MANUSCRIPT ASSESSMENT AND EDITORIAL ADVICE SINCE 1996
Blog
In 2016, TLC’s 20th anniversary year, we launched a blog as a space for thoughtful, non-promotional pieces on all things writing, editing and publishing. If you’d like to pitch a piece, please email Aki Schilz on aki@nullliteraryconsultancy.co.uk.
We’d love to hear from you, and please feel free to comment on the blogs here.
Stepping Stones to Success
Stepping Stones to Success
When I first started writing, I thought there were three steps to getting published:
- Write a novel
- Get an agent
- Get a publishing deal
Sounds easy when you put it like that, and they are the three big steps,
...READ MORE
Raising the Visibility of Women in Non-fiction
The Literary Consultancy is delighted to be supporting The Thinking Woman’s Writing Award, set up by author Kate Jegede. Applications will open 14th September for the Award, which will gift a free full manuscript assessment to a woman writer writing a non-fiction work with a philosophical theme. The winner will also receive a free year-long membership to the RSA’s coveted Fellowship scheme,
...READ MORE
Always Another Twist – Journeys, Outlooks & Curves in the Path
August 01, 2018 | Blog
It’s a hot day when I finally emerge from the forest, sunlight and shadow leaves dripping from me. I look back and see the path’s curves that I didn’t notice while I was walking. My start point’s there, the finish and my route in between…
I cycle and walk a lot – to keep fit and also for inspiration,
READ MORE
5 Tips for Getting the Most from your Beta Readers
Beta reader (n.) A beta reader is a test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing (similar to beta testing in software), giving feedback with the angle of an average reader to the author about remaining issues.
You’ve worked for months or years on your manuscript.
...READ MORE
On the Importance of Criticism and Self-belief
June 01, 2018 | Blog
Since 2001, TLC has received ongoing core funding from Arts Council England which has enabled the provision of bursaried manuscript assessments for talented writers on low income. The scheme is known as ‘The Free Read Scheme’ and offers access to TLC’s core services to writers who under normal circumstances might not be able to afford them.
...READ MORE
How Do You Know if You're a Writer?
A writer is someone who writes something, it’s as simple as that. Of course there are many different kinds of writers – e.g. news writers, script writers, speech writers, novelists, travel writers, poets, joke writers, bloggers, etc – but you don’t have to make money from your writing to be a writer.
...READ MORE
Managing Self-doubt: How to Write a Book When You Don't Have Time
I am in my early days of my writing, so you are not looking at someone who is a seasoned professional.
I’ll tell you what I am.
I am a quick learner; I chat and make contact very quickly. I am acquisitive of information,
...READ MORE
How to Balance Context and Story When Writing Non-fiction
March 05, 2018 | Blog
READ MORE
What to Expect When You're Expecting (A Book): Promoting Yourself As an Author
February 01, 2018 | Blog
As I type this, I’ve got a little less than three months to go until publication day.
Two completed manuscripts. Just north of two hundred thousand words, and that’s not counting the tens of thousands more that didn’t make the cut. Hundreds of hours hunched over a laptop or scribbling in a notebook.
...READ MORE
The Art of Letting Go, or The Strange Case of the North Surrey Gigantopithecus
When novelist and TLC reader Ashley Stokes set out to write a short story, he was overtaken with a madcap story about a shouting man named Kevin, and a beast lurking in a London suburb. The story became a novel. Then, everything changed. After all the hard graft, experiments,
...READ MORE
