You’ll discover how to present yourself as an expert and answer the question ‘Why are you the right person to write this book?’. Hannah will help you to identify where your book sits in the current market, and who your reader will be. Through tasks and discussion, you’ll explore the key questions that sit at the heart of a proposal. In the afternoon, you’ll have the opportunity to introduce your non-fiction book to a literary agent and receive brief on-the-spot feedback on your idea, and to ask any questions you have about catching an agent’s eye with your proposal.
By the end of the day, you’ll have a clear understanding of what goes into a proposal, you’ll have made a start on shaping yours and you’ll leave with the tools you need to move forwards with clarity.
This course is ideal for anyone with a non-fiction idea, including journalists, academics and experts in their fields – as well as anyone with a unique fascination for a topic who wants to develop their knowledge into a non-fiction book. To get the best out of the course, you’ll have an idea for your book already and started writing your early chapters.
This course is for writers working on non-fiction. If you're writing fiction and are interested in learning how to pitch, please sign up for our Pitching Your Novel one-day course.
You will join Hannah and a group of 16 students for a day of teaching and writing on Zoom. The course will run on Zoom from 10am to 4.45pm. The schedule is displayed in UK time.
The 16 places on this course are allocated on receipt of payment, on a first come, first served basis. To secure your place, select your preferred date and then click ‘enrol now’ and complete our payment process.
On receipt of payment, we will send you a link to our short registration form.
If you encounter any problems during the application process, or have any more questions about the course, please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk for assistance.
Students will be given the option to purchase feedback on their submission package from a CBC editor.
Hannah Boursnell is an editor with 20 years’ experience in the publishing industry. She has an MA in Publishing Studies from City, University of London, and worked in commercial publishing for 15 years before going freelance in 2020. She now splits her time between freelance editing and working as Managing Editor for the independent literary press Akoya Publishing. Previously, Hannah acquired non-fiction for Little, Brown Book Group, publishing across a range of genres including memoir, lifestyle and cookery, humour and current affairs. Eight of the books Hannah published hit The Sunday Times bestseller charts, with two reaching the number 1 spot. She is an associate of The Writers Workshop in Sheffield, where she delivers online and in-person sessions on non-fiction writing and on the business of publishing.
