Facebook: Ross Berkeley Simpson
Insta: @storytimewithross
Agent: Abi Fellows
Agency: DHH Literary Agency
Check out our #Agent121 page to book an appointment.
Ross Berkeley Simpson is an author, playwright and screenwriter. His first play, Warheads, was performed at The Park and received an Olivier nomination in 2020. Ross has just completed his first novel for children and has several adult fiction projects taking shape.
IAIP: You have had an amazing career so far. What made you want to turn your hand to novel writing?
RBS: It’s very kind of you to describe my writing career like that. To me, it feels like it has been an endless struggle with a couple of amazing moments thrown in. I always thought I’d be a screenwriter, and have had a little bit of success in that area, but there are so many people you need to impress with screenplays in order for something to work: producers, financiers, actors, streamers, cinemas, distributors! Even now, I have several films in different stages of development with different production companies, but I have no idea whether they will make it through the maze.
It was plays that took off for me. I work regularly with the actress Laura Rollins and she recommended me to an actor called Taz Skylar who was looking to work with a writer. This union eventually ended with a play called Warheads which was performed at The Park and nominated for an Olivier. Off the back of that I contacted a theatre director friend called Scott Le Crass and we managed to put on my second play Heterophobia at the Turbine, performed by Dame Maureen Lipman and Paul Copley. Even though putting on plays is incredibly difficult, I found it much easier than trying to sell a screenplay. There were less people I needed to convince. And that got me thinking about novels. With a novel, the only person I have to impress is an agent – and then the agent does the heavy lifting. That realisation made me pivot away from continuing onto another play and finally finishing a novel I had started years before. It seemed like the best bet for writing success.
IAIP: How many books have you written?
RBS: I wrote a middle grade book in my twenties and sent it off to a few agents. I had two replies. The first said, ‘I love your characters but there’s no plot here’. The second said, ‘Great plot – but where are the characters?’ I was so confused by this that I put the book into a drawer and forgot about it. (I now realise that, if I had continued, I’d have probably secured an agent decades ago!)
In my thirties I had an idea for a horror and kept picking it up in fits and starts. I wrote the end first, then went back to the start and wrote that. I’d look at it every few years and do a few chapters, then leave it. When I had the realisation mentioned above, I started putting in a lot more effort with the horror, until, eventually, in 2025, it was finished. The moment I completed it I knew that it had taken so long because I didn’t truly believe I could do it. So I started another book (a dark comedy) almost straight away, as a test, and finished that in 3 months! Then I wrote my second middle grade book in just over two months. Now that I know I can do it, I feel like a dam has broken, and I just can’t stop!
IAIP: Which book was it that secured you an agent and how did it happen?
RBS: It was the recent middle grade book that did it. At the time I signed, the horror had 5 full manuscript requests, the dark comedy had 3 and the middle grade had 3.
Abi (I signed to the wonderful Abi Fellows at DHH Literary Agency) said that my middle grade writing was strong and would stand out, whereas the others were well-written and may sell well down the line but were not different enough to start a career. She told me her plan for the middle grade, and what her editorial notes would be. Everything she said, I agreed with, and we had an instant work chemistry and friendliness that excited me. I felt like I’d known her for years. It all happened within two weeks. I signed while I was on holiday in Kos, Greece, on my 45th birthday, overlooking the Aegean sea, surrounded by family and friends. Best birthday ever!
IAIP: You took part in a few #Agent121 sessions. Do you believe that these helped you secure your agent? If so, in what ways did they help?
RBS: I know that I Am In Print helped me secure an agent. There is no doubt in my mind. I think it is the best money I have ever spent to support my future. There’s no downside. The least you will get from it is great feedback from someone who really knows the business. But having a face to face (on zoom) meeting means you develop a connection with the agent. You’re not a faceless email. You skip the slush pile. The agent can’t dismiss your work because they don’t like the title or the synopsis, as sometimes happens. They will read your first 5000 words and make a decision about what they think about it. I saved some money before starting my quest for an agent and I spent most of it on agent 121s. I was fortunate enough to get lots of full manuscript requests through the site and I’m delighted that I found my agent on here too, in her first ever I Am In Print feedback session!
I would also say that the friendship and support I’ve had from Sarah and Elane has been invaluable! They’ve been in my corner from the first moment and I honestly can’t thank them enough!
IAIP: Roughly how many rejections did you receive before becoming agented?
RBS: Hundreds! I can’t even count them. But I’m also an actor so I’m very used to rejection. One thing I do whenever I receive a rejection is send out at least two more submissions, so that your chances are always growing. Of course I had down days – and down months. But I know from acting that you just have to keep plugging away to get anywhere and I brought that determination to this struggle – and it paid off.
IAIP: What have you learned about the publishing industry since you began your novel writing journey?
RBS: Agents really are very busy! I always knew they must be busy people, but seeing how many submissions they were getting a day really did make me realise that writing is an incredibly difficult game, and you’re not going to get anywhere without perseverance.
IAIP: What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to find an agent?
RBS: Despite everything I had been told, I don’t think agents or publishers are looking for anything too different for a debut book. I had thought that my horror and dark comedy would be snapped up because they were – for want of a better phrase – a bit arty. Neither obeyed the rules of any genre but instead weaved in and out of several different genres, on purpose. My middle grade, though, did exactly what a middle grade book was supposed to do, and that one was snapped up very quickly. So my advice would be… if you have an idea that you are passionate about and that is also ‘in pocket’ for its genre, go with that idea over your passion piece. Get to your passion piece when you’re established. (I know some people will strongly disagree with this, but after a year of submitting three books, getting 22 fulls, one R&R and hundreds of rejections, I think this is correct.)
IAIP: Do you have any tips on making the most of an #Agent121 or from entering a competition?
RBS: Regarding Agent 121s:
Agents on these calls don’t want to be put on the spot – and I didn’t want to put them on the spot, so at the end of the feedback I asked this question:
‘So if this isn’t for you, is there anyone at your agency or elsewhere that you think it would connect with?’
Sometimes, this led to them saying ‘Oh, no – it is for me! Send me the full!’ But other times I was sent the names of agents who I could then write to and say, ‘I had a meeting with AGENT today and they thought you’d love this project.’
Regarding competitions:
I was lucky enough to be placed third in the historical fiction category in 2025 for my horror. Ironically, it didn’t get selected for the horror category! So, I would say, enter your manuscript into as many genres as you can afford to (and that fit), to give yourself the best chance.
Facebook: Ross Berkeley Simpson
Insta: @storytimewithross
Agent: Abi Fellows
Agency: DHH Literary Agency
Check out our #Agent121 page to book an appointment.