Your Ultimate Guide to: Live Events
When we posted our guide to accessing all events, we brushed over live events. But for those of you eager to know more, we’ve put together this useful guide to give you an in-depth look!
Overview
Live events are accessed through our Live Events page. Only Full and Extended Admission attendees will be able to access the events on this page (though everyone can see a preview of the posts). All events will be embedded into the Live Events page for easy organization and access.
You will need to be logged into your WriteOnCon account to see the full post and leave a comment. These comments will be pulled by the moderator for Q&As, pitch sessions, and workshop critiques.
If you missed an event while it was live, don’t panic! All live events — both video and text — will be archived for you to be able to catch up on later (you just won’t have the opportunity to interact with our live speaker).
Q&A Events
Our vastly talented moderators will start setting up about twenty minutes before the event goes live. This means that the events should start promptly at their assigned time!
The post for the event will go up 5 minutes before the event itself goes live. That way, you can open the post, get comfortable, and see it start right on time. Viola!
Leave comments on the blog post to ask your questions. The moderator for the event will be watching, ready pass them to the speaker (or delete, should the comment be inappropriate). This means the speaker doesn’t have to try to read and talk at the same time!
At the end of the session (about 50 minutes after the start), your speaker will end the video. They may circle around to answer more questions in the comments, or they may vanish like a puff of wind. They are quite mysterious, these speaker-types.
The video will remain up after the event is live, and you can watch it at any time like you would any sort of video. Comments left after the event obviously won’t be answered by the speaker, though you’re welcome to leave them anyway.
Pitch Events
This year, we’re hosting six live pitching events. Here are the details you need to know about each one:
Note: Some edits have been made Sunday morning to reflect changed methods to help everything run more smoothly!
General Pitch Session: Kaitlyn Johnson
Who she is: Literary Agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency
What she likes: Kaitlyn is actively accepting upper MG, YA, NA, and Adult in fantasy, contemporary, historical fiction, and romance.
Rules for this session:
Type of pitch: Manuscript concept (blurb from query letter)
Max length: Two-to-three paragraphs
Genres/Age categories: Upper MG, YA, and Adult; fantasy, contemporary, urban fantasy, historical fiction, light sci fi, & romance
Special instructions: Focus on the hook of your story, much like what you would put in a query letter; give me the concept and the stakes and the main character and/or villain
Pitch Submission: Post to appropriate thread on the forums (here)
Other rules: Please no erotica, mystery, thriller, or horror
General Pitch Session: Alyssa Eisner Henkin
Who she is: Literary Agent at Trident Media Group
What she likes: Alyssa represents all forms of literature for young people from board books through young adult. She is currently seeking more middle grade fiction and is perpetually drawn to humor, heart, and heroes and heroines who seek to make the world a better place. A lifelong history buff, Alyssa wants to represent more nonfiction from mold-breaking picture book biographies (if they are illustrated, all the better!) to YA memoirs that cross over to adult readers.
Rules for this session:
Type of pitch: Query blurb
Max length (if applicable): 250-300 words
Genres/Age categories: All genres, but with the heaviest focus currently being MG fiction and narrative nonfiction
Pitch Submission: The post for this session will go live 45 minutes before the session begins. Please leave your pitches in the comments during that window.
First Impressions on Queries: Natalie Lakosil and Patricia Nelson
Natalie Lakosil
Who she is: Literary Agent at Bradford Literary Agency
What she likes: Natalie is drawn to talented, hard-working new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook. Her specialties are children’s literature (from picture book through teen and New Adult), romance (contemporary and historical), cozy mystery/crime, upmarket women’s/general fiction and select children’s nonfiction. Her interests include historical, multi-cultural, magical realism, sci-fi/fantasy, gritty, thrilling and darker contemporary novels, middle grade with heart, and short, quirky or character-driven picture books. She is always drawn to an open and positive attitude in an author, professionalism, good grammar, and fantastical, beautifully written, engaging and sexy plots.
Patricia Nelson
Who she is: Literary Agent at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency
What she likes: Patricia is always excited to find beautifully written, page-turning YA and MG across genres, with particular interest in contemporary/realistic, magical realism, science fiction and fantasy.
