Today I returned from the 2007 Algonkian Pitch Conference, which was a success. Two editors from Penguin's Berkley imprint were interested in reading The Nubian Codex. This, however, is just a first step that means someone who can make a decision is willing to take the time to read the manuscript. There's no guarantee they'll like it.
It was a bit different than I had imagined, even after thoroughly reading the testimonials on the Algonkian web site. There were 17 people from all over the United States in the group. Most were writers of thrillers, but there was one who had a cozy - the Jessica Fletcher with tea and a cat sort of mystery - as well as a couple whose genre was para-normal/supernatural. As I mentioned before, we had to write in advance a pitch based on our books and modeled after jackets from books that have been successful in their genre. I was luckier than most in the initial assessment of our pitches by team leader Charles Salzberg. I, of course, also made the mistake of going first. But all's well that ends well, and I had a successful pitch by Saturday. By the way, my pitch had changed by about 25 percent.
We became a cohesive group that had a vested interest in one another's success. There were some real characters, however. I think everyone's favorite was Erika Karres, a North Carolina transplant from Germany. This uninhibited woman latched on to me almost the moment I walked in the room. Reminiscent of Dr. Ruth, the sex expert, Dr. Erika actually is a nationally respected authority on school violence. The author of several non-fiction books, Dr. Erika pitched a hilarious book about a contest among terrorists in which the prize was "a pill-popping slut" and an "embittered virgin." We got a lot of laughs from this, but the editors seemed to take her relatively seriously. And Dr. Erika was nothing less than encouraging and nurturing.
Another favorite was "Ophelia," whose all-black attire, platinum blond hair and funky glasses could easily cause anyone to mistake her for a New York editor. She, in fact, was a Columbus, Ohio, homemaker/writer who has an intercontinental commuter marriage with a man who is a math instructor at a technical school in Zurich, Switzerland.
Ophelia and some of the others shared their challenge of getting into the conference. Though the web site alluded to a selection process, I thought they pretty much would take everyone who applied. But several attendees shared that they had to apply more than once to get in. Because this is a relatively new conference, we figure it's probably easier to get in right now, but as it gains in reputation, it probably will become more challenging.
My only complaints are that the editors all basically came from one publishing house, and some were not appropriate for our genre. One agent, for instance, represented cozies, and almost all of us wrote thrillers, making our pitch to her an exercise in futility.
The writers pitched all sorts of books. One had a thriller built from her own fears of getting lost. Another wrote a post-Cold War thriller. Yet another wrote a high-tech thriller about the pharmaceuticals industry. They all sounded like interesting premises.
Another favorite was "Ophelia," whose all-black attire, platinum blond hair and funky glasses could easily cause anyone to mistake her for a New York editor. She, in fact, was a Columbus, Ohio, homemaker/writer who has an intercontinental commuter marriage with a man who is a math instructor at a technical school in Zurich, Switzerland.
Ophelia and some of the others shared their challenge of getting into the conference. Though the web site alluded to a selection process, I thought they pretty much would take everyone who applied. But several attendees shared that they had to apply more than once to get in. Because this is a relatively new conference, we figure it's probably easier to get in right now, but as it gains in reputation, it probably will become more challenging.
My only complaints are that the editors all basically came from one publishing house, and some were not appropriate for our genre. One agent, for instance, represented cozies, and almost all of us wrote thrillers, making our pitch to her an exercise in futility.
The writers pitched all sorts of books. One had a thriller built from her own fears of getting lost. Another wrote a post-Cold War thriller. Yet another wrote a high-tech thriller about the pharmaceuticals industry. They all sounded like interesting premises.
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