I’m still a little bit star-struck by my guest debut author today. Not only is he one of Australia’s most talked about authors at the moment, featuring in most newspapers, podcasts and on the news, he’s also won major literary awards such as the 2018 T.A.G. Hungerford Award, the 2018 Kathleen Mitchell Award and the 2020 Premiers Prize for an Emerging Writers. Wow. Did I mention his book Invisible Boys is now being adapted for a TV series also? Hopeful writers like me look up to him in awe, because Holden Sheppard is not only an amazing writer, he’s also fiercely determined. Oh, and a really nice bloke too, just to top it off.
When I first came across Holden’s Insta profile, I was hooked into following him. His posts are really hilarious, showcasing his attitude to exercise, footy and homosexuality. His blog/website is even better. Holden delves into the depths of anxiety, conflicted identities and the suffering he has faced as a child and young teen struggling to hide his sexuality. His posts are real. There’s nothing about Holden that is fake. He doesn’t shy away from anything or anyone, and perhaps that’s because he’s spent much of his life hiding himself away from judgement.
Holden’s raw debut novel, Invisible Boys, captures just that. The fear of: what will become of me if I show society who I truly am? Based on personal experiences, the story follows three completely different boys living in rural Western Australia, struggling to come to terms with their homosexuality. It’s a novel that will be around and talked about for a long time. I hope to see it being read throughout schools or a pre-requisite for Year 11s and 12s studying literature.
Holden told me that writing since childhood, “makes you even more dogged and stronger.” Like me, Holden has been writing since he could and similarly, he’s had to shelf old manuscripts that weren’t working and start fresh. And the fresh one, Invisible Boys worked a treat, scoring him publishing deals, quick representation, awards and a TV series. But ultimately, it’s not always the writing that gets your through the door, as Holden mentions in this interview.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing for 24 years – since I was seven. Hope my skills have improved since then! I began writing boarding school stories in the style of Enid Blyton, but with a male main character. In my teenage years, I moved to writing a lot of Pokémon fanfiction and attempting original fantasy/adventure stories. I still have plans for a couple of fantasy/adventure book series in the future, but currently I’m focused on realist fiction – at least for the next few books.
What led to your offer of representation with an agent (or contract with a publisher, if you went that way around first?)
In November 2017, the manuscript of Invisible Boys won the Ray Koppe Residency Award, which gave me a free one week stay at Varuna, the National Writers’ House, in NSW. The news of me winning that award was published in Books + Publishing, the national news source for the Aussie book industry. A couple of days later, an agent, Haylee Nash of The Nash Agency, emailed me saying she liked the sound of my novel, and asked if I was interested in a chat about representation. Within a week, Haylee read my manuscript, fell in love with it, and signed me.
When asked how I got an agent, I sometimes feel like an arsey bastard. But signing with my agent wasn’t pure luck. I had spent hundreds of hours during 2015-2017 researching how to pitch, and that research wasn’t for nothing. When Haylee emailed, I knew just how to prepare a knockout pitch and a killer synopsis that would make her want to read my book at once, and she did.
How long did you have to wait to hear back and was it a partial or full request?
I hunted through my email folders so I could accurately answer this question. Haylee reached out via email, and I replied within 30 minutes as I was so blown away to hear from an agent (and to have an agent come to me – I couldn’t believe my luck!). I said I’d be up for a chat on the phone for sure, and I gave her my mobile number.
The funniest thing (and I remember this vividly) was that Haylee called me the next day when I was in the middle of doing a personal training session at the gym. As soon as I saw her number come up on my phone, I threw the dumbbells to the ground, shouted something incoherent at my trainer and raced for the exit. We had a fairly long phone call while I stood in the open doorway of the gym. I couldn’t close the door as I’d left my gym pass inside, so I had to stand there holding the door open with my foot and trying to focus on the most important phone call of my career while the sea breeze howled around me and 90s doof-doof blasted from inside the gym and people came and went around me. The cleaner even chose that exact moment to come and wipe down the door, spraying disinfectant all around me. It was pretty comical.
