Literary Citizenship is often a phrase used in terms of authors, and how they can be good citizens alongside other writers. It's an ideal based on the idea of cooperation, not competition - by buying and promoting the work of other writers, it makes for a richer literary landscape and also builds strong networks between … Continue reading BLOG: Build a Bookshelf – Bert’s Books and Literary Citizenship
Saturday 10th November was the annual SYP autumn conference. The theme was innovation and disruption in publishing, questioning established beliefs and practices in the UK publishing industry. Stream 1 was entitled "Write Your Own Story", which looked at started a career in publishing, and also alternative ways to manage or develop your career. Stream 2 … Continue reading BLOG: The SYP Conference 2018 – Rewriting the (Rule)Book
At the start of 2018, Orion books launched their #OrionOnTour initiative, which saw representatives from the publisher visiting places around the country to promote publishing as a career. After a weekend discussing regional diversity and the London bias of publishing at the 2018 SYP conference, it seemed fitting to highlight a publisher that is making … Continue reading INTERVIEW: #OrionOnTour – Regional Diversity and Publishing
Back in 2015, I applied for a place on the UCL MA Publishing. I got an interview, and travelled all the way down to London, where I met Dr Melanie Ramdarshan-Bold and Professor Iain Stevenson. It was the most positive interview experience I’ve ever had, and I came out of it feeling buoyed up and … Continue reading BLOG: The Stevenson Award – Legacies in Publishing
My previous blog post talked about how long you should be aiming to make your novel. Today I want to talk about the different stages it will go through before you have a final product. Beta Reading This is something I first came across in relation to fanfiction, although since studying my MA I have … Continue reading BLOG: Beta Reading vs Proofreading vs Editing
If I were to tell you about a machine designed to take the basics of a story, then spit it out in whatever genre you chose, you might think I was talking about the computer algorithm which tried to write another Harry Potter book, with delightfully hilarious consequences. Or you might think I was talking … Continue reading BLOG: Synthesising a Bestseller
The 1st September marks one year since I handed in my dissertation and completed my MA. Perhaps the title here is misleading - the news is, there is no news. I had honestly expected to have a job by now – my opening blog in January was optimistic that I would be able to do … Continue reading BLOG: News from the Job Front
If you have spent any time on the internet of late, you will have probably heard of the phrase 'trigger warnings'. There are a lot of strong feelings about them, some of these feelings are negative, and there is a lot of talk about 'millenial snowflakes' etc etc. In case, somehow, you haven't come across … Continue reading BLOG: Trigger Warnings
One week to go until London Book Fair kicks off - 10th - 12th April, at the London Olympia. The Book Fair is huge, hard to navigate, and frankly baffling at times. There are plenty of tips and lists telling you how to survive the fair (here, here and here for example), but what is … Continue reading BLOG: Top Tips for London Book Fair
To continue with the theme of “Why I am Disgruntled that Most Large Publishers are Based in London”, I thought I would show some cold, hard numbers to demonstrate the cost of entering a career in publishing, whether you choose to live in London, or do what I do and commute. On my MA, I … Continue reading BLOG: The Cost of Starting a Career in Publishing
