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Selling Your Story: Strategies from a Top-Selling Literary Agent

Home Events WordShops Selling Your Story: Strategies from a Top-Selling Literary Agent

1:00 am to 4:00 pm 

This WordShop will cover the following topics:

  • Crafting Your Pitch (Synopsis, Bio, and Manuscript)
  • Finding a Professional Editor (Before Seeking an Agent)
  • Strategies for Finding an Agent
  • Strategies for Finding a Publisher 
  • What to Do After the Deal? Developing a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy with the publisher to co-promote your book without redundancies with what the publisher will do on your behalf
  • The Three Pillars of Traction (sales, awards, and weighted editorial reviews)
  • Rights - Copyright, Registration, Territories
  • Money Time: Advance & Royalties - How they work and typical payout schedules
  • Conferences and Festivals - A strategic list and overview of which events give the most juice per squeeze based on our clients' and industry colleagues' experience
  • Q&A

Jesse Byrd is a top-selling literary agent, having sold nearly 100 titles to traditional publishers in the last 4 years. He leans on his time as a children's book editor, critique group organizer, and art director to inform how he develops and pitches stories. As an award-winning children's book writer with six traditionally published books, he's passionate about advocating for the voice and perspective of artists while being mindful of the commercial appeal a publisher often needs to justify an acquisition.

A former NCAA basketball player at UC Santa Barbara, Jesse started his professional career at Google in Silicon Valley and later at Ernst & Young in Dubai before pivoting full-time to pursue his true passion of championing and creating children's books. He is now the co-founder of Moonbeam Literary & Media, alongside Rebecca Chu, with a mission to create and execute tailored adaptation plans for children's IP to give each client's work a strategic chance at longevity in books, TV, Gaming, Film, School Plays, and more.