We’ve had a stellar start to the year for our first Virtual Literary Speed Dating event of 2023, with 314 pitches to 12 publishers and 5 agents over two days. We’re thrilled to share 44% of pitches received an expression of interest from a publisher or agent!

Our warmest congratulations to our members – we wish you all the very best. Should you need assistance on the next steps, the ASA is here to help: read our FAQs about the publishing industry, get your contract reviewed by Authors Legal, or get your questions answered via our free members-only Advice service.

To date we’ve had numerous publishing success stories through Virtual Literary Speed Dating across a range of genres and publishers/agents:

• Filip Vukašin’s Modern Marriage was published in September 2021 by Affirm Press after a successful pitch to his agent Gaby Naher
• Michelle Tom’s Ten Thousand Aftershocks was published in September 2021 by HarperCollins after a successful pitch to agent Sarah McKenzie
• Marg Hickey’s Cutters End was published in August 2021 following a successful pitch to Penguin Random House
• Shelley Burr’s WAKE was published in April 2022 following a successful pitch to Hachette
• Matt Davies’ Things We Bury was published in June 2022 following a successful pitch to Pan Macmillan
• Alex Sarkis’ Something Blue was published in July 2022 following a successful pitch to Ultimo Press
• Ryan Butta’s The Ballad of Abdul Wade was published in July 2022 after a successful pitch to Affirm Press
• Carla Fitzgerald’s How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five was published in August 2022 after a successful pitch to UQP
• Gabriella Margo’s All’s Fair in Love and Tequila was published in late 2022 following a successful pitch to HQ Books, a division of HarperCollins
• Nikki Mottram’s Crows Nest was published in January 2023 by UQP following a successful pitch to agent Benjamin Paz at Curtis Brown Australia
• Jo Dixon’s The House of Now and Then was published in January 2023 following a successful pitch to HQ Books
• Mali Waugh’s Judgement Day was published in February 2023 by Pan Macmillan following a successful pitch to her agent, Martin Shaw
• The first in Shelley Knoll-Miller’s Parcel for series, Parcel for Penguin, was published February 2023 following a successful pitch to Penguin Books Australia
• Peter Scott’s Running Deep was published this year following a successful pitch to Fremantle Press
• Sarah Sasson book Some Things Beautiful will be published in 2023 following a successful pitch to Affirm Press
• Kyra Geddes’ work of historical fiction will be published in 2024 following a successful pitch to Affirm Press

If you have a completed manuscript you’d like to pitch directly to Australian publishers and agents, join us for our next Virtual Literary Speed Dating opportunity. Plus, if you’d like to learn the art of pitching you can join us for our Pitch Perfect course.

This is not the end! While it may feel disappointing, if you did not make a match at this round of Literary Speed Dating that does not mean that there won’t be interest in your work in the future. If you want to try again, do not worry: we’ll be hosting another two Virtual Literary Speed Dating events this year.

To improve your chances of making a match next time we recommend:

• Research the right home for your work: to find a comprehensive list of Australian publishers and agents and their submission guidelines, you might like to browse the ASA’s Guide to the Australian Book Industry, which you receive for free as a member of the ASA
• Hone your pitch: if you’d like to learn the art of a great pitch, join us for Pitch Perfect, our masterclass series that will teach you everything you need to know to prepare for – and nail – your pitch. Importantly, members who have attended Pitch Perfect sessions will be given early access to bookings for future Literary Speed Dating events
• Practice your delivery: delivering a pitch of your work in three minutes can be extremely challenging, particularly when it is online and over Zoom. Learn your pitch by heart, time yourself and practice as many times as you can to ease your nerves on the day
• Undertake a mentorship: if you think you might need professional support to strengthen your manuscript and bring it to a publishable standard, you can undertake a mentorship with one of our author/illustrator mentors.
• Don’t pitch until you’re ready: Ensure you have your work as ready as possible, after multiple drafts, and prepare all the documents ready for submission, such as your author bio and synopsis. If you want to learn more about what you need to be ready, join us for Pitch Perfect.

Of course, if you have any questions you are welcome to use our free members-only Advice service. We are here to help and are only ever a phone call or email away.