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A recent article in a publishing magazine mentioned that it not only is impossible for a manuscript to be picked from a slush pile at a publishers any more, it is now virtually impossible with an agent as well! CRIMEFEST is offering unpublished writers two ways to beat the odds.

- CRIME WRITING WORKSHOP
- PITCH AN AGENT

CRIME WRITING WORKSHOP
The workshop - inspired by the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference - is for aspiring authors who want to gain some writing tools and tips for the crime novels they wish to write. The intensive workshop takes place on Thursday afternoon, and the registration also includes one-on-one feedback from the tutor on submitted sample chapters (on Friday and Saturday); a question-and-answer session with an agent and an editor; and, as an extra incentive, entry to the Crime Writers' Association's highly successful Debut Dagger Competition. (Most winners and some short-listed participants have gone on to be published by commercial publishers.) Tutoring the workshop will be Janet Laurence.

TUTOR:

Janet Laurence has written two series of crime novels: the Darina Lisle culinary mysteries and three Canaletto mysteries. She is the author of Writing Crime Fiction - Making Crime Pay, and has run a number of writing workshops, including ones for the Arvon Foundation and the Cheltenham Spring Festival. She has also been a Visiting Fellow/Writer in Residence three times at Jane Franklin Hall College, part of the University of Tasmania.

PITCH AN AGENT
Are you an aspiring author looking for an agent? If so, CRIMEFEST is pleased to announce that it will once again be hosting the PITCH AN AGENT strand in 2012. Top agents will be at CRIMEFEST and aspiring crime writers will have ten minutes to pitch their manuscripts to them. Consider it speed dating for an agent! Authors represented by these agencies include Lee Child, Martina Cole, John Connolly, Paul Doherty, Tana French, Steve Hague, Paul Johnston and E.V. Seymour.

There are only a limited number of places, and the registration fee for a place is £25. Please note that PITCH AN AGENT is only open to delegates without an agent who have registered for a Day or Full CRIMEFEST Pass. (Unless the buyer also signs up for a Day or Full CRIMEFEST Pass, a £10 refund fee will be charged for incorrect bookings.)

Participants will be required to submit the first 3,000 words of their manuscript, together with a brief synopsis (of up to 1,500 words) by 20 April 2012. Based on entries, the agents will decide which of the participants they meet. All the PITCH AN AGENT slots have previously sold out, so book early to avoid disappointment.

THE AGENTS:
Camilla Wray is the Crime and Thriller Agent at the Darley Anderson Literary TV & Film Agency. She studied English Literature and Psychology at Cardiff University, specialising in novel writing and abnormal psychology. In 2003 she co-founded a successful business and worked on this until 2005, when she decided to follow her love of stories. After gaining a distinction from the University of the Arts, she worked for a national newspaper until she joined the Darley Anderson Agency in 2007. The Darley Anderson Agency is an international market leader for commercial crime and thrillers, and represents No.1 bestselling authors such as Lee Child, John Connolly, Martina Cole, and Tana French.

"There are agents. There are good agents. There are super agents. And then there's Darley Anderson." - Lee Child

Broo Doherty, of Wade & Doherty Literary Agency, has worked in publishing for the last twenty years and has had a variety of different roles throughout the industry. She started as a production assistant at Victor Gollancz and moved to Hodder & Stoughton for a brief period before joining Transworld as an editor for the Bantam Press imprint where she was involved with authors such as David Gemmell, Anthony Holden and Jilly Cooper. Then she joined a literary agency as the editorial director before setting up Wade and Doherty almost five years ago. Broo handles all genres, excluding children's books and science fiction, but focuses her attention on crime, commercial women's fiction, literary fiction and quirky non-fiction.

David Headley is the Managing Director of DHH Literary Agency. He studied theology in London and Durham before creating Goldsboro Books, an independent bookseller in London. He spent 10 years developing the company and building many contacts in all of the UK's publishing houses. He created the UK's largest collectors' book club and is influential in selling large amounts of hardback fiction in the UK. In 2008 David created DHH Literary—a new agency that enables him to concentrate on discovering new talent in fiction writing. He is only looking to represent fiction writers currently. In his spare time he reads for pleasure as well as travelling all over Europe visiting cities. He likes different, quirky and something that may challenge.