New Year’s Greetings!

2nd January 2024

Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had a lovely and relaxing Christmas. As someone who likes to be in tune with the seasons, the Christmas period, for me, is about hunkering down, catching up on sleep, watching old films, doing jigsaws, spending time with friends and family… and yes, eating too much!

As soon as January peeps over the horizon, I want the deccies down, back to healthier eating (I say ‘healthier’ because I still have a range of Christmas snacks and seven boxes of mince pies in the cupboard) and a good ‘fettle’ as they say in Yorkshire. So, the hoover has been out and I’m rewarding myself with a chocolate!

I am also desperate by this point to get back some sort of a routine and commence the writing shenanigans. So, my completed novel, The Photograph Album, has been wending its way to agents. It’s massively exciting and a little bit scary. Although I’ve been published before, it was 11 years ago and I didn’t have an agent back then. Times have changed and the majority of publishers want to receive submissions via an agent. Plus, having an agent means you get masses of support which you wouldn’t receive otherwise. You also have the benefit of the agent’s knowledge and experience – they have access to publishers and knowledge of the market that a writer won’t have. Without an agent, you have a tougher uphill climb! I’m also beginning to re-work another adult novel and one for children; I’m hoping to finish both of these and distribute to agents this year too!

One of the other things I love about the new year is reflecting on how the previous year has gone and things I’d like to do in the coming year. I experienced a fair few ‘firsts’ last year, some of which I’ve talked about here. One of the main changes for me has been prioritising myself and giving myself permission to spend more time, and sometimes money, on things that bring me joy. I’ve had two amazing trips to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, one was to see and hear a truly remarkable performance by Thabo Mkwananzi and Aron Kyne accompanied by a light organ. I’ve also seen a new band (to me), Gong, in Sheffield, saw the wonderful Boygenius in Halifax, walked alpacas across the Derbyshire moors and attended my first sound baths and breathing workshop. I also had my first two tattoos and delivered my first Creative Writing workshops to adults too – I’ve delivered many workshops in schools but never to adults, so this was a great experience and something I’ll be continuing, for Derbyshire County Council, this year. Link here if you’re interested and search for ‘Creative Writing’.

For those of you who’d like to know more about the writing process, I thought I’d share a few tips below for submitting your work:

• Buy the Writers’ and Artist’s Yearbook – it is your bible – and use it – not to raise up your laptop or throw at the cat – that doesn’t count!
• Research agencies by going on their websites, looking at their ethos, their record and the books they publish.
• Research individual agents by following links to them on the agency’s website – check out which genre they are looking for, who their clients are and what drives them or attracts them to a book.
• Only approach agents who fit with your manuscript – don’t try to kid yourself that ‘No Sci-Fi’ means your sci-fi will be okay because only certain elements of it are sci-fi… etc, and don’t manipulate your genre to fit in with what a particular agent is looking for. Which ties in nicely with…
• Know your genre!
• Follow appropriate agencies and agents on social media – the majority are on X (formerly Twitter) and not only will you learn about what they are looking for on here, but you’ll get an idea of what they’re publishing, and links to other good writerly stuff.
• Agencies often have tips on their websites, eg. how to write a good submission (and we all need this, don’t we?), how to write a good letter, etc.
• Some agents write blogs or do videos which can give you a real feel for the agent – at the end of the day, you’re hoping you’ll be working together, so not maximising your opportunities to learn about them is a bit like buying a dress for a wedding/prom/anniversary dinner and not trying it on first.
• Read each agency’s/agent’s submission guidelines CAREFULLY, then read them again, just in case you missed something first time around. Stick to them. If they say they want a one page synopsis – give them one; if they say they want a plot breakdown from first to last chapter – give them that.
• Arm yourself with a few Beta Readers – ones who will be honest! Ask them for feedback in the form of comments on the manuscript and maybe a few questions. I knocked up a feedback form for my Beta Readers for The Photograph Album. It’s good to get some general feedback on likes/dislikes, whether they’ve read anything similar, what genre it feels like to them, which characters they felt invested in, etc.
• Read your manuscript multiple times; edit it multiple times; do the same with your synopsis… multiple times. And then do it all again 🙂
• Make sure your covering letter to an agent (this normally goes in the body of the email) is personal – see their guidelines for what they want. This is where all that research comes in because you need to make sure the agent knows why you have chosen them.
• Check that your pages are numbered and your name, manuscript title and contact details are on each document – I usually put the page number at the bottom centre and the other stuff in a header.
• Ensure that you are sending the 3 chapters/50 pages/10,000 words that the agent has requested. Nearly all agents want a snippet, not the full blown novel.
• Before you press ‘send’ read through that covering letter again. Make sure your name and the title of your book are in the subject line of the email. Make sure you’ve attached the relevant manuscript and synopsis and not accidentally attached your ‘bucket list’ or notes on recent dating experiences (unless this IS your manuscript!)
• Press send.
• Do a happy dance and sing a lot. Drink wine/whisky/beer (or one of those lovely smushy frozen cocktail things that some of the bargain shops sell for a pound!) preferably in a hot bath with bubbles and candles – by this stage you’ve definitely earnt it!

Here are a couple of links to other writerly things that might help:

• Literary agent, Piers Blofeld, of Sheil Land Associates, has put together some helpful videos. How to get a literary agent – in five minutes.
• Novelist, Mary Adkins, gives advice on why having a literary agent is a good thing, and what they can do for you in 3 things no-one tells you about getting a literary agent.
• Literary agent, Sarah Hornsley, now at Peters Fraser & Dunlop, tells us How to Hook a Literary Agent.

I’d love to hear about your submission process or your reflections on 2023. Thanks for reading xx