Award winning novelist, poet, travel writer, editor, and teacher Linda Watanabe McFerrin and literary agent, Andy Ross are conducting a 6-day workshop on how to successfully prepare your fiction or non-fiction manuscript for publication in Scotland. The workshop will run from September 10-17, 2017.
Registration in now open. See details below. To register or get more information, email me at [email protected].The workshop will be conducted in a picturesque country manor house or castle. The final venue has not yet been selected. If you have never been to Scotland, you are going to love this.
The Workshop:
Most mornings after breakfast you'll attend workshops from 10am to 12 noon devoted to literary craft and the preparation of book-length fiction and non-fiction projects for publication. You'll also work on pitches, query letters, first pages, book proposals, and more. Afternoons will consist of exploring your environment, sampling the local fare, and finding the best spots to linger and write. Our evening "Literary Cafe" will be devoted to short literary talks by your workshop leaders, listening and responding to manuscripts in progress, and maybe even a short group performance or two.
Workshops will include editor and agent direction and the presentation of assignments on:
- Finding your literary voice
- Creating irresistible characters and centers of interest
- Creating spellbinding plots and strategies for structure
- Best literary bells and whistles
- Preparing your manuscript for publication
- Composing convincing query letters and book proposals
- Finding and working with a literary agent
Linda has judged the San Francisco Literary Awards, the Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence and the Kiriyama Prize, served as a visiting mentor for the Loft Mentor Series and been guest faculty at the Oklahoma Arts Institute. A past NEA Panelist and juror for the Marin Literary Arts Council and the founder of Left Coast Writers®, she has led workshops in Greece, France, Italy, England, Ireland, Central America, Indonesia, Spain, Japan and the United States and has mentored a long list of accomplished and celebrated writers and best-selling authors toward publication.
For non-fiction Andy looks for writing with a strong voice, robust story arc, and books that tell a big story about culture and society by authors with the authority to write about their subject. In fiction, he likes stories about real people in the real world.
Tawni Waters, author of the acclaimed YA novel, Beauty Of The Broken [Simon / Pulse, 2014], winner of the International Literacy Association YA Award, said this about Andy: "Since the day I signed with him, Andy has been an amazing friend, ally, and editor. He fell in love with Beauty of the Broken when it was in raw form and spent months helping me hone and polish the manuscript. He has a keen eye and is able to expertly assist both with global editorial issues and line editing. Before I met Andy, Beauty of the Broken had been represented by another agent and had failed to sell. However, within weeks of submission, Andy's edited manuscript garnered interest from several major publishing houses. Shortly thereafter, we signed a contract with Simon Pulse. I have no doubt Andy's edits were the thing that gave Beauty of the Broken the polish it needed to sell to a mainstream publisher."
Andy is the author of The Literary Agent's Guide to Writing a Non-Fiction Book Proposal. He has participated in writers conferences throughout the country and has taught classes about writing book proposals, composing query letters, working with agents, and getting published. His popular blog, "Ask the Agent: Night Thoughts About Books and Publishing", has received over 400,000 unique views.
Authors Andy represents include: Daniel Ellsberg, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, Anjanette Delgado, Elisa Kleven, Tawni Waters, Randall Platt, Mary Jo McConahay, Gerald Nachman, Michael Parenti, Paul Krassner, Milton Viorst, and Michele Anna Jordan.
Andy is a member of the Association of Author Representatives (AAR).
Price, Registration, and Details
The price for the workshop is $2375.00 per participant if you are sharing a room with another participant. That includes the full 6 day workshop plus 7 nights stay at a castle or manor house, 7 breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 3 dinners. For a single room, the fee is $2900.00. Air and Ground transportation are not included. Plan to arrive by the evening of Sunday, September 3 and depart the morning of Sunday, September 10.
Deposit and Payment. In order to reserve your place, we require a deposit of $500 due with registration. This is non-refundable unless the workshop is cancelled for any reason. The balance of the payment is due by May 1, 2017. If we do not have a minimum of 10 registered participants by July 31, we will refund your payments at that time.
Prior to registration, we would like a bio and writing sample, so that we can evaluate whether this workshop is right for you.
Payment can be by Paypal or by personal check.
For more information, contact Andy Ross at [email protected]
Tags: andy ross, book publishing, linda watanabe mcferrin, writers conference, WRITING CLASS, writing workshop, WRITING WORKSHOP SCOTLAND
