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London Writers' Club A global club for writers wanting to connect with London Literary Agents and Publishers. Connect and network with literary agents and authors live and online.

We have a live monthly event and online events. For more on the club and full membership which includes Skype writers' surgeries and live events see: http://londonwritersclub.com/join-the-club/

‘Every writer wants their writing to be read. We set up London Writers’ Club to bring writers closer to agents and publishers. We have a community of thousands of writers around the globe; we hope we can help you too.'
Jacqueline and Kirsty

"The most unexpected benefit of the retreat was the other writers I met. We still meet online monthly to share our progr...
15/07/2025

"The most unexpected benefit of the retreat was the other writers I met. We still meet online monthly to share our progress and cheer each other on."

This feedback from a past participant captures something special about the Writers Retreat experience in Puglia.

I'm Jacq Burns, literary agent and founder of London Writers' Club, and while I designed these retreats to provide expert guidance and dedicated writing time, I've been continually moved by the community that forms during our 6 days together.

There's something powerful about sharing meals, workshop sessions, and creative struggles with others who understand exactly what you're going through.

Who face the same blank page anxiety, structural challenges, and publishing questions.

Our small group size (never more than 12 participants) ensures that you'll receive personalized attention while also having the opportunity to form meaningful connections with fellow writers.

Whether you're working on fiction or non-fiction, whether you're just starting or deep into your manuscript, you'll find support, understanding, and genuine interest in your work.

Many participants tell me that the encouragement and accountability they found in this community was the missing piece that finally allowed them to make significant progress on their books.

If you've been writing in isolation, imagine what could happen when you join a supportive group of fellow writers in the inspiring setting of coastal Italy.

Click on the link https://f.mtr.cool/piveypxolu for more details.

15/07/2025

Premise is a statement about the ultimate meaning and purpose of your book.

If you think The Godfather is about the mafia, you'd focus on violence and shootings.

But the real premise is "blood is thicker than water" - about a man who wants to go straight but can't escape family.

That's what gave those books their depth and makes any story really powerful.

I agent nonfiction books.I run retreats, helping fiction writers, memoirists, nonfiction, and also do a bit of coaching ...
14/07/2025

I agent nonfiction books.

I run retreats, helping fiction writers, memoirists, nonfiction, and also do a bit of coaching when I've got time.

One of the things that really changed the way I work with writers was this book, How To Write a Damn Good Novel.

The reason it changed everything is because he explains something that people often call concept, they often call it a theme, but James Frey calls it premise and he explains really well what he means by premise.

What he means is it's a tool that helps shape your material.

So once you know what your premise is, and a premise is a statement that encapsulates what you want your book to ultimately mean and land with people.

It just blew me away because I realised that with that everything becomes so much easier, without it, it becomes impossible.

He says it's impossible to sell a book that the author is not clear about what the premise is.

What I've noticed over the years is that I would get pitches from people - I used to agent fiction, but I don't any longer, I'm focusing on nonfiction - I noticed that quite often a pitch letter or a synopsis wouldn't match the content.

At a very big level, people didn't understand what their book was about.

They thought it was about something over here.

And actually when they came to writing it, it came out very differently.

There's nothing wrong with that, but you just have to figure out which you want it to be.

Do you want the book to be the book that you've written and therefore write the pitch materials accordingly?

Do you want to write the book the way you've pitched it, in which case it's a big job to go back and rewrite the whole book?

And maybe actually there's something there with both - maybe you write the book that you've written the pitch for next, and then you focus on correctly writing a pitch to match the book that you actually have written.

That might sound a bit confusing, but I'll give you an example.

So sometimes I'll get a pitch that talks about a male character who does this and that he is struggling with identity.

He moves countries, whatever.

Then when I read the book, the book is actually about a woman in his life, a friend, someone - it is about a different character.

The powerful part of the story is with another character.

So the book isn't about this guy at all, and if you pitch it as being about that character, when actually it ends up being completely something else, then you've got an instant rejection because it's clear that you haven't really understood your story.

11/07/2025

The greatest lessons come when I explain why someone's book isn't ready to pitch yet.

There's a huge difference between good enough to self-publish and good enough for a publisher to commission.

Publishers want the category killer - the best possible book on a subject from the best possible person.

I'll show you what makes books like Mel Robbins' "Let Them" catch fire when millions of similar books exist.

Remember any book that's already out there that's been published has been through a lot more hands since it left the aut...
10/07/2025

Remember any book that's already out there that's been published has been through a lot more hands since it left the author's hands.

