Blake Friedmann to launch online open week for writers 

Literary agency Blake Friedmann will opens its virtual doors next week, with a series of events dedicated to “demystifying” publishing and agenting and to supporting writers seeking representation. 

Beginning on 14th March, the agency will host a week of live #AskAgent sessions, top tips videos, agent blogs and book giveaways running across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

The agency said it aims to offer “insights and transparency” with key focuses into how book deals work, how to navigate the submission process and find an agent, how an author and agent work together, understanding the publication process, and earning income as an author.  

All of Blake Friedmann’s book agents, Isobel Dixon, Juliet Pickering, Kate Burke, Samuel Hodder and Sian Ellis-Martin, will be actively involved throughout the week, hoping to answer as many questions as possible from published and querying writers, as well as anyone wanting to get into the industry.  

The open week will also be offering three writers feedback on their submission packages via a 20-minute virtual meeting with associate agent Ellis-Martin in April. More information on how to submit for this opportunity will be revealed during the open week. 

Burke, literary agent and director at Blake Friedmann, said: “We hope that our first open week will be useful, insightful and encouraging to writers, who are right at the heart of publishing and the world of books. We are committed to being accessible at Blake Friedmann, and to supporting writers who worry that the publishing industry is inaccessible to them.  

“It’s clear from social media, and the questions our agents hear when they talk at schools, writers’ groups and festivals, that people still have a lot of queries about what agents do and how it all works in terms of money, deals and rights. So, for some time now, we’ve been thinking about how we can help demystify these topics in an honest and engaging way, using our public platforms.  

“We want to encourage anyone who is writing to submit to us, by being transparent about who we are as an agency and as individual agents, and we hope that our open week will spark conversation, give practical guidance and inspire new writing, and that we’ll be able to repeat this week annually in the future.” 

The agency will share full details on its website blakefriedmann.co.uk, with new content posted throughout the open week on both the website and the agency’s social media channels, using the hashtag #BFLAOpenWeek.

This author-focused endeavour follows Blake Friedmann’s ongoing Carole Blake Open Doors Project, launched in 2017 to encourage candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds to enter the industry.