“There are many opportunities out there…why shouldn’t your book be noticed?”
Author Eleni Kyriacou why you shouldn’t give up on sending out your work
She Came To Stay – the story of Dina who arrives in smoggy 1950s London from Cyprus – took me around eight years to write. I know, right? That’s from the first inkling of an idea to holding the hardback in my clammy hands. And during that time, there were moments when I put the manuscript aside completely because life and the need to earn money got in the way.
Set among the glittering streets of Soho, it’s a book that needed a lot of research. It’s also got an intricate plot, which took ages to figure out. But by about year two, I had a draft I thought was good enough to send out. So from then on I made sure that I always had it on someone’s desk: an agent, or a publisher during an open submission, or as a competition entry somewhere.
I did this even when I’d stopped working on it for months on end, when I felt I could barely look at it again. By sending it out I was telling myself that I still had faith. It was my way of staying motivated. Of course the more competitions I entered and agents I sent it to, the more chance there was of rejection. But, a bit like love, I figured that if I didn’t risk anything there would be no rewards.
I received requests for the whole manuscript, met agents, got more rejections. I was selective, though, being careful not to send to dozens at once (we’ve all heard that agents rarely look at a submission again once they’ve said ‘no thanks’).
She Came To Stay is inspired by my parents’ arrival in the 1950s, and it’s a story I felt passionate about telling.
How was it ever going to get published, I reasoned with myself, if nobody was looking at it? It was vital for my self-esteem to know that any minute now someone might read my words, fall in love with the story and world I’d created and make that call or send that email that would change everything.
One day, I sent it to the Future Bookshelf, a new open submission initiative from Hachette that I’d heard about through Twitter. They specifically wanted to discover and publish writers whose stories were underrepresented in the mainstream. (I’d never read a story set among Cypriot immigrants, so thought if nothing else it met the criteria.)
Months passed and I assumed it hadn’t got through. Then it happened. I received an email to say it had been read by an editor at Hodder who loved it, she’d discussed it with her colleagues and they’d like to make me a formal offer.
There are many opportunities out there, and while every writer knows it’s hardly straightforward, why shouldn’t your book be noticed? Having your work out there is not about ego, it’s about taking opportunities and backing yourself. Even if it does take eight years, or more.
She Came to Stay, (Hodder) is out now.
Eleni Kyriacou is an award-winning editor and journalist. Her writing has appeared in many publications including the Guardian, the Observer, Marie Claire and Red, among others. You can follow her on Insta, Twitter and FB @elenikwriter
www.elenikwriter.com
How to become Unstoppable: Author Eleni Kyriacou