Do I need to move to London to get published?

by Matthew Savage
25th July 2013

I am seriously considering moving down to London to make it, and I use this term warily, 'easier' to find more opportunities to meet the right people and ultimately get published. The only thing is that I would rather not if at all possible. Would getting an agent based in London save me having to move? I am an aspiring writer and illustrator for children's books and I also write science fiction for a more adult market. I'm not suggesting this would be an 'easy fix' at all but it does seem like avoiding the economic centre leaves more room to be looked over.

Am I wrong?

Replies

dont move, you can do all o the research and sending of scrips online or in the post now days (they prefer that i believe)

Profile picture for user orpeus@l_28078
Daniel
Orpeus
330 points
Developing your craft
Fiction
Business, Management and Education
Speculative Fiction
Adventure
Historical
Daniel Orpeus
26/07/2013

Just to note; I'm not expecting a move to London to be the only way forward, it was just the best way I could put it for a more open discussion on the mater. I like the sounds people are making though, admittedly I wanted confirmation of what I kind of knew, and I seems that common sense is slowly winning out! Sometimes it is good to get multiple opinions though to settle any doubts.

Profile picture for user matthews_12499
Matthew
Savage
270 points
Practical publishing
Poetry
Short stories
Fiction
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Food, Drink and Cookery
Media and Journalism
Business, Management and Education
Speculative Fiction
Historical
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Matthew Savage
26/07/2013

To actually move house would be pretty drastic - albeit a lot of 'events', conferences and literary 'get-tog-ethers' do happen in the capital. Maybe you just need to ensure that you get tickets for all the relevant book events and do a bit of your own 'networking '. Your particular field is very competitive My nephew is a successful illustrator/graphic - it is just having the right stuff ready at the right time - in other words producing what the client is looking for at that particular time and striking lucky. I suppose it all depends on your background - my nephew had a background in advertising - so I suppose that may have helped - he had also been involved in set design (theatre and film) . Good luck

Profile picture for user CatherineER1
Catherine
Roriston
230 points
Developing your craft
Film, Music, Theatre, TV and Radio
Short stories
Fiction
Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Adventure
Autobiography, Biography and Memoir
Middle Grade (Children's)
Picture Books (Children's)
Comic
Business, Management and Education
Historical
Romance
Catherine Roriston
26/07/2013