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Current as of November 2009
SOMEONE ELSE'S FOOTPRINTS by Katie DaleDANNY BAKER – RECORD BREAKER by Steve HartleyTHE BOY WHO FELL DOWN EXIT FORTY-THREE by Harriet GoodwinOGDEN THE OGRE by Kirsty McKayDARK PARTIES by Sara GrantWINDRUNNER'S DAUGHTER by Bryony PearceAN ALIEN ATE MY HOMEWORK by Mariam VossoughSpecial thanks to Anita Loughrey for her research |
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Someone Else's Footprints
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 Well, things are really kicking off now! This summer has been a bit of a whirlwind. After slogging away to FINALLY finish the manuscript (DON'T go travelling in the middle of a novel!) I finally completed Someone Else's Footprints, but not before a couple of other wonderful opportunities had come my way...
After reading my anthology entry, the lovely Catherine Coe at Orchard Books contacted me to say how much she enjoyed it, but that her imprint didn't really deal with that age-range - would I like to come in and meet the Orchard team and discuss other ideas?
Would I?!
I jumped at the chance and felt very nervous and excited arriving at the impressive Hachette headquarters, with all their famous books and authors on display, but Catherine was completely lovely and put me at my ease. We discussed ideas for younger teen readers - but it was an idea for a rhyming fairytale series for their Crunchies imprint which really caught her interest - and she made me an offer for an eight book series! Hurray!
At moreorless the same time, having got my name from Working Partners, Tony Bradman (wow!) contacted me about an anthology Walker were putting together entitled 'How To Be A Boy'. My initial reaction was "help! How do I write boy fiction?!" Teenage girl narraters have always been my strength and I was extremely nervous and apprehensive, but it was just too good an opportunity to pass up, so I gave it a go - and it was great fun! I discovered a writing style I'd never attempted before and really enjoyed it and - even better - Walker chose my story for inclusion in their anthology! - my first professional publication! Writing as a fifteen-year-old boy! Wonders never cease.
On the back of these successes, I decided now was the time to approach agents again. It certainly was! After previously being unable to attract/beg/bribe a single offer of representation, I ended up in the incredible position of being able to CHOOSE from FOUR wonderful agents! I was totally overwhelmed - it was a position I had never imagined in my wildest dreams! After meeting with them all, and after many hours of deliberation, I ultimately decided to go with the very lovely Jenny Savill, who came with rave references from Sara Grant, who had just sold her wonderful novel Dark Parties.
The last couple of months have been a blur of furious editing as Jenny has enthusiastically and tirelessly helped me edit, improve, and CUT (40,000 words!) the manuscript, until finally we will hopefully be sending it to prospective publishers in the New Year!!
I can't believe how much has happened in the last six months - and NONE of it would have occurred if it weren't for Undiscovered Voices. Catherine Coe would never have met me, Tony Bradman would never have heard of me, and I'd probably still be begging for representation - if I'd ever got around to finishing the novel! I am indebted to Sara and Sara - and cannot thank them enough for this invaluable opportunity. Thank you!!
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Danny Baker - Record Breaker
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 Until last February, I had spent over fifteen years trying to get ONE agent or publisher to take an interest in my writing. Within two weeks of the launch of the Undiscovered Voices anthology, I had SIX. Of the four agents who contacted me, I eventually decided to sign with Sarah Manson. Random House and Egmont wanted to see the complete Danny Baker Record Breaker, and one offered me the chance to write for a new series they were putting together. I turned this down because I wanted to give Danny my best shot – right decision, as it turned out!
Danny Baker Record Breaker was written as a one-off short story (about 5000 words) that I wrote about three years ago, for those ‘unwilling boy-readers.’ I sent it off to one publisher at the time, and by the time I got the standard rejection slip, I was working on something else and so did nothing with it until the anthology came along.
Random House rejected Danny Baker because, although they liked the story, they couldn’t see how it could be worked into a series. It wasn’t long enough for a stand-alone book. Spine width, and therefore visibility on the shelf, is very important, apparently! Sarah made me strengthen the end of this story, and then write three more, to prove to publishers that the idea did have the legs for a series. The following three months were spent writing and re-writing under her editorial guidance, and by early June I had four stories honed and polished so much that you needed sunglasses to read them. We wrote a snappy proposal to sell the idea of the series, and then my little lad was sent off into the big wide world.
