Planning and pitching non-fiction

Find out what publishers want from new non-fiction, and how to deliver it without compromising your vision

Whether it's history, cookery, science or self-help, the UK non-fiction market is successful, but seriously crowded. With so many competing voices, the destiny of your non-fiction project is shaped before you even put fingers to keyboard. But help is at hand – with extensive experience as a commissioning editor and writer of major non-fiction titles, Jenny Rogers can show you how to give your book the best possible start in life.

This no-nonsense course will help you polish your proposal, building on the strengths and eliminating the weaknesses in your narrative. By researching the market – and crucially, the competition – for your book, you'll learn to refine its USP, focus on its best qualities and draft a pitch that will make publishers take notice. Providing a candid overview of how the publishing industry works, and the trends and challenges shaping its future, this course enables you to make your work more attractive to publishers, more engaging for readers and more satisfying for yourself.

This course if for you if…

• You already have a concept and outline for a non-fiction book and want to know what your next steps should be
• You're in the early stages of writing a work of non-fiction and want to bring out its full potential

PLEASE NOTE: The course requires each attendee to have completed a 300 word synopsis or pitch document for their project

Course description

This one-day course covers how to plan, pitch and write a non-fiction book, using lessons from the publishing industry to enable writers to identify a target audience, find a unique niche in the marketplace and approach publishers with confidence. Topics covered on the day include:

• Non-fiction publishing: current trends and challenges
• Who does what in publishing
• The commissioning process
• Who is your target reader? And why it matters
• How to research the competition and refine the USP of your book
• Writing the proposal: a formula that works
• Titles and 'Look Inside' on Amazon

Tutor profile

Jenny Rogers has published more than 70 non-fiction titles. She commissioned and edited Delia Smith's Cookery Course which has now sold upwards of 12 million copies. She has worked as a commissioning editor, a series editor and as a writer. Most recently her books have had a self-help theme, including her best-selling Facing Redundancy: Surviving and Thriving. She is one of the most experienced executive coaches in the UK, and series editor of the Coaching in Practice series for the Open University Press/McGraw Hill.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website