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Member only guide to the Australian book industry.
You must read the important information for the Virtual Literary Speed Dating event prior to booking, even if you have pitched at an event in the past, as this information is subject to change. It is your responsibility to ensure you understand the booking and preparation process prior to placing a booking.
The ASA’s Virtual Literary Speed Dating events take place online twice annually and each event is typically held over two days. These events are exclusive to ASA members.
At each event you have the opportunity to choose which publisher(s) or agent(s) you’d like to pitch to. We recommend studying the list of attending publishers and agents for each event very closely when it is published and before booking to ensure your work fits what is being sought at each specific event.
Please note, from 2025 on our Virtual Literary Speed Dating events will only be open to bookings for authors of fiction and non-fiction, for adults or children. Picture books and children’s illustrated non-fiction are only accepted at our Picture Book Matchmaker events.
You can book up to two (2) pitches per event. If you are booking two (2) pitches, then you must book them at the same time, as part of one booking transaction. You may only pitch one manuscript per pitch appointment. The ASA will allocate you a specific time for your three-minute Zoom meeting with your chosen publisher or agent.
During your three-minute Zoom meeting, you have the rare opportunity to provide an elevator-style pitch of your work. No screen-sharing is permitted, and feedback or publisher/agent contact details will not be provided.
If the publisher or agent expresses interest in seeing more of your work, we’ll let you know via email within one week of the event. This email will detail what material the publisher or agent wants to see from you and how to send your work to them. Once you’ve sent the publisher or agent your material, they will get back to you within three months. If you do not hear back from them after three months, please contact the publisher/agent directly to follow up.
Find answers to common queries about our Virtual Literary Speed Dating events in the FAQs below.
Members who have attended one of our Pitch Perfect courses within the previous three years of each Virtual Literary Speed Dating event will be given priority booking access. We know it can take time to apply the learnings from Pitch Perfect to your manuscript and submission materials; this extended timeframe means that you can wait until you’re ready to make the most of the opportunity these events offer and don’t need to rush the process.
Priority booking access provides you the opportunity to book into Virtual Literary Speed Dating 24 hours earlier than general ASA members.
Members who are on the Pitch Perfect priority contact list will be emailed three times ahead of priority bookings opening: a notice will be issued with the schedule of attending publishers and agents is announced, a detailed information email will be sent one week before priority bookings open, and a unique access code will be emailed at 10:00 am Sydney time (AEST/AEDT) on the date priority access bookings open. Please check your junk/spam folder if you do not receive these emails and notify us ASAP by emailing [email protected] if there seems to be an issue.
Please note, if you’ve unsubscribed from ASA emails, you will not receive your priority registration email.
If you’re unsure of your booking access status, email us at [email protected] to check.
Participants can book a maximum of two (2) pitch appointments per Virtual Literary Speed Dating event. Each event is typically held across two days, but this does not mean you can book four (4) pitch appointments over two days. Rather, you can only book two (2) pitch appointments across both days.
Participants can pitch a manuscript a maximum of four (4) times at Virtual Literary Speed Dating events. Once you have pitched the same manuscript four (4) times, you are ineligible to pitch that manuscript at future events.
The only exception to this rule is if you have, over time, extensively revised the manuscript so that it reads like a new manuscript. Examples include rewriting the manuscript from a different POV and overhauling the structure of the manuscript.
If you’re uncertain of the number of times you have pitched a particular manuscript, or would like help clarifying whether the work you have done is significant enough to pitch again at these events, email us at [email protected] for advice.
You may only pitch one manuscript per pitch appointment. This manuscript should be the one that you detail as part of your booking. If you wish to change the manuscript you want to pitch during your pitch appointment, please email us before your appointment at [email protected] for approval.
To figure out who you want to pitch your manuscript to at Virtual Literary Speed Dating, we recommend you:
1. Check which publishers/agents are accepting your genre/category at this event.
Publishers and agents will only be accepting certain genres/categories at each Virtual Literary Speed Dating event. Do not book into a pitching slot if the representative is not accepting the genre/material you intend to pitch at this event.
For example, do not pitch a romance novel to a publisher accepting non-fiction only, or a picture book to an agent accepting junior fiction.
You must adhere to the genres/categories listed for the specific event on the ASA website, as opposed to the general submission guidelines detailed on the publishing house/agency’s website.
If you book in with a publisher or agent who is not accepting your genre/category, your booking will be cancelled. Virtual Literary Speed Dating booking cancellations are not entitled to any refund or credit, as per our refund policy.
