I've said this before, but it bears repeating. All the news of the ££££££ deals coming out of Frankfurt especially for debut authors, can feel very disheartening and demoralising for anyone who doesn't have a ££££££ deal.

And that's whether you're unpublished, out of contract, or a struggling mid-list author. It's easy to think that you've missed a window of opportunity. That all the money pots are empty now and every editors' list is full. But that simply isn't the case.

A goodly proportion of the deals that are flooding your Twitter timeline were done months and months ago. It makes sense to hold the news until now, precisely to create a buzz for foreign sales or film/TV deals at Frankfurt.

There is no narrow window and once you've missed that, you're screwed. (Though there are times of the year when agents and editors will be more flooded with submissions than other times of the year.)

All you can do is block out the buzz and the "why is it not me?" chatter in your head and concentrate on writing and rewriting and rewriting some more so that you know that you've written the best book you're capable of writing.

That your book is being judged solely on its own merits. If the work is good enough, if an agent or editor falls in love with it, no matter what time of the year it is, they will make room for it.

So, I hope if you're a writer who's been feeling dejected and demoralised, then this thread makes you feel a bit better. (And also, oh my God, we're in the middle of a fricking pandemic, writing is hard enough anyway, so this is one less thing you need to worry about.)