The publishing world has secrets...
The Clymer Workshop, one of the oldest writers' conferences in the country, has successfully hidden a shameful history. It has a lofty reputation that attracts aspiring writers like Laura Belmont.
Laura has been unable to get a literary agent for her first novel. Hoping to connect with an insider in the publishing industry, she's thrilled to be accepted to the prestigious writers' conference. She thinks the expense of attending is worth it because she believes her acceptance is a credential.
Despite being held in a picturesque setting in rural Western New York, the atmosphere at the conference is intense. Almost two hundred aspiring writers are attending for the same reason she is there. They are all competing for the attention of the visiting agents and editors.
Laura attends writing workshops while games of literary politics are being played in the shadows by the authors teaching her. She is unaware of the favors made, the courtesies given, the grudges held. She would be shocked if she knew what they were saying to each other in their private cottage about the aspiring writers they were hired to teach.
The lessons Laura learns about the publishing industry aren't on the conference schedule. When she receives an offer that comes with a price, she learns how power works in the publishing world.