The honest author perspective: an interview with C.L. Taylor

The bestselling suspense novelist tells us her secrets of success, and shares her ups and downs, with some brilliant advice for authors...

Hi all,

Happy Halloween! I hope you are all well and apologies that my Substack has been slower of late - I started my new job at Simon & Schuster this month and am also involved in a local drama production, so I have been a busy bee! I am so excited by today’s edition, though.

I am delighted to welcome Sunday Times bestselling author C.L. Taylor to The Honest Editor. Cally and I have known each other for years now; I used to be her editor on some of her books at HarperCollins, and she is to my mind one of the best and most hard-working writers in this industry. Below she has generously shared so much experience and expertise, and I hope you all find it useful. You can buy Cally’s books from Waterstones here (they are also widely available wherever you buy your books, and I highly recommend them!)

Hi Cally, thank you so much for coming on The Honest Editor. To start with, please can you tell us what your publishing journey was like? Had you always wanted to write?

Thank you, Phoebe. I’m so chuffed to be invited onto your Substack. It’s a brilliant resource and I’m a huge fan.

I wanted to be an author from the age of eight. I’d make little books, writing the stories by hand and drawing the illustrations and covers before stapling all the pages together. I tried to write a novel in my early twenties, on an electronic typewriter in my bedroom (that’s how old I am!) but quickly gave up as I didn’t know my subject matter well enough and was out of my depth.

In my late twenties I watched a programme on the BBC where they invited viewers to finish one of six short stories that had been started by established authors. I really liked the story written by Joanne Harris so wrote an ending for it and sent it in. I wasn’t shortlisted but the excitement of the competition lit a fire in me and I decided to learn how to write short stories and enter them into competitions. Initially, I had zero success, but I noticed that a lot of the winning entries were by writers who were part of an online short story ‘bootcamp’.

I signed up to be part of it and it was a baptism of fire. I frequently cried at the feedback my stories received but I began to improve as a writer and, in time, my stories placed, and then won, competitions. I also wrote stories for women’s magazines (which were paid) and for literacy ezines and anthologies (which often weren’t). Looking back now, I think writing short stories was a great way of experimenting with genre and finding my voice as an author.

When a friend from school died suddenly at the age of thirty-three, I realised that life was short and I had to try and get a novel published. When it’s been a lifelong dream, the fear of failure is strong and I’d put off writing a book for a very long time.

I wrote a supernatural romantic comedy (whilst the genre was quite popular on TV and in film at the time there didn’t appear to be many books) and my agent got me a UK deal and fourteen foreign rights deals. It was published in 2009 and I couldn’t have been more thrilled... until my publisher dropped me after the second book was published in 2011. There was a reason there wasn’t a proliferation of supernatural rom-coms - they just didn’t sell.

Whilst on maternity leave in 2012, I decided to try writing something different. I’d won a competition with the Romantic Novelists Association to write a chapter on the theme of keeping secrets and it was much darker than anything I’d written before. I’d read, and loved, Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson and Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes, and realised that my opening chapter was the start of a psychological thriller. I was excited by the genre, and felt the novels were much more relatable as a woman than the police procedurals and hardboiled private detectives of crime. Having escaped a coercive relationship with a man who went on to stalk me, I knew I could write authentically about control, gaslighting and fear.

That first chapter became The Accident and my agent said it was the best book I’d ever written. I was excited when it went out on submission but as the months rolled by so did the rejections and my excitement turned to despair. Finally, when I’d all but given up and was on the verge of asking my agent to pull the book, we received an offer from Avon, a commercial imprint of HarperCollins UK. It was a small advance, nowhere near enough to give up my day job, but of course I said yes.

