by Annie Burrows
T is for Time Management by Annie Burrows
The RNA Conference & Industry Day (2015) by Sophie Claire
Pitching to Agents & Publishers at the RNA Conference (2014) by Sophie Claire
How NOT to Submit to a Literary Agent (York LitFest 2016) by Sophie Claire


All pictures, copyright: Louise Marley
Except for girl in party dress, copyright: Fotolia 

More Good News! by Johanna Grassick

You may remember that in July I pitched my work to three agents and publishers at the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference. I’m thrilled to report that one of those – Accent Press – made an offer to publish my book! 

Her Forget-Me-Not Ex is a contemporary romance set on a vineyard in Provence and it will be out in June 2015.

What about the other two appointments I had? Well, one publisher invited me to submit the same novel, but warned me they had a 6 month response time, so when Accent’s offer came through within the fortnight I decided not to pursue that one (I was very impressed by Accent’s speedy response! As far as I know, this is unusual in the publishing industry). And the other appointment was for a book I haven’t finished yet, so I’m working hard on that right now and hoping to have it finished in the new year.

And in the meantime, I have a shiny new website here. Do stop by and take a look!

www.johannagrassick.com 

Pitching to Agents and Publishers at the RNA Conference 2014 by Sophie Claire

This wasn’t my first conference, but it was definitely the scariest! 

This year I had three appointments with publishers and agents to pitch my work: one finished novel and one which still needs a bit of work. I was asked to send in my work beforehand – most wanted a chapter and synopsis – and I must confess that, waiting for the first appointment, I was a bag of nerves.

What if they asked me to give an elevator pitch (when you condense the premise of your book into one line, exciting enough to intrigue a jaded publisher)? Or asked me a question I couldn’t answer and I made a fool of myself? It felt like I was preparing for a job interview. However, I know it’s invaluable to get feedback from industry professionals, and these ten-minute appointments are like gold dust.

In the end I wasn’t asked to give an elevator pitch, and in fact we had some really interesting discussions. One publisher asked what I knew about them, which was fine because I’d done my research on the company, listened to an online interview with the company’s Managing Director, and a very kind friend who is published with them had spent 30 minutes on the phone telling me about her experience of working with them. In another appointment I was asked what had inspired the idea for my novel because it was unusual, and we discussed my characters in more depth. One editor had gone through my sample chapter with a red pen and asked me to check some finer points, like the legalities of a quick divorce in the UK. 

In all my appointments I could see the agents/publishers assessing not only my writing, but how it would fit in the market – they were looking for themes and topics which are current, or a setting which is a little different from the ordinary. This is the business side of writing, which we authors don’t always consider, but it can’t be ignored and perhaps it’s of particular interest to me because I used to work in Marketing.

Another important subject – it came up twice! – was the importance of writing novels which are consistent in terms of genre or style. Readers want to know what they’re buying when they pick up a book, and they don’t like nasty surprises! So there’s a fine line to be observed between not churning out the same story over and over again, but not writing wildly different books with no unifying element either.

Sophie Claire and Sophie King

If authors do write across genres, and I believe this is happening more and more as self-publishing allows authors the freedom to experiment, one solution is to use a pseudonym. Or, in the case of Sophie King (aka Janey Fraser and Jane Bidder), several pseudonyms!

You might remember that one of my short stories came 3^rd in the Sophie King Prize earlier this year, and another highlight of the conference for me was to meet Sophie King in person for the first time. 

It’s always exciting to be in the company of established writers like Katie Fforde, and there were some interesting panel discussions at the conference this year, including this one about The Future for Romantic Fiction. 

Katie Fforde (left) in panel discussion

I was really sorry to have to leave the conference early for a family holiday. But before I vanished, there was time for an evening of glamour:



Dressed up for the gala dinner