From Monday, 6th of March, we will, once again, be opening our virtual doors with a week dedicated to demystifying publishing and agenting, and supporting writers seeking representation. We will be running live #AskAgent sessions, sharing agent blogs on a variety of agenting and publishing topics, and running book giveaways across our social media accounts between the 6th and 10th of March.
Our aim is to offer helpful insights into what an agent does, how to navigate the submission process to find an agent, how an author and agent work together, understanding the publication process, earning income as an author through the sale of rights (translation, film & TV, audio and book), and how to get into the agenting or publishing industry. All of our book agents (Isobel Dixon, Juliet Pickering, Kate Burke and Sian Ellis-Martin) along with our Media and Translation Rights colleagues will be involved throughout the week, and the team hopes to answer as many questions as possible from writers (published or querying) or anyone wanting to get into the industry.
Alongside this, we will be offering three writers a 20-minute feedback meeting (online) on their submission packages in April. More information on how to submit for this opportunity will be revealed during the week on our social media accounts and on our website.
Kate Burke said: ‘Last year’s Open Week was fantastic in terms of hearing from writers, sharing information and chatting to people interested in getting into our industry. I hope we managed to help people on their publishing journey in some way and, as we mentioned last year, our plan is to run this Open Week annually as our industry is constantly changing and facing fresh challenges. At Blake Friedmann we are committed to supporting writers who feel that the publishing industry is inaccessible to them. It’s clear – from social media and what our agents hear when they give talks at schools, writers’ groups, conferences and festivals – that people have a lot of questions about what agents actually do and how it all works in terms of money, deals and rights, so, hopefully, this Open Week will help clarify much of that. Our goal is to be as transparent and accessible as possible, and we look forward to the first week of March!’
More details about the Open Week and new, daily content will be shared on our website and on our social media channels, using the hashtag #BFLAOpenWeek, throughout the week of 6th of March. This author-focused endeavour follows our ongoing Carole Blake Open Doors Project launched in 2017.