Real-Time Reactions

Fiction: Query Letters  

Panelists: Chris Schoebinger, Ashley Gebert, Lindsay Flanagan, & Sabine Berlin

Time: Saturday, October 19, 10:00-10:50 am
Room: Ragan Theater

Hear a panel of publishing experts share what immediately attracts their attention and interest & what turns them off as they react on-the-spot and give feedback to real query letters for fiction books, submitted anonymously in advance by conference attendees.

To submit your query letter to be reviewed in the panel, email it as a Word document or a PDF to Aurellia Saunders at [email protected] by October 14.

• Your query letter should be 1 page.
• Please put “Fiction Query Letter Submission” in the subject line. Note the specific genre in your email body.
• Your query letter can be a copy of a letter you’ve submitted to publishers in the past, or the draft of a letter for an upcoming submission. It doesn’t have to be addressed to a specific publisher.
• Remove your name and any obvious personal identification (for example, put XXXXX where your name, email, or social media handles would go).

Fiction: First Pages 

Staci Olsen

Time: Friday, October 18, 10:00-10:50 am
Room: Ragan Theater

If an acquisitions editor read your first page, would they request to see more of your manuscript? Find out in this session where anonymously submitted first pages are evaluated by a professional acquisitions editor. Brief critiques and editing guidance to improve your beginning will be provided. Learn how to get that full manuscript request!

Bio: Staci Olsen is the production manager and an acquisitions editor for Immortal Works. She is also a hybrid author, self-publishing her own novels and releasing short stories with traditional publishers.

To submit the first page of your manuscript to be reviewed in this session, email it as a Word document or a PDF to Aurellia Saunders at [email protected] by October 14.

• Please put “Fiction First Page Submission” in the subject line. Note the specific genre in your email body.
• Remove your name and any obvious personal identification.

Nonfiction Back Cover Blurbs or Fast Pitch Scripts  

Panelists: Angela Eschler, Dennis Gaunt, Krista Isaacson & Chris Schoebinger

Time: Saturday, October 19, 11:00-11:50 am
Room: 206-C

Hear a panel of publishing experts share what immediately attracts their attention and interest & what turns them off as they react on-the-spot and give feedback to real book descriptions for nonfiction books, submitted anonymously in advance by conference attendees.

To submit your book description to be reviewed in the panel, email it as a Word document or a PDF to Aurellia Saunders at [email protected] by October 14.

• Please put “Nonfiction Real-Time Reactions Submission” in the subject line. Note the specific genre in your email body.
• Submit either a draft of the back-cover blurb, or a draft of the script for pitching the book in a pitch conference. It should only be 1 page.
• Remove your name and any obvious personal identification (for example, put XXXXX where your name, email, or social media handles would go).

Book Cover Designs  

Panelists: Shara Meredith, KaTrina Jackson, Lindsay Flanagan & Angela Eschler

Time: Friday, October 18, 2:00-2:50 pm
Room: 213-A

Hear a panel of experts share their on-the-spot reactions to your book cover designs. What draws their attention? Does it fit within the genre it is designed for? Covers are submitted anonymously in advance by conference attendees.

To submit your book cover to be reviewed in the panel, email it as a PDF, PNG, or JPG to Aurellia Saunders at [email protected] by October 14.

• Please put “Book Cover Real-Time Reactions Submission” in the subject line.
• Note the genre of the book in your email body.
• If you wish for anonymity, blur your name on the book cover design or replace it with a fake name.
• You can either submit only the front cover, or include the spine and back cover.