DATE: September 8, 2012
CONTACT: Debbie Gonzales
CHAPTER: Austin, Texas
LOCATION/TIME: 10:00 at BookPeople
So you’ve written the Next Best Book in the World. What can you do to make sure it lands on an editor’s desk? In this presentation, award-winning query-writer and debut novelist Nikki Loftin will reveal the spoken (and unspoken) Dos and Don’ts of queries and pitches… and even the Dreaded, Deadly Synopses of Doom. Bring a pen and paper as some of the presentation will be hands-on! By the end of the hour, you should have an idea of what it takes to make an agent fall in love with your manuscript… or at least ask for a few pages.
Nikki Loftin a writer and native Texan who lives just outside Austin, Texas, surrounded by dogs, chickens, and small, loud boys. Her debut middle-grade novel, THE SINISTER SWEETNESS OF SPLENDID ACADEMY, will be published by Razorbill (Penguin) in Summer 2012. Nikki studied literary fiction at the University of Texas at Austin graduate writing program (MA, ‘98), but it wasn’t until she became a teacher that she found her true calling: working with and writing for kids. In addition to middle-grade novels, Nikki also writes essays, puppet plays, articles, poems, and short stories. Her short children’s fiction has appeared in Boy’s Life and Pockets, as well as in print anthologies and online magazines.