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Publishing Seminar: The Novel Approach (Perth Writers Festival 2014)

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By on Australia, Perth, Review, Writing

Day One of the Perth Writers Festival … my brain is already rapidly filling up and pondering a myriad of possibilities. All I need now is time and a rich benefactor. Following is a brief brain dump of the day, basically so I can free up some space for the next three days.

 

Perth Writers Festival 2014 © The Ponder Room


Held in the idyllic sandstone grounds of the University of Western Australia, this year’s Writers Festival started with an obligatory squawk from the resident peacocks. Moving onto the Woolnough Lecture Theatre, I joined an audience of around 100 writers and would be writers as we settled in for the first of five sessions.

Perth Writers Festival 2014 © The Ponder Room

Meet the Press

A team of nine from Fremantle Press, provided a slick presentation that walked us through the various stages, from manuscript acceptance to seeing your book on the shelves.

Discussions about assessment, contracts, editing, cover design, marketing and other aspects, helped explain why they published approximately six books per year (out of the 500 submissions received). The fact that the whole team took time out to come and speak to us, spoke volumes about their interest in new artists.

‘We breath out when we sell 3,000, and we relax when sales reach 5,000,’ said Clive Newman, providing an indication of just how tough their job is in such a highly competitive market.

Perth Writers Festival 2014 © The Ponder Room


Lost in the Amazon
This section looked at the range of publishing options available. Michael Hayward from Text Publishing summed up the situation by saying …

‘You are part of the most fortunate generation of readers and writers, the digital era has opened things up. In the past you had to be published overseas and a lot of writers didn’t reach their potential. Now you get to write what you want to, thanks to the internet.’


Terri-ann White challenged us on three points, saying …

‘We need more writers, and to do that writers have to be readers.’

‘Whether the output is an ebook or print is irrelevant, it is still a story.’

‘Writing is a private pleasure that doesn’t have to end up in a book.’

Author Chris Allen gave a fascinating insight into an alternative approach. After several rejection slips he self-published his first book and dove into social media to create his own audience.

‘Have confidence in your work and let the market place decide for you,’ he suggested.

The Competitive Edge

The paring of Robert Watkins (Hachette), Rose Michael (Hardie Grant), Penny Heuston (Text) and author Inga Simpson, produced a lively debate about what today’s publishing houses are looking for. One of the contentious issues was whether to send your whole manuscript or a section.



Perth Writers Festival 2014 © The Ponder Room

‘Send it all,’suggested Rose, ‘if it’s vaguely good I don’t want to get your hopes up by asking for more.’

‘Yeah, if I don’t know where you’re going with it how can I sign you,’ echoed Robert.

Find me on Facebook

Annabel Smith (author) and Claire Miller (Fremantle Press), Chris Allen and Jane Novak (Text Publishing) explored the benefits and pitfalls of social marketing. While some inspirational examples got the juices going, the bottom line was …

‘It depends on the book … and if you are not comfortable with it don’t do it,’ said Jane.

For the fellow bloggers out there it was interesting to hear Annabel say it took 18 months for her to get a comment on her blog from someone she didn’t know.

The Pitch

The day ended with a Pitch Session. Of the 100 attendees, 45 put their names in the hat to pitch to the publishers. Only 10 names were randomly drawn out and each person had three minutes to present their ideas.


Perth Writers Festival 2014 © The Ponder Room


The genres represented were: Science Fiction; Romance; Young Adult; Romantic Comedy; Memoir; and a few that defied classification.

I’m always left in awe of the publishers ability to listen respectfully, and patiently in some instances, and then provide relevant advice.

It was nice to see Terri-ann White joined by Michael Heyward and Aviva Tuffield, rather than having to face the crowd solo.

One tip for future presenters … have a clear idea of what genre your manuscript falls into.

 

And so here I sit trying to download some of the information and free up space for tomorrow. Apologies for not giving more detail but since the clock is approaching midnight, and with another full day ahead I’d best sign off for now. 

Stay tuned for more from the Perth Writers Festival or follow me on twitter.
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5 Comments

  3. Anonymous on

    I’m looking forward to reading more about the Writers Festival, Glennys. Thanks for the post about the publishing seminar. Wish I’d gone to it. M-H

    Reply
    • The Ponder Room on

      Hi M-H great to hear from you, hope you’ve enjoyed your time at The Ponder Room. Sounds like I’d better getting writing about the rest of the Writers Fest 🙂
      Darren may be holding a Problogger Conference in Perth later on so watch this space.
      See you again on here I hope.

      Reply

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