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My Book Deal Moment by Sophie Kinsella

By Novelicious

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

Sophie KinsellaI had written as Madeleine Wickham for several years before Sophie Kinsella was even a twinkle in my eye. I was very happy writing my novels as Madeleine Wickham, and I enjoyed the style – third person, ensemble pieces with a hint of social comedy. But then I had the idea for the first Shopaholic novel, and I knew at once this had to be something different. What I didn’t quite realise was that it would change my life.

I wrote the book in a tearing hurry, totally in secret, with no idea if it would work or not. Only my agent knew I was doing it – my publishers didn’t have a clue. I was a bit nervous about it, because I didn’t know if anyone would get my brand of comedy or find any of it remotely funny. I remember watching the manuscript churn out of the printer and thinking ‘Am I mad?’ When you write comedy, you’re really putting yourself out there.

My agent Araminta took it to Patrick Janson-Smith at my publishers, Transworld (or Patrick Plonkington-Smythe, as he will forever be to me) and he showed it around the company without revealing who had written it. I was determined that it should be judged on its own merits – not accepted purely because I was an established author.

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To my delight, they wanted it, and I had the fun of revealing who I was. My editor Linda was especially surprised as we’d had a drink together the night before the Shopaholic manuscript arrived at the publishers, and somehow I had managed not to breathe a word about it. (It nearly killed me!)

It was like having a first book deal all over again and I think I enjoyed it even more. When I’d had my very first book deal, for The Tennis Party, it was an extraordinary whirlwind – the book went to auction with seven publishers bidding and I simply couldn’t believe it. But I was very young and quite overwhelmed and rabbit-in-the-headlights. With Shopaholic I had more confidence and perspective. And it was so exciting and fun to be launching a fresh voice. At that time I thought this was something I would do on the side, as well as writing the other novels. I had no idea how huge it would become and that my pen-name, Sophie, would become bigger than my real name!

Sophie's latest book, Shopaholic to the Stars, came out yesterday.

Photo credit @ John Swannell  

Filed Under: My Book Deal Moment, sophie kinsella

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