It’s hugely exciting – and only too easy to forget that you are entering into a professional partnership where it’s worth asking a few questions of your own before you sign on the dotted line.

Commission: all agents will charge commission (it’s how they make their living) but it should be in line with industry standards – around 15%.  They will charge a little more on foreign deals and rights, but this is the standard.

What part of your work is being signed up with the agent? If you have written a novel but also write articles for your local paper, for example, then it’s important to make it clear that you don’t require help for those articles. In general, future writing would be covered by your agreement.

Does your work need editing before submission? You’ll want to give an honest reply on this.  Most work could do with a bit of a polish and your agent should know what needs improving.

What time table is your agent working to? How long before they envisage getting responses? Where do they see your work selling? How often do you need meetings or contact with them? For all these areas, make sure your expectations and theirs tally.

And most of all, enjoy! This should be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Best wishes,
Cressida
(editorial consultant)

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Now… I’ll hand you over to Tina:

“My name is Tina Mories and I am currently studying for an MA in Publishing. I am in the midst of researching my dissertation which is about blogs and the people who read them. I want to find out – with your help – more about the importance of having an online presence in today’s fast-paced digital world.

I have a short online survey and I am very interested in hearing from you, whether you are a blogger or someone who reads blogs.

Some of the things I’m looking into are: who reads blogs and why, why writers blog, and whether the platform is an entirely positive method to publicise your career. Could it have any counter-effects? Maybe it distracts writers from the business of book writing?”

If you can spare a moment, please fill in Tina’s survey here. It doesn’t take long and you’ll be helping to shape a very interesting piece of academic work.

Many thanks,

Claire Fogg (Publisher)

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Given those facts, I didn’t bother to print out a map, just had a quick check on a bus stop and leapt on a bus bound for Farringdon Street.

It gradually dawned on me as I headed in an unfamiliar direction that this wasn’t going well. The bus terminated at Farringdon Street, at which point I remembered the meeting was being held in Farringdon Road… Luckily the two streets are not too far apart, so I stomped up to Farringdon Road, cursing my inability to check details, only to see I was at the wrong end – number 500, when I was after number 60.

So, in very much a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ piece of advice – check small details – in my case it would have saved me from a long walk – in the case of a manuscript submission, it can make the difference between getting read and being rejected.

Best wishes,

Cressida
(editorial consultant)

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Finishing a manuscript can be a daunting task – especially when you are 30,000 words short as I am and it is not fiction but non-fiction. Not to say that writing is ever easy but when you are dependent on facts rather than imagination, the word count meter can seem as though it is crawling by.

How did I come to be the “deliverer” of a manuscript? I found a call for book proposals on a writing listserv for a series by an academic publisher. The subject interested me, even though I wasn’t an expert in it. I read up on book proposals and then created one to respond to the specifics of the submission requirements. The series editor sent back comments and additions which I agreed could strengthen the manuscript overall.

And then I was ready to start writing based on my outlined proposal. The research began. Hopefully in a few weeks I will have turned it in and have the satisfaction of completing the manuscript.

So what can you do if you’re starting out?

Well, finding a link between your interests and what a publisher is looking for can make life easier. Try joining as many well-established writing communities as possible, as that’s where people are sharing information and you can find out who is looking for what subjects.

If you’ve never written anything before, a long project may not be the place to start, since even an experienced writer (as I became by the time I found this particular project) can have difficulty with content and deadlines. It’s often best to build your experience by submitting essays or short stories for themed anthologies, say, or even, in today’s electronic world, guest blogging or starting a blog of your own.

The bottom line is that you will never get published if you don’t write something and send it out. Surprisingly, many new writers do not realise that an idea separated from text is just that. An idea.

Best wishes,
Mohana (Reading & Writing Development Director)

We are giving away 5 copies of Qatari Voices!

Towards inspiring you, we are giving away five copies of Qatari Voices, an anthology that Mohana Rajakumar co-edited and was published in April 2010 by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.

The 21 writers in it got their ‘accidental’ start by responding to a call for submissions to write about life in Qatar. Their original entries were published in a locally printed volume; now a few years later they are reprinted in this internationally distributed title.

How to enter: For your chance to win a copy, simply send your name, postal address and email address in the body of an email, with the subject field ‘Qatari Voices Giveaway‘ to Writers & Artists (writersandartists@acblack.com) by the closing date 31 July 2010. No correspondence will be entered into and the publisher’s decision is final.

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If you visit I Write Like you can find out which famous writer your writing most closely resembles. All you need to do is copy and paste a few paragraphs of your writing, hit the ‘analyse’ button, and hey presto! The site does some complicated statistical comparison against a database of famous writers (the site developers know about this sort of stuff) and comes up with a name.

Not entirely happy with Asimov, I tried again with some different prose and ended up with William Gibson.

So successful has ‘I Write Like’ been that the site has even got its own spoof. It’s called I Actually Write Like and offers to tell you “who or what writer, animal or household object you most write like”.

