• 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. The current panel includes Sloane Crosley's publicist, Melissa Broder of Pengiun; Susan Schwartzman, a popular and successful independent publicist; and Ami Greko from Folio Literary Agency. Aspiring authors will learn what they must do to stay on top and earn out successfully. See our faculty page for more info.

• In keeping with our mission to set writers on a realistic path to publication, we are proud to announce that over the past year, the following writers attending Algonkian events have signed lucrative contracts as a result of their attendance: James Hayman [THE CUTTING - St. Martins], John Ford [THE MORGUE AND ME - Viking], Christina Meldrum [MADAPPLE - Knopf], Will Lavendar [OBEDIENCE - Shaye Areheart], and Susan Breen [THE FICTION CLASS - Plume]. ... As a result of attendance at Algonkian events over the past year, the following conference attendees are now represented by literary agents: author Kate Gallison with Fine Print Literary Agency, to be represented by Peter Rubie; Sujatha Hampton with Brick House Literary Agency; Rachel Willen with Levine Greenburg Literary Agency; James Hayman, a two book deal with St. Martins, the deal negotiated by the Jane Rotrosen Agency; Amy E. Fischer with Emily Kim of the Prospect Agency.

  After working with conference faculty, Amy Hanson has signed with Atchity Entertainment in Los Angeles, and most recently, Joan Baril and Susan Sands, veterans of the same workshop, have signed with the Larsen-Pomada Agency in San Francisco as a direct result of networking with Algonkian Conferences. Congrats!

• At the April '08 event, over 30% of pitched novels were requested by at least one acquisition editor and half of that number were requested by two or more editors. Several novels were requested by three or more editors. Note that many of these projects are in-progress or now undergoing rewrites based on editor reaction and will be submitted upon completion. Projects requested include ACT BUSY by Anna Leffler, ZINFANDELITY by Tracey Lyons, THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE by Tina Gordon, WHITE MAN'S BLUES by Kevin Arnold, ORLANDO TALES by Joe Conlin, SALAH THE MUTE by Shay Azoulay, WENDELL PENNY BY Colin Garrison, EATING STARS BY MISTAKE by Diane Simmons, and ADOPTING ADULTS by Randy Susan Meyers.

• NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, John Ford, has found both agent and publisher after pitching to Charles Salzberg. According to John, "It's no coincidence that such a large proportion of our small group found publishing success after Charles helped us identify and focus on the strengths of our work."

• Former NYC Pitch and Shop attendees (four of whom have book contracts as a result of the conference) share comments on the conference.

• NYC Pitch and Shop attendee, Christina Meldrum, has recently found a home for her novel at Knopf. She dropped a line and let us know that, "the NYC Pitch and Shop Conference helped streamline my novel into a concise yet provocative pitch. The pitch worked. My first novel, MADAPPLE, will be published by Knopf in Summer 2008." Big congrats to Christina.

• Will Lavendar, another alumnus, just had his novel, OBEDIENCE, bought by Shaye Areheart Books for a low six figures, foreign and movie rights pending. As Will informed us, "The pitch conference helped me in many ways. As soon as I got back home, I had a 90% success rate with queries. Pre-conference, more like 50%. I also changed the title of my manuscript in New York. That seems minor, but it was a major turning point for selling the novel."

• We are proud to announce that Susan Breen has sold her literary novel, THE FICTION CLASS, to Plume as a direct result of meeting the right editor at NYC Pitch and Shop. She is represented by a literary agent at Trident Media, obtained for her by NYC conference staff.

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