The London Book Fair (LBF), the UK’s biggest gathering of international publishers and agents, has announced the Call for Entries for its ever-popular writing competition, The Write Stuff, which will take place on Thursday 12 April in LBF’s Author HQ – the area of the Fair dedicated to writers and aspiring writers, which is sponsored by IngramSpark and Kindle Direct Publishing.
The competition takes the form of a “Dragon’s Den” style panel event. Six authors will pitch their books to a panel of literary agents, and an Author HQ audience, for the chance to win a follow-up meeting with a literary agent and a free year’s membership to LBF’s Author Club. This year’s panel of judges includes representatives from Felicity Bryan Associates, Jo Unwin Literary Agency, Marjacq, MBA and Peters Fraser & Dunlop.
Authors will have three minutes each to pitch – to introduce themselves and present their work. The judging panel will then provide on-the-spot feedback to each pitch, as well as the authors’ writing, having received in advance of the competition sample chapters of each finalist’s work.
The key deadlines for this year’s The Write Stuff are:
- With immediate effect: Entries are now open and authors are invited to send in their submissions to lbfauthorhq@midaspr.co.uk in accordance with the published guidelines and application process
- Friday 9 March 2018, 5:00pm: Deadline for entries
- Wednesday 14 March 2018: Longlist notified and asked to send in the first three chapters of their work
- Monday 19 March 2018, 5:00pm: Deadline for longlisted authors to submit their work
- Friday 23 March 2018: The Write Stuff finalists will be notified and invited to pitch on the day
- Thursday 12 April 2018, 2:00pm-4:00pm: The Write Stuff competition takes place.
Rochelle Bugg, winner of The Write Stuff 2017, said: Winning The Write Stuff has been a fantastic springboard for me over the past year. It has helped me sign with an agent, given me valuable extra ‘clout’ when speaking with publishers and, perhaps most importantly, renewed my confidence in my book and my ideas.
The winner of the 2018 competition will be announced on the day. Whilst the judging panel deliberate, last year’s winner, Rochelle Bugg, will take part in a Q&A in Author HQ to update on her year since her competition win. Susannah Stapleton, a previous finalist in The Write Stuff competition, will see the book she pitched at the event in 2016, The Adventures of Maud West, Lady Detective, published by Pan Macmillan in 2019.
Author HQ, one of the most popular features of the Fair, will have plenty on offer for both established and aspiring writers, including a three-day seminar programme with industry experts and authors taking to the stage to share their expertise and experience. Aspiring authors and established authorpreneurs will be also able to meet the book marketing and production experts offering the go-to solutions for self-publishing success in The Writer’s Block – the destination for Author Services at the Fair, located next to Author HQ.
All Author HQ events are free-to-attend with the purchase of a three-day pass which also includes access to LBF’s extensive Insights Seminar programme of 200+ events covering all aspects of the publishing industry. Seminar places are allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Information on how to enter the The Write Stuff competition can be found here.