Dear Writer,

Breaking into the publishing mainstream is notoriously difficult. Becoming a known, successful and widely read author requires not just a strong idea and a well-written book, but also some closely guarded knowledge about how the publishing industry actually works.

As an experienced publishing house with a 30+ year track record of bringing noteworthy books into the world, we know exactly what it takes to succeed in this industry. Our mentorship program is for writers who are serious about getting their books published, and reaching a wide and relevant audience with their story and message.

Introducing Exisle Academy Mentorships

We are inviting a small group of writers from around the world to receive guidance, instruction, feedback and mentorship from our experienced team of publishers and authors. You will receive direct, personal one-on-one contact with a skilled mentor in your area of writing who will help you complete your book, sharpen your message, pitch your work, and succeed commercially as an author. 

Additionally, you will be given private access to lectures and training materials designed to teach you what it actually takes to make it as an author in today's world. These are unique materials specifically created for this course and not available to the public, designed to supplement the personal guidance you will be receiving directly from the instructors themselves, giving you the tools to build your own future as an author.

Before we dive deeper into exactly what's on the mentorship course and how it is structured, let's meet your instructors:

Exisle Publishing was founded in the early 1990s with the mission of giving a voice to writers whom the mainstream often overlooked. In 2013 we started our children's imprint, EK Books, which has the DNA of a self help publisher and has joyously spread into environmental, creative learning, and other subjects.

Although we've since become something of a mainstream publisher ourselves, with branches in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom, we haven't forgotten our roots, and our mission. With Exisle Academy we want to guide people who have a message, who have something to say, but who may not yet have the knowledge, experience and industry contacts, along the path to making their book the success it deserves to be

Your Exisle Academy mentorship is designed to help you master every stage of the writing and publishing journey, and includes both one-on-one mentorship, as well as lectures and training material. Because of the amount of personal attention provided to each student, only 12 writers are accepted for each writing style (non-fiction, children's, fiction).

Your mentorship and training is structured around three key learning objectives:

• Your Book. Deliver Your Message and Know How to Get Your Book Ready for Professional Publication
• Your Pitch. Create a Captivating Pitch And Make Your Book Irresistible to Major Publishing Houses
• Your Business. Master the Game of Sales and Publicity and Make Your Name as an Author

Book publishing is arguably the most competitive industry in the world with tens of thousands of new books published every year. Authors who simply ‘leave it all to their publisher’ generally remain largely unknown. This course guides you across the relevant critical areas within a publishing house so you can understand what is going on with your book. Once you have that knowledge you will find our insider’s guide to making the most of your relationship with your publisher can make a big difference to your success.’

You will be guided through what publishers look for and, department by department, how they actually work. We will tell you what questions to ask. The Exisle Academy team has experience with over 20 publishing houses across the world and will give you the inside knowledge. If you are going through a traditional publisher, using a third-party service or self-publishing you will find your guide to win the hidden competition for expertise and attention can make a big difference to your success.

Of course, your needs are specific so we have created three separate cohorts and you will be joining a group of no more than eleven others. This enables one to one interaction with at least two of our experts as well as the opportunity to meet other professionally minded writers like yourself.

We know that you want to have a clear idea of what you can expect as an Exisle Academy student, so here are some recent emails from students in our earlier 2021 cohort. All words are their own, emails may have been lightly trimmed to remove sensitive or extraneous information and protect privacy. As you will see, Academy students include intelligent and driven authors, from all works of life, at various different stages of progress.

Our Students, In Their Own Words:

Just a quick note to say video one has been a good insight and reinforced some of what I know, but also gave me a much better insight of the acquisition process and the ‘battle’ that is sometimes waged between editorial and marketing. It’s the same in journalism with the push-pull between reporters and sales executives! It makes me feel more positive about a couple of my PB manuscripts that have made it to meetings, but ultimately were knocked back. I shall keep persevering, as one of my goals is to have my work published by Exisle/EK Books...
Catherine
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Last, but not the least, I wanted to express my great appreciation and respect to Exisle for being respectful, structured, and open to offer options and ways for new writers and illustrators to get insights and guidance on how to enter the world of publishing.

That is truly advanced of you, guys, and deserves admiration.

Maria
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Thank you for your constructive and helpful comments on my picture books and for the two articles.

I took your much appreciated advice and revised [TITLE]  into an international version, eliminating the mention of [SUBJECT], but keeping my theme, even though we have differences we are all a part of the human family.

E. L.
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Thanks for the feedback. Your comments are helpful and reassuring, and increasingly echo of how I am feeling about the book...

Writing is often such a long and lonely process. Having two for company with this book is a blessing, an absolutely fabulous one.

Your interest, consideration and the fact that you are often looking at my work late in the evening, is noted...
Christine
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Just a quick update: After watching Nathan’s video presentation [Video Lesson #3] I realised two things. (1) I still didn’t have a clear idea of who I think I can be of most service to in my writing and (2) Social media has been something I have ignored.

