Jackie Burke explains why she turned down a traditional publisher and decided to self-publish her debut novel instead What led you to write your first novel The Secrets of Grindlewood? I’ve always loved reading and writing and used to “dabble” in writing short stories and poems from an early age. Most of my stories were about animals and magic, which were also the kind of stories I liked to read. When I started writing Grindlewood, it ... Read the Post...
“The advance was enough to allow me to put off getting a job” – Gilly Macmillan
Gilly Macmillan explains how her debut novel Burnt Paper Sky became Piatkus' 'superlead' title for summer 2015 What led you to write your debut novel Burnt Paper Sky? I began to write Burnt Paper Sky because I found myself at a point in my life where I had a bit of time on my hands for the first time in years. My children had just all started at school and although I knew I needed to get a job sooner rather than later, I thought I might be able ... Read the Post...
“Within days the deal was done. I was overjoyed. Ridiculously happy.”
Dinah Jefferies, whose latest novel The Tea Planter's Wife has been selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, talks agents, book deals, and falling in love with writing ... Read the Post...
“Nothing really beats hearing that I was going to be published for the first time” – SJ Watson
SJ Watson on his childhood dream coming true when his agent secured a book deal for Before I Go to Sleep, the psychological thriller that went on to become a phenomenal international success Is it true you started roughly 20 novels while working as an audiologist before writing Before I Go to Sleep? Not exactly! I’d started a few – but with some I’d only got as far as a title or perhaps an opening scene. They were hardly novels, more ideas I ... Read the Post...