SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
SPOTLIGHT FEATURE
SHE WRITES MAGAZINE
PART 1: Behind The Submission Scaries—Anecdotal Insights From Eight Authors
31 July 2026For this month’s From The Trenches piece, I was lucky enough to interview seven brilliant authors about their submission experience to help paint a broader picture for authors about to embark on their own journey towards traditional publication . . .
FEATURED IN
FEATURED IN
SHE WRITES MAGAZINE
PART 2: Behind The Submission Scaries—Anecdotal Insights From Eight Authors
31 July 2026All this to say, the scaries are the most common thing. The thread connecting all traditionally published authors. The seven brilliant authors I’ve interviewed can all commiserate with anyone dealing with those sleepless nights, so for part two of this series, we’ll dive into the emotional side of things.
JERICHO WRITERS
Words and Pictures with Kate Emilie
3 July 2026This week we have a fascinating interview with YA author Kate Emilie. She explains how she received 14 offers of representation for her debut book, why we need stories and why taking a ‘Novel Year’ changed her life.
JERICHO WRITERS
Opening Keynote: Some Things Are Worth Waiting For with Kate Emilie
14 June 2026Just last year, Kate Emilie was sat in your shoes attending the London Festival of Writing. She won the Friday Night Live competition with her entry Seven Dishes to Fall in Love and went on to be snapped up by agents, landing publishing deals in the UK and internationally. But while this may sound like an overnight . . .
JERICHO WRITERS
From Festival Winner to Two-Book Deal
2 May 2026I still can’t believe how much has happened since winning Friday Night Live writing competition at the 2025 London Festival of Writing. Mere months after the festival, I landed an agent and an international two-book deal, but my path to publication was far from straightforward and it took many years —and abandoned . . .
WRITEMENTOR NEWSLETTER
I gave myself an ultimatum: one year to write a book and attempt to get an agent
20 April 2026
Kate Emilie is the author of the upcoming YA speculative novel, Seven Dishes to Fall in Love, which was longlisted and a readers’ favourite in the 2025 WriteMentor Picture Book and Novel Awards, and shortlisted in the 2025 WriterMentor Idea Idol . . .
DANIEL KENITZ SUBSTACK
7 Things I Did to Go From Aspiring Writer to Agented Author
14 March 2026The headline and caption to this newsletter are slightly modified from Kate Emilie, author of the forthcoming YA book, “Seven Dishes to Fall in Love.” Emilie recently shared seven lessons that took her from unagented wannabe writer to someone with 14 (!) offers . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rights Report: Week of December 8, 2025
9 December 2025Elizabeth Stranahan at Random House has bought Seven Dishes to Fall in Love by debut author Kate Emilie, in an eight-way auction. This speculative contemporary novel, aimed at fans of You've Reached Sam and If I Stay, follows teenager Zoe who becomes suspended between life and death and must untangle . . .
BOOK BRUNCH
Electric Monkey wins four way auction for 'standout YA novel of Frankfurt Book Fair'
2 December 2025There was a 14-agent auction to represent Emilie, and Seven Dishes to Fall in Love was the standout YA novel of Frankfurt Book Fair. Lucy Balfour at WME has sold the book in competitive auctions in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Brazil, Portugal and the Netherlands and in the US rights went to Elizabeth Stranahan at Random House after an eight-way auction in a major deal by . . .
THE BOOKSELLER
Electric Monkey wins four-publisher auction for Kate Emilie’s 'delicious' speculative YA
1 December 2025Electric Monkey, the young adult imprint of Farshore, has acquired Seven Dishes to Fall in Love and a second YA novel by debut author Kate Emilie in a four-publisher auction. Editorial director Sarah Levison secured UK and Commonwealth rights in a deal negotiated with Hellie Ogden at WME. The book will be published in . . .
THE BOOKSELLER
Frankfurt Book Fair 2025: Agents' Hotlists
2 October 2025The Bookseller’s Hotlists are literary agencies’ top manuscripts out on submission with UK and international publishers, compiled by Tom Tivnan for the London, Bologna and Frankfurt book fairs . . .
QUERYTRACKER
Success Story Interview - Kate Emilie
15 September 2025
The concept came to be before anything else — I knew the speculative element before the characters or the plot. I didn’t rush it though, I just sat on the concept for about a year or so, thinking about it while I was going through a busy stage of life. Then, when things settled in my life, I set myself one year . . .
WRITEMENTOR
Idea Idol Shortlist
1 September 2025
We’re delighted to present the shortlist for Idea Idol 2025. These entries will go onto a final round now, judged by Literary Agent Katie Blagden, and a winner announced in the near future. Good luck to you all, and well done to those who made the longlist but didn’t make this stage – it was . . .
JERICHO WRITERS
Top tips to hook a reader in your first 500 words
11 August 2025The whole Jericho Writers team agrees that, at this year’s London Festival of Writing, our Friday Night Live competition was a little bit special. For a start, it was on a Saturday – but leaving the misnomer aside, we were bowled over by the stellar standard of the entries we received . . .
WRITEMENTOR
WriteMentor Awards: The Longlists
5 May 2025We are delighted to announce the longlists for the 2025 WriteMentor Picture Book and Novel Awards, sponsored by David Higham Associates. Firstly, thanks to everyone who entered this year – all in all, we had 837 entries from across the world and across all the age categories and genres . . .