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Query Materials Overhaul

AMY COLLINS

Query Materials Overhaul

AMY COLLINS

$299.99

02/26/2026 - 04/30/2026

Enroll Now

Have you been pitching your novel or memoir for ages?  Are you not getting the number of requests to read your work that you were hoping for?  Have you been pitching on email, online, at conferences, on Zoom for far too long?

It is time to get a tune up on your materials and hit the industry with a fresh, new proposal/pitch. 

There comes a time when “tweaking” your pitch does not help (enough.) Join us for a five-week class DESIGNED for those who have been in the query trenches for too long.

We will start by building your pitch from the ground up. We will evaluate your existing pitch and help you keep what is working and replace what is not. After week one, you will be able to sum it up in a succinct, engaging description what makes you and your work special and desirable.

Then, we will help you create a marketing commitment that will impress any agent and publisher. We will create a market-focused statement that proves you have a strong potential readership, as well as state your own strengths and present an irresistible package that gets them excited. During this session, we will cover exactly what agents and editors are looking for today and how to show them that your book can meet their needs. 

In this five-week lively, jam-packed interactive series of Zoom calls, Talcott Notch literary agent Amy Collins will work with your existing pitches and proposals and help you rework your materials to increase your chances that next year will garner you more page requests than last year.

With real-world case studies, hands-on coaching, feedback, and insight from an experienced publishing-industry pro, you’ll learn what agents and editors are really looking for, and how to craft a summary and pitch that tells them you can deliver it.

Amy has several decades in the publishing industry and has worked on literally thousands of successfully published manuscripts and pitches. She has created countless proposals and gotten hundreds of offers because of her work.

Live Zoom sessions will begin on Week Two of this course.

$299.99

02/26/2026 - 04/30/2026

Enroll Now

Have you been pitching your novel or memoir for ages?  Are you not getting the number of requests to read your work that you were hoping for?  Have you been pitching on email, online, at conferences, on Zoom for over a year?

It is time to get a tune up on your materials and hit the industry with a fresh, new proposal/pitch. 

There comes a time when “tweaking” your pitch does not help (enough.) Join us for a five-week class DESIGNED for those who have been in the query trenches for too long.

We will start by building your pitch from the ground up. We will evaluate your existing pitch and help you keep what is working and replace what is not. After week one, you will be able to sum it up in a succinct, engaging description what makes you and your work special and desirable.

Then, we will help you create a marketing commitment that will impress any agent and publisher. We will create a market-focused statement that proves you have a strong potential readership, as well as state your own strengths and present an irresistible package that gets them excited. During this session, we will cover exactly what agents and editors are looking for today and how to show them that your book can meet their needs. 

In this five-week lively, jam-packed interactive series of Zoom calls, Talcott Notch literary agent Amy Collins will work with your existing pitches and proposals and help you rework your materials to increase your chances that next year will garner you more page requests than last year.

With real-world case studies, hands-on coaching, feedback, and insight from an experienced publishing-industry pro, you’ll learn what agents and editors are really looking for, and how to craft a summary and pitch that tells them you can deliver it.

Amy has several decades in the publishing industry and has worked on literally thousands of successfully published manuscripts and pitches. She has created countless proposals and gotten hundreds of offers because of her work.

Live Zoom sessions will begin on Week Two of this course.

Course outline

Course outline

Meet the instructor

Amy Collins

Amy Collins is an agent with the Talcott Notch Literary Services agency focusing on non-fiction and international rights. She is a USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL bestselling author and is currently working with authors with expertise in business, history, personal development, and prescriptive how-to. She is a columnist for and a board member of several publishing organizations and a trusted teacher at publishing conferences and classes. She can also be reached at amysadvice.com.

I have lived and worked in the publishing industry since 1991 when I decided to take a short break from my music career to work in a bookstore for Christmas cash. If anyone had told me that I would still be paying for holiday presents with a career in books all these years later, I would have laughed.

Over time, I became the book buyer for the entire chain of bookstores in NY, CT, and PA. In 1996 I “hopped the desk” to become a sales rep and spent over 20 years selling books to Barnes & Noble, Target, Costco, Books-A-Million, Wal-Mart as well as independent stores and libraries.

Uniquely positioned to help authors because of my decades of marketing experience, I would love to work with authors who have a passion for business and the promotional side of this industry as well as the writing side.

Besides being a USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL bestselling author and on the national advisory board for IngramSpark, I am a featured columnist for THEBOOKDESIGNER, WRITERS DIGEST MAGAZINE, IBPA, and a sought-after teacher at conferences world-wide. I teach and speak at many of the publishing industry’s top festivals and conferences including Publisher’s Weekly’s BookCon, Oklahoma Writer’s Conference, Author U, AAPS, Dublin Writers Conference, BAIPA, PALA, St. Louis Writer’s Conference, Writers Digest indieLAB, Henderson Writers Conference, and many others.

I represent the following genres most frequently:

  • Non-Fiction
  • Gift
  • Reference
  • History
  • Fantasy and Sci-Fi
  • Historical Fiction

When not in the office, my focus is on the working poor and poverty elimination, and I spend a great deal of time personally and professionally working with and training women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

(I am also a singer in a Celtic blues band on the weekends and am currently saving for a faster motorcycle.)

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