Self Publishing for Beginners (Recorded)
In a saturated market, where rejection and even ghosting from agents and publishers are an occupational hazard for authors, self-publishing can be a way to take ownership of your writing life. Whether you want to make a lucrative career out of writing or simply reach the point where at last you hold a copy of your book in your hands, indie publishing might be the breakthrough solution you need. However, knowing how to get started can be daunting.
In this two-hour tutorial, Anna Davidson guides you through the basic steps to publishing your first book. Hybrid publishers, partnership publishers, Amazon KDP, ‘going wide’, POD, ISBNs – she’ll demystify the jargon so that you know what your options are for ebooks and paperbacks, and what to avoid. Anna will also talk you through the key publishing stages from completed draft manuscript onwards.
This is a recording of a live event. You will be sent a link to view the recording on VIMEO as well as the handout from the session.
Anna Davidson
Writer, Editor & Managing EditorAnna Davidson has worked in book publishing for almost thirty years as a writer, editor and managing editor.
Emma Haynes
Head of Events & CompetitionsEmma is responsible for BPA’s bespoke programme of literary events and retreats as well as managing the First Novel Award and submissions
Assistance to writers on low incomes and/or from communities under represented in publishing
We are offering a free place on each of our online tutorials and Q & A sessions for UK based writers on low incomes and/or from under represented communities in publishing.
Writers may apply for a free place on one of the sessions by contacting BPA with a short bio and a summary of their writing career to date.
Please click here to Contact BPA with your application and in the case of writers on low incomes, proof of financial eligibility such as: Jobseeker’s Allowance; Disability Benefit; Income Support; Working Tax Credit; Child Tax Credit; Proof of being a full-time student; Housing benefit; Proof of being a full-time carer.
All details will be kept confidential. Decisions on who receives the free places rest with the BPA team not the tutors.
Other online events you maybe interested in
Starting at 40: Inside the Life of a Career Writer – Zoom, 20 May
Claire Fuller is the bestselling author of five novels, including Unsettled Ground (winner of the Costa Novel Award), Our Endless Numbered Days (winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize), and Swimming Lessons (shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award). And yet, she only began...
Inside the Life of a Career Writer, with Claire Fuller – Bàrd Books, 13 May
Claire Fuller is the bestselling author of five novels, including Unsettled Ground (winner of the Costa Novel Award), Our Endless Numbered Days (winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize), and Swimming Lessons (shortlisted for the RSL Encore Award). And yet, she only began...
Q&A with First Novel Award Judges – Bàrd Books, 15 April
Our judges for the First Novel Award answer your questions, live! Get the inside track on submitting to agents. When it comes to agent submissions, it’s essential to understand the industry. Olivia Maidment, literary agent at Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV, & Film...
Q&A with First Novel Award Judges – Zoom, 22 April
Our judges for the First Novel Award answer your questions, live! Get the inside track on submitting to agents. When it comes to agent submissions, it’s essential to understand the industry. Olivia Maidment, literary agent at Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV, & Film...
The A–Z of Publishing: An Agent and Editor’s Guide – RECORDING
Join us for either our London-based event or a live, online event, both featuring Joanna Swainson (co-founder and literary agent at Hardman & Swainson) and Katherine Burdon (commissioning editor at Quercus Books). These two-hour events offer a rare,...
Craft Meets Commerce: What Publishers Want Writers to Know – RECORDING
Samantha Eades is an award-winning publisher, editor, and publicist with 20 years of experience shaping commercial fiction bestsellers. She has held senior roles at three of the Big Five UK publishing houses and most recently led the Orion Fiction team. Samantha now...
Psychic Distance – RECORDING
Psychic Distance: the fiction writer’s secret sauce. Over the years Emma has found that learning to work with psychic distance – often called narrative distance or emotional distance – is the game-changer for her students. Sometimes you may want the reader to be...
Q & A Liza DeBlock – RECORDING
Get the inside track on submitting to agents. Recording of an exclusive live Q&A with Liza DeBlock of Greenstone Literary Agency, our 2025 Pitch Prize agent judge. Liza reveals exactly what catches an agent’s eye—and what sends a submission straight to the “no”...
Pitch Perfect – RECORDING
It’s not only agents and editors who judge a book by the first page: in an industry driven by ‘Look Inside the Book’, the opening of a novel or memoir is one of the keys which draws a reader in irresistibly – or lets them wander off. Before even that, your covering...
Memoir, Life Writing, Creative Non-fiction – Oct 23
Thursday October 23, 6:00 – 8:00 pm GMT Writing about real lives and experiences – your own, or someone else’s – is rewarding but also daunting. What if you have too much information, or your story involves other people? How do you fill the gaps? How do you keep the...