The Online 2020 Toronto Writing Workshop

After successful conferences in 2016 and 2019, Writing Day Workshops is excited to announce The 2020 Toronto Writing Workshop (TWW) — a two-day online “How to Get Published” writers conference in on Saturday, August 8 and Sunday, August 9, 2020. This writing event is a wonderful opportunity to get intense instruction over the course of two days, pitch a literary agent or editor (optional), get your questions answered, and more. This is a special “How to Get Published” writing workshop. In other words, it’s two days full of classes and advice designed to give you the best instruction concerning how to get your writing & books published. Discussions will involve your publishing opportunities today, how to write queries & pitches, how to market yourself and your books, what makes an agent/editor stop reading your manuscript, and more. No matter what you’re writing — fiction or nonfiction — these classes will help point you in the right direction. Writers of all genres are welcome.

The 2020 TWW is now an Online Conference to keep everyone safe, spread out over two days. This will be easy and awesome, and the online conferences done thus far have received wonderful feedback. You do not have to be tech-savvy to do this. All aspects of the event have been kept, including one-on-one agent & editor pitching, which will now be done by Skype or Zoom or phone. Learn all details about the new August 8-9 TWW Online Conference here and what everything means

How to pay/register — Registration is now open. Reach out to workshop organizer Brian Klems via email: WDWconference@gmail.com, and he will provide specific instructions for payment and registration to get you a reserved seat at the event. Payment is by either PayPal or check or credit card. Because Brian plans different workshops, make sure you note that you’re inquiring about the Toronto workshop specifically.

$245 CAD / $189 USD — EARLY BIRD registration pricing! This is the complete base price for registration to the 2020 TWW and access to all workshops, all day.

Add $38 CAD / $29 USD — to secure a 10-minute one-on-one meeting with any of our literary agents in attendance. Use this special meeting as a chance to pitch your work and get professional feedback on your pitch. (Spaces limited.)

Add $91 CAD / $69 USD — for an in-depth, personal critique of your one-page query letter from Chuck Sambuchino, one of the workshop’s former instructors. (This rate is a special event value for Toronto Writing Workshop attendees only.)

Add $117 CAD / $89 USD — for an in-depth personal critique of the first 10 pages of your novel. Spaces with faculty for these critiques are very limited, and participating attendees get an in-person meeting at the workshop.

Schedule for Saturday, August 8, 2020

9:30 – 10:30: Ask the Agents Anything. This session is an open Q&A designed for writers to be able to ask some attending literary agents questions and get answers.

10:45 – 11:50: I Did It, It’s Done! … Now What? So you’ve written a novel! Congratulations on finally typing “The End”! Now what do you do with it?

1:15 – 2:30: “Writers Got Talent”—a Page 1 Critique Fest with participating literary agents and editors. In the vein of “American Idol” or “America’s Got Talent,” this is a chance to get your first page read (anonymously — no bylines given) with attending agents commenting on what was liked or not liked about the submission.

2:45 – 3:45: (How to) Revise the Crap Out of Your Manuscript. In this session, you will learn how to revise your manuscript.

4:00 – 5:00: Getting Published in Today’s World: 10 Tips to Make You the Writer Agents and Publishers Want. If you want to land an agent and a book deal in today’s market, you’re going to have to do a lot more than just write a great book (though that’s a good start).

Agent & Editor Pitching: All throughout the day August 8.

(What you see here is a quick layout of the day’s events. See a full layout of the day’s sessions, with detailed descriptions, on the official Schedule Page here.)

This year’s faculty includes the following:

• literary agent Paul S. Levine (Paul S. Levine Literary)
• literary agent Jemiscoe Chambers-Black (Andrea Brown Literary)
• literary agent Eric Smith (P.S. Literary)
• literary agent Tia Mele (Talcott Notch)
• literary agent Dan Cramer (Flannery Literary)
• literary agent Amy Giuffrida (Jennifer De Chiara Literary)
• literary agent Em Lysaght (Ladderbird Literary)
• literary agent Carlie Webber (Fuse Literary)
• literary agent Lori Steel (Raven Quill Literary)
• literary agent Beth Marshea (Ladderbird Literary)
• literary agent Jessica Watterson (Sandra Dijkstra Literary)
• literary agent Lindsey Leggett (The Rights Factory)
• literary agent Kelly Peterson (Rees Literary)
• literary agent Hope Bolinger (CYLE Literary Elite)
• literary agent Michelle Richter (Fuse Literary)
• literary agent Nicole Payne (Golden Wheat Literary)
• literary agent Vicki Selvaggio (Storm Literary)
• literary agent Kortney Price (Raven Quill Literary)
• literary agent Becky LeJeune (Bond Literary)
• literary agent Michael Carr (Veritas Literary)
• literary agent Laurel Symonds (The Bent Agency)
• literary agent Jessica Schmeidler (Golden Wheat Literary)
• literary assistant Rae Loverde (Donald Maass Literary)
• literary agent Savannah Brooks (Jennifer De Chiara Literary)
• literary agent Bibi Lewis (Ethan Ellenberg Literary)
• literary agent Catherine Hedrick-Armstrong (The Purcell Agency)
• literary agent Kimberly Brower (Brower Literary)
• literary agent Stephany Evans (Pande Literary)
• literary agent Emmy Nordstrom Higdon (The Rights Factory)
• literary agent Carly Watters (P.S. Literary)
• literary agent Lizzie Poteet (The Seymour Agency)
• literary agent Eva Scalzo (Speilburg Literary)
• literary agent Stephanie Winter (P.S. Literary)
• literary agent Cecilia Lyra (The Rights Factory)
• literary agent Olga Filina (The Rights Factory)
• more agent faculty forthcoming

By the end of the day, you will have all the tools you need to move forward on your writing journey. This independent event is organized by coordinator Chuck Sambuchino of Writing Day Workshops, with help from local writing groups.