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On Friday, 16 May, CRIMEFEST presented a Crime Writing Day to help aspiring crime authors write a manuscript, find an agent and, hopefully, get published. Crime Writing Day sessions: 10:30 – 11:30: How To Self Publish In eBook And Print Publishing houses are increasingly turning to new media for fresh talent, but is the traditional route the best way to go? This session will cover how self-publishing fits into the current publishing eco-system, how to publish your book in ebook and print and some tips for self-publishing success. J.F. Penn is the bestselling author of Desecration and the ARKANE thriller series. Joanna was voted one the Guardian's Top 100 creative professionals 2013, and her blog, TheCreativePenn.com, offers advice on writing and creative entrepreneurship. 11:45 – 12:45 Agents And Editors—Who Does What For Authors? Do you need an agent to get published? And, if you do, how do the services of agents differ from those of an editor at a publishing company? How do you go get representation from an agent? What are agents and editors looking for in a manuscript, and what do they expect from authors? These and many more questions will be answered by two agents and two editors during a presentation that includes time for questions from the participants. 1:00 – 1:30: Light lunch (included as part of the crime writing day). 1:30 – 5:00: Constructing Character and Plot With a mixture of presentations and workshop exercises attendees will learn to construct interesting and complex characters from scratch and then use them to develop the plot of a crime novel—all in the space of an afternoon. Ryan and Hall's practical and entertaining workshops for the Guardian and literary and crime festivals (including Harrogate and Iceland Noir) have been much praised by attendees from absolute beginners to published authors and may be just the thing to kick-start your crime writing career. (The workshop includes a break for coffee or tea.) M.R. Hall is a Bafta nominated screenwriter and author of the bestselling crime novels featuring coroner Jenny Cooper. Historical thriller writer William Ryan is the creator of the widely acclaimed Captain Korolev series. Saturday, 16 May: One-On-One Manuscript Assessments Janet Laurence is best known for her Darina Lisle culinary mysteries and trio of Canaletto crime novels. She is also the author of Writing Crime Fiction—Making Crime Pay and has run writing workshops for the Arvon Foundation and the Cheltenham Spring Festival among others.
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 2014. Top agents will be at CRIMEFEST and aspiring crime writers will have fourteen minutes to pitch their manuscripts to each of them simultaneously in a private session. Consider it speed dating for an agent meets the Dragon's Den. Authors represented by these agencies include Lee Child, Martina Cole, John Connolly, Paul Doherty, Tana French and Paul Johnston. There are only a limited number of places—which have previously sold out—and the registration fee for a place is £35. PITCH AN AGENT is only open to delegates who have not previously participated, are not commercially published, are without an agent and 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 30 April 2014. All the PITCH AN AGENT slots have previously sold out, so BUY TICKETS early to avoid disappointment. THE AGENTS "There are agents. There are good agents. There are super agents. And then there's Darley Anderson." —Lee Child Broo Doherty, formerly with the Wade & Doherty Literary Agency, recently moved to DHH Literary Agency. She 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. Broo handles all genres, excluding children's books and science fiction, but focuses her attention on crime, women's commercial fiction, literary fiction and quirky non-fiction. David Headley studied theology in London and Durham before co-founding and becoming the Managing Director of Goldsboro Books, a much admired independent bookseller, based in central London. David has spent the last 15 years establishing Goldsboro Books and building good relationships with editors within the UK's major publishing houses. He has gained a reputation for championing debut authors and is influential in selling large quantities of hardback fiction in the UK. In 2008, David founded the DHH agency, which is based in London and represents an eclectic range of best-selling and award-winning authors, including novelists, historians, short-story writers and children’s authors. Jenny Hewson is an agent at Rogers, Coleridge & White, a leading literary agency with a strong international profile. RCW represents bestselling crime writers such as Ian Rankin, Linda LaPlante, Denise Mina and Malcolm Mackay alongside literary authors such as Ian McEwan, Kate Atkinson, Peter Carey and AS Byatt. Jenny represents a list of around 25 writers including Christos Tsiolkas, Brian McGilloway and Lauren Owen. Jenny studied English literature at the Universities of Edinburgh and Amsterdam, and worked for the Hay Festival prior to joining RCW. She is actively building her list, and is particularly interested in literary fiction, crime, and narrative non-fiction. |