Note: This page isn’t a finished article - it’s an ongoing blog about my writing journey and how the project gradually came together. I add to it as I go, whenever I remember something from the process or come across an old note. Nothing here is pre-written - it’s all written as I remember it, leading up to the submission stage.

The Beginning

It’s not easy writing Making It Real without revealing too much - agent confidentiality means I can only speak in broad terms. So, while I can say there’s a thread in my manuscript about anxiety, or another about dares, I can’t share specifics. What I can say is that my own past experiences with anxiety and depression helped me write with honesty. I’ve learned the importance of talking to someone you trust, and that truth sits quietly behind the story.

Some storylines really happened - a few almost exactly, others expanded or reshaped to make them funnier or more engaging. I couldn’t stop my childish humour from slipping through, even when things got serious. Realism in the way the characters speak was crucial too. Each one needed their own voice and personality; even the better children’s books don’t always try to do that. Maybe I’m picky, but as a kid I wanted to relate to every character - to feel like I could be part of their world and belong there.

After deciding to write a children’s book, I needed ideas. I already knew one of the main character names and even the first two words. Oddly, I also knew how the book would end. I was learning everything from scratch, but now that I’ve found my rhythm and process, future manuscripts will come together much more quickly.

I started making notes everywhere - on my phone, laptop, and scraps of paper. If I was in the supermarket and thought of something, I’d type it into my phone’s notes app. One evening I sat down and thought about the different things that had happened when I was in primary school. Very quickly, I came up with a couple of storylines.

On their own, they might have been daring for the characters at first, but ultimately a bit boring. So I had to extend them and make them more exciting - something I’ve always been good at: creating a scene or chapter out of something not especially thrilling.

But I still needed characters. I had to think about the dynamic: all boys, all girls, or a mixture of both? One thing I was sure of from the start was that the book - and any future stories - would have adults who were as fallible as the kids. I didn’t want cardboard cut-outs where every adult, teacher or parent, simply shouted at the children.

I needed something more. So I started a comprehensive guide for all the characters - their likes, dislikes, and personal traits. There’s no point in having a character who hates apples suddenly munching into one four chapters later without anyone noticing. That guide helped form the backbone of the project.

Even at that stage, I was thinking seriously about how each character should look. Quite a few famous authors have used visuals to help bring their characters to life (JRR Tolkien, Linda Gillard). So I bought different image generators and editors to help me create visual references. Having a picture of each character would really help.

Deciding on the look of one of the main characters turned out to be a nightmare. Getting it right meant a lot of late nights - and I still hadn’t typed a single line of the actual manuscript.

The other issue I had was my laptop. I was already using an external keyboard because the built-in one had failed, and then the USB ports started giving up too. That meant getting a new laptop purely for the manuscript.

The author software I bought was more geared towards self-publishing than traditional manuscript format, and at the time I wasn’t sure which route I’d take. Another learning experience - figuring out the new software as I went.

Funnily enough, the first words I ever wrote were actually the final few lines of the manuscript. Much later, I added more to them, but once I’d created the image for that moment, the rest of that final scene began to flow.

My idea from the start was to keep the first chapter clean and focused on introductions - much like a TV series pilot - and then build from there. In the real world, kids are growing up all the time. When I look back at some of the school-based books I read as a child, it always struck me how the characters never really seemed to age. They’d be seven years old in book one and twelve by book five, but nothing about them had really changed except the stories.

That’s where my quote “putting the reality back into writing” comes in. I wanted to show how children grow - even within a single school year. Adults change too, sometimes in short bursts. My whole experience of writing this manuscript, dealing with submissions, and everything in between has changed me for the better. I feel a renewed energy now, and a quiet confidence that I can write the way I always hoped to.

Getting Started

The authoring software made it easy to dip in and out of chapters. Naming them became one of the most enjoyable parts of the process. Aside from a couple of exceptions, the chapter titles and the book title itself stayed the same throughout. (Mostly.) It still surprises me how long it can take to find the right names for things.

One particular first name I’d chosen early on turned out to already be linked to another character online. So, I changed it. Then I discovered there was a company using those same names - and even a social media account too.

That’s when I decided to start again completely. I pulled up a list of around a hundred children’s names and spent hours testing different combinations. Every time, there seemed to be something out there that already existed. For example, if your book was called John and Jan, there would always be a John-and-someone pairing somewhere online.

