Class Description
Please note: This class is for advanced writers with a completed draft of their memoir or novel. This class is only suitable for novels and memoirs, and not intended for other kinds book projects.
Are you ready to submit your novel or memoir to agents? This class will help you polish your pitch with the aim of giving you confidence, presenting your work in the most compelling way possible, and helping you find a great agent.
We will tackle the key elements you need to attract the right kind of agent to your work. We’ll discuss how to find a killer hook for your book, working through exercises so you can come up with a great one-liner. You’ll submit a draft of a query letter and together we’ll workshop it till it sings. You’ll learn how to put your best foot forward in your bio and we’ll figure out what it is you really want and need from an agent, given your project and your career goals. And perhaps most importantly, we’ll read and workshop the first few pages of your book to be sure they’re ready.
This class involves readings of each student’s work (summaries, pitches, bios etc) between classes as well as significant time fine-tuning different aspects of your own pitch. It will be a mixture of lecture, writing exercises, deep critique and vigorous discussion. At the end of our time together, you will have developed the most effective pitching strategy for your work.
Thanks to the excellent literary citizenship of our donors, scholarships are available for all GrubStreet classes. To apply, click the gray "APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIP" button. In order to be considered for a scholarship, you must complete your application at least one week before the start date of a class. Please await our scholarship committee's decision before registering for the class. We cannot hold spots in classes, so the sooner you apply, the better. Scholarships cannot be applied retroactively.
For more detailed information about GrubStreet scholarships, including how to contribute to scholarship funds for other students, click here.
This class will take place using Zoom videoconferencing. After registering, a yellow Resources tab will appear in this section containing a link to join class. Please note that you will need to be logged into view the Resources tab.
Zoom Participation:
In our experience, the intimate nature of a writing workshop benefits from on-camera participation. Students are of course welcome to turn their camera off whenever they need to, but it is a community norm for cameras to be on most of the time. You can learn more about using Zoom here.
Zoom Accessibility:
You can enable closed captioning at any time during the meeting by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the screen. If you'd like to access the transcript after class, please make sure to let your instructor ahead of time that you'd like a copy.