I recently attended a writers’ conference in sunny Brisbane. First up was a panel of editors explaining what they like – and what they don’t like – to see when authors submit stories. Their tips were fantastic, so I scribbled them down as fast as I could.

On the panel were David Reiter, publisher at IP Kidz www.ipoz.biz/, Claire Craig, publisher at Pan Macmillan http://www.panmacmillan.com.au/, and agent Alex Adsett http://alexadsett.com.au/.

Down-to-earth and approachable, they discussed what they want to see in a story. They also explained the dos and don’ts of submitting work to publishers and agents.

Here are some of the tips – straight from the source!

1. Don’t chase trends

Many writers try to hurl themselves onto the latest bandwagon. Sure enough, we’ve seen waves of wizard books and swarms of vampire novels. But is searching for the latest greatest thing a good strategy? Although…