How to Get Published workshop with literary agent Martha Webb of the McDermid Agency, Saturday, Oct 29, in Caledon at the Bolton Library

Dark Territory by Susan Philpott,
represented by the McDermid Agency

The Caledon Public Library presents…

How to Get Published

An editor & an agent tell all

Saturday, October 29, 2016

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Albion-Bolton Branch, Caledon Public Library, 150 Queen Street South, Bolton, Ontario (Map here.)

Note: This workshop is also being offered Saturday, Oct 15 in Burlington (see here) and Saturday, Oct 22, in London (see here)..

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a published author, this workshop is for you. We’ll cover everything from getting started to getting an agent, from getting your short pieces published to finding a book publisher, from writing a query letter to writing what the publishers want. Bring your questions. Come and get ready to be published!

Special Option: Participants are invited to bring a draft of a query letter you might use to interest an agent or publisher in your book. You don’t need to bring anything, but if you do, three copies could be helpful. And be sure to bring your elevator pitch! Agenst come to these events to hear what you’ve got, hoping it’s a book they want.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Saint John. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors.

Guest speaker, Martha Magor Webb, is a literary agent, director and full partner at the McDermid Agency.

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, popular culture and lifestyle. 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 novelists such as David Adams Richards (Winner of the Giller Prize and the Governor General's Award for both fiction and nonfiction), Nino Ricci, Andrew Pyper, Michael Winter, Michael Crummey, and Alison Pick.

The agency also represents nonfiction authors, such as Charles Montgomery, Andrew Westoll, and James MacKinnon, all three of whom won the prestigious Charles Taylor prize for literary nonfiction in their years of publication. And the agency represents upmarket commercial fiction writers, such as Leah McLaren from the Globe and Mail, Andrew Pyper, Robert Wiersema, and Peter Darbyshire. (More about the McDermid Agency here.)

Martha Magor Webb is a literary agent, director and full partner at Anne McDermid and Associates. Martha represents a growing list of writers, focusing on literary fiction, narrative nonfiction (including memoir and true crime) and ideas-driven nonfiction. 

Her clients include: Michael Crummey (multiple award-winning author of Sweetland);  Alison Pick (long-listed for the Booker Prize);  Robyn Doolittle (Bestselling author of Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story);  Pasha Malla (long-listed for the Giller, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, winner of the Danuta Gleed and the Trillium awards);  Damian Tarnopolsky (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Amazon.ca award);  Russell Smith;  Jessica Grant, (winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel and the Winterset awards);  Grace O'Connell;  Matt Lennox;  Andrew Westoll; and Karen Le Billon, whose first book French Kids Eat Everything sold into thirteen countries and translated into ten languages.

What previous attendees have to say:

“Brian’s the real deal.  He isn't just an inspiring teacher – he's plugged into the publishing world! He got me an agent who sold my first novel, to publishers around the world.  My 13th novel, The Awakening, hit number 1 on the New York Times bestsellers list. To date I’ve published 28 books, and thirteen of them have been turned into a TV show with the same name as my first novel, Bitten.”

~ Kelley Armstrong, Aylmer, Ontario

“Brian Henry is a skilled query doctor – I've had a look at some queries he's worked on with authors. He took a query that would have been an immediate "Pass" and transformed it to a compelling query that made me want to read the book right away. I highly recommend Brian to any author who is struggling with getting manuscript requests and needs to take their query to the next level.”

 ~ Michelle Johnson, Literary Agent and Founder of InklingsLiterary Agency

Hello, Brian. I’m writing to thank you for your help and advice in crafting the query letter for my novel, The Name’s George. After attending your “How to Get Published” workshop with Martha Webb of the McDermid Agency, I’ve had four requests for the full manuscript as well as one partial. I am thrilled and hopeful that I can write you again with news that I’ve secured representation. Thanks again and all the best,
Shauna Clinning, Oakville, Ontario
Note: Shauna is now represented by the Morty Mint Agency.

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 + $6 for pizza lunch = $55 paid in advance by mail or in person 

or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53 + $6 for pizza lunch = $59 if you wait to pay at the door

To pay in advance, make your cheque out to the Caledon Public Library and mail it to:

Attention:  Laura Nolloth, Caledon Public Library, Albion Bolton Branch, 150 Queen Street South, Bolton, ON, L7E 1E3

Or you can pay in advance in person at any Caledon Library branch. (Branch locations here.)

To reserve a spot now, email: programs@caledon.library.on.ca  

Note: Don't ever miss a post on Quick Brown Fox. Fill in your email in the box to the right under my bio, and get each post delivered to your Inbox. ~ Brian

See Brian’s full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, St. John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Ingersoll, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.