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Melanie Cantor's Creative Switch: Celebrity Agent to Novelist
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Melanie Cantor's Creative Switch: Celebrity Agent to Novelist
In this first of three special summer bonus episode of The Creative Switch, Nikki Vallance chats with Melanie Cantor, a former celebrity agent who has successfully transitioned into a celebrated author. Melanie shares her journey from the world of TV publicity to becoming a novelist, offering invaluable insights into the creative process, the importance of tenacity, and the reality of facing rejection.
Melanie Bio
Melanie started her career working in theatre PR on shows including CATS, ANNIE and MY FAIR LADY. Towards the end of 1982, she was headhunted to be press officer at TV-am which launched in February 1983 with the ‘Famous Five’ but left in April 1984 to start her own PR company. She worked with clients from Adam Ant, Angela Rippon, Selina Scott, Michael Parkinson and Michael Aspel as well as magazines including New Woman, OK! and Tatler.
In 1991 she turned her hand to becoming an agent representing Ulrika Jonsson for seventeen years from weather person to Shooting Stars and beyond. In 1998 she teamed up with two other agents to start Take Three Management.Here she represented Melinda Messenger, Julia Carling among several others. She also went on to look after Melanie Sykes.
In 2008 she gave it all up to start a second career and pursue her passion: writing novels. It took ten years, four manuscripts and hundreds of rejections before she finally landed an agent in 2018. Her first book Death & Other Happy Endings (which became Life & Other Happy Endings as a paperback during the pandemic) was sold to eleven territories including US, China, Portugal, Israel, Czech Republic and Sweden. Her second book The F**k It! List was published by Penguin in May 2024. She is represented by Felicity Blunt at Curtis Brown.
Alongside these two careers, Melanie hosted a television show in 2004 called Making Space where she tidied up people’s messy houses (a forerunner to Marie Kondo!) The show of 25 episodes was broadcast by Channel 4. It is still shown on demand on All 4. She was also scouted to be a real model for two Dove campaigns. No underwear was seen.
Melanie has two grown up sons and lives between Dorset and London with her dog Mabel.
Timestamps
● [00:05] – Introduction and Welcome
● [01:43] – The Edge – Up-to-date Creative News and Views
● [05:11] – Melanie Cantor's Background and Career
● [07:49] – Transition to Writing
● [10:32] – First Rejection and Perseverance
● [16:16] – The Yearning to Write
● [20:50] – Dealing with Rejection
● [24:51] – What Creativity Means to Melanie
● [28:56] – Balancing Creativity and Mental Health
● [32:39] – Understanding the Publishing World
● [35:35] – Where to Find Melanie Cantor and Upcoming Events
● [38:17] – Creative Adventures Segment
Four Creative Nuggets
"Rejection is what makes you a writer." - Melanie Cantor
"Failure is just a stepping stone on the path to success." - Melanie Cantor
"You have to believe in yourself, and then others start to believe in you too." - Melanie Cantor
"Lower your expectations to avoid crashing and burning." - Melanie Cantor
Links
The Edge
Publishers Association Annual Report
https://www.publishers.org.uk/publishingin2023/
Creative Adventures
Melanie
Love Stories etc Festival - Library Live
Queen's Park Book Festival (queensparkbookfestival.co.uk)
Edinburgh Women's Fiction Festival | Book Festival (edwomensficfest.co.uk)
https://www.instagram.com/melanie.cantor/
Nikki
https://nikkivallance.com/the-creative-switch-podcast/
https://www.nikkivallance.com/join-creative-switch-community/
https://www.instagram.com/nikki_vallance/
https://podchaser.com/TheCreativeSwitch/
Afflliate Links
Alitu: https://alitu.com?fp_ref=nikki-53
Captivate: https://www.captivate.fm/signup?ref=njg4ytq
Tune in next time for a conversation with author Richard Tyler, West End star turned personal development disruptor, who uses creativity and psychological insight to unlock individual potential.
And remember: Why survive when you can thrive.
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