Tuesday 27 September 2016

Tenby Book Fair - What the Publishers Have to Say


On Saturday, I went to one of my favourite towns for Tenby Book Fair. This year I was accompanied by my writing buddy, Helen. It was lovely to have company, not least for all the calories we consumed over the day! We got there early and had coffee and tea cakes before going in. We slipped out when there was a break in between the talks to have a delicious lunch and finally topped the day off with another coffee and more cakes before the journey home. :-)


Photo courtesy of Juliet Greenwood
When we got to the hall, it was good to see lots of people already browsing at the authors' tables and chatting about their books. Please click HERE for a full list of the authors who were present. It was good to meet up with authors I already knew and to meet new writers, too. 


Photo courtesy of Wendy White

Photo courtesy of Wendy 

I'd blogged about the fair a few weeks ago so I thought you may be interested in the talks Helen and I went to. We'd had to pre-book them and the two I found particularly interesting were the ones given by the editors of two Welsh publishers.


The first was given by Janet Thomas, editor at Firefly Press. Set up in 2013, Firefly is an independent children's and YA publisher based in Wales. It publishes quality fiction for 5-19 year olds. Janet advised on the submission process and gave us an insight into what writing she was looking for. She stressed how important it was that the sample sent in reflects the quality of the book. What is special about the story must be in that extract. Perhaps the story takes a new look at a subject that's already popular with the young readers. It's often the subject matter that makes a connection with the child. They may not know the author but they like what the book is about. Janet stressed the importance of keeping to the publishers' guidelines and making sure the synopsis includes the ending. She provided us with a very helpful pack of information about writing for children, including the specific requirements for each age group from Picture Books to Teen/Young Adult.
Photo courtesy of Juliet 
Here is Janet manning the Firefly table with two of her authors, Sharon Marie Jones and Eloise Williams.




Caroline Oakley, Commissioning Editor at Honno, opened her talk by giving us the background to the independent co-operative press based in Aberystwyth. Run by women, it is committed to publishing the best in Welsh women's writing. It was established in 1986 by four feminist women at a meeting in a flat in Cardiff. They wanted to increase the opportunities for Welsh women in publishing and bring Welsh women's writing to a wider public. They established a co-operative and sold shares in the company. Honno celebrated its 30th birthday at party In Aber on September 17th, the press having gone from strength to strength and becoming well established. It publishes a full range of genres and over the years both the press and its titles have won many awards.

Even though all the details for submission are found on the Honno website, Caroline gave some helpful pointers for submitting in general:

  • ensure you do your research, identifying your target audience, your novel's genre and other writers in that genre and who they are published by
  • find the name of the editor/literary agent
  • send the publisher/agent what s/he has asked for, keeping strictly to the guidelines
  • Honno asks for a 50 page sample
  • the covering letter needs to be short, simple and matter of fact with no life story, no saying you've written the next best seller
  • a brief description of why you've chosen to submit to that particular publisher
  • only relevant writing experience
  • synopsis - the plot and the role the characters play in it, where the story is going and what happens in the end. It should be clear what genre the novel belongs to from the synopsis which should be short and no longer than two sides. 
What is Caroline looking for?
  • readability, an interesting compelling voice
  • something new or new facets/twists on a theme
  • a gripping plot or narrative, intriguing characters
Photo courtesy of Juliet
One such book is Juliet Greenwood's third novel, 'The White Camellia', published recently by Honno on September 15th. The cover is stunning and from the pages I've read so far, it promises to be another excellent read from Juliet.
Helen and I returned from the fair enthused. It was an excellent day and huge thanks are due to Judith Barrow and Thorne Moore whose hard work ensured it was such a success.

Thank you for reading. Have you been to an literary event where publishers gave advice on submissions and explained what they are currently looking for? If so, I'd love it if you could leave a comment and share what they had to say. Thanks. :-)

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBayLit and on my Jan Baynham Writer Facebook page. 

15 comments:

  1. Fab post, Jan - good to read the detailed ins & out! And great to see you albeit briefly! xXx

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    1. Thanks, Carol. It was a great day. Yes, we didn't get to chat for long but we were busy attending the talks and you had plenty of interest at your table which was good.:-)

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    2. Thanks for popping by to leave a comment, Carol.

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  2. I echo the above! It's also good to have an insight into the talks I couldn't make. It's a juggling act when you have a stall as well! All good fun, though.

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    1. Yes, it was, Angela. One of the best bits about these events is meeting new writers who we may have only 'met' on line and catching up with writer friends. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for your comments. PS Love the cover on the new book. 🙂📚

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  3. Looks like you had a great time (and cake too - bonus!) Great post for those who are at the submission stage, some really helpful pointers :)

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    1. Thanks, Sam. Yes, I didn't need much persuasion to eat cake - like you do! Thanks for your comments.

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  4. Great post, Jan. Thanks for supporting the book fair.Jx

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    1. Pleasure, Judith. Helen and I had a great day. Thanks for your kind comment.

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  5. Lovely post, giving a real flavour (in lots of ways) of the day.

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    1. Thanks, Alex. That's good of you to say. I missed talking to you this year. Thank you for popping by to comment.

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  6. Enjoyed your post, Jan and lovely to meet up again. x

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. Yes, it was good to catch up albe-it briefly. It was a busy day for you authors and for those of us attending. Thanks for commenting.

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  7. It was a great day, Jan, and lovely to see you there! A proper buzz and plenty of advice from the publishers. Not to mention the gorgeous location! :-)

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    1. Thank you, Juliet. Yes, there was a real buzz and it seemed to be present throughout the day. I love Tenby and although we only saw the main street on this occasion, the views of beach and the harbour are always stunning. Thanks for popping by to comment.

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