How to Get Published, Saturday, March 3, in St. Catharines

The Neighbors by guest speaker
Hannah Mary McKinnon, coming from
MIRA books in March 2018

How to Get Published

With guests: 

HarperCollins editor Michelle Meade 

and author Hannah Mary McKinnon

Saturday, March 3, 2018

10:00 a.m. – 4:00

St. Catharines Central Library, Mills Room,  54 Church Street, St. Catharines, Ontario (Map 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, two copies would be helpful. 

Following the end of the formal workshop at about 3:45, Brian Henry will be staying for at least half an hour and helping interested attendees who didn’t have their queries critiqued earlier write query letters that will get a yes, and you'll also get a chance to approach Michelle Meade on a one-on-one basis.

Guest speaker Michelle Meade is an assistant editor with MIRA Books, a HarperCollins imprint head-quartered in New York and Toronto. MIRA publishes novels for a broad audience. They’re eager to acquire breakout and established commercial fiction with a strong narrative drive and complex characters across a wide spectrum, from multi-layered relationship and family dramas that make for good book club picks to voicy contemporary reads, thrillers and psychological suspense, sweeping historicals, speculative novels and more.

Last year 53 MIRA titles placed on bestseller lists (New York Times, USA TODAY and Publishers Weekly) for a total of 225 weeks. MIRA publishes approximately 100 books per year in all formats.

Michelle lives for the thrill of discovering new voices in commercial fiction and helping authors produce the best books possible for their readers. She’s most interested in complex, emotional reads, especially those with high-tension, suspenseful plots and engaging, authentic characters. She’s particularly looking for emotional, character-driven novels and speculative fiction and would love to find the next Liane Moriarty and Audrey Niffenegger.

At the workshop, Michelle will speak about what she does as an editor, what catches her eye when an agent pitches a manuscript to her (and what makes her give a manuscript a pass), and will answer all your questions.

Guest speaker Hannah McKinnon is the author of Time After Time (published by HarperCollins in Britain), a novel about love, loss and second chances that’s full of humour. 

Her second and third books have been acquired by MIRA. The first of these, The Neighbors, a novel about the implosion of two families, is scheduled to be published March 13, 2018, and her third book a year later. 

When she’s not writing novels for adults, Hannah’s three boys give her plenty of material for children’s books. You can read a review of Time After Time  here. 

At the workshop, Hannah will be sharing what she’s learned about being a writer, finding an agent, getting published, and making a career as a novelist.

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 Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors. 

See reviews of Brian's classes and workshops here.

Fee: 43.36 + 13% hst = 49 paid in advance by mail or Interac

or 46.90 + 13% hst = 53 if you wait to pay at the door

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

                                                              

See Brian’s complete current 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, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.