Books And The City Announce Digital Editions And Creative Masterclass

Exciting news for aspiring writers as top publisher Simon & Schuster recently announced that it is expanding Books and the City – its commercial women’s fiction website, social media channel, sales and events platform – with two new projects aimed at increasing the reach of the brand, headed up by Books and the City Project Manager Sara-Jade Virtue and Senior Commissioning Editor Clare Hey.

The first project sees S&S expanding its digital publishing, concentrating on commercial women’s fiction which will publish primarily in ebook (with a later print edition where appropriate). S&S opened its doors to submissions direct from authors, via www.booksandthecity.co.uk, on 15 July – which was a one day submission event to find the next star of the genre. S&S will also be seeking submissions from agents going forwards.

The second project is the creation of a commercial women’s fiction-focused creative writing master class which will take place at Books and the City HQ, on 15th November – a class aimed specifically at future big stars of the commercial women’s fiction genre.

Tickets are now on sale, over on eventbrite, both an All Day ticket to include a one-to-one session with either Jo Dickinson, Clare Hey or literary agent Lizzy Kremer and the Afternoon Panel session, with special guests Milly Johnson, Peter Saxton from Waterstones and Isabelle Broom from Heat Magazine.

Books and the City Project Manager Sara-Jade Virtue says: ‘We’re immensely proud of Books and the City. When it was launched three years ago, no other UK publishing house was connecting directly with the consumer in this way, and the response we’ve had from readers, writers and the industry has been amazing. I’m incredibly excited to launch these two new initiatives and I can’t wait to read the #oneday submissions for our new Digital Originals, and to host the first Creative Writing Master Class of its kind, aimed absolutely at writers of commercial women’s fiction.’

Senior Commissioning Editor Clare Hey says, ‘S&S is proud to publish many talented authors in this area and Books and the City has been a wonderful platform to reach readers online. I am really excited about this next stage in its life and look forward to seeing it grow from strength to strength.’

To buy tickets for this one amazing one-off event, check out event brite.