We’re delighted to announce an Online Editorial Feedback Day on May 12th.
This will be an opportunity to have a virtual meeting with an editor or agent to get feedback on your novel.
This opportunity is exclusively for RNA members. Details of how to apply and the full list of editors and agents participating will be available in March 2022. The price will be £20 per appointment.
Why are we offering feedback meetings rather than pitch meetings?
It’s often said that a writing career is a marathon not a sprint, and that’s good advice. This is a long term undertaking with many twists and turns along the way. But it’s also really bad advice, because a marathon, like a sprint, has a finish line. And it’s really easy to think about your writing journey as a single race towards publication, or towards a particular level of sales, after which everything is rosy and the job is done. Nothing could be further from reality.
In reality you might get signed by agent really quickly, but then that agent might not be able to sell your manuscript, or your next manuscript or the manuscript after that and eventually you decide to part ways and you’re back at the foot of a cliff you thought you’d already scaled. Or perhaps you write what you think is a great story and you self-publish and you find a few readers but not enough, yet, to make a living so you graft and you try again and again and again and perhaps book number seventeen does really well and you’re hugely in demand all of a sudden and you accept what seems like a great deal with a big publisher, but then book eighteen doesn’t do quite as well and they don’t want book nineteen after all. Or maybe you have a meeting with an editor who really likes you and enjoyed your manuscript but knows it isn’t something they can buy right now, but in a couple of years time that editor has an idea for a commission and they remember an author they talked to at an event a little while ago whose voice would be just perfect for this project.
By thinking of these meetings as feedback sessions rather than pitch meetings we’re emphasising the reality of a career as an author. It’s really unlikely that there will be one magical defining moment where everything goes right and you make a breakthrough that sets you up for your whole career, so don’t put that pressure on one ten minute conversation. What one conversation can do is give you some pointers on how to develop your story, some ideas about where your voice might fit into the market, and it can allow you to make a personal connection with an editor or agent you might not otherwise get the chance to meet. All of those are things that are genuinely valuable to building a long term career as an author.
Here’s the technical stuff. Please read carefully:
The list of industry professionals offering appointments will be published in March 2022. Any RNA member can apply for meetings. We expect a high level of demand for these meetings so you are unlikely to be allocated all the meetings you apply for. The cost per meeting is £20 which will be charged AFTER meetings are allocated.
Feedback meetings will take place remotely, via video call, on 12th May 2022. You can see from the details below whether professionals are offering morning or afternoon appointments. Please make sure you are available for the relevant time slot before you apply.Â
Applications will not be accepted before 8am (UK) on Thursday 7th April 2022 and applications will close at 8am (UK) on Friday 8th April. Applications received between 8am on Thursday 7th April and 8am on Friday 8th April will be processed in order of arrival, allocating one appointment only in the first instance. Nobody will be allocated a second meeting before all applications received during this initial period have been processed.
It is likely that all appointments will be filled in this initial application window. Applications will only be reopened if this is not the case. If applications are reopened at any point RNA members will be notified by email.
Applicants should not expect to hear the outcome of their application until week commencing 11th April. They will be notified of any feedback meetings they are being offered by email. Applicants will be required to make the payment for their meetings by credit or debit card (via the online payment link that will be provided) and send in their submission by email no later than 25th April 2022.
Full details of the agents and editors participating, and full details of how to apply can be downloaded here (updated 5/4/22). NOTE: This document may be updated right up to applications opening. Please ensure you have the most recent version.
