With the 2018 Steel Pen Creative
Writers’ Conference a week and a half away, we don’t have any time to write new
blog posts. Instead, we are reprinting one from September 27, 2017 with minor
modifications.
Registration for this year’s
conference is already closed, but the suggestions in this post apply to any
writers’ conference, not just ours. So whether you are signed up for the 2018
Steel Pen conference or considering attending a different one, this advice is
for you.
What can you get from a writers’
conference, and how do you make the best use of your time? Here are some tips based
on the Steel Pen Conference Committee members’ experiences.
1.
Prepare
before you go.
a.
Research
the presenters as well as reading the breakout session descriptions, then rank
your choices. Unfortunately, you may arrive at the conference to discover that
your top choices conflict. But if you have ranked them in advance, your
decision will be easy even if it isn’t happy.
b.
If
a conference offers pitch sessions with editors and agents, you should look at
their websites and review the types of books they accept before deciding to
pitch them. If an editor or agent specializes in adult science fiction and you
write children’s picture books, you will be wasting your time and theirs. That
said, there are a few conferences where editors and agents are there to mentor
as well as to acquire. If they offer critiques, for example, you may benefit
even when you talk to someone outside your genre. But if you have a choice, you
still want to choose the person most familiar with the type of manuscripts you
write.
c.
Make
sure you have plenty of business cards with contact information on them. If you
are worried about giving out personal information, leave off your home address and
just include an email address, your website if you have one, and preferably a
telephone number. If you have a published book, you should also take
promotional bookmarks or postcards.
2.
Know
what you want to accomplish at the conference, but keep your expectations
realistic and your goals flexible. You may go to learn about writing memoirs
and come away with a great idea for a murder mystery. Or you may hope to sell a
book but meet the perfect critique partner instead. Few writers sell their
first book at a conference, but many develop relationships that eventually lead
there.
3.
Take
notes at the sessions you attend. The notes probably won’t be as extensive as
the ones you took in your high school or college classes, but if somebody says
something that gives you an “ah-hah” moment, write it down. Steel Pen will give
you a notepad and a pen, but that may not be true at other conferences. If you
don’t know, take your own. And even if note-taking materials are provided, you
may prefer your favorite portfolio and lucky pen.
4.
While
the rules about session attendance vary from conference to conference, if the
conference allows movement between classes (and Steel Pen does), don’t feel
bound to spend the entire breakout session in the same room. If your top
choices conflict, maybe you’ll want to spend some time in each. Or if that
session on flash fiction reiterates information you already know, it is not
disrespectful to leave (quietly) and head down the hall to the session on
poetry where you may learn something new.
5.
Whether
or not the conference offers pitching sessions, it helps if you can describe
what you are working on or trying to sell in one to three sentences. If someone
asks you—and they will—about your current project, they are looking for a
thumbnail sketch, not a dissertation. They can always ask for more details if
they want them.
6.
Part
of the value of conferences comes from what the business world calls
“networking” but is more accurately described as developing relationships.
Writers tend to be introverts, and conferences are a good time to meet new
people—if you make the effort. Even if you don’t meet an agent or editor who is
interested in your book, you may find a new critique partner or meet somebody
who has experienced the good and bad of hiring book cover designers and is
willing to pass on that knowledge. But don’t lead off an informal conversation by
talking about yourself. Ask about their current project or expertise or what
they expect to get from the conference. At some point they will ask you the
same question, and then it’s your turn.
7.
If
the conference offers pitching sessions with editors and agents, however, you
will begin those sessions by talking about your book. The special rules for pitching sessions
deserve their own blog post. Since Steel Pen doesn’t offer them, this tip covers
only the highlights.
a.
Don’t
pitch a book that you haven’t already written and rewritten and polished. There
are some exceptions for nonfiction and experienced writers but none for
beginning novelists.
b.
As
noted above, research the editors and agents in advance and don’t waste their
time, and yours, by pitching somebody who doesn’t handle your genre.
c.
Unless
asked, limit your pitching to the pitching sessions. At other times, wait until
an editor or agent asks what you are working on or selling. And give editors
and agents some room. Don’t corner them or follow them into the bathroom. They
may remember you, all right, but only as someone to avoid.
8.
The
last and most important tip is to relax and enjoy the conference. Writers’
conferences seldom make or break careers, but they can open doors.
