Writing Magazine April 2020

24 APRIL 2020

INSPIRING WORDS

Scottish romance author Julie Shackman, tells

Dolores Gordon Smith how she found an Australian agent.

published

I got

JULIE

SHACKMAN

How

‘M

y first two

contemporary

romance novels,

Rock My World

and Hero or Zero were published

digitally by an ebook publisher based

in London, but like many writers,

I always dreamt of a traditional

publishing deal.

‘From an early age, I loved writing

and reading. I remember reading

Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz when

I was thirteen and I thought it must

be wonderful to write stories and get

paid for it.

‘I trained as a journalist and studied

communication and media, but

always harboured a longing to be a

romance author.

‘I am an avid reader and love

many genres, but my favourite by

• I am a long-time reader of Writing Magazine and find the inspirational
  stories; advice and writing assistance invaluable. Getting to know
  as much as you possibly can about the writing industry and the
  publishing world can only be an advantage.


• Never, ever, give up. It only takes one person to say ‘yes’ and persistence
  and tenacity count for so much in the publishing world.

TOP TIPS

far is romance – both reading it and

writing it.

‘When I approached Australian

uber agent, Selwa Anthony, with my

third novel, A Room at the Manor, in

April 2017, I honestly hadn’t expected

to hear back.

‘I had read about Selwa’s

phenomenal reputation in the

Australian literary world, as well as

her enthusiasm for mentoring and

encouraging debut authors, but I

assumed that with her impressive

client list, she would more than likely

reply with a polite decline.

‘I had submitted to agents, only

to find that I was receiving positive

comments about my writing but no

offers of representation.

‘When I read about several UK

writers who had successfully secured

literary representation abroad, I

decided to submit my writing to her.

‘These authors had spoken of

finding no logistical problems at

all with having an agent based

internationally and said they simply

exchanged emails as usual, and where

telephone calls were required, they

just arranged them with the time

difference in mind.

‘I had based Thistles, my fictional

tea room in the story, on my favourite

tea shop where I write and wanted

to look at what would happen when

secrets and revelations come back from

the past.

‘I thought also about my main

character, Lara McDonald, and how she

might react to having to assert herself

in a very difficult situation – and what

effect this would have on decisions she

would have to make in the future. It was

these ideas that formed the basis for A

Room at the Manor.

‘I decided to approach Selwa and

emailed her my synopsis and first ten

pages of my novel on that Saturday

afternoon, only to be lost for words

when an email reply pinged in my inbox

from her on the Monday morning,

saying she enjoyed my writing and could

I send her the full MS?

‘She added that she would get back

LISTEN

TAP HERE

To hear an

extract from

A Room at

the Manor