Backspace Writers Conference

“The Fall 2009 Backspace Agent-Author Seminar was the most phenomenal conference I have ever attended. I was impressed with the amount of personal and individual attention every attendee received on both query letters and opening pages. The mixers with agents were wonderfully informal and comfortable, nothing like nerve-wracking pitch sessions. They provided a great opportunity to network with agents and other writers. I recommend this conference to all my writer friends.” — Lisa Iriarte

Backspace in “The Writer”

The Backspace Writers Conference is featured in the March 2012 issue of The Writer Magazine! CLICK HERE to read the full-page feature.

NEW! Agent one-on-ones

This year, in addition to our small-group workshops on Thursday, Backspace is offering pre-scheduled 10-minute one-on-one editorial critique sessions with select literary agents on Friday, May 25.

Participating agents include: Jeff Kleinman (Folio Literary Management), Janet Reid (FinePrint Literary Management), Kristin Nelson (Nelson Literary Agency), Katharine Sands (Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency), Josh Getzler (Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency), Carrie Pestritto (Prospect Agency), Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary Agency)TBA

Participating editors include: Christina Rodriguez (Associate Editor, Little, Brown), TBA

CLICK HERE to learn more!

No pitch sessions?

Not sure if Backspace's "No Pitch" format is right for you? Read: Why Writers Conferences are Rethinking Pitch Sessions

"I love attending the Backspace conference as an agent, because they let us do the most effective workshops that you don't necessarily see at other conferences." -- Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency, about Backspace's small-group workshops.

Breakout Novel Workshop

Maybe you're a first-time novelist looking for practical guidance. Maybe you've already been published, but your latest effort is stuck in mid-list limbo.

Whatever the case may be, author and literary agent Donald Maass can show you how to take your prose to the next level and write a breakout novel -- one that rises out of obscurity and hits the best-seller lists.

Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share -- regardless of genre -- then shows you writing techniques that can make your own books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace.

For advanced fiction writers, or those who aspire to be!

"RUN sign up for the Donald Maass workshop. I took his workshop in May and it was, hands down, the BEST workshop on writing I have ever taken in 25 years! LOVED IT! - Stef Ann Holm

"If you never attend another writing workshop in your life, you definitely should attend this one." Helen Dowdell

"Chiming in to say: yes, his workshop really is THAT good. Seriously." - Keith Cronin