From First Draft to Book Deal: Debut Author Anna Brook-Mitchell and Agent Jemima Forrester on What It Takes to Get Published
6/17/202658 min
Anna Brook-Mitchell had just been made redundant when she decided to write her first novel. Three years later, she had six agent offers and a publishing deal with Pan Macmillan for her debut novel, Motherfaker.
In this episode of The Novelry on Writing, Anna and her literary agent Jemima Forrester (David Higham Associates) sit down with The Novelry editor, Josie Humber, to walk through the entire journey. They discuss what it’s like to be mentored by a published author, to work with and receive advice from an external editor before approaching agents, and what the querying process was like.
They cover:
→ How Anna got the idea for her novel
→ Why Anna joined The Novelry after finishing her first draft
→ What Jemima saw in the submission that made her want to represent Anna before they’d even met
→ The editorial feedback that stung — and turned out to be right
→ What to do when rejections pile up mid-submission→ What a healthy author-agent relationship actually looks like
→ Jemima’s green flags and red flags when reading queries
→ How to know when your manuscript is ready to send
Chapters:
0:00 – Introduction
1:40 – Anna’s story: BBC rejection, redundancy, and deciding to write a novel
4:07 – What Jemima saw in the submission that made her say yes immediately
6:12 – Why Anna joined The Novelry with a first draft already written
13:26 – How The Novelry’s coaching changed the manuscript
15:46 – The ‘Plan’: why knowing your hook and genre matters
20:55 – Taking editorial feedback without losing your voice
28:00 – The querying process: six offers in a month
36:00 – Choosing the right agent: what to ask in the meeting
43:53 – What a good author-agent relationship looks like
50:05 – Submission red flags and green flags
52:35 – Rapid fire Q&A: advice for writers
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Show Description
Learn how novels work from publishing’s top experts at The Novelry, the world’s #1 fiction writing school for novelists. Hosted by our bestselling writing coaches and publishing editors, this podcast is a practical, helpful guide to writing novels for every genre. Enjoy inside tips and tricks to make your writing a joyful experience while building your expertise in writing craft.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJemima Forrester· Guest0:00
If I see something coming from the novelry, I know I've got to jump on it quickly.
Louise Dean0:03
Hello, this is Louise Dean, founder of The Novelry, the world's best-loved school for writers, with more five-star reviews than any other and a whole bunch of published success stories. As an award-winning booker-listed author, I founded The Novelry to help writers avoid the frustrations of writing solo for years by getting wise eyes on the most important element of writing right from the get-go.
Speaker 30:34
Story, story, story.
Louise Dean0:36
And this is our podcast to give you everything you need for happy writing. This is The Novelry on Writing.
Josie Humber· Host0:44
Welcome to the Novelry on Writing. Today, we're going to be talking to debut author Anna Brooke Mitchell and her agent, Jemima Forrester, about Anna's journey from idea to publishing deal, how she used the Novelry's courses, how we matched her with the lovely Jemima here, and how it feels to be having her debut novel, Motherfaker, being published by Pam Macmillan. So do you guys want to start off by just introducing yourselves? Anna, introduce you and your book. Oh yeah, here she is.
Anna Brook-Mitchell· Guest1:15
Motherfaker. Yeah, I'm Anna Britt Mitchell and I'm the author of this. I am a screenwriter and yeah, I joined the novelry a few years ago when I'd finished my first draft. And Jemima, her brilliant agent.
Jemima Forrester· Guest1:29
Thank you for