Saturday, April 22, 2017

8:30 AM:  Registration 

9:00 AM:  Welcome & Keynote

9:30 AM:  Crash Course on Queries & Pitches   with Paula Chaffee Scardamalia & Eric Ruben

11:30 AM:  New Authors Panel & Book Signing

12:30 PM:  Catered Lunch 

1:30 PM:    Agents Panel  

2:30 PM:     two options:

Meet the Agents (Pitch sessions)

Living in the Pages of a Book with Myra Shapiro 

4:30 PM:   Wine &  Cheese 

5:00 PM:   Open Readings

6:30 PM:   Adjournment

* * *

Event Descriptions & Presenter Bios:

Crash Course on Queries & Pitches

As if writing a book isn't challenging enough, you also have to sell it. To agents, editors, marketing teams, and publishers. Self-publishing? You still have to sell it to book reviewers, book sellers, and readers.

This crash course on pitches and queries with agent (and lawyer) Eric Ruben and author and book coach Paula Chaffee Scardamalia provides tips on how to structure and write effective queries and pitches...that sell.

With both discussion and role play, Eric and Paula will share with you:

• What makes an effective query or pitch.
• What to put in and what to leave out.
• How to build relationships with these marketing tools.

Bring a printed copy of your query or pitch if you would like a critique (if time allows). Come prepared to learn and to laugh.

Paula Chaffee Scardamalia is a book coach and a dream and tarot intuitive. Since 1999, she has taught writers how to use intuitive tools like dreams and tarot to write stories from the deepest part of their imaginations. She has   taught at small private workshops on the east coast, at both national and regional Romance Writers of America conferences and meetings, at the 2014 San Diego State University Writers’ Conference, and for the International Women’s Writing Guild. She also leads intimate writing and dream retreats. Paula publishes a weekly e-newsletter on writing, dreams, and tarot, and is the award-winning author of Weaving a Woman’s Life: Spiritual Lessons from the Loom. She wrote her MFA thesis on fantasy. www.diviningthemuse.com 

Eric Ruben is the president of the Ruben Agency and an attorney with 30 years of experience. Among his clients are authors in numerous genres. Eric got his start in   publishing by suggesting to New York Times–bestselling author Suzanne Brockman that she write about Navy SEALS as heroes, which helped create the genre of romantic military suspense. Since then, he’s helped many clients sell their work to all the major publishing houses. Follow Eric on Twitter at @TheEricRuben.

Living in the Pages of a Book 

Reading and writing poems in concert with the  words/lives that surround us. 

Myra Shapiro has published poems and stories in many   periodicals and anthologies, including The Best American  Poetry. Her books of poetry include I'll See You Thursday and 12 Floors Above the Earth. She is also the author of a memoir, Four Sublets: Becoming a Poet in New York. Myra is devoted to both solitude and community and serves on the board of Poets House.

New Authors Panel 

Cindi Michael, The Sportscaster's Daughter (memoir)

Kristin Rath, Meant for More: Create Your Dream Life, Plan Your Path, and Start Living It Now (motivational/self-help)

Carren Strock, Grandpa and Me and the Park in the City (children's rhyming picture book)

Agents Panel

Eric Ruben, The Ruben Agency

Regina Ryan, Regina Ryan Books

Shelia Levine, Publishing Attorney

Panelists will introduce themselves and the types of books/authors they represent, then discuss industry trends, common errors by new authors, agent expectations when listening to a pitch, and what increases the chance that an agent will find a pitch intriguing. 

Meet the Agents

Appointments for the pitch session are on a first-come, first-served basis. You will have up to 10 minutes of one-on-one time with the agents you’ve signed up for. Link to sign-up sheet will be emailed to you after registration.