[PRESS RELEASE – 22 OCT 2021]

 Clock Tower Publishing has acquired worldwide rights to The Songs You’ve Never Heard out in paperback original in summer 2022. The deal was recently closed by Sweet Cherry’s Managing Editor, Cecilia Bennett, and Gill McLay at Bath Literary Agency.

The recently-announced imprint of the award-winning Sweet Cherry Publishing – which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month – aims to champion new voices in publishing and authentically represent diversity and inclusivity in trade fiction.

The Songs You’ve Never Heard is a standalone YA novel dual-written by Disney and K-POP singer-songwriter Becky Jerams and BAFTA-winning songwriter, Ellie Wyatt, who won Best Children’s Shortform in 2019 for Help Our Little World by Tee & Mo on CBeebies.

The novel tells the story of Meg McCarthy, sister to world-famous pop-star Caspar McCarthy, and her newfound friendship with plus-size aspiring singer, Alana Howard. Set over the summer in Brighton, the story follows their journey as teen singer-songwriters finding their feet in the music industry, and their struggles with a famous brother, a secret love and a nasty ex-boyfriend. Aimed at young adult readers, the novel highlights the dangers of social media bullying and inspires body positivity with its teen audience.

Becky Jerams, author of The Songs You’ve Never Heard, said: “We are so excited for our book and music album to be launched by Clock Tower Publishing and we can’t wait to introduce our characters. This story is influenced by our own experience of being women in the music industry and we hope readers will connect with our message of finding your inner voice.”

Her co-author and award-winning children’s composer, Ellie Wyatt, said: “This project has brought together our shared passion for words and music. Not only have we been able to write about the feelings and stories that go into song-writing, but we have had the opportunity to then bring our story to life with real songs!”

In addition to the book, the authors have written and recorded a music album of the same name. The album features songs mentioned in the novel, sang in the voices of main characters Caspar, Meg and Alana, and will be available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify and more platforms.

Clock Tower is publishing The Songs You’ve Never Heard in summer 2022 and will be available from all major bookstores.

ENDS
For more information please contact:
Divia Kainth – divia@clocktowerpublishing.com

Clock Tower Publishing was launched in 2021 and is an imprint of the award-winning Leicester-based independent publisher, Sweet Cherry Publishing. We champion new, marginalised and diverse voices in publishing, inspired by our multicultural Leicester heritage. We aim to bring our readers compellingly great stories that authentically showcases the diverse and inclusive world we live in. From fantasy fiction to future classics, we’re dedicated to creating a great list of quality trade fiction that’s championed by its authors and illustrators, and an enthusiastic team of book lovers.