upbringing. I went to an all-girls boarding school for goodness sake. So there are going to be certain experiences which I have no understanding of, and things that I will question because in my mind I will go “Oh my gosh, can that happen?” And that’s where other people’s lived experiences come into play. I would love to find a team of people who also have a shared story interest but can look at it from different angles.”
But there is an educational side to it. “I really don’t like bleak books so you’d be quite surprised that the first book I got published - Me Mam, Me Dad, Me, by Malcolm Duffy – is about a boy who’s mother enters into an abusive relationship and he goes on the hunt for his estranged father. When I started the agency I would have said that’s not the type of material I’m looking for. But it’s not bleak; it’s bittersweet, moving, hopeful and even, at times, very funny. Kids who haven’t had any experience of domestic abuse will relate to Danny and his story but also a whole group of kids will see someone like them, and feel the relief as I would have, when I was younger, seeing a black character; that someone actually recognises that we exist.”
Abi Fellows
Abi joined The Good Literary Agency which was set up explicitly to represent UK authors from under-represented UK backgrounds. It’s founders, Nikesh Shukla and Julia Kingsford, worked together on publishing The Good Immigrant, a process that sparked a conversation about representation in publishing. One of the issues they hope it will address is a “pipeline problem” – a disconnect between agents and publishers, that has left them blaming each other for the lack of diversity. The project has won Arts Council England funding.
Abi, who was brought in to create a children’s list, says: “We are keen to invest in development and to nurture raw talent, working with writers at an early stage and to give them editorial advice and help them improve their manuscript. If people don’t know how the industry works or what’s expected of them it can be really useful for us to be able to help them.” One of the challenges is getting the message across: “We want to think about other ways of reaching writers. While
Autumn-Winter 2019
love to do something like that in libraries. It’s a place where you have people who aren’t necessarily in touch with mainstream publishing and who could chance upon this competition or opportunity. And if they do it in a library they are already in a place where they have the resources to give it a try.
Missed targets Abi Fellows
we are finding some really great writers through our open submissions, there’s an ongoing conversation about how we get the message further afield; how we share it and get it to different channels, that might be using social media or word of mouth. But I’m really conscious that it doesn’t reach all the potential writers out there. One of the issues we have with the industry is that people don’t know the opportunities exist or they have had difficult experiences. Sometimes it’s just not really knowing how to get started.
“It’s really hard to know what an agent does. It’s the conversation I have the most frequently because I’ve been meeting writers in various different scenarios and when you talk about the different aspects of it they’re really surprised. So trying to get some information out there about what an agent does – how we can help and how to approach us – is important because even that first step of writing to an agency can be quite daunting.”
Libraries Libraries are an area where Abi sees potential for change. “We are really interested in what can be done through libraries. They are an amazing resource for people and it could be a way to get the message out to people who haven’t been to creative writing school. “I live in Lambeth and we have a lovely
shiny new library and it’s heaving and appears to reflect the diversity of the Lambeth population and a broad range of ages. “We’ve done things recently here in terms of competitions, to attract new talent. I’d
One problem in the pipeline is a lack of communication between writers and publishers. “In my experience, there’s quite a disconnect between what publishers are looking for and what we’re seeing in our submissions,” Abi says, but adds that the problem isn’t just in the agency’s submissions, it’s widespread: “There’s quite a wide difference between what publishers are telling me they are looking for and what writers think publishers are looking for. For example there’s a lot of YA Philip Pullman-esque fantasy, Hunger Games, things that we have seen become quite saturated and which aspiring writers are still writing. So I think it would be really interesting to try and work out how to get that message across to aspiring writers because I think sometimes the energy is slightly misplaced.
Age gap
Subject matter isn’t the only area in need of refocusing. “We are certainly seeing less written for a younger market and that’s something we’d love to find. It’s important to get readers early on - the earlier you get them the earlier they get that habit and the love of reading. That’s vital so there needs to be a lot more diversity within that age range. We see the dominance of really big brands like Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants which are great but it would be really nice to see some different life experiences reflected in that age bracket. I work as a school governor in Lambeth so I see these kids from all sorts of different backgrounds and I’d love to see bookshelves that spoke to more of them.
Workforce
Abi says that the sector needs more transparency: “There are deep-rooted problems in terms of internships, entry- level salaries, networks and having to be from a financially stable background. That
definitely limits the talent that we attract. PEN&INC.
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