Sarah decided to do a multiple submission, given that Danny was ‘out there’ because of the anthology, and at first things looked gloomy, as she got a few rejections. One didn’t think it was funny enough. Most loved it but said it wasn’t right for their list, and then two good publishers said they loved it and it WAS what they had been looking for. We met with both, and they had very different ideas for how to publish the stories, i.e. target age-range, book length, etc, so I had a lot to think about. Both made offers and after a great deal of deliberation, I decided to take Macmillan’s. They were bursting with enthusiasm and ideas and it just seemed the right home for Danny. Their list is very ‘pink’ at the moment, and they had been looking for something boyish, and Danny seemed to fit the bill. It was the same old story – right manuscript on the right desk at the right time.
So exactly a year and a day after the closing date for the anthology competition, Sarah received the contract. I’ve read discussions recently on the SCWBI email group about whether you need an agent or not. Of course you don’t, but I am certain I wouldn’t have got this deal without Sarah. She’s been fab. I’ve learned loads in the last six months, and my writing is much stronger now than it was, and the negotiations that took place would have baffled me if I’d had to do it.
I can honestly say I don’t think any of this would have happened without the Undiscovered Voices. That put my writing in front of individual agents and publishers and made them look at it differently, I think.
I’ve recently had my first editorial meeting with Emma Young, my new editor at Macmillan. Danny Baker Record Breaker will be published as four books, with each book having two stories of about 6–7,000 words. The first two books are scheduled for simultaneous publication in Spring 2010, and the next two about six months later. I have to deliver the first four stories by December, and the next four by July 2009. I have ideas for more, but it will depend on how successful these are if these ever see the light of day. Macmillan have got loads of ideas for promoting Danny Baker, and I’m really looking forward to having a lot of fun with it – they are even talking about a giant nit-costume!!!! I’ve already started thinking about workshops I can do with kids on school visits.
I’m also working on a YA novel that Sarah is excited about. So the next couple of years, and hopefully longer, will be extremely busy.
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God's Killer
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 The SCBWI Undiscovered Voices has transformed my life completely. There’s no other way of putting it.
Right after having been one of the chosen 12, I was contacted by Sarah Davies and Lindsey Heaven, two of the UV judges, both of whom loved the Chapter 1 of God’s Killer. Sarah was just heading off to start a new life in the USA, and with it her agency, Greenhouse, and was keen to meet me before she flew off. Lindsey was senior editor with Puffin, and wanted to find out more about the book.
I was being mentored by Helen Corner of Cornerstones at the time, and she arranged for me to meet Sarah, literally days before she got on the plane. She was also catching Harriet Goodwin, also a Cornerstones alumni and UV winner. The meeting went well and in the next few days, I signed with Sarah.
So, after 4 years of hard graft, I had an agent and could put my feet up and let her do all the work now. I was so, so wrong.
Except Sarah wanted changes. A lot. Quickly. She’d had twenty years experience as an editor and felt there were some fundamental issues in making this more marketable. Her suggestions really set fire to the entire process and in about six weeks I’d rewritten it from scratch. With Sarah’s very close assistance, the revised version was a completely different beast to the first. Nothing survived, not the Chapter that had got me in UV, and not even the title. God’s Killer died and in its place was The Devil’s Kiss.
Sarah loved it, and out it went. Given her unique position she sent bits out to both US and UK publishers. Within a week it was in auction on both sides of the Atlantic and on the Friday, as my wife and I were ordering our takeaway curry, Sarah called and asked if I was sitting down.
Cliché, right? By the end of the conversation I was in a position to give up the day job. And they all wanted the sequel! Sarah’s been totally awesome throughout, even maintaining her cool, calm demeanour even when I was giggling like a fool on the other end of the line.
By the following week it had gone even more mad, with Hyperion making a last 11th hour offer that sort of blew everyone else out of the water. I think another curry was ordered in celebration.
