About the Program
Ready to demystify the world of publishing? Join us for LaunchPad, a dynamic two-day program designed to give you the tools and insider knowledge you need to successfully navigate the publishing industry.
Over the LaunchPad weekend we will cover:
NAVIGATING PUBLISHING with Siang Lu
Day 1 and Day 2:
The publishing landscape can be intricate and opaque. The sessions across both days will better equip you to map out your writing career through learning about:
Approaching literary agents, and recognising their particular strengths within the industry;
What to expect with publishing contracts, and key points of negotiation that tend to be overlooked;
The importance of stakeholder management throughout the publishing process;
Advice on competitions, and associated pros and cons;
Author site design, ideation, SEO and customer engagement;
The ever-expanding role of the author, the outsourcing of labour, and trends within the industry.
GRANT-WRITING with Melinda Smith
Day 1: Learn the fundamentals of writing compelling grant proposals that stand out.
Day 2: Workshop your grants with an experienced grant-getter!
PITCHING TO PUBLISHERS with Mary Cunnane
Day 1: Discover the art of crafting persuasive pitches to publishers.
Day 2: Workshop your pitch with a seasoned publisher!
*Participants need not have a project in mind though, if you do, please prepare a brief description of 2 - 3 paragraphs and send it to creative@marion.ink with the title LaunchPad: Project Pitch.
Other Details
Date 16-17 November (Saturday and Sunday)
Time 9am - 3pm
Location National Archives of Australia
Kings Ave, Parkes ACT 2600
Each session will run for 1.5 hours on each day.
Lunch will be provided on both days.
Program Cost
MARION MEMBER Price $220
NON-MEMBER Price $310
Schedule
9:00am – 9:30am Arrival, introductions and housekeeping
9:30am – 11:00am Grant-writing with Melinda Smith
11:00am – 11:15am Break
11:15am – 12:45pm Pitching to Publishers with Mary Cunnane
12:45pm – 1:30pm Lunch
1:30pm – 3:00pm Navigating Publishing with Siang Lu
*This schedule applies to both days of the program.
Meet Our Presenters
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Melinda Smith
Melinda Smith lives and writes on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country. Her poetry career spans 23 years and 8 books, and she won the Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award in 2014. She has taught in the Creative Writing program at the University of Canberra, is a former poetry editor of the Canberra Times, and former co-organiser of the That Poetry Thing reading series at Smith's Alternative. Importantly for this Masterclass, she has assessed multiple rounds of literature grants for the Australia Council, and has successfully won grants for her own work from both ArtsACT and Creative Australia, as well as the Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund.
Image Credit: Marinha McDonald -
Mary Cunnane
Mary is a highly regarded former publisher and literary agent and now freelance editor and consultant. With over three decades of experience in the book-publishing industry in the United States and Australia, Mary now provides freelance editorial services – manuscript evaluation and development, structural editing and line-editing – directly to authors, as well as via agent referrals or on behalf of publishers. Her track record in list-building, author relations, rights management and IP development informs her consulting services to publishers, cultural institutions, universities and for-profit businesses. She was the Advisory Publishing Editor on the Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature. From 2014 to 2019, Mary was the program advisor to HARDCOPY, ACT Writers Centre's writers development initiative funded by the Australia Council for the Arts. Mary currently serves as Artistic Director of Berry Writer's Festival. For more information, visit www.marycunnane.com.
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Siang Lu
Siang Lu is the author of Ghost Cities and The Whitewash, and the co-creator of The Beige Index. The Whitewash won the ABIA Audiobook of the Year in 2023 for its audio adaptation, which starred a large and diverse cast of fourteen actors. It also won the Glendower Award for an emerging writer at the Queensland Literary Awards and was shortlisted for a NSW Premier’s Literary Award.
In 2023 Siang was named one of the Top 40 Under 40 Asian-Australians at the Asian-Australian Leadership Awards.
He holds a Master of Letters from the University of Sydney and has written for film and television for Singapore's Beach House Pictures and Malaysia's Astro network.
He is based in Brisbane, Australia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Image Credit: David Kelly