Please read this entire page carefully before you send us your manuscript. The address where you should send your manuscript is at the bottom of the page.
Please make sure you send us the following:
_ 2 copies of your material for review; please choose from the following:
~ 15 page manuscript excerpt and brief synopsis--one per person, please ($50)
~ coverletter and synopsis submission package ($50)
~ 5-10 poems ($50)
_ a short note listing the genre of your manuscript and your first 3 choices for reviewers
_ your check: $50 for each review requested (for example, a manuscript excerpt
+ submission package = $100)
The time and place of your meeting with your reviewer will be included with your conference registration packet.
Manuscript evaluations and conference registrations are handled separately--please don't send your conference registration with your manuscript review. To register for the conference, please see our Registration page.
Manuscript Evaluations
A manuscript evaluation and a one-on-one meeting with an editor or agent are available to registered conference participants for $50, one evaluation per participant. The time and location of your manuscript evaluation on Saturday, July 21 will be in your registration packet.
Manuscripts submitted for evaluation are eligible for two prizes, the Mark Austin Segura Award for the Best Adult Fiction or Non-fiction Manuscript, and The Dixie Lee Connor Award for Exceptional Children's Writing (includes fiction and non-fiction). Each carries a monetary value of $500. Prizes will be announced at the Harriette Austin Writers Dinner.
This year the Harriette Austin Writers Conference is also offering evaluations of cover letters and synopses, and poetry. They are not eligible for the Segura and Connor awards, but they may be requested in addition to a manuscript evaluation.
Manuscript Evaluation Submissions will close on June 20, 2007, or when our spaces for submissions are full, whichever comes first. When submissions close it will be announced here, and manuscripts received after closing will be returned unopened.
Submit a two page synopsis and the first fifteen pages of your manuscript, double spaced and typed or printed in 12 point font on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper. Secure with a paper clip only, no staples or binders.
For cover letter and synopses evaluations, send two copies of each, as you would prepare them to send to an agent or editor. For poetry evaluations, send two copies each of 5-10 poems, up to 15 pages total.
Label your manuscript as to genre or type and specify your first three choices for preferred evaluator (we cannot guarantee your first choice).
Space is limited! Send your manuscripts right away!
Evaluators are:
Tony Burton (editor): Crime fiction, suspense
Nancy Love (agent): adult nonfiction, including foreign affairs, health, medicine, how-to, politics, crime, history, entertainment, parenting, psychology, sociology, relationships, personal business, but always looking for the next new thing
Susan Mary Malone (editor): Literary fiction, women's fiction, most genres (no science fiction, please), and almost all nonfiction
Chip MacGregor (agent): Spiritual, mystery, mainstream, nonfiction
Chris Roerden (editor): Mysteries, thrillers, and some non-fiction
Brian Seidman (editor): Fiction with Southern settings or themes of Southern social issues and culture, and nonfiction regarding Southern history, memoir, and civil rights, African-American and Native American topics. Will consider other works of literary merit
Cherry Weiner (agent): Most adult fiction, and young adult science fiction and fantasy lines. She does not handle poetry, very young children's books or picture books, and it takes a special hook to interest her in non-fiction (but she's sold non-fiction books on golf, and Native American Tribes, so …)
New for 2007!
Cover Letters and Synopses Evaluations
They’re your first contact with an agent or editor; stay out of the slush pile with hints from Chuck Sambuchino, editor of the Guide to Literary Agents.
Poetry
What helps you most is hardest to get—professional feedback. Discuss a small portfolio of 5-10 poems, up to 15 pages, with Frederick Smock, Poet in Residence at Bellarmine University.
No more than one manuscript evaluation per participant, please (evaluations of coverletters/synopses or poetry may be requested in addition to a manuscript evaluation). Submissions must be received no later than June 20, though submissions may close earlier if we receive our maximum number. Make check for $50 for each submission payable to HAWC Manuscript Evaluations, and mail two copies of the writing sample to:
Harriette Austin Writers Conference
Re: Manuscripts
PMB 562, 2351 College Station Rd
Athens, GA 30605