I have recently (April 2012) changed what I offer so please make sure you have seen the up-to-date info.
Also, I have two friends and fellow authors to whom I can pass your enquiry if I don’t have time to take it. They work independently from me and are not part of Pen2Publication, but I trust and respect them. I will always ask your permission before contacting them.
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I am Nicola Morgan, the founder of Pen2Publication and the author of Write to be Published and Write a Great Synopsis. You may know me from the trenchant articles on my publishing blog - Help! I Need a Publisher! - where I offer free advice about how to become published. If you haven’t been there, please do – you will find so many answers to questions and you will save yourself heartache and money by spending time there before submitting your work to publishers or to me.
Writers value this advice. I know this from the thousands of hits the blog gets and from the quality of comments. It has become a wonderful community of determined and often talented writers struggling to break through to publication - or to become published again, because being published once is not the end of the story. The blog has also attracted approval from many agents and publishers, who contact me privately and share knowledge.
If I offer so much free advice, why did I start Pen2Publication? The reason is that writers often need more than general advice: they need something specific to their own situation and they want professional feedback on their own work, feedback which is honest and as objective as possible. The secrets of hooking a publisher may be simple in the abstract but how do they apply to your book, to you as a writer? Professionals can’t give such individual advice without charging a fee.
So, Pen2Publication is my answer. Through it, good writers can receive expert, market-aware advice to help them towards their goal. I don’t value one genre over another: whether you want to excel at crime fiction, chick-lit, children’s writing, literary fiction, or any other genre, I’m equally with you. It’s the words “want” and “excel” I’m looking for. I need you to want to be good enough to be well published in the genre which suits you.
On the other hand, if you simply want to improve your writing for personal reasons, but have no desire to become published, I am happy to help you develop. However, there would need to be a certain level of talent and understanding of what makes good writing and I would need to assess this and make a personal judgement tempered with as much objectivity as possible.
I took on around thirty clients in the first year and feedback has been excellent. Here are some examples:
“Thanks so much for your insightful, thorough and hugely helpful report. I thought I’d better check in so that you know I haven’t killed myself!”
“Thanks so much again for what seems like an entire course in creative writing’s worth in one report!”
“To be honest, Nicola, I cried. I cried with relief that now, at last, I know what’s wrong. And you’ve shown me how to deal with it.”
“I have re-read many websites, blogs, covering the points your critique made. I had read most of them before, but seeing your pointed comments placed alongside my own work, had a marked effect. It was as if I was reading the previously studied advice for the first time.”
“I am deeply impressed by the detail of your report and annotations.”
Before you decide whether to proceed with Pen2Publication, I discuss everything with you fully, to make sure that we both believe this is the right thing for you. After reading the information on this site, please go to the Fees and Enquiry page and download the Enquiry Form. We can then discuss things. You don’t commit to anything until you are ready.
What services does Pen2Publication offer?
- Manuscript appraisal: a professional full evaluation of your book and your writing, with an opinion of its likely market. I identify problem areas and suggest improvements; I will tell you if it’s ready to send out. [Warning: it is usually not.] It doesn’t matter what stage you’re at – from halfway through first draft to the eleventh revision after rejection.
- Perfect Submissions: detailed advice about how to perfect your submission to agent or publisher. You send your draft submission and I help you get it right; I can show you how to adapt it for subsequent approaches. NB: no submission can be right for all agents and publishers – each approach must be tailored.
- Writing Surgery + Tuition: I diagnose problems in your writing, looking for stumbling blocks to publication. What nasty habits have you acquired? Do you you need to improve your techniques of voice, pace and structure? What sort of writer do I think you are and how is your WIP pitched? (Or how should it be?)
- Events for Writers: I am available to speak to writers’ groups and courses. A number of university departments and festivals have asked me to speak. And I am now organising some events myself. My events are advertised on the Write to be Published site.
Notes:
- My knowledge is based in the UK markets, which applies equally to Australia, New Zealand and some other English-speaking countries, but NOT the US. I can only properly help writers aiming at representation in UK or similar markets.
- I cannot promise to take you on as a client. I am keeping this consultancy “small but perfectly formed” and I will not take on more than I can handle with integrity and professionalism.
- There can be no promises of publication and to make them would be unwise and unprofessional. Publication happens through a mixture of talent, perseverance and luck. I can nurture your talent, focus your perseverance and help you make your own luck. But I cannot create any of those things.
Want to know more?
Click on the relevant page. The Fees and Enquiries page has a downloadable Enquiry Form. Once you have sent the form, I will email you for a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your needs and any questions you might have.
My email address is nicola@pen2publication.co.uk