Early data from a new agent-writer matching program at the upcoming TBR Writing & Publishing Conference reveal a possible disconnect between writers' instincts and agent interest. According to the conference organizers, writers fail to identify agents who are actually interested in their work 66% of the time.
The inaugural event is taking place January 17, 2026, at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., and features a new Publishing Matchmaker program that aims to shake up the traditional conference pitch model. Using a custom-built app, writers first create a wish list from TBR's roster of attending agents, then upload their manuscripts to the app. Every agent representing that writer's genre reads the submission and rates it on a scale of 1-5. Writers are then notified which agents want to meet them.
"Writers did not pick the agents [who an interest in their books] by a factor of 3 to 1,” said Whitney Scharer, who cofounded TBR with writer Sonya Larson. Of the agents who rated manuscripts 4 or 5 on a five-point scale—meaning they want to meet the writer—two out of three were not on the writer's original wish list. The sample size and methodology have not been disclosed.
The findings, if they hold up with a larger sample, would challenge the infrastructure writers use to identify potential representation. "The entire querying process, whether it be at a conference or via querying through traditional channels like email, is predicated on a writer doing research into which agents might want their work," Scharer said. "Writers create comp lists, look at databases, ask friends, read acknowledgements...and yet, if our data is correct, they are not identifying the correct agent for them 66% of the time."
Scharer, an author who previously worked with the venerable Boston writers workshop GrubStreet, said, "We launched the Publishing Matchmaker program after watching thousands of fellow writers struggling to find agent representation through traditional methods, such as guidebooks, databases, and literary networking. These methods can work, but we believe there's another, better way—both for writers and for agents."
The program has attracted strong interest and approximately 250 attendees have registered for the conference out of 300 maximum capacity.
TBR's speaker lineup includes more than 75 publishing professionals and authors across a range of genres, including literary fiction, young adult, science fiction, thrillers, and romance. Speakers include Celeste Ng (Our Missing Hearts, Little Fires Everywhere), Ilyon Woo (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Master Slave Husband Wife), Marjan Kamali (Lion Women of Tehran), Caleb Gayle (National Book Award nominee for Black Moses), Peter Orner (The Gossip Columnist's Daughter), and Ken Liu (All That We See or Seem).
Representatives from Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Neighborhood Literary, GO Literary, DeFiore & Company, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Laura Gross Literary Agency, Aevitas Creative Management, Writers House, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency, United Talent Agency, Curtis Brown, and Creative Artists Agency are also among those participating.
The conference features more than 35 sessions organized into tracks that include "In-Depth Craft," "Pre-Publication," "Post-Publication," "The Book Ecosystem," and "Big Picture Questions." Sample sessions include "You Must Change Your Life" on finishing long-term projects, led by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, "The Robot Overlords Are Coming" about AI in the writing world, and "How To Write An Amazing Query Letter."
Scharer said TBR, which stands for “To Be Read,” is considering ways to expand the Matchmaker concept beyond the conference. "Could agents use something like this at their agencies? Could we make a giant database of this information or somehow merge it with Publisher's Marketplace to help writers query the right people...and cut down on all the time agents spend looking at work that's not right for them?" she said. "There's so much potential."
