World’s Largest Opportunity to Pitch to Top Literary Agents

Last week, I jumped into my “big girl” pants and bravely marched into New York City like I owned the place (even though I was really just a scaredy-pants writer) and attended my first Thrillerfest Conference. What an amazing week! This was easily the BEST writing conference I’ve ever attended. The writing workshops and panels filled with talented famous authors were incredible, as was my added bonus of attending a whole day workshop at FBI Headquarters.

During the week, the International Thriller Writers hosted a special event on Thursday afternoon called Pitchfest. Imagine between 300 to 400 writers who anxiously want an agent to represent them for their yet-to-be published novel, all standing in somewhat of a meandering line in the hallway outside of the five ballrooms on the third floor of the Grand Hyatt Hotel. It’s a huge crowd and it seriously makes your tummy queasy, just thinking about elbowing these people out of the way to talk to an agent, who will probably hate your idea anyway and say: “No. I’m not interested in your novel.”

All I could think about was trying not to cry, when I got rejected. 

Instead of hanging with the nervous crowd of writers, I entered Ballroom One to get some much needed help with my practice pitch, with only 10 minutes left before the pitching would begin. Joseph Finder, one of the 28 Thriller author volunteers, had just finished talking with his last writer—or so he thought—until I showed up begging for his help. He smiled and told me to close my notebook. “Relax and tell me about your story,” he said. He listened (without laughing at me) and graciously offered some suggestions to improve my pitch. I was so happy with the new pitch, I thanked him and I may have blurted out that I loved him and I loved his books. My memory of that moment is slightly hazy. He did seem to bolt rather quickly from me after that though. If only I would have remembered to get a picture of our heads together, brainstorming before the BIG event.

I wrote down the pitch tag line that Joseph and I came up with, and dashed out the door to find the pitch room. I ran straight into the big hallway meeting, run by Walt Gragg, last year’s Pitchfest attendee who landed an agent two weeks after the Pitchfest ended, with his first choice agent—which a few months later sold to the editor at Penguin Random House—he was giving the crowd some basic instructions on how to approach an agent.

“You need a tag line,” Walt said. “One sentence that will tell the agent what your book is about. You have about 30 seconds, before the agent will either cut you off and say no, or the agent will talk to you for a few more minutes, asking more questions about your story.” We were told to expect an average time allotment of three minutes with each agent. Three minutes is NOT a long time to tell someone about the amazing book you have been writing for over a year or two. Although, if it was more than three minutes I thought I might run out of intelligent things to say.

“Don’t be nervous,” Walt said. “They are just normal people wanting to help you get your book into the world for people to read. If they say no, be sure to thank them and move into the next line. If the agent likes what he hears, he will tell you what he wants you to do. Everyone will be different. They may ask for a few chapters. They may ask for a query letter, a synopsis or the whole manuscript. Best advice I can give you is to be prepared for anything. Write it down after you leave their table.”

A tag line… that was something that I had, thanks to Joseph’s advice. I disappeared to the second floor to find the pitch rooms ahead of the crowd. I didn’t go into the rooms, instead, I paced back and forth in the hallway, trying to memorize my tag line. It was long, but I was hoping it would work. I needed to get the agents interested. I must have appeared nervous, as Author Sandra Brannan stopped by and gave me a pat on the back and a short pep talk before I entered. She said she could tell that with my personality and my smile, I had this. I laughed. I did not feel like I had this. Total opposite actually. I may even need a puke bag. They should add those to our registration packages.

Imagine over 60 New York agents, publishers and editors waiting for you in four smaller rooms. They have long lineups in front of their tables. I had selected eight top agents to pitch to, and eight agents who were on my stand-by list. We were given two and a half hours to hit as many agents as we could possibly talk to, plus there was a power hour with a few agents who offered to stay the extra hour. Unfortunately, you didn’t know who would stay and who would escape early. You had to gamble, meaning, if you really wanted particular agents, you had to be in their line first, even if the line was long.

My first agent had no one in his line. He was my eighth choice, so I started with him. I knew I would be rusty and extremely nervous, so I didn’t want to start with my number one choice. That would be bad. Real bad. I said hello to Agent #1 (but really Agent #8 on my priority list) and spewed my pitch. He smiled. Good sign. He asked why I would have adults AND teens as characters in a YA (Young Adult) novel. I said. “Why wouldn’t I? They are part of the story.” He didn’t like that response and said he wasn’t interested in my novel, unless it had only teenagers in it. I rose from my chair and thanked him, feeling far from teary-eyed, mainly I think I was just angry. My first guy had said no and we disagreed with characters. Obviously, it wouldn’t have been a good match between us anyway. So, I walked away with my head held high and sent a text to my friend. “I’m 0-1. Fack. Life is sucking.”

