Publishing School for Writers with Mary Cunnane

Publishing School for Writers

Former publisher, agent and advisor to ACT Writers’ Centre’s highly regarded HARDCOPY program, Mary Cunnane will demystify the publishing process for writers as it operates in Australia and internationally. 

How are books ‘signed’ up? What will a publisher do for an author? Do you really need an agent? What’s the best way to develop an effective book proposal? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in this one-day workshop. 

Drawing on her extensive experience as a publisher and a literary agent in the US and Australia, Mary Cunnane will provide up-to-date information and help participants navigate their way to representation and/or publication.

This event is part of the REVEL in May Festival presented by Destination Kiama and the South Coast Writers Centre.

If you would like to purchase a gift voucher for another person to use against the cost of this workshop, click here.

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Morning Session: 10am-12pm

The Publishing Process: how books are signed up; the editorial process; the legal and financial basics: contracts; royalties; subsidiary rights; marketing and publicity; what you can expect the publisher to do for you and your book and what you can’t; the ins and outs of finding overseas publishers.

Agents: What do they do? How do you find one? Pitfalls and positives.

Developing Your Book Project:  How to write a killer proposal.

Lunch: 12pm-1pm

Lunch will be provided by the South Coast Writers Centre.

Afternoon Session: 1pm-3pm

The afternoon will be spent in a mock acquisitions meeting, with participants forming an editorial committee to which they present/pitch their projects.

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About Mary Cunnane

Mary is a highly regarded former publisher and literary agent and now freelance editor and consultant. With three decades of experience in the book-publishing industry in the United States and Australia, Mary now provides freelance editorial services – manuscript evaluation and development, structural editing and line-editing – directly to authors, as well as via agent referrals or on behalf of publishers. 

Her track record in list-building, author relations, rights management and IP development informs her consulting services to publishers, cultural institutions, universities and for-profit businesses. She was the Advisory Publishing Editor on the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. From 2014 to 2019, Mary was the program advisor to HARDCOPY, the ACT Writers Centre’s highly regarded writers development initiative funded by the Australia Council for the Arts. For more information, visit www.marycunnane.com