I don’t think anyone - certainly not me - could have anticipated what happened next. I think luck and timing are a huge part of success and I was lucky that Avon were one of the first publishers to embrace low ebook pricing and, as well as selling 40,000 paperbacks, The Accident sold 150,000 ebooks. My second book in my contract, The Lie, became a Sunday Times bestseller and, across all formats, sold over 450,000 copies. Over the course of eleven years since The Accident was published, I’ve had nine Sunday Times bestsellers, sold over two million copies (across all formats), had three Richard & Judy book picks and received four Nielsen awards for books selling over 250,000 copies each. I’ve also written two young adult books, for HQ HarperCollins, which have won a clutch of awards.

How did you find your agent?

When I was looking for an agent back in 2007/2008 I did what every else did at the time; I bought a copy of The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook and looked for agents who represented bestselling romantic comedy authors. I made a shortlist of twelve agents and decided to approach them six at a time.

I received several standard rejection letters, one saying the book wasn’t for them but they’d like to see anything else I wrote and some agents never replied. But Darley Anderson phoned me and asked for the full manuscript. I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Eight weeks later he called me back and told me that the manuscript wasn’t publishable as it was, and I needed to study the best-selling books in the genre, to make the funny bits funnier and lose all the introspection that slowed the pace. I did as he said and bought a copy of Can You Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella. I highlighted all the parts where she made me laugh and, in doing so, learned the rule of three for comedy. I also learned how important it is to end a chapter with a cliffhanger and start a new chapter with a hook.

I spent seven months editing my novel (far longer than it took me to write the first draft) and sent it back. Several months later, I received a phone call from Madeleine Milburn who was Darley’s Head of Foreign Rights at the time. She told me she’d read my manuscript on a train journey and had fallen in love with it and had asked Darley if she could represent me. I couldn’t say yes, fast enough. Eventually Maddy went on to set up her own agency and I went with her. She’s a powerhouse of a literary agent and I feel so lucky to have her on my side.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing authors today?

So many books are published each year, more than ever, but shelf space is dwindling. Back in 2014 when The Accident was published, supermarkets would have entire aisles devoted to books, and half of a WH Smith travel shop would be filled with shelves. These days you’re lucky to find a corner of a supermarket dedicated to books, a single display in WH Smiths and Waterstones are a tough nut to crack. Independent bookshops too only have so much shelf space. With so many books fighting for shelf space more authors than ever are getting disappointing news regarding retail subs from their editors and I don’t know that there’s a fix for that.

I recently watched an interview with agent Ed Wilson on Page One: The Writer’s Podcast and he said that the cost of living is impacting what readers buy. If you’re spending £20 on a hardback are you going to risk your money on an unknown debut or a big name author you’ve read and loved before? The charts are dominated by big name authors at the moment and I think that’s a huge part of the reason why.

For you, what is the absolute highlight of being an author?

There have been so many highlights but the ‘absolute highlight’ has to be the impact my books have had on readers. I can’t begin to express how emotional I feel when a reader emails or messages me to say they’d never been a big fan of reading, or they’d always struggled to read, and reading one of my books was a gateway to falling in love with literature.

One reader, a bus driver in Glasgow, emailed me to tell me that. Five years later he emailed again to tell me that he’d decided to ditch the bus driving to go to university and become an English Literature teacher. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried.

Have there been any bumps in the road that you feel able to share with us?

It’s easy to read the last paragraph of my answer to the first question and assume that there haven’t been any bumps in my career - there have been loads!

As well as being let go by my first publisher (which I thought was the end of my career) I’ve battled self-doubt, block and burn out. I’ve been gutted when books I thought would do well didn’t sell as well as expected and been bruised by stinging reviews. I’ve fought for book covers, marketing budgets, sales slots etc, and lost as many battles as I won.

Authors don’t shout about these sorts of things on social media, and it’s easy to assume that life is rosy once you’re published, when it’s often far from true.

I think sometimes publishers forget that some of us have been in the industry for a long time. No one knows an author’s readers as well as we do because we’re the one interacting with them, day in, day out. Many of us are business minded as well as creative - clued up on what’s working, and what isn’t, for our contemporaries - and have educated ourselves about marketing, meta data, sales slots etc. It’s important that our opinions are listened to, and we’re not spoon fed, gaslit, or given vague platitudes. We are professionals, running a business too, providing for our families and if we’re not given honest answers it impacts our ability to analyse what is and isn’t working when it comes to our books. Every author I know wants transparency and the full picture from their agent or editor, even if it stings.

