September 1, 2026

I have honestly been so busy in recent months that I have neglected to keep up with my News column. The latest success is with Claire Parkin, with her second novel with Pan Macmillan, Tell Tale, which involves a small rural Welsh community having to deal with a serial killer in its midst. I have had no involvement with the development of this novel, but Claire has given me literary immortality by naming her important cockatoo character, Llewelyn, and the cockatoo even appears on the front cover!

Other than that, it has been a lean time, with agents and editors becoming increasingly "risk avers". In the last six months I have personally recommended half a dozen very good quality novels to agents, and have so far failed to find a taker. However, I find it hard to accept these rejections, and I feel the frustration of my authors. So, we continue to submit, hoping for a more positive response.

Janys Thornton, who self-published her novels, is still getting good sales, and for her latest novel, in a series set in warn-torn England after World War One, she is approaching Harlequin who have just announced that they are extending their portfolio to include a category of general women's fiction which would suit Janys' output. Good luck with that.

I'm delighted to announce that first time author, Nya Skands, has had her novel, Between Two Piers, longlisted for the Yeovil Literary Prize, and shortlisting will be announced in September. Nya's novel features her protagonist, who in her twenties is diagnosed as autistic. This revelation helps her understand how her early years were determined by the autism, as she now struggles to cope with this new-found self-knowledge.

Good luck to Nya with both the competition and her attempts to find an empathetic agent and publisher. It is the first novel that I have read on the subject that helped me fully understand the positive and negative aspects of autism. A truly powerful narrative.

I'm following the media plan that Janys Thornton is deploying, as she is signed up to do a talk at the Maidstone LitFest on October 7th,  and she is also at the Medway Festival in November. Janys is proving to be an excellent self-publicist , taking every opportunity to meet potential readers and to sell signed copies of her two recently published novels. Janys is a first class example to other self-published authors on how to market and sell their novels. Such a positive story.

I will be trying to keep up with activity on the publishing scene, which will be especially important for debut authors.

COMPETITIONS   

Morley Prize for Creative Writing for writers of colour who are unpublished and not agented. £500 prize  - Genre, novel. Closing date August 18, 2024.
Val Wood Prize for Creative Writing. - short story of 1,500 words on the theme of "Letters to My Love"  £100 prize. Deadline August 31, 2024.

I promised to keep readers in touch with the efforts of Janys Thornton to publicise her recently published novels, so here's a link to a really informative interview that she has just done.  https://www.novelkicks.co.uk/nk-chats-to-janys-thornton/

It's been a while coming, but Simon Bell has contacted me with news of his dystopian novel, The Epilogue Event, being published by The Book Guild, and he gave me a link to an interview he has just completed with Talk Radio Europe's Hannah Murray, in which he explains the thinking behind his novel.

This is the first novel in the "AI Aftermath" series, that explores the clash between human beings and artificial intelligence, in 2010, when the end of the world has begun, but no one is paying attention. Simon is worried by the advancement of AI, and is particularly exercised by the difference between artificial intelligence and artificial consciousness, the latter which he feels is not attainable. Well done, Simon, whose resilience and self belief have paid off. Let's hope that a mainstream publisher now picks it up and runs with it.

This is the latest update from self-publisher, Janys Thornton, which will give you an idea of what's involved in the self promotion stakes, in order to gain sales. Please go back to my January post to read about Janys' journey so far.

Sales have slowed down but haven't stopped. I sold 96 on Amazon up to April 1st and 127 paperbacks at events. Since then I have only sold about 7 on Amazon and 14 paperbacks - but it is only June!

I did an event for English Heritage at Richborough Roman Fort, one at Age UK,  U3A book group, and a book signing in a local museum. 

I've been promised a review by a book blogger called "Northern Reader" - but I'm still waiting. I've done an interview with another one called "Novel Kicks" which should be live next week.  https://www.novelkicks.co.uk/category/nkc/

I also had a review from an  academic I met during the WWI project on her website.

https://vote100lewes.wordpress.com/2024/04/11/the-early-days-of-womens-football

Coming up for 2024 I have two more U3A events, another at Chatham Dockyard. Next year I have 3 firm dates and 3 to be confirmed. Plus some dithering ones! 