Lindsey Heaven got it for Puffin, so there was a perfect symmetry to the whole thing.
This was all in February and March. Then Bologna arrived, Sarah went over and blitzed the place, selling The Devil’s Kiss and sequel left right and centre. Within a month or so I had deals with France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Brazil and even Indonesia. It all got very overwhelming.
Since then I have given up the day job and am now a full time writer/house husband. It’s bloody fantastic!
Although, there are a whole load of new pressures that certainly eclipse the otherwise blissful joy of being where I am. Rewrites have come, gone, come back, gone away, returned but each version is better than the last. Deadlines loom majorly, and I have total respect for all writers, especially those still holding down the day job and working with all the additional pressure of publishers and performance and dates.
Can’t thank SCBWI enough and if I have any more children they’ll all be called Scbwi.
If all goes according to plan, The Devil’s Kiss will be out in the UK Spring 2009, the US in the Autumn. The sequel, The Dark Goddess, will follow in 2010. There are a few ideas bubbling away, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.
SCBWI’s been an excellent resource and support over the entire year. I’ve met some great people and they’ve helped me keep things in perspective.
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The Boy Who Fell Down Exit Forty-Three
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 For me, the past year has been a truly incredible journey. I entered my manuscript, The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43, into the inaugural SCBWI anthology competition and was selected as one of the twelve winners. Sarah Davies, of the Greenhouse Literary Agency, subsequently took me on and, after a process of revision, submitted the novel (middle grade adventure fantasy) to a number of publishers. I secured a two-book deal with Stripes (parent company Magi) and celebrated hard!
Whilst I awaited editorial revisions, ideas for the second book began to bubble away in my mind and I got going on its Prologue. Then it was a question of putting that aside as I worked on the revisions from my publisher on Exit 43. That process is now all but complete – and my first book will soon leave my hands and enter the publishing wheel that will result in its place on the bookshelves in Autumn 2009.
I can get back to Book Two in the comfort of my newly wired-up den at the top of the garden – bliss!
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Not Quite Me
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I have converted my short story Not Quite Me into a full length novel. So far I have had three rejects from agents but I have another two agents who may be interested (fingers crossed!). I have just finished another children’s novel – this time aimed at a slightly lower target age – and I am hopeful that this may also generate some interest. I’m also working on another science fiction story for children. So, all in all, I am very busy.
Without a doubt, Undiscovered Voices has made my job much easier since it raises me slightly above the ‘slush pile’ and gives me a fighting chance. It goes without saying that I am very grateful to the publishers and I hope there will soon be ‘Undiscovered Voices 2’.
I am also very pleased that fellow contributors have landed book deals as a direct result of their entries in Undiscovered Voices (I am green with envy!).
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Ogden the Ogre
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How excited was I when I heard that I’d been selected to be part of the Undiscovered Voices anthology? Well, my husband pretty much had to pick me up the floor. And revive me with medicinal glasses of Champagne, of course. Then the phone rang again and it was an editor from a major publishing house…and then there was an email from an agent…both wanting to see more of MY book. Incredible!
Ogden the Ogre, a chapter book for 6–8 year olds about a man-eating ogre who has a passion for ballroom dancing, was my first book for children. I’d been writing plays for kids for several years, but I’d had a real yearning to see if I could create a book. First came a wonderful course at City Lit in London, then I found out about SCBWI – such a fabulous organisation! Ok, I would say that, but really, what more could an aspiring children’s writer ask for? Workshops, conferences, brilliant online stuff and a great bunch of folks – truly inspirational and educational; I lapped it up. I entered the Undiscovered Voices competition not really daring to hope that it would come to anything. But oh-my-gosh it did, and I am so very grateful for the doors that it has opened for me.
Following the launch in February 2008, I received a lot of interest and encouragement from various agents and editors. Ultimately, Ogden didn’t quite seem to fit anywhere, but I received enthusiastic invitations to submit other things to houses that I wouldn’t have had a hope to get read by before. Also around this time, life threw a bit of curve-ball: my husband got a job in Boston, Massachusetts and within two weeks of the launch we were madly packing for our transatlantic move and I had put my London-based business on the market. Crazy times! Not the best circumstances to be nurturing new relationships with people interested in my burgeoning writing career, but ain’t that just like life?
