Liverpool author gaining attention in the USA with 'first of its kind'

A Liverpool author is gaining attention from USA producers due to a new sharing platform.

John Maxwell is a filmmaker and lecturer in creative writing at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). His book ‘Water Street’ was published in 2023 (2nd Edition) and centres around an act of sabotage by American spies in 1863 during the American Civil War and the role Liverpool played during the war.

Due to a new platform 'WriteSeen' launched by co-founder of WriteSeen Jonathon Nimmons, who graduated from LJMU in 2014, John’s novel to be reviewed for screen by American producers. The 51-year-old grew up hearing stories of his family history from Liverpool dock labourers, links to the Lady Lever family to the Irish hunger refugees which was the inspiration behind his book ‘Water Street’.

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John told the ECHO: "WriteSeen has placed my book ‘Water Street’ with a clutch of American producers in a very short space of time. The idea is to develop it for the screen as a transatlantic story that covers a key moment of Liverpool's history during the American Civil War, so in a sense it's coming home".

Jonathon Nimmons, 33, the co-founder of WriteSeen along with Daniel Montgomery and Rachid Jamal launched the platform in 2023 from a concept developed in 2021. Jonathon said: "WriteSeen is the first platform in the world allowing for all writers, creators and artists the opportunity to upload their written content with a timestamp to then be seen by verified agents, producers, publishers, and entertainment managers, globally for free".

Members upload their content, as well as all key details around their works by freely sharing creative content with a video pitch, video and audio clips which can be seen immediately by industry professionals worldwide. This layout saves professionals time in evaluating each key area before committing to reading the full material.

Works published on the platform are only accessible by; verified agents, publishers and producers. The platform is also protected from AI content scraping tools, is encrypted and industry professionals cannot copy content either.

Jonathon added: "We’re constantly developing new features which our members are actively asking for. John Maxwell currently has his book Water Street being reviewed for screen, another member just made an interaction with a literary agent who reviewed their manuscript.

Industry professionals interested in a writer's work can exchange notes and get more information should they wish to follow up and commission the work. At present the platform has almost 800 members from over 38 countries, and is growing all the time.

Jonathon said: "WriteSeen is the first of its kind, nothing like this has ever been developed for all creative fields in one platform. Its features are novel and the concept is ambitious, meaning, now a poet who writes film scripts and novels, can upload all their content securely in a central location.

"This also inspires adaptation of content, music can gain interest in not only the music industry, but film, tv, games and theatre. The possibilities with WriteSeen are endless, but Rome wasn’t built in a day".

John Maxwell continued: "I've followed Jonathon Nimmons' career with enthusiasm since he graduated with us in 2014. It's a sign of the synergy that we're looking to create at LJMU, not just for the duration of the degree but for a career and Jonathon has taken this to the ninth degree in his building an incredible platform for the Creative Arts.

"Proof in the pudding is that he is forging opportunities for his former lecturer. Water Street is part of a series of books covering Liverpool in the 19th century, taking in the African and Irish diaspora and the world-changing role of the city in that period.

"Jonathon is changing the world himself in the 21st century. I'm happy to be part of it".

WriteSeen has recently featured in The Hollywood Times, Comicon and the UK Tech News.

For information visit WriteSeen HERE

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