Debut novels

Name: Amanda Hampson
Age: 66
Debut novelist at 50  Read more

From writing in her lunch break at Hampstead Waterstones, to securing an international publishing deal, Lorraine Brown was finally able to see her debut novel on the shelves when lockdown eased.

She wrote Uncoupling while working as a secretary at Devonshire House School, but didn't get the chance to see it in bookshops when it was published in February.

It wasn't what people were talking about late into the evening at the Frankfurter Hof. It didn't come up over drinks at the Hessischer Hof. No one was whispering about it between meetings in the window-less rights center at the show. Instead, during this year's virtual Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two., Bonnie Garmus's debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, was discussed over email, on the phone and via Zoom.  Read more

Joanne Harris has spoken out against an "absurd" focus on debuts in the publishing world.

The Chocolat author urged publishers to support existing writers in their careers rather than pursuing one debut after another, during a Q&A held with The Empowered Author founder Sam Missingham on Monday 23rd September.  Read more

I continued to work on the manuscript anyway. Two and half years in, I got an agent who promised we'd revise a bit and then send it out. I worked on many revisions with her but they never coalesced into a project she thought she could sell. Through all the effort I learned about character development though; I learned about plotting and pacing; I learned about voice.  Read more