Joanna Nell: How I Got An Agent

Saturday was the highlight of the Southerland Shire Writers calendar with the Writers Unleashed Festival providing the opportunity to hear from editors from various publishing houses. The event concluded with the Editor panel where we heard from:. Heather highlighted her tips and recommendations for manuscript submissions. She said that first and foremost she comes to a manuscript as a reader, looking to be engaged and entertained.

She follows no firm rules and tries to clear her mind of preconceived ideas.

Our membership covers a wide range of writers,亚搏娱乐官网illustrators and industry List of publishers attending Literary Speed Dating Sydney Sydney Friday Forest for the Trees is a one-day seminar run by the NSW Writers’ Centre as.

Last Friday the day had come; I was getting ready for my first literary speed dating experience. But I was working towards it since May this year. In October, I finally got the green light. Just on time to get ready for the speed dating fun. When I arrived outside the church hall in Glebe where the Australian Society of Authors ASA expected 65 writers for 90 minutes of pitching a few people had already gathered in front of the building.

I retreated near a column and rehearsed silently my biography pitch that I had practised over and over during the past days. Slowly, the pavement started to fill with more women — there were only a few men at the event — and the chatter increased in volume. After the registration, we would have to wait in the lobby until they would open the doors to the hall at pm sharp. All the publishers would be sitting around the room in alphabetical order, starting with ABC Books on one side and finishing with Random House on the other.

As there were three doors into the hall, she asked us to form three lines. I placed myself in the middle line. Once the door opened, everyone could queue in front of their publishers of choice. Each writer would get three minutes to pitch their project until a bell would remind everyone to finish the conversation and move on to the next table.

I felt I was well prepared after I had followed all the instructions on the ASA website to make most out of this opportunity.