If you have the draft of a book lying about, whether it is a novel or a non-fiction book such as a travelogue or autobiography, or an anthology of your short stories, but you aren’t quite sure of the next steps, this 2-hour workshop with Ian Skewis, a professional editor with over 300 books under his belt, and Girvan author Alan Jones, will outline the steps you need to take to turn your rough draft into a manuscript suitable for submitting to agents or publishers, or for you to self-publish.
From your initial self-editing, finding beta readers and a cover designer, an editor and a proofreader, writing the blurb and your synopsis, and searching for agents or publishers, Ian and Alan will walk you through the process.
IAN SKEWIS
Ian is a freelance editor and proofreader and a member of the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP). He has edited and proofread over 300 books (fiction and non-fiction) for self-published authors and publishing houses in both UK and US English styles, including Alan Jones’ Sturmtaucher Trilogy. He also has free writing courses available on TikTok and YouTube. If you check out his website, you can see a small sample of the books he has worked on. Many of these books have become bestsellers, won awards and been translated into different languages.
As an author he has appeared at many events including Bloody Scotland, Newcastle Noir, Noir at the Bar (Edinburgh, Newcastle & Harrogate), European Championships (Glasgow), Waterstones (London & Glasgow), Aye Write! and Book Week Scotland, appearing with other authors including Ian Rankin and Ramsey Campbell.
He has also chaired many events in Waterstones and Newcastle Noir for the following authors: SJI Holliday, Anna Mazzola, William Ryan, Lesley Kelly, Tana Collins, Jackie McLean, Natalie Fergie and Shona Kinsella.
He is always open to taking a look at your manuscript – you can get in touch via the Contact form on the website.
ALAN JONES
Alan Jones, better known in Girvan as former veterinary surgeon, Alan Jeans, is a Scottish author with three gritty crime stories to his name, the first two set in Glasgow, the third one based in London, and a WW2 trilogy published in the second half of 2021. It is a Holocaust story set in Northern Germany.
He is married with four grown up children and seven wonderful grandchildren and has lived in Girvan, where he worked as a vet since 1987, retiring in 2020 to concentrate on his writing, being one of the coxswains on the RNLI Girvan Lifeboat, and helping to run the Girvan Arts Festival.
His crime novels are not for the faint-hearted, with some strong language, violence, and various degrees of sexual content. The first two books also contain a fair smattering of Glasgow slang.
He is one of the few self-published authors to be given a
panel at the Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival in Stirling and has done two pop-up book launches at previous festivals.
He spent the last five years of his working live researching
and writing the Sturmtaucher Trilogy, and the first year of his retirement publishing it.
Ian Skewis was the proofreader and editor for the Trilogy.
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