Rules for this session:
Type of pitch: Query
Max length: Around 300 words (one page)
Genres/Age categories: Any
Pitch Submission: Post to appropriate thread on the forums (here)
Other rules: Please keep questions until the end
General Pitch Session: Emily S. Keyes
Who she is: Literary Agent at Fuse Literary
What she likes: Emily is a particular lover of all types of young adult and middle grade books. She wants to represent the kind of stories that will resonate with kids for the rest of their lives. She loves strong voices and unique characters, not knock-offs or trend chasers. Some of her favorite authors include Deb Caletti, Laurie Halse Anderson, Gary D. Schmidt, and Megan Whalen Turner. She thinks books are best when they make you laugh but have a lot of heart.
Rules for this session:
Type of pitch: Query blurb
Max length (if applicable): 250-300 words
Genres/Age categories: YA, MG, SFF, WF
Pitch Submission: The post for this session will go live 45 minutes before the session begins. Please leave your pitches in the comments during that window.
First Impressions: Kelly Van Sant
Who she is: Literary Agent at D4EO Literary
What she likes: I am seeking Middle Grade, Young Adult, and women’s fiction across all genres, including fantasy, science fiction, adventure, historical, and contemporary. I love character-driven stories with intricate plots, and am always drawn to explorations of friendship and found family. I am especially interested in #ownvoices and inclusive narratives. I blog more extensively about what I’m seeking and my manuscript wish list at www.penandparsley.com and you can also find me on twitter @bookishchick.
Rules for this session:
Type of pitch: First Page
Max length: 350 words
Genres/Age categories: MG/YA, all fiction genres
Pitch Submission: The post for this session will go live 45 minutes before the session begins. Please leave your pitches in the appropriate forum thread during that window.
General Pitch Session: Caitie Flum
Who she is: Literary Agent at Liza Dawson Associates
What she likes: She’s looking for Middle Grade and Young Adult projects, particularly romance, historical fiction, mysteries and thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, and contemporary books with diverse characters.
Rules for this session:
Type of pitch: Elevator pitch
Max length: 150 words
Genres/Age categories: MG & YA genres: Any. Adult genres: Women’s fiction
Pitch Submission: The post for this session will go live 45 minutes before the session begins. Please leave your pitches in the appropriate forum thread during that window.
Workshop Events
We’re introducing something new for WriteOnCon 2018: Workshops!
These live videos will be short lectures with interactive elements. For instance, the speaker might present a tutorial on an aspect of writing, then give the attendees a few minutes to work on something themselves. Attendees can then leave their work in the comments section for feedback, and the speaker may respond to it live. Then the speaker will continue expounding on the tutorial, with some more hands-on application and feedback sprinkled in.
Specific instructions for specific events will be featured on the events’ individual posts. These will go live 45 minutes before the session begins, so you have plenty of time to collect yourself.
So, that’s it! Simple enough?
Let us know if you have any questions.
Good Evening,
I purchased an extended pass and I cannot find the links to the live events? The conference looks amazing and I can’t wait to start participating!
All the best,
Christine
Hi, Christine! Live events will be here (though you can also catch them on the main conference page, too). You can find these links in the menu under Conference 2018. 🙂
Just curious… are pitch events for MS that are query ready?
Yes! That’s what we recommend, anyway, since the point is to hopefully get a request.
[…] At the opposite end of the scale, the $15.00 Extended Admission includes access to posts and the live events, and you retain access to the website for a month after the conference ends. The various options […]
Are we allowed to pitch to all of the agents (as appropriate), and are we allowed to pitch more than one project? Thanks!
Yes, you can pitch all agents! Please only pitch one project per agent, though.
Thank you!
Is there a way that I can find the exact days and times for the live events? I would like to be able to plan my weekend. I can get to the Live Events page, but there is no schedule that I can see.
Certainly! Our schedule is here. (You can also find it in the menu at the top of the page.)
I went to the link you just provided and I’ve kind of been in circles all over the site, including looking at each live event description and video window, and I’m not finding anything about the times for the live pitch events or other live sessions. For the pitch events, I’m not finding where to post the pitches either. For two of Friday’s pitch events, those were posted on the forum board, but the rest of them don’t appear to be. Can you please help me find today’s event times and pitch posting locations? Thank you so much!
Sorry it’s been confusing for you, Brenda! Up in this post are the directions for pitches. The pitches today and tomorrow are going to be given live (as opposed to early, which is why we had forum threads for the ones yesterday). So those will go up on the live events page about 45 minutes before the event actually starts, and you can post your pitch in the comments then. We’ve got Emily S Keyes at 7PM EST tonight, Kelly Van Sant at 12PM EST tomorrow, and Caitie Flum at 7PM EST tomorrow.
