The 2009 Backspace Author-Agent Seminar will be held November 5 and 6 in New York City.
Two days of agent panels, workshops, and small-group meetings in the heart of the publishing world!
What would be the advantage of going? This is an unprecedented opportunity to interact with literary agents from across the country who will tell you some of the best ways to get your work noticed and to publisheable standards. These are the people who work in the trenches of the publishing industry every day, not just with authors but editors as well. They know what trends are hot, they know the ways to make your query and proposal stand out in the slushpile, and the mistakes which will cost you an instant rejection. Plus, attending will give you the chance to get your work critiqued and take part in a pitch session or two.
There is a registrationg fee of $500 to attend. However, you also have the chance to win a scholarshipto the seminar. A few caveats, as provided by Agent Colleen Lindsay:
- First: You MUST have a finished novel that is ready to query. No exceptions.
- Second: The scholarship covers admission to the conference only, not travel or hotel expenses. If you're coming from outside the New York-area, bear this in mind.
- Third. The contest is open only to fiction (any genre, adult, YA or middle grade) and narrative non-fiction manuscripts.
- Fourth: Your humble judges? Myself and my inimitable and completely awesome colleague Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of the Nancy Coffey Agency.
And the rules:
- One entry per person, please.
- Print out your query letter plus the first two pages of your finished novel, the same two pages that you want to have critiqued at the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar. The query letter should be single spaced; the two pages of your manuscript should be standard manuscript format: 12-point type and double-spaced. (Remember, only the first two pages, even if it ends mid-sentence.)
- Mail your entries (yes, on paper, with a stamp - no email entries for this contest!) to my (Colleen Lindsay) attention at FinePrint Literary Management, 240 W. 35th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY, 10001.
Good luck!
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