This is a two-part event. Part one will be Pitch Wars at 7pm, followed by our annual holiday party at 8:30pm.
PART ONE - PITCH WARS: Do you have an idea for a book? A manuscript you're trying to publish? This is your chance to put your creativity to the test! Come give a one-minute elevator pitch to a panel of experienced editors and agents for real-time Shark Tank-style feedback, or come to watch how it’s done.
Pitch Wars will be an in-person event broadcast over Zoom. We strongly encourage you to come in-person. Doors at 6:45pm. Sign up to pitch at the door or email your pitch to info@paragraphny.com by 3pm on Dec 7th to pitch virtually and register on Zoom below. (No need to register if you’re coming in person.)
PART TWO: HOLIDAY PARTY: 8:30pm - 10pm at KGB Bar. Open bar til 9:30pm. Fun all night long.
Our judges:
Kevin O’Connor (literary agent): Since his first job out of college at Sesame Workshop, Kevin O’Connor has always worked at the intersection of business and creative. He has hands-on experience in a variety of media: animation, live action TV, toys, live shows, music, educational apps, and t-shirts*. In addition to Sesame, he’s worked for Fisher-Price, VTech, Kidz Bop, Barnes & Noble, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He’s inked deals with Chrysler, Nestle, McDonalds, Intel, and all the major publishers. As an agent, Kevin does lots of kids’ projects in addition to serious adult nonfiction (Brian McCullough’s How the Internet Happened, Claude Andrew Clegg’s The Black President). He is a Columbia University grad and the founding director of The Center for Nonfiction, a Columbia University Community Scholars Project dedicated to helping journalists and scholars understand the formal needs of trade publishers.
Brenda Copeland (editor) is an editor with more than twenty years’ experience at the big five publishers and over ten years’ experience as an adjunct professor in the graduate publishing program at NYU. She has published a robust list of fiction and non-fiction, quality books with strong commercial appeal, including The Good House by Ann Leary, Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks, and A Big Little Life, Dean Koontz’s first non-fiction book. Now an independent editor, she works closely with authors through all stages of the writing and publication process, helping them reach their creative potential.
Dana Isaacson (editor) works with major publishers, literary agents, published writers and debut writers. In addition to conceptual editing and line-by-line edits, he has book-doctored numerous projects and ghost-written novels. Most recently at Penguin Random House, Dana has also worked at Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster and ReganBooks/HarperCollins. His experience in New York City book publishing includes editing both fiction and non-fiction. He has abridged books and worked as a literary agent. Dana’s writing has appeared in The New York Observer, the New York Times (syndicated in Palm Beach Post, Seattle Times and Fort Worth Star-Telegram), and the Racine Journal Times. Dana also blogs on the website CareerAuthors.com—named by Writer's Digest in 2020 as the #2 "Best Writing Advice Website." He has a BA from the University of Wisconsin and lives in New York City’s East Village.
*Krusty the Clown called the t-shirt concession “the sweetest plum.” (The Simpsons, “Krusty Gets Kancelled,” Season 4, Episode 22, 1993.)
Tips for pitching your book at Pitch Wars (and in general).