Hannah Sheppard has secured a new deal which has been announced in The Bookseller today for David Brazier. Andersen Press has acquired Alone, a novel about a boy whose plane crashes in the Amazon by debut author David Brazier. Here is a link to the press release:

http://www.thebookseller.com/news/andersen-press-acquires-mg-survival-story

It is certainly one to look forward to at the end of the year…

Follow David on twitter: @authorboatman
Follow Hannah on twitter: @YA_Books

In 2014 I used capital letters a lot. Mainly for exciting things like this:

And then 2015 came along. Having been joyfully counting down the days to 26thFebruary (when my debut launches), I suddenly got THE FEAR. Gone were the capital letters – and along came panicked little asterisks: *yikes, it’s actually happening* *crawls under desk and cringes at video Q&A post* *panic face – bloggers are reading the book* *storms into writing hut wishing she’d writtenRooftoppers instead* etc. Sure, there are mega high levels of excitement still – thinking about having my book out in the wild and speaking to children about it makes me go SQUUUEEEEE – but with SQUUUEEEEE comes some pretty exhausting side effects:

• Insomnia (excitement levels prevent sleep initially then once asleep dreams are plagued by nightmares of turning up to the book launch naked)
• Obsession (constant book thoughts whirling inside the brain result in absent-minded mishaps like trying to pay for the Tesco shop with aDreamsnatcher business card)
• Talking to oneself (mutterings about ancient bone murmurs whilst getting on the bus do nobody any favours)
• Saying YES to everything (‘Yes, I’d love to speak to 200 children about my book. On a stage. With a microphone.’ *PANIC* ‘Yes, I’ll speak on a panel. With actual intelligent people. Without notes.’ *WHAT EVEN IS A PANEL?*)
• Fast-paced social networking (start using the word ‘hashtag’ in real life conversations, find yourself accidentally tweeting Simon Cowell instead of Simon & Schuster)
• Thinking you ARE one of your characters (instead of thinking ‘Today I must put a wash on’ you’re all like: ‘Today I must catapult Skull in the head. Before breakfast.’)

Then there are the pre-publication school visits. I’ve already catapulted one child with a soft toy hedgehog and signed a book ‘Abi What’ because apparently I can’t talk and write at the same time. And last week one child asked me: ‘What will you do if your book burns?’ Comforting to know she’s thinking of torching it before it’s even landed on the shelves.
Catapult practice in Burma

So what keeps writers upbeat, excited and (semi-)sane during the weeks before their book launch? For me, it’s the WONDERFUL bloggers who, because of their passion for reading, took time out of their busy lives to read my book, tweet about it and blog about it. To these very special people who would have dominated my book acknowledgements had I got to know you all sooner (watch that space in the sequel…), thank you so very much. You’re the anti-dote to the exhausting side effects and your enthusiasm for books makes my crazy little heart sing.

Jim Dean at Ya Yeah Yeah
Darren Hartwell at BookZone
 Michelle Toy at Tales of Yesterday
 Clare Zinkin at Minerva Reads
Vivienne Dacosta at Serendipity Reviews
Sarah Watkins at And Then I Read A Book
 Hannah Weyh at Luna’s Little Library
Anne-Marie at Child Led Chaos
Vincent Ripley at Enchanted Books
 KM Lockwood at Serendipity Reviews
 Raimy Greenland at Readaraptor
 Carly Bennett at Writing in the Tub
 Carly Chambers at Fiction Fascination


And now here’s a little bit about Abi’s wonderful debut, The Dreamsnatcher, which you can order here:

Blurb:
Twelve-year-old Molly Pecksniff wakes one night in the middle of the forest, lured there by a recurring nightmare – the one with the drums and the rattles and the masks. The Dreamsnatcher is waiting. He has already taken her dreams and now he wants her life. Because Moll is more important than she knows…The Oracle Bones foretold that she and Gryff, a wildcat that has always been by her side, are the only ones who can fight back against the Dreamsnatcher’s dark magic. Suddenly everything is at stake, and Moll is drawn into a world full of secrets, magic and adventure. Perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling, Michelle Harrison and Eva Ibbotson.


