As promised I'm summarising the day as best as i remember it. Needless to say it was very useful for many reasons specifically:
- Published authors; insight by Kit de Waal, Catherine Johnson, Sufiya Ahmed
Kit started the panel during the publishing process hour. At 51 she started her writing journey with a degree. Oxford Brookes Creative Writing course. Previously her work was not accepted for various reasons but ultimately she said it was because she didn't know what not to do. So for her it was only when she wrote about something she new did she start to attract interest. She was a published author at 54.
Catherine has published 20 children's books and it is clear that writing is a tiring process for her. She complained a lot about the lack of money paid to writers. She did it in a funny natural way that made it clear she doesn't want us to have any illusion about publishing a book. Even if we get a publisher that there needs to be other work to compliment your income as a writer.
Sufiya agreed with Catherine but had a more active approach where she compliments her work as a writer with school visits and workshops. She said to keep in touch with librarians. Her first draft read like a political speech and her background working at the Houses of Parliament was the reason for that. Interesting that she sat opposite an editor during a lovey dinner invite to brainstorm a new book with. It was at that editor meeting that paved the way for her next book. She even said if she had submitted that draft to an agent then it would have been rejected - her editor feedback took on to improve her writing and make it better. She also added that even after being published the biggest challenge was promotion. As an active writer she does this as mentioned; schools. Something writers have to consider if they write for children.
Clearly having an editor was fundamental for that process which got me thinking how much more difficult it was to get published if you didn't have the privilege to have that open to you. I mean how?! I made that point clear during the session later in the day when they asked how can publishers make themselves more approachable. Accessing their editors! Which sounds unpractical and impossible so we all agreed that events like 'WriteNow' was essential for this to begin at least crank the door a little bit for writers. But then what of the others who weren't selected?
The whole publishing process was taking us from;
1) the manuscript - agent will sell your MS to the publisher and an offer is presented for signing. There was one agent on the day - there should have been more because she was targeted quite quickly!
2) matching to an editor - you will work intimately to polish the MS as best as possible. Compromise and could take up to 3/4 redrafts
3) Rights and contracts - sales for regions and languages rights
4) Marketing & publicity - paid is the advertising and the publicity is with the media. Getting a serial in a paper is the most effective way to get exposure.
5) Design - covers involve bookshops input too! I found this surprising but they go through a lot of testing to get it right.
6) Audio and digital - sourcing the right actor/voice artist for your book.
7) Sales - they, like everyone else, collaborate from the start to finish and they work with as many retailers focusing on getting maximum exposure.
The benefits:
1) Meeting other wonderful writers; 50 of us got to mingle and chat together.
2) Penguin Random House staff mingled with everyone - there were as many staff as there were writers. Editors were in full force speaking to all of us and trying to cover as many people as possible with their questions.
3) One-to-one with your own editor. 20 minutes of editing feedback from an editor. This was what I waited for it was great to get an idea first hand what they thought about your book and whether there was ways to improve and where that was.
4) Food and coffee and lots of socialising on twitter!
5) Opportunity to show talent for a potential mentoring support from one of the biggest publishing houses!
#writenowlive
It's actually open to everyone if you have a case that you aren't represented then suggest it. There were people from all walks of life. If you're writing is good they may ask you to come anyway.
There are two more insight days left: Manchester and Birmingham. After that they will announce the 10 writers who they will mentor for 12 months with a possible publishing deal.
WriteNow
- Published authors; insight by Kit de Waal, Catherine Johnson, Sufiya Ahmed
Kit started the panel during the publishing process hour. At 51 she started her writing journey with a degree. Oxford Brookes Creative Writing course. Previously her work was not accepted for various reasons but ultimately she said it was because she didn't know what not to do. So for her it was only when she wrote about something she new did she start to attract interest. She was a published author at 54.
Catherine has published 20 children's books and it is clear that writing is a tiring process for her. She complained a lot about the lack of money paid to writers. She did it in a funny natural way that made it clear she doesn't want us to have any illusion about publishing a book. Even if we get a publisher that there needs to be other work to compliment your income as a writer.
Sufiya agreed with Catherine but had a more active approach where she compliments her work as a writer with school visits and workshops. She said to keep in touch with librarians. Her first draft read like a political speech and her background working at the Houses of Parliament was the reason for that. Interesting that she sat opposite an editor during a lovey dinner invite to brainstorm a new book with. It was at that editor meeting that paved the way for her next book. She even said if she had submitted that draft to an agent then it would have been rejected - her editor feedback took on to improve her writing and make it better. She also added that even after being published the biggest challenge was promotion. As an active writer she does this as mentioned; schools. Something writers have to consider if they write for children.
Clearly having an editor was fundamental for that process which got me thinking how much more difficult it was to get published if you didn't have the privilege to have that open to you. I mean how?! I made that point clear during the session later in the day when they asked how can publishers make themselves more approachable. Accessing their editors! Which sounds unpractical and impossible so we all agreed that events like 'WriteNow' was essential for this to begin at least crank the door a little bit for writers. But then what of the others who weren't selected?
The whole publishing process was taking us from;
1) the manuscript - agent will sell your MS to the publisher and an offer is presented for signing. There was one agent on the day - there should have been more because she was targeted quite quickly!
2) matching to an editor - you will work intimately to polish the MS as best as possible. Compromise and could take up to 3/4 redrafts
3) Rights and contracts - sales for regions and languages rights
4) Marketing & publicity - paid is the advertising and the publicity is with the media. Getting a serial in a paper is the most effective way to get exposure.
5) Design - covers involve bookshops input too! I found this surprising but they go through a lot of testing to get it right.
6) Audio and digital - sourcing the right actor/voice artist for your book.
7) Sales - they, like everyone else, collaborate from the start to finish and they work with as many retailers focusing on getting maximum exposure.
The benefits:
1) Meeting other wonderful writers; 50 of us got to mingle and chat together.
2) Penguin Random House staff mingled with everyone - there were as many staff as there were writers. Editors were in full force speaking to all of us and trying to cover as many people as possible with their questions.
3) One-to-one with your own editor. 20 minutes of editing feedback from an editor. This was what I waited for it was great to get an idea first hand what they thought about your book and whether there was ways to improve and where that was.
4) Food and coffee and lots of socialising on twitter!
5) Opportunity to show talent for a potential mentoring support from one of the biggest publishing houses!
#writenowlive
It's actually open to everyone if you have a case that you aren't represented then suggest it. There were people from all walks of life. If you're writing is good they may ask you to come anyway.
There are two more insight days left: Manchester and Birmingham. After that they will announce the 10 writers who they will mentor for 12 months with a possible publishing deal.
WriteNow
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