Anyway: on that phone call, I said sure, I would send the first 3 chapters and Haylee said no, she liked the sound of it already, so she asked for the full manuscript. I sent the full MS and the synopsis to her a few hours later. She replied a day later acknowledging receipt, and two days after that, she emailed me saying she loved Invisible Boys and offered to represent me. After years of reading about how agents take a long time to read submissions, I was stunned – it all happened super quickly. I think my experience is probably not characteristic of the industry in general, but I am very grateful it happened this way.
How many submissions did you make prior to gaining representation/publishing contract?
I barely got the chance to submit Invisible Boys anywhere before my agent signed me. From memory, I sent it to one agency and two publishers who happened to have those one-day-of-the-month where they accept unsolicited manuscripts. All three rejected it.
It’s also worth mentioning that when my agent shopped this book around, the major publishers all rejected it. Lots of them – most of them – said they loved the writing and the story but they couldn’t work out how to market it. It didn’t feel fully YA and wasn’t fully adult either. One publisher explicitly stated that they wanted happy gay books only, nothing dark or gritty. This trend bothers me, and I’m proud of my book for defying it, even if it made it harder to get published.
Fremantle Press saw the potential in this novel and really understood what it was trying to do, above and beyond its own story. I will be forever grateful to them for picking up and championing such an unusual, boundary-pushing book.
Any tips on cover letters/synopsis/pitches?
Research the agent or publisher thoroughly before you pitch. Make sure you understand how they want you to approach them. Have a sense of what they want on their list in terms of genre, category, etc. and only send them your work if it’s in line with what they are seeking.
Personally, I would suggest pitching to agents first, and exhausting that avenue. If you land an agent, great! If you don’t, your powder is still dry with all the publishers and you can approach a lot of them directly with an unsolicited MS. You cannot do this in reverse. Lots of early writers I know send an MS to every publisher, get rejected by all of them, and then talk about getting an agent. Sorry, but if all the publishers have rejected a particular MS already, an agent isn’t going to sign it – the publishers have already said no!
The best advice I ever got about pitching was from an agent who requested a full of my earlier fantasy novel, before ultimately rejecting me with a 30-minute phone call. He said my writing was competent but that it didn’t demand a place on bookshelves. I learned a lot from that. Your book can be mechanically sound, but if it doesn’t have that special X factor to it – and usually that means an honest, compelling, unique voice and/or true vulnerability and risk from the author – then it might not be good enough to get the attention of the market. So, when you pitch, make sure you’re making it clear why your book is so unique and different and amazing. Why does it demand a place on the shelves of booksellers and, ultimately, readers? Highlight your book’s uniqueness when you pitch.
More practically, read agent Janet Reid’s blog and her linked website, Query Shark, for some sharp and instructive help for writing your query letter.
Your first reaction when they offered the representation/contract?
I was crashing on a mattress on a mate’s floor in Geraldton when I got the offer of representation from Haylee. I jumped around like a maniac. I was so excited. And when I got the publishing contract with Fremantle Press a year later, I literally cried. There was no sobbing – I was grinning my head off – but my eyes just kept leaking.
What’s next for you?
I’m now winding up a massive year-and-a-bit (Oct 2019 – Dec 2020) of book touring, media appearances and loads of events and author talks in support of Invisible Boys. I feel like I’ve now flogged this book to death! Consequently, I’ll be taking some much-needed time away this summer to hide in my cave and do nothing at all.
In terms of my next book, my first agent recently left the business, so I have now signed with a new agent, the brilliant Gaby Naher from Left Bank Literary. Gaby signed me on the strength of my second novel, so I am currently working on the edits for that. Once it’s polished and in good shape, Gaby will be pitching it to publishers.
I also have new writing coming out in a couple of books next year. I’ve contributed to the new writing advice handbook How to be an Author: The Business of Being a Writer in Australia (Fremantle Press) which comes out in February 2021, and I have a new short story coming out in Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales (Wakefield Press) which will be published near the end of 2021.
And among all the book writing, I’ll also be involved in the TV series adaptation of Invisible Boys, which was recently optioned by a director and producer team. No rest for the wicked!
I cannot wait for the TV series, Holden! I’m sure you will have many happy viewers tuning in. Thank you so much for joining me on here today and good luck with your endeavors next year!
Thanks for visiting, everyone.
Holly
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