How I got published

A behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to become an author

How you go about getting published can feel like an impenetrable maze, so I’m not surprised it’s something I regularly get asked about.

Whether you’re an aspiring writer yourself or are a reader interested in how authors become authors, I hope you find my story interesting!

How do you actually get published?

It sounds obvious but the first thing you have to do is write your book! I had the idea for The Lido, my first novel, when I was a journalist just out of university. But I found it hard to fit in creative writing around a job that involved writing every day, plus a fair amount of stress. So I switched careers to work in marketing where I found I had more time and headspace to get started on my novel.

It was definitely a challenge juggling full-time work and writing but I was so invested in the story that I felt determined to make it work. I squeezed in little bits where I could - before work, on my lunch break, on the weekend. And eventually, finally, I had a finished draft. But what next?

Well, first of all you need an agent…

I knew very little about the publishing process when I started writing. I had visions of myself posting my manuscript off to publishers, but quickly learned that publishers only read submissions that come via an agent, so the first step for any aspiring author is to find a literary agent willing to represent them.

This for me was the hardest part of the publishing process. I sent the book out widely over the course of about a year. I received some immediate rejections, others that came months after submitting, and some of my queries never received a response.

What do you have to send to an agent?

All agents have slightly different requirements (as outlined on each agent’s website) but pretty much all of them will require a cover letter with a short description of you and your book, plus a synopsis and the first three chapters or so of the book (if they like it, they’ll ask for the whole thing). I’ll be honest - I got help from my family to write my synopsis because I found it so hard to step back and be objective about my work.

Writing the cover letter was tricky too - I felt it was important to keep it clear and succinct, while getting across what made my story unique. I dug through my emails and managed to find the actual letter I sent to my now agent, Robert Caskie, back in 2017…

Don’t give up hope!

I was so close to giving up on my book after months of rejections and silence (which was maybe even worse - at least you know where you stand with a rejection). But then I received a reply from Robert Caskie saying he loved what he’d read so far and wanted me to send him the rest of the book. After signing me he sent the book out to publishers and managed to get me a deal with my current publisher.

I was luckily able to quit my marketing job and focus on writing full-time.

My journey has been a wild one but I hope proves that if you have a dream of being a published author, it is possible that it could come true.

Is there anything else you’d like to know about the publishing process? Please let me know!

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