Sorry – only just seen this response. There’s a lot to think about – it needs to be edited and designed, and there are times of year which are good for debut fiction and times when they’d sink without trace… But most of all, if it was published tomorrow, NOBODY would have heard of it. The publicity and marketing that build your awareness of a book so that you find yourself buying it is a complicated brilliant part of the whole publication process!

Pretty sure you’ll love it Debra

x

Thank you Trudy!

This is so kind – thanks so very much for taking the time to write!

x

Very new to the industry – with very naive, ill-conceived assumptions & expectations (fear even) of literary agents being superhuman and possibly a tad superior in nature – I was delighted to see you speak, Jo, at Newcastle’s New Writing North Day in June; I’m delighted to share your professionalism, enthusiasm & passion were just as obvious there as they are here.

While there you advised about what was needed to ‘grab’ your attention with submissions, this really helps appreciate not just the tentative nature of the next step(s) but how beneficial, and for me essential, it is to find an agent who is enthused about the story, the writing and the writer; as you say, someone to form a strong collaboration … and of course, scoff Proseco & scones with😆

Thank you Mary!
J

Thanks Colleen!