Introducing: Our 2018 Superheroes!

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s — a WriteOnCon Superhero! They’re cleaning up the queries, cheering on the excerpts, recruiting new sidekicks, and looking pretty freaking adorable while they do it!

Their names have changed, but their sneaky ways have not. We’re thrilled to introduce you to our 2018 line-up of Superheroes, including SuperAgents, SuperAuthors, and SuperEditors!

How does it work?

What You Do:

1. Go to the forums and post your absolute best, polished query letter or writing sample in the appropriate critique threads in the forums. (Please look carefully and ask questions if you’re unsure about where to post, and make sure you follow all of our forum guidelines.)
2. Don your thick dragon skin, cross your fingers, and keep checking your forum posts, because our Superheroes will be flying around, leaving feedback on whatever strikes their fancy — which could very well be YOUR QUERY.
3. Pray you’ve perfected your work enough to generate a request. Some agents may be requesting from the posts they read.
4. Remember your manners. Please don’t engage in hurtful behavior toward an industry professional because of feedback they might leave on your query. Remember, publishing is SO SUBJECTIVE.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. All you have to do is use our forums the same way you should be using them anyway (because they’re AWESOME) and you could have a super-cool Superhero critique your work. And even if they don’t comment on your work (they promise they will try to critique as many as they can), you can learn SO much from the comments they leave for others. Because really, the best part about the forums is that you can go read the feedback whenever your schedule allows.

What the SuperAgents and SuperEditors Do:

1. Each SuperAgent will try to swing by the forums during and immediately after the conference. You won’t know who, and you won’t know when… that’s the mystery of a superhero.
2. SuperAgents will be leaving constructive feedback on as many threads as they’re able to visit. They might also make requests (through DMs) on samples they like!
3. You can recognize a SuperAgent or SuperEditor by their fun superhero name and their avatar (which will be some variation of the samples above). Whatever their disguise, they will always have stars on their avatar!

What the SuperAuthors Do:

1. SuperAuthors will be leaving constructive feedback, just like the SuperEditors and SuperAgents.
2. You can recognize a SuperAuthor by their fun superhero name and their avatar (which will be some variation of the samples above). Whatever their disguise, they will always have a quill in hand!

Who are our heroes this year?

You won’t know which hero has which secret identity…

You won’t know when they’ll arrive to save the day…

But we can reveal who will be in the league this year!

SuperAgents:

• Amber J. Caraveo, agent at Skylark Literary Agency
• Joanna Moult, agent at Skylark Literary Agency
• Elana Roth Parker, agent at Laura Dail Literary Agency
• Tamar Rydzinski, agent at Laura Dail Literary Agency
• Saba Sulaiman, agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services
• Steven Salpeter, agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd.
• Caitie Flum, agent at Liza Dawson Associates
• Elizabeth Bennett, agent at Jill Corcoran Literary Agency
• Emily S. Keyes, agent at Fuse Literary
• Eric Smith, agent at P.S. Literary
• Jessie Devine, agent at D4EO Literary
• Kelly Van Sant, agent at D4EO Literary
• Kaitlyn Johnson, agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency
• Natascha Morris, agent at BookEnds Literary Agency
• Patricia Nelson, agent at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

SuperEditors:

• Anita Mumm, freelance editor
• Kendra Levin, Associate Editorial Director at Viking Children’s Books / Penguin
• Annie Berger, editor at Sourcebooks Fire/Jabberwocky
• Celia Lee, editor at Scholastic
• Kate Prosswimmer, associate editor at Sourcebooks

SuperAuthors:

• Alexa Donne, YA author
• Ava Jae, YA author
• Beth Revis, YA author
• Charlie N. Holmberg, YA author
• Heather Fawcett, YA author
• M. K. England, YA author
• Natalie Whipple, YA author
• Rachel Lynn Solomon, YA author
• Rosalyn Eves, YA author
• Mindee Arnett, YA and MG author
• Alyssa Hollingsworth, MG author
• Casey Lyall, MG author
• Cindy Baldwin, MG author
• Dee Romito, MG author
• Diane Magras, MG author
• Erin Entrada Kelly, MG author
• Kat Shepherd, MG author
• Melissa Sarno, MG author
• Jonathan Roth, children’s author
• Hannah Carmona Dias, PB author
• Henry Herz, PB author
• Sarvinder Naberhaus, PB author

The forums officially open Saturday, February 3rd, one week before the conference begins, for you to start posting your work. This will give you time to get your writing in tip-top shape and in the forums before Friday the 9th, when our first Superheroes will arrive. Because we vastly surpassed our expectations in fundraising this year, our goal is to have at least one Superhero leave feedback on every post!

We hope this program will benefit everyone, from those who post their query to those reading the comments/opinions from some of the top people in the publishing world.

Questions? Ask them here!