Prepping Your Pitch: Practical Info for Sending Your Manuscript to Agents and Publishers

Aug 14, 2024 | by VMI

February 9 – April 6, 2025, online (Zoom)

Fee: $1500

Your nonfiction or fiction book idea has developed into a number of chapters or even a completed manuscript, and you’re getting ready to submit. In this hands-on program we’ll use a combination of workshops and one-on-one mentoring to guide you through developing a pitch and submitting your book for publication. This Vancouver Manuscript Intensive program will be limited to eight participants, and will draw on the expertise and experience of our VMI mentors Aren X. Tulchinsky, Gary Barwin, and Gurjinder Basran as well as a guest agent Rachel Letofsky of Cooke McDermid and publisher Jay MillAr of Book*hug Press. 

Over the course of eight weeks, participants will experience three levels of workshop dynamic: group feedback, paired peer workshopping, and personal mentorship from a published author, and then have the opportunity to present your idea to a panel of industry professionals. By the end of this uniquely flexible two-month program—only the opening and closing workshops have set dates and times—participants will have practical knowledge about the submission process and a well-edited pitch. 

Please note: participation does not guarantee publication.

Components

1. Cohort workshop

Sunday February 9, 2025, 1:00-3:00 pm PST (two hours online)

This initial group meeting will address contextual ideas such as:

  • How to know when you’re ready to submit
  • The advantages and disadvantages of finding an agent vs. submitting directly to publishers
  • How to identify agents or publishers likely to be interested in your book
  • The pros and cons of working with a formal editor prior to submission
  • Elements of a written and a verbal pitch
  • Explanation of processes in the workshop such as mentor and peer pairings as well as the final presentation.

2. Independent one-on-one mentoring with a VMI Mentor 

(Five hours), days and times to be decided by mutual agreement. 

  • After the initial workshop each participant will be paired with one of four participating mentors.
  • In these personal meetings you will develop a written draft and a verbal pitch, receive feedback, revise your pitches, and have a chance to connect about specifics of your proposal. 

3. Peer support 

(Up to five hours) online, days and times to be decided by mutual agreement. 

  • Participants will work in pairs to provide each other support and feedback through the process. After the initial workshop participants will be paired to work in duos away from the group. 

4. Group Session 

Sunday 6 April, 1:00-4:00 pm PDT (three hours) online, with invited panel of mentors, agent, and publisher

  • Present a ten-minute verbal pitch of your manuscript, followed by feedback from the other participants as well as from a panel of in-house VMI mentors, an acquiring representative at a national agency and a nonfiction or fiction editor for a major Canadian publisher. We’ll also talk briefly about what to expect in a contract, and how to be an active, social-media savvy participant in marketing your book.

Timing Summary: 

First group meeting: Sunday February 9, 2025, 1:00-3:00 pm PST

Mentor meetings: Five hours mutually agreed upon between February 10-April 5

Peer pairings: Up to five hours mutually agreed upon between February 10-April 5

Final Group Panel Meeting: Sunday April 6, 2025, 1:00-4:00 pm PDT

 

Workshop Leader: Mark L. Winston

Mark L. Winston is the recipient of the 2015 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction for his best-selling book Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive, and an Independent Publishers 2019 Gold Medal IPPY Award for his book Listening to the Bees, co-authored with poet Renee Saklikar. His work has appeared in seven books, commentary columns for the Vancouver Sun, The New York Times, The Sciences, Orion magazine, and many other outlets.

As an award-winning writer and editor, Mark works with community writers to develop proposals and edit manuscripts for non-fiction writing, from newspaper opinion pieces to books. He was a founding faculty member in the Banff Centre Science Communication Program, developed and taught in Simon Fraser University’s Nonfiction for the Weekend Student course, and was the SFU Library’s inaugural Writer in Residence for Nonfiction 2020-2021. winstonhive.com

Registration

Registration online at VMI website opens November 1, 2024 for former/current VMI participants and November 15 for general public.

Two funded community access seats are available for those from marginalized communities or experiencing hardship. To apply, please fill out the short application section of the online application.