I've written 11,000 words of book three, so hope to get that out by the end of the year. - But I will ask you advice - I sing your praises whenever I can.

So its all rosy! Hard work keeping up the momentum though.

Janys 

I am delighted to announce that Fawzi Ibrahim, who had his novel, UM Kamal (Mother of Kamal) published by KFI in 2020, has just let me know that his daughter, Dina, has written a play based on the novel, and has acted in the main role herself at two productions in London: one in Camden in 2023, and then in January 2024 at the Gatehouse Theatre in Islington. He is hoping for another performance soon. Reviews have been excellent. 

The narrative begins in 1948 in Iraq when UM Kamal's two sons are arrested by the police, who torture them. One of the brothers is released after his sibling confesses falsely that he is a communist, in an effort to get his brother released. Years later, the two brothers and their mother must come to terms with their shared history.

This play is a wonderful project that combines the talents of father and daughter in a memorable production. Well done.

Like the London buses, you wait for an age, and then four turn up.

I have just heard from Carolyn Ashmore, from South Africa, who has just had her novel, The Hunted, published via Amazon. Carolyn was shortlisted for a recent Wilbur Smith new authors' competition, and after a few redrafts has now got her novel out there. "On the shelves," as she says. It's a high paced novel centred around the illegal trade in rhino horn, as protagonist Sienna tries to discover who is at the bottom of this horrific trade, with many dangerous encounters en route. I'll update you on the novel's progress, as soon as I find out a bit more from Carolyn, who says, " I never thought I'd be able to edit it again, but I actually really enjoyed the whole process, and I think it turned out much better, so thank you." I really do love getting these inspirational stories from debut authors, whose tenacity and determination count for so much.

Yet again, I have been tardy in keeping up to date in my News items, but now have three publishing successes to report.

In autumn of last year, a former army officer from India, Sajita Nair, had her novel, The Grande Matriarch of Malabar, published by a quality Indian press, Readomania. It concerns the now moribund practice of the kalyedath tharavad, whereby through matrilineal inheritance, which the author knew as a child, property was handed down via female hands. On the death of the Matriarch of the title, the granddaughter, Rohini, returns from the USA to manage the sale of the property, but the matriarch's ghostly presence threatens to thwart any sale. Sajita has already garnered a host of four and five star reviews on an independent review site. Well done for persevering over a number of years to get to this stage. Patience and sheer determination have played their part in her success.

The third piece of news is that Claire Parkin's novel, The Final Hours of Muriel Hinchcliffe, MBE. is due for launch by Pan Macmillan, in the last week of March, hopefully with a launch in the Crouch End branch of Waterstones (London). Claire is currently working on the second book of the two-book deal with Pan Macmillan.

In January this year, Janys Thornton self-published on Amazon, and again has received mostly four and five star reviews for her first novel, Female Remedies, which quickly sold over 100 copies and  was followed by the publication of An Unsustained Charge, for which she had advance orders. She is now working on the next novel in the series, all set in and around Portsmouth docks in the years of the First World War, and all peopled by an impressive array of strong female characters. Janys, a former civil servant, is an exemplar of the sort of author who can extract the maximum support for her writing. She has already been interviewed for local radio and news outlets, and will be making a personal appearance at a big gig organised in the Chatham Docks area for later in the year. I have asked Janys to keep me up to date with her PR efforts, and hope that her successes will spur others who have been disappointed by the traditional publishers, to think in terms of self -publishing, which is becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for debut authors. I have produced two simple guides to self-publishing, which are free to all- just contact me via my email address for copies.

I've some sad news that one of my earliest successes as a talent spotter, Jim Powell, has died in France after a short illness. Jim's first novel, The Breaking of Eggs" (Weidenfeld and Nicolson) gained him a six figure contract, and from this he was able to purchase a holiday home in France, where he subsequently spent many happy months working on his subsequent novels, Trading Futures (Picador) and Things We Nearly Knew (Picador).

I will be attending a memorial event which will be held at his former college, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, on July 24. Jim came late to a writing career, and all his novels were character led, examining forensically the human condition. His enthusiasm for writing was so obvious, and he will be sorely missed, especially by his dear wife, Kay.