Looking back at my notes, I spent roughly eight hours across a couple of days just getting the combination right and trying hundreds of different first names. Once I found the pair that worked, the rest of the characters followed - though not without more trial and error.

Writers also have to be mindful of any name or setting that already exist. I could have had the characters live in London or Manchester, but that brings comments like “Someone from Manchester wouldn’t say that,” or “There aren’t many places in London that would do that.”

After a few hours of trying out different area names, I finally settled on one that felt totally believable - and very fitting for the manuscript. The truth is, most of us don’t know every small town or village in our own country, so I just needed it to sound real.

Using something like Noodlewhip Nook or Quirkyquack Cove would have lost all credibility. There are a couple of surnames in the manuscript that might sound unusual at first, but they’re real surnames that exist. I came across a few unusual surnames when I used to work in pensions - and believe me, I saw some truly surprising ones. A few of those aren’t printable here!

Research

When I watch real classrooms in programmes like Educating Yorkshire, I’m reminded why I wrote my manuscript the way I did. The teachers in that series aren’t flawless role models - they’re human, dealing with stress, pride, exhaustion, and laughter, often all in one day. The pupils aren’t “types” either; they’re funny, unpredictable, and full of emotion. That’s what I wanted to capture: real people, not stereotypes.

I didn’t have to imagine what it’s like to be a child or a teacher - I just wrote life as it is. Research was also something that became very important. I spoke to parents of children in the 8–12 age range - even my dad’s chiropodist. I had one teacher ask their class about a particular saying in my manuscript and their thoughts. The insights I gained weren’t just about how schools operate today, but about what parents, teachers and kids think and notice.

I also looked at the relationships I’d had over the years, and how the children of those same women behaved. Terminology has certainly changed in schools, which I learnt from teachers I spoke to: there aren’t typically caretakers anymore - they’re known as Premises Managers. Punishments are now consequences. I had to reflect all this in the manuscript and more.

One thing I didn’t include, though, were translators. I discovered that some schools use pupils as translators for new arrivals who don’t yet speak English. For example, a new pupil from Spain might be paired with someone in their year group who speaks Spanish and can act as their guide. I thought long and hard about including a non-English-speaking pupil, but my research showed that out of a forty school sample , only two used this approach.

That’s not to say it couldn’t appear in a future project. The current manuscript is about helping readers get to know the cast, but all this research still shaped it - not just in vocabulary or detail, but in how truthfully every scene could feel. Real life may have inspired it, but research helped make it believable.

Getting Back to the Manuscript

Of course, research takes a while to do. By the time I’d fact-checked school terminology, created believable names, learned new authoring software, drawn on my real experiences, and imagined how the characters might look, things were too slow for me. I’d written only a few lines of the last chapter and half of chapter one. But, hey it was all new to me. I was learning each day.

Even while I was writing my manuscript, my social media feed filled up with adverts claiming you can “write” a book using AI. One woman proudly said she’d “written” and published a book in just over three hours. Adults and kids are being fed this nonsense. It’s junk food for the mind: little humour, no layered stories, no empathy - AI simply doesn’t understand the way humans are.

That moment became a turning point for me. I decided that my manuscript would be everything an AI book could never be: full of humour, empathy, layered stories, and plenty of things that really happened, based on real people I’ve personally known.

I wanted to include the people who’ve meant something to me in life within the book. When I used image generators, I wasn’t always aiming for a perfect likeness - the people in my mind often looked a little different. What mattered more was the sense of who they were and what they represented.

Layering the story was equally important. I’ve read plenty of books where each chapter feels like a single, isolated event. As a kid, I loved stories I could revisit and notice new things each time - the subtle clues, the moments that felt real. There are hints like that throughout my manuscript: experiences, characters, and threads that quietly reappear much later. For me, that’s what good, real-life storytelling is.

Why Humour Mattered More Than I Thought

Quite quickly, I realised I needed far more humour in the manuscript than I had originally intended. Humour is the spice of life. I decided on a loosely running theme that sounded funny and a bit silly - but in the end, it all made absolute sense. The reader would say, “Of course that’s why.”

I added humour to the adults too, to a degree. Humour → sadness → empathy → happiness became the pattern I aimed for in each chapter, along with another recognisable human experience that an agent will see. I think authors should consider constructing a chapter in this way, depending on the genre of course. It’s how I work, alongside using visual images.

