Do you dread in-person pitches? What about diving into an elevator, finding an agent there–and spending three floors stumbling over the seemingly-simple “So, what’s your book about”?
The “tell me about your work” question, unfortunately, isn’t going away–but we’re here to help.
Tell us your pitch, as you were pitching very nice, literary sharks–the kind that don’t eat people–and we’ll help you tell your story with more speed, less stress, and better results.
Our special guests are Alyssa Jennette, Stonesong Literary, and Ivan Taurisano, Abrams Books.
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About the Instructor
Ivan Taurisano
Ivan Taurisano was born in Rome, Italy, and moved to the United States a decade ago to pursue a children’s book publishing career. The guiding principle of his work is that a child whose life is changed by a book will always be a step closer to becoming an adult who will change the world. Ivan’s all-time favorite book is James and the Giant Peach, and his best friend is a chihuahua named Bilbo.
Ivan has a BA in English and Creative Writing, an MA in Children’s Literature, and an MFA in Writing for Children. He started his career at Sourcebooks as an Editorial Assistant, then moved on to become an Assistant Editor. His responsibilities included developing children’s board books, picture books, and graphic novels, as well as acquiring board books and picture books. As Associate Editor, Entertainment Publishing and Content Development at Abrams, Ivan has worked on all formats and partnered with many successful series and brands, including How to Catch, Little Heroes Big Hearts, Sesame Street, Disney, Tokidoki, and Pokémon.
Currently, Ivan lives in New York and works at Macmillan, First Second Books as an Associate Editor. In this role, he focuses on children’s and YA graphic novels.
Ivan is interested in plot-driven, action-packed adventures with a strong commercial hook, compelling characters, magic, quests/competitions, and high stakes. He prefers strong commercial hooks, well-plotted, character-driven, atmospheric stories, and series potential. He loves fantasy, magic, and quests/competitions. He likes unique, morally grey characters, memorable villains, and propulsive, cinematic writing.
Ivan is not the best fit for nonfiction, retellings, historical fiction, biographies, and novels in verse.