Reflections on Writing and Publishing: 3 things I've learned as an author, editor and agent

In 2011 I graduated from my Creative Writing Master’s program and flippantly decided to pursue a career as an author. How hard could it be? I’d graduated top of my class, after all. (Oh, my sweet summer child...)

When, to my surprise, I didn’t gain a top agent and six-figure deal within the next year, I decided I’d need a different career. I enjoyed working with other writers and I’d been told I was good at offering feedback, so editorial felt like a great fit. 

Although I did eventually gain my agent and a traditional publishing deal, debuting with Bloomsbury in 2019, the biggest surprise for me was how much I’ve valued and enjoyed my publishing career.  I spent ten years in editorial, starting as an assistant at Pan Macmillan in London and ending as Senior Editor at children’s publisher Chicken House (Scholastic). An international move to the west coast of the US in 2023 necessitated a sideways step – I became a literary agent. Recently, I moved back to the UK and editorial and now work as a Commissioning Editor for YA/crossover imprint First Ink at Macmillan in London.

I’ve learned a lot of things during my writing, editing, and agenting life. But I’d like to home in on 3 crucial lessons, one from each part of my experience.

Reflections on Writing

1. The biggest lesson I learned as an author: Don’t compare yourself to others

We all go into trying to get published with a little bit of bluster and naivety – in fact, I think it’s totally necessary. If we didn’t, we might all get dispirited before we even begin! I was convinced that my first novel (which was actually the second novel I wrote) was going to get an agent and a deal. It didn’t. But the next book did. 

Most of my writing peers didn’t get publishing deals. Others (very few) got huge, splashy deals with one of the Big 5. Somehow, those few were the only ones I cared about. 

Comparing yourself to others ALWAYS means comparing yourself to those you perceive as more successful.

I looked at how well they were doing and wondered what I was doing wrong. On my Creative Writing program, I was always getting top grades. Why didn’t that translate into success? At one point I was really spinning my wheels trying to figure it out. And the unfavorable comparisons never end, even after you have a deal.

• Why did this author get a bigger advance?

• Why aren’t I getting bound proofs when so-and-so is, even when we’re at the same publisher?

• Why is that author going to this festival, and I’ve not been invited?

The truth?

There is no answer as to why some books and writers are successful and others aren’t. It’s not solely about quality, or being more marketable, or being in the right place at the right time, even though all of those things play apart. The industry is simply inherently, terrifyingly subjective – and it is genuinely really hard to get an agent right now (and beyond). The sooner you can accept that, the sooner you can find the kind of equilibrium and acceptance that will enable you to focus on your creativity as a writer – and appreciate what you have. I didn’t have a big splashy deal, but I had a great experience getting my work out there. You can too, no matter what your path.

2. The biggest lesson I learned as an editor: every single writer works differently

I’ve worked across adult, children’s, fiction and even a little non-fiction, spending over a decade on the editorial side of the industry both freelance and in-house, and one thing I can say for sure is that no two authors I’ve worked with have been exactly alike. Moreover, I’ve found that the authors who know themselves and understand their unique writing style are the most successful in producing high-quality stories.

One author I’ve worked with took planning to the extreme. She would plot out each chapter meticulously, down to the word count, and follow that plan precisely. And it worked. Her first drafts read like they’d been through two edits already.

Another author was a total pantser. He would dive in with a general idea of the concept of his story and nothing else – he hated being constrained by any but the broadest sense of what might happen in the book. Often, he would come up with genius plot twists on the spot. Did his books need more editing than the first author’s? Yes, a bit. But it worked.

The point? 

There really is no right way to do this thing.

The scale of plotter to ‘pantser’ illustrated here is just one of many different scales you might devise to describe creativity, and each author seems to have a different mix. So, while it’s good to be open minded about different writing techniques, remember that writing your own way is absolutely fine.

3. The biggest lesson I learned as an agent: selling a book is REALLY hard

I agented for just over two years, representing a total of 18 clients over that time. Guess how many deals I’ve closed?

Eight. Three of those are for a single author – so 5 authors of the 18 I’ve represented have actually got contracts. That’s a success rate of 27%.

Now, bear in mind that every one of these authors is a writer whose work I am wildly passionate about. I think each and every one of them deserves a big five, six-figure contract. They are super talented and rose to the top of the thousands of submissions I’ve received. And yet… 

One of the biggest - and most difficult - reflections on writing and publishing is that the competition levels in this industry are out-of-control even at the agented stage. Of course, I knew it was tough. But there’s something different about intimately knowing these stories, and loving them, and still struggling to find them a home. 

This might sound depressing, and perhaps it is – we all wonder ‘am I wasting my time?’ every now and then in this industry. But I think writers can take an important lesson from it, too: there is simply no point in pinning your hopes and dreams on traditional publishing.

Shoot your shot, sure, but ultimately you need to write because you love it. Write because you want to write, not because you want to be published. Because that is the one thing that is truly under your control!

Meet Kesia

Kesia Lupo joined Macmillan Children’s Books as a YA/crossover commissioning editor in 2025 after 12 years working across the publishing industry. She started out as an editorial assistant at Pan Macmillan London in 2013, transitioning to children’s fiction in 2015 when she moved to Chicken House (a UK imprint of Scholastic), where she worked her way up from junior to senior editor. Here she acquired and edited bestselling, internationally successful and prize-winning fiction for middle-grade and YA readers. In 2023 she transitioned over to the US and agenting, working with the Bindery Agency and Donald Maass Literary Agency. When she’s not editing or reading, she’s writing books of her own, dreaming up her next Substack post, or watching trashy TV.