I am delighted to announce yet another author who will be getting his novel published soon. Finnish author and medical doctor, Jani Anttola, has utilized The Book Guild to see his work in print, and yet again they have produced a very professional package.

Niso , Wilbur Smith's wife, and Kevin Conroy Scott, his agent, at a commemorative event, in Bloomsbury Sq. London, at which both gave very moving speeches. They are holding copies of Wilbur's latest novel, Nemesis.

After an incredibly long delay, the novel of Canadian author, Gail Kirkpatrick, Sleepers and Ties, has been published by the Now or Never publishing house in Vancouver, and she attended the launch party past week, and will be holding other launch events across Canada in the coming months,. I just hope that the sales figures reflect the quality of the writing. I can just picture Meryl Streep in the lead role – you never know.

I have not been very diligent in keeping the news items up to date, so now is the time to catch up!

Two authors have this month seen their debut novels published via self-publishing. Retired Irish airline pilot, Padric Kelly is delighted with his very professionally produced novel by Amazon, Liffy One Alpha, who has a very attractive cover design to convey the high octane contents of this novel, about a freight crew who become quite innocently involved with international criminals, with dire consequences for some of the crew.

It's been a very busy six months since I last logged on here. In that time, I have worked with over two dozen authors, who have all committed to redrafting their manuscripts with a new vision of where they should be concentrating their efforts. Two debut authors have progressed to a stage where I felt I could recommend them to my list of agent contacts, and both are now under active consideration by top London agents. It wouldn't be fair to name them as yet, but as soon as things progress I'll be making announcements.

Another good piece of news regarding one of the shortlisted novels from the Unpublished Authors category from the Foundation's competition in 2019. Canadian author Gail Kirkpatrick is having her novel, Ties and Sleepers, published by Vancouver company, Now Or Never Publishing, next year. This follows on from news of  Emma Bamford's success at getting a book deal, which I mentioned last month. 2019 must have been a particularly good year for competition runners-up!

There has been advance notification in the trade press that one of the shortlisted authors from the 2019 Wilbur Smith Competiton, Emma Bamford, is having her novel, Deep Water, published by Simon and Schuster in 2022. Agented by Camilla Bolton at the Darley Anderson Agency, she is stated as having secured a seven-figure deal in the States and a six-figure sum in Britain.  I have a feeling her novel will eventually make it to the silver screen.

The seven shortlisted authors'  final manuscripts have now been delivered to the judging panel for the Unpublished Author Competition, administered by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation. The winner will be announced in September and will receive a publishing deal with Bonnier Books. Good luck to all finalists and also to all who entered the competition.

It has been a very busy 12 months since the pandemic began with so many people realising their long-held dreams of becoming an aspiring author. Thank you to all those debut authors who have produced such delightful manuscripts for me to work on in recent months. Hopefully, in the coming months, we may see some of them securing publishing deals. Is it a good time to be submitting to agents/ editors? Is there such a thing as the right time?

The march of new technology rushes ever onwards with real pace. Last week saw the announcement of the winner of the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation award for Best Unpublished Manuscript in a Zoom session with over 60 participants from across the globe, from such far-flung places as Australia, South Africa, Canada, Colombia, North America, and, of course, Britain.

What a busy month! Today, came the announcement of the six authors shortlisted for the Best Unpublished Manuscript competition run by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Smith Foundation. This competition has really gone global, with the shortlisted authors coming from Britain, Australia, the United States, Colombia, and Canada. If you would like to know more about the six novels, and a chance to view the author profiles,  go to www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org  and tap on the news link.

Delighted, yet again, to let people know about the publication by Allison and Busby, of Lenka Janiurek's memoir, "Watermarks; Life, Death and Swimming", which goes on sale 22nd of this month. Her first review describes it thus: "A stunning evocation of alienation, searching, and the restorative power of nature."

Delighted to announce the publication by MIT, of Professor Mark Lee's book, "How to Grow a Robot".

