I received this email today. What is it? Can any literary agents out there tell me if this is a filtering process they are looking into?
“Friday 20 October 2011
Dear Writer
Brit Writers was born with one aim… to make the publishing world accessible to everyone, regardless of age or background. As you know, Brit Writers is the UK’s largest writing project and awards for new and unpublished writers. With our network of literary experts, agents, publishers and industry insiders growing by the day and 2 million children, their parents and teachers involved in our schools programmes, we are recognised as the champions of change.
We are still the new kids on the block, but two years on and amidst bookshops closing down and publishers resorting to celebrity deals in order to stay afloat, Brit Writers continues to scale new heights in the world of publishing and has seen our authors successfully published and even become best selling and award winning literary stars.
During the last year, a number of partner agents have asked us to help them identify potential literary gems to save them ploughing through their slush pile. Therefore we have been asked to find potential ‘sign-ups’ for agents in the following genres:
- · Novels: commercial and literary fiction
- · Books for Children
- · Short stories and Poetry for anthologies
How to apply:
If you feel your work is of a high enough standard and you would like to be considered for referral to an agent, please apply by emailing the following information tohari@britwriters.co.uk.
1. A covering letter attached as a word document (not in an email) including: A short biography (no more than 300 words) – stating who you are, your writing genre, how long you have been writing, your aspirations and targets for getting published. Below your biography, please tell us if your work has been professionally appraised or critiqued in the past and by whom (please attach any reports etc.). Also whether you have had an agent in the past, or which agents have already seen your work, and if so who they were.
2. A synopsis of your work (as a separate attachment) – maximum one page
3. Depending on what you are submitting, please attach as follows:
- · Novels: 3 chapters of your novel in addition to the synopsis
- · Books for children: up to 5000 words in length, please send the entire story in addition to the synopsis (if you have illustrations then you should include them).
- · Books for children: over 5000 words, attach 3 chapters in addition to the synopsis
- · Short stories: the complete work in addition to the synopsis
- · Poetry: between 3 and 5 poems of no more than 40 lines per poem in addition to the synopsis
Format for all of the above:
Arial font, 11pt, 1.5 line spacing.
The title page should state your name, address, telephone/mobile number, email address and target audience for your book.
Please only apply if you feel your work is of a high standard.
Deadline for submissions for this initiative: 6pm Tuesday 25th October 2011
Terms:
By making an application for referral to an agent you give consent to Brit Writers to share your work and contact details with our partner agents. Brit Writers does not guarantee referral of your work to agents. Brit Writers decision is final as to whether your work is referred or not. If your work is referred you are aware that agents may charge a commission of between 7% and 15% if your work is successfully published through them. A maximum of 3 submissions may be sent. Each submission must be clearly labelled and submitted in separate documents.
We look forward to receiving your submissions.
Kind regards
Hari
Hari Kumar
Brit Writers Agents Division”
Please note I do not endorse this intiative. I am simply interested in who actually does.
For previous thread on the same organisation please see Too Good to be True (about their publishing scheme)
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