Blessing Bag Brigade Joining Corvisiero Team and Authors for Good Cause

The Red Bank, Author-Preneur Workshop by the River on September 16, 2017 is an amazing multilayered interactive full day workshop with presentations by me and other expert industry professional guests dedicated to authors’ success. 
The workshop is presented at a beautiful location by the Navesink River in Red Bank, NJ,  my hometown, where the setting is relaxing and inspiring. Light breakfast, lunch, and social mixer will be provided.

During this retreat like full day workshop authors have the opportunity to attend various Presentations, pitch Literary Agents and Editors (Optional), get a book signed by NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors Heidi McLaughlin (author of Forever My Girl - soon to be a motion picture), Tracy Solheim (author of Sleeping with the Enemy), Tish Rabe (author of Cat in the Hat books), and Cindy Madsen (author of Cinderella Screwed Me), get work critiqued by Agents and Editors, attend the Gong Show: First Page Critique Literary Agent and Editor Panel, and Network with authors and industry professionals all day long and during a Networking Mixer after hours.

The extensive program includes everything from Publishing Options and Trends, to Landing an Agent, to Closing a Deal and Building an Author Platform. Just as importantly we do a small portion on Success Mindset during which we discuss allowing growth and positivity, thinking like a successful AuthorPreneur, living with gratitude and giving back. 

To enhance this portion of the workshop and share a little bit of my thankful mindset, we have partnered up with The Blessing Bag Brigade of NJ to collect snacks, first aid items, and travel size toiletries to create Care Bags for the homeless. The Blessing Bag Brigade will talk to our authors, helps us assemble the goodie bags and then take them out for distribution to local homeless people in nearby areas of need. 

If you are attending the workshop, please bring some goodies to include in the bags! If you are an author or aspiring author and would like to sign up see information below or Register Here! 

​Logistics: 
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday, September 16, 2017, at The Oyster Point Hotel

 Happy Giving!
~Marisa

Why I do What I do... Teaching Workshops, Webinars, Bootcamps and more.

As you may have heard, I offer writer's workshops in different locations though my Literary Agency, Corvisiero Literacy Agency. An Agency that now has grown by grooming 10 very capable and wonderful agents and a full staff of more than 20 strong that share my vision and style. 

Who do my team and I do this? Basically we want to reach as many authors as possible with the entirely selfish goal of getting better queries and facilitating better work. lol I'm only partly joking...

I have been attending conferences for years. I've participated on panels, taken thousands of pitches, taught classes at these conferences, at other workshops, as well as online for writers associations and for Writers Digest. I've basically done everything from virtual workshops, webinars, tutorials, and bootcamps to full day workshops all over the USA, Canada, and wherever the internet let me. These amazing teaching experiences eventually led to me wanting to give more to authors. This was in part because I wanted to share more of what I know to help people proceed in the right direction, and in part, it was an inspiration out of necessity. 

Many times authors have come along shared about an experience they had that set them back, or tell me about some advice they received from another author, friend, or a supposed professional that let do unwanted results. More often than it should occur, the information is not only incorrect, but seriously misleading. So wrong in fact, that some bad information could seriously lead an author down the wrong path, resulting in a lot of wasted time and resources, and sometimes so damaging that it stops and otherwise discourages authors from ever getting published altogether. 

I want to stop that, or at least reduce these instances, by offering authors as much knowledge as I can share without actually being their literary agent. I do a lot of this consulting, coaching and sharing with my clients, but there aren't enough hours in the day for me to make a bigger impact on the industry and reach more people if I sign them all. And I'll be completely honest with you, many authors aren't ready for me to represent them yet. So the answer is consulting and teaching to get them ready for me and other agents so that we can all succeed. 

By offering my Workshops, I am able to educate, prepare, train and guide a lot more people who have the desire and potential to get published and to be amazing authors. I hope that if you are an aspiring author, one day I make my way to you... Or you make your way to me. ;)

Happy Learning
~Marisa 

NJ AuthorPreneur Workshop: Meet the Experts!

Our very next Workshop is just days away in Red Bank, NJ on September 16, 2017. It isn't too late to register and join me on amazing lectures, a lesson on gratitude and giving back, and enjoy the opportunity to pitch reputable and experienced literary agents and editors from top publishing companies, and get your work critiqued. I personally designed these workshops to give a healthy mix of everything you need to know to publish successfully at any level of your writing career. The faculty joining us at this workshop is our best line up yet. I'm proud to say that we have some fantastic literary agents from my Literary Agency as well some of the best agencies in publishing, and a number of super star editors that can take your career to a whole new level. Please take a look at our guest experts. 

