Name: Soft Skills: How to Network Effectively Without Feeling Like an Asshat
Start: 2027-01-16T15:00:00-0500
End: 2027-01-16T16:00:00-0500

Soft Skills: How to Network Effectively Without Feeling Like an Asshat

Saturday January 16, 2027 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST

TBA

The networking author has a bad reputation — and honestly, a lot of it is earned. Nobody wants to be the person working a room like it's a transaction, or sliding into an agent's DMs with a pitch disguised as a compliment. This session is about the other way to do it: building real relationships with publishing professionals, fellow writers, and readers that don't feel gross, forced, or purely self-serving. We'll cover how to network at conferences, online, and in everyday life — what to say (and not say), how to follow up without being a pest, and how to play the long game in an industry where today's slush pile reader could be tomorrow's editor. Come learn how to build a genuine network without losing your dignity — or your soul.

Moderators

Alexis M. Wright

Fine Arts Works Center, Education Program Manager

Alexis M. Wright is an essayist whose work has appeared in The Common, Shenandoah, The Maine Review, and Electric Literature, and was named a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2023. A 2022 Tin House Scholar and 2024 Tin House Reading Fellow, she holds an MFA in Nonfiction from the University of San Francisco. As Education Programs Manager at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown—and a teacher at GrubStreet, The Loft Literary Center, and midnight & indi... Read More →

Speakers

Paula Weiman

ASH Literary, Literary Agent

Paula Weiman (they/them) joined the ASH Literary team in 2023 as an Agent after a career in literary scouting and educational publishing. Based in New York and with a background in translation rights, they bring an international approach to selling their clients’ work. Their goal... Read More →

Patricia Park

AMBROSIA LEE DROPS THE MIC, Author

Patricia Park writes humorous and heartfelt coming-of-age-novels set in the “Queens Multiverse.” Her adult novel Re Jane, is a Korean American retelling of Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Her Middle-Grade/YA crossover novel is What’s Eating Jackie Oh?, and the YA novels are Imposter... Read More →

Saturday January 16, 2027 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST
TBA

Track 2: Pre-Pub

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TBR 2027

Alexis M. Wright

Paula Weiman

Patricia Park

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Success you have shared X tickets.

TBR 2027

Alexis M. Wright

Paula Weiman

Patricia Park

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