Note: All activities will take place at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel on May 3-4, 2024 except the Pre-Conference Edits, which will be managed entirely via email (through February 2024). The activities are described in detail on the Conference Activities page. For participants who will be virtual, all interactions with agents and editors will occur via Zoom. Due to the ever-increasing expense of the audio-visual equipment and personnel involved and the ever-dwindling number of virtual participants, only the query letter critiques, manuscript sample critiques, and the pitches will be offered with the Zoom option. The workshop, Q&A panels, educational sessions, award ceremony, and mixer will only be available for in-person participants.
Note that all times given below are US Eastern.
Friday, May 3, 2024
11:00-4:00 p.m. Book Fair open to all attendees, with participants who have books available doing sales and signings all day in a designated meeting room (registration for table/countertop space on a first-come, first-served basis; complete details here),
12:30-1:30 p.m. Publisher Q&A Panel with all participating publisher acquisitions editors (in-person only).
1:45-5:00 p.m. Query Letter Critiques with two editors/agents assigned to participants at random (either in-person or via Zoom), but with no overlaps with any Saturday meetings, offering critiques and suggestions during sessions of about ten minutes based on printed copies of a query letter brought to the hotel (or submitted by April 30, 2024 for virtual participants).
2:00-2:45 p.m. Mini-Seminar by Tama Kieves: “Editing with Magic” (in-person only).
3:00-3:45 p.m. Mini-Seminar by Tama Kieves: “Uncovering Your Best Stories for Memoir, Self-Help, and Fiction” (in-person only).
4:00-6:00 p.m. Workshop by Tama Kieves: “The Unstoppable Writer: The Infallible Way to Build Your Writing Power, Practice, and Platform” (in-person only).
6:00-8:00 p.m. Free time for participants.
8:00-11:30 p.m. Mixer with musical entertainment and the editors, agents, and speaker for casual conversations and networking among participants, along with an icebreaker game (in-person-only).
Saturday, May 4, 2024
9:00-10:00 a.m. Agent Q&A Panel with all participating literary agents (in-person-only).
10:15 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Manuscript critique meetings: One-on-one meetings (either in-person or via Zoom) of about 13 minutes each between the editors/agents and those who submitted their work for critique by the March 31, 2024 deadline. Participants will receive summary comments a day or two before the conference.
10:30-11:30 a.m. Mini-Seminar with Jeff Shaw: “Law Enforcement and What Hollywood Gets Wrong” (in-person only).
11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Mini-Seminar with Jeff Shaw: “The Journey from Cop to Crime Novelist” (in-person only).
12:45-2:15 p.m. Free time for participants.
2:15-5:30 p.m. Pitch meetings: Participants (either in-person or via Zoom) pitch an editor/agent one-on-one for about ten minutes each, based on a printed copy of a query letter brought to the hotel (or submitted by May 3, 2024, at 10 p.m. Eastern for virtual participants).
2:30-3:45 p.m. Mini-Seminars with Love Hudson (“Leveraging Your Superpowers to Excel as a Writer”) and Jennifer Moorman (“The Best Thing I Did for My Career”) (in-person only).
4:00-5:15 p.m. Mini-Seminars with Love Hudson (“The Business of Writing”) and Jennifer Moorman (“The Secret Path to Becoming a Writer”) (in-person only).
5:45-6:30: Giveaway drawings and award ceremony: giveaways for the next conference and more will be conducted by drawing raffle tickets. Then, all participating agents and editors will announce their awards for Best Manuscript Sample and Best Pitch, with certificates for the winners (in-person only).
Questions?
Please contact George Weinstein at awconference@gmail.com.
Ready to register?
View the Registration page for instructions.