Camilla Chester

I was a finalist in the Mslexia Children’s Novel Award in 2019 with my fourth novel (unpublished), Darna’s Sky. Part of the prize was to attend a fancy pants author show case event at the Hachette offices in London. There were lots of prize-winning authors mixing with editors, publishers and agents, in a kind of cocktail party way. I was swanning around, like Lady Muck, making sure I spoke to everyone and anyone that wanted to hear about my book, but once I started chatting to Laura I knew that I’d found the agent I wanted. It suddenly didn’t feel like I was pitching or promoting myself anymore. It was a very natural conversation and there was a definite connection.

The next morning I sent her, and the other agents I’d met, my book. Laura read Darna’s Sky over the weekend and I received ‘that’ email, the one all authors dream of, on the Monday morning. It said how much she loved my book and how she wanted to talk about offering representation. It was absolutely magical! I remember reading the email on my phone whilst I was in the horse field with the dogs. I was jumping around screaming with ecstatic excitement. I’d tried for years to get a good agent and that week I had three other offers, but I knew I wanted Laura and I gladly signed with DHA. That was in June 2019 and now I’m so sad to say that Laura has just left the publishing industry for pastures new. I’m safe, in the hands of my new agent at DHA, Veronique, and I know Laura and I will stay friends. It really is a special find for both author and agent, I think, when the connection is strong like that and I feel very lucky to have been represented by Laura.

I’ve had some amazing feedback from readers, “You’re my favourite author”. “Your books are so cool.” Sometimes it’s indirect. I had a school librarian contact me through my website saying she’d had a year eight boy, “raving about a local author he’d met who was selling her books at the fair.” He’d bought a book (possibly because he felt sorry for me), had read it in three gulps and was going on and on about how brilliant it was, so much so, the librarian had to find out about me and let me know. I was so grateful she’d made the effort, because the whole experience of selling books that day had made me feel very low. It suddenly felt worth it. I’ve had loads of wonderful experiences like that. If I get photos I try and get permission to put them on my website. Take a look. There’s some of a birthday girl opening a copy of my debut Jarred Dreams and one of a boy dressed up as The Dream Thief (the antagonist from Jarred Dreams) on World Book Day. I even had one reader make the hat stand, cloak and dream jars from the story. As a final touch she made a miniature book inside writing how good she thought the story was. Highs like that make the lows of rejection and the hard work of being a writer worth it. Children are the best readers and there is no better experience than having a child genuinely love your book(s).

I can’t think of anything particularly awkward or embarrassing but school visits, for me, are easily the best thing about being a published Children’s Author. I miss them so much. They give me a huge boost, remind me why I write books and I always go away feeling like a celebrity. I’ve had children chanting my name in the playground when I arrive and coming up with bus tickets and scrappy bits of paper for my autograph. Love them!

My advice would be to be open to other paths into expanding and developing your career. It pains me when we run self-publishing workshops and talks at the SCBWI conference and only a handful of people go, instead they are all in the main auditorium listening to an agent. Agents and publishers are people, just like you, they don’t have magic wands to make your dreams come true. You have to be active and think about other ways you can make your career happen. Don’t wait to be discovered; enter competitions; research publishers who are open to unsolicited submissions; contact universities who offer publishing courses as they might take your book; think about Working Partners as an option…there are lots of routes that aren’t the old-fashioned trajectory of slush pile, agent, traditional publishing contract. Explore! But most of all invest in the craft itself. Become the best writer you can be that way you’ll believe in yourself and your work. Oh - and find your tribe/community. For me that’s SCBWI, but it could be a local writing group, or GEA, or whatever/whoever works for you. Good luck!