Writer’s Handbook Live

      Barry Turner, Maggie Dana and Will Atkin The second Writer’s Handbook Live event was held on 6th June in London. This year saw around 100 delegates and an array of high-profile speakers gather in the top-floor rooms of the Royal Institute of British Architects, which offered a beautiful view over London’s rooftops.

We kicked off the day with a rousing introduction from Barry Turner, who has edited The Writer’s Handbook for over 20 years. Something of a legend in the publishing industry, he has worked as a journalist and author, editor and marketing director, and welcomed the delegates by highlighting the importance of the industry’s move towards digital publishing.

Following this, we were encouraged by the success story of author Maggie Dana, whose book Beachcombing had been released the day before. She talked about the importance of writing groups, and the support, encouragement and motivation they offer—a sentiment which was reiterated by other speakers throughout the day. Maggie’s editor Will Atkins was full of advice and practical tips for aspiring first-time novelists, such as the best way to format a manuscript, the importance of a succinct and relevant synopsis and how to approach a publisher.

Peggy Vance and Jenny Parrott There was an animated and entertaining presentation from Peggy Vance, commissioning editor for adult lifestyle books at Dorling Kindersley, who gave us some top tips on writing for the non-fiction market. This was followed by an insightful talk from Jenny Parrott, commissioning editor for fiction at Little, Brown, who was particularly keen to unearth some raw British talent.

We had two lively 'meet the authors' session, with Nick Harkaway, author of The Gone-Away World, Lucy Beresford, book reviewer and first-time author of Something I'm Not, and Simon Rae, poet, biographer, broadcaster and playwright. The authors spoke of their very different routes into publication and the ways in which they had promoted their own books. They followed up by answering questions from the audience.

      The Writer's Handbook 2010 There were creative and screen-writing workshops, talks from literary magazines and websites, a chance to get the agents’ point of view, advice on how to write for children, and a talk from Peter North, fiction buyer at Waterstone’s, detailing which factors persuaded him to buy a book.

There was an excellent atmosphere and a real buzz of excitement during the day (perhaps it was that party of enterprising schoolboys who had completed their first novel and were diligently handing out synopses), which was captured on this short film from CompletelyNovel.

 

The whole day was an excellent opportunity for published and unpublished writers to come out of the woodwork, meet people with similar interests, and engage with industry professionals and practising authors.

Click here to find out more about the speakers who took part