That isn’t a criticism aimed at any particular person, imprint or publishing house - the longer my career, the more I am listened to - but it has been a source of frustration in the past and I know it’s something that impacts other authors too.

In 2025, many authors still don’t make a living from writing and work other jobs too. What are your thoughts on this?

I wrote four books whilst also holding down a day job (my two rom-coms then my first two crime novels) as the advances were far too small to survive.

Because the first two crime novels sold so well, I was offered a six-figure deal for a three book deal. It sounds impressive but it was nearly ten thousand pounds less per annum than I was earning in the day job. I was struggling to work, write and bring up my young son and, after a lot of deliberation, I gave up the day job. I had to tighten my belt for three years.

When you give up your job to write full time your view of writing changes. There’s no day job safety net to catch you if the book sells poorly or your advance/royalties take months to appear in your bank account. I know when I gave up my day job the balance tipped from what I felt compelled to write to what I felt might be more commercial. I couldn’t afford for a book to fail.

These days I know writers who write full time, writers with full time jobs, and writers who freelance as editors, creative writing teachers, mentors etc. Lots of writers I know supplement their income by working for the Royal Literary Fund. Several have had to ask the Society of Authors for a grant when things get tough.

I would advise any debut to hang onto their job for at least four books (two two-book deals). By then you’ll have a better idea about the stability of your author career.

Do you have any tips for what authors can do to help reach readers? What has been the most effective thing for you?

I think the most important thing you can do is to nurture your existing readers. For me, the people who follow my author Facebook page are the dedicated readers who have read book after book. Those are the people who will press my books into the hands of their friends and family and help spread the word. Occasionally, to try and reach new readers on Facebook, I will run an ad targeting the demographic that typically read my books. I also pay to boost important posts, such as cover reveals or pre-order links as Facebook’s reach is so poor unless you do.

One of the best decisions I made was to start my own newsletter. Some authors let their publisher take care of that but I host it myself. That way I can take it with me if I decide to move publishers. Those names and email addresses belong to me! A newsletter is a much better way to reach readers that social media because a) readers actively signed up to hear my news and b) most people check their email several times a day. If you’re the analytical type (as I am) you can see how many readers clicked a link to pre-order your book and which retailer they chose. At the end of the acknowledgements in every book I include links to all my social media and my newsletter. I offer a free short story to anyone who signs up.

You have to find the form of social media that suits your personality best and stick to that. You can’t try and conquer every form of social media as it will eat into your time and make you feel like you’re spreading yourself thin The author John Marrs is brilliant at TikTok and Instagram, as is Clare Mackintosh. Mark Edwards has an army of readers on his Facebook page and keeps them entertained with live videos and giveaways. Lisa Jewell and Marian Keyes write brilliant newsletters that are as entertaining as their books.

What is your relationship like with your publishing house? You’ve recently made a big change to a new house - can you tell us more about this or tell authors what factors are useful to weigh up when making these decisions?

Yes, after eleven years with Avon HarperCollins I’m now writing for Headline, an imprint of Hachette. I am inordinately grateful for everything Avon and I achieved together but I felt as though we’d reached our limits in terms of what we could achieve. My books for Avon were all psychological thrillers, and quite different from each other, but they were also quite ‘domestic’ in terms of being about husbands and wives, families and friends.

I’d had an idea that had been scratching at my brain for years (the theme was right there in the book I tried and failed to write on a typewriter in my twenties). I sent my agent a 15,000 word extract and she fed back that the writing was more ‘sophisticated and elevated’ than my previous books. We both agreed that I needed to find a new publishing house to launch it as it’s quite different from my previous books.

