Edit & Pitch Your Novel – Advanced
Applications
Edit & Pitch Your Novel – Advanced
Polish your prose and put together a compelling pitch package with expert tuition and support from publishing professionals.
Tutor
Lauren PearsonLength
3 monthsLocation
Online,ZoomWriting Goal
Edit & pitchTake your rough first draft all the way to finished and polished novel and put together a compelling pitch package ready to send to agents on this specially designed course.
The course surpassed my expectations. Having access to industry experts was invaluable. I realised that writing a novel is like anything else that's really difficult – you need expert advice and support. Editing my manuscript feels doable now.
Get expert feedback and encouragement from an experienced author-tutor, Lauren Pearson, who also previously worked as a literary agent. You’ll also attend series of Zoom masterclasses from publishing professionals and acclaimed authors to give you the inside track, a comprehensive set of teaching videos and resources, and will join a supportive peer group of 15 students, all working at a high level.
On this elite course – which includes the complete Edit & Pitch Your Novel teaching materials delivered on our online learning platform – you’ll have plenty of time to work through all of the tasks so that you can hone that novel, build your confidence, as well as perfect your pitch over three months.
This course will run from 18 March to 4 July 2025.
Tutors
Lauren Pearson
Lauren Pearson has worked in publishing for more than 20 years. She has been an agent for both adult and children’s authors, first in New York and then in the UK, most recently for Curtis Brown. Throughout her career she has worked with a number of acclaimed and bestselling writers, including Audrey Niffenegger, Gregory David Roberts, Babette Cole, Isla Fisher, Aidan Chambers and Emily Barr. She is now a freelance editor and ghostwriter of both children’s and adult fiction and non-fiction and is the author of five books for young readers: The Crabtree School series from Scholastic, and The Sleepover from Orion Children’s Books. She is a graduate of Duke University and the Radcliffe Publishing Course (now the Columbia Publishing Course). Lauren's first adult fiction novel, Very Slowly All at Once will be published in January 2026 with Harper Collins.
Read our interview with Lauren to discover more about her writing and approach to teaching creative writing.
What does this course give you?
- Flexible study: Teaching for this course is entirely online, meaning that you can take part from anywhere in the world, at a time that suits you. The course is delivered via interactive forum discussions with your tutor and fellow students alongside pre-recorded teaching videos on our bespoke learning platform, which we have developed exclusively for our students. The ‘live’ elements of this course (taking place at set times) are the five Zoom industry masterclasses and your one-to-one-tutorials. Timings of these sessions will always be confirmed in advance.
- A community of writers: Our selective applications process means that you will be writing your novel in a peer group of 15 students working at a high level. Many of our former students have found trusted readers with us and formed strong working friendships that go on long after the course is over.
- Weekly teaching posts: Every Tuesday your tutor Lauren Pearson will post on our Learning Platform with insights and tips. These posts will stimulate lively online discussions.
- Teaching videos, notes & resources: You’ll get access to a comprehensive set of teaching videos plus substantial notes and resources from Anna Davis, delivered via our Learn platform, which underpin the live teaching.
- Tutor feedback & one-to-one tutorials: You will have two 30 minute one-to-one tutorials on Zoom with Lauren. One will be early in the course and one on your submission package towards the end of the course. She'll also be providing written feedback on the tasks set across the course.
- Industry masterclasses: Top authors, literary agents & publishers will share their insights into editing and pitching in special 90-minute live Zoom teaching sessions. Topics will include rewriting, line-editing and working with publishers. Zoom sessions will take place on Wednesday evening, unless otherwise stated.
- Synopsis & agent letter feedback: We’ll draw on our expertise to give you critiques of your synopsis and the all-important pitch letter.
MASTERCLASS SPEAKERS
Join special live Zoom sessions with leading publishing professionals and literary agents.
Anna Davis
Anna Davis is the founder and Director of the Curtis Brown Creative writing school. She is the author of five acclaimed novels which have been published in twenty languages. She has been a journalist and Guardian columnist, as well as a Curtis Brown literary agent. She taught creative writing at the University of Manchester and in many other settings before founding Curtis Brown Creative in 2011.