Professor Lee, of Aberystwyth University, has a wealth of experience in Artificial Intelligence. The essence of the book is that it will soon be possible to develop robots that are more social than machine-like, more playful, and less programmed. This engaging insight into robotic development will go on sale from May 2, adding a very approachable read to the current debate on the place of AI in human relations.

It's been a tough ask again this year to draw up a shortlist from the entries for the Unpublished Novel competition run by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation. but the Foundation will be making the announcement of a shortlist at the end of May. There are about half the entries of the previous year, but again the overall quality was very encouraging.

I'm so pleased to let everyone know that Alison White's book LETTER TO LOUIS, which was published by Faber in February 2018, will be broadcast on Radio 4, comprising five episodes, starting next week at 10.45 am ( just after Woman's Hour), and repeated each evening at 19.45 pm, from Monday, 27th April to Friday, 1st May. Do pop it in your diary and tune in to hear an incredibly moving and uplifting narrative. You will not be disappointed.

I've just been told of Alan Bilton's latest novel from the independent publisher, Watermark. "The End of the Yellow House" is set in Central Russia, 1919, when the murder of the chief doctor at a sanitorium sets in motion a nightmarish series of events. It is described as "a fantastical and wildly exuberant historical novel". Alan is a lecturer in English, Creative Writing, and Film at Swansea University. He has two previous novels, "The Sleepwalkers' Ball", 2009, and "The Known and Unknown Sea", 2014, plus a series of non-fiction titles including, most recently, "Silent Film Comedy and American Culture", 2014.

Anyone wishing to order a copy can do so direct from www.watermarkpress.co.uk

It's the start of another year, and January 6 is the date when entries can be submitted to the competition for the Best Unpublished Manuscript in the Adventure Genre run by the Niso and Wilbur Smith Foundation. There is an entry fee of £20 per manuscript this year, which brings the competition into line with similar competitions run on a global scale. As before, the winning author will receive a publishing contract with Bonnier Books, and up to 10 runners up will be able to avail of my editorial services, over a period of months, in helping them shape their manuscripts ready for submission, via the Foundation, to a select group of literary agents in the autumn. Best wishes to everyone for an exceptional 2020.

I just thought it worth noting that in the two years since I launched my services, I have now had the pleasure of providing advice to over 80 authors via the Feedback Report Service. I have come across some delightful pieces of fiction, and have received such positive responses from authors. It seems that the most important element of my reports, as far as authors are concerned, is their honesty, and the fact that they get to the essence of any technical issues within the manuscripts. I so enjoy my work, which allows me to make contact with dedicated authors, and to deal with such creative and imaginative minds.

A total of nine authors have been shortlisted for the unpublished manuscript competition; five from the U.S.A, one from South Africa, and three from Britain. See the Wilbur Smith Foundation website for details of all shortlisted authors and summaries of their novels. The awards ceremony will take place in London on September 12, before an invited audience of some 150 representatives from the publishing industry.

A total of 394 entries finally received for the Wilbur Smith unpublished manuscript competition, an increase of over 100 from last year. Again, entries from all over the world, and with a quality that was good throughout, so making shortlisting extremely difficult. An announcement will be made shortly.

With just three weeks to go to the closing date on March 1st., there have been over 190 entries so far for the Unpublished Manuscript competition organised by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation.

If you are wondering whether your novel falls into the "adventure" category, be assured that the brief is quite extensive in the range of work it encompasses. Please look at the synopses of the winner and runner-ups from last year, and I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised. If you have any doubts, then put them to one side, and do enter your work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Entry is, of course, free. Full details at www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org

Wilbur Smith celebrated his 86th birthday this month, at home in Cape Town, and we all wish him well for 2019.

Following on from the success of the Best Unpublished Manuscript of 2018, with over 250 entrants, this month sees the launch of this year's competition run by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation, with a fabulous first prize of a publishing deal with Bonnier Zaffre, which involves an advance of £15,000 sterling; plus there will be help with manuscript development for a select number of runners-up. The four runners-up from 2018 are currently being prepared for submission to publishers, so hopefully some good news from them soon.

This really is one of the most prestigious prizes available to debut authors and has the potential to form the basis of a future career in writing.

The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation.

