Does having an agent guarantee success?

Evening gang,

Lovely evening out, sun shining etc. Here at Hest Bank Towers the sunset is always spectacular, probably why the houses cost so much. Still, keeps the riff raff out. Except for the wife and I of course!

Anyway, this is another instalment in my occasional series regarding my brushes with literary success. Last time you might recall I had just signed a contract with the Sheil Land Agency. This was in 2001.

My agent Vivien, sent Playground Cool to Kate Elton at Random House because I'd met her previously through university. On the 29th May 2001 I received the following letter.

"Oh dear, our first rejection. I didn't have a problem with Kate continuing to go back to Dave but obviously Kate did."

This is a reference to a relationship in the book which is dragged out because neither party can let it go. The letter goes on.

"...We will now get two copies out there. I'm getting one off to Diana Beaumont at Transworld and the other to Marion Donaldson at Headline.

Don't let it get you down. We all know this is a very crowded marketplace at the moment. Let's just keep at it, me with this one and you with your second book whilst I'm at it."

And there it is. My first rejection from a publisher. I don't recall how I felt, it's too long ago but I imagine I laughed it off because I really was not short on self belief. It took lots more rejections before I really felt miserable about it. In the end it got to the point where just the sight of the envelope on the mat made me feel like giving up, without even reading it. It knocks your confidence like nothing else I've experienced.

Interestingly, I was to have lots of interest from Transworld further down the line with another book but I'll tell you all about that another time.

Anyway, I've clearly stuck at it and although my sales aren't life changing the reviews are always good and it's a great feeling to know I've sold books all over the world. Just yesterday I sold a copy in Germany!

Right, that's it for now. In other news new inquests into the death of the 96 fans lost at Hillsborough will take place early next year. This in the same week that Luis Suarez receives a 10 game ban for sinking his fairly impressive teeth into the arm of a Chelsea player. Meanwhile Man Utd won their 20th league title on Monday night. Sometimes the glory days seem a long way away. But when they return nobody will be able to accuse me of being a fair weather supporter.

I've got an agent!

Or at least I did in 2001.

Evening gang.

So, to carry on my recent theme of thrilling you all with my literary adventures, let's pop back to 2001 again.

We had established that I received interest in Playground Cool from two agencies. I can only assume that Sheil Land responded quicker or with more enthusiasm. I received a letter from them on April 20th thanking me for the manuscript and asking more about me.

By April 24th I received a two page letter. Here are some highlights:

"I'm glad you're a fella because I think there are just too many women writers out there writing this sort of book."

"Because it is an overcrowded marketplace I can honestly only think of about five or six realistic places."

Then there are a couple of editorial advice type paragraphs suggesting tweaks and then the agent, Vivien Green, asked how I knew Kate Elton. The answer was I didn't but I had met her once via Sophie Hannah at university. She was, from memory, an editor at Arrow books so Vivien suggested approaching her as an option. Made sense to play on the link I suppose.

I must have made the necessary changes because by May 9th to say she liked the changes and that the book works well. More highlights:

"...there are a mass of contemporary living books out there and whilst I do think yours is very good for a first novel it isn't SO very different from all the others,"

"I'm selling books from £1500 to six figures. To be brutally honest I don't think yours will be at the latter end of that scale. It isn't that there is something wrong with yours it's just that there is a mass out there."

She then describes her strategy which includes saying "I genuinely enjoyed it and that you are a good writer and that this is hopefully the first of many and that both Sophie Hannah and Michael Schmidt think you are talented and promotable."

She enclosed the contract for signature and that was it. I had an agent for my first book, at the first attempt and I thought I was amazing. Next time we'll cover the rejections...

How close have you come to achieving your dream?

Evening gang,

This is going to a slightly different blog post. It might even end up being a bit of a series. Here at Sinclair Towers we've been decorating and moving things round. I found a pile of old rejection letters amongst the crap. But I also found several letters proclaiming interest in my books and my letters from the Sheil Land Agency where they agreed to represent me.

Reading these made me realise how close I came to a totally different path. Had just one of these letters led to a publishing deal then the following ten or eleven years might have been very different.

So let's jump back to the beginning, almost. In April 2001 I was about to graduate with an MA in Creative Writing from Manchester. I had written my first novel, Playground Cool, and I was utterly convinced a book deal was mine to have. I was 24.

I remember asking Sophie Hannah, now a very well respected crime writer, how to approach agents. I sent off a few letters and some extracts of the book. Straight off the bat I received a letter from Viven Green at Sheil Land.

"Thank you very much for the chance of reading your sample material. I'd be very happy to read the rest of it if you'd like to send it in with return postage - just in case"

That was April 11th. I was over the moon. Then on April 17th I got another letter from Sarah Molloy at the AM Heath agency.

"Thank you for letting me read the opening chapters of Playground Cool. I'd be happy to read the rest of the typescript and look forward to reading the rest of the material in due course"

Short, to the point, interested in my book. It only fuelled my youthful arrogance.  Two agents interested in a week and everyone at the university in Manchester was telling me my book was great. After all I'd just got an MA for writing it.

I'll tell you what happened next in another post.

But it was all good, at least at first!

Update on the progress of the novel

Ah there you are.

I've been fiddling around with the various settings within the blogger pages and have changed the layout a bit because it looked rubbish on the computers at work. I've also opted to allow adverts because I think it livens the page up and it seems I'm just that shallow. I've also added some links at the bottom of the page which, like the rest of this blog, will change and grow over time. The link to You Write On is worth a click for anyone with a desire to read the work of others and to post their own work. Essentially it's a peer review site and I've found it useful in shaping my work. The only downside is that you can only really post the opening chunk of a novel because if someone stumbles across an extract from the middle of your book it won't mean a thing to them. Still, if you fancy a search there's five chapters of my latest novel on there from earlier this year. The reviews were pretty good though I do say so myself.

The editing of the first draft of The 24 Hour Jazz Cafe is coming along at pace but in the mean time I'm aiming to add a new page to this blog over the weekend and include an extract of my first novel Playground Cool. It will be the same version that was so nearly published ten years ago so it will doubtless seem a bit dated and, from memory, it was a bit chick lit, but of course it was all the rage at the time. Still, it was good enough for an MA and the good people at the Sheil Land Agency loved it. According to their website Vivien Green still works there. She was my first - and only - agent and I will always appreciate her efforts. Anyway, if I figure out how to upload the pages I will.

Just as an aside I'm currently reading Entombed by Linda Fairstein and it's pretty good. Reminds me of Harlan Coben which is no bad thing. I need to crack on with it though because Ian Rankin and Stephen King both have new books out in the next few weeks. Needless to say, you can read all about these by following the handy links at the bottom of the page.

Until next time dear reader...