About Jacq Burns

My mum gave me my first bookish job; sharpening pencils and stacking textbooks during the school holidays.  But it was when I met my favourite author, Alice Walker, while bookselling at Adelaide Writers’ Week that I became set on a career in publishing.

Moving to London, I began commissioning books for Random House’s Vermilion imprint, the personal development, business, wellbeing and parenting list, eventually moving to Harper Collins as Editorial Director before setting up an authors’ agency, Jacqburns.com and co-founding London Writers’ Club.

I help authors to develop and build their ideas and encourage them to go deep with their book. I mentor and advise throughout the writing process and help put a commercial twist on the work. When it comes to getting work published, I offer advice on the best course of action for the project which could be conventional publishing or self publishing.

I agent non-fiction and run writing retreats and workshops for fiction and non-fiction writers. I’ve ghostwritten a range of subjects from neuroscience to forced marriage and also wrote humorous books under a pseudonym. My book, Write a Bestseller, is about writing bestselling fiction.  The non-fiction version is under construction.

These are just some of the ways that I help authors every day; see the help for writers page for more information.