Industry Engagement Weekend FAQs

The editors and agents attending Industry Engagement Weekend are interested in representing or acquiring books for children and teens ranging from picture books to middle grade and young adult novels and long-form nonfiction: 

To learn more about faculty, we encourage you to check out Manuscript Wish List.

Once you register for a pitch panel, you’ll receive an email link to a Jotform where you can submit your pitch by the deadline. For the July Industry Engagement Day, all pitches are due by Monday, June 16 at noon CT.

Check your email inbox for a confirmation from noreply@jotform.com. If you can’t find the confirmation email, you can resubmit it using the link you received upon registration. Faculty will only receive the most recent version of your pitch.

Great! As long as it’s before the deadline, you can resubmit your pitch using the link you received in your registration email. Faculty will only receive the most recent version of your pitch.

Faculty receive a list of pitches for their panel in advance. They provide responses in advance using these options: 

• • YES, totally my thing. 
  • YES, fills a gap in the market. 
  • YES, I am intrigued. 
  • YES, I can see/feel/imagine the readers. Emotional appeal. 
  • YES, has school and trade appeal. 
  • NO, not voicey, doesn’t stand out. 
  • NO, great pitch but just not for me personality. 
  • NO, pitch needs more development/a tad confusing. 
  • NO, fills the same space a current client has on my list. 
  • NO, a genre I am full on or don’t see potential right now. 

During the panel, Writing Barn staff read the pitches aloud and share them on screen. Faculty share responses and often include more context on why a pitch does or does not pique their interest, suggest appropriate comp titles, or discuss how a pitch could be even stronger. In the past, several faculty members have changed their no’s to yes’s in real-time after hearing a pitch read aloud! 

Once faculty respond to all pitches, Bethany synthesizes feedback from the panel and moderates the Q&A. 

Not all writers can attend live or want to present their pitch, so Writing Barn team members read all pitches aloud. Don’t worry, they’re experienced presenters who will make your pitch shine. In several cases, their delivery has convinced faculty to request a project they’d originally declined! 

Writers are encouraged to attend live so they can participate in the chat and support fellow writers, but it’s not required. Everyone who registers will get the replays for all panels and will have the opportunity to submit to faculty. 

As far as we know, this has never happened in one of our events or classes and it would violate our code of conduct. We encourage attendees to share “aha” moments on social media, but NOT to screenshot pitches or share them with anyone. If you’re still concerned about this and are pitching something like a picture book biography, you could describe the subject and what makes them book-worthy without mentioning their full name.

For the July Industry Engagement Day, all pitches are Monday, June 16 at noon CT. We email reminders about this deadline. If you miss it, we unfortunately can’t guarantee that it’ll get shared with faculty.

Congrats! If a faculty member requests to see your manuscript based on the pitch, you should receive an email with submission instructions in the week following the event. In some cases, agents or editors create a separate submission process for manuscripts they specifically request. In others, they provide the same submission instructions for all attendees, and we encourage you to mention in the first sentence if they requested the project during Industry Engagement Weekend.

All our Industry Engagement Weekend pitch panels include a mix of editor and agent faculty, so sometimes agented authors get a yes from an agent on faculty. If you’re happy with your current agent, you can just pat yourself on the back for writing a great pitch and disregard that request.

For your first nudge AFTER AN ASK, wait 3 to 4 months. For the second nudge, shoot for between months 5 and 6. That’s ALL. And remember: Always update with any movement or news in your nudge (for instance, if you won an award), and always “reply all” to the original email thread you submitted through to provide context.

Replays go out via email within one week of the event, and often sooner. 

If it’s been more than a week since the event, check your spam folder, as replays sometimes wind up there by mistake (add info AT thewritingbarn.com to your contacts to prevent this). 

If it’s not in your spam folder, then it could be because you unsubscribed from our emails and our email system was not able to message you. Email info AT thewritingbarn.com to resubscribe to our emails and get the replay.