Laura Madeleine

IT’S PUBLICATION DAY!

Yes, it’s finally here: the official publication day of The Confectioner’s Tale! It’s been a long journey, filled with many, many drafts, plot changes, character chopping and chapter juggling, but TCT (as it’s affectionately known) is now a real book, and out in the world for anyone to pick up – and hopefully enjoy – which is the most exciting thing of all.

I’ve been lucky to have landed in the middle of such a warm team at Transworld, who have been nothing but enthusiastic from the beginning. (Anyone who turns up to a first meeting with a tote bag of free books gets a head start, in my opinion). My editor Harriet’s editorial notes were a god-send, and cut through the snow-blindness which can occur after spending too much time with your own writing. Naomi and everyone on the PR wagon have been equally brilliant; as a new author it can be a fight to get your voice heard, and they’ve thrown their energy behind getting The Confectioner’s Tale out there and talked about, so that it reaches as many potential readers as possible. The act of writing and the necessity of publicity are not the easiest of companions, I find, which makes the job of the team at Transworld all the more important (and challenging!). Bravo.

But first and foremost, I have to thank my agent, Ed, who fished me out of the slush pile aged 20 and has stuck with me ever since. It’s been a longish road here, via one very odd novel that (thankfully, in hindsight) no one wanted to publish, but I’m eternally grateful that I sent off a  submission of a weird, raw, half-finished manuscript to Ed that day in 2008. Buy him a double G&T, if you happen to see him about. THANKS ED.

There are a few more bits and pieces of exciting news re: TCT, but they’ll have to wait until I’m sure I’m allowed to talk about them! In the meantime, there’s a launch party in the offing (watch this space), and I’m currently hacking away at another novel…  For now though, thank you to past, present and future readers: I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did writing it.