Are you a writer who aspires to become a published author? Getting your book out there is one thing, but turning your writing into a career is another entirely. Join two of 2024’s biggest debut novelists, Sunday Times Bestsellers, Jennie Godfrey and Samuel Burr, as they talk you through everything they’ve learned about becoming published authors. From pitching your book to anyone, mastering social media authentically and building a professional network, Jennie and Sam are ready to reveal all.
There will even be an opportunity to get feedback on your own 60-second elevator pitch at the end of the session, but don’t worry Jennie and Sam will kick off with their own first, discussing how they went about distilling their stories, honing their pitches and ultimately securing their dream deals.
Jennie Godfrey was raised in West Yorkshire and her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, is inspired by her childhood there in the 1970s. Jennie is from a mill-working family, but as the first of the generation born after the mills closed, she went to university and built a career in the corporate world. In 2020 she left and began to write. She is now a writer and part-time Waterstones bookseller and lives in the Somerset countryside.
Samuel Burr is a TV producer who has worked on popular factual shows including the BAFTA-nominated Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds. Samuel’s writing was selected for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme and in 2021 he graduated from the Faber Academy. A documentary he shot inside a retirement village when he was eighteen years old launched his career in television and inspired his internationally bestselling debut novel, The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, which has been translated into 18 foreign languages.