Ok, so here the answer is somewhat less flattering. It came up with “I actually write like… a drunk working through issues”!

Well, it is Monday.

Go on, have a go. I’d really like to know who you (actually) write like. Let me know in the comments below.

Best wishes,
Claire Fogg (Publisher)

I Write Like is now on Twitter

You can follow Claire Fogg on Twitter »

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We’d like to congratulate Jenny Hampshire, Ruth Doughty, Eve Fleetwood, Nick Surgey and John Robson, who each win a copy of The Pindar Diamond by Katie Hickman, published by Bloomsbury.

And keep an eye on the website as we’ll be running more book giveaways soon!

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In part one we tackled the tricky job of drafting the covering letter, and one week later we followed up with a look at the art of writing a synopsis.

This was the first time that I’ve taught alongside editorial consultant Cressida Downing and, if I say so myself, we make a really good team. I think the reason for this is that I understand the theory (I talk to the people involved in turning a manuscript into a book and I gather information for writers), while Cressida is actually on the front line. She reads people’s submissions every day. She evaluates them and knows what influences her decisions either to read further or (shudder) – stop.

Between us, we possess a lot of knowledge and advice and – importantly – enjoy being able to pass it on.

That said, our delegates made it work for us. Twelve people attended the masterclass, all on a common quest to improve their submission. Everyone worked hard, shared their experiences, offered opinions, suggestions and encouragement. It made for a friendly and fun atmosphere where we all learned something new and left feeling positive.

Cressida and I will be working on new ideas for future masterclasses. Keep an eye on our Events for writers because you users of writersandartists.co.uk will be the first to know.

Warm wishes, Jo

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Something I hadn’t considered until recently is why writers write. But last week I had a series of emails from clients which addressed this very specifically.

One writer wants to get her book out to get a message across. She’s not concerned so much about getting a publishing deal, she’s happy to be self-published, but she wants her specific theory to reach a wider audience.

Another writer is writing to answer the big questions in life, who are we, where have we come from, what happens to us after death.

And my third client really surprised me with his insight into his reasons for writing.  He’d suffered a number of personal tragedies, and was writing to show his family that his spirit was unbowed, that he still believed in a purpose in life, and to reassure them and himself.

So – why do you write?  Tell me about it.

Cressida
(editorial consultant)

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At a recent literary conference, the room where the various self-publishing firms were displaying their wares had all the charm of the first day of our holiday in Tenerife when, as yet untanned, we tried to evade the clutches of the time-share sellers.

Yet the theory remains good. Self-publishing allows you to park your ideas in a finished format and move on with whatever you want to write next. The key to a successful outcome is what you bring to the party.

As well as offering you an opportunity, self-publishing loads the author with responsibilities: to consider what you want to create, and then choose well – the right format, cover image, paper quality and text size (if you are going for a printed book) or the equivalents for an ebook (reading on screen demands different choices).

And rather than just assuming the complete list of what you are shown by a self-publishing firm is all that exists, you need to remain vigilant to ensure a fine-looking product. It is possible, and it can work – but only if you exercise care, and understand the options open to you.

Kingston University is running a two-day conference on self publishing from 3-4 September 2010. It will abound with objective advice and practical guidance. The price includes £20 of free A&C Black books on writing and publishing, a free A&C Black hessian bag and a chance to buy the new edition of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook for £10 (normally £14.99).

All best, Alison

Alison Baverstock is the author of Marketing your book, an author’s guide (A&C Black) and is course leader of the MA Publishing at Kingston University.

To find out more about the self-publishing conference visit the Kingston University website.

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When you last sampled your own book, perhaps for the umpteenth time, was it a silent appreciation, or did you voice it aloud in your den, while your puzzled dog reckoned it best to wag his tail?

Had you thought of recording it, to share the dog’s satisfaction? If so, was it loud enough to keep the loyal beast awake, or did he turn turtle and dream of a walk in the field?

Did you make the right emphases? Perhaps you discharged the opening confidently and trailed away by the end. Before you read for half an hour to a fee-paying audience, some of whom may not hear very well anyway, you could practise.

You may be asked as a swansong to take part in a discussion on, for instance, “Was Tolstoy at 200 the greatest ever?” Don’t just confide your view sideways to the panel, but give it to the audience straight between the ears. (I’d plump for the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, what about you?)

The great George Canning, who lent his weight to the liberation of Spanish America, was said to have acquired a house in Brighton so he could pitch his oratory against the roar of the waves. A model for us all. Though it doesn’t have to be Brighton.

Indeed, you might try your local library, and see if you can make yourself heard above the new fashion for live gigs.

Best wishes,
Alex Hamilton

About Alex: Guest blogger Alex Hamilton is an award-winning travel writer. He contributes articles ‘The growth of travel guidebooks’ and ‘One hundred years of fiction bestsellers’ for the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook.

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