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Every year we provide the attendees of the New Jersey SCBWI June Conference with the opportunity to pitch to an agent. We still will be doing this at the conference in June this coming year, but we have added something new. There will be four Pitch Critique Sessions during the weekend where you can pitch to an editor and an agent. This similar to the First Page Session, except the first pages are read anonymously.  The Pitch critiques are not.

During the Pitch Critique Session people will stand up to give their pitch to the whole group.  The editor and agent might ask questions and they will give you their feedback on what needs to be changed or added. So this is not for the faint of heart.  But if  your pitch is critiqued you should walk away with a better idea of how to pitch your manuscript.  Another thing that is different is; everyone who gets into a First Page Session gets to hear their page read and listen to the feedback from the editors.  We will limit the number of people who can sign up for the Pitch Critique Sessions, but this is the first year we have done this, so we can only give a guess as to how many pitches can be heard.  It is possible that time could run out before everyone’s pitch is heard.  Though, some conference attendee might want to sign up just to listen to the feedback given to others, too.

Exciting news:  Holly McGhee, Agent and Owner of Pippin Properties Literary Agency will team up with Steve Meltzer, Associate Publisher/Executive Managing Editor of Dial Books for Young Readers and Dutton Children’s Books to do the last Pitch Critique Session on Sunday June 10th.

Don’t want to pitch?  Don’t worry.  You will have at least 10 choices for each of the eight sessions during the weekend.  In addition to the workshops, Dan Yaccarino will kick off Saturday morning with a motivational talk titled, “SAY YES!”

In previous years David Caruba has provided the Children’s industry Market Report.  This year, Steve Meltzer will kick off Sunday with ”THE STATE OF THE CHILDREN’S BOOK MARKET AND DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES.”

And we will end the conference on Sunday with Newbery Medal Winner, Kate DiCamillo’s inspirational speech titled,  ”SOME CONTRADICTORY ADVICE.”  Kate will stay to sign her books after her talk.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

PS:  Time to start preparing a pitch.

5 Comments on Pitch Critique Sessions, last added: 12/16/2011