A Seminar I Attended
In July I attended an excellent seminar held at the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) in Ultimo, Sydney, titled “Pitch Perfect”. The convenor, Emily Booth, an editor from Melbourne company, Text Publishing, led the workshop on how to pitch our manuscript to agents and publishers. One of the most helpful pieces of information, as well as the guidelines on synopsis writing and pitching, was a classification of principal publishing firms:
There are three main publishing streams in Australia:
Large Traditional Houses:
Interested mainly in already published authors, or those with a social presence, such as Bill Clinton, whose books will sell in the thousands: Not available to new authors, unless you have an agent: also called The Big Five:
Random Penguin House is an example; Hachette; Pan Macmillan; Harper Collins; Simon & Schuster.