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Dear Uncharted Readers and Writers,

After the great success and kind words we received from our Sci-Fi novel lab back in May, we decided to open an additional lab with offerings we are so excited to share with you!  

This lab is has 4 amazing features we think every author exploring novel writing should get to experience: 

1. Exclusive invitation to the Lab’s One Day Conference, with Ken Liu as keynote speaker teaching you about craft and answering your questions, as well as other great sessions centered around publishing knowledge and generating new work. Every Lab participant will receive recordings of all sessions regardless of in-person attendance. Solo-registration for the conference will also open up next week.
2. Feedback on the first five pages of your manuscript from an agent, centered around the question: how can we make these pages so compelling that every agent will want to request more?
3. Opportunity to be placed into a curated workshop group of your peers, where you’ll be invited to workshop pieces and work through learning materials together.
4. A set of unique and exclusive learning materials (100+ pages) developed in-house. This is a PDF collection of self-guided learning curriculum on fiction and novel writing, featuring workbooks uniquely built by our team around chosen foundational texts.

When we designed this lab, we first searched for similar services online to help. Most of them are very expensive and utilize an editorial framework, whereas we were curious about how agencies would read our writing—and we didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars on consultation. On top of that, we wanted to learn from our favorite authors directly. Why can’t we have it all as writers?

That’s where this Lab comes in:

We’re the most excited about our brand new virtual conference opportunity: All participants will be invited to an exclusive one-day conference. The virtual conference will take place on October 15th from 8 am to 1 pm PST. The conference will include a keynote craft lecture by Ken Liu, multiple Q&A sessions with agents and the editors of Uncharted magazine, as well as a generative class to get you writing! Every session will also be recorded and shared regardless of in person attendance.

We have handpicked folks working in agencies who can give you the feedback you’d receive as if sending your manuscript as a query to an agency. Their feedback letter on your pitch materials is sure to help guide your book to successfully finding that right agent.

Tommy and I started Uncharted with the mission to serve writers—to get them paid for their work and to put their great stories in front of readers. This Lab is just as important to us as our publishing efforts, and we hope to connect novelists like ourselves with great agents and readers that can push them forward as professional writers. 

Please feel welcome to reach out to me at josh@unchartedmag.com with any and all questions!

Sincerely,

Josh & Tommy Founders of Uncharted Magazine

Lab Details

The $299 Registration Fee covers all aspects of the lab.

When registering, please submit only the first 5 pages and include a cover letter describing your project.

Your cover letter should include a brief introduction to your story, where you have submitted or hope to submit in the future, and any specific feedback you’re looking for, as well as challenges you’re having.

When your submission is uploaded you will receive registration confirmation. Manuscripts will be processed in the order they are received. Please give our agent and editor partners 8-10 weeks to return their feedback.

We accept works of Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror/Thriller, and Crime/Mystery, the first 5 pages or fewer of your novel. Please submit one single manuscript per submission.

To keep with all ethical guidelines recommended by the Association of American Literary Agents, our agent partners will receive works without any identifying information about the writer.

Guest Editors

Savannah Brooks joined the Jennifer De Chiara team in 2018 as an associate literary agent after interning for a year and a half. She earned her MFA, focused in creative nonfiction, from Hamline University and her BS in marketing management from Virginia Tech. As well as agenting, she works as a publishing professor at the University of Minnesota, a teaching artist at the Loft Literary Center, and a boxing instructor. She lives in Minneapolis and can regularly be found at one of Minnesota’s 11,842 lakes—yes, even in winter. You can find out more by visiting sblitagent.com and by following Savannah on Twitter and TikTok: @sblitagent.

Victoria Dillman is an Associate Agent at Howland Literary. Prior to Howland, she was an assistant and foreign rights associate at Sobel Weber Associates and an intern at Linda Leith Publishing, as well as a reader for the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Awards. She holds a B.A. in English from McGill University, and an MFA in Fiction from The New School. Victoria is most interested in adult literary/upmarket fiction and narrative and expert-driven nonfiction. She would particularly like to hear from underrepresented communities including neurodivergent, queer, and BIPOC voices. In fiction, she looks for a well-paced plot with a strong, distinctive voice.

Noah Rosenzweig is a literary assistant based in Ross Yoon’s D.C. office. He reads manuscript submissions, develops literary projects with agents, edits proposals, and manages Ross Yoon’s social media presence.  Noah is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he focuse

More guest instructors may be invited to join the project, depending on the number of participants.

FAQ

How much interaction will I have with the editors?

Each participant will be assigned one editor who receives their work. For accessibility and convenience, we’ve designed this program with the aim to be completely asynchronous and digital—you will submit your first five pages, and the agent or editor will write their feedback and send it back. After that, any continued conversation is at the editor’s personal discretion.

How much interaction will I have with the other participants?

Entirely up to you! The Lab is designed to be open to complete independence or group participation. After getting your learning materials, you’ll be asked if you’d like to join a group to either workshop writing, or work through the materials together, or both. The Uncharted team will help create the groups according to level of experience, and then it’ll be entirely up to the participants after that to figure out a working schedule and style that makes sense to the group.

Will this help me with my other writing?

Absolutely! While the feedback will be specific to the project you share, the rigorous learning material will help your current writing and all future projects become the best they can be.

Will I have to zoom or get on the phone?

Only for the conference! Everything else will be handled entirely through submittable. We will send you your packet of lab material soon after you submit. The timing of the feedback depends on the editor availability, but it should not be longer than 8-10 weeks.

Can I purchase a spot for a friend?

Yes, please feel welcome. Just make sure to make clear in your cover letter what you’re doing and put us in contact with that author.