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 Prestritto (Prospect Agency), and Jennifer Laughran (Andrea Brown Literary Agency).

Participating editors include: Christina Rodriguez (Assistant Editor, Little, Brown and Company)

These 10-minute sessions will run concurrently with the conference program. PLEASE NOTE: Some have wondered if signing up for one or more Ten Minutes, Ten Pages sessions means they’ll have to miss part of the regular conference program. The answer is yes, but only approximately 15 minutes for each session. In addition, our regular conference program is videotaped and made available to conference registrants after the conference, so authors can review the program parts later and catch up on anything they may have missed.

Authors can book as many sessions with as many different agents as they like for $40 per session (to cover the expense of renting the room, as well as providing coffee and light refreshments). PLEASE NOTE: These are NOT reading fees, and agents are not compensated financially for their participation.

Authors are invited to bring the first ten pages of their manuscript to each “Ten Minutes, Ten Pages” one-on-one session they book. Agents will read a chunk of materials (a paragraph, sentence, part of a page) to themselves (or have the author read the materials out loud), flag anything they find of concern, discuss what they’ve noted with the author, and then move on to the next chunk, continuing in this manner until the 10 minutes are up.

Please note that these 10-minute one-on-one sessions are “high-level” editorial critiques, meaning that these sessions will be most helpful for writers who have already undergone the critique process with fellow writers and who have mastered basic writing principles.

Also, please be aware that while we’re calling these sessions “10 Minutes, 10 Pages,” agents who have done this type of one-on-one session at other conferences tell us it’s rare to make it to the end of the full 10 pages in 10 minutes. Exactly how much material is covered during each 10-minute session depends on the quality of the writer’s work, how many questions the author has, how detailed the agent’s comments are, and other variables.

What we can guarantee is a relaxed, friendly, and helpful paragraph-by-paragraph discussion with the author of their material.

IMPORTANT: As with our small-group query letter and opening pages workshops on Thursday, the intention of these 10-minute one-on-one critique sessions is NOT to get an agent interested in your work (though this can certainly happen).

Instead, please understand that the purpose of these sessions is simply to get an experienced professional’s feedback on your opening pages, in order to help you reach your publishing goals.

CLICK HERE to reserve your Ten Minutes, Ten Pages session!  Please note: you MUST be registered for Friday, May 25th in order to participate.

MORNING SESSIONS:

Jeff Kleinman: 0 sessions available

Janet Reid: 0 sessions available

Kristin Nelson: 0 sessions available

Katharine Sands: 0sessions available

Josh Getzler: 0 sessions available

Christina Rodriguez (Associate Editor, Little, Brown and Company): 3 sessions available

Carrie Pestritto: 4 sessions available

Jennifer Laughran: 4 sessions available

AFTERNOON SESSIONS:

Janet Reid: 4 sessions available

Katharine Sands: 7 sessions available

 TBA