WRITERS FAQs

GETTING IT WRITTEN

WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR A MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE? 

You have spent a great deal of time in putting together a book and/or book proposal.  It makes sense to follow up that time investment in gettting a professional to look over the work and give you feedback on its strengths and blind spots and give you advice on how to proceed to publication.  As writers, it's what we don't know we don't know that can stand between us and literary or publication success.

WON'T AN AGENT/EDITOR GIVE ME FEEDBACK? OR MY WIDELY READ FRIEND?

Perhaps, if you're lucky, but most editors and agents regret that they don't have time to respond to individual authors, except in rare circumstances.  Certainly, they don't have time to give the sort of page-by-page close reading and analysis that you can expect from a formal critique.

Friends, family, old schoolteachers and others may make astute comments about the text but generally speaking do not have the awareness of the challenges of putting together a book length manuscript or knowledge of the publishing industry and its requirements.  That you can only get from a writer who has walked the path before you. 

 

LITERARY AGENTS

DO I NEED AN AGENT TO GET MY BOOK PUBLISHED?

Though it is not essential to have an agent, if you have a book-length work of fiction or nonfiction that you want published, a good agent can certainly help make the process less painful and more financially rewarding. Literary representation will increase your chances with editors, who rely on agents to present manuscripts that are polished and marketable and that match their interests.  A good agent is also more likely to win a good deal from a publisher than an unrepresented writer.

      WHAT DOES AN AGENT DO?

As your representative in the literary market, your agent will perform a range of tasks on your behalf, including: offering editorial guidance and suggestions; bringing your manuscript to the attention of the right editor; negotiate and imrove the terms of your publishing contract; selling extra ("subsidiary") rights to your work; helping you find new opportunities for publishing; ensuring that you are paid a fair price for your work; setting up other income streams -- speaking engagements, advertising work and so on.

       HOW DO I FIND THE RIGHT AGENT?

Agents are selective with regard to the types of authors they represent and take a number of factors into consideration (besides the quality of the book) before taking on a new writer.  Font may or may not be the right agent for you.  If you suspect not, or if we have been unable to represent your work, do try elsewhere.

Here are some tips on tracking down a suitable agent:

• Make a list of books you admire that are in a similar genre/style to yours.  Find out who represents those authors. 
• Many authors list their agents on the acknowledgments page in the front or back of their books.  Again, check out those books that are similar to your own writing aims and style
• If you can't find out who agented the books, contact the company that published it.  Their publicity department should be able to tell you.
• Research the agents you are interested in.  Look them up on Internet.  Many agencies now have a website. 
• If you feel you've found the right agency, follow closely the guidelines given on their website or in directories like The Writers'  & Artists' Yearbook or The Writers' Handbook.

If your chose agent doesn't specify a submission procedure, the best approach is to send a query letter.  An interested agent will ask to see a few chapters or your full manuscript..

      WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM FONT WRITING CENTRE?

A level of support, information, inspiration and motivation that is second to none.  Font only uses established, published writers to give our critiques, classes and coaching. 

We work only with ambitious, promising writers who are prepared to do what it takes to get their manuscripts completed to their own satisfaction, to publishable standard.  

If that is you, we can't promise you publication -- nobody can do that except a publisher with a contract -- but we do we promise you time, care and close attention from an established writer.  A writer, furthermore, who has been chosen for their sincere commitment to nurturing the work of other writers and carefully matched with your manuscript and your writing aims.

“Oh! It is only a novel!… Only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda:' Or, in short, only some work in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language”

Jane Austen
1775-1817