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Because I am thinking of writing a review of Susan Breen’s novel, The Fiction Class, I thought I’d better look her up.

I discovered that she’s had loads of short stories published but The Fiction Class was her first novel. What I think is really fascinating to relate is how this novel got published.

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Would you believe she had trouble finding an agent? Noone even wanted to read a part of the first novel of a short story writer. She was in despair when she noticed a small ad in the paper for the NYC Pitch & Shop Conference, where authors could pitch their books to editors.

She bravely filled in an application form, thinking she really had nothing to lose, and received an invitation to take part by telephone. In the few weeks before the event, she finished the first draft of the novel, and drafted a pitch.

On day one, she met other authors and they critiqued each others’ pitches and worked them up. On day 2, she made a pitch to the first editor, in public, as all members of her literary fiction group performed in front of each other. Some of the books and presentations were well received but hers was not. She almost didn’t go back the next day.

The next day, presentations to an individual editor were made in private, and she was much happier. On the final day, the unthinkable happened. The editor liked her book so much that she asked to read it, and then bought it.

And that’s how she got it published, before she got an agent who also sold the UK rights for her.

Of course, all that happened in New York. Anyone heard of these kind of conferences in the UK?