Live Events + Replays
All events are included with membership.
We’ll send you your complimentary ticket at noon NYC time the day of the event.
Welcome! Here, you can watch the live broadcasts of our newest live panels and classes, and also the replays as they become available.
For page and query panels, pages and queries will be chosen at random, and we will get through as many as we can in the allotted time.
Can’t make it live? That’s okay! You can still send your work and watch the replay.
Next Event:
Voice In A Manuscript
with agent Stephanie Winter
P.S. Literary
May 20, 2020, 8:30pm EDT/5:30pm PDT
Coming Soon
All events are included with membership.
We’ll send you your complimentary ticket at noon NYC time the day of the event.
May 20, 2020, 8:30pm EDT
One of the most important skills for a writer to have is the ability to craft clear and strong voices in their manuscript. Sounding inauthentic or unrealistic can be the difference between a pass or an offer of representation. In this class, we’ll target common mishaps and approach creating strong narratives on three levels: dialogue, prose, and characters.
As a result of attending this session, attendees will gain valuable tips and expert advice on writing realistic and engaging dialogue that is both informative and essential.
You’ll leave the class with the tools to self-edit your characters in order to render more believable and captivating voices.
This class is open to all genres. If you can’t make it live, you can get a ticket now and watch the replay.
Stephanie is an agent at P.S. Literary. She first joined the agency as an intern before becoming the agency’s relations assistant. Stephanie is a dedicated bookseller who holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto in English Literature and a M.A. in English: Issues in Modern Culture from University College London. She is actively looking for diverse and inclusive voices in fiction and nonfiction spaces who make new worlds and perspectives come alive. Stephanie particularly appreciates strong characters who bend stereotypes, genders, and more.
June 9, 2020, 8:30pm EDT
Comp titles… am I right?
Join editor Hannah Robinson to learn how to jumpstart your comp search. We’ll discuss what makes a good comp title, how to think like a publisher when choosing your comp titles, how to avoid common pitfalls, and expert tips for finding comps when you’re feeling stuck.
GENERAL TOPICS
– What is a comp title?
– How do we use them?
– Why are they important?
– How to find comp titles
– How to talk about comp titles
Hannah Robinson is an editor of practical nonfiction at Tiller Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Prior to joining S&S, she worked at HarperCollins Publishers where she published a variety of fiction and nonfiction titles across the Harper, Harper Perennial, and Harper Wave imprints. She is a graduate of the University of Portland, where she earned a BA in English and Spanish. When she’s not editing, you can find her on the dodgeball court or baking pies.
This class is open to all genres, though Hannah herself focuses on adult fiction and nonfiction.
Can’t make it live? No problem! Send your questions ahead, and then watch the replay.
Past Events (Replays Below!)
View our interviews + live panels (query, first page, and first paragraph) with agents and editors.
In this free workshop with writing and theater teacher Chip Brewer, we’ll explore how your characters exist in the physical realm–how they take up space, how this shows us their role in the world, and how this relates to all of the millions of tiny moments that make them who they are.
Then we’ll move to their interiors–how their thoughts collide and personalities flourish–and how secrets, relationships, and emotions create your emotional landscape.
With wit, humor, and a lot of laughter, this workshop will explore how these seemingly small details make meaning in the greater world you’re creating.
Bring a pen, paper, and the beverage of your choice.
Let’s get your submission package ready! Both your query and your first page have a LOT to do with whether you get requests–and, together, we’ll get those polished and agent-friendly. Even if yours isn’t chosen, you’ll learn how agents things–and take away lessons that will help you long into your submissions process.
The panel will be followed by a Q&A, where you can ask your burning publishing questions of our panel.
Monica Odom founded her own agency in 2019, after working in publishing for nearly a decade, including roles as agent at Liza Dawson Associates and Bradford Literary Agency. She earned her M.S. in Publishing: Digital & Print Media from New York University, and has a B.A. in English from Montclair State University. She was also schooled in bookselling and event coordinating at her local indie, Watchung Booksellers. Monica serves on the WNDB Walter Grant Judging Committee, and is committed to the holistic and intentional expansion of intersectional diversity and inclusivity in the publishing industry. She is a frequent guest at writers’ conferences and publishing institutes, delivering talks and conducting workshops.
After bravely tackling our five days of classes, exercises, and workshopping, our Five Day Query Workshop ended with this live query panel.
Join Jessica, Julie, and agents Hannah Fergesen and Lauren Spieller to go over your pages, live(-recorded).
