Yikes! I’m one of the ten writers chosen to progress to the next round of the HARDCOPY program.
That means in late November I go back to Canberra and the ACT Writers Centre to spend precious one-on-one time with agents and publishers, discussing the strengths and weaknesses of my manuscript.
As far as I know the publishers who have agreed to be involved include: Affirm Press; Allen & Unwin; Black Inc; Editia; Finlay Lloyd; Penguin Random House; and Scribe. Australian literary agent Jacinta Dimase has also confirmed her involvement and Fiona Inglis from Curtis Brown has expressed her interest.
So no pressure then.
In the meantime (and in fact before next Tuesday) I have to revise my proposal. Mary Cunnane thought my sample (the first 30 pages of the MS) was fine – OK, she might have said excellent – but advised me to tweak my proposal. She also kindly provided some generic proposal writing guidelines to the chosen ten writers. Essentially a good proposal might contain most or all of the following sub-headings:
- Synopsis
- Overview
- Why this book
- Specifics
- Author Sheet
- The Audience
- Sales & Marketing
- Table of Contents
- Outline
- Introduction, Preface or Forward
- Sample Chapters
- Writing Samples, Quotes and Press
Nearly all of my HARDCOPY colleagues have stayed in touch online and via email and the reactions of those who were not selected has been extraordinarily generous and supportive. One of the best things to come out of this program has been the collegiality and the friendships. It feels like the beginning of something lasting.
As Mary Cunnane noted in her feedback to us all:
To say that nothing is certain in publishing is an understatement, including the fact that it may well be that some projects that did not make it into the final round will go on to achieve commercial and critical success if their authors don’t halt their efforts at this stage. That is the nature of the publishing business we are all in. I congratulate all twenty-one HARDCOPY participants on their efforts and urge all – including the finalists – to live by the motto ‘Persistence pays’.
Wish me luck!
I’ve written before about the HARDCOPY program:
- being accepted;
- preparing;
- first weekend of workshopping;
- recommended reading;
- a very rough overview of the second weekend of workshops; and
- what do publishers want?
- Mary Cunnane – wisdom and advice from Australia’s favourite literary agent
Acknowledgments
The ACT Writers Centre is supported by the ACT Government. HARDCOPY has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Great news, Michelle. Go well!
Thanks Euan!
Well done. Again! You realise there will have to be a further Hardcopy after this one – The Artist as Performer for all those ABC interviews and writers festivals you’ll have to speak at.
Thanks! And no, the next Hardcopy round should be: just sit down and finish the damn thing….
Congrats Michelle. Hope preparations going well:)
Thanks Warren – and congratulations right back at you. Preparations – hmm, I love the smell of deadlines in the morning.
That’s excellent news and well deserved I’m sure. Can’t wait to hear where this takes you. x
Thanks Eleanor. Whatever the outcomes, I think it will take me straight back to my desk for more work and rework. All good!
Congratulations Michelle! This is a wonderful opportunity to polish your work even further and present it to the publishers – my best wishes travel to you.
Traveling by bike, I hope! Thanks Gail, that’s very kind. I’m really enjoying your blog, by the way, so no doubt we’ll stay in touch.
Haha! Thanks Michelle. Yes we will, I’m sure :-)
[…] Another HARDCOPY Win! […]
Dearie me, here I’ve been wondering all along whether you’d got into the third round and now I find it was here on your blog all along and I’d missed it in my in-box. My excuse is that the day you posted this was the day we flew to Tasmania for 18 days, half of which was spent with my brother and family. And then, four days after our return, on 30 October, my aunt died. So, my reading of blogs since early October has been very patchy.
Anyhow, I just wanted to say how thrilled I am for you. A great achievement and well-deserved, as you’ve worked and thought hard I know.
Good luck …
Thank you WG, I really appreciate your good wishes. And absolutely no excuses or apologies required – real life should always be our real focus, after all!
[…] is that a manuscript gets submitted with a proposal (I blogged about what goes into the proposal here). I wrote a proposal for the program and it was an eye-opening experience. I think my proposal […]
[…] Another HARDCOPY Win! […]
[…] Another HARDCOPY win – After participating in the writing workshop, and then the Intro to Industry weekend, I was one of ten people selected to take part in the Publisher/Agent Feedback weekend. Seven publishers and two agents read my work, and each spent 30 minutes with me to provide advice and feedback. Priceless. […]