CELEBRATIONS Justin Davies Hooks an Agent
Those people who attended the 2016 SCBWI conference will be familiar with 'The Hook,' a nerve wracking competition! Writers stand up in front of a panel of agents and a audience of hundreds of people and pitch their book. Justin didn't just win the competition, he managed to hook an agent as well.
Justin writes:
So, I’m celebrating getting an agent!
I’m happy to be on the celebrations page!
After a lot of rejections over 18 months or so, I am now
rep’d by Thérèse Coen, of Hardman and Swainson Literary Agency.
I took part in ‘The Hook’ at the November SCBWI conference.
My prize for winning was to choose one of the agents (who were the judges) to
have a 1-1 with. I chose Thérèse, having done some pre-competition
research.
Thérèse asked me to send my full manuscript of Monsters
M.I.A., a comedy adventure for Middle Grade readers, and I met with her in
London to talk about that and to get some feedback. She ended the afternoon with
an offer of representation! Naturally, I accepted and am already working on some
edits.
I celebrated that night with Andrew, my husband, but couldn’t
tell everyone until I’d signed the contract. I was away working for a while, and
the contract was sitting on the door mat at home getting damp for a week. I
finally signed it a few days ago, and have been sharing my good news ever since.
I celebrated SCBWI-style yesterday by standing with SCBWI
South-East Scotland pals in the Edinburgh rain, trying to draw, on a Scrawl
Crawl.
I celebrated again, and in warmer conditions, later on, with
Andrew and a friend, both of whom have been brave beta readers for me.
As I said in my post on the SCBWI Facebook page, taking risks can pay off. And without SCBWI, I wouldn’t be in this position now.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Charlotte Comley
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