Thanks so much, Alyssa. I appreciate it.
No worries! We want you to enjoy it all. 🙂
You can also find the schedule on this spreadsheet, if that’s easier for you to read!
With the live pitch, does the agent read the queries aloud ? Does she comment on what works and what doesn’t? I notice we can post ahead of time so I was just wondering how it will run 🙂 Thank you.
So, depending on which pitch session it is specifically, you’ll either submit your pitch to a forum post (those two just went live today) or you will submit the pitch in the form of a comment on the live event post, which goes up 45 minutes before the pitch event starts. Agents will use screenshare to show pitches as they scroll through and talk about the ones that catch their eye. They are not obligated to comment on all of them (though they might) and their comments will probably be brief and to the point. They will do this for 50 minutes (until the event ends) and get to as many as they can, at which point the event is over.
Hope that helps!
Thank you, it does!! 🙂
How important is it to be live on a pitch session to which you’ve submitted? I can’t make all of them, but plan to post.
Thanks so much for answering all our questions.
It’d probably be a good idea, but not necessary if you plan to tune in later to see if your pitch was mentioned.
One more question: for “video entries,” do we videotape ourselves presenting the pitch (or reading the first page for Kelly Van Sant), or does “video entry” mean something else?
— Clearly a newbie
Ah! That’s confusing wording. No, that just means the post for the live event will go live before the actual video goes live. You just need to post text in the comments.
Thank you! What a relief!
Hi,
Should we include our contact information in our blurb, or will the conference system let agents know who we are and any writing credits we have?
Thanks,
Leeann
Follow-ups will be done on your end — for instance, if an agent likes your blurb and wants to see more, you can email her and mention that she commented on your story at WriteOnCon, just like in a normal conference. The agent won’t need your personal information because they’ll get it when you contact them.
Hi!
What is the difference between a pitch session asking for a “query” vs a “query blurb?” Do we still include our title/genre/length with the query blurb? Or is it just the pitch section of the query, nothing else attached?
Thank you!!!!
The “query blurb” should include the title, wordcount/genre, and then go directly into the story blurb itself (one to three paragraphs about what happens in the story). Basically, they don’t need the introduction pleasantries or the sign-off bit with extra information about you. 🙂
Great! Thank you!
I’m getting error messages (other websites load correctly):
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Page not found.
Paraphrased: Resources at website are full. Try again later.
Everything is fixed now! Thank you for your patience.
Hi; I purchased full admission from the fundraiser and I tried to test out the live event. It won’t let me log in. It says my email and password are wrong and tells me that it’s available to “members only.” What do I do?
This is fixed now!
Thanks!
Hi Alyssa, I know this is me, and not you guys (hehe) but I’m having a hard time figuring out where and when to post questions or pitches in time for the live events? For example, In Mary Kole’s live Q&A coming up at 2 PM Sat. will there be a forum to post in 45 mins. before or do you sign on 5 mins. before and leave questions in comments? I find I’m usually very “late to the party” and there are several questions and pitches submitted before I can even find the link. Thanks!
Hi Lisa! Sorry this has been confusing for you. All the live events’ posts go up a little bit early on the live events page (Pitches go up 45 minutes early, Workshops go up 30 minutes early, Q&As go up 5 minutes early). For the workshops and Q&As in particular, it’s so we already have questions for the speakers when they arrive, and there’s no awkward waiting time while people find the post etc. — or, at least, that’s the idea!
Pitches — We’ve changed the way this works overnight, after some misunderstandings in the session last night. Use this forum to post your pitches for the event today (the appropriate threads will be unlocked 45 minutes before the event starts): http://writeonconforums.org/board/53/live-event-submissions
Hello! Perhaps this is obvious to others but could you clarify… for Kelly Van Sant it says Type of Pitch: First Page. Are we talking our one page query letter or the first page of our manuscript? I want to have the right material ready for when the thread goes live… Thanks so much!
Certainly! Kelly Van Sant’s pitch should include your first (manuscript) page. Provide your novel’s age/genre and title as the first line (eg. YA Dystopian: DIVERGENT), but don’t include word count or author bio, etc. Thanks for asking!