authonomy Live (this time it's personal)

Shelley Harris just after winning authonomy Live.
Photo by Debi Alper

Last year, we linked up with the York Festival of Writing to bring you the very first authonomy Live event. Today's guest blogger, Shelley Harris, faced the authonomy panel and before the evening was out agents were scrambling to read her entire MS. She signed  a deal with one of them, her novel was swiftly sold and it will be published in December next year. If you'd like a shot at mirroring Shelley's success, book a place today. 

It’s nervewracking enough to post your book on authonomy and await the slings and arrows of your ratings, but imagine reading it out in front of a crowd, and then watching them very publicly vote you in – or out.

I did exactly that in April at the York Writing Festival, where organiser Harry Bingham had the bright idea of staging ‘authonomy Live’ - a sort of literary X-Factor, complete with judges from the publishing industry (sadly, no Cheryl Cole, though occasionally it felt as if Simon Cowell was there).Writers were invited to submit short extracts, ten of which would be read out to the audience. The judges would comment on those pieces, and select three for the final public vote.

Was it scary? It was terrifying. I think we all felt it, waiting queasily for our turn on stage. But we also told ourselves that it was a bit of fun on the first night of the Festival, with a bottle of bubbly for the winner. When the public vote was cast I looked out at the audience and took a moment to process what I was seeing: I’d won. Three months later, I’d landed a contract with a major publisher.


My novel, Jubilee, was six years in the making. It tells the story of an iconic photograph taken in 1977, on the day of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Right in the centre of the frame there’s Satish, a young boy staring intensely at the camera. The picture becomes famous – but it hides a more sinister story. As the photographer seeks to stage a reunion thirty years later, Satish must come to terms with what really happened on that long-ago day.

I’d begun the novel when my sons were very small, working in two-hour bursts once a week, when my parents gave me a break from the boys. As the kids grew older and started school, I could give more time to the book, juggling the writing – as I still do – with the demands of parenting,and with regular shifts at my local Oxfam bookshop. Jubilee

was substantially re-shaped after an editorial critique from The Literary Consultancy, and revised again and again as I learned more about my craft at writing courses and festivals.

At York, authonomy Live created such a buzz that several agents asked to see the whole manuscript. I ended up working with one of them – the fabulous Jo Unwin of Conville and Walsh – and she submitted the novel to publishers, four of whom bid for it. I was lucky enough to sign a two-book deal with Weidenfeld and Nicolson, and we’re now preparing for hardback publication in December 2011, the paperback coinciding with the Diamond Jubilee in summer 2012.

As I start work on my next novel, I notice that the programme for York 2011 has been announced. And, yes, they’re running another authonomy Live event. I’m thinking about the next winner of that event, probably working away on their manuscript right now. Maybe they’re also juggling childcare or a day-job with their writing. Maybe they’re dreaming of an agent, or a book deal, or wondering whether they’ll be brave enough to submit an excerpt for the competition. I hope they have the same fun that I did.


To find out more about this year's York Festival of Writing, visit the website.