Instagram: @sarahjeanmellor
Agent: Clare Coombes
Agency: The Liverpool Literary Agency
Check out our #Agent121 page to book your own appointment.
Sarah Mellor is a crime writer and psychological therapist in her adopted city of Liverpool, where she’s lived for nearly 30 years. She loves crime novels, particularly stories with lots of twists and turns, and this was her aim when starting her series of 1970s-set books featuring Detective Leigh Borrowdale and her partner, Des Chung.
When not writing, Sarah continues to practice as a therapist, avidly reads crime novels, and spends time with her husband and grown-up daughter. She has also written on mental health, including editing a journal for therapists.
IAIP: What was the inspiration behind the book that ended up securing you an agent?
SM: My crime novel, The Departed, is set in 1979 in Liverpool and features a woman detective, Leigh Borrowdale, and her work partner, Des Chung. I knew I wanted to write a crime series because I love reading the genre, and I knew I wanted to set the book in the 1970s because I was a teenager during that time and remember the bitterly cold winter and the strikes and power cuts. As my detectives are over 40 years in the past, they have to solve a murder case without mobile phones, computers or DNA profiling, and the times they live in trouble them personally – Des is affected by the gravedigger’s strike, which meant the dead went unburied, and Leigh by the disappearance of her brother: in the 70s, missing people tended to stay missing.
I set the book in Liverpool because I’ve lived here for 30 years, working as a psychological therapist in the NHS and getting to know the city through its people. I’ve just finished the second book in the series, which is set in 1981 – the idea is to take a pivotal time in the city’s history to serve as a backdrop for a twisty murder mystery.
IAIP: Was this the first book you attempted?
SM: I’m a classic example of try, try and try again! I started an unfinished novel as long ago as the year 2000 and then wrote another ‘not quite there yet’ novel before I wrote The Departed. I realised I hadn’t really learned enough about the craft to do it as well as I wanted, so I committed by booking on an Arvon course in crime writing taught by Dreda Say Mitchell and Frances Fyfield. Lockdown helped with the process, and although I was classed as a key worker and kept on working throughout, it was amazing what being without a social life did for finding time to write!
IAIP: How long did it take to write?
SM: I started The Departed in 2020 and met with Clare Coombes of the Liverpool Literary Agency through I Am In Print at the end of 2022.
IAIP: After you revised and re-summited to Clare, how long did it take until you signed on the dotted line?
SM: After I’d finished the rewrites Clare suggested, we signed almost straight away. I still did three further rounds of edits before the novel went on submission, and we found my publisher, Harper North, in the first round of submissions.
IAIP: Roughly how many rejections did you receive before becoming agented?
SM: Over the years, too many to count! But I realise now my writing wasn’t ready – I wasn’t sending agents a book they could really consider. I believed in The Departed, though, and I was single minded in approaching the agent I wanted. Clare is based in the city I write about and set up her agency to help northern writers break into the publishing industry.
IAIP: What have you learned about the publishing industry since you started querying?
SM: It can be really difficult for writers to break in if their only chance of contact with an agent is via email. But there are people out there, such as Clare and Genevieve Pegg and her team at Harper North, who are committed to opening doors for new writers. I Am In Print is so valuable, too, as it increases access by allowing writers to meet an agent face to face (and you can apply for a free slot if you’re on a low income).
IAIP: What advice would you give to aspiring writers looking to get published?
SM: Based on my own experience, I’d say keep learning and improving the quality of your work – that’s all you can control! And if you do that, it increases the likelihood of finding the right people at the time that’s right for you. There’s always luck involved – there are many talented authors out there who are unagented and unpublished (as yet) – and my luck was in finding the right people to champion my book. I’ve also learnt that you don’t have to be a certain age, look a certain way, or have a big social media following to be published – you only have to have written a book agents and publishers love.
IAIP: Do you have any tips on making the most of an #Agent121?
SM: I’d recommend doing your research and booking with an agent who is likely to fit with you and your book. I only booked the one slot with Clare because I knew she was the agent I wanted. I chose with care, and it paid off.
Instagram: @sarahjeanmellor
Agent: Clare Coombes
Agency: The Liverpool Literary Agency
Check out our #Agent121 page to book your own appointment.