Register Here
Registrants will receive available materials from the sessions and have access to the recordings for ninety days.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
[ALL SESSIONS EASTERN TIME]
- 10:00 am – 11:00 am: Welcome, Introduction of All Agents (all faculty)
- 11:30 pm – 12:30 pm: How to Pitch; Common Mistakes; What Not to Do – MWW Director Leah Lederman will offer up different pitches to a panel of agents who will offer their feedback on what went right and what went wrong.
- 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Practice Pitch Session – Here’s your chance to practice your pitch in a judgment-free, learning-only zone. Volunteers can give their pitches and receive feedback from members of the board and other attendees. [attendees only; not recorded]
- 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: Illuminating the Shadows: Action and Intrigue in your Opening Page or Elevator Pitch, Log line, and the Hook that Sells Stories (Tommy Dean, Rosecliff Literary)
- 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm: AfterHours First Page Read with Tommy Dean (Rosecliff Literary), Malaga Baldi (Baldi Agency), Arielle Datz (Dunow, Carlson, & Lerner Agency)
Submit the first page of your manuscript and it might just get read to a panel of literary agents for feedback! NOTE: First Pages are anonymous and chosen at random–we cannot guarantee your page will be read. We will read as many as we can as time permits. Please note that we NOT record First Page Reads in order to protect your intellectual property. Click here for details on how to submit.
Thursday, November 6, 2025
[ALL SESSIONS EASTERN TIME]
- 10:00 am – 11:00 am: Practice Pitch Session – Here’s your chance to practice your pitch in a judgment-free, learning-only zone. Volunteers can give their pitches and receive feedback from members of the board and other attendees. [attendees only; not recorded]
- 11:30 pm – 12:30 pm: What is a Query Letter? (Malaga Baldi, Baldi Agency) – This interactive session will cover various aspects of query letter writing. Attendees are welcome to submit their query letter to be reviewed live in class. These are anonymous and first-come, first-serve. It is not guaranteed that your query letter will be reviewed. Topics on the query letter will include:
- do’s and don’ts
- common sense
- never assume
- check out agency website (know your enemy)
- perfect first sentences
- 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Comparative Titles & Genres – Too often agents receive queries from writers who weren’t aware of their competition in the marketplace within their genre, and whose comps were outdated, or who claimed there was nothing like their work. This session covers the importance of being a reader (and researcher) when you’re a writer, and how that connects to choosing your comps and how you pitch your work to agents. (Arielle Datz, Dunow, Carlson, Lerner Agency)
- 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: Nonfiction proposals (Alec Shane, Writers House)
- 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm AfterHours First Page Read with Alec Shane (Writers House), Carey Blankenship-Cramer (Azantian Literary Agency), Sophia M. Ramos (New Leaf Literary Agency)
Submit the first page of your manuscript and it might just get read to a panel of literary agents for feedback! NOTE: First Pages are anonymous and chosen at random–we cannot guarantee your page will be read. We will read as many as we can as time permits. Please note that we NOT record First Page Reads in order to protect your intellectual property. Click here for details on how to submit.
Friday, November 7, 2025
[ALL SESSIONS EASTERN TIME]
- 10:00 am – 11:00 am: Practice Pitch Session – Here’s your chance to practice your pitch in a judgment-free, learning-only zone. Volunteers can give their pitches and receive feedback from members of the board and other attendees. [attendees only; not recorded]
- 11:30 pm – 12:30 pm: It Takes a Village: Discussing Community and Craft through the Publishing Lens – Do you really need beta readers and critique partners? What does “editorial agent” mean, anyway? How does a traditional publisher help me, creatively? Together we will answer questions like these and more as we walk through how a writer’s community changes during different phases of their creative journey. (Sophia M. Ramos, New Leaf Literary)
- 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: Emotional Character Arcs: What Are They and How They Can Transform Your Novel – Characters and their emotional journeys are the bread and butter of our favorite stories and can make or break your success in the querying trenches. Whether you’re starting your story for the first time or are knee deep in revisions, you should be thinking through how every scene moves, or doesn’t move, your character forward in their emotional arc. If you’re not sure how to do that or how to outline your character arcs in the first place, that’s what this class is for. (Carey Blankenship-Cramer, Azantian Literary Agency)
- 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm: Pre-publication Marketing – Your marketing starts before publication. From building an author brand to leveraging social media, this class shows how to grow an audience that’s eager to buy your book the moment it drops. Practical, actionable strategies for all genres. (Vicky Weber, Creative Media Agency)
- 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm: AfterHours First Page Read with Mark Gottlieb (Trident Media Group Literary Agency, Vicky Weber (Creative Media Agency), Heather Osborn (Spencerhill Associates)
Submit the first page of your manuscript and it might just get read to a panel of literary agents for feedback! NOTE: First Pages are anonymous and chosen at random–we cannot guarantee your page will be read. We will read as many as we can as time permits. Please note that we NOT record First Page Reads in order to protect your intellectual property. Click here for details on how to submit.
Saturday, November 8, 2025
[ALL SESSIONS EASTERN TIME]
- 10:00 am – 11:00 am Practice Pitch Session – Here’s your chance to practice your pitch in a judgment-free, learning-only zone. Volunteers can give their pitches and receive feedback from members of the board and other attendees. [attendees only; not recorded]
- 11:30 pm – 12:30 pm Signed, Sealed, Delivered: Now What? You’ve done it! You’ve met and impressed your dream agent, signed a contract, and are ready for the next step — a massive book deal. But how do you get there? What can you expect once you’ve cleared the massive hurdle of representation? (Heather Osborn, Spencerhill Associates)
- 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm: The Long Game: Career Strategy for Authors – How agents help shape author careers beyond just the first book, including branding, longevity, and diversification across formats and markets. (Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group Literary Agency)
- 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Closing Panel/Final Q&A (all faculty)
Every effort will be made to adhere to this schedule; however, all programs and times are subject to change.
Registrants will receive available materials from the sessions and have access to the recordings for ninety days.
