Posted by Monica Cardenas on 23 March 2022, in Byte Connects, Member news, News
Byte the Book loves bringing people from all areas of the publishing world together so that they can learn from each other and collaborate, and we want to highlight some wonderful collaborations that have come about via Byte The Book.
The next Agent Tables event is 26 May. Book here.
Here's writer Isabelle Dupuy (above, right) talking about meeting editor Bryony Sutherland (above, left) through Byte the Book.
How did you meet?
I met Bryony through Byte the Book in 2018. I had finished my first novel, Living the Dream, and although it had taken me three years and two drafts, I wanted a professional editorial opinion before sending it out to agents and publishers. I approached Justine at Byte the Book and she immediately suggested Bryony Sutherland. Justine was right. Bryony and I hit it off right away.
What was it like to work with Bryony?
She got what I was trying to do and like the brilliant editor and ghost writer she is, managed with some simple and subtle suggestions to make my story more cohesive and exciting while respecting the tone and style of the book. She also helped me with the kind of details an author tends to struggle with after living so long with a manuscript. Bryony picked up issues with chronology, historical accuracy and geography that I had missed.
Can you tell us about the result?
After our work together I had a manuscript I was confident about sending out. And indeed a few weeks later, I went to one of Byte the Book's famous agents' table events and soon after received a contract with Curtis Brown. Living the Dream was published in hardback in 2019 and in paperback in 2020 by Jacaranda Books. It was long and then short listed for the Diverse Book Awards and was mentioned as a summer read 2021 by The Guardian.
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Bryony Sutherland is freelance book editor with over twenty years’ publishing experience. She loves collaborating on psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, science fiction, dystopian fiction, urban fantasy, historical fiction, women’s and contemporary fiction. Within non-fiction, she specialises in memoirs, lifestyle how-tos, health and well-being, celebrity, and entertainment titles.
Isabelle Dupuy is a fiction writer, Theatre Critic with Litro Magazine and Trustee of the London Library. Her novel, Living the Dream, was published by Jacaranda in 2019.