Once settled in the US, my half-finished adult novel was burning a hole in my head, so Ogden and my children’s novel had to sit on the shelf for a bit while I devoted a good part of the year completing that. I became involved with Grub Street writing community in Boston and met some scary New York agents and editors (including – I’m sure of it – the legendary Miss Snark, who told me that Ogden was ‘her kinda guy’. What higher compliment could I hope for?)
In Winter 2008/2009 I had two productions of my children’s play Rumpelstiltskin playing simultaneously; one touring England and one at the Chemainus Theatre in British Columbia, Canada. On Christmas Day I got an email from Cornerstones in London, telling me my adult novel had been shortlisted in their Ready to Submit? competition and I’m just about to hit the SCBWI New York Winter Conference, so things are looking decidedly rosy. I’m dividing my time between the US and UK and having sold my theatre company I’m able to devote myself full time to a writing career.
Being an Undiscovered Voice has been invaluable both in terms of bolstering my confidence and getting a foot in the door; I hope that in time I’ll fully reward SCBWI by making the most of it! For now, I can do nothing more than to heap praise in abundance at the feet of the Saras, Working Partners and everyone involved. From the bottom of my boots, thank you.
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Dark Parties
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Undiscovered Voices has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. It’s been extremely gratifying to watch the authors selected for the anthology capture the attention of so many agents and editors.
After reading my novel extract in the Undiscovered Voices anthology, Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg gave me a call. I met with Jenny once and knew that she was the right agent for me. I worked with Jenny (and worked and worked and worked) on a revision of Dark Parties. She offered me some wonderful editorial feedback that helped take my novel to the next level.
This summer Dark Parties was sold to Little, Brown. WooHoo!!! I got an email from my agent telling me that Little, Brown had made an offer. I had to forward the message to my husband, who was at work, to make sure I had read the message right. Yes, he assured me the message indeed said that I had an offer from Little, Brown. Little, Brown! I was beyond excited.
I had the chance to chat with my editor Alvina Ling before she made her offer. We discussed her thoughts on a revision. Her comments sparked many new ideas to improve Dark Parties. I couldn’t wait to get started on a revision. I’ve cut more than 20,000 words and added about 40,000. It’s been a pretty massive overhaul but I think the book is much better thanks to insights from Alvina and Connie Hsu at Little, Brown. It’s a thrill to be working with such talented editors. (Alvina has a really wonderful blog: http://bloomabilities.blogspot.com/ She gives a sneak peek into the world of publishing. I can’t believe she’s my editor!)
I don’t have an official publication date yet, most likely Spring 2011. Stay tuned.
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Hey Jude
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I almost didn’t enter anything for the anthology because the story I was working on at the time was new and incomplete. I had other stories in the drawer but I’d fallen out of love with those, or they were picture books. As the deadline drew close I succumbed. The lure of having six publishing professionals look at my work was too hard to resist. I convinced myself that, should I be so lucky as to actually make the cut, I could at least finish to first or second draft. By the time of the anthology launch I had almost managed to do that but I was shy of sending it out to the editors and agents who asked to see it because I didn’t think it was good enough. So I kept hold of it and worked on it some more. I was nearing completion of a draft I was actually happy with when Sarah Davies of the Greenhouse Literary Agency, and one of the anthology judges, asked if she could see it and I said yes. I have since signed with Sarah and I’m working on a rewrite taking account of her editorial comments. I hope it will be complete very soon as I am itching to get started on another story that’s been brewing since last summer.
Being included in the anthology continues to give me a real boost both professionally and on a personal level. I’ve met some terrific people and made some great friends in SCBWI and amongst the other Undiscovered Voices. Many, many thanks to the wonderful, hardworking and visionary editorial team Sara Grant and Sara O’Connor.
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Windrunner's Daughter
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After I won a place in the UV anthology, I received two offers from agents in quick succession, which was amazing (RLA and The Greenhouse Agency). I then worked really hard to rewrite Windrunner’s Daughter in order to get into a position so that my agent was happy to send it out to publishers.
