HI
I'm looking for information about this organisation, I've searched on google with little joy other than their own website.
They have run various competitions recently, the latest is for unpublished writers to join a programme to completion including actual publication.
However if one is invited there is a hefty £1800 deposit to put down. Whilst this is refunded if unpublished and also seems good value I was wanting to gain affirmation of the BWA credentials etc before handing them a cheque.
I would be very grateful for any feedback about this organisation please.
Many thanks
Jack

This was one of the more coherent and extended discussions of it all...

http://howpublishingreallyworks.com/?p=3682

Emma

Wow, very interesting and rather worrying. I applied to the Brit Writers get published programme, and it sounds great.... but they do demand the £1795 up front, and I understand they want this paid before Christmas. Why are they in such a rush?

Anyone else know any more about Brit Writers, and what they and their winner have achieved etc?

I find it very odd that Brit Writers say there are only 15 slots on this programme but they seem to be accepting money from any interested writer prepared to pay up front. Isn't there any filtering first - request for chapters for example - to make sure they pick the best 15 applicants?

I would be very, VERY careful about this. Things can go wrong, not because people mean to scam others, but also because they've not thought through and planned properly.

Probably best to wait a year or two (assuming they run it annually) in the hope they get all the bugs worked out, and to see if those taking part thought it was worth the money.

this is refunded if unpublished

Be very careful about this sort of thing. Inevitably there will be conditional clauses, so be sure to read the small print very carefully and then some.

They can not guarantee publication by a top publisher before the end of 2011 unless they have an agreement with a top publisher to publish regardless of the quality of the writing. I would hazard a guess they don’t have that, so alarm bells should be ringing. And how do they define top publisher?

For any unpublished writers who have £1800 to spare, there are several very reputable consultants who can give one-to-one advice and guidance. See what they offer before committing to something like this.

Dee