Want your writing edited by Gollancz?

Every author I’ve ever spoken to has told me, “Editors are key!” in regards to getting a quality book out there and into the market. Editors are people who have specialist knowledge and experience in going through manuscripts and identifying what needs changing. They may discover that the tone is all wrong, they may notice that plot points don’t quite add up, perhaps they will see that a scene could be made slightly better by doing x, y and z, or maybe they will find some spelling/grammatical errors that really need addressing.

Now, imagine if you, as a prospective writer had the chance to gain access to someone like Gillian Redfearn, the lady responsible for discovering Joe Abercrombie and going through his manuscripts to get it ready for market. Did I mention, she is also an editor for Patrick Rothfuss? Well, Gollancz is offering you a chance to get that access. Yes, Gollancz is offering up the chance for one lucky individual to have Gillian Redfearn go through, edit and review 10,000 words of your manuscript. Truly an amazing opportunity, this could really help one novelist take their writing to the next level.

So, how do you get your hands on Gillian’s time? Well, you have to bid for it – you don’t get access to the top editor in the country for free of course. However, Gollancz, not being the greedy type are doing this is a bid to raise money for a very important charity in the UK: The Samaritans.

For those unfamiliar with this charity, The Samaritans are a confidential emotional support service for anyone in the UK and Ireland. They provide an open telephone service, where they speak with people who need someone to speak to. It is a service that is incredibly important to those struggling with the way their life is going. To give you an idea of its usage, it is used over five million times a year, which equates to at least once every six seconds. It is a sad fact, that in the UK there are 16 people who feel the need to take their own life every single day. Without The Samaritans it would undoubtedly be much higher and of course, the aim is, with your help, to get this number down even further. So certainly, it is well worth seeing what is on offer and contributing to this fantastic cause.

In addition to Gillian’s editing, you can also bid on the editing services of Gollancz’s newbie Marcus Gipps, the marketing advice of Jennifer McMenemy, the chance to name a character in a future Brandon Sanderson novel, a whole range of advanced reading copies, and signed and unsigned books. Truly an incredible amount of prizes that you can bid on through Ebay (click here), but also, please remember that in addition to these fantastic prizes, you are helping support a very important charity.

Official Gollancz Press Release:

Gollancz’s MONEY CAN’T BUY PRIZES Charity Auctions

Bid on the chance to get edited, appear in a book or have lunch with the UK’s top genre publisher!

Gollancz, the science fiction, fantasy and horror imprint of Orion Publishing, is auctioning off the perfect Christmas present for budding genre novelists – the chance to have your work reviewed by the world renowned publisher and help a worthy cause at the same time.

It’s one of a number of lots up for bidding on Ebay to raise money for Orion’s chosen charity The Samaritans. The winning bidder gets 10,000 words of their novel or story reviewed and edited by Gollancz Editorial Director Gillian Redfearn, editor for bestselling authors such as Joe Abercrombie and Patrick Rothfuss. You can also bid to have new Gollancz editor Marcus Gipps review 15,000 words of your story.

If you or a loved one is a fantasy fan, there’s a unique and exciting chance to name a character in a future novel by Brandon Sanderson, the bestselling author of The Way of Kings and The Alloy of Law. There’s also an exclusive bundle of signed and limited edition promotional materials from Brandon.

Advice on how to promote your book from Gollancz Senior Marketing Executive Jennifer McMenemy, who has masterminded campaigns for many of Gollancz’s biggest names including Alastair Reynolds and Charlaine Harris, is also up for bidding, along with lunch in London with members of the Gollancz team.

Other auctions include signed books, lunch with an author and the chance to get a copy of every single proof copy produced by Gollancz in 2012. Gollancz proof editions, usually reserved for booksellers and media, are often hotly sought after by fans and collectors.

Orion Trade Managing Director Lisa Milton commented, “In 2011 Orion has been focusing on giving something back. Having identified The Samaritans as our company charity, we set ourselves a target of raising £10,000 in one year. We are already nearly at that target and our final activity for this year is one that is very close to our hearts. We want to raise lots of money.”

“The Samaritans is a fantastic cause for the Orion Publishing Group to be supporting, and although I’ve only been with the company for under a year, I knew I wanted to do something to help,” said Marcus Gipps, who set up the auctions. “Having seen other ‘money can’t buy’ auctions do well, and realising that we had access to some fantastic authors, publishers and prizes, it seemed like an effective way to raise some money. The generosity of my colleagues and our authors means that I hope we will be able to make a substantial donation to a very worthy charity.”

For the full list of items to bid on, please click here or search for orionbooksforcharity on eBay.

For more details, please contact: Jonathan Weir, Senior Publicity Manager, Gollancz on 0207 520 4314 or email jonathan.weir@orionbooks.co.uk

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