Jenn Ashworth
Jenn Ashworth’s first novel, A Kind of Intimacy, was published in 2009 and won a Betty Trask Award. On the publication of her second, Cold Light (Sceptre, 2011) she was featured on the BBC’s The Culture Show as one of the UK’s twelve best new writers. In 2019 she published a memoir-in-essays, Notes Made While Falling which was a New Statesman Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. Her latest novel is Ghosted: A Love Story. She lives in Lancashire and is a Professor of Writing at Lancaster University.
Craig Lye
Craig Lye is a commissioning editor with a background in historical fiction, having previously worked at Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Orion on authors including Ben Kane, Christian Cameron and Simon Turney, among others. At Canelo he is seeking historical, thriller and action/adventure titles.
Lisa Babalis
Lisa works as an editorial consultant to the book department at Curtis Brown. Her role ranges from broad-brush editing to detailed line edits for debut authors, or more established names who need a reader's viewpoint. Lisa joined Curtis Brown in 2011 as Jonny Geller’s assistant and came back part-time after maternity leave. She previously worked for four years in the theatre department of The Agency, and prior to that, she worked in magazine publishing.
Sabhbh Curran
Sabhbh is a literary agent at Curtis Brown working with Sheila Crowley and her wonderful list of clients while also building her own list across fiction and non-fiction. Before joining Curtis Brown in the summer of 2018, she worked with literary agents Sonia Land and Vivien Green. Sabhbh studied English at Oxford followed by a literature MPhil at Cambridge, specializing in Renaissance London Literature.
Lily Cooper
Lily Cooper has worked in publishing for nearly a decade. After starting as a trainee on the HarperCollins Graduate Scheme, she began her editorial career working at HarperVoyager and did a six-year stint at Hodder & Stoughton working across both commercial genre and literary fiction before joining Penguin, Michael Joseph in 2023, with a focus on acquiring book club fiction. She’s worked with a number of bestselling and critically acclaimed writers throughout her career, including Abi Daré, Claire Daverley, Sara Sheridan, Jodi Picoult, Jay Kristoff, Stephanie Garber, Emma Straub and Charmaine Wilkerson.
Course schedule
This course will be delivered via our private online Learning Platform and in live teaching sessions on Zoom. Please note that precise dates of sessions and details of course speakers are subject to change.
INTRODUCTION & REVIEWING YOUR NOVEL
Tues 18 Mar - Mon 24 MarTHE REWRITE DOCTOR
Tues 25 Mar - Mon 31 MarEDITING: AN AUTHOR'S APPROACH
Tues 1 - Mon 7 AprTHE REWRITE CHECK-UP
Tues 8 Apr - Mon 14 AprEaster Break
Tues 15 Apr - Mon 21 AprRevising & Polishing
Tues 22 Apr - Mon 28 AprScene by scene
Tues 29 Apr - Mon 5 MayThe Synopsis
Tues 6 May - Mon 12 MayThe Publisher's Perspective
Tues 13 May - Mon 19 MayWriting your agent letter
Tues 20 May - Mon 2 JunAGENT SUBMISSION TIPS
Tues 3 Jun - Mon 9 JunThe Agent's Perspective
Tues 10 Jun - Mon 16 JunConclusions
Tues 17 Jun - Fri 4 Jul
COURSE FEES & DISCOUNTS
The course fee of £1,600 (inc VAT) per student is payable, in full, by bank transfer or cheque before the start of the course. However, if you are unable to pay the full fee upfront, let us know and we can arrange an instalment plan.
Alumni of our selective three- or six-month Writing Your Novel courses and those who’ve taken the original Edit & Pitch Your Novel course are eligible for a £150 discounted fee. There's also a £50 discount available for writers who’ve taken Anna Davis’s one-day Rewrite Doctor course.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Our selective applications process means that you will be in a peer group of 15 students working at a high level.
Please apply with the first 3,000 words of the novel you’d like to work on during the course, and a synopsis of no more than a page (both need to be in the same document, as you can only upload ONE file on the application form).
We will respond to entries throughout the application period. The deadline for applications is Thursday 13 March 2025.
We are offering priority entry to former students of our three- or six-month Writing Your Novel courses (online or in London). We, therefore, advise people who are keen to join this course to apply early.
If you encounter any problems during the application process, or have any more questions about the course, please email help@curtisbrowncreative.co.uk for assistance.
