Mentoring

• Intensive one2one editorial with an Industry Editor
• Online support group
• Preparation for agent and publisher submission

To be selected to work with our top Industry Editors, writers must have a strong concept, through-line and character goals as well as demonstrating a promising voice. Please note that at the Mentoring stage, we are not just looking for a strong voice, excellent concept or well thought through plot, but all three.

Places to work with our Industry Editors are limited. Only the most promising stories will be put forward and considered for one of these highly coveted spots.

If you are not selected for Mentoring, it does not necessarily mean that your story won’t eventually reach publishable standard, merely that at this moment in time it does not fully reach the required criteria to be entered for consideration.

N.B. Mentoring is only available to members of the Golden Egg Academy. Our Mentoring services are highly selective and completion of any of our courses does not guarantee access to this service.

We do not accept outside applications for Mentoring unless a writer has been referred directly by their agent.

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Having my Industry Editor on my side was a bit like having an agent solely for the submission process – a friendly advocate who wants to achieve success for your manuscript almost as much as you do because they’ve invested a lot of time in it, too.
I felt like you were all working tirelessly to pitch my MS and give it every chance of success. I was honestly not expecting this level of dedication and it felt like a ‘Bonus Round’ in the submission process.
Gemma Cary, Golden Egg Graduate
Represented by the Ben Illis Agency

Overview

Mentoring is charged at the Industry Editor rate of £65/ hour. 

NB 

In addition to paid editorial time, this higher hourly rate takes into account the following, free of any additional charge:

  • our Industry Editors’ expert knowledge and contacts, and our regular Agents’ Hub coffee mornings and newsletters where we discuss the market and Mentees’ work with agents; 
  • thinking and talking to agents/publishers who might be interested in your story and thinking about where it might realistically fit in the current market; 
  • taking your manuscript to London International Book Fair and Bologna Book Fair to pitch to agents and publishers; 
  • discussion of your work, the market and the work of other Mentees at the fortnightly Industry Editors’ meeting;
  • a copy of the GEA Submissions Guide;
  • access to the non-binding First Look deal with Chicken House and submission to two agents for all Mentees who have been signed off as ready for submission. 
    • This means that a top publisher reads and feeds back on your work within one month and the two chosen agents will prioritise your manuscript.

Time is booked on an ad-hoc basis and your Industry Editor will provide you with a quote prior to undertaking a piece of work, along with a return date. Your manuscript is initially assessed as a whole and then worked on in thirds to ensure writer and editor confidence in the story’s trajectory.

Mentoring is designed to help you fine-tune your manuscript. Your Industry Editor will work with you to ensure that every element is as strong as it can be before you are put forward for submission. Smoothing out one thread can sometimes highlight an issue with another, each of which will be resolved through working closely with your editor.

Those invited to join Mentoring are usually six to twelve months away from submission standard. However, the length of the Mentoring process differs from writer to writer, manuscript to manuscript.

When your editor feels that you are ready, they will put you forward for a submission assessment. This is completed by another of our Industry Editor team. The whole manuscript will be read objectively to ensure that the manuscript is of submission standard. Again, this will be charged at the Industry Editor hourly rate.

During the process, you will work with your editor to refine your pitch and synopsis along with other story ideas.

Submission

After the Mentoring process is complete and a manuscript has been signed off, it will be put forward for our First Look deal with The Chicken House and two agents to be mutually agreed. 

As previously mentioned, GEA will discuss promising manuscripts with various agents and publishers at London International Book Fair. Your submission will also be discussed at our quarterly Agents’ Hub meetings with the 70+ agents on our list and with our editor and publisher contacts in the industry at David Fickling Books, Guppy Books, Egmont, Scholastic, Usborne, OUP, Stripes, Firefly Press and more.

If Chicken House and your two chosen agents turn down your manuscript, you have the option to work with your editor at their hourly rate to apply to additional agents and/or publishers through Golden Egg, including those who have shown interest at London International Book Fair or at the Agents’ Hub meetings. 

Each additional submission is charged at the hourly rate and includes a copy of the GEA Submissions Guide. You will be advised on which agents/publishers may be interested in your story but you will also be encouraged to undertake your own research.

We will help follow up with any agent you have submitted to through Golden Egg. However, the wait-time for a response varies from agent to agent and depends on the time of year. For example, submitting to an agent directly before, during or after an international book fair if it has not been specifically requested can mean a significant wait time. As part of the submission service we provide, we will help to guide you on the best time to submit to agents and publishers.

Membership Benefits

We have two Facebook groups available to those being Mentored. One is a lightly monitored page for all Mentees to support one another. The other is for those who are members of the Golden Egg Club. The Club Mentoring page offers, in addition to the wider Club events, bi-monthly talks with an Industry Editor and is monitored by Nicki Marshall, Senior Support Mentee Editor.

We also have a group for Golden Egg Graduates. Once signed off for submission you will be offered access to the Alumni page where those out on submission and beyond can support one another. This page is lightly monitored.

Graduates are welcome to remain members of the Club Mentoring page.


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