Tips for Getting Noticed in the Slush Pile by Tessa Shapcott

I was asked by my local writer’s group to make a list of tips which might help with getting noticed.  I don’t claim it’s comprehensive.  But it’s based on my experience as an editor, who has spent many years combing slush piles for talent (and spotted a few good ones)!

• Don’t just write what you want to write; write what readers want to read.  This is the insight which successful authors have, and which makes them stand out from the crowd.

• Do your research.  Once you have established what a publisher or agent’s interest is, drill down and find out more about the specifics of what they handle; for instance, do they do general historical fiction, or just sagas or romances?

• Accompany your submission with a professional query letter. Look at it like a job application.  Tell them a little about yourself, and if you’ve had any previous writing successes like winning an award.  Don’t be desperate!


• Include a word count (a fiction novel should be between 45,000 and 100,000 words).  Identify the genre you are aiming at.


• Make sure your story sparkles from the very first page.  The reader must be compelled from the start, and if your book only really gets going around page 100, you are in trouble!

• Pay attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar.  Maybe enlist the help of a literate friend or critique partner to proof-read before you submit.


Tessa Shapcott is a freelance editor and writer.  She can be contacted via www.tessashapcottbookeditor.com

Becoming A Gold Medal Keyboard Athlete by Tessa Shapcott

Have you been watching the Rio Olympics? There is a debate here in the UK about what has been helping the British and American teams top the medal tally.  The Department of Sport and Performance Psychology at Loughborough University has made a list of the behaviours needed to become a winner, and it made me think about how you can apply them to writing. Here are my three favourites.

The psychologists say ignore the competition.  I think that’s a good one.  Comparing yourself to others is demoralising and futile.  Far better to just concentrate on your writing and seek out industry professionals who will give objective reviews of your strengths and weaknesses.

Get in your bubble.  This means focusing on what needs to be done and shutting out irrelevant tasks.  I work as an editor and the most successful authors I know do this incredibly well.  They are tough about ring-fencing their time, delegating when they need to and being a wee bit selfish about their writing because it always comes first.

Stick to your plan.  This sounds quite rigid, but actually requires a combination of knowing your goal and not wavering from it, but being able to be flexible if you encounter a fork in the road.  The journey may not be straightforward but you get to your destination in the end.

The takeaway is: grit, determination, resilience and desire are what separate winners from losers!

Tessa Shapcott: Let Them Eat Cake!

I’ve just returned from attending the RNA’s annual summer conference, which this year took place at Lancaster University.  This is the UK’s equivalent of RWA.

The word from attending publishers and agents was that, in the UK romance fiction market, the overall trend continues to be escapism, so think city girl goes cosy—country cottages, seaside idylls, sewing bees and tearooms.  There must be touches of luxury, glamour and material comfort too.  The writers who succeed are those who can pick up and run with these themes and give them a fresh spin and a unique voice.  This ‘cupcake’ genre has a healthy pick-up overseas; one author, Alexandra Brown, showed how she had scored great success in North America with a series based around a knitting circle, and also in Indonesia with books set in an old-fashioned department store.

Cupcakes have dominated the romance market since around 2008-9 and show no sign of waning.  This doesn’t surprise me.  It feels like the world has been very unstable since then.  Recession, terrorism, war and mass migration surround us. No wonder women seek comfort in intensely feminine themes and dreams, tinged with nostalgia.  But I do sometimes wonder if this wanting to have our cake and eat it over and over again is leading agents and publishers to narrow their acquisition strategies and not take so many chances on talented new writers aiming at other romance genres.

Contact me at http://www.tessashapcottbookeditor.com

My New Year’s Writing Resolution, Continued by Joanne Walsh

So January is almost done – how did I get on with my resolution to sit down every day first thing and write, with email and other distractions shut off?  Well, it hasn’t turned out to be quite that disciplined, but I am doing better and have accumulated 5,000 words more of my next novel.  And I have discovered something about myself and how I write best.

My big challenge is to balance what I do for a living—I work as a freelance book editor and writer—with my dream of writing romance. Therefore I have deadlines to meet, and also must immerse myself in other people’s novels as well as my own.  I realised I was struggling with that—becoming involved with other writers’ compelling characters, then having to tear myself away to go back into my own fictional world.  The structure of writing a little every day doesn’t work so well for me.  Instead, I have come up with a different plan, of one day writing for myself, one day doing freelance, and so on.  It seems to be rolling out okay.  I find I come back to my book feeling more energised and refreshed.

I am also talking a lot to the authors I work with and asking them for their tips about how to stay focused and produce.  I will be sharing my findings in my February blog.

You can email Joanne/Tessa about freelance editing at tessashapcott@gmail.com.