I jumped into the next line. Agent #2. A woman. She loved me. She loved my story and requested the full manuscript. YES! Another text: “I’m 1-1. Life is good. I can pretty much go home now.”

Onto Agent #3: quite a handsome young agent. His smile kept making me forget what I was going to say next. So much for the maximum three-minute talks… we had a fifteen-minute conversation. He wanted my novel. Text sent: “I’m 2-1. Life is fabulous now.”

Agent #4 was one of my top choices, and I should have left him until last, because I wanted my pitch to be perfect for him. I wanted to be confident and sell it better than a used car salesman, but then I worried I wouldn’t get to talk to him if I waited until later. So, I stood behind five people and waited to talk to him. He said no to two people and handed his card to the three people directly in front of me. Stats showed I should be a “NO” too. I’m a numbers person. Also, I’m a Negative Nelly. He said hello and I looked into his eyes and melted. Agents shouldn’t be so GQ-gorgeous. Geesh! Everything went well though. He was excited about the novel. He talked to me for twenty minutes, finally asking for my full manuscript. Then he asked me what the title was. Can you believe I stared at him, my smile disappeared and then I ugly-laughed? I forgot the title of my novel. Seriously, I had no clue. It was completely wiped from my brain. I couldn’t even think of a fake title. Nothing was in my head. NOTHING! I started flipping through my notebook frantically, saying “It’s here somewhere. Ohmygod, this is embarrassing!” He reached over and patted my hand and said, “No problem, Lori. It doesn’t really matter that much. We’ll probably change it anyway. When you email me, remember to add that you were the girl who completely forgot the title of your book. I’ll definitely remember you!” He laughed. A giant belly laugh. Text sent: “3-1. Total embarrassment. I should be escorted out of the building and thrown in the river. Gawd. BUT he said YES!”

The next four agents had very long lines (waited about 30 to 45 minutes for each one) and they all said yes too. One agent even asked me what else I had waiting to be published. Ack. I wasn’t completely ready for that question, but I answered the best I could. She seemed excited about my other novels too. Not all agents were just representing Thrillers, so you could pitch whatever genre you wanted to. They all made detailed notes of who they were talking to and what the novel was about. If you were thinking of pretending you were at Thrillerfest and talked to these people, forget it. They know if they talked to you or not.

Last text sent to my friend: “Only 5 mins left. Still waiting. But, Louise said she would still talk to me.” Louise, Agent #8 (but really Agent #1 on my priority list) had a young assistant/intern with her learning the business. Both of them were interested in my story and compared it to a new series Katie McGarry had recently published. I jumped up and down in my chair saying “Yes! I love Katie McGarry novels!” And, just like that, our bond was sealed. They both gave me some tips on changing the manuscript before I submitted it. All great ideas. I was happy. They were happy. Life was good. Great even.

All in all, it was an amazing experience, although quite stressful. I ended up with seven out of eight agents requesting material from me, before I ran out of time. That was more than I dreamed of. Now, I am writing, editing and implementing changes that I thought of, while attending the Craftfest workshops.

Tip of the day from an agent: I always prefer meeting new clients face-to-face instead of through an email. I can usually tell if they are people I want to work with or not. Sometimes, I may not like the pitch of their story that much, but after speaking with them for five minutes, I already know I love their personality and that we can be friends. I suggest everyone trying a face-to-face meeting.”

Tip of the day from me: Be prepared. Know your tag line. Know your story, AND, know your freaking novel title. Geesh!

If you are serious about getting your novel published, you need to schedule a visit to the next Thrillerfest, July 11-17, 2017. There will be agents waiting to talk to you.

If you would like to read some success stories from New York’s Thrillerfest attendees, go HERE.

If you live in South-Western Ontario, I do have some information on Chuck Sambuchino’s (editor from Writer’s Digest) one-day writing workshop being held in Toronto on Saturday, August 20, 2016. There will be NINE Literary Agents taking pitches that day. This is your chance to get some face-to-face time with an agent. Go HERE for more information on that event.

GOOD LUCK, my friends!