Spots for the manuscript critiques, query letter pitches, lightning pitches, and query letter critiques may fill completely during the first month or two of enrollment, so if you want to participate especially in those activities, register now.
The pre-conference edit registration and submission deadline is February 3, 2026, but the sooner you submit your file, the sooner you’ll receive the editor’s comments.
The deadline to register for a manuscript critique and submit your work for evaluation is March 30, 2026.
For author coaching, the deadline to submit your top 5 questions along with a query letter and synopsis (if available) is April 24, 2026.
If you are doing a query letter critique and/or query letter pitch activity(-ies) and will participate in-person at the hotel, you will bring copies of these query letters with you. If you will be participating virtually via Zoom–or the agent/editor you’ll be meeting with switches to virtual–the deadline to submit your query letter file for the query letter critique activity is April 27, 2026. You can submit your pitch query letter by 9 pm Eastern on May 1, 2026 so you’ll have time to rewrite it if you do a query letter critique earlier that day. Nothing is submitted for the lightning pitches or lightning pitch critique activity.
The deadline to register for the query letter pitches, lightning pitches, query letter critiques, lightning pitch critique, workshop, both Q&A panels, author coaching, and the book fair is April 30, 2026 at 8 pm Eastern, but these activities are likely to be filled up long before then. Don’t delay your registration if you want to participate.
In all cases, payment is due during the registration process. If you fail to pay, you will not be included on the registration list. Also, you must complete the registration and payment process within 60 minutes of starting it, or your registration will not be recorded.
Please see the Refund Policy for deadlines to cancel your registration for any activity in order to receive a partial refund.
Questions?
Please contact Conference Director George Weinstein at awconference@gmail.com.