Any opinions on whether it's worth to go to Michael Neff's conference? It's very expensive, like around $700.00, plus your hotel, food, etc.
The cost is excessive; the value is questionable. Michael Neff's conferences and workshops target inexperienced writers, and they're definitely run for profit.
Neff is a "writer" who's made few or no (I forget which) significant commercial sales, and knows near-zero about the real publishing industry. He runs a strange little empire of for-pay workshops, conferences, and groups, and nonpaying publication venues. He mainly targets the ever-expanding population of creative writing majors who've graduated and are at a loss about what to do next.
If you attend, you may have a great time meeting and hanging out with fellow writers -- many people have done so -- but the good you find in it won't be Michael Neff's doing. He's just there to siphon off your money.
They say it's about improving your pitch --
Here's the catch: books by first-time writers aren't sold via pitch. Neff has had this forcefully pointed out to him by industry professionals, to no effect.
Face-to-face idea-pitching is really a Hollywood thing, but even there it's not how brand-new writers get their foot in the door. Anyone can have a plausible-sounding idea. The question is whether you can make it come to life, and bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. An established body of work might constitute evidence that you can do that. A pitch will not.
Books by unknown authors are sold via query letter followed by full manuscript. Or they're sold by agents who've read them and honestly believe they can succeed. Or they're sold by their own charms and merits in the slushpiles of houses that still have open submissions.
In the unlikely event that an acquiring editor is exposed to a pitch, it's possible that they'll say "Sure, send it to me and I'll take a look." And then? You'll still send it in with the best query/cover letter you can write, or your agent will send it in for you; and in either case, it'll still land in a heap of unread manuscripts, from which only its virtues can rescue it. The difference between this and a pitch-free submission is negligible.
if you can find an intensive workshop on writing query letters, that might be worth your time and money.
but also strongly promote the idea of that you'll be able to pitch real publishers and that often they will ask for more.
Editors and agents are the ones you want to talk to. If you get scheduled for a session with one at a conference, you'll get 10-20 minutes with them, and at best they'll say "Sure, send it to me and I'll take a look." (See above.)
We know most of us will never get to pitch an editor directly --
You just got more than an hour of time from a NYC editor who works for a Big Five publishing company (hiya!). Old Hack is a longtime veteran of British publishing. Macallister Stone, who owns AW, is also the director of a major SF writing workshop. There are a lot of pros and experts on this board. We don't exist on a separate plane, and you don't have to pay off Michael Neff to talk to us.
But I've heard mixed reviews about the conference and Michael Neff. Suggestions? Thanks.
1. Go to the beginning of this thread and read the whole thing straight through.
2. Find non-exploitive venues where you can hang out with other writers, both online and in person.
3. Always remember that if you write good books that people want to buy and read, the agents and editors will be looking for you.