Yesterday I taught my first Guardian Masterclass of the year on how to pitch your book. The next is on 23rd February (click Guardian Masterclass for details). A question students always ask is: what exactly do agents want? It is easier to answer than you might think. Of course everyone
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First appeared in: Mslexia 56 winter 2012/13 Women have broken into the last bastion of macho writing, Science Fiction and Fantasy, and they are changing the market Forget everything you ever thought about Science Fiction and Fantasy (SFF). Forget nerdy boys role playing space heroes or Goth girls dressing as
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This article first appeared in Mslexia, issue 53 Sea creatures are replacing vampires as the latest fantasy trend. Danuta Kean investigates A wave of mermaids and selkies threatens to wash away vampires and angels in popular fiction, as young adults turn from the sky to the sea for literary escape . But
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Creative writing degrees have sprung up like weeds in the literary landscape. At upwards of £9,000 a year, it’s easy to see their appeal to universities: they are nice little earners. For students they offer access to publishing, as well as the chance to concentrate on writing and to benefit
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Was it a full moon on Friday? I ask, because the trolls were out, and four friends blocked people on Twitter following abusive tweets. All are in the business – high profile authors and literary agents. I am telling you because their night of the trolls highlights one of the
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‘Rejection.’ Nothing cushions the impact of those three syllables. Last week I wrote about how to submit to agents, this week I want to look at the ‘R’ word. How do we turn something so negative – our precious child returned unwanted – into a positive that helps us get
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Publishing is an industry of gatekeepers, which is why the question of how an unpublished author with no connections finds an agent remains top of the list of those I am asked at festivals Here is my advice on researching agents and writing submissions letters. If any agents want to
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Mslexia 50, summer 2011 Ghost stories are the biggest trend in fiction right now, Danuta Kean discovers the rules of writing a bestseller Like the spectre in M R James’s The Mezzotint, ghost stories have crossed the literary landscape and passed through genre boundaries to become the fastest rising trend.
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Mslexia, Summer 2009 If Ros Ramsay had preferred haircuts to a good read, a host of writers would have been robbed of certain income. Ramsay is one of the best-known literary scouts in London, matchmaking overseas publishers and UK film producers with books that will work in their markets. The
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Mslexia, Summer 2009 Dear Danuta, My book agent tells me that my book has been rejected by the large publishers as ‘too literary’ and ‘not commercial.’ I don’t understand: what is the difference between literary and commercial? Surely being literary is a plus? Diane, King’s Lyn
