About the Virtual Summits

Whether you’ve just started writing page one or finished your final draft, figuring out how to get published can be arduous, overwhelming, and feel sadly out of reach. With few opportunities to meaningfully learn about how the publishing world works and connect with agents and editors, aspiring and emerging writers can feel like industry outsiders with no support network.

Taking place this May and July, the Muse and the Marketplace Virtual Publishing Summits will give writers at all stages direct access to literary agents and editors, real-time insights into the latest industry trends impacting the writing world, and the essential insider knowledge crucial for a realistic and achievable path to publication.

Dates for the 2023 Summits

Thursday, May 18–Sunday, May 21
Thursday, July 27–Sunday, July 30

Each summit gives you access to

15+ Moderated Q&As with publishing professionals discussing industry topics writers need to know about and answering audience questions (sessions will be recorded and viewable after the summit)
3 keynote panels grappling with major publishing trends and more
The option to add on 20-minute meetings with leading literary agents or editors who will read your work in advance and provide feedback from an industry perspective in our popular Manuscript Mart sessions
Plus, thoughtfully curated online networking opportunities and in-person events, including a party at GrubStreet’s Center for Creative Writing

Featured May Keynotes:

For our Saturday morning Marketplace Keynote, industry watcher Jane Friedman will anchor a panel on "2023 Book Trends and the Near Future of Publishing: What Writers Need to Know."

For our Saturday afternoon "How We Made This" Keynote, #1 New York Times bestselling author R. F. Kuang will be joined by members of her editorial team to share how they collaborated to bring the book Yellowface into the world.

For our Sunday morning Muse Keynote, authors Victor LaValle, Rebecca Makkai, and Maggie Shipstead will share their thoughts on "Why Do We Do This? Finding the Writerly Purposes that Make Publishing Worth It."

GrubStreet Member Benefits

GrubStreet members receive a discount for the summit registration as well as advanced registration to both summits and Manuscript Mart meetings (which sell out quickly!). Not a member or need to renew? Become a member today.

What's Next for the Muse?

2023 is a transitional year as we plan, dream big, and revamp what the Muse looks like moving forward. For future Muse cycles, we are hopeful that our spring event will return to a fully in-person, large-scale gathering in Boston, offering the best energy and social opportunities of a traditional conference, while our July event will continue to be a fully virtual publishing summit, offering the lower prices and unprecedented access to the insights of agents and editors that only the virtual format can provide. Plus, as we continue to ramp up, we’ll be adding even more new programming that will take place independently of our two conference formats to create further opportunities to learn and connect.

To learn more about key changes, the reasoning behind them, and the future of the Muse conference series, check out our FAQs below, email us at muse@grubstreet.org any time, and join our mailing list to stay updated on the latest news from the Muse.

Why did the Manuscript Mart sample length change to 5 pages? For many years, the Manuscript Mart consisted of a 20-minute meeting with an agent or editor who had read 20 pages of your manuscript. However, feedback from attendees and publishing professionals over the years suggested that a 20-minute conversation was not the best format for receiving a 20-page manuscript critique (should the attendee focus on taking notes or asking questions? will the publishing professional be able to cover everything there is to say about 20 pages in that time? will they have time to address anything but the pages?). More importantly, attendees often felt that receiving a 20-page critique was not the best use of their 20 minutes with an agent or editor. We hope changing the page count gives attendees and publishing professionals the chance to have a more relaxed and well-rounded conversation, where agents and editors are able to give feedback on the overall project concept and its marketplace positioning, making the query letter and synopsis documents themselves stand out, and other career questions the writer may have, in addition to the robust discussion of craft elements that agents and editors are experts at assessing from the first 5 pages. If the project is a good fit for them, they will ask for more pages! The new page count also allows us to keep the widest variety of accomplished and busy publishing professionals accessible to our attendees while lowering the price of an appointment.

What parts of Muse 2023 are in-person? For the May summit, we are hosting Literary Trivia Night on Friday, May 19, a Book Look-Alike + 1.5 Minutes of Fame Party (21+, bring a page of creative writing to share!) on Saturday, May 20, and Seaport as Muse Write Night on Sunday, May 21. Our in-person events are free and open to all, even if you are not registered for the rest of the summit. See more details and register on Eventbrite. We expect to host a similar set of in-person events during the July summit.

I’m an Incubator student. How will this impact me? All students currently enrolled in GrubStreet's Incubator programs will receive registration to both the May and July summits, which will feature unprecedented access to the timely insights 60+ publishing professionals, including the opportunity to ask questions of any participating agent or editor during the Shop Talk Roundtables and recordings of all Roundtables to view after the event. Incubator students will also receive two 20-minute Manuscript Mart appointments, each of which can be used in either May or July. The Muse team will reserve your appointments with your top choice professionals before registration day. The Muse team will reach out directly to Incubator students in the weeks before registration opens with more details.

Will the Muse always be two virtual summits in the future? 2023 is a transitional year as we continue to plan, dream big, and revamp what the Muse looks like moving forward. For future Muse cycles, we are hopeful that our spring event will return to a fully in-person, large-scale gathering in Boston, offering the best energy and social opportunities of a traditional conference, while our July event will continue to be a fully virtual publishing summit, offering the lower prices and unprecedented access to the insights of agents and editors that only the virtual format can provide.