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. Book pitching has never been this fun!
When you become a Virtual Paragraph Member for $25/month, you’ll receive free access to all our events. We’ll take care of the registration for you.
Tips for pitching your book at Pitch Wars (and in general). Our judges:
Cherise Fisher (literary agent) began her career in publishing as the assistant to the Editor-in-Chief of Dell Publishing and later worked as an acquiring editor at Simon & Schuster and the Editor-in-Chief of Plume. As an agent, she is interested in working with novelists who have several compulsively readable yarns in their head and are committed to perfecting their craft as storytellers. She will advocate for memoirs that uncover the diversity of human experience, and take on non-fiction writers who are experts on a variety of topics such as personal development, health and sexuality, racial identity, Christianity and spirituality, diet and fitness, African American history, and pop culture.
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.