Meet the Faculty of upcoming AuthorPreneur Workshop

in beautiful Red Bank, NJ

​​Alec Shane, Literary Agent at Writers House

Alec began his career at Writers House as an intern in September of 2008 and simply refused to leave, so he was given the wonderful job of Assistant to Jodi Reamer. He is now also in the process of actively building his own list and currently represents a fairly eclectic mix of Children's and Adult fiction and nonfiction. He is eagerly looking for both.
Seeking:
On the fiction side, I love mysteries, thrillers (although I'm experiencing a bit of terrorist fatigue at the moment), bad-ass protagonists with a chip on their shoulders, beautifully told historical fiction (The Vietnam War, the Maccabees, and The American Revolution fascinate me in particular),well-researched adventure stories, and great horror - I haven't been scared to turn off the light in far too long and something needs to be done about it. In terms of children's books, getting boys to read again is especially important to me, and thus I'm particularly on the lookout for a fun middle-grade adventure series, ghost story, or anything else geared toward younger male readers. 
On the nonfiction side, I'm attracted to odd, quirky histories, military history, biographies of people I didn't even know existed (but definitely should have), "guy" reads, humor, narrative nonfiction that sheds light on under-the-radar events and lifestyles, and all things sports. I'm also currently up in the air as to whether or not I believe in ghosts, hauntings, and the supernatural, so if you have something that can convince me one way or the other, I'd love to see it.
Find Alec on Twitter. 

Alex Logan, Editor at Hachette

Alex began her career as a bookseller at Borders in Chicago and was promoted to buyer in Ann Arbor.  She then made the move to NYC and Random House Audio, where she was an acquiring editor. At Hachette, she spent two years at Bulfinch Press before moving to Grand Central Publishing. She now works on women’s fiction of all kinds. She has edited the RITA-nominated Your Roots Are Showing by Elise Chidley among others winning several RITA awards. However, her first love is thrillers (favorites include Daniel Silva and Michael Connelly). She works with many bestselling authors in different genre and is looking forward to finding more talented authors. She does not accept unsolicited nor unrepresented work. 

Ali Fisher, Editor at Tor/Forge Books

Ali Fisher is an editor in the children’s and young adult division of Tor/Forge Books. She’s been with Tor since September 2013. In the two years preceding her move to Tor, Ali marketed Macmillan's adult trade list to librarians. Ali spent her formative years traveling from Seattle to Sevenwaters to Middle-earth and back. Her current literary expeditions depart from Brooklyn.
Seeking:
I’m actively building a list of speculative and reality-based teen and middle grade fiction. I’m particularly eager to acquire submissions featuring underrepresented and marginalized voices. I’m an armchair adrenaline junkie, so I love thrillers and horror of all types. I’m interested in character-driven science fiction as well as contemporary fiction featuring geek culture, alternative culture, and feminism. I want to see more speculative and secondary-world stories that reflect and extrapolate out from our current political climate and encourage activism, involvement, and resistance. Find Ali on Twitter! 

Elayne Becker, Editor at Tor/Forge Books

Elayne Becker is a junior associate editor for Forge Books, Tor Teen, and Starscape. She works closely with books across multiple genres of fiction, but her heart lies with tales of history, myth, and magic. When she’s not dreaming of traveling the world, she can usually be found in a bookstore.
Seeking: 
The stories I like best are ones that take me to another world, whether that’s a fantasy realm, Ancient Rome, or London during the Great Exhibition of 1851. To that end, I’m particularly interested in finding good historical fiction and fantasy. A unique twist on a classic fairy tale or a clever retelling of a myth are also up my alley. Gorgeous prose, body diversity, protagonists with disabilities, sibling stories, and good, swoonworthy romances are always pluses, as are animals and stories set in any stretch of wilderness such as the Appalachian Trail or the Rocky Mountains. For anything speculative, I’m acquiring middle grade and young adult only. For contemporary fiction or historicals, I’m open to middle grade, young adult, and adult. Find Elayne on Twitter!

Elizabeth May, Editor at Kensington Books

Elizabeth is an Editorial Assistant at Kensington Publishing Corp. She is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, and taught English Language abroad for several years before returning to her first love of reading and book publishing. She loves working with authors and being able to work with books is quite literally her dream job. 
Seeking:
Romance in all subgenres except YA. 
Loves historical fiction with strong female protagonists and interesting settings.
Mysteries: cozies, historical, and domestic noir. 
Fantasy/ Sci Fi with great world building and ideally strong female characters. Find Liz on Twitter! 