So it's been through an agent's hands and they'll have suggested edits.

It's been through a publisher's hands and they'll have done structural edits.

That's the commissioning editor.

Then the commissioning editor will pass it to a line editor and they'll do some further work, line by line rather than big picture.

And then it goes to proofreader.

So lots of hands it's passed through, lots of steps of refining your book and your idea.

What I'm talking about and the way to get published is about the original idea and the concept and really working there.

So really deepening the idea, really going deep on that, to lift your book to the level of those bestsellers.

There are lots of ways that you can get help with that.

There's so much material online.

Have a look at some of the podcasts, the substacks that have the biggest following.

Some of them are absolutely brilliant.

Also you can find a book mentor, a book coach.

There are so many people who do it from the literary consultancy, through to small individual editors.

I'm also happy to suggest editors.

I also occasionally do some coaching myself, so for novelists and for nonfiction writers, and of course I offer retreats so that I can work intensively with people there.

What we try and get to grips with is how do we lift your book up to the level where you'll get the attention of an agent and a publisher.

Often that's not what people think.

It's about deepening the work to lift it.

It's about strengthening the concept.

It's not about endlessly rewriting line by line.

That's the detail.

The publishing deal is not in the detail.

It's in the concept, the original idea and the voice.

How you put the idea across.

09/07/2025

Want to avoid rejections and make your book irresistible to publishers?

I see lots of books with great ideas and credentialed authors, but they're good, not great.

The difference is an entirely fresh take that captures what readers are experiencing.

I'll show you how books like Wild, Wintering, and Quiet became titles that people use as nouns.

"I came with a vague idea and left with a detailed outline and three chapters written.""After the retreat, I finished my...
08/07/2025

"I came with a vague idea and left with a detailed outline and three chapters written."

"After the retreat, I finished my manuscript in just 8 weeks."

"The publishing insights alone were worth the trip."

These are the kinds of results that past participants have experienced at my Writers Retreat in Puglia.

I'm Jacq Burns, literary agent and founder of London Writers' Club, and I've designed this retreat to deliver concrete outcomes, not just inspiration (though there's plenty of that too).

When you join me in Puglia this September, you'll go home with:
- A book concept that's been refined through expert feedback
- An irresistible title and subtitle
- A clear structure planned out
- Actual writing completed - pages you can be proud of
- A roadmap for finishing and publishing your book
Each morning brings workshop sessions covering everything from developing your big idea to understanding your publishing options.

Afternoons give you time to implement what you've learned.

Evenings offer Q&A sessions to solve specific challenges.

You'll also receive a one-to-one session with me during the retreat, providing personalized guidance for your unique project.

This isn't about vague promises.

It's about leaving Italy with tangible progress and a clear path forward.

Click on the link https://f.mtr.cool/vonsyagqjw for more details.

The reason premise is important is it's a statement about the ultimate meaning and purpose of your book.And if you get i...
08/07/2025

The reason premise is important is it's a statement about the ultimate meaning and purpose of your book.

And if you get it right, it will actually help you shape your book.

If you haven't started it yet or you're halfway through, it'll help you understand where you need to drive towards to prove your premise.

If you have already done your book and you're about to write your pitch materials, then it will help you do those because you understand what you're actually selling, what you've actually got in your book.

So the example he uses in How to Write a Damn Good Novel, he uses the example of The Godfather.

If you are writing that book and you think that you are writing a book about the mafia.

You probably focus on the violence scenes, you'll focus on the shootings, the extortion, all of those sorts of things.

And probably the family stuff as well.

But he says that the premise of The Godfather is that blood is thicker than water.

And if you think back to it, remember that Michael, the son, originally at the start, didn't want to be a part of the family, didn't want to be a part of the mafia.

The whole stretch of the book is about him resisting that initially and where that ends up and the consequences that has, and that family is inescapable.

It's an inescapable thing.

That's what gave those books the depth.

What gave the depth was understanding that his premise was deeper than, this is just about the mafia.

This is a story about a man who wants to go straight, who wants to live a normal life, but due to the importance of family, of blood, his life is ruined, and he ends up being probably a better and bigger Don than his father ever was.

That's what really lifts those stories.

That's what makes that story really powerful.

That's what I'm talking about when I'm talking about really getting into your book.

It's not about endlessly rewriting it, it's about understanding what you've got.