Author Bio:
Abi Elphinstone grew up in Scotland where she spent most of her childhood building dens, hiding in tree houses and running wild across highland glens. After being coaxed out of her tree house, she studied English at Bristol University and then worked as a teacher in Africa, Berkshire and London. THE DREAMSNATCHER is her debut novel and when she’s not writing about Moll and Gryff, she volunteers for Kidsco, does star jumps on the top of very high mountains, messes about on www.abielphinstone.com and runs her children’s books blog www.moontrug.com.
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Want to catch her on social media?
Author website: www.abielphinstone.com
Twitter: @moontrug
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abi.elphinstone
Instagram: @moontrugger
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23573606-the-dreamsnatcher​

As any author will tell you, writing is a solitary business.  Research done, or mostly done, experts consulted, places visited, it is just you and your laptop. Or at least that is how I found it when, only fifty years after I first thought of becoming a writer, I finally took a deep breath and set to.
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I was immensely lucky. My first effort (The King’s Spy) fell into the hands of Emma Buckley, then an assistant editor at Transworld. Emma liked it enough to persuade her colleagues to offer me a three-book contract, which I accepted in a world record time of four seconds. That series is now finished. Having secured a publisher of Transworld’s standing and a contract, it did not occur to me that it might be a good idea to find an agency willing to represent me. Job done, I thought.
Wrong.

Let me be clear. Being a Transworld author is an immense privilege and I am extremely proud to be one. The journey has been exciting and rewarding and I hope it will go on forever. But negotiations, contracts, rights and all that stuff have to be attended to and take time and expertise. I had neither. Nor, I confess, much inclination to learn. I just wanted to write.

There was also the question of what to do after the three books were done. More of the same? Something different – a new period for example, (the books are set in the seventeenth century)  or even a new genre? Transworld, in the person of the marvellous Simon Taylor, have of course guided me, but, until now, guided me alone. I have not always found it easy to tread the path between leaving the publisher to publish and getting on with writing, and pestering the patience out of them with demands for information and advice.

Enter David Headley. I knew David from attending author events at Goldsboro Books and from signing books there. His business is an author’s dream. Wonderful staff, great books and a loyal customer base he has built up since he started in 1999.  In January, I asked him if his agency, DHH, would consider taking me on as an author. Over a cup of tea – I promise, tea – he agreed and within a week the contract was signed. I am delighted, I hope David is delighted, and, perhaps best of all my friends at Transworld are delighted. Much easier for them to deal with an experienced and respected agency than a callow author.

In the brief time we have been together, David has already made a difference. The way forward is much clearer than it was and that makes putting words on the screen a good deal easier. He has been both a sounding-board and a conduit. O joy, O bliss – my days are now spent thinking and writing, while his are spent negotiating, arguing, persuading and doing all those commercial things which have to be done.

My fictonalised account of the gallant and vital defence of Chateau Hougoumont during the Battle of Waterloo – Waterloo: The bravest man – is now in David’s hands, and I am hard at work on a new book set in 1572, the year of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris. Much work and hopefully much success lies ahead.
At the age of 66, who could ask for more?


Follow Andrew on twitter: @AndrewSwanston
Andrew’s current books are available in shops now

I’m often asked where I find my clients and the obvious answer, and most frequent reality, is my submission pile. And that is definitely a good route for budding authors. I’ve found a number of my current clients there and, although I’m often behind (apologies if you’re waiting for a response from me…I will get there), I approach each submission with anticipation and excitement – any one of them could be a new client!
But occasionally it happens slightly differently.

I first met Dan Tyte in 1999. I say met…I know we were at the same freshers welcome meeting to the Liverpool University English department because, well, we must have been.

After that I kind of knew who he was (there were only about 10 guys doing English, I knew who they all were) and we ended up in some of the same lectures, maybe the odd seminar group and definitely some of the same parties but that was that. We were never really friends. I can’t even say for certain that we ever had a conversation.

I left uni, moved to London, started working in publishing and, other than occasional sightings on Facebook through mutual friends, I didn’t really give Dan another thought (Sorry Dan!).

But then last September a mutual friend emailed me to tell me that Dan had written a book (Half Plus Seven, published by Parthian) – having read it he was a little annoyed by how good it was and how much he’d enjoyed it.

Intrigued, I looked Dan up on Twitter and followed him. I also downloaded the book and started reading (and more importantly, enjoying) it. Half Plus Sevenattracted a lot of great reviews and was described by the Daily Mail as a ‘coming-of-age novel snorting with energy’ – you can see a clip of Dan reading from it here. I was also impressed by how much Dan was doing to promote his work – from a slot at Hay Festival last year to starting his own literary night in Cardiff, Pyramid Scheme – it was clear Dan was prepared to work hard.

Dan had followed me back on Twitter and noted that I was now an agent and when he was ready he submitted the opening of his next novel. Alone, Togetheris about how our lives play out online and it really spoke to me. Dan has a unique way of looking at the world and he writes with wit and sharp observation. The subject matter also seemed somewhat fitting to our reconnection – online, when in person, despite three years on the same course; we hadn’t ever really connected offline.

When we did finally meet up offline it was clear that Dan and I would work well together and he signed with me that afternoon. He’s now busy finishing Alone, Together and I’m excited about submitting it to publishers later this year…

watch this space.
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Follow Dan on Twitter
Visit his website
And to submit to me, read and follow my submission guidelines here.