Well, I participated in my first "Pitch Slam" yesterday. For some reason it reminded me of Slam Dancing, a short lived dance craze from the 90's.
I am in New York city for the BEA Writer's Conference, and was surprised to find (note sarcasm) that there were about 400 0ther would-be writers interested as well.
Held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in midtown Manhattan, they put on a nice spread with lunch and entertainment. The keynote speaker was bestselling crime author Karin something and the lunch time speaker was Sara West or East, can't remember that either, because I ate a piece of bread.
The room was filled without about 65 literary agents and/or editors of various publishing houses. They faced us, sheep like lambs to the slaughter, and the fun was about to begin.
Likened to speed dating, we got to face our potential agent for a total of three minutes - one minute for us to pitch our manuscript to them, and two minutes for them to respond with questions or the hotly sought after business card and instructions to send them an outline and/or synopsis or three chapters - every one was different. They said they didn't need more than a minute to learn whether your idea was a good one or not. "Either its good or it isn't" they explained. Sounds right to me. A man with a stopwatch stood to the side, and every three minutes he yelled "Switch!"
Not everyone got a card, because I watched to see who was getting what.
I got four.
More later.
I am in New York city for the BEA Writer's Conference, and was surprised to find (note sarcasm) that there were about 400 0ther would-be writers interested as well.
Held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in midtown Manhattan, they put on a nice spread with lunch and entertainment. The keynote speaker was bestselling crime author Karin something and the lunch time speaker was Sara West or East, can't remember that either, because I ate a piece of bread.
The room was filled without about 65 literary agents and/or editors of various publishing houses. They faced us, sheep like lambs to the slaughter, and the fun was about to begin.
Likened to speed dating, we got to face our potential agent for a total of three minutes - one minute for us to pitch our manuscript to them, and two minutes for them to respond with questions or the hotly sought after business card and instructions to send them an outline and/or synopsis or three chapters - every one was different. They said they didn't need more than a minute to learn whether your idea was a good one or not. "Either its good or it isn't" they explained. Sounds right to me. A man with a stopwatch stood to the side, and every three minutes he yelled "Switch!"
Not everyone got a card, because I watched to see who was getting what.
I got four.
More later.
Had a great dinner with my daughter at Patsy's the oldest family run italian restaurant since the 40's. Frank Sinatra's fav place, as well as any other celebrity you can imagine has eaten there.
I felt lucky.
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