Shop The Novel, Pitch the House - Sept. 25-28, '08

The NYC Pitch and Shop promotes aspiring authors writing in the genres of commercial and literary fiction, serious and light women's fiction, historical fiction, mystery/thriller and detective, high-concept young adult, as well as memoir and narrative nonfiction. Four times a year in New York City, this conference comes together to provide a unique opportunity for writers with completed manuscripts or works-in-progress to not only workshop their novel with professional fiction editors, but meet and pitch top acquisition editors from major publishing houses such as Berkley, Doubleday, Penguin, Random House, Viking, and more. Following the conference, on an average, one out of three projects are requested for a close read by publishers.

Stop by our NYC Pitch and Shop NEWS page for the latest updates on project requests and contracts signed, and read How It Works for more details on conference benefits. Simply put, the NYC Pitch and Shop goal is to set writers on a realistic path to publication by providing not only opportunity, but guidance on the novel from the best industry professionals in New York.

Additionally, as needed, we will produce agent and further publishing contacts for writers who have very competitive manuscripts. If our writers succeed, we succeed. See our commentary by former attendees for a realistic assessment.



Is This Writers Conference Right For You?

Was it right for those who met with success as a result of the conference? See commentary by former attendees, and our news page, both noted above. Also, please review our criteria for who should participate in this conference and who should not. If this pitch conference is not right for you and you require craft instruction from professionals, we recommend Algonkian Writer Conferences and the New York Writers Workshop (NYWW).

The acquisition Editors attending the "NYC Pitch and Shop" writers conference represent a variety of genres. All of them have worked with top authors and most work with more than one genre. Their bios, as well as more information on the sponsors and the bios of the workshop leaders can be found here.


What Makes This Conference Different?

Algonkian Writer Conferences and NYWW have melded faculty, connections, and expertise to produce the first novel pitch conference in NYC (and the U.S.) that not only provides writers with sufficient time to properly pitch top editors from major publishers, but also three intensive "pitch workshops" designed to teach the art of the pitch and at the same time, work with writers to improve their novels.



New Book Publicity Panel at NYC

Melissa Broder

Melissa Broder is a Senior Publicist at Penguin Group (USA) in the Berkley/ NAL/ Riverhead/ Perigee division. Most recently, she has worked with such bestselling authors as: Harumi Kurihara (HARUMI'S JAPANESE COOKING), Kate Jacobs (THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB) and Sloane Crosley (I WAS TOLD THERE'D BE CAKE). Melissa began her journey in literary publicity at Tor/Forge, an imprint of what was then Holtzbrinck publishers (now Macmillan). Melissa holds a BA in English from Tufts University and is currently getting her MFA in Poetry at The City College of New York, where she is the recipient of The 2008 Stark Poetry Prize in Honor of Raymond Patterson and The 2008 Jerome Lowell Dejur Award in Creative Writing.


Ami Greko

Ami Greko oversees the marketing and publicity department for Folio Literary Management. Her first publicity job took place at at Viking Penguin. Honing her skills with the likes of A. M. Homes, J. M. Coetzee, Martha Grimes, Dave Sobel and Simon Reynolds, she found strengths in both online marketing and event coordination. Advancing to a publicity job with Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2006, she continued her focus on events and got the opportunity to further challenge herself and expand her publicity skills. At Folio Literary Management, Ami works with authors and publishing houses to create comprehensive publicity campaigns that utilize internet, regional and grassroots marketing, in addition to traditional publicity methods.


Susan Schwartzman

Susan Schwartzman has been in the publishing field for more than 20 years. She began her career in book publicity in 1992 as a freelance in-house book publicist, working for major publishers, including Workman Publishing, William Morrow, Penguin-Putnam, Harcourt Brace, Villard, Wiley, Avon Books, Simon & Schuster, Warner Books, Red Dress Ink, New American Library, and Downtown Press. As an independent book publicist, Susan has promoted a wide variety of literary and commercial fiction and nonfiction titles. Her business, Susan Schwartzman Public Relations, has provided major media placements for her clients in major media throughout the country.

Click here for more details about the conference.

If you need to contact us click here.


ADDITIONAL OFFERINGS

Traditional Novel, Fiction, and Non-Fiction Workshops
Algonkian Writer Conferences
New York Writers Workshop (NYWW)

Interviews


 
 


NEW BOOK PUBLICIST
PANEL AT
NYC PITCH CONFERENCE



We are pleased to announce that future NYC events will include a book publicist panel composed of experts in the field of marketing books and authors. More news.  


NOVELS BY
ATTENDEES NOW
AVAILABLE FOR ORDER
AT AMAZON BOOKS



Madapple - by Christina Meldrum, now available for order from Amazon. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Aslaug is a suspect. And the more her story unravels, the more questions unfold.

The Fiction Class - by Susan Breen, now available for order from Amazon. The collision of truth and fiction can result in romance or even redemption—or so say the writing exercises and life lessons that make up Breen's debut novel.

Obedience - by Will Lavendar, now available for order from Amazon. Professor Williams assigns his students the most sinister of logic problems. “There’s been a murder,” he tells them.


WRITERS AND AUTHORS
TALK ABOUT THE
NYC PITCH AND SHOP


Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, author Kate Gallison. Her second mystery series featured Mother Lavinia Grey, an Episcopal priest in a small town in New Jersey struggling to keep her church open and solve the occasional murder.  

Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, Madhu Ghosh. This conference is very different from others in that it is what it says it is. Most conferences try to cram in craft lectures with readings and then interviews with editors and agents, which can get chaotic and confusing.  

Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, Randy Susan Meyers. The critique isn't for the faint of heart, but is for those who truly want to hear where they need to work on their presentation, how commercial their ideas are, and about the effectiveness of their pitch  

Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, writer Christine Stewart, writer in residence at the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, Director of the Write Here, Write Now workshops, founding co-sponsor of the Baltimore chapter of the Maryland Writers Association, and recipient of the Ruth Lilly Fellowship.  

Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, Stephen R. Levine. My character is sort of a modern day Roskolnikov – too smart for his own good – and the story has universal appeal. It's not just the story of a BAD RABBI but a man corrupted by power and ego. Hopefully others will see it that way too.  

Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, Jim Buck. I started looking into agents and publishers last fall and was startled to find how difficult it is for an unpublished author to even get a return letter.  




Copyright 2008, Algonkian Writer Conferences