Squirrels: The Next Big Thing in Publishing

I've got the inside track on a new trend in publishing: squirrels. First there was vampires, then dystopia, then Greek myths. Now, it's the secret lives of squirrels.

You know, all those things they get up to away from the human eye: shopping for new tails, eating mini-cupcakes, torrid love triangles... maybe even a little DIY. There's more than enough material for eighty-thousand words, and children and adults alike will flock to read about these vastly under-appreciated creatures.

But the novel I'm writing now has no squirrels, I hear you cry. Well, it's quite simple. Just take an existing query, and change out all the humans to squirrels. I'll give you an example, using the blurb of my new (now) squirrel-based novel, Watching Willow Watts.

For twenty-five-year-old squirrel Willow Watts, life has settled into a predictably dull routine: days behind the counter at her father's antique shop; nights watching fuzzy telly whilst the elderly squirrels of Britain's Ugliest Tree bed down for yet another early night. But everything changes when Willow's epically embarrassing Marilyn Monroe impersonation is uploaded to SquirrelTube. A canny squirrel spots Marilyn's ghostly image hidden in the film and Willow becomes an international sensation. Her dire little tree is suddenly overrun with fans proclaiming her to be the 'new Marilyn'. Egged on by fellow squirrels - whose shops and businesses are cashing in - Willow eagerly embraces her new identity, dying her fur platinum and scoffing nuts to achieve Marilyn's legendary curves. But when the only squirrel she has ever truly loved returns, seeking the old Willow, it's decision time. Should she risk stardom and the tree's new-found fortune on love? Or is being Marilyn Willow's real ticket to happiness?

See how easy that is? So be a part of publishing's next big thing. Bring on the squirrels!