I've never been to a conference. Are they worth it? If so, which ones are viewed as the best or most helpful?
I've never been to a conference. Are they worth it? If so, which ones are viewed as the best or most helpful?
I've never been to a conference. Are they worth it? If so, which ones are viewed as the best or most helpful?
Wow. Broad question. Depends what you are looking for, and what stage you are at in your writing, and your preferred writing genre...and, ultimately, the conference and your ability to throw yourself into it.
I write mostly YA. So, I joined SCBWI and have gone to regional and a national conference. I have found both helpful and worth the money I spent to attend.
At the National conference I attended some great sessions on craft and on what agents and editors are looking for/seeing. I met some other writers and obtained two helpful critiques. And I got to get a taste for the competition in my market.
At the regional conferences it's more about connecting with my regional members, hearing a little more about craft (though with less options for sessions) and getting some more critique.
None of them have as of yet led me to an agent or editor, but I think all of the conferences moved me closer to those goals by helping me to learn and grow as a writer, and make connections with peers so I have some support systems for my writing.
This is what I'd be going for. I didn't realize the conferences were even a potential place to find an agent or sell a book. I'm still in the editing process with my WIP.
One of the big things SCBWI conferences do for unagented writers is (usually) get you a window of opportunity to submit manuscripts to some closed publishing houses without an agent. Now, it's still a way uphill battle to get through slush, but it's an opportunity.
BUT, a lot of people think conferences are the magic bullet - ie, they go and they will sell their book. I haven't found that to be the norm. But, it has happened, and the critiques are helpful.
So, if you want to learn, about craft and the market, and meet other writers, and meet some agents and editors, knowing that the chances are still fairly slim that you will sell a book/land an agent because of attending, then they can be worthwhile. And some people do land agents or get in with editors because of conferences. But you need to decide why you would be going and if the cost is worth it.
Overall, I have found the conferences I have attended helpful, but not magic passes to publishing. And I have found that you only get out of them as much as you put in.
~suki
Thanks for the help! I suppose I need to find my genre before looking into this more. (Literary? Contemporary? Book club fiction? I'm not sure where I'll fit.)