I’m only really just starting out as a writer. After completing the certificate part of the Masters of Arts in Writing through Swinburne University of Technology I thought I had better find out if I am in fact any good before continuing my studies. As practical experience has been hard to come by I try to attend weekend workshops where I can. Island’s The Longest Write held on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of June did not disappoint. It was a great opportunity to meet other like-minded writers, and gain some information and inspiration.
What stood out for me was that everyone that spoke had a different experience and I soon realised that there is no right way of getting published. Matthew Lamb, Island and Review of Australian Fiction editor and first speaker, mentioned there are certain things a writer can do to increase the chances of publication. As soon as he said them it seemed so obvious: of course you need to know about the environment in which you are writing – if you understand the historical context, today’s industry will make more sense.
Matthew also pointed out was that there is an oversupply of writers and an under demand of readers. I have no grand plans, just yet, of writing a novel; I’m happy to submit articles and essays to magazines – and this is another point that Matthew made which grabbed my attention. Not only do I need to be reading the publications I submit to but I need to support them as well.
There are substantially more submissions than subscriptions.
For smaller publications to survive they need the support of readers and contributors. The way I see it: if I want people to buy and read what I’ve written I need to do the same for the privilege of reading others’ writing. It seems only fair. Although it seemed Matthew was trying his hardest to scare us all with his doomsday scenarios I was very happy to hear about the reality of lit mags and the publishing in Australia.
With new technologies there will be new and different ways of getting published – and Johanna Baker-Dowdell, the second speaker at The Longest Write and self-published author of Business and Baby on Board, was able to put that point into context when she shared her experience.
I loved hearing about other people’s experiences. I find it allows some insight into what is actually possible. Johanna spoke about her decision to self publish and her experience of crowd funding. At first I didn’t see that anything she spoke about applied to me but I became fascinated by her process and what she was willing to put herself through in order to see her dream come true. She did offer some advice that could apply to any writer, for instance: ‘engage early with the market’. Johanna comes from a marketing background and explained that not only do you need to find your gap within the market but you need to know who you are selling to.
Author Danielle Wood spoke next. She expanded on a point that Matthew had made earlier, that sometimes there are no real reasons as to why your work has been accepted or rejected. Sometimes it’s just down to luck – who reads your work and when. However, it is possible to improve your chances by having that great first sentence or paragraph. I’ve heard a lot about ‘the hook’ sentence but have never before been given any examples of what is good or bad – and why. Danielle warned us against being pretentious, proceeding to give examples of such, and how to avoid it.
After a very tasty lunch and short break it was time to listen to the final speaker of the day, David Winter from Text Publishing. David spoke about the process of getting published, and I was delighted to hear his ideas were similar to those I’d previously heard during a different writer’s event. David also spoke about delivering a pitch and writing a synopsis. Publishers are time-poor, and need to know straight away if there’s something in it for them, confirming Danielle’s advice about the importance of hooking readers from the first line.
After attempting to write our own pitch (a few people were even brave enough to read them out) I was too excited by the possibilities and too overwhelmed by the wealth of information, so I decided not to stay for the dedicated writing time which followed David Winter’s session.
It was a great first day. I such a wealth of new information to think over, that I really needed to get my head together so I could concentrate the following day, the second day of The Longest Write.
Read more from M.A. Blake at A Woman of my Word