NYC Pitch and Shop Conference - Who Should Participate?

Who Should Participate?

Writers With A Complete or Near Complete MS

If you have a complete or near complete novel ms or narrative non-fiction and you feel it is ready to pitch to an editor at a major publishing house, the New York Pitch Conference is organized and designed to benefit you in a number of different ways. Please read the How It Works page for more detailed information. If you are six months or more away from completing a novel, you might choose to attend because you want guidance or instruction on shaping your novel. Regardless, please note that if you have two or more novels, you will be allowed to pitch only one novel per pitch session, and one novel only during the pitch workshops. Choose your best work to pitch.

Writers Who Need A Reality Check

You've been working on your novel for a few months or a few years (or more) and you feel you need a reality check from professional editors to determine whether or not you are on the right track. Perhaps you are not sure about the premise, the evolution of the plot, or characters, etc., and/or you've received conflicting or potentially bad advice from way too many amateurs. Reality check time.

Writers Who Wish To Understand Publishing

Regardless the condition of your novel, you wish to use this conference as a means of learning more about the publishing business from a variety of insiders, and just as importantly, in an atmosphere that allows for productive interaction. Both the acquisition and fiction editors will cover this subject matter in considerable detail. Also, all editors will be very frank. This is not for writers who simply want their backs slapped.

Who Should Not Participate?

Writers In Search of The Average Writer Conference

This conference is not for beginner writers who would benefit more from the average writer conference, i.e, a conference that has panels, speakers, and classes for beginners.

Writers In Search of Craft

This conference is not for novel writers currently requiring study and classroom instruction and/or hands-on exercises that demonstrate the application of fiction craft. If you are in need of workshops that provide the aforementioned, this conference will not be comprehensive enough to benefit you. Our advice is to hone your craft, practice your writing, learn the nuances of plot, complication, and other elements, then consider attending a future pitch and shop conference.

If you require consult and craft instruction from professionals, we recommend Algonkian Writer Conferences and the New York Writers Workshop (NYWW).

Writers In Search of Praise Only

The New York Pitch Conference exists to provide writers an opportunity to pitch their novels to top editorial professionals, as well as a realistic window into the publishing business and what it takes to get a novel successfully published. As necessary, during the pitch shops and sessions, we will tell you what works and what does not. If we fail to be honest, we fail not only you, but everyone else participating with you. If you are not looking for honest evaluation, please look elsewhere.

Click here for more details about the conference.

If you need to contact us click here.

Note: The faculty of the New York Pitch Conference reserve the right to cancel any individual or group application acceptance prior to the conference at such time they feel a potential for disruption, harm, or non-conference agenda exists. Attendance at the conference is a privilege, not a right.

ADDITIONAL OFFERINGS
Traditional Novel, Fiction, and Non-Fiction Workshops
Algonkian Writer Conferences

WRITERS AND AUTHORS
TALK ABOUT THE
New York Pitch Conference

Interview with New York Pitch Conference attendee, Michael Kopiec. My father was a soldier who survived three years of nearly constant combat with the Nazis. The story is very exciting, but I kept rewriting until finally, it felt right.

Interview with New York Pitch Conference 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 New York Pitch Conference 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 New York Pitch Conference 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 New York Pitch Conference 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.

Interview with New York Pitch Conference 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 New York Pitch Conference 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 New York Pitch Conference attendee, Alex Keto. Alex was a journalist for twenty-one years. He joined Dow Jones Newswires and worked New York City as a reporter, in Amsterdam as a bureau chief, and Bonn as a reporter. He returned to the U.S. in 1995 and worked as the company's White House correspondent for ten years.