Publisher Willing To Pay New Authors A £24,000 Salary

Between The Ropes

The Guardian: New publisher plans to offer budding authors £24,000 salary

De Montfort Literature will employ an algorithm ‘to identify career novelists’, and hopes to free its writers from second jobs

Even the most revered authors held down day jobs, from TS Eliot’s time at Lloyd’s to Walt Whitman’s stint as a government clerk. Now a “successful hedge fund with a passion for literature” is offering wannabe novelists the chance to turn literature itself into the nine to five, by offering a salary to its writers.

De Montfort Literature, a new publishing company that is part of London hedge fund De Montfort Capital, is offering a £24,000 starting salary to writers who pass its selection process, which includes an algorithm that is “designed to identify career novelists”, psychometric tests and interviews. With up to 10 places initially available, De Montfort will also offer mentors and editors to provide advice and support, as well as designing, promoting and publishing the work. Authors would receive 50% of profits.

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Bookyards Editor: I am willing to bet this publisher is going to be inundated with CVs.