Self-editing is a crucial step before submission – whether to an agent or to a publisher – and can make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. The talk will help budding authors understand what an agent (and ultimately a publisher) means by a well-written/well-edited manuscript. It is not just about adding the commas and full stops in the right places. Editing means critically analyzing every aspect of the manuscript – from the plot to the characters, from the language to the writing style, from how a book begins to how it ends or should end.

Smita Khanna of Jacaranda Literary Agency will talk about the pre-pitch editing process for fiction as well as creative non-fiction in this online session.

Smita will end the session with a Question and Answer segment with acclaimed author, Trisha Das, who will offer an author's perspective of self-editing.

The talk is aimed at first time authors looking to get published.

This workshop will be conducted via the Zoom platform. Participants do not need a Zoom account to take part in the workshop.

Kinokuniya members can enjoy 10% off the workshop fee for this programme. Please contact programmes@bookcouncil.sg for the discount code before online registration.

For workshop enquiries, please email programmes@bookcouncil.sg

Facilitator

Smita Khanna has been working with Jacaranda Literary Agency for over two years. Within the agency she wears many hats – those of an assistant agent, running of Write Advice, which is Jacaranda’s editorial consultancy, as well as looking out for good book ideas and scouting for the right people to write those books.

Smita has been working in publishing for the last thirteen years. She began her career as a lifestyle journalist with The Times of India and then worked with well entrenched publishing houses such as Rupa and Dorling Kindersley in New Delhi before moving to freelance editing while she lived in Mumbai. She has worked with Penguin Random House India (when it was still Random House), Amaryllis and Jaico on books that range from romance to horror, mythology to thrillers and everything in between. She also has experience working on non-fiction titles from baby books to yoga and dieting to politics.

Guest Speaker

Trisha Das is the author of Kama’s Last Sutra (HarperCollins India, 2018), Ms Draupadi Kuru: After the Pandavas (HarperCollins India, 2016) and its upcoming sequel The Misters Kuru: Return to Mahabharat (HarperCollins India, 2020), The Mahabharata Re-imagined (Rupa & Co, 2009), The Art of the Television Interview (UNESCO, 2007) and the internationally acclaimed How to write a Documentary Script (UNESCO, 2006). Trisha has written columns and short stories for Magical Women (Hachette India, 2019), Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia India, Hindustan Times and Scroll.

Cancellation:

The workshop can be cancelled or postponed two weeks before the workshop date if the minimum number of participants is not met. Participants will be fully refunded for workshops cancelled by us.

Participants who are unable to attend a workshop they have registered for are to inform us of the reason two weeks before the workshop date. They will be fully refunded in the event of extenuating and mitigating circumstances (E.g. illness, bereavement, accidents) . Those who inform us up to 5 working days before the workshop date will receive a 50% refund. Those who did not turn up at the workshop will not receive a refund.

Upon registration, you are deemed to have read and understood the cancellation and withdrawal policy and accept the terms contained therein.