So that’s where my focus has been and I’ve had some positive progress...

...Based on Nathan’s advice, I have invested in some help with LinkedIn – which in just over a fortnight my LinkedIn Profile Rating has gone from level 3 (Advanced) to the top level (All-Star)...

.. Gareth, I want to say again how much I’ve enjoyed working with you as my authorship mentor, and could you thank all involved for the value I have personally gained from investing in and completing the program.
David P.

You're about to embark on a supportive journey towards becoming a successful, published author. With guidance from a relevant expert on-hand at all times, your 10-week program is designed to help you master each stage of the writing and publishing process. Here's how it breaks down, week by week:

• Week One: Tell us Your Story! You will receive a comprehensive survey where you can tell us about any books you may have in the works (or in manuscript form), as well as your author goals. Based on the results of this survey, you will be assigned a mentor from the Exisle Publishing / EK Books team whose experience best aligns with your goals and writing type. If you have a manuscript or even an outline for your book ready, you can send this to your mentor who will start to read it and begin to develop a plan for helping you to become a successful author.
  
  
• Week Two: Meet Your Mentor! You will connect with your assigned mentor for a 30-minute Zoom or Skype call. We are happy to work with authors in all time zones so you and your mentor will have freedom to arrange a call at a mutually convenient time. There, you can discuss your book/books so far, as well as your aspirations and what you are looking to accomplish.
  
  
• Week Three: Video Lesson #1: Hearing Yes! You will receive a private video lesson created by a senior instructor from Exisle Publishing. The theme of this lesson will be: Getting Accepted: Your Publishing Options and What Needs to Happen
  
  
• Week Four: Your Book, Reviewed. Your mentor has been busy immersing his/herself in your book, and will now provide you with a comprehensive 400-word feedback document including suggested actions on what to do next in order to take your book to where it needs to be. You will begin work on any revisions on your book suggested by your mentor.
  
  
• Week Five: Video Lesson #2: How Books are Sold. Receive your second exclusive video lesson created by Academy professionals. This week's lesson covers The Sales Department: How they work, and how to become the author they champion.

• Week Six: Group Zoom Meeting! Connect with your mentor alongside your entire class (maximum 11 other authors) for a free-flowing Q&A session where you can follow-up on anything covered so far and compare experiences with your classmates. A special guest from Exisle Publishing or EK Books will be present.
  
  
• Week Seven: Video Lesson #3: Producing a Beautiful Book. Receive your third exclusive video lesson. This week's lesson covers Book Production: Who does what, and how to get your book the high quality treatment it deserves
  
  
• Week Eight: Review Progress on Your Book. Your mentor will check in with you to see how things are going with the book. Remember, over the previous four weeks you will have been working on revisions to your book based on feedback from your mentor. At this point, you can send in any changes you have made for a further round of feedback and suggestions. If there are any points of confusion, you can raise this with your mentor who will do their best to help.
  
  
• Week Nine: Video Lesson #4: Finding Your Audience. Receive your fourth and final video lesson. The Global Sales and Marketing Process - learn directly from leading publicists and marketing executives exactly how to get media attention and build a fan-base and following for your book.
  
  
• Week Ten: Your Final Review and Suggested Next Steps. Congratulations on dedicating 10 weeks towards achieving your writing and publishing goals! At this final point, you will receive an updated feedback document from your mentor, summarizing what you have achieved, what your key strengths are, and your best options for moving forward and bringing your aspirations to life.

As well as these formal contacts, it is Exisle Academy’s practice to have an additional informal set of communications with our clients including emails and sometimes the additional phone call. You will be part of our family, at least for a while, and we will make your success our #1 priority.

You're about to make an investment in your writing career. Our expert instructors will use their decades of professional knowledge and industry experience to help you develop, pitch, and market your book and bring your message, story and perspective to the world. The above buttons will take you to our secure registration and payment portals, where you will pay either a one-time upfront payment, or three (total) monthly instalments, depending on the option you have selected. If USD is not your home currency, an automatic conversion will be applied upon purchase; you can see approximate conversion rates here. A receipt will be sent automatically to your email upon purchase, and a member of our team will be in touch shortly afterwards to arrange your onboarding as a student. Please use the email address below for any questions about the payment process or the mentorship course in general. Please note, in the extremely unlikely event that we do not feel a student is able to benefit from the mentorship program, or we deem their work inappropriate, we reserve the right to remove them from the program in week 1, a full refund will be issued in this case. As mentors are committed to facilitating the best possible outcome for students, course content may be slightly modified based on student needs / performance.

For VIP Support, Please Contact Exisle Academy Program Coordinator Nathan Thomas at [email protected]

Formal Certificates Of Completion Available On Request - Just Email Us After Registering and Our Team Will Arrange it For You