Phoebe Morgan's Blog, page 6

Pigeonhole – the book club in your pocket!

I’m so excited to be partnering up with Pigeonhole, a digital serialisation company that will be giving away sections of my book, The Doll House, for FREE! It’s very simple to join up and they will then deliver the full book (in sections) to your phone, along with extra content from me and the opportunity to enter into discussions with other readers as you go through the book. It’s a really interactive, fun experience so do sign up for free if you’re interested!

There are only 200 spaces avai...

How the editorial process works

So you’ve reached the amazing stage where someone wants to publish your book. You’re excited, you’re nervous, you’ve finally been able to tell your friends and family without panicking that you’ll somehow jinx it and your publisher will call you to tell you that actually, sorry, this whole thing has been a strangely elaborate joke. You’ve signed your contract, and you’re raring to go.

But now what happens?

I think a lot of writers still don’t know what does happen next, after you’ve jumped th...

How a book deal works

So I ran a Twitter poll the other day asking people what topic would be the most useful for me to write about, as I really want to try to make this little blog as useful as possible. When I was trying to get published, I spent HOURS trawling the internet for information about the publishing process (before I was working in it as closely as I am now) and so any light I can now shed on things for other people is hopefully a good thing. Anyway, the majority of people chose ‘how a book deal works...

My submission letter to my agent

I thought it might be helpful to share the original submission letter which I sent to my lovely agent, Camilla at Darley Anderson.

Now, please bear in mind I wrote this letter a couple of years ago, when I was young and fairly naive – but it did get me an agent, so I thought still worth sharing in case anyone out there finds it useful (although if I’m honest, it makes me cringe a bit now!)

After this letter, Camilla emailed me within 48 hours and asked to read the whole manuscript – we then d...

That two week feeling…

Yesterday, someone asked me if I was feeling happy about how my first book, The Doll House, is doing.

‘I don’t know,’ I replied, and I wasn’t trying to be evasive or modest or cagey or any of those things, I just really found it hard to explain how I am feeling two weeks after the release of my first book. So, I thought I’d write it down.

One one hand, definitely yes. I am so beyond grateful to every single person who has bought my little book and helped it to reach #1 on iBooks and the top 5...

Facebook Live on the HarperCollins page

Tomorrow afternoon at 4.45pm, I will be live with my lovely editor Charlotte answering readers’ questions about The Doll House and writing in general. I have done some of these before as the interviewing editor, so it will feel very strange to be on the other side of it! It will be hosted on the HarperCollins UK Facebook page, so if you have any questions for me, please post them beneath the video when it starts or alternatively you can send them in now (and anytime until the live video start...

How it feels to have a book published

It’s 4.38 am, in the early hours of Thursday, 14th September. I’m wide awake, staring into the darkness of my room (well, mainly darkness. I live next to a train line so there is the occasional flashing light!). I have to be up for work in less than three hours, but even though I know I’ll be tired in the morning, I can’t sleep. My book is being published today. It’s a moment I have been waiting for for 27 years, and nervous doesn’t even begin to cover it.

In the morning, it honestly feels a...

The Worried Writer Podcast

Last week, I spoke to the absolutely lovely Sarah Painter, who runs a brilliant podcast called The Worried Writer. I’ve listened to her podcast for the last couple of years – I used to listen on my walk to work before I got lazy and started taking the bus) and it’s honestly such a great resource for all writers, no matter what stage of the process you are at. She interviews a really wide range of authors and I was so happy to get involved.

My podcast is now live here: http://www.worriedwriter...

Behind the Scenes at the Doll House

I wanted to give a little insight into the inspiration behind my first novel, The Doll House. The book is in no way autobiographical, but the central image is based upon a house my own father made for me when I was a child. We lived in Essex back then, in a tiny village (which is actually going to feature in my next book) and one of my favourite pastimes was playing with my doll house, creating a make-believe world in which everything was perfect, and which I could control. As an adult, one r...

My time as a sorority sister – Marie Claire

It was an absolute dream come true to write a piece for the brilliant Marie Claire, which appeared earlier this month and is here below in full. Being in a sorority was such a strange but fascinating period of my life and it was really fun to revisit it by writing this piece. Plus they gave a plug to the book – thank you Delphine Chui and all at Marie Claire!

‘When I joined my sorority, I had to wear a white dress and swear on the Bible in front of 30 other girls’

Words by Phoebe Morgan, aut...