From the Horse's Mouth: Getting Published or Self-Published, Saturday, June 15, Ryerson University, Toronto

Greg Ioannou

“From the Horse’s Mouth: Getting Published or Self-published”

Saturday, June 15
1 – 4 p.m.
Ryerson University, 55 Dundas Street West, Toronto

Classroom  TRS2164 PT

(Half a block west of Yonge Street – map here.)

A round table discussion with celebrated editors and agents, moderated by teacher and editor Brian Henry, this afternoon seminar draws together senior figures from the publishing industry. Following the presenters' introductory remarks, discussion will be opened up to the floor to address the concerns and questions of those aspiring writers present, both of fiction and nonfiction, interested in improving their chances of getting published. Questions addressed will include: What are the editors looking for?

For the first time, in addition to a literary agent and a senior editor from a publishing company, one our panelists, Greg Ioannou, will provide expertise in self-publishing. 

Greg has been a book editor since 1977. He’s edited somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 books, as well as all sorts of other stuff, ranging from a Wii game to Burger King promo items. Since 1985, he’s been the President of Colborne Communications, a writing and editing company that has worked on books for most of the major publishers. He’s serving his third term as President of the Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC), which he helped to found in the late 1970s.

As the publisher of Iguana Books, Greg is trying to create a new publishing model that avoids the structural problems of traditional publishing, while producing books that are just as well put together.

Literary agent Monica Pacheco of Anne McDermid and Associates will be the second member of the panel. The McDermid agency represents literary novelists and commercial novelists of high quality and writers of nonfiction in the areas of memoir, biography, history, literary travel, narrative science, investigative journalism and true crime.

The agency also represents a certain number of children's and young adult (YA) writers and writers in the fields of science fiction and fantasy.

The McDermid agency's clients include distinguished literary authors such as Michael Crummey, Greg Hollingshead, Andrew Pyper, Nino Ricci, David Adams Richards and Michael Winter.

The agency also represents writers of narrative nonfiction, such as Charles Montgomery and James MacKinnon, both of whom won the Charles Taylor prize for literary nonfiction in their years of publication.

Monica is actively seeking clients in the areas of literary and commercial fiction, YA, fantasy and science fiction.

More on the McDermid Agency here.

Note: Stacey Donaghy of the Corvisiero Literary Agency was originally scheduled to appear on this panel, but had to withdraw.

Patrick Crean will be the third panelist. Patrick is one of the most respected editors in the business. He joined HarperCollins Canada in 2012, where he has his own imprint Patrick Crean Editions.  With a mandate to publish 8 to 12 books a year, his focus is mostly on Canadian fiction, with some select nonfiction.  Authors who have already signed with his new imprint include David Gilmour, Esi Edugyan, Caroline Adderson, Shaena Lambert, Ken McGoogan, Brian Payton, and Eve Joseph.

By the time he joined HarperCollins, Patrick had already been in the book publishing business for more than 40 years, starting in 1971 when he joined McClelland & Stewart as a junior editor. Along the way, he’s held editorial positions with General Publishing, Somerville House, Key Porter and Thomas Allen & Son.

Noted for publishing original voices, fine writing, and uncommon ideas, Patrick has tended to focus on literary fiction, culture and technology, metaphysics and philosophy, history and memoir.

A number of his authors have won literary awards, including:

Greg Hollingshead whose collection of stories The Roaring Girl won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction in 1995

Austin Clarke whose novel The Polished Hoe won the Giller Prize in 2002, the Commonwealth Prize and the Trillium Award in 2003

Esi Edugyan whose novel Half-Blood Blues won the 2011 Giller Prize

Brian Fawcett who won the 2004 Pearson Writers Trust Non-fiction Award for his book Virtual Clearcut

David Gilmour who won the 2005 Governor General’s Award for Fiction for his novel A Perfect Night to Go to China

And Karolyn Smardz Frost who won the 2007 Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction for her history I’ve Got a Home in Gloryland.

Patrick also teaches courses in Book Publishing at Ryerson University.

Fee: $102

Register online at Ryerson here.
Or (contrary to what it says in the Ryerson Calendar), you can register in person on June 15,
but please let me know in advance that you’re coming.
Email me at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian Henry's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Gravenhurst, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.