Elle Keck, Editor at Harper Collins

Growing up in San Diego, Elle Keck thought she’d spend her life in the hallowed halls of academia, churning out papers on nineteenth century Britain. Alas, that was not in the cards, but thankfully, she was able to combine her knowledge of pelisses and petticoats with her passion for historical romances. An avid reader of all things Avon, she was delighted to join the team in 2014 where she edits a fantastic list of smart, gripping, and bestselling romances.
Seeking: 
She’s always on the hunt for high-concept historical romances that make me laugh and make me cry, super sexy contemporary romances that feature rough and ready alpha males, and diverse romances of all kinds.
On my wishlist right now are super hot and sexy contemporary romances, smart, genre-bending historical romances, and diverse romances of any and all kinds. I’m not looking for paranormal, small-town contemporary, inspirational, or American-set historicals. Find Elle on Twitter! 

Heidi McLaughlin, Self Publishing a Successful Bestseller 

Heidi is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling hybrid author.
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives in picturesque Vermont, with her husband and two daughters. Also renting space in their home is an over-hyper Beagle/Jack Russell, Buttercup and a Highland West/Mini Schnauzer, JiLL and her brother, Racicot.
When she isn't writing one of the many stories planned for release, you'll find her sitting court-side during either daughter's basketball games. Heidi is the author of Forever My Girl, a bestseller soon to be released as a major motion picture. Her most recent titles include the Summer Boys Series (Grand Central), Stripped Bare (Penguin RandomHouse), Love Me Tomorrow (Curiosity Quills, releases in 2018), Baker Street Irregulars compilation Edited by Jonathan Maberry and Michael Ventrella (Diversion Books), and the Society X Series co-written with NY Times and USA Today bestselling author LP Dover.  Find Heidi on Twitter! 

Kelly Peterson, Literary Agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency


A recent graduate of West Chester University, she earned her B.S.Ed. in English and went to pursue a career in teaching. 
When not working as a book nerd, Kelly can be found dancing, hiking, riding horses, perfecting her yoga technique, blogging, and writing her own manuscript. If you're lucky, you might even be able to catch her flying around the world, saving lives. She is superwoman after all!
Though she reads various genres of Middle Grade, Young Adult, and New Adult novels, her true weakness is for YA Fantasy. More recently, Steampunk has quickly crept up the charts in her heart as well. 
With books, there's just something about strong female main characters holding their own against the world, in an environment that Kelly could never, in her wildest dreams, find herself living within. It tears at her heart and pulls at her soul, especially when the main character finds that she never needed another to complete her in the first place.
Seeking: 
MG: Fantasy, Paranormal, Sci-fi. YA: Fantasy (all sub genres of fantasy accepted), Steampunk, Sci-Fi, Paranormal, Historical (19th century and earlier with strong heroines), Dystopian (hold the cyborgs, the scorch, and diseases, please), Sword and Sorcery, a very selective few for Contemporary Romance, and any combination of the above with strong, female main characters.  NA: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance (Cowboys, anyone? Sexy and somewhat geeky entrepreneur? Celebrity? Yes?), Historical Romance, or any combination of the above. Adult: Fantasy, Romance. Find Kelly on Twitter! 

Meg LaTorre, Literary Agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency

Meg likes to think of herself as an avid book nerd with an exceptional taste for mac and cheese. This oxford comma and em dash enthusiast has had her nose plunged into a book before kindergarten and scribbled down her first stories not too long thereafter. Currently, Meg the editor of a magazine and has a background in journalism, medical writing, and website creation. She has written for print and digital publications, such as Writer's Digest and Savvy Authors, on a variety of topics, including novel writing, nutrition, healthy living, startup companies, pharmaceuticals, and more.
Seeking:
Meg is partial to the realm of fiction novels, specifically MG, YA, NA, and adult: fantasy, historical fiction, romance, space opera, and steam punk. She loves books written in third-person with multiple POVs, quirky, realistic characters, and rich descriptions. Find Meg on Twitter! 
​
Nicole Fischer, Editor at Harper Collins

Nicole Fischer joined HarperCollins (Avon/WilliamMorrow) in January 2013 and now oversees Avon’s digital-first line, Avon Impulse. She acquires commercial and genre fiction—primarily romance and thrillers—and currently edits multiple New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors, as well as a few RITA award nominees. She’s looking for fun, fresh, diverse voices across most subgenres of romance, but is really hoping to see more light-hearted romantic comedies, witty Regency historicals, and sexy sports romance. Nicole is also interested in modern women’s fiction with strong romantic elements, psychological suspense with jaw-dropping twists, atmospheric police procedurals featuring strong female investigators, and espionage thrillers that transport the reader all over the world. Unfortunately, she does not acquire nonfiction, literary fiction, Sci-Fi/Fantasy or YA/children’s books. Find Nicole on Twitter! 

