PNWA 2015's Agents Forum

(Movie poster for next week's opening of: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)

Fire Season is in full-swing here in the Pacific Northwest.  Even though I managed to slip away and visit family, my coworkers and I have been busy here at WA State Emergency Management.

 

So these PNWA recaps, along with my other blogposts, will be slow in coming.  I thought I'd do another quick list because I'm still being lazy pressed for time. 

 

Robert Dugoni continued his role as perennial emcee during the Agents Forum and introduced the following

 

Margaret Bail

 

Noah Ballard

 

Amy Cloughley

 

Ayanna Coleman

 

JD DeWitt

 

April Eberhardt

 

Connor Goldsmith

 

Shannon Hassan

 

Rachel Letofsky

 

Chip MacGregor

 

Mary C. Moore

 

Genevieve Nine (new to Andrew Brown Literary Agency)

 

Monica Odom

 

Rita Rosenkranz

 

Gordon Warnock

 

Carly Watters

 

Roseanne Wells

 

Jennifer Weltz

 

Terrie Wolf

 

and

 

Andrew Zack

 

Now I don't remember Katie Zaun being present, and instead I have a Dale Sevens listed in my notes.  He appears to be in cahoots with JD DeWitt of Ink Slinger Entertainment.

 

Anyway, last minute cast changes aside, the post-intro discussion dealt with the Four Minute Pitch Session.

 

That is everyone trying to sell (pitch) their book had four minutes, usually less, to win over an agent. 

 

So agents want to get down to basics, or as April Eberhardt summed it up:

 

Who? What? Where? Why should I care?

 

And of the four minutes you're given, you have only one minute to talk.  The remaining three minutes are for the agent to ponder what's good, bad and ugly about your book.

 

Be prepared to explain what compelled you to write this story.

 

A few other things to keep in mind:

 

Be open and knowledgeable about the genre you're writing in.

 

Have a clear idea on who the main character is and what's the conflict.

 

While speaking, be engaged with your listener (the agent), and make eye contact.

 

Advice against stalking:

 

As usual, we were treated to a friendly reminder not to stalk the agents. 

 

If you've attended more than one writers conference you've probably heard of agents being ambushed in bathrooms and having manuscripts slipped under their hotel room doors.

 

But one agent, I forget which one, took this year's Best Stalker Story, when she said she was approached by a writer wannabee while swimming laps.

 

Talk about a good way not to get published.  Ever.

 

So one last piece of advice:  Save the stalking surveillance to the professionals...

 

(A scene from the original series:  The Man from U.N.C.L.E.)