Six Keys to Choose a Writer's Conference
Tips for Beginning Writers to Find the Best Conference for Them
Feb 4, 2009
Conferences are a terrific way for writers to advance their careers if chosen correctly. Writers should attend conferences that cater to their needs.
There are a lot of conferences available for writers to attend. Time and financial constraints make it impossible to attend them all. A general listing of conference is available Shaw Guides. Here are six tips to help beginning writers narrow down their options.
- Goals for Attending the Conference. Determine why to attend a conference. Goals may include improving writing craft, pitching book to an agent or editor, and/or making contacts. Improving craft may include writing cleaner prose, learning to structure a scene, learning editing techniques, and/or how to construct a submission among other things. Pitching to an agent or editor involves telling an agent or editor why he or she should offer representation. For fiction, the book should be complete before the conference. For nonfiction, the idea should be solid. Either way the author should be able to answer any questions before signing up to pitch a book. Making contacts includes meeting and befriending attendees including published authors, meeting agents and editors, and meeting librarians and booksellers to contact when the book is published.
- Conference Should Address the Writer’s Needs and Interests. Study workshop and panel topics as well as the genre of the conference to determine if it offers the opportunity to learn something that will advance the writer’s career. Don’t dismiss a conference just because of a genre focus because it may offer something beneficial based on a writer’s needs.
- Conference Should Be Reasonably Priced for What It Offers. Most conferences are nonprofit and basically break even each year, but writers should focus on whether the conference is worth the price to him or her. If the less expensive conference doesn’t offer the opportunity for a writer to get his or her needs met, it’s a waste of money. An expensive conference may fit all a writer’s needs but not be financially feasible. An author should search for a conference that best fits both the wallet and his/her needs. It may not be perfect, but it’s rare to find one that is.
- Conference Should Be Conveniently Located. Conferences near home that meet a writer’s needs should get first consideration, especially when budget concerns are an issue. Don’t choose a conference based on a desire to visit an exotic locale unless there’s time and money to stay a few extra days because the conference schedule likely won’t allow time for exploration. Conferences can turn travel into double duty if one is travelling to an area and will have time to take part in a conference.
- Conference Should Be Reputable. Good conferences earn their reputations through hardworking committees and carefully planned programs. Conferences should have a website that is to navigate and describes the conference fully including what to expect from the conference as well as the scheduled speakers and topics. Contact information should be provided for a committee member to answer questions. Questions should be answered promptly. Check with other writers and writers groups to find out if others have experience with the conference under consideration. Writers are always happy to talk about their conference experiences.
- Conference Should Offer a Variety of Speakers. Look for a conference that hosts speakers including bestselling and midlist authors as well as industry professionals. A mix of seasoned and beginning authors as well as industry professionals such as agents and editors at a conference provides the opportunity for the new writer to get a better sense of the business from varying points of view.
After writers determine their needs for a conference, other writers, conference guides, and writers groups are great resources to narrow down the choices.
Once you arrive at the conference, use the SMILE technique to make contacts to help your career.
The copyright of the article Six Keys to Choose a Writer's Conference in Writer Networks is owned by T. L. Cooper. Permission to republish Six Keys to Choose a Writer's Conference in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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