Learn who wants what in the publishing marketplace through seminars and workshops with publishers, literary agents and novelists.
Writing a novel is tough, but the labours of getting it into print are tougher still. You'll need to find the right agent and to write a pitch seductive enough to make your work stand out from thousands of other submissions. And that's just the start.
Literary agent Kerry Glencorse, crime novelist Dreda Say Mitchell, agent Hellie Ogden, self-published success Catherine Ryan Howard and publishing expert Danuta Kean– as well as Liesel Schwarz to tell you what it's like to go from unpublished hopeful to a major three book deal – are among a the industry insiders who will show you what it takes to go from pitch to publication.
During this weekend course you will receive practical advice on how to find – and impress – an agent, alongside tips on writing trends, networking, self-publishing and much more. You'll leave the course knowing how to draft the crucial pitch letter and write your synopsis, and with a clear understanding of how to get your book into print.
Speaker profile
Liesel Schwarz's début novel A Conspiracy of Alchemists, the first in the Chronicles of Light And Shadow trilogy was published in February as part of the launch list of DelRey UK, which publishes George RR Martin in the US. She has been proclaimed as the 'high priestess of British steampunk'. Liesel's journey into print is an inspiring story of triumph over rejection.
Tutor profiles
Danuta Kean is an expert on the publishing industry, as well as Books Editor for Mslexia, the magazine for women writers. For five years she taught unpublished novelists on the acclaimed MA in Creative Writing at Brunel University, and has written about publishing for the Financial Times, Independent on Sunday and the Author. Find out more about Danuta on her website.
Catherine Ryan Howard is one of Ireland's most successful self-published authors. After failing to find a traditional publisher, she self-published her travel memoir, Mousetrapped in 2010. It went on to be a bestseller. As well as a further travel memoir, Backpacked, she has since published Self-Printed: the Sane Person's Guide To Self-Publishing, and is a popular blogger and speaker.
Dreda Say Mitchell is a novelist, broadcaster, journalist and freelance education consultant who describes herself as a 'complete busybody". Dreda was named as one of Britain's 50 Remarkable Women by Lady Geek in association with Nokia. She is the author of five novels, with her debut novel being awarded The CWA's John Creasey Dagger for best first time crime novel in Britain in 2005. She is a frequent guest on The Review Show and has appeared on Newsnight, Daybreak and Canadian television's Sun New Live and presented Radio 4's Open Book. She was the 2011 chair of the Harrogate Crime Fiction Festival, Europe's biggest crime festival. Her commitment and passion for raising the life chances of working class children in education and her work in prisons has been called inspirational and life changing. www.dredasaymitchell.com
Kerry Glencorse runs the London office of Susanna Lea Associates, a boutique agency which also has offices in Paris and New York, and an affiliated digital publishing arm in Paris. Kerry previously worked for David Godwin Associates.
Hellie Ogden is an agent at Janklow & Nesbit, which she joined earlier this year after three years at the Greene & Heaton Literary Agency where she built up her list of clients and managed translation rights. She has also worked at Penguin and with literary scout Anne Louise Fisher. Janklow & Nesbit is an international literary agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. It's clients include Tom Wolfe, Jeffrey Eugenides, Thomas Harris, Joan Didion, Danielle Steel, Jasper Fforde, Alex Bellos, and Tilly Bagshawe.
To book
Details
Dates: Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June 2013
Times: 10am-5pm
Venue: The Guardian, 90 York Way, King's Cross, London N1 9GU
Price:£350 (includes VAT, booking fees, lunch and refreshments)
Event capacity: 18 (except keynote where capacity is 36)
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