Authors Conference Track Program (July 2021)

Career Writer Program
$349.00
Select Deposit Option

You will be sent an invoice for the remainder of your balance to the email address you use to pay the deposit. Balances must be paid in full prior to the end of the class unless prior arrangements are made. Failure to pay invoices in a timely manner will result in the forfeiture of your spot and you will not be permitted to complete the program. Questions? Email info@roadmapwriters.com.

Conference Track is Step 2 of the Career Author Program. It is strongly recommended that writers complete Step 1: Publishing On-Ramp prior to participating in this program. Authors must complete Steps 1-2 to be considered for the Top Tier Authors Program.


Your ticket to insider information + one-on-one time with agents and editors! 

Writers' conferences are great, but they have so many attendees! How can you ever hope to stand out from the crowd?

Roadmap's Conference Track for Authors will give you insights and inspiration just like at a conference, plus intimate roundtable opportunities to have conversations with the execs! These exclusive sessions are limited to 6 authors.

Each author participates in 4x roundtables with book agents and editors during which each author will have a 20-minute conversation with the exec. Pitch your manuscript, get feedback, ask questions, and talk out ideas.  

Each writer will also participate in sessions to help refine their pitch, pages, and marketing efforts. Learn from watching your peers and listening to their feedback! 

Orientation

Date / Time
Summary

In your Orientation, your program mentor Selene Castrovilla will guide you through the art of delivering your verbal pitch, including how to pitch conversationally (without reading!), how to effectively incorporate all the necessary elements of a pitch (tone, characters, plot) and how to make your pitch relatable and universal. You will also workshop your logline and comps! 

Pitch Prep Roundtable

Date / Time
Summary

Each writer will get 20 minutes to practice their pitch with Selene for feedback. You will learn from the personalized feedback you receive, plus the feedback given to your peers. 

Unique Critiques

Date / Time
Summary

What makes your story unique? What elements could be improved? Selene will use her twenty plus years of critiquing experience to hone in on where to focus in your next draft, and give you constructive feedback like you’ve never received before. Selene will give each of you 20 minutes of specific and actionable notes on your prose. Your peers will also receive your submitted pages and may offer up constructive feedback as well. You will walk away from this session with concrete knowledge about what works well and what needs attention in your manuscript, and how to optimize your revision. By reviewing your peers’ work, you will also sharpen your own skills.

 

As a member of the Roadmap community, you agree to be respectful to all execs, RoadCrew staff, moderators, and fellow writers. Remember to keep any advice and notes offered to your peers constructive and actionable—and aligned with their vision for their story. Please be mindful when making comments about sensitive experiences and identities with which you yourself do not have personal experience. 

Your Author Website/Marketing

Date / Time
Summary
Marketing is something most authors dread, but it is vital in order to have a successful career. Even more so if you want your book to serve as underlying IP for your screenplay adaptation. More than ever, you must find ways to stand out from the crowd. One of the ways to do that is to create an author website where you show exactly who you are as a creative, and the themes and character types that are part of your brand. Your website is a home that you must carefully build and furnish. In this session, we'll discuss best practices for your website and your marketing strategy.         

Program Wrap-Up/Post-Mortem

Date / Time
Summary

Join Selene and your classmates to discuss how your pitches and exec interactions went this month, and how you plan to move forward. Discuss actionable ways to improve your pitching, and talk out your marketing strategy. 

Testimonials

Working with Roadmap has been a real pleasure and a treasure trove of good writing. I attend many writers' conferences and workshops and have gotten lots of pitches. I find that the authors who have been vetted and referred to me by Roadmap are very talented, much more than at other venues. I have signed one author who I met through Roadmap and submitted her work to publishers. But there have been many more who have the talent that I am looking for but rarely find. I hope to be doing more work with Roadmap in the future.

~ Andy Ross, Andy Ross Agency

Roadmap Writers gives good guidance to hopeful writers looking to become published authors.

~ Mark Gottlieb, Literary Agent @ Trident Media Group

How it Works

After registering, your confirmation email will include a link for you to access your syllabus for the program, which will include any prep work & resources, class dates & times, join links, assignments, and other instructions.

All interactive sessions are conducted face-to-face via video conferencing software Zoom. While the ability to call in by phone does exist, we strongly recommend taking full advantage of the face-to-face nature of these programs, so you should plan to attend your sessions in front of a computer or stationary tablet at a desk or table in a well-lit room. All Zoom sessions are recorded and distributed to the participating writers so everyone can be fully present in the session and still have a record to review for notes if needed.

Please ensure you are familiar with our Code of Conduct.

The Roadmap Promise

Roadmap Writers prides itself on the quality of executives we bring to our programs and we work hard to get you the best feedback possible.

Our vetted executives are chosen by the legitimacy of the companies they work for and their ability to evaluate pitches and pages.

Only the executives you sign up for will be provided with your materials.