Maddy and I met with several publishers who wowed me with their presentations but it was Jennifer Doyle and her team at Headline who made the biggest impact on me. Jen’s vision for the redesign of my book covers and the rebranding of C.L. Taylor perfectly matched mine. She also gasped when I told her the premise of Notes on an Obsession. Her excitement and enthusiasm for the idea fizzed.

To any author trying to decide who to sign with I’d say to find the editor that will fight for your book, one who feels as passionately as you do, who is desperate to publish it and make it a success. You also need your ear to the ground about the strengths and weakness of the different publishing houses. Ask authors you know well for confidential chats. Would they recommend their imprint or not and why? What’s the imprint’s relationship like with Waterstones, indies and the supermarkets? What’s the staff turnover like? How senior is your editor? A junior editor might be ambitious but they might not stick around very long. What do the marketing and PR plans for your book look like? Are they generic or ambitious? Your agent should be able to tell the difference, even if you can’t. What’s the competition like when it comes to other authors? Does the imprint have lots of authors writing in the same genre? If so, will that impact the publishing slot you get?

Mostly important, if you’re a debut, is what your agent thinks? Go on gut instinct and research but trust your agent too.

What do you think is the main thing you have learned from years as a successfully published writer?

The most important thing is to make author friends. Not only will they support, commiserate and celebrate with you but, unlike your friends and family, they know what you’re going through. They understand the ups and downs. Also, with so much of the publishing industry being opaque, you can share information to help and inform each other - everything from your retail sub numbers to which nightmare copy editors to avoid! I was completely green when when I was first published in 2009 and knew next to nothing about the publishing industry. Now there are podcasts like The Publishing Rodeo where all the ups and downs are laid bare.

The second most important thing is the power of reinvention. The market is always changing and it’s a rare author that writes the same type of books for the entirety of their career. I’m not suggesting authors jump on bandwagons but some of the most successful career reinventions have occurred when an author has taken a risk and written something different, often the book of their heart.

One of my favourite things about your novels is your characterisation, particularly of women - you know I love Ursula! How do you come up with a strong character like that?

Thank you, Phoebe. For those who don’t know my books, Ursula is the 6’3” kleptomaniac courier with a tragic past in my novel Strangers about three strangers who are brought together by a crime. Before I write a word of my books I spend a lot of time thinking about what it is that my characters want and why. I also look to their past to work out what shaped them. It’s also important for the characters to feel passionately about something - whether that’s justice or revenge or redemption. I crawl inside the skin of my characters when I write and see the world through their eyes and feel what they feel. That can make writing a psychological thriller utterly exhausting emotionally but, perhaps, it makes the characters feel more real.

And finally... which is your favourite out of all your brilliant novels?

It always sounds glib to say ‘the one I’m working on now’ as though it’s some kind of PR push, but it’s true. Notes on an Obsession is primarily set in a college at Oxford university in 1995 and it’s about a twenty-four year old psychology PhD student called Ned. After three students die by suicide over the course of three weeks Ned becomes convinced that the university are covering up the real reason for their deaths.

I’m so glad you mentioned my characters as character was my main focus for this book and I’m hoping that readers love Ned as much as I do. In the past thread of the book, set in 1989, the reader experiences him falling in love, having sex for the first time (it’s disastrous) and going inter-railing with the girl of his dream. It’s idyllic, until it isn’t, and what happens shapes him into the man he is in 1995.

I set out to writing a book that’s as emotional as it is gripping, as moving as it is shocking, and I’m excited for it to be published by Headline in the first quarter of 2027.

Thank you so much, Cally, for coming on The Honest Editor. You can find Cally on her website here, on Facebook here, and on Instagram here.

Thank you all for reading my Substack, and as a reminder, you can subscribe for free, or, if you are enjoying what I am doing, please consider becoming a paid subscriber and helping me to keep it going.

Please do also ask any questions or pop any comments below - I always love to hear from you. If there is anything you would like to see this Substack cover, DM me! I have some great interviews coming up…

Happy weekend!

Phoebe x