Australian author, Bill Swiggs, from Perth, was announced as the winner of the Best Unpublished Manuscript, with his novel, Blood in the Dust, and world rights have been secured by Bonnier Zaffre, with publication set for next September. Bill was awarded a travel grant of £7,500 to enable him to research his next novel. The awards' ceremony in London was attended by over 200 representatives from within the publishing industry.

The four runner-ups were, in alphabetical order; Dan Cross (Colombia), with Caesar of Mercenaries; Newton Fisher (England) with The Differences; Linda Spur (England) with Pathway to the Gods; and Alex Usher (USA) with Katie Hope and the Eternal Empress. All four have attracted agent interest, and if any publishing deals are signed I will let you know.

Quite a lot has happened in recent months.

The total number of entries for The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation unpublished author competition topped 250, which is double last year's entries. The quality was very strong, and it was a difficult job to narrow the entries down to a shortlist of 18, and even more difficult to arrive at a shortlist of five. The shortlisted authors, from England (2), Colombia, Australia, and The United States, all produced very professional manuscripts. The winner will be announced at a special ceremony at the Stationers' Hall, London in September, which will be attended by a cross-section of literary agents and publishers. It is hoped that not only the winner, but maybe some of the shortlisted authors will be able to secure agent representation and eventually publishing deals.

Very pleased to announce that entries are now being welcomed for a competition for unpublished authors in the adventure genre, sponsored by The Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation. I'm delighted to have been appointed as the assessor and mentor for this competition, whose closing date is on March 12. I'll be reading entries anonymously, and forwarding a shortlist on to a final judging panel, with an announcement of the winner in May. The winner will be offered support to help bring his/her completed manuscript to publication, and will also be given an award of £7,500, to enable research of their next novel, which could entail travel abroad.

The Foundation has a number of aims; to advance and promote the adventure genre by supporting writers;  to enhance the appreciation of adventure writing worldwide, and to help provide literacy education across the world with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Much work has already be done on a number of exciting projects, details of which can be found on the Foundation's website at: www.wilbur-niso-smithfoundation.org

Juliet Butler’s debut novel, The Less You Know the Sounder You Sleep, has gained over 25 five-star reviews on Amazon, and a stack of similar reviews on Good Reads. Well done.

The Penfro Book Festival, now in its seventh year, was yet again a very successful weekend. Whilst judging the First Chapter Competition, with over 100 entries, I found it extremely difficult to draw up a shortlist, and eventually arrived at 11, all of whom I am pledged to work with over the winter months, to help with their manuscripts. There were some very encouraging entries from all over the country, so let’s hope that some may achieve publishing deals in the future.

Debut author, Alison White, who attended a workshop I ran some three years ago, is getting published by Faber in the spring of 2018, with her moving tribute to her son, Letter to Louis.  Inspiring, uplifting, and beautifully written, Faber is excited about its upcoming launch.

September also saw the publication in France of Alex Lester's "Le Pays des Hommes Blesses" (When All the Men are Wounded) by Denoel, a quality publisher of the likes of Ray Bradbury and Jack Kerouac, amongst others. It's a powerful novel, not for the faint-hearted, based in the dying days of Smith's regime in former Rhodesia. I remember conducting the first major edit with Alex in the coffee shop of the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea, some four years ago, and it then went on to be honed by staff at Tibor Jones and Associates.

The main news is that this is my first newsletter, hopefully the first of many to come. I might be able to flag up competitions for you to enter, literary festivals to consider, workshops to possibly attend.

There is one festival I am going to mention, that is open NOW for entries. It's the Penfro Book Festival, taking place in September, in North Pembrokeshire. They have a particular competition for debut authors requiring the submission of just the first chapter – appropriately, it's called the First Chapter Competition ( well, it would be wouldn't it.). £10 entry fee, with prizes entitling the three winners to partake of a one to one review session with the competition judge, followed by six months of email support for their novel's development. Seven other runners up will receive a face to face or written review of their submitted work. The winner from last year has been agented by Watson Little, and another two authors from last year are nearing completion of their final drafts, before submission to agents and publishers. Just google Penfro Book Festival for details. You may notice that the judge is a certain David Llewelyn.