How the Ultimate Novel Writing Course Helped Me Land My Dream Book Deal!

We’re delighted to share that Ultimate Novel Writing Course alumna S.J. King’s debut novel, Where You Belong, has been published this week by Storm Publishing. We caught up with S.J. to chat about her writing journey, the support she found most valuable along the way and her plans for the future.

JW: Hi S.J, thank you so much for chatting to us about your writing journey. You have not one, but two books coming out in 2025 with Storm Publishing – congratulations! How are you feeling in the run up to becoming a published author?  

S.J: Thanks so much to Jericho Writers for being a big part of my story these last few years. 

So how am I feeling…? Firstly, excited and still surprised. After years of writing, editing, pitching, re-editing, agenting, un-agenting, being on submission, being rejected and then writing, reading, submitting and editing more… I am thrilled that this has ‘suddenly’ happened. I still can’t quite believe it. 

Secondly, it’s a lot of firsts! It’s my first time to get a book deal (for starters), but also first time to get a structural edits letter from my editor, select a voice actor for the audiobook, to get an amazing cover and have a cover reveal, to receive ARC reviews and have people tag me on Instagram. Another day, another first! I feel young again.

JW: Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming a published author? 

S.J: I think it is clear I am not an overnight success! But I almost was… my first agent was an incredible top-level agent who called me within fifteen mins of my first submission. Yep, that happened.

She sent my book to London Book Fair the following week, said she hoped it would go to auction. Nope. All the big publishers liked it, but not enough. Seeing all her other books sell for six and seven figures over the years, and her authors going on to become bestsellers, has been exciting to watch – but a little sad, as I thought my ship had sailed. 

But as a writer, resilience and persistence are absolutely key. I put myself back on the horse (a horse on a ship?) and wrote more books, got another agent, went out on submission again and experienced more rejection. Just as I was on the point of giving up, I came upon the Ultimate Novel Writing Course. In the year after the course, I landed a two-book deal. 

My second book, Lauren is Missing, is the book I was originally agented for, and the one my publisher (Storm) first read – but is not my debut. I have two more books in the bag, one of which I wrote on the UNWC with the fabulous Emma Cooper as my mentor. Working on this helped me go back to the others with a better skillset.

JW: After having spent a long time writing and re-writing the same story, spending infinite amounts of time with your characters – how did you know it was time to send it out into the world?  

S.J: You don’t.

Lauren is Missing has probably been rewritten a hundred times. I have so many files and versions. I have butchered it to the point where I was word blind. Where I loved it and also didn’t think I could read it again. Then, after UNWC and all that I learnt, I picked it up and edited it with fresh eyes, adding a whole new POV. Bingo, book deal. (Of course, I have had to edit it again, but I am now finally on the home straight.) 

Make sure you love your work, but not so much that you’re stubborn.  Use all the support available (such as reviews and the video courses that Jericho Writers offer as part of their Premium Membership), then send to a few agents or consider a one-to-one. Test and try. Rejected? Keep going. Write a new book. You learn something from each one, and you widen your chances.

Also, read. Read books in your genre that have what it takes. Then reread your book. Does it hold up? Do you get tangled in parts? If so, take them out.

JW: Have you got any tips for writers who are preparing their novels for submission?  

S.J: RESILIENCE. Believe in yourself (without arrogance.) Be willing to take the hits, the rejections, but not personally (easier said than done). Don’t refresh your mailbox every three seconds. (Easier said than done.)  Accept that most authors don’t get a deal with their first book, and many authors don’t make it big with their first even if they are published. Stay in love with writing, not just one book. Have a strong pitch, and remember it doesn’t have to be entirely unique. In fact, comparisons are your friend. A lot of reviewers have said they didn’t quite know what to make of Where You Belong because it is not what they expected. It’s a psychological thriller with a thread of dystopia.

JW: Can you tell us a little bit about the process your book has gone through, post-book deal, in preparation for publication? How have you found the experience of working with an editor?  

S.J: Joyful.

I guess because I had done rewrites for agents and myself, dismembering my books, knowing that these are the final rounds of edits has felt fabulous.