Reiko Davis, Literary Agent at DeFiore and Company Literary Management

Before joining DeFiore in early 2016, Reiko Davis was an associate agent at Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency for four years. She grew up in Kansas City, received her BA in Comparative Literature and Art History from Brown University, and is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course.
Reiko’s interests are varied, but she is particularly drawn to adult literary and upmarket fiction, narrative nonfiction, and young adult and middle grade fiction. Above all, she wants to discover books that surprise and move her with their irresistible characters and language.
She loves a strong narrative voice; smart, funny heroines; narrowly located settings (especially towns in the South and Midwest); family sagas; darkly suspenseful novels; and stories of remarkable friendships or that explore the often perilous terrain of human relationships. For children’s books, she is actively looking for young adult and middle grade fiction—whether it be contemporary, historical, fantasy, or simply a story with a timeless quality and vibrant characters. For nonfiction, she is most interested in cultural, social, and literary history; fascinating tours through niche subjects; narrative science; psychology; guides on creativity; and memoir. Find Reiko! 

If you like what you see, and are ready to take a step forward in your writing career, please register and join us. Seats are still available, and we'll have open registration at the door if there is still room. Check the website or my Facebook or Twitter accounts for updates. I really hope that you decide to join me. I would be honored to share all of my pearls of wisdom, and look forward to the opportunity to meet you! 

The list includes others among myself, my team, and some of my other Bestselling Authors, Cindy Madsen, Tracey Solheim and Tish Rabe, who will be autographing books for attendees. 

Having so many talented and knowledgeable industry people in such a small workshop is truly the opportunity of a lifetime. I hope you hear the knock at the door. 

JOIN THIS AMAZING LINEUP, and let us help you find the path to success, make connections, get discovered, meet your new best friend! 

Happy Registering! 
~Marisa

...More on Helping Texas

This post is a continuation to my last post about Hurricane Harvey Relief efforts. 

One of our beloved authors, Sienna Snow, who lives in Texas is personally collecting gift cards to take to the families in Friendswood. These gift cards are to help purchase basics, like underwear, hygiene goods, and food. If you would like to contribute to this effort, please email Sienna Snow at author@siennasnow.com and she will give you instructions. Gift card should be for places like Walmart, Target, HEB, Kroger, etc. 

Donate to Friendswood - This is a Facebook page created to help the families in Friendswood directly. It is a collection of gofundme.com, Amazon wish lists, youcaring.com pages. These are family specific listings. Many of the families we know personally, and they had to leave their homes in a matter of minutes with only the clothes on their backs.

Sienna, like so many victims of this hurricane and the floods in Huston and nearby areas, is experiencing the devastation first hand and has learned a lot of useful information, some of which I found imperative to share... apparently many organizations give less than 15% of your donations to relief efforts. So be careful!! 

Listed below are organizations, charities, and funds where 100% OF YOUR DONATIONS will go to the families and communities that were devastated by Harvey. 

Greater Houston Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund

Salvation Army

Texas Diaper Bank

The Harbor Hurricane Harvey Fund 

This is the direct link to Sienna's home church’s efforts to help the victims of the storm

Friendswood Rotary Club Charitable Foundation

Please help. There are so many people in need! 

Just to reiterate, and if you need an incentive, the Corvisiero Literary Agency is giving a 20% Discount on registration to any of our Workshops 

(even a future event if we don't have one set up near you yet- just email us for info at workshops@corvisieroagency.com) with a query letter critique by me, and a pitch appointment to pitch your work to any agent or editor in attendance at the chosen workshop. We offer this to any author who donates more than $25 to a good charity for this cause after seeing my posts. See Rules in prior post. 

Lets also pray for our friends in Puerto Rico and Florida who are in direct path of Hurricane Irma (now a catastrophic category 5 hurricane) and hope that the storm dedicates or changes path. 

Be kind my friends!

