The SA Writers Centre is excited to announce the

Hachette Mentoring Program

Proudly presented by Hachette Australia in partnership with SA Writers Centre.

The South Australian Hachette Mentoring Program [SAHMP] offers a professional mentorship opportunity for one South Australian writer a year to work with Sophie Hamley, Publisher with Hachette Australia and former President of the Australian Literary Agents’ Association.

Applications will open 9am Monday 20 April 2015 and close 5pm, Friday 22 May 2015 (South Australian time).

This is a unique opportunity for you to work closely with a leading industry expert and major publishing house, who will provide professional feedback on your manuscript, and to work with you to bring it to publication standard. You’ll also have a chance to learn about the industry, and what’s needed to get published and build a writing career.

Manuscripts must be complete and not a first draft. They can be fiction, non fiction or young adult fiction. This opportunity is for SA Writers Centre individual members only.

You will need to submit:

• a letter containing a brief 250 word description of the work, any relevant writing history, and your reasons for wanting a mentor; and
• the first 3000 words of your manuscript. (It’s worth having a look at this before you do so)

Your submission must be clearly labelled with your name and manuscript title, with the subject heading: HACHETTE MENTORING PROGRAM SUBMISSION.

Email your submission to [email protected]

Terms and conditions:

1. There is no fee for submission to the SAHMP.
2. Entries not meeting submission requirements as above will not be eligible.
3. Writers must be individual financial members of the SA Writers Centre.
4. Manuscripts must be submitted during the four week period. No early or late entries will be accepted.
5. You can only submit one manuscript (or version of) during the submission period.
6. During the submission period no individual writers may contact the SA Writers Centre, the Publisher or Hachette Australia to seek information about the progress of their submission.
7. Manuscripts submitted for consideration in the SAHMP must be:
   1. complete
   2. not a first draft (please edit thoroughly)
   3. fiction, non fiction or young adult fiction (sorry no poetry, children’s books or other are eligible).
8. Selection of the manuscript will be at the discretion of the Publisher and no discussion shall be entered into by the unsuccessful applicants.
9. Selection of a manuscript for the SAHMP is not a guarantee of publication.
10. Hachette reserves the right to consider the selected manuscript for publication within twelve weeks of delivery of a new draft of the manuscript, but gives no guarantee of publication.
11. The work must not be previously published in any format.
12. The work must not be under consideration by another publisher.
13. Writers who are not selected for a mentorship are eligible to resubmit the same work in following years.
14. All submissions must be submitted electronically.

The form of the mentorship:

• The Publisher will work with the selected writer.
• The exact form of the mentorship will vary according to the needs of the writer and the manuscript, but will include structural notes provided by the Publisher and telephone or Skype calls as appropriate to a maximum of five phone calls, as well as correspondence by email.
• The mentorship will conclude either when the writer feels that they do not need further assistance or the Publisher feels that they are unable to be of further assistance, with either party to be advised in writing of the end of the mentorship.
• The Publisher will not be available to give advice to the selected writer after the conclusion of the mentorship, unless so agreed between the Publisher and the writer.
• The Publisher will not discuss the content of the mentorship with anyone other than the selected writer.
  

About Sophie:

Sophie Hamley has worked in the print and online publishing industries as a bookseller, editor, writer, content producer, web and interactive TV producer. She was a literary agent from 2006 until late 2014, during which time she was President of the Australian Literary Agents’ Association and a member of the Book Industry Collaborative Council. She now works as a publisher with her wonderful colleagues at Hachette Australia.