Meet an Agent and Get a Critique at Steel Pen

2018 Steel Pen Guest Agent: Kaitlyn Johnson of the Corvisiero Agency

Here is one more great reason why you should join us at the Steel Pen Conference on October 27th at Fair Oaks Farms. In addition to the friendship, writing education, support, and great speakers traditionally found at our conference, 2018 will be the first year that we will offer critiques of manuscript pages by literary agent Kaitlyn Johnson. This exciting opportunity allows you to hear an industry expert's ideas how to write the perfect synopsis and meet one-on-one with her to receive feedback on your first two pages.

Who is Kaitlyn Johnson?

Ms. Johnson has a BA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College. She served as a copyeditor for codeMantra and the Accent Press as well as a conference assistant for GrubStreet, Boston. She now serves as a junior editor for the New York boutique Corvisiero Literary Agency and a freelance editor for her own company, K. Johnson Editorial. 

She is currently looking for upper middle grade, young adult, new adult, and adult books. She loves fantasy works, including urban fantasy, and time travel. She also will consider general romance, contemporary romance, and any historical fiction other than Henry the VIII, the American Civil War, or Greek gods and myths. In addition, she welcomes queries on LGBT stories in all of the above genres.

What Ms. Johnson does not accept are chapter and picture books, horror, thrillers, suspense, or mystery books, along with romantic suspense. She does not work with novellas, poetry, short story collections, or plots heavily dependent on religious themes or motive.

However, while at the conference, she will review any two-page material that you wish to submit.

Steel Pen's Manuscript Review Process

Attendees have the option of three different reviews of their work. Ms. Johnson will provide critiques of the first two pages of a manuscript while Ms. Harrison and Ms. Suson are offering five-page reviews of manuscripts and poetry collections. All pages must be submitted to the Steel Pen committee by October 1st with "Manuscript for Review" in the subject line. Pages should be formatted according to industry standards, including double-spacing, 12-point Courier or Times New Roman font, and headers with author/title and a page number. Appointments will be set up the day of the conference and scheduled on a first come, first serve basis.

Ms. Johnson will meet with the authors for ten minutes each during the conference to offer advice on improvement. Although neither IWC nor Ms. Johnson guarantees any further review after the conference, she has the option to request more pages from you if she is interested in your work. The cost of this conference extra is $25 and the opportunities are limited to ten participants. You can find out more about her at www.corvisieroagency.com/kaitlyn-johnson.html.

Ms. Suson will review five fiction pages per attendee along with a one-page synopsis of the larger work. She will provide a one-page feedback and offers ten-minute review sessions with each author. If for some reason you can't attend the conference, she will send the feedback to you, either via email or physical mail. Opportunities with Ms. Suson are limited to the first ten applications and the cost is $15. She is a traditionally published author in the thriller genre and a professional editor. Although she will be glad to read anything but poetry or picture books, her expertise includes science fiction, fantasy (all forms), thrillers, mysteries, and historical works (fiction and nonfiction) at all age levels. You can find out more about her at https://carlaleesuson.com/meet-the-author/.

Ms. Harrison will review five pages of poetry or creative nonfiction (e.g., memoir, essay) with a one-page synopsis for larger works or five pages of individual poems or short creative nonfiction prose. She offers a one-page critique and a ten-minute review session per submission. If for some reason you cannot attend the conference, she will email or physically mail the feedback to you. Opportunities with Ms. Harrison are limited to the first five applicants and the cost is $15. Ms. Harrison is a published poet, creative nonfictionist, and fiction writer and was also selected to serve as the 2017 Highland (IN) Poet Laureate. She has over a decade of college creative writing teaching experience and currently instructs creative and freelance writing at American Public University. You can find out more about her at www.janineharrison.com. 

So make sure you are on the right path for success. Spaces are limited so go to the Steel Pen website and sign up today for your manuscript review. Either way, we look forward to seeing you on October 27th at the Fair Oaks Farm Conference Center!