Tuning in to the Discovery Channel

This year I've had the great honour of being on the organising committee for Undiscovered Voices 2012, along with Sara O'Connor, Sara Grant and Elizabeth Galloway. The planning started long ago, way back in 2009 when we'd meet regularly to discuss how the third anthology would work. Fast forward a year to an autumnal evening and our eight judges - including editors, agents, a bookseller and a literary scout - had gathered to decide on the 2012 Undiscovered Voices long list.

Want to know what happens on an Undiscovered Voices judging evening? Well, we could be sure from the out set that not everyone would agree. To begin, there was pleasant chat over refreshments, whilst everyone probably secretly yearned to get stuck into the nitty gritty of the selection process. Finally, people settled into their chairs clutching reams of paper. Everyone present knew which extracts had made them passionate and which they could see potential in. 

Sara Grant proceeded to do a highly professional and admirable job of steering the conversation. I and others made sure people's glasses remained filled and that extracts were easily on hand should judges need to refresh their memories. 

Then I sat back and watched, whilst keeping my lip firmly buttoned. (I wasn't allowed to influence the judges' decisions.) What did I witness? Voices raised? For sure. Arms flung into  the air? Certainly. Cries of incredulity or frowns of bemusement? Sometimes. But the one thing that made a very big impact on me was the passion. Not once did I hear an agent or an editor talk cynically about 'market demands', 'list requirements' or even 'trends'. Never, ever did I hear an extract dismissed because it wasn't working hard enough. If judges were discussing a piece of writing, it was because someone in the room liked it. If the corners of a diamond were a bit rough, I heard editors enthusiastically agree about how those corners could be smoothed. 

These were professionals engaging with a writer's craft and talent and bringing their own craft and talent to the table. I lapped it up. As we locked up the building at the end of the night, and made our way home by the amber glow of street lights, I marvelled at something new that Undiscovered Voices had done. It had reminded me that in these sometimes exhausted, sometimes trying and sometimes cynical times the professionals at the heart of our industry are there because they believe in and engage with story. For one blessed night, no one present had to answer to anyone other than themselves for what they wanted to see progress. No one had to consider a marketing strategy, or author promotability (they didn't know who the authors were!) or past sales figures. They just had to think about which stories they liked - and, let me tell you, there was a lot this panel of judges liked.

I'd always known that Undiscovered Voices helped authors' careers. I hadn't realized it helped editors, agents, booksellers and literary scouts shine their brightest, too. When authors struggle to achieve publication, it's an often-heard gripe that the powers-that-be are wilfully slamming doors in their faces. On the evidence of Undiscovered Voices, that simply isn't true. Undiscovered Voices is helping careers all over again. And we haven't even got to launch night yet...