I found I could add to each chapter much more quickly that way - though I couldn’t have done it without all the notes I’d written down everywhere. A phrase, a saying, a memory, a simple scene-setter. The latter, for example: say you once went to Wales for a school holiday. You might have had a good but uneventful time. But if I’d chosen such a memory, I could throw in other experiences from different settings and apply the humour → sadness → empathy → happiness → something else way of doing things.

I also had to note what events had happened in earlier chapters - what someone had said or done. Some would call that a logistical nightmare, but if you’re organised, things fall into place. I often went back a few chapters to add details that laid the groundwork for something that happened much later on.

I read somewhere that many authors are obsessed with word count for their genre. I say: just write it. You can always trim things afterwards or remove what isn’t working. My final chapter was originally far too long because I needed to resolve everything and tie it up neatly so the reader would feel satisfied. The whole manuscript stayed within the industry-standard word count, but in the end I split that last chapter into two. The first ended at a very interesting point, and as a result, I changed the chapter title.

The final chapter I also renamed and added a new scene much later on. The interesting thing is that the extra scene came from something I’d written down briefly but hadn’t added until after I’d sent off my first submission to an agent. “Continuous improvement” - something I learnt from my days in the Civil Service. The best writing, I think, happens when you stop trying to sound like a writer and just sound like yourself.

Benchmarks

With any project I take on in life, I try to have benchmarks in place - a standard or point of reference against which things can be compared. Writing a middle grade children’s book had to be more than just “doing my best.” I made a list.

The manuscript had to read smoothly. I didn’t want to think, “That doesn’t sound right,” or “Hmm, really?” It needed to replicate the kind of book I read as a kid and also feel like a modern book that reads like a book. It had to make me laugh, make me cry, and make me want to keep going back to it again and again.

Authors often get fed up with their own manuscripts - it can become a chain around your neck. Someone once said they were clock-watching as they read through their own book. In my case, I achieved what I set out to do. I’ve read my manuscript in its different forms - adding and taking away things - around ninety times before reaching the final version. I only know that because I write everything down in my personal writing journal.

How can someone who has read something ninety times still laugh or cry at the same scenes? It’s nuts, but I do.

When I read Enid Blyton as a kid, my favourite book was Six Bad Boys. I always thought it was her most believable story, even more than The Secret Seven. I kept going back to it, noticing new things I’d missed before. That’s where layering comes in - dropping hints and following through on them later. That became another benchmark for me: to build a story that rewards re-reading.

My personal goal is to get a deal with an agent/publisher, maybe win an award of some kind. The Gavin Green who aims high and falls short will still be in a better position than the Gavin Green who didn’t really bother.

You need goals in anything in life. The ten-year-old boy or girl who wants to play football for their country might not get there, but they could end up having a successful career in the league and later as a coach. I wouldn’t call that failure - they aimed high.

Getting It Done

Reasonably quickly, I found that I could write a chapter over two days - typically around eight hours’ work. Whether that’s fast or slow compared to other authors, I’ve no idea, but for a middle-grade book that meant about 3,300 words per chapter.

It helped that I’d already gone over the storylines in my head and knew roughly what each character would say. Using the concept art too, I’d often ask myself, “How would you react?” It sounds odd, but it worked.

Even so, I kept going back to earlier chapters to add things in. When the final chapter was complete, I sat there congratulating myself - but I was still a long way off from actually having a submission-ready manuscript.

The authoring software I’d used saved everything as a standard document. A manuscript, I later learned, is a whole different thing. Typically, it’s 12-point Times New Roman, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on A4. I had no idea of that at the time.

So I copied everything into Word and started running grammar checks. I briefly used a well-known grammar tool, but it ended up making a mess of things. My advice? Trust yourself to do it.

That’s when the first of 141 drafts began - changing words, adding commas I’d missed, tightening sentences. Every time I read through, I found something else to tweak. You can sit there like a hawk, reading every word slowly, yet next time you’ll still spot something new.

Sometimes it wasn’t grammar at all but small plot holes - for example it could be a character who doesn’t have an item that they are meant to have. Around draft thirty, I finally saw one mistake that had been staring me in the face for weeks.

My advice would be: take breaks. Step back from your creation and come back after 48 hours. My problem was that every spare minute I had, I was working on the manuscript. 141 drafts doesn’t mean 141 complete rewrites - just a lot of small sessions where I added, removed, or corrected things. But a lack of sleep, combined with life’s usual commitments, did me no favours.

