Your Writing is Ready for Agent Fest, Even if You Think it Isn't

Your Writing is Ready for Agent Fest, Even if You Think it Isn’t

21 Aug at 12:51 pm

“But I’m not ready to pitch!”

Here’s the thing. You don’t necessarily have to be. Yes, you can sign up to pitch up to three agents when you register…but that’s in no way mandatory!

But why would I register for Agent Fest if I’m not ready to pitch? My manuscript isn’t even ready!

I’m not going to recommend pitching a book that isn’t ready (though it’s happened, and successfully. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after attending all of these Agent Fests it’s that every single path to agent representation and publication is different!) but I *do* recommend attending Agent Fest even if you’re not finished writing your book.

Say what?

I’m not just selling things here. I’ve attended Agent Fests when I didn’t have a book ready to pitch and have learned things that made me rethink my approach to my current work in progress!

A lot of the things that writers dread about the publishing process: the pitch, the query, the proposal–exactly the topics covered at Agent Fest by literary agents–well, they’re an incredibly useful exercise in shaping your work. You’ll find yourself asking, what IS my book about?

That’s a very, very important question, and knowing the answer is going to get you closer to finishing it.

We’re all in different stages in the process of writing. Taking a side step from the words themselves to learn from literary agents about the craft and process of *publishing* can give us a new way of looking at the craft and process of writing. It forces us to look at our work from the outside in, and that’s a whole different panorama. It’s like when you see a photo of yourself from your friend’s wedding and think, “Oh, maybe tangerine isn’t my color, after all” (Or better yet: “Wow, tangerine really IS my color!”)

You need to ask yourself, does my book sound like what I’m pitching? You might find that you need to make adjustments. Better to do it now! Thinking about your pitch, query letter, and/or proposal *before* you’re finished can help you refine your work before it’s completed. And then, when your manuscript is ready, the next steps are already demystified and you’re ahead of the game because you’ve been writing with them in mind.

You don’t have to pitch at Agent Fest but you can learn how to, whether you go in front of an agent or sit in on the Practice Pitch Sessions. You can learn how to make your first pages shine too, if you check out our First Page Reads! And then of course, there are the sessions taught by the literary agents themselves.

They want you to succeed, and we all want to help you get it there!