Words and Pictures with Mel Taylor-Bessent

Why we all need to think big and create our own opportunities

This week we’re joined by author and entrepreneur Mel Taylor-Bessent. We asked her how she balances running a business with writing, discovered how she created her own opportunities and learned why it’s so important to ‘think big’.

After graduating with a Creative Writing degree, Mel Taylor-Bessent set up her own company at the age of 22 and ran creative writing after school clubs for children aged 7+. ‘Little Star Writing’ grew so quickly that Mel developed a training scheme for 150+ tutors, wrote weekly lesson plans and even ran workshops across Europe, organised two literary festivals and arranged more than 200 author events.

Following that success, Mel then developed an online platform called ‘Authorfy’ designed to bring children from all over the world closer to their favourite authors. It is now a leading literacy websites with videos and resources from authors such as Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen, Cressida Cowell and Anthony Horowitz.

After winning a few awards, partnering with all major children’s publishers and running campaigns with the likes of World Book Day and BookTrust, Mel returned to her own writing in 2020 and her debut trilogy ‘The Christmas Carrolls’, was published in October 2021 by Farshore (an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books). Mel’s new series ‘Race to Imagination Island’ published in 2024 and became an instant bestseller.

Mel also set up a ‘Write for Fun with Mel Taylor-Bessent’ YouTube channel in 2024, and she was shortlisted for the Ruth Rendell Award in 2025 for having the most impact on literacy in the UK.

Why are words and pictures important to you?

For me, words and pictures offer the purest form of escapism. I escape when I’m reading. I escape when looking at artwork. And I escape most of all when I’m writing myself.

It’s a very special feeling when I scribble a few marks on a piece of paper and within a few minutes I’ve invented a whole new character or transported myself into a new world. As Cressida Cowell always says, writing is magic, and I think our imaginations are the most powerful tool we possess as humans.

Did you always want to be an author?

Yes! Writing was the only thing I was any good at at primary school. If a teacher asked me to write two pages of a story, I’d write eight. English was my favourite subject and I grew up as an only child so I wrote at weekends and half term holidays to keep myself entertained.

I didn’t realise I could actually have a career as an author though. That didn’t come till much later when I studied Creative Writing at university and my lecturer said I should send my work to agents and try to get published. It was his belief, and my mum’s unwavering support, that showed me I could turn my passion into an actual career.

Why did you set up Little Star Writing and then Authorfry?

I launched Little Star Writing - creative writing after school clubs for children - just after I graduated. I secured a literary agent whilst at uni for a YA trilogy I wrote called Above The Clouds but she changed careers around the time I graduated and I found myself back to square one.

Desperate to get published, I wanted a job that allowed me to write children’s books in the day (but somehow still earn some money!) and I couldn’t find anything that fit the bill, so I created something instead!

I launched LSW at 22 years old, with the aim of writing in the mornings and running the after school clubs from 3:15-4:30pm each day. Incredibly, this only lasted a few weeks because word got around about the workshops and I soon had an entire business on my hands!

Over the course of ten years, I hired 200 tutors, wrote weekly lesson plans and devised different writing games / challenges / activities / worksheets, taught over 10,000 children across 32 schools a week (plus weekend workshops and I even ran some workshops in schools in Europe!), won some business awards, and partnered with children’s publishers to arrange for authors like Robin Stevens, Abi Elphinstone and Jonathan Stroud to visit our workshops.

It was these interactions with authors that gave me the idea for Authorfy. The children’s confidence and excitement for writing grew ten-fold when they met real writers, and I thought… ‘why take one author into one school when I can interview authors on camera and share the footage with schools all over the world?’

Of course nothing can replace an in-person author event, but Authorfy grew as quickly as LSW did, and I decided to close LSW in 2020 to focus on connecting hundreds of authors to millions of children around the world via Authorfy.com.

As you can imagine, there wasn’t much time for my own writing during these LSW and early Authorfy years - both grew into full-time roles and it wasn’t until a chance encounter with an agent in 2019 that I returned to writing my own children’s books.

Why do you think books and creative writing are so important for children?

Aside from reading for pleasure being the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success (which is the most incredible fact and shouldn’t be taken lightly!), reading and writing are far more than just ‘nice things to do’.

They’re emotional outlets, they introduce us to - and help us navigate - the wider world (plus new people, places, opinions, emotions), they develop empathy skills and critical thinking, they stretch our imaginations and help us think more creatively, they’re a comfort and a joy, they’re entertainment and education, they’re a way of learning to communicate and express ourselves.

Children must be given the opportunity and skills to read and write from a young age in order to effectively benefit from these experiences.

Did your experiences running Little Star Writing and Authorfry help you when becoming an author and if so, how?

Absolutely! I was supposed to be inspiring the Little Star Writers and teaching them how to write successfully, but they taught me so much in return. They taught me about humour, pace and current trends.

They taught me how ruthless children can be when it comes to reading for pleasure and if something doesn’t capture - or hold - their attention.

They also reminded me every day that writing for fun, for enjoyment, for me, was the most important thing.

And of course HOW LUCKY AM I that I get to interview hundreds of children’s authors for Authorfy and hear their different writing tips, advice and approaches!? I’ve learnt something new from every author video I’ve filmed or edited, and even made some friends along the way!

How do you balance the demands of running a business with your own writing? Not easily! It requires a lot of evening and weekend work and often results in sacrificing things like turning down events or taking on less Authorfy work so I can ensure I’m delivering everything to the highest quality.

I also have the most brilliant editor who makes my edits as easy as possible for me and I’ll always be hugely grateful for that!

Can you tell us what you're working on now?

I’m just about to start editing Race to Imagination Island 3 (the full title will be revealed soon!) and I’ve got two new projects that will be on submission soon so that’s very exciting!

How do you promote your books?

Primarily by doing lots and lots (and lots!) of school events. I love hosting workshops and talks at festivals too, and I’ve got a YouTube channel called ‘Write for Fun with Mel Taylor-Bessent’ where I share writing activities and challenges (like those I used to design for Little Star Writing workshops) and talk about my books / publication journey.

What drives you?

I love thinking outside of the box. I’m naturally quite competitive and want to give everything my all, so I like being innovative and working as collaboratively with my publisher as possible.

My aim is also to inspire as many children as possible to write for fun (and hopefully enjoy the books I write) so every project or story idea comes with the question ‘how will this help boost reading and writing for pleasure?’

What is your favourite thing about your job/s?

I love working in children’s publishing - it’s the loveliest, more creative and supportive industry, and the fact I get to be surrounded by children’s books all day is a bonus! My favourite things include planning new story ideas, meeting readers, and learning from other writers.

Can you share something that might surprise readers about how the publishing industry works?

Children’s publishing in particular is really small. Everyone knows everyone!

Do you have any tips for aspiring authors?

Be as proactive as you can! Think big! And check out The Writers & Artists Yearbook for helpful articles, advice and a list of literary agents.

You can find out more about Mel on her website, instagram and bluesky. There is a link to Authorfry here and she also hosts a Write for Fun YouTube channel.

We were recently interviewed by

Anna C Wilson

- if you want to hear what we said about working together and why we both went freelance, you can read our answers here.

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