Don’t overdo it. Give yourself a break - or the book will break you.

AI: Artificial Intelligence

AI is all around us. We can’t hide from it. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to write a book that felt real.

I’ve seen endless stories about animals with special abilities or children with magical gifts, all wrapped up into 250 pages of absolute drivel. I read a report recently which said that book sales are still strong - people just aren’t reading as much.

I spoke to a few parents. One said their son read an AI-written book for about fifteen minutes, then didn’t bother anymore. Others told me they wished there were more reality-based stories for kids. It’s those comments that have kept me going.

It insults children when 40,000 words of nonsense are spoon-fed to them - and it degrades every real author, including those who write good fantasy stories. I even saw that an unsigned author had submitted a 14-book fantasy series to an agent. Admirable? No - it was written by AI.

A recent report claimed that 48% of all authors, published and unpublished, now use AI in some form. I’ve noticed some agencies putting disclaimers on their submissions pages asking: “Was this written by AI?” I wonder how many of that 48% took the question literally. After all, most grammar and critique programs now use AI as standard.

Even simple tools pop up with it. I wrote a personal letter recently and converted it to a PDF - immediately, AI offered me a “summary.” I also read that a well-known publisher now uses AI, though in what way I don’t know. Someone on an author forum said they knew an agent (not UK-based) who used AI on all submissions - not to check for AI use, but to weed out manuscripts they didn’t think were good enough. That’s as disturbing to me as the so-called authors relying on it.

My personal view is that AI can help with grammar to a degree, but if you let it do too much, it stops being your voice - and it certainly isn’t human anymore. AI can’t replicate real humour, emotion, or layered storytelling. It doesn’t understand how people talk.

“Hello, how are you today? I am feeling fine.” That’s not the voice of a ten-year-old. I’ve used that wording because that is exactly what I saw someone quoting from their AI book recently. Utter nonsense.

Me forgetting how to spell a word is about my limit with AI in any part of the writing process.

Why I Chose Traditional Publishing

When I first decided to write a children’s book, my initial thoughts were to self-publish. I know a few authors, and aside from one, they all went down that route. One in particular I was interviewed for their book about three years ago and my past experiences with mental health - that book now holds a 4.8 out of 5 rating on Amazon. They were very proactive about promoting it, whether through podcasts or interviews. I began wondering if I could do better when it came to getting a book noticed.

After all, I’d done radio presenting, pitched to government to win a contract, composed music, and handled marketing and promotion before. But as I carried on writing - laughing and crying at what was coming out - I started to wonder whether I should go down the agent route instead. I realised I was writing something good. The fact that I kept coming back to it every day, still laughing and crying, told me that. I knew an agent and publisher would be able to get my story out to a much wider community.

At the time, I knew nothing about either process - self-publishing or traditional publishing - so I did what most people probably do: I investigated. And yes, I certainly used AI to tell me all about it. Despite my hatred for AI-written books, I can admit that AI does ‘usually’ excel in research.

At first, it all looked very complicated, but after a while I got the hang of it. In the UK, agents typically ask for a pitch, three chapters of your manuscript, and a synopsis (sometimes with spoilers, sometimes without). I also looked at US agents - they tend to focus more on the pitch and just a few sample pages - and even glanced at Canadian and Australian agencies.

It was only a few weeks ago that I sent off my first submission. Looking back now, the synopsis was too complicated, the manuscript wasn’t as polished as I’d like, and it wasn’t even formatted to industry standard. The pitch was fine, but not as sharp as it could have been. I soon found that each submission took me anywhere from two to five hours. I’ve certainly not been prolific in sending them. Someone once told me not to “put all your eggs in one basket too quickly,” because you’ll run out of options - and that’s true.

Now, though, my manuscript is as polished as I personally can make it. One advantage of submitting just three chapters to agents is that you can continue refining the rest. After sending off my first submission, I added something new to the manuscript. More recently, I even added a 1,000-word scene - quite a funny one - that extends the last chapter. Authors are always tweaking things, even during submissions.

As of today, I’m genuinely happy with the manuscript. I understand that any publisher might want changes - that’s part of the process, whether it’s books, TV, or film. You have to accept that.

