Penguin launches seminar for ‘popular writing’
Penguin Books Australia has launched a one-day seminar for aspiring writers of commercial fiction, called the Penguin School of Popular Writing.
The seminar, which will be held on 19 January at Penguin’s offices on Collins St, Melbourne, includes a mini-masterclass in writing and information on how to get published, with a particular focus on commercial women’s fiction. The event will be run by Penguin associate publisher Ali Watts and editor Carol George from Penguin’s new digital imprint Destiny Romance, as well as authors Fiona McIntosh and Anne Gracie.
Penguin is also offering the first 12 people to register for the $195 seminar with the opportunity to pitch their novel to a Penguin publisher or representative on the day.
‘This is something completely new for us,’ said Ben Ball, publishing director of Penguin General. ‘We’ve offered scholarships and mentorships before, and of course give feedback to authors whose manuscripts we read, but we’ve never before reached out to the writing community quite like this.’
Ball told Bookseller+Publisher that the decision to launch the seminar was inspired by what he saw as ‘a gap in the way publishers were talking with writers in the format of the writing school’. ‘Most writing courses concentrate on literary work, and we felt we had something to offer to people who were interested in writing at the commercial end of the market,’ he said.
‘Writing a blockbuster or successful romance novel requires a huge amount of craft and development, and arguably an even greater understanding of how to market yourself and connect with your audience than a literary work, and we hope to be able to share a little of our experience and expertise about all these things with aspiring writers,’ said Ball.
Ball said the publisher is hoping to run more seminars in the future ‘if we find there’s an appetite for this sort of conversation’. ‘We’d first look to take it to other cities, and then perhaps expand to other genres. Crime might be another form of writing we could explore, as well as romance,’ he said.
For more information on the seminar see the website here.
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Category: Local news
