Recording here: https://rutlhqo-zcmp.maillist-manage.eu/click/11d8ef0674dd4756/11d8ef0674dda9a4 In honesty, I found this event pretty frustrating (see my comment below) but the agent Kate Nash shared some tips and insights based on the way her agency receives and reads submissions: Filtering and flagging is a huge part of the agent's reading process (via Querytracker) they use the tech to filter for the genre, length and tags that they're looking for. I'm extrapolating a little here but the gist seemed to be that with an agent recieving hundreds of subs a month you need to tick all the boxes to stand the best chance of even getting a read. Be sure to do your homework on who you are submitting to and what they are looking for. Kate went on to then emphasise the importance of the Logline or elevator pitch. Often they read this first (the implication being that if it isn't good or interesting the read stops there) so it's important to craft a logline with impact. There were some great questions, including: The use of comp titles. Agents like recent (successful) comps as they are looking for marketable titles, but don't be afraid of calling back to earlier books. Competition success. Competitions often put their listed entries forward towards agents there and then. Your best chance of getting an offer is there and then. It's a good sign, but later stating it in your query letter isn't an automatic boost. Query letter framework. Getting the Logline and USPs in while being brief was stressed. Having a structured query letter was less of an issue for Kate, but it depends on how much material the agent asks for with the submission. In your query, be business-like and not talk yourself up. Let the writing speak for you. Genres on the up right now include magic realism, speculative and darker genres like horror and thrillers. Of course romantasy and fantasy are still going strong. Police and detective fiction are slowly returning.

Have been meaning to write this for a few days, but I actually got down to the last 10 for Yeovil Literary Prize (Children's/YA)! Very exciting! We'll know by the end of the month if I placed, although I'm not sure my style is necessarily what Julia Churchill is looking for. 😁

Just wanted to have a mini- boast: my middle-grade novel, SIX, THEY SAID, has been longlisted for the 2026 Yeovil Literary Prize (Children & YA category)! I would also like to say that this story was not one that was picked as Highly Commended for M&C's competition, so it proves that competitions are subjective and that it's worth entering as many as you can. Also worth saying I have no agent and have not self-published anything. p.s. Issy - you might remember this one!

2026 Awards Update We are approaching the end of the current reads and I reckon we might finish by this weekend, so we’ll be hoping to have a longlist out by early next week - potentially in next week’s newsletter. We will email everyone who has made the list, and those who haven’t, as well. And we’ll send feedback to those who opted for it within a few days of the list being announced, so next week. Please do be patient, we had more than 1300 entries and more than 800 people opting for feedback, so it will take a lot of time to compile and send those out. We will let you know what to do if you haven’t received it in next week’s newsletter (sometimes people have entered an incorrect email or it goes into spam/junk/promotions and they don’t realise it), so hold off on emailing Melissa this week please as she’s had a lot of those emails asking - we promise we will tell you when things are happening. In the meantime, have a lovely week, relax, and please don’t look out for an email before Sunday 24th, as we will not be emailing before then

Has anyone else not received their feedback yet, or is it just me?