Announcing the Publishing Matchmaker Program

Dear writer,

If you’re anything like us, you probably love everything about September. The smell of apples. The sudden craving for cocoa. How back-to-school can be used as a justification to buy new journals (is that last one universal? You tell me…)

What else does September have in store for you? This year, it’s the chance to sign up for TBR. Below, you’ll find info about our innovative Publishing Matchmaker Program, as well as a sneak preview of some of the great things we have planned for the conference.

Sure, most people would have chosen an autumnal image and not a notebook thirst trap. But we’re not most people. (In case you want the specs: our new one is dotted, A5, bright blue hardcover.…)

Announcing the
Publishing Matchmaker Program

Matching you with agents you want to meet who also want to meet you.

How do you go about finding a literary agent? Usually, it involves reading How-to-Get-An-Agent guidebooks, trawling through online databases, and asking any writer you know for advice.

Or there’s the conference model. Lots of conferences let writers pitch or send manuscript samples to agents, but the burden is still often solely on the writer to choose which agents to meet with. (Read: the writer must still do tons of research, and often their chosen agent doesn’t jive with their manuscript anyhow.)

Publishing Matchmaker turns this old model upside-down. Using a custom app we built ourselves, we put the onus on the *agent* to say they’re interested in a writer’s manuscript, before anybody’s time or money gets spent.

Here’s how you can participate:

• We’ve invited 23 fantastic agents to attend TBR, all of whom are eager and excited to take on new clients. You can get to know them on our website.

• After you’ve registered for TBR, you’ll upload a query letter, synopsis, and 20-page sample of your manuscript into our secure Publishing Matchmaker app by November 1st, 2025. You’ll also let us know which of the 23 agents attending TBR 2026 you’re most interested in – this will be your “Agent Wishlist.”

• Then, the 23 agents who are attending TBR will briefly review each submission, and rate each one on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, indicating how enthusiastic they are to meet with the manuscript’s author.

• TBR will contact you by November 20th, 2025 to tell you how many agents on your Agent Wishlist rated your manuscript with a 4- or 5-star rating (this is called a “double-match”). We’ll also tell you how many agents rated you highly who were NOT on your Agent Wishlist– this is called a “single match,” and can be just as valuable to you. No agent names will be given out at this stage.

• Once you know how many TBR agents are enthusiastic about your work, YOU get to decide how many meetings with them you’d like to purchase. They’re $195 apiece, and you can purchase just one or many. All meetings will take place in-person and on-site at TBR, for 20 minutes each.

• After submitting payment, we’ll send you the list of agents you’ll be meeting with. They’ll get to work reviewing your entire submission (i.e. your query letter, synopsis, and 20-page manuscript sample), to discuss with you in person at TBR.

Our goal is to produce meetings between agents and writers in which BOTH parties  arrive with verifiable enthusiasm. We hope to greatly reduce going-nowhere meetings that waste everyone’s time and money.

This program is available only to TBR attendees, and is entirely optional.