ABSTRACT
From 2008 to 2018, Hachette Australia (one of Australia’s largest fiction publishers) partnered with community to offer an opportunity for unpublished writers to work with industry professionals developing their manuscripts. Many participants have gone on to be published and contribute to Australian literary culture, and the Hachette Manuscript Development Program became a coveted pathway to publication for Australian writers. As the Hachette Program showed, publishers have much to offer creative writers, both in terms of sharpening their craft through highly experienced editorial direction, and in terms of providing industry context that can help writers understand who their audience is, and develop the best skills for connecting to that audience. This chapter explores the positives and negatives of the Program, as communicated to us by the participants. Underpinning both positives and negatives was the inherent power imbalance between emerging writers and established publishers: while the might and money of a ‘big five’ publisher was one of the chief contributors to benefit, it also undermined some interactions and outcomes.