Vicky, my editor, is just so calm, encouraging, supportive and committed. It feels that with Storm I have a team of caring professionals all around me. I focus on being a writer and they have everything else in the bag. They know their stuff and are very author-friendly.

JW: Before you signed with Storm Publishing, you completed the Ultimate Novel Writing Course. Can you tell us a little about that experience? 

SJ: Oh, so good.

I learned so much that I can keep mining for improvement. Just after I joined I was asked to step into my manager’s role. So I had two jobs and was on this course. (Plus kids, husband, cat on prozac… all the rest.) I thought I would have to stop the course. But my mentor, Emma, was brilliant, the course was flexible, my group were supportive and understanding. Somehow it all fitted and the course was so interesting that I made time for it and the assignments, and the assignments added up to a finished novel. Plus you can work on the content wherever you are in the world, or to suit your work/life schedule. Even the team sessions are recorded so you can watch what you miss.

Each month felt like an unboxing of writing gifts. I just wanted it to go on forever. When it finished, I really missed it for months afterwards.

JW: In all the time you spent developing your craft, both on and off the UNWC, is there anything you found particularly useful?  

S.J: The friendship of fellow writers. I can honestly say I have made lifelong friends through writing. That it feels like the escapist, introvert, and sometimes sanity-sucking world of writing needs other writers to understand the obsession, the process, the highs and lows.

You need people to empathise and share with you, and critique your work – but also to put you back into the game when you are ready to give up. I love other writers, and hope I can give back more than I ever take. I think writers are truly the most generous givers of encouragement and knowledge.  If you have questions you’d like to ask, I will share…

JW: Have there been any surprises along the way? Or perhaps anything you wished you had known earlier? 

1. You can be a plotter AND a pantser. I create an outline and then suddenly… wow… who is Josh? Where did he come from? Oh, OK Josh wants to be a main character does he… wait, why did he do that…?
2. Don’t keep editing the first chapter. You can write a book for five years and still only be doing that.  You’ll have some VERY overwritten first chapters that are probably worse than when you started. Write forward…
3. It is a lot about luck, BUT you can make your own luck if you are resilient and don’t only nurse one project. Diversify and try to be a bit more prolific.
4. Straddling genres or ‘challenging genre norms’ is not as appreciated as you think. Most readers like things to match their expectations. A domestic psychological thriller with dystopian hints… never! Believe me, my reviewers all comment on it.
5. Celebrate all milestones. A new book idea, a finished draft, an edit, a positive review, non-form feedback from an agent. Whatever it is, feel FABULOUS. I don’t do enough of that, I’m a bit ‘well, let’s wait and see, it’s just a step.’ Fortunately my husband is my biggest fan and wants to celebrate everything.
6. Help your family/children/friends to understand what this means to you. My kids have grown up with my writing and my daughter is now the absolute best advisor on my work. She is blunt and nearly always right.

JW: Can you let us know what are you working on now?  

S.J: A bit of social media for my book launch (not needed, but quite fun). Editing book two – Lauren is Missing – out in July 2025. The last 25,000 words of a next book. And a new idea just burst into my brain, so I’m trying not to get too tempted or to lose it before I can get to it. (Oh, and my job…) 

JW: We love asking our writers for one piece of advice they wish they knew at the beginning of their journey. If you could go back, is there anything you would tell your past self?  

S.J: It probably won’t happen when you think it will. But don’t give up, it will happen.

(Oh, sorry… a second thing: Jericho Writers is amazing. I truly mean that. I could write a book about all the support I have received over the years.)

(Oh… last one, I promise: writing is an amazing escape and meditation from the world when it’s a little crazy, so be grateful that you were given the key to this little special room inside your head. Not everybody gets that…)

Want to follow in S.J. King’s footsteps? You can learn more about the Ultimate Novel Writing Course and how it could help you right here on our website.

About S.J. King

S.J. King is the writer of dark, literary psychological thrillers, and fun lover. She will publish two books with Storm in 2025.

For more on S.J. King see her TikTok, Twitter/X, Instagram, and Facebook.  Feel free to ask her questions if you have them. She’s been in the trenches for a while…