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Professional Development Guides

Book Publishing Overviews

Indie verses Traditional: Which should you choose?
(by Steve Vernon)

Criteria & standards for professional hybrid publishing
(proposed by the Independent Book Publishers Association)

So You’ve Written a Book—Now What?
(by Sal Sawler)

Compensation

Letter Template for Offers of Unpaid Work [or uncompensated publication]
(by Nicole Burisch)

The Remuneration of Canadian Writers for Literary Works – A Benchmarking Study.pdf
(commissioned by The Writers’ Union of Canada and Union des écrivain(e)s québécois)

Copyright & Legal Info

Legal Info Nova Scotia

Access Copyright

Editing

10 Things to Know about Working with a Freelance Editor.pdf
(by Tanya Egan Gibson)

Editing Checklist [Determine the type of editing you need].pdf
(by Stacy Innis)

Fiction Editing Checklist.pdf (adapted by Marianne Ward)

Professional Editing Standards (2016).pdf
(by Editors Canada)

Pitching

The Elements of a Good Fiction Pitch.pdf
(by Keanan Byggdin)

The Nonfiction Query / Pitch Letter.pdf
(by Whitney Moran)

Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal.pdf
(by Stephen Kimber)

Promoting

Promoting Your Book with a Small Press.pdf
(by Keanan Byggdin)

Tips for Organizing a Book Launch.pdf
(by WFNS staff)

Tips for Virtual Workshops & Events.pdf
(by WFNS staff)

Quick Guide to Social Media Platforms for Writers.pdf
(by Keanan Byggdin)

1113 Marginal Road

Halifax, NS B3H 4P7

902 423 8116

contact@writers.ns.ca

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Operational Investors

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia is based in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship,” which Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1725. The treaties do not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognize Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet) title and establish the rules for an ongoing relationship between nations.

© Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, 2023. All rights reserved.

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Recommended Experience Levels

The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia (WFNS) recommends that participants in any given workshop have similar levels of creative writing and / or publication experience. This ensures that each participant gets value from the workshop⁠ and is presented with information, strategies, and skills that suit their career stage. The “Recommended experience level” section of each workshop description refers to the following definitions used by WFNS.

  • New writers: those with less than two years’ creative writing experience and/or no short-form publications (e.g., short stories, personal essays, or poems in literary magazines, journals, anthologies, or chapbooks).
  • Emerging writers: those with more than two years’ creative writing experience and/or numerous short-form publications.
  • Early-career authors: those with 1 or 2 book-length publications or the equivalent in book-length and short-form publications.
  • Established authors: those with 3 or 4 book-length publications.
  • Professional authors: those with 5 or more book-length publications.

Please keep in mind that each form of creative writing (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and writing for children and young adults) provides you with a unique set of experiences and skills, so you might consider yourself an ‘established author’ in one form but a ‘new writer’ in another.

For “intensive” and “masterclass” creative writing workshops, which provide more opportunities for peer-to-peer feedback, the recommended experience level should be followed closely.

For all other workshops, the recommended experience level is just that—a recommendation—and we encourage potential participants to follow their own judgment when registering.

If you’re uncertain of your experience level with regard to any particular workshop, please feel free to contact us at communications@writers.ns.ca