….And where I am now
It took me nearly twenty years to write two books (see above) and it has taken me another few to get this close to publishing them. As with the writing, I have learned a lot along the way.
In the beginning, though I knew it was a long shot, I wanted to try to get a traditional publishing deal. The first step to this is finding an agent to represent your book and I felt I had more chance with my second book, Precious Things. I sent it to an editor for an assessment and was delighted when she came back saying it was a ‘smooth, well-polished read’.
Next, I scanned the lists of agents and picked those I thought might be interested in the book, read all the submission guidelines carefully (Do they want a Word document or do they have their own submission form? Do they want the first 10,000 words or the whole manuscript?) and adapted my query letter to each agent.
I submitted to about 20 agencies over a couple of months. Half did not respond and I received 10 rejections. I did get excited when I received an email from the submissions reader of a well-known London agency saying she had really enjoyed the sample and asking for the full manuscript. Sadly, a few weeks later, she wrote that the team had decided not to take it on, though she still praised the book and said it had ‘chimed with her’. None of this surprised or discouraged me. The bigger agencies receive hundreds of submissions a month and take on perhaps 10 books a year so the odds are pretty long!
It took me nearly twenty years to write two books (see above) and it has taken me another few to get this close to publishing them. As with the writing, I have learned a lot along the way.
In the beginning, though I knew it was a long shot, I wanted to try to get a traditional publishing deal. The first step to this is finding an agent to represent your book and I felt I had more chance with my second book, Precious Things. I sent it to an editor for an assessment and was delighted when she came back saying it was a ‘smooth, well-polished read’.
Next, I scanned the lists of agents and picked those I thought might be interested in the book, read all the submission guidelines carefully (Do they want a Word document or do they have their own submission form? Do they want the first 10,000 words or the whole manuscript?) and adapted my query letter to each agent.
I submitted to about 20 agencies over a couple of months. Half did not respond and I received 10 rejections. I did get excited when I received an email from the submissions reader of a well-known London agency saying she had really enjoyed the sample and asking for the full manuscript. Sadly, a few weeks later, she wrote that the team had decided not to take it on, though she still praised the book and said it had ‘chimed with her’. None of this surprised or discouraged me. The bigger agencies receive hundreds of submissions a month and take on perhaps 10 books a year so the odds are pretty long!
Then I turned my attention to this website. I had been dragging my heels over this for some time, trying to get family and friends to build me a website, even having a go myself, spending several hours in which I achieved nothing except a headache! Finally, I found someone professional to do it and I hope you agree that he has done a very good job!
I hope the books will be published early in the New Year but in the meantime on this page, you can read a few articles and short stories that I have written. You can also read about the beautiful country of Türkiye and see some lovely photographs. And if you would like to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!