Ask an Agent & Editor

What are the roles of an agent and editor? How do you write a good covering letter and synopsis? What fees do agents take and how do authors’ advances work?
Whether you have a book ready to submit or are just starting out on your writing journey, our expert panel will be able to offer you invaluable tips on the publishing process.
Our panellists are:
 
Aliya Gulamani is an award-winning Commissioning Editor at Unbound and Editorial Lead for Unbound Firsts – a new imprint for debut writers of colour. She is also a reader for The Literary Consultancy and Spread the Word’s literary prizes. A Bookseller Rising Star of 2022, she is deaf and uses BSL.
Rachel Mann is an agent at Jo Unwin Literary Agency. After nine years commissioning and editing books for young people at several major publishers, she became global publishing director for the Roald Dahl Story Company. Now an agent, she is actively growing a list of fiction and non-fiction writers, across children’s, YA and adult markets.
Daisy Watt is a Commissioning Editor at Harper North, championing northern voices and gripping, original fiction across reading group, crime and thriller, historical and humour. She lives in Sheffield and started out in literary scouting before working in editorial, most recently at Jonathan Cape.
Adam Lowe – our chair for the event, is a writer, performer, publisher, and the UK’s LGBT+ History Month Poet Laureate. His debut full-length collection Patterflash will be published by Peepal Tree Press in June.
HYBRID EVENT – this is a Hybrid event, which can be attended in person at the venue or accessed online. Simply select General Admission or e-ticket at checkout, and a link for online access will be sent to you the day before the event takes place.
ACCESSIBILITY – This event will be BSL interpreted by Ali Gordon and Sandy Deo and will have live subtitling by Stagetext to make it more accessible to those who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing.