News for emerging authors: January

Dear authors, creatives and those still unsure about calling themselves writers,

It’s News For Emerging Authors time again. Let’s all collectively look back at the previous month like it’s a crystal ball that could tell us our futures if we just squint hard enough and really believe. 

However, if you’re constantly keeping an eye on the book charts, it probably feels like there is more of the same to come, and in some senses you might be right. So thank goodness you’re here with your new ideas and manuscripts that are about to challenge the status quo. Or maybe you have a quiet book that’s ready to make someone think differently about their life? Either way, change is afoot – and I’m not talking about the almost hourly updates of shock and nonsense that are coming at us from across the pond. 

Not all changes are necessary, and a lot of them are hard. But to quote a sometimes overused saying that’s still incredibly relevant: if change were easy, everyone would do it. 

The Good Literary Agency founders "heartbroken" to close agency after funding bid "fails"

Speaking of change, I wanted to mention the immense loss of the Good Literary Agency as an early advocate for equality and change for marginalised writers within the publishing industry. They blazed a trail and helped kickstart the careers of many award winning authors. They also developed and supported new agents and editors entering the industry for the first time, and made sure to consistently use their platform for getting good – nay, GREAT – books out into the world. 

As a writer weaving a narrative, change is your bread and butter.

Their absence is by no means a welcome change but it’s one we as authors can learn from, because it’s important to keep supporting the people and organisations that have supported us on our writing journey. And more personally, how do we pivot when that support dwindles away, often due to a lack of funding and investment in the creative arts? 

Well, it’s usually a time when we have to go back to basics. That is, trying to remember why we fell in love with the practice of writing in the first place. Being an author is a solitary venture, and we need to be comfortable with that when pursuing such a career – while making the most of the communities we find along the way. 

But getting back to the drawing board requires space and time. 

Snow Patrol’s Jonny Quinn and Muswell Press unveil Mallorca-based writing retreats

“Lots of keen writers might be thinking: ‘2025 is the year I finally start my book’ or indeed ‘finally finish my book’, or they may simply be trying to find their voice. We hope our camps will empower them to do so.”

That’s the thing about change – more often than not it brings about unexpected opportunities, such as a new writing retreat in Mallorca for writers in the early stages of their career. Yes, this has been launched by a founding member of Snow Patrol, Johnny Quinn. Yes, if you’re a millennial like me you’ll be excited about this because Snow Patrol might have soundtracked your emo phase in your mid-to-late teens. Yes, this is an excellent springtime opportunity in Spain so how could you not love it? But more than that, it’s an opportunity. It’s a chance to give some dedicated time to that manuscript, to change something for yourself, for the better. And change works best when you take its results into your own hands.

Authors and literary agents "angry and frustrated" by Facebook impersonations

As someone who’s seen her fair share of futuristic sci-fi films, I’m counting down the time to when AI becomes sentient and starts lamenting about how hard it is to steal from writers and still be seen for who they truly are. I jest but also, do I? Anyway, people continue to use AI for nefarious reasons; this time creating fake profiles of prolific authors and soliciting money and other things from readers while impersonating their faves. For many emerging authors, this is unlikely to have ever happened to you, but it doesn’t mean it won’t in the future. It’s all tied in with our social media lives, and it’s worth noting that there aren’t nearly enough protections in place if this fate were ever to befall us. 

So I encourage you now – and I am definitely not the first to say it – to think about the different ways you can interact with readers outside of social media. Whether that’s building your own newsletter list, meeting readers at events or hosting an online event on your own website, take control of your narrative and give those weird bots and the people using them far fewer chances to make your life as a writer that much harder.

Like I said, change is hard; but as a writer weaving a narrative, change is your bread and butter. You got this.