~ Marisa

Helping out in the Aftermath of Hurricane Harvey

It has been difficult to watch the hardships our friends in Texas are enduring after they were devastatingly hit by Hurricane Harvey. A few years back we suffered similar circumstances after Hurricane Sandy flooded our streets and took many homes in the New York and New Jersey coast areas.

Being part of the suffering communities was in a way helpful to my nerves because I was able to lend a hand and give directly where I could see that help was needed, with food, water, and a clothing drive.

Now with Texas being so far away, I've been watching and thinking of different ways that I can help. I wish I had more money to donate. I wish it was easier to collect food and clothing to bring to people in need. I wish I had a boat and the time to go there and actually do something to physically help someone. There are many things that others can do that I might not be able to do, but that does not mean that I will sit idle and do nothing.

Yes, we can all pray, but I think that we should all do anything that we can to help in some small concrete way, even if it is enabling others to help by showing them how to donate money or services, by sharing information that enables others to help, or maybe doing something that motivates or incentives others to do something.

In chats with my team at Corvisiero Literary Agency we decided that we wanted to do all that we can as well. So in addition to donating, we offered to partner up with North Texas SCBWI to help raise funds. This chapter of the SCBWI is organizing an auction of services or items donated to raise money to help victims in the Huston, Texas, area. Please take a look at their Website and their Auction Site to see if there is anything there that would be of value to you and bid on it to help.

But we want to do more! 
In addition we, the Corvisiero Literary Agency are offering writers a 20% discount off the registration to any of our AuthorPreneur Workshops, a free Query Letter critique done by me, and a Pitch Appointment to pitch their work to an attending Literary Agent or Editor with the registration (value of up to $120) to anyone who donates money after reading this post to any of the following charities, or a good charity of their choice:

American Red Cross

Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Coalition

San Antonio Pets Alive

Houston Food Bank

LGBTQ Disaster Relief Fund

United Way Relief Fund

AmeriCares

RULES for Discount:
Upon donation we ask that you email us a copy or picture of your donation receipt showing a minimum of $25 donation and a screen shot of two different social media posts sharing about their donation and registration to one of our workshops with a link to this post or the Workshops Page on our website, which lists all of this information and all of the available workshops for easy choices. E-mail the receipt and proof of the posts to workshops@corvisieroagency.com to verify eligibility and apply the discount, or if you have questions.

We wholeheartedly hope that offering these services and discounts will help people decide to help out. and maybe even help those who are contributing. It can be a win win for everyone. So lets get together and lend a hand or give something!

Much like the butterfly effect, a part of the Chaos Theory that I usually discuss in my mindset workshops, a small token on our part may make a huge difference for someone in need miles away. That in itself is so very much worth it.

Happy Donating!
~Marisa 

Scholarship Winners Announced!

Corvisiero Literary Agency is hosting writing workshops called  Author-Preneur Workshops across the country, where writers will have the chance to meet with literary agents, editors, and bestselling authors. These one day workshops will be packed full of learning experiences for writers of all genres and career levels. ​We want to make sure writers have the chance to attend a workshop in their area, which is why we will be offering scholarships to the workshops, where at least one lucky author will get free entry to a workshop they are able to travel to. 

 

Today we are announcing THREE scholarship winners to our next workshop in Red Bank, NJ on September 16, 2017. 

Kelly Barina, Maureen Marshall, and Juliet Picard 

Congratulations to the three of you!!!

We give a huge thank you to all of those who applied. We appreciate the time you took to apply and share your stories with us. 

We are happy to say that several applicants were also given other benefits and discounts where I felt that there was merit. I help where I can. And yes, sometimes I change the rules and give a little extra... just because I want to. ;) 

We look forward to seeing the winners and everyone who registered for this workshop. 

Current Workshops: 

• Red Bank, NJ – September 16, 2017 (winners announced above)
• Billings, MT – November 4, 2017 
• Charlotte, NC - January 20, 2018
• Tampa, FL - February 24, 2018 

Scholarship Applications: 

• We'll continue to accept applications for the Billings Workshop until October 1, 2017. 
• Applications for 2018 workshops are now open and deadline for each workshop will one month prior to each workshop.
• We choose at least one winner for each workshop. Announcements are made here and on social media. 

Enter today for your chance to win a scholarship to one of the workshops by submitting answers to all of the required questions. ​Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

APPLY NOW!

For questions pertaining to the scholarships or the logistics, email: workshops@corvisieroagency.com.

Happy writing! 
~Marisa

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