Some people might ask, “Why on earth do you take up to five hours to do a submission?” The answer is simple: I want to tailor each one to the relevant agency or agent. I investigate every agency, even checking Companies House in the UK. I look at the agents themselves - what they’ve done in life, whether any of their authors have sold well. I may not be hiring them in the traditional sense, but I am trusting them to do the best for my manuscript.

They want to make money, the publisher wants to make money - and I want to make sure they do, because that means my story reaches as many children as possible. You have to think like a business when writing your pitch. It’s not just about wanting someone to read your work. It’s about showing them that what you’ve written is sellable.

Submissions, Pitfalls, and Paying the Price

I had little idea what to put in an agent pitch. I’d written pitches before in my previous career - even in London, for government projects - but this was very different.

As always, research became my best friend. I looked online, read examples, even asked AI for general pointers. But I never rely on just one opinion - I like to gather several before deciding what feels right.

During that research, I came across a few agent gripes. One said he hated authors who claim their manuscript will be “award-winning” or “the best thing you’ll ever read.” Another had received a submission where the writer insisted he must read the entire series to “get a feel of things.”

And then there’s the big one: not following submission guidelines.
If an agent asks for three chapters and a short email, that’s exactly what they mean. Don’t decide they also need to see Chapter Seven “because it’s so cool.” Imagine it from their point of view: if you ignore simple instructions at the start, what will you be like to work with later?

I also noticed how some writers react badly to criticism or rejection - really badly. One agent shared a story about an author who sent abusive messages after being turned down, insisting their family said the book was amazing. That’s another tip: don’t just let family read your manuscript. They’ll often tell you what you want to hear to avoid hurting your feelings.

Which brings me neatly to hybrid publishing - sometimes called vanity publishing.

If you’ve submitted to a hundred agents, hate the idea of self-publishing, and don’t know what else to do, hybrid publishing might sound tempting. You pay a company to edit, market, and publish your book for you. The better ones are selective; the others will gladly take your money and print your 200,000-word saga about The Life of the Slug in My Garden.

But it isn’t cheap. You can easily spend a few thousand pounds and, months later, a box arrives at your door containing your “included” 300 copies. I looked into one company out of curiosity - they’d arranged a local radio interview for one of their authors. Nice exposure, but unlikely to get your book into any top ten list.

Traditional publishing has the contacts and credibility. If you’re good at marketing and PR, self-publishing can be rewarding too. Hybrid publishing does work for some - authors like Michael J. Sullivan and Barbara Linn Probst have had success that way.

The key difference between hybrid and vanity publishing is reputation. The better hybrids protect theirs and don’t take on just anyone; vanity publishers will publish anything to make your dream come true - for a price.

Either route can work, but neither is cheap. Ultimately, it comes down to what you value more: control, credibility, or cost.

Copyright

Copyright is a big thing, and in books you really have to watch every word. Naming a city in your manuscript, such as London, isn’t going to break any rules. But if your story is about a well-known children’s book series and your characters spend the entire book talking about it, then you have a problem.

An agent will certainly scrutinise any mention of clothing brands or TV shows. I know some authors include real people as guests in their stories, for example, a well-known musician - but you have to be careful how they behave. You can’t say anything defamatory or make them do things they wouldn’t do in real life, such as eat meat if they’re known to be vegetarian.

I’ve not gone down that route at all. I have met a few famous people - one was Daley Thompson, the famous Olympian. I saw him in my local town once, swigging from a soft drink in his car by the side of the road. We were about fourteen, doing a local history project. We recognised him and got his autograph - lovely guy. But if I were to replicate that moment in a story, I’d create a made-up but believable name instead and have them doing a very loud burp!

What about when a character is watching TV - do you name the show? That’s a grey area. Imagine there was a show called Gavin Green: Author, and a writer wrote, “Judy watched the truly awful TV show Gavin Green: Author.” There’d be a problem! I had to be careful with everything from TV shows to music or books. It’s far better to say something like, “Gavin was playing his Dragons from a distant star computer game.”

I tried to stay generic in my manuscript. One TV show mentioned was far removed from an actual programme - I simply replaced a key word. One example someone might use is, instead of Strictly Come Dancing, they change it to Strictly Come Skydiving, where celebrities jump out of increasingly high planes each week. It’s completely different - not even parody - and it becomes timeless. Even if the real show ended, the concept of celebrities jumping from planes each week is silly enough to stand on its own.

