The Happy Ending Music & Reading Series was founded in 2003 as a platform to highlight the personality behind the author. The series is produced at NYC’s venerable Joe’s Pub, part of The Public Theater, the first Wednesday of every month (except when it’s not). Known widely for its innovative format: authors and musicians are required to take one risk onstage, and consistently excellent taste, Happy Ending has become a NYC staple. The series is heavily curated, and we recommend seeing at least one show, or familiarizing yourself with the roster of past guests, before pitching to us. Unless we are working with a particular theme WE DO NOT BOOK PLAYS, POETRY, NOIR or GENRE FICTION, BEACH READS, YOUNG ADULT, SELF-HELP or SPOKEN WORD. (This does not mean we don’t like these forms, it means we book the series like a magazine, with a specific vision that these categories do not fit).
ELIGIBILITY:
AUTHORS: You must have published at least one book in order to qualify for a reading. At the moment, we don’t consider self-published books. When we do you can find that information here. Until then, please don’t ask us to make exceptions. We won’t.
MUSICIANS: You must have recorded and finished at least one full-length cd. We are drawn to singer-songwriters and DO NOT BOOK JAZZ, HEAVY METAL, NEW-AGE, SPIRITUAL or CLASSICAL musicians.
GUIDELINES:
Authors and musicians, and those representing them, should send an initial email pitching the book, project or cd. Please send to amanda@amandastern.com. If we are interested, we’ll ask for a physical copy of the project. Please allow anywhere from 1 to 8 weeks for a response. If you do not hear from us, please feel free to check in.
REQUIREMENTS:
At Happy Ending, all performers are required to do something onstage they’ve never done before – to take a risk. Authors read for ten minutes each, and then must take a risk onstage. Musical guests play 4 original songs and are required to play the cover song of their choice while attempting to get the audience to sing along.
RISK EXAMPLES: A.M Homes speed-dated four members of the audience, Benjamin Percy bench pressed the host (Amanda Stern), Ben Greenman read his pin code numbers aloud, Pete Rock took a stage dive, Nelly Reifler sang in sign-language, James Salter read from his journal, Ryan Harty breathed fire and Andrew Sean Greer swapped outfits onstage with a female volunteer from the audience.
****DO NOT PITCH US YOUR RISK. THE RISK IS THE HOOK, NOT THE BASIS FOR WHICH A PERSON IS BOOKED.****
BEAR IN MIND:
If you are booked to read in the series, we ask that you not perform in any competing series during the week you are scheduled to appear at Joe’s Pub.