The Book Deal Diaries - Guest Interview with Literary Agent Edwina de Charnacé

On the agent / author relationship and top agent tips

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Introducing Edwina

In today’s episode of the Book Deal Diaries I am absolutely delighted to introduce and to interview my fabulous literary agent, Edwina de Charnacé from MMB Creative. Video and audio content below!

Edwina and I met in summer 2022, through a virtual ‘Agent Table’ organised by

Justine Solomons

the director of Byte the Book - a company dedicated to connecting authors with the publishing world, helping their members to learn about and understand the industry, to network in all sorts of area, and ultimately to get published! The next Agent Table is on 15 May with a submission deadline of 30 April, so I recommend you take a look. It worked for me…

I was signed by MMB shortly after meeting Edwina, and we worked so closely together on my book Breaking Waves over several months, prior to Edwina pitching the completed manuscript at the London Book Fair in Spring 2023 and ultimately acquiring my first book deal in Autumn of the same year.

This interview gives a very real insight into the author/agent relationship, who we are and how our relationship plays out now that we have been together for 18 months. Additionally, Edwina passes on some brilliant top tips for authors who may be looking to work with an agent.

It’s fun, informal, totally unrehearsed, and I hope gives a flavour of the relationship that we have built up and why we work so well together!

You may notice that editing is not within my skill set so excuse the first 3 seconds but the main thing is that nothing is chopped out! (I’ll put this on the list for my imaginary tech elves to help me with one day.) In the meantime, make yourself a cuppa, or grab your headphones and go for a walk and have a listen. We cover many aspects from finding that connection with an agent to the ‘process’ of writing itself, and I’m sure you’ll find Edwina’s advice and perspective, as well as the questions she presents me, invaluable.

(Note: since we recorded this interview and spoke about the ‘solitude’ of writing, I have spent the most glorious weekend with fellow writers IN PERSON (!!) at the Alnwick Storyfest - more on that to come…)

Enjoy 💕

Our interview - video & audio

The audio is embedded here.

I’d really love to know your thoughts and what feeling(s) this brings about the author / agent relationship and its importance.

Also if you have other more specific questions about the process and the role of the agent in particular, please do leave them in the comments below and I can put them to Edwina in a follow-up piece. In this interview we really wanted to focus on the connection we have and how our relationship works, as it has been absolutely fundamental to the book becoming what it is. I also found it interesting to reflect back on this short piece we did together much earlier on, and to note that all these things definitely still hold true.

Whilst there are many ‘top tips’ and things that can be researched (as detailed in my previous post), what can’t be forced is the author/agent relationship itself. It is our understanding of each other, our mutual connection with the subject matter, our shared values and passion for telling a great story that have made it so successful.

Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

I’m hugely grateful to Edwina for the time and insight offered, and thank you for watching/listening. If you enjoyed this and think it could be of value to others please do share. Thank you so much 🙏

As always, I’d love to know what has particularly resonated for you?

Love & lemons 💕🍋

Em xx