by Bobbie Christmas
More than 600 people gathered in Altamonte Springs outside of Orlando, Florida, in October, and I proudly walked among them. For the seventeenth consecutive year the Florida Writers Association hosted quite possibly the biggest writers conference in the Southeast. Attendees came mostly from Florida, but workshop presenters came from all over. In addition, many literary agents arrived in search of new clients.
Regardless of the number of people who do attend conferences, many writers don’t bother. Do those writers think they have nothing more to learn? They are mistaken. Conferences benefit writers in many ways. Workshops are the highlight of most conferences, but by far the workshops are not the only things going on.
Let me clarify what most writers conferences offer.
- Because not every workshop will appeal to every attendee, most conferences give two or more simultaneous workshops. You choose the workshops that fit your interests. Unless you have three or four bestsellers to your credit, you will learn something new, hear a reminder of something you forgot, get an update on what’s current in the market, discover a new way to promote your books, or any of hundreds of other things at the workshops. I’ve been in the publishing industry for more than fifty years as a writer and editor and have presented some fifty or more workshops on a variety of subjects related to writing and editing. If anyone should think she knows it all, it could be me, but I don’t. Whenever I get a chance to sit in on other workshops, I still learn something new every time. Writers must never stop learning.
- Many conferences offer appointments with agents. Although you may have to pay an extra fee to meet with an agent, it could be the most valuable investment you ever made. Agents who attend conferences are looking for clients, so the best way to land an agent is to pitch your book at a conference. You have a choice. You can sit at home and mail out hundreds of queries and get little or no response, or you can attend a conference that offers appointments with agents, meet an agent in person, and immediately learn if the agent is interested in your book. If the agent is not interested, you’ll still get valuable feedback on how to make your book more marketable to other agents. I cannot overemphasize the value of meeting with agents at a conference.
- Some conferences have sponsors and booths where you can meet with representatives of companies that offer a variety of services for writers. You can gather a great deal of information from those sponsors, which may help you make important decisions as you move forward with your writing. For example, the FWA conference had a sponsor that offered to make websites specifically for authors. Other sponsors offered printing, distribution, and other services to indie-publishers. One sponsor offered a nationwide organization for freelance writers with regular updates on markets for freelancers.
- Some conferences offer on-the-spot auxiliary services for writers. At the FWA conference, for example, a videographer offered its services for trailers for books or video recordings of authors for their websites. A photographer offered to take your publicity head shot, suitable also for the back cover of your book. Several editors, including me, offered consultancy sessions where writers brang a few opening pages from a manuscript and get feedback, recommendations, and even a little editing. Such a consultancy could cost upward of $100 elsewhere; at the conference the charge was only $45.
- Conferences offer many chances to network with other writers. Not only can you learn from them, but you might also make new friends, form a new critique circle, or add to your critique circle.
- Conferences energize writers. What you see, hear, and learn energizes you, gives you new ideas, and makes you a stronger writer.
- Conferences motivate writers. No more writer’s block! When you get home from a conference, no matter how tired your body may be from all the activity, your mind will be excited and motivated to write more, better, and more often.
All those things and much more took place at the FWA conference. Enthusiastic writers met other writers, learned new things, and made connections they couldn’t have made otherwise.
If you think conferences are just about the workshops, you’re not fully informed. Still, they are the main attraction, as workshops are usually held from morning to night. The FWA conference provided workshops on subjects as wide ranging as how Amazon works, preparing a manuscript for publication, building your author brand, how to find your fresh voice, crafting memorable dialogue, formatting a book for print, automated emailing, marketing your book, editing your own book, understanding publishing contracts, an introduction to Chicago style, how to write a book that Hollywood would buy, and much more. The workshops specialized in information for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, articles, essays, short stories, humor, and so on.
Writers conferences are an unending and up-to-date resource for all writers, whether you write for fun or for publication. Every writer should “bother” to go to at least one conference a year.
October and November are the prime months for large annual writers conferences; however, conferences are held across the country all year round. One of the best sources for locating conferences near you is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs website. You can select your specific location and criteria and then scroll down to see its many responses. Few conferences are free, but if money is an issue, the website even lists conferences that offer scholarships.
What if you have physical limitations? You can still connect with many seminars online. Such seminars won’t give you all the benefits that a conference can give, but at least you will add to your knowledge and become a stronger writer.
I ask again, why bother attemding conferences? My answer: Because you’re a writer, and writers must invest in themselves. You must do everything in your power to learn, grow, and excel.
Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read Bobbie’s Zebra Communications blog.
NOTE: WPN produces the 805 Writers’ Conference in Southern California each fall. It draws around 200 area writers and delivers intense education on writing, marketing, publicity and more. Mark your calendars for the first weekend in November!