You know how some professors make a point to be available—to have time for your questions, personal feedback, and guidance on your individual learning journey?
Julie and I both really valued that in college, and are building something new to try to replicate that in online form.
Please send in any publishing, editorial, or other related questions! You can send those in, plus pages and queries if you’d like feedback (just like our other panels, but members only). Scroll down to send!
Or, if you prefer, you can just email us at Academy at ManuscriptWishList dot com with “Office Hours” in the subject line.
We can either ask the questions anonymously or include your name–up to you.
Hope to see you there!
All best wishes,
Jessica and Julie
So you’ve decided to try to get your book traditionally published. You’ve done the research. You have a great draft, a great synopsis, and you’re ready to start shopping your manuscript. You have extensive notes on complex worldbuilding, character backstories, maps you’ve sketched out, notebooks full of additional content.
How do you decide what makes it onto the page? How do you set up your story, giving just enough information about the world you’ve created without bogging down your reader with information dumps? How do you balance relaying background information to situate your reader with moving your story along?
The first three chapters are often the chapters that an author edits and revises the most, and for good reason. Often you only have the first three chapters to grab your reader before they start to glaze over—or worse, move on. We’ll take a look at introducing setting without overwhelming your readers, introducing characters that your readers will invest in right off the bat, and starting your plot at the right moment in the story in both standalone novels and series.
You can tune in live, or submit your question ahead and watch the replay at your convenience.
Hannah VanVels is at the Corvisiero Agency, acquiring young adult fiction and nonfiction (though this class is open and relevant to all genres and age groups). Hannah completed her BA at the University of Michigan and her MA at the University of Chicago. She lives in Michigan with her partner, two German Shepherds, and two cats. Find her on Twitter and Instagram at @hannahvanvels.
Join us for a query panel with agent Kiana Nguyen at Donald Maass Literary Agency. Submit your query, short pitch, or both for a chance at live feedback from Kiana and our panel–plus, of course, a publishing Q&A.
Kiana Nguyen is an agent at Donald Maass Literary, currently building her client list. Having gotten into the industry unconventionally, Kiana is scrappy and hungry for queer and POC writers and stories. She loves YA across genres, but particularly contemporary and thrillers. She also loves a nice, bloody Adult thriller that keeps you up at night or a good cozy or steamy romance!
Join us for a hybrid panel–both queries AND first pages!–with editor Molly Cusick. Submit your query, first page, or both for a chance at live feedback from Molly and our panel–plus, of course, a publishing Q&A.
Molly Cusick is an Editor at Sourcebooks in New York City, where she acquires Young Adult, Middle Grade, and picture book projects. Previously an agent for eight years, Molly represented authors including Julie Murphy (#1 New York Times bestselling author of DUMPLIN’), Natalie C. Parker (SEAFIRE), Troy Howell (WHALE IN A FISHBOWL), Jeramey Kraatz (the Space Runners series), Kayla Cagan (PIPER PERISH), and Paula Garner (STARWORLD). She works with all genres, and especially enjoys stories with humor and heart, strong voices, tearjerkers, immersive fantasy worlds, diverse casts, and anything that feels unputdownable.
You asked, we answered! To get editorial advice to as many of you as possible, we’ve added a special first paragraph panel with the lovely and talented editor Norma Perez-Hernandez from Kensington. If you haven’t met Norma, her warmth and insight make for a powerful combination of uplifting and helpful. You’ll leave feeling creative, inspired, and ready to get your work to the next level.
A replay will be available 15 minutes after the end of the event, and we’ll send the link to submit your work one week before the event begins. This event will work on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop.
Norma Perez-Hernandez is editor at Kensington Publishing Corp. She has worked on a variety of projects, including fiction, romance, mysteries, thrillers, and non-fiction. A New York City native, Norma studied English literature at the Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York and is a graduate of the Publishing Certificate Program at City College. She is thrilled to build a list with diverse authors and books. @normajeanesays
Literary agents are always on a treasure hunt. But few writers know what it takes to make agents yell at first glance: “Eureka, I’ve struck gold!” And a first glance is all that most writers will get before the agent moves on without ever reading further.
We’ll discuss the mystery of getting an agent to want YOU, to read YOU, and to say YES to YOU. Send your query for the panel portion of the evening, ask about your situation, and get answers to your burning query questions.
Katharine Sands is an agent at The Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, and her recorded, edited class, From Pitch To Page, is one of our most popular classes. Find it in the business section of the classroom.
