Shop The Novel, Pitch the House - March 26-29, '09

If you have to choose just one conference in 2009, choose the New York Pitch.

This writer conference event 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. If you're not sure if you or your novel belong at the pitch conference, peruse our Participants page to help with your decision.

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.



Book Publicity Pros 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.


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


 
 


It started with Susan Breen and it didn't end there. The New York Pitch Conference now boasts a great track record for assisting aspiring authors in getting their novels published with major houses. More information can be found on our news page

We welcome literary agent Tina Wexler to the NY workshop faculty. Tina works at ICM, one of the top three literary agencies in the U.S. Prior to ICM, she worked with Ellen Levine and at Trident Media. More information about Tina can be found on our faculty page

Interview with NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, best-selling author Pam Binder. Two of the four editors I met with asked to see my work and the other two were very interested ... I credit the reception of all four editors to the pitch. It generated questions which helped me explain in more detail the vision of the project.  

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.  




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