Then there’s AI artwork. Some companies allow you to use their generated images for free; others don’t. The concept art I used to bring my characters to life while writing was all copyright-free - I made sure of that. It needed to be or I couldn’t show it here.

My tip is this: if you want to make your manuscript feel real, you can talk around naming a singer or brand. “What’s that singer you like - the one with long hair?” or “I bought those new trainers in town, they are totally rubbish,” works just fine. You don’t need to drop a brand name to make a point.

I wanted my manuscript to be timeless. I steered clear of celebrities and brands completely. Even my made-up TV show was loosely inspired, not copied. Brand names fade, celebrities pass away, and reputations of a celebrity or product can change.

Keep things in your own book world - that’s my advice.

Keeping Track Without Losing Track

So you’ve started sending submissions off to agents. To even get there, you first have to find them - and that can take time. You can certainly use AI to help with the search, though one thing it often gets wrong is whether an agent is currently open to submissions. You don’t find that out until you visit their actual website.

It also helps to make sure the agent deals with your genre. There’s no point sending your heartfelt romance about a couple who meet in a car park to someone who only handles nonfiction about 14th-century pottery. As much as you might believe in your book, that agent won’t be interested. I know I joke in these examples, but most are based on real things I’ve seen - either from agents’ posts or authors themselves.

The big question is: how many submissions should you send, and how quickly?
I’ve already said that I tailor each one - there’s no copy-and-paste blitz of fifty in an hour. You’d only be wasting your chances. There are only so many agents for your genre, so patience really is key. I think that’s the hardest part of the traditional publishing route - a bit like an actor waiting for their next scene.

I keep my agent submissions organised in individual folders, each with a text file of the email I sent and copies of what they received - whether it’s the first three chapters or, occasionally, the first five pages (which is rare). I actually looked at a well-known children’s book series recently and read the first five pages. I’d be amazed if any agent or publisher would have picked it up based solely on that request. Five pages just isn’t enough to judge a book’s potential. It’s like going to the cinema and giving each film five minutes.

Every folder includes the submission date and any notes, like “rejected” or “waiting.” I’ve had a couple so far - one auto-reply and one more personal note: “Good manuscript, but not right at the minute.” Rejections are part of being an author. Again, it’s not unlike actors being turned down for a part.

I back up my submission folder - not once, but twice. Some might call that overkill, but things happen. Laptops fail, memory sticks fail. Periodically I review my list to see if it’s time for a follow-up, but only where agents say that’s acceptable.

There are a few ways to find agents. QueryTracker is a useful site where authors log their submissions and responses. Just be wary of unsolicited messages - anyone promising “I can get your book noticed” or asking for money should be ignored. I’ve only used QueryTracker twice; some UK agencies use it, but it’s far more US-focused.

For middle-grade authors, a great resource is the Children’s Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2025. You can find it on Amazon, and it’s packed with advice. I use the Kindle edition, which is handy because the links to websites are clickable.

So, how many submissions should you send? As many as it takes to get a positive response. I’ve seen someone get a deal after their first submission, while others have sent twenty or more. I even saw a couple who’d passed the hundred mark.

As for when to “give up”? I’m still in the early stages, so that’s not something I think about. But there is something you can do to give your manuscript a little kick in the right direction - and that’s to look at editors.

Editors

If you get a yes from an agent, your manuscript will then be looked at by an editor - someone who tightens things up and makes cosmetic changes. It’s all part of the process, and at no cost to you.

There are, however, editors you can hire yourself. Some writers choose to get one immediately after finishing their manuscript; others wait until they’ve sent off a few submissions. The question is, who?

There are lots of “editors” out there - everyone from a fresh-out-of-university graduate who studied English, to someone who has edited for one of the top five publishing companies. As you can imagine, cost plays a big part. The graduate might charge £50 and return it by the end of the week. The experienced editor with industry knowledge might have a waiting list of several months - and their fee can be, well, sky’s the limit.

Personally, I prefer experience. “Knowledge is power” is a phrase I use quite a bit. Understanding how the industry works and knowing how to adapt your manuscript is far more valuable than someone who simply corrects a misspelling of necessary and offers vague thoughts based on the latest cinema release.

I’m not criticising anyone trying to earn a bit on the side, but if you’ve spent months researching your story, writing it, and submitting it to agents, you want expertise that truly makes your manuscript better. Even if nothing comes from the agent route, you’ll still have a stronger book if you later self-publish.

