An Interview with Harry Bingham

A Writers' Network

An Interview with Harry Bingham

I love York. It's been my favourite UK city since I was a kid, and I still love heading out that way whenever I can. I did kind of overshoot it when i finally left my native Wirral and ended up living in Hull (don't judge me), but hey, at least I landed in Yorkshire.

So, take my love for a beautiful Yorkshire city, and add to it another of my obsessions: writing. Harry Bingham, successful author and founder of The Writers' Workshop, a highly acclaimed literary consultancy based in the UK, has done just that. The Festival of Writing, a fantastic event for aspiring and established writers alike, is being held in York between 25th - 27th March. There are workshops and talks to attend, plenty of time to socialise with other writers, but also the opportunity to meet with and recieve feedback from those elusive creatures, editors and agents.

I have to admit, it sounds like fun! Harry has kindly taken some time out to tell us about himself, The Writers' Workshop and the York Festival of Writing.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself? How did you get into writing?

I didn't start out as a writer. I spent ten years as an investment banker (hatching secret plans to destroy the capitalist world, obviously) before quitting to write novels. Since then, I've written five novels, three non-fiction books, and have another novel on the go as we speak.

What is the Writers' Workshop, and why did you set it up?

I set up the Writers' Workshop because whereas professional authors have their own complex support networks (agents, editors, publicists, the Society of Authors, and so on), first time writers can often find themselves desperately short of resources. So the Writers' Workshop aims to fill the gap. The main thing we do is to give new writers tough, professional feedback on their work. So if you've written (let's say) a young adult novel but are having problems getting it accepted by agents, then you can feedback on your book from a top professional author of young adult work. It's an amazing opportunity when you think about it. We also run some rather wonderful courses and workshops.

Why/when a writer should think of using a Literary Consultancy?

We're here for when people need us. When that is will differ from writer to writer. About half our clients come to us before they've even tried their luck with agents. The other half come after accumulating the normal fistful of rejection letters. But I never like to say that people ought to use our services. Whether they do or not is very much up to them and the way they like to work. All I would say, is that our clients do enjoy a much higher success rate than they would do if they just went the traditional slushpile route. We've had three bestselling clients, all of whom we did a lot to assist.

You've mentioned that you arrange conferences and festivals, and I'd like to look at the biggest of these please. Can you tell us about the York Festival of Writing?

The Festival is just amazing (www.FestivalofWriting.com). We pull together everyone that a new writer might want to meet and talk to - agents, publishers, indie publishers, professional authors, book doctors - and bring everyone together in York for a weekend of talks, workshops, panels, dinners, and conversations.

Why York?

We wanted everyone to live, eat and spend time together. We reckoned that the informal parts of the Festival would be every bit as important as the more formal bits, so we wanted a single compact campus where we could bring everyone together. York ticked all our boxes - plus it's also very pretty and easy to get to. It's a wonderful location.

There are a lot of Book Festivals in the calendar these days – what makes this one stand out?

There are loads of literary festivals aimed at readers. There are darn few events aimed purely at first time writers, and ours is only for writers. We'll never run a conventional literary festival. As you say, there are millions of those around now.

As well as the workshops, attendees get the opportunity to have a one-to-one with an agent, publisher or book doctor. Can you tell us about these please? What exactly are the one-to-ones, and what should a writer realistically expect from them?

Ah yes, the one-to-ones. They work like this. Delegates send us their work in advance (a short intro, plus their opening chapter). We get that out to agents and book doctors, then, at the Festival itself, delegates sit down with the agent/book doctor and go through that person's impressions of their work. The agent is more likely to focus on overall marketability. The book doctor is likely to focus on more rigorous editorial feedback. Put the two perspectives together and you should come away with an amazingly useful view of your work.

There is a lot of talk about networking and platform building being important to aspiring writers. Would you agree with this? If so, how should people go about it?

Yes and no. In the end, all that matters is a terrific manuscript. On the other hand, there are better and worse ways of getting that manuscript into the hands of the right people. At York last year, we had one writer whose work was so obviously strong that she ended the weekend with six agents interested in representing her (and she's since gone on to secure a lovely book deal with a major publisher). You just can't get that kind of headstart without something like the Festival.

Do you think that there is any particular parts of the publishing industry that aspiring writers tend to misunderstand? What are they and why do you think that is?

Oh yes - I think the entire industry is prone to being misunderstood, quite honestly, and that's because the industry is AWFUL at explaining itself to new writers. For the most part it doesn't even try to do so, which just isn't good enough. I feel strongly enough about these issues that I wrote a book about them - The Writers' & Artists' Guide to Getting Published. The point of that book is to tell writers the things they really need to know - including the things that publishers and agents would rather not tell them. I loved writing it!

And finally, can you sum up in one sentence a key piece of advice for aspiring writers?

One sentence? Jeepers.

In the end, the only thing that matters is an amazing manuscript, but it's also massively worthwhile understanding your market: go to a bookshop, buy a handful of successful debut novels from the last year or two, and read them.

Many thanks to Harry for his time and for his informative answers. You can check out the Writers' Workshop for more information on their services, or head over to the Festival of Writing Website if you're keen to head up to York this March. Better make it quick, though; places are filling up fast.