Eventually, after a long wait, I received what my agent has described as ‘fantastic rejections’ – which sounds oxymoronic! This hasn’t dampened my spirits because while I was waiting for the ‘fantastic rejections’ I was writing another book, currently titled Incarnation -- which has been accepted fro publication by Egmont! Although Windrunner didn’t manage to make it into print (yet) it got me an agent and worked to prime some editors for me.
The anthology was fantastic exposure and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone.
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An Alien Ate My Homework
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Was it worth entering? A resounding yes! An Alien Ate My Homework was the first novel I had ever written so it was an amazing confidence boost for me. People had read my work and not just laughed! By that, I mean laughed in a bad way – lol.
I was lucky enough to already have an agent before the competition. However, it meant that my work was jumping up the slush pile and getting read quickly. Although I have not been able to sell Alien yet (and I’m not giving up), I have had many compliments about my writing. Always good to hear!
The best news is that I am now working with Working Partners, writing the first four books in a new series called Bug Buddies. This would not have happened if it wasn’t for winning Undiscovered Voices.
Once I have finished work on Bug Buddies, I am going to start work on a new novel called The Island. This will be a big departure in both tone and style for me. But, as it is early days for me as a children’s writer, I’m keen to experiment. After that, I’ve got an idea brewing for another comic novel. Truth is, I just love cracking those gags...
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2069
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Being selected as a winner for the Undiscovered Voices anthology has been the single most important development in my writing career to date (even trumping the publication of my first poetry collection – wonderful though that was!) I have just finished revisions to my book and feel extremely lucky to have a list of interested agents and editors to send it to. This wouldn’t be the case without the interest generated by the publication and circulation of the anthology.
The anthology has been tremendously important to me in other ways too – introducing me to the SCBWI which offers such extraordinary expertise, warmth of spirit and a constant source of support. I have made good friends who double as wonderful critique companions and been introduced to people and organisations I may have not otherwise have come across (including the wonderful Working Partners who sponsored the anthology and Sara Grant and Sara O’Connor who organised the competition with such tremendous enthusiasm and skill).
In the next six months, I hope to see my book progress and to make the most of the contacts and opportunities that have arisen as a result of the anthology. I have received wonderful encouragement from editors and agents and been inspired and delighted by the early successes of the other anthology winners.
As for recommending the anthology competition to others – any SCBWI member who doesn’t enter is nuts!
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Ugly City
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Even without getting into the Undiscovered Voices anthology, I always thought joining SCBWI was the best thing I’ve done in my writing life. I met many lovely like-minded people whose writing I admired. And I got on with the neverending business of Learning to Write.
But it was the Undiscovered Voices that helped me jump the queue to my agent. Undiscovered Voices opened the door.
Getting an agent meant getting some work in the world of children's writing - my short story How to Build the Perfect Sand Castle was featured in the short story anthology on climate change, Under the Weather (Frances Lincoln); I have written a series of stories for Cbeebies Radio and I have written a book of animal trickster stories for Oxford University Press's Treetops series. Getting my novels (I was writing my fourth) published however was another story and even after the UV anthology came out, the rejections did not stop. My agent seemed extraordinarily calm, considering, and assured me it was only a matter of time.
I decided not to let rejection get me down and write another book and another book and another until I found my first novel.
In October 2009, I finished Tall Story, the story of a boy who suffers from gigantism.
Ten days after sending it off to my agent, I was astonished to hear that I had a two book deal with David Fickling Books, the Random House imprint. Having been on rejection default for years, it was difficult to take the good news on board. I am still reeling from my good fortune. The best thing was: I also won a book deal with a publisher in my native Philippines - something which meant the world to me.
There was an overwhelmingly positive response to news of my book deal, especially in the Philippines where it sparked an editorial and appeared on the front page of a major newspaper.
TALL STORY will be published in hardback in the UK in June 2010 and in the United States, later in the year. It will be published in the Philippines by Cacho Publishing in 2010.
I have already begun work on what will hopefully become my second published novel. Its working title is PARADISE NOT.
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