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I first applied for the FBA mentorship in 2022, during my third year of university. I didn’t make it to the interview stage. I remember being told in the rejection email that I’d made it to the final eleven; so close yet so far, etc etc. Fast forward twelve months, and I applied again. This time, I felt acutely aware of the pressure. I was in my final year – I needed to get a job lined up; I’d also decided concretely to give this publishing thing a good go, and after attending a few career events and applying to (and getting rejected from) a few publishing jobs, I was realising that the mountain I’d committed to climbing had quite a height on it. This was a chance to get that ‘foot in the door’, the mythical key to the publishing world; publishing is currently very London-centric and here was a rare opportunity to get experience in Oxford, a city I’d called home for the last few years. In short, it was perfect. I tried not to think too hard about that.

I found out I was successful the day after my final exam, sitting in my friend’s uni bedroom playing Wingspan. For all I’d thought about how ideal it would be to get, I really hadn’t thought I would, and I was speechless. I’d done it: the door had opened.

FBA is such a lovely place to work. Everyone worked so hard to make sure that my experience was both educational and enjoyable, welcoming me into meetings, explaining how different departments worked, and scheduling one-on-one chats with all the agents. As a mentee, you’re exposed to the workings of a literary agency straight away; on my first day, I was entrusted with assessing manuscripts from FBA’s submissions portal. This was particularly thrilling: I was getting to do the sort of jobs I’d always imagined would be kept for someone more experienced and senior. My favourite parts of the whole mentorship were the times I got to sit down with someone and chat about our thoughts on a submission, swapping ideas and criticisms and generally geeking out about books-to-be.

There was a lot of scope within the mentorship to try out different things, discover what I enjoy, and shape my role to include more of it. Going in, I knew I was a big fantasy and YA fan, and after I mentioned this, most of the fantasy novels we got on submission headed to my inbox for a first look. An agent liked one of the manuscripts I’d recommended to her so much that she signed the author, which is perhaps one of my proudest achievements.

One of the most unique things about the FBA mentorship is the number of placements you’re sent on, which give you insight into the full life cycle of a book. It sounds a bit cheesy, but this experience really was priceless – both in building my industry knowledge, and in growing my contacts (the thought of networking makes me come out in hives…). If you’d told me a year ago that I’d spend my summer travelling around and working in London, staying with people I’d never met before, and talking to major publishers and company founders, I’d think you had me confused for someone else. Thanks to FBA and this mentorship, I pushed myself out of my comfort zone (anything within the M25 is outside my comfort zone), and took huge leaps in my own confidence.

After my mentorship, I got an internship with Profile Books, and have recently started a role at Bookouture, Hachette. I credit FBA with all of this, for giving me the skills and knowledge and experience to break into a really competitive industry. Even months after leaving, the FBA team still offered me their time and guidance, helping me with job applications and inviting me back to the offices for a chat and a cuppa. You really couldn’t ask for a better start to your publishing career.

By Hannah Richmond