INTERVIEW: Harry Bingham on publishing and the Festival of Writing

Harry Bingham's debut novel, The Money Makers, hit the Sunday Times bestseller list. Since then he's written four more for Harper Collins and is Editorial Director of the Writers' Workshop. As well as being Britain’s largest writers’ services company, the Writers' Workshop organises the York Festival of Writing.

Harry told the BookShed about his path to publication, the Writer's Workshop and the upcoming Festival of Writing.

"I first came to writing by accident. My wife fell seriously ill. She needed me at home to look after her, so I gave up my work in the City to do just that. But since sitting at her bedside in a darkened room wasn't entirely complete as a way of life, I used the opportunity to fulfill a childhood ambition: to write a novel. The novel I wrote then - The Money Makers - was taken on by an agent and sold for decent money to HarperCollins. Four further novels followed. Then non-fiction. My seventh and eighth books are out this year."

"And when, after what seemed like forever, my wife started to get a little better, I found myself with more time than I could quite fill by writing novels. So, almost as a spur of the moment idea, I set up the Writers' Workshop, a place where first time writers could come to get editorial and market advice from seasoned pros. A friend of mine, also a pro writer, agreed to do some editorial work for me, and I set up a website, where I introduced us both as 'Editorial Directors', vaguely implying that there were loads of other editorial staff lurking in the background."

"We got the first few manuscripts through. Then more and more, until we desperately needed more editorial staff to handle the flow. The vaguely fraudulent implication on the website, became thoroughly truthful almost right away. We now have some 80 editors, covering everything from sci-fi to literary fiction, screenplays to poetry. All our editors are thoroughly well established in their fields, and able to give tough, sympathetic realistic advice without rubbing people up the wrong way."

"When we get work strong enough to sell, then we help with that part of things too, and we generally announce one or two authorial successes with agents or publishers every month. We've had clients on the bestseller lists, indeed."

"Because the demand for top quality services of this sort greatly exceeds the supply, we've also ended up offering a range of other services: one day courses, a flexible comprehensive writing course which takes writers from one-sentence idea all the way through to final draft - and of course our Festival of Writing which promises to be the biggest and best event of its kind."

"The speed of our growth has always taken me by surprise. I've always focused more on my writing than on the business, and it seems that the business has grown despite, not because of me. The secret, though, is fairly simple. Every single person connected with the Writers' Workshop is a writer. For pretty much all of us, we're not in this game to make money, but because we love it. I think that passion is reflected in the way we operate, and in the way we approach the writers we deal with. If you've written a book and you're serious about it, then we will be too. That's not a corporate style guarantee - all plasticky smile and legal small print - it's just what happens when passion encounters passion."

The York Festival of Writing 2010 takes place 9-11 April. More details at the festival website.