One thing we can all agree on: writing
a novel is hard. Getting published is even harder. Authors
need to do everything they can to polish and perfect their story until
it leaps off the page. Of course, you can pay for a professional critique, but it's also possible to learn how to edit your own novel.
That's where the 6-week online Self-Edit Your Novel course comes in. Emma Darwin and I designed the course for Jericho Writers
(previously The Writers' Workshop) and wrote the tutorials together back in 2010,
though I now do all the detailed feedback, with Emma coming in at the
end of the week with an invaluable round-up of the topic. The course is now Jericho's longest running course and always sells out in advance.
But does the course make a real difference, in practical ways? Can it
increase your chances? Is there any way of proving that it does?
This should convince you: the self-edit course in numbers.
The first course was in April 2011 and it runs 4 times a year.
As at the beginning of June 2025, we have had 57 courses and a total of 669 participants. But how many of our alumni have since been published?
Let's first look at the industry average.
A top agent will receive about 2,000 submissions a year, some many more, of whom they will sign maybe 2 authors - a hit rate of 0.1%.
103 of our alumni are now published, equating to almost 20%. In one particular course,
back in March 2013, 6 out of 11 participants are now published.
Some
of these authors have self-published but I know from the signed books on my
shelf that they are as professionally presented, and as well-written, as
the trade published novels they sit next to. In fact, some of those authors make far more money from selling their books than people who have been trade published. Many of our authors have won or been shortlisted in prestigious competitions.
In case you don't believe me, here's our Self-Editing Alumni Hall of
Fame, with links to their websites, Amazon pages, announcements by agents or
publishers, or in The Bookseller and other sites in cases where the novels are forthcoming.
In no particular order, hearty congrats to:
Cathy Bramley (over a million copies sold)
Clare Flynn
Jody Klaire
Katherine Hetzel
G D Harper
Louise Walters
Susan Murray
Jules Ironside
Claire Evans
Sonja Price
Amanda Saint
Jackie Buxton
Claire Waller
Matt Willis
Mari Griffith
Chrissie Bradshaw
Sandra Davies
Kat Mountfort
Bernie Steadman
Isabel Rogers
Shauna Bickley
Sally Miller (writing as Sara Bailey)
Voula Grand
Aneeta Sundararaj
Susie Campbell
Barb Ettridge
E S Rollett
Sophie Cayeux
Laxmi Hariharan
Marjorie Lazoro
Sophie Wellstood
Vicky Newham
Mandy Berriman
Maddie Please (over half a million books sold)
Sophie Jonas-Hill
Fiona Erskine
Britta Jensen
Ruth Heald
Moushmi Biswas
Alice Spigelman
Clare Wade
F J Campbell
Julie Cordiner (writing as Juliette Lawson)
Jane Shufflebotham (writing as Jane Jesmond)
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If you know of anyone I've missed, please shout in the comments and I'll add them to the list.
NB: this post is updated regularly.
To see details of forthcoming courses, click HERE.
Since Jan 2019, there has one free place on each course for an author from an under-represented group. Please see here for details of how to apply for the bursary.
