Guy Saville, winner of our first Book of the Year Award in 2007, has just signed a two-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton for his novel THE AFRIKA REICH. Hodder – part of Hachette Livre, the UK’s biggest publisher – are behind some of the world’s most successful authors including Stephen King, John le Carre and Jodi Picoult.

Guy won the inaugural Book of the Year Award in February 2007. In the weeks that followed several publishers approached him about his book, including YouWriteOn regular Sara O’Keefe at Orion. ‘Winning the Book of the Year Award certainly opened doors,’ said Guy. ‘For the first time in my life publishers were coming to me! Sara was particularly keen. But even though she liked the concept she was less sure about the execution – so on her advice I decided to rewrite the book as a fast paced thriller.’

In the end it took two years of work until the book was ready to re-submit. Success, however, wasn’t instant for Guy: ‘The first few publishers rejected the book. But one of the qualities you need as a writer is the ability to persevere, so I just kept sending it out. Then two publishers said “yes” within 48 hours. Hodder made the better offer, and given their reputation, I chose them.’

THE AFRIKA REICH will now be published in February 2011.

YouWriteOn is very excited for Guy who told us: ‘Along with winning the Book of the Year Award what made the biggest difference was having the support of other unpublished writers who knew what I was going through. YWO has been a great forum for meeting likeminded people. There’s a real community spirit.’

Does he have any advice for other members on how to get published? ‘Apart from perseverance I also think you need to put in a lot of hard work. Most importantly you need to have a marketable idea. To maximise your chances of success you must write a book that editors will be able to understand instantly and then explain to the marketing and sales departments. Combine these three elements and anything is possible.’

Other finalists for the 2007 Book of the Year award included Douglas Jackson who got a two-book, six-figure advance from Transworld for Caligula; Patricia Delois who got a two-book deal for Bufflehead Sisters with Penguin and Bob Burke who published The Third Pig Detective Agency with Harper Collins. Last year’s winner, Katherine Webb, will have her novel The Legacy published this summer by Orion.

For further information about Guy’s book visit his website at: www.afrikareich.com

Oh yeah! result!
Back to my roots.

I agree with everything Old Kitty says (Old K, I used to be HJW...). As well as being a talent, Guy is one of the most supportive writers you could hope to meet. He's helped me in lots of ways.

I can't wait for The Afrika Reich to come out. There's a taster chapter on Guy's website. It's good.

http://www.afrikareich.com/index.html E-asy Peasy?

This is fantastic news! Guy has put so much effort into this and he really deserves it. It has been a hell of a slog. He won one of the first monthly prizes back in 2006 - I remember it well, I was sooo jealous. I guess it also shows what a virtue patience is.

Well done Guy. Bring it on.