How did a 4th Year Get a Penguin Book Deal?

The interviewee’s name has been changed.

In the midst of writing a 15,000-word dissertation, a fourth-year English student named Matthew is publishing his first book with Penguin Random House. Penguin also offered him a job as an editor of a new division. Other than “performing a surgery,” Matthew told me that doing something creative is the “most impactful thing you could ever do”.

It all started last year, when Matthew sent a collection of 22 short stories titled Brain Rot Supreme to a literary agent. This agent pitched his book to various publishing houses and landed him a contract at Penguin. In recent months, he’s been working with an editor to finalise the draft.

The collection centres around different generations — each of the stories are interconnected and are paired with a poem — and themes range from the masculine portrayal of emotion to a woman’s experience being stalked.

“I’m trying to represent more underscored, common issues that a lot of people deal with,” Matthew said. “I’m not necessarily trying to say anything new, but I’m trying to portray all these nuances from different perspectives of people. I want to give insights into that based on what I’ve experienced.”

Matthew was more keen to talk about the actual publishing process than his own literature. After signing with Penguin, he attended a literary summit in New Orleans where he met people working under a new division at Penguin centred on publishing younger people’s work. He’s since been offered a job as an editor in that division.

“Publishing is daunting, but there are not these hidden inner trade secrets that are just completely unapproachable to you. It’s all there for you,” he said. 

For aspiring authors, Matthew emphasised the importance of boosting your CV. “Attach your name to as many different magazines as possible,” he said. If you want to work with a big publishing company, they’ll review your CV. Even if you haven’t won any competitions, if you can at least prove that you’re committed they’ll be more interested in working with you. Matthew recommended submitting to poetry and short story competitions, publishing with university magazines, and searching online for reputable publications to work with.

Then, once you have your final draft — be it a novel, a short story collection, or what have you — you’ll need to find a literary agent. Matthew recommended Publishers Marketplace, a website that connects authors with agents. Query Tracker also provides an in-depth review of agents — Matthew stressed the importance of working with a reputable agent. He found his agent by looking on Penguin’s website and using a list they recommended.

After pitching his book, Matthew was connected with an agent that submitted his book to six publishing houses. Of the six, he was accepted to three. “You never really know what you’re going to get,” he said, “But apply, apply, apply.” This process cost him $500, which he said was not “egregious” compared to what he’s heard of other friends’ experiences in publishing.

Being accepted to a literary agent is a good sign: “That usually means your work at least has some value [...] , which means you’ll likely be picked up [by a publisher] or will begin the talking stage.” This ‘talking stage’ is when Matthew met with Penguin. As a student, he negotiated how much time he would be given to edit the book.

“Penguin is really gracious with students,” Matthew said. “I explained, ‘I am in my third year of university. I’m going to have to write a big 15,000-word diss next year, too’ [...] I think it made a difference showing that I really want to publish despite being in the thick of it in my university studies.”

From there, Matthew was connected with an editor and has been in the editing stage for the last few months. Working with an editor has made him “expand [his] initial vision for the book in a much bigger way than [he] originally thought.” He said they’re really able to brainstorm together and bounce ideas off one another.

Once the editing process is done, Matthew will work with designers to create the cover design of the book. From there, the book will be printed and made available both in stores and online. Penguin will also market the book for him, free of charge.

“What I’ve learned over the past few months is that publishing, although it’s very daunting, is a very straightforward process. A lot of these publishing companies really want young people to get into publishing,” Matthew said. “They want you to be an active participant in this whole business [...] so don’t be afraid that you can’t get into it, because you can.”

Illustration by Magdalena Yiacoumi