The key is not to be blinded by cost - even when the editor is experienced. I once saw an editor say she “doesn’t charge clients thousands because she loves what she does.” That’s the right mindset. In my case, she didn’t do middle grade books. That’s the other thing: it’s not just about experience, but the right experience.

A middle-grade story about Little Johnnie’s adventures with purple hair is very different from a non-fiction book about Fifty Years of a Fish and Chip Shop in Wigan. Look at what each editor has done in publishing and what you actually get for your money.

A one-page A4 “praise” sheet for £1,499 is something to steer clear of. But if, for a few hundred pounds, you get a ten-page write-up for a 40,000-word middle-grade novel - that’s the kind of feedback worth paying for.

Having an editor is a positive. In my case, I honestly can’t see how I could make many more changes to my manuscript - but an experienced human eye that can really critique your work is gold.

There are AI critique services out there… I’ll save that one for another day.

As for me, am I practising what I preach? Yes. I’m currently on the waiting list of a top UK editor.

Making It Real – The Sea of Advice

One thing I realised early on is just how many websites and YouTube channels there are offering advice on writing a book. Some are simple “how to write a book” guides, while others say “join my webinar for a price and listen to me.” Everyone from agents to former agents, editors, and even newly published authors seems to be getting in on the act.

My blog is just about sharing my personal experience of writing - and everything that goes with it. There’s no “please like, subscribe, and pay for the privilege” here.

Are these websites and YouTube channels any good? Let’s look at the websites first. I did find a very good one early on, by Jane Friedman. Her advice is genuinely helpful, though mostly geared towards the American market. She also offers paid courses - a fairly common theme with these types of sites. I can’t review any of them as I haven’t taken her courses, but the general information on her website is useful for an unpublished author.

The problem is that there are loads of other websites offering far less than Jane’s. You’ll find people who’ve written one book and now “know it all.”

And what about YouTube? Much the same - just in video form. Alyssa Matesic, a former editor with Penguin, is one I came across. Again, her advice is well-meaning but focused on the U.S. system and how “queries” should be done for example.

With all the advice out there, particularly from those in the industry, there’s a baseline that stays consistent: make the book engaging, and ensure your pitch sells your idea or story. The rest, though, is just opinion.

One UK agent said she loves to read the bio in a pitch email. Another said they skim bios. One agent claimed they know in the first line (yes, you read that correctly) if a manuscript has legs, while another agency insisted every manuscript deserves a full read.

Then there’s the advice from editors: don’t start your book with a scene on a plane. Yet Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Airframe by Michael Crichton both begin on a plane. Others say “don’t start with someone asleep” or “don’t end with ‘it was all a dream.’” Ultimately, these are opinions - and the fact that so many successful books break those supposed rules proves it.

There’s nothing wrong with searching for help or advice online about writing, but be aware that one person’s “this must be done” is another’s “you must not do this.”

Why I Decided to Create an Author Website

So your book isn’t published yet - do you really need a website? I thought long and hard about that.

I can’t reveal anything of note about my manuscript, but I can write about myself, share concept art that helps me bring the characters to life in my head, and run an ongoing blog about the process of writing the book.

Quite often, an agent will ask for your social media handles. They want to know if you have any reach. If you live in a cottage in the middle of nowhere, know no one at all, and only use the internet to send submissions off, some agents may think you’re detached from reality - I’ve seen comments like that before.

From what I’ve read, the general view is that having a website is a positive. You just need to make sure the grammar is correct and that your voice is what comes through. A poorly worded, AI-driven website won’t give the best impression.

Think of an author website as an extension of your pitch to an agent. You can give more information about yourself and share examples of previous work - published or not. In my case, I even dug out the old “Shoot The Writers” sketches I did for the TV submissions tab.

There are many website hosting companies to choose from. Some will certainly cost you, while others are much cheaper or even free. The company I settled on is one that many professional authors use. It allows for growth, which I felt was important. Another tip is to include your own name in the website URL - not the title of your manuscript. You’re hopefully not going to be about just one book going forward.

Some people set up a TikTok account to “advertise” themselves. Setting up a website is really the same thing. Putting yourself out there makes you - and the fact that you’ve written something - a little less invisible to agents and anyone else who might come across your work.

Next time, I’ll talk about submitting your manuscript to other countries.

NEXT PART ON

19TH NOVEMBER