The bks Agency stands by £649 one-day book deal course after price criticism

The bks Agency has stood by a £649 one-day course called "How To Get a Book Deal" after it was criticised over the price and accused of marginalising underprivileged writers.

Cheshire Novel Prize creator, writer and editor Sara Naidine Cox highlighted the event on Twitter, and said the price needed "calling out". Other users, including Bluemoose Books and Little Toller, said it was "outrageous" and "appalling". 

However the bks Agency said the course was just a "small part" of the work it does and highlighted other subsidised events and free workshops it organises, adding it recognised "the work that still remains to be done on improving accessibility and inclusivity in publishing". 

Cox told The Bookseller: "It’s just wrong on every level. There’s no way of benchmarking it to find out how they’ve got that price. And if they get away with it, they’ll do it again and then other people will start to do it." 

She added: "There’s loads of underprivileged writers who can’t afford writing courses, can’t afford to enter prizes who are really talented. If you’re already kind of challenged economically and you see something like this it’s going to put you off altogether because there’s this whole perception that the industry has been trying to get away from the past two years that it is a privileged, middle-class, white industry. It’s not and agents and publishers and other writers have been trying for the past two years to change things by offering [schemes like] Madeleine Milburn’s mentoring scheme where 50% of her places go to underrepresented writers, the New Voices scheme at Curtis Brown, Discovery. All of them are trying to get away from this.  

"If we don’t nip it in the bud and call it out, it will continue and it needs to stop."

A spokesperson for the Society of Authors said the organisation doesn’t comment directly on the pricing, content or value of specific services but added: "It is vital, as the industry works to become more inclusive and representative, that it does not give the impression that success in this business is the preserve of those who can afford to pay for it. We would suggest that people do their research carefully and use the excellent services provided by regional literature development agencies and others, and of course contact the SoA for individual advice."

James Spackman, who co-founded The bks Agency along with Jason Bartholomew and Jessica Killingley told The Bookseller: “Accessibility to the industry has been an issue close to our hearts throughout our careers: for example, in 2016 I set up the Spare Room Project (later, Spare Zoom Project) to support people at the beginning of their career who would struggle financially to find a place to stay in London, which has created an ongoing opportunity for mentoring. Jessica hosts a regular podcast explaining the industry to writers and offering advice on how to make a start. 

“Since founding the agency, this has continued to be a key part of our ethos. The ’How To Get a Book Deal’ course is a small part of what we do in terms of supporting the next generation of book industry people. We ran a subsidised course with The Literary Consultancy at the Free Word Centre about how to get a job in publishing, education outreach at Manchester Metropolitan University with the Northern Fiction Alliance to demystify publishing, and I have given free pitching workshops for those on low incomes. And we have plans in the offing for similar events in the future. We believe in making the industry clearer and more transparent and we do that in lots of different ways. Access to the industry is clearly essential and we are and will continue to be happy to be part of this important conversation.”