Cornerstones: September round-up
Some exciting changes are afoot at Cornerstones HQ, plus a reminder of prize deadlines
Dear all,
We hope you’ve had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to ushering in a new season. We have some exciting updates to share with you this month, so please read on for more information.
Our Cornerstones core team has undergone some changes as two new members join us; some of you will have already been in contact with Assistant Editor, Sarah, and Editorial Assistant, Kate. We’re delighted to have them both with us! Sarah has joined us from The Blair Partnership, and Kate was a bookseller at George Bayntun, before coming onboard as our Summer Editorial Intern, via our ELEVATE mentoring programme.
Helen Corner-Bryant is available for projects!
We are excited to announce that Helen Corner-Bryant, director and founder of Cornerstones and submissions director, is now available to take on a select number of projects! If you feel your manuscript is ready to submit to agents and would like Helen to see if she can help take your manuscript to the next level, please contact the office with your double-spaced opening ten pages and one-page synopsis, along with a cover letter.
What can you expect?
Thanks to our agent contacts, we know what literary agencies are looking for at the moment and are excited to use this insight to help you sharpen your manuscript to submission-level. If Helen takes on your project, she will conduct a read-through of your manuscript and a margin comment, followed by a brainstorming session with you to discuss feedback and next steps.
Is this service for you?
You will want to have a strong grasp of self-editing techniques; a good way to prepare is to read On Editing for in-depth analysis. If this sounds like a service for you, we’d love to hear from you!
We’re also wishing a warm welcome to participants on our September 2021 Edit Your Novel online course, which is due to start on Monday. Since launching our course in 2018, we’ve put over 100 students through the eighteen-week intensive programme, to great success. The waitlist is now open for our next intake, due to start in February 2022. See here for more information.
Lastly, a reminder: the Bath Novel Award is due to announce its 2021 winner (including the winner of the longlist prize, which is a sponsored place on our Edit Your Novel course) next Friday afternoon. Stay tuned for that! Meanwhile, the Bath Children’s Novel Award – this year judged by agent-turned-author Sam Copeland – is open to submissions until 30 November.
Wishing you the very best,
The Cornerstones Team
Industry tip:
We loved this idea/thread from Twitter user @novelistanna: try formulating your pitch in the format of a Reddit AITA entry/letter to an agony aunt! More on this in our next discussion thread… 👀