2. Research the attending publishers/agents who are accepting your genre/category carefully.
Study what information, if any, they have supplied in the ‘Actively seeking’ column in the schedule and consider how you fit with this description. Visit the website of the publishing house or agency, check what kind of books have been recently published, and think about whether your work could comfortably sit alongside these other books.
It’s important you feel confident pitching your work to your chosen representative.
3. Make a list of your preferred publishers/agents, including their name and time slot.
You can then refer to this list when making your booking. This will help ensure you do not inadvertently book in with the wrong representative during the booking process.
Do NOT make a booking with a publisher/agent if you have already submitted the manuscript you intend to pitch to that publisher/agent — you are ineligible to attend if you have already submitted the manuscript to the publisher/agent you intend to book in with. This will not fast-track the submission process.
Do NOT book with two representatives from the same publishing house or agency, even if they are both accepting your genre/category at an event. Instead, choose the one who seems like the best fit for you and your work. For more information on this, please read the FAQ, ‘If there are two representatives from the same publishing house or agency accepting my genre/category at a Virtual Literary Speed Dating event, can I book with both?’.
For more tips on finding the right publisher or agent, please see our FAQs on Getting Published. You can also attend our Pitch Perfect course for a comprehensive overview of the publishing landscape and where you may fit in it.
No, you cannot book with two representatives from the same publishing house or agency, even if they are both accepting your genre/category at an event.
Co-workers don’t want to compete for the same authors — it can put them in awkward situations — and this approach to submissions does not conform with standard industry practice.
We recommend you re-read the descriptions provided in the ‘accepted genres’ and ‘specifically seeking’ sections on the schedule for the two representatives, identify which one matches better with your work, and place a booking with that representative.
For the best chance of success, we encourage you to attend our Pitch Perfect course prior to pitching. You’ll receive an up-to-date overview of the Australian publishing landscape and learn:
Those who attend Pitch Perfect are also granted priority booking access to Virtual Literary Speed Dating for three years after completing the course.
For a concise summary or reminder of how to best prepare your pitch for the Virtual Literary Speed Dating format, you can refer to the ASA’s helpful video Structuring your 3-minute pitch.
Our Virtual Literary Speed Dating events are hosted online using Zoom, so it is essential that you familiarise yourself with Zoom and its functionality before your pitch. We provide advice on getting acquainted with the required technology in our article ‘Literary Speed Dating pain points and what you can do to avoid them’.
Co-authors are welcome to pitch their joint manuscript or non-fiction book proposal at Virtual Literary Speed Dating, so long as:
A co-author who does not have a current, financial ASA membership is ineligible to pitch at Virtual Literary Speed Dating.
Please also note that, due to the scope of the Virtual Literary Speed Dating events, co-authors cannot join a pitch appointment from separate locations or devices. You must both be available to pitch from the same, shared device.
You can find the booking cancellation cut-off date listed in the key dates of each Virtual Literary Speed Dating event. If you let us know that you are cancelling your appointment before the cut-off date, your details will be removed from the pitch schedule for that publisher/agent, your place will be offered to someone on the wait list, and the cancelled booking will not count towards your maximum of four (4) pitches for that manuscript.
If you cancel your booking after the cut-off date, your details will be listed on the pitch schedule provided to the attending publisher/agent and your booking will count towards your maximum number of four (4) pitches. If you let us know your reason for cancelling, however, the ASA team member hosting the pitch session can inform the publisher/agent of your absence — this is helpful in that your reputation with that representative won’t be damaged by not attending your pitch.
If you cancel your booking, you will not be able to arrange a new time to pitch to the publisher/agent. Pitch appointments cannot be rescheduled under any circumstances.
As per our refund policy, Virtual Literary Speed Dating events are not entitled to any refund or credit, regardless of timeframe of notice.
In the event of a cancellation made by the ASA, participants will be entitled to a full refund.
If you do not show up to your scheduled booking and have not let the ASA know in advance, your booking will still count towards your maximum number of four (4) pitches.
If you contact us afterwards and let us know your reason for not attending, however, the ASA may be able to inform the publisher/agent about the reason for your absence. Not showing up to a booking does not make the best impression with the publisher/agent, so this is helpful in managing your reputation with that representative, which has the possibility of being damaged by not attending your pitch.
If you do not show up to your booking, you will not be able to arrange a new time to pitch to the publisher/agent. Pitch appointments cannot be rescheduled under any circumstances.