Join us (and a special faculty guest Fiona Kenshole from Transatlantic Literary Agency!) for a live podcast recording and–yes, you guessed it!–a first pages panel.
We’ll first record content for our podcast (get your behind-the-scenes look as we ever so glamorously hold for NYC sirens) and then watch Fiona react to YOUR pages live. (Please note: We’ll get to as many as we can, but can’t guarantee that we will get to all pages submitted.)
We can’t wait! Grab a drink (in a spillproof container, please–we don’t want you to ruin your laptop), your earbuds, and the device of your choice to tune in.
Join us for a LIVE first pages panel and Q&A with agent Danielle Chiotti of Upstart Crow Literary. She’ll review YOUR pages live, add suggestions that apply to all writers, and answers your questions.
If you haven’t been to one of these events before, this is much more than a feedback panel–it’s a community-building event where we learn with and from each other. Text chat will be available on the side so you can connect with your new writing community. (But this is introvert-friendly–we won’t be able to see you.)
We’ll get through as many pages and questions as we can in the time allotted.
Hope to see you there!
We are so pleased to bring you the next live event in our series–a first pages panel featuring YOUR first pages (drawn at random–we’ll get through as many as we can while still giving thoughtful, kind feedback) and Melissa Warten, editor at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers (an imprint of Macmillan).
Events With Classes Included
Each of these events comes with a recorded, edited class to view before watching the live-recorded Q&A. All classes are shot in the offices or homes of our faculty, and include both smart information and cat cameos, designed to get you the information (and humor) you need to absorb the information, and quickly. Most classes are 30-45 minutes, shot in HD, and will display beautifully full screen.
When we talk about structure, we’re talking about the narrative framework of your story. The bones of the house. The foundation upon which those bones rest. Without these, you have no house. You wouldn’t try to put a roof or hang drywall on, well, nothing, right? If you’re missing a support beam, the house becomes lopsided and ultimately collapses. Well, it’s the same with story.
Though genre does usually determine conventions, or, some of the building blocks with which a story is built, no matter your story, there is a core structural framework.
In this class, we’ll learn the rules and how to break them, the math behind the mystery, the formulae that support unique stories.
With Hannah’s background in film, you’ll learn how these two mediums together show the hidden workings of stories, whether you notice them or not–and how to make them work so YOUR book maintains tension, momentum, and keeps an agent reading.
Join us for a LIVE Q&A with Dawn Michelle Hardy, literary agent and literary lobbyist, to discuss her class, Platform, Publicity & Publishing in Your Pajamas.
This Q&A comes with Dawn’s filmed, edited class (33:17), which is packed with information about building your audience, finding your fans, and creating that platform that means so much to publishers.
With humor, actionable tips, and a lot of heart, this combination will make you feel confident about building the business side of your publishing career–no matter your budget.
Join us for a LIVE Q&A with Rachel Ekstrom Courage, current agent at Folio Literary Management and former book publicist. With her in-depth knowledge of both sides of the desk, she’s the ideal person to help you learn to show your work in its best possible light.
This Q&A comes with a recorded, edited classs which is highly recommended (but not required!). Click below to view that first.
We asked John M. Cusick, Vice President and Agent at Folio Literary Management, to join us to discuss his class, Great First Lines. We have a great deal of fun talking about common mistakes, finding the right submission list, and what keeps an agent reading–and why.
This Q&A comes with a recorded, edited classs which is highly recommended (but not required!). Click below to view that first.
Live Write-In Workshops
Follow along and edit your work as we give you suggestions to grow your character, world, and overall manuscript.
It’s time for #MSWL Manuscript Academy’s FREE Write-In Workshop!
Follow creative writing prompts, polish your work together, and meet your new writing BFFs–all from home. You’ll be able to see us live on video, but we’ll only be able to see you in text chat (aka pajamas welcome, and this is 100% introvert-friendly).
At our last write-in, writers shared their work, met new critique partners, and left feeling great about the industry.
We hope you’ll join us for a fun, uplifting evening with your new favorite community.
It’s time for #MSWL Manuscript Academy’s FREE Write-In Workshop!
Love back-to-school season? This event is for you.
Follow creative writing prompts, polish your work together, and meet your new writing BFFs–all from home. You’ll be able to see us live on video, but we’ll only be able to see you in text chat (aka pajamas welcome, and this is 100% introvert-friendly).
Write with us and discover new dimensions of your character, all based around school, social hierarchies, friends, crushes, and more.
We hope you’ll join us for a fun, uplifting evening with your new favorite community.
Archives
View our panels from our first filming day in NYC.