The following are a list of ammendments to the earlier news items on the Friday pitch to Louise Thurtell at Arena/Allen & Unwin.

1. It is preferred that submissions be sent by email, not snailmail.
2. Mailed material for Friday pitch will not be returned, even if accompanied with a SSAE.
3. Adult fiction only, please. No children's fiction or adult non-fiction.
4. All authors the publisher is interested in will be notified by the Thursday following submission.

Ms Thurtell said; "The concept of the Friday pitch has been a great success. But we just don't have the time to return mailed submissions given the volume of material we're receiving.

" I'm looking for any type of fiction – speculative novels thrillers, crime, chick-lit, espionage, general – that I think has a great story and is well-written."

 

Send submissions, only on a Friday to: louiset@allenandunwin.com 

    Arena/Allen & Unwin have recently contracted its first Friday pitch originated work – a fantasy trilogy by Victorian writer Karen Nikakis. Karen was highly commended by Aurealis interviewer and speculative fiction expert Van Ikin at the 2000 SCiFi Awards in Western Australia.

Congratulations Karen. 

Ian Irvine has sold the last four books of his Runcible Jones fantasy quintet to Penguin Australia, and The Sorcerer's Tower quartet to Scholastic Australia.

Ana Vivas has recently been appointed commissioning editor for Scholastic Press.  She was formerly the children's publisher at Hachette Livre.

Louise Thurtell, the fiction publisher at Arena (Allen & Unwin), has made Friday the day you can pitch your novel by sending your FIRST chapter and a synopsis via email to louiset@allenandunwin.com.  She will only reply if she wants to take it further, so please don't expect a response.  Please only send on a Friday.

Following the announcement of the launch of new imprints in the USA and Australia, Orbit concludes its first major World Rights deal.

Orbit, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Little, Brown Book Group announced that it has recently concluded a four-book World Rights agreement with Trudi Canavan. The seven-figure deal, negotiated with Canavan's Australian agent, will comprise a sequel trilogy and a stand-alone prequel to The Black Magician Trilogy.

All the team at Aurealis congratulate Trudi for this success. Well done and keep writing those great fantasies, Trudi!

Australia is about to have a major new SF/fantasy imprint.  Hachette Livre, the third largest publisher in the world, is launching two new SF and Fantasy imprints: Orbit Australia and Orbit USA. Hachette Livre purchased Orbit, the UK SF and fantasy imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group (formerly Time Warner Book Group) earlier this year. The new imprints will make Orbit a major player in the three largest English language markets in the world.

According to Malcolm Edwards, Managing Director of Hachette Livre Australia: "This is a very exciting development, both for Hachette Livre Australia and for the growing pool of very talented Science Fiction and Fantasy authors in both Australia and New Zealand.  It is rare for large publishers to combine, in such a single minded way, to nurture talent, with the express intention of giving authors the very real opportunity of being published globally, and we are very much looking forward to being part of this pioneering approach."

Kate Forsyth has been writing a series of children's fantasy adventure books set in Cromwell's seventeenth century England. The series has been sold to Australia, the USA, United Kingdom, Germany and Russia for a large six figure advance. Book One, The Gypsy Crown is due out in Australia in September.

Brisbane author William Elliott has won the $10000 inaugural ABC Fiction Award for his fantasy manuscript, The Pilo Family Circus, declaring it a win for Australian fantasy writers.

Aurealis author K J Bishop has been nominated for the John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer.