Meeting writers on the page since 1996

Showcase

Pete Smith

“I was born south of the river in Brixton in the 1950s, well-before it was mockneyfied by the arriveste sons and daughters of Britain’s white middle class in their holy grail search for street cred. So by accident of birth I had – indeed have – a profound genetic distrust of anything hailing from the North side of town. But as I anecdote away to a coterie of fascinated club sponsors and their friends, it begins to dawn on me that the wine waiter has been given a briefing:
‘Poor bloke working for a charity, probably never gets a decent drink in his life. Take special care of him, John. Rather he got our good stuff than those corporate hangers-on’. ”

Extract from ‘Project Management – All You Need Is Love’ – included in the showcase

“[T]he first response from TLC was critical for me. All first writers must fear the worst, and here was I submitting a book to TLC which I wasn’t sure they’d get at all. The response from the TLC reader, Karl North, was however quite fantastic. He had read it, thought about it, got it, and identified the central problem. He made many specific helpful suggestions to the text, but clearly set out that books that span readily defined genres don’t sit well with publishers. And because of that, many agents would shy away. He was extremely supportive about the book (far more than I had dared hope), but cautious about the road to publication. Since then, I have been working with Rebecca Swift at TLC trying to find an agent to help me through the challenge that Karl identified. Because of TLC’s involvement, my manuscript is getting read by the right people, something I know I couldn’t achieve on my own.”