And understanding what it takes to deepen the experience for the reader and really understanding your characters and what they're about.

The real value of any book, whether it's fiction or nonfiction, is that it transforms you in some way because the characters have, or at least one character has undergone a significant transformation during the book, and we are there with them.

We see the transformation.

We feel it, we understand it, and that's what makes a book successful.

07/07/2025

One book completely changed how I work with writers: "How To Write a Damn Good Novel."

James Frey explains something called premise - a statement that encapsulates what you want your book to ultimately mean.

Without a clear premise, everything becomes impossible, including selling your book.

I'll explain why pitch letters often don't match the actual content and how to fix this fatal mismatch.

The greatest lessons for me in this work that I do with authors come when I read someone's work and give them feedback.I...
04/07/2025

The greatest lessons for me in this work that I do with authors come when I read someone's work and give them feedback.

I explain why their book isn't yet ready to pitch or won't be a book that'll be commissioned by publishers.

It really is about taking a book from good enough to self-publish, good enough to read, to share with friends, good enough to be helpful, but to get it taken on by a publisher, that's a whole other level.

What they want is the category killer for nonfiction.

They want a category killer in whatever your book is about.

They want the best possible book that they can get on the subject from the best possible person who's been through the lived experience that is the background to that book or their expertise.

They want the best possible book and you can write a really good book, a really well thought out book, but it won't reach that level of expertise.

Mostly I reject nonfiction proposals on the basis that this is a lovely book on an interesting subject.

I enjoyed reading it.

You sound great as an author.

But it really needs some more work to make a publishing house feel like, we need this book, we need to put it out.

We need to put it out now, we need to publish it now because it's shining a light on a subject that really helps people.

If you look at something like Mel Robbins' book at the moment, the book, Let Them.

Millions of books on self-help.

Millions of books on how you can let go of control, how you can change your life, how you can get on better with people and go through your life in an easier way.

But that book is really catching fire because it's encapsulating the phrase, the premise of the book, the whole reason for it, and the methodology and a sort of reminder moment by moment to us, Let Them, she's managed to get all that.

That's what I mean by a good concept and a strong premise.

Her premise is let them, and then the next step of her book is, let me so you let them, you let go of trying to control other people so that you then can have more agency and freedom in your own life.

And that's the level that publishers are looking for when it comes to nonfiction books and most people need help to do that.

So if you've got a strong nonfiction idea, you've got a strong book, do consider getting a little bit of help to give you that leg up to lift it up to the next level.

03/07/2025

Think perfect prose gets you published?

Published books go through many hands - agent, commissioning editor, line editor, proofreader.

But what gets you there isn't endless rewriting line by line.

I'll reveal what actually gets agents and publishers to pay attention to your work.

I want to touch on avoiding rejections.If you're already out there and pitching, how you avoid future rejections.If you'...
02/07/2025

I want to touch on avoiding rejections.

If you're already out there and pitching, how you avoid future rejections.

If you're about to pitch, how you avoid getting rejected.

That is by understanding how you lift your book out of the ordinary, how you make it a strong contender for being published.

What you're looking for with your book, your proposal, your pitch - whether it's fiction or nonfiction - you're looking to lift your book to a level where it becomes irresistible.

As an example, I see lots of books that have a great idea.

The author has great credentials, so if you're writing nonfiction, you're an expert in your field or you know something about the subject you're writing on.

But the book is good, it's not great.

If you look at the difference between good and great, it's coming up with something that feels like it's got an entirely fresh and new take on a subject.

It might be a new subject, it might be an old subject, it might be something that we're experiencing right now that the author puts their finger on and says, this is the thing that you're feeling and this is why, and this is what you can do about it.

If you think of books like Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Wintering, Quiet - the book about introversion - those books just nailed something that we were feeling or suffering from and talked about it in a different way.

Almost in such a way that the title of the book becomes a noun.

So with Wintering, it became this thing that we suffer from, or a period that we go through in our life.

Thinking about comparable titles to the book that you are writing for nonfiction is really important because then you'll understand the level at which you need to lift your book.

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LWC - the club that introduces agents to writers

Meet a literary agent at our Live monthly event. Join a masterclasses or book a one-to-one. For more on the club see: http://londonwritersclub.com/join-the-club/ ‘Every writer wants their writing to be read. We set up London Writers’ Club to bring writers closer to agents and publishers. We have a community of thousands of writers around the globe; we hope we can help you too.' Jacq and Kirsty