Success Stories

“I approached TLC for a manuscript assessment with what felt like a confused manuscript and paralysing anxiety over professionals reading my work. TLC paired my YA romance with the perfect reader: award-winning YA author CJ Flood. After a few weeks, I received pages of invaluable feedback and the sort of encouragement that’s vital to a nervous, new writer: I was told the novel had real publication potential. I got to work implementing all of Chelsey’s suggestions, most instrumentally across motivation, pacing and tension. What emerged was a book that felt 100 per cent more compelling to read. I sent the manuscript off and scored a three-book publishing deal with Literary Crush Publishing, and CJ Flood kindly provided a blurb to endorse my novel. Without TLC, I believe my promising but muddled story would still be looking for a home. TLC and Chelsey Flood were instrumental in Emmie and the Tudor King finding its way to publication and into readers’ hands.”

“I’ve used The Literary Consultancy several times, most recently after winning a Free Read at the Northern Writers’ Awards. Their comments are always thoughtful and on-point, and often highlight issues in the manuscript that I was aware of on some level, but hadn’t managed to deal with effectively. TLC’s advice never fails to inspire a fresh solution that makes the book better. I’m incredibly grateful for the part they played in my journey towards becoming a published author.”

“TLC and the Bridport Prize played a vital part in bringing my novel The Conviction of Cora Burns to life. I wrote the first chapters with an eye on the 2016 Bridport deadline and then, once these chapters were longlisted, I worked furiously to meet the word count for shortlisting. But I was unsure where my story would go after that. Thankfully, the shortlist prize was a TLC assessment from a renowned author in the same genre. Her astute insights helped move the narrative forward, allowing me to complete the novel which has gone on to be published in the UK and the USA.”

“I can attribute much of my book’s success to the initial guidance I received from TLC, Jude Cook, in particular. With discreet diplomacy he complimented me on my strong points. Then we talked about the art of telling. Everybody has a fascinating life story – the difficulty comes with knowing the words to share it. Fictional biography gave me the freedom of invention. Jim’s life would be told in the third person, not by me but my narrator. The narrator himself became an important character, one with his own personality, interesting and likeable. He was going to take you on a 580-page journey so he had to be. My most important character, however, was my reader. Of him I was always mindful, I wanted him as a new friend.”

“I’d been struggling to complete my final draft and I was unsure what to do next with my manuscript. My TLC reader, Angela Clarke, read my novel and her feedback was excellent. She helped me see what didn’t quite work with the pacing and storyline, and she helped me see that I was writing a thriller; I’d been unsure of the genre up to that point. She was also very encouraging, which is exactly what I needed. After I had worked on editing my manuscript, TLC put me in touch with Sapere Books, who are now publishing RUNNING IN CIRCLES. I’m so grateful to everyone at TLC for their input; I feel like they offer something very special and they have kickstarted my career.”

“After years of beavering away at my writing in professional isolation, I made one of the best decisions of my writing career; I called in some collaboration courtesy of an outfit that’s at the top of its game. Working with TLC made all the difference, not just to my book but to my appreciation of what was needed on the road ahead, and, crucially to my confidence. My debut, Bone Lines, went through a couple more incarnations, even after two rounds of working with my wonderful TLC mentor Dr Stephen Carver, but that initial push was the step that transformed everything. If you are prepared to face a few realities and do a lot more hard work (because, honestly, that it what is needed no matter how good you think your draft may be) then I cannot recommend this team highly enough.”