This Thursday, Valentines Day, I will get up early in the morning, throw my carefully packed bag in the back of my husbands work truck, get dropped off at the Larkspur Ferry, and make my way across the Bay to the Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel for the tenth annual San Francisco Writer's Conference. I'm absolutely giddy with anticipation.
Three weeks ago I submitted my poetry book for children to an agent I met my first year and, she'll be back this year. Needless to say, I've been dreaming the writer's equivalent of the romance movie cliche where the two protagonists are running toward each other across a beach, or a meadow, or an airport, or... Yeah, it's rather ridiculous, but none of us can help our dreams.
It won't be all roses and romance with agents and editors for me. I'm going, as I have in the past, as a volunteer. I'll be working, along with about fifty other volunteers, to help make sure all the classes and special events go smoothly. It's a big job, and the hosts of the event graciously make volunteer positions available for people who could not otherwise afford to go. This is not the case at most conferences anymore, and it is greatly appreciated. Looking at the price tag for the first time, I wondered how anyone could afford to go. The SFWC is one of the more expensive conferences, but it is also the best conference for actually meeting industry professionals face to face. The ratio of attendees to industry pros is 3:1. No other conference has that. Now, I wonder how any serious writer can afford NOT to go.
Every industry has its conferences, and those who wish to excel in their chosen career take advantage of the opportunity to go and learn about what's going on their field. They learn to be better at what they do, and make important connections with others who can help them along their path. For some reason, writers, whose work isolates them by its very nature, don't think they have much to gain from conferences. That is the reason we need it more than most. We need to find out what's happening in publishing. We need to hone our craft. We NEED to build relationships with other writers and with industry professionals, agents, editors, publishers, web designers, marketers, etc.
While this conference will offer more than fifty workshops on everything from craft to platform to poetry, the highlight for me is the between times. The first year I sat down in the lobby next to a bored looking fellow and struck up a conversation. We talked for half an hour before being interrupted by someone with an appointment to consult with publishing visionary Kevin Smokler. I had no idea I had been chatting with someone others paid $50/15 minutes with. He spends each conference in the lobby making such appointments, helping people move along their unique path to publication. Then, he donates all the money back to the conference for a scholarship. And he's a lovely and very approachable person.
Every night of the conference Harvey Pawl facilitates a no host dinner for attendees who don't have other friends to make plans with. I highly recommend anyone attending plan to go to each of these dinners. My first year I sat next to Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest, who edits the Guide to Literary Agents, and learned how much prouder he is of his little humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, than editing the most essential guide to agents for authors. He has become one of the most in demand writer's conference speakers in the country, and he's another wonderfully approachable and entertaining guy. Later, I had dinner with an interesting gentleman who engaged with me and two other fellows in one of the most amusing arguments of my recent memory. Two years later, I'm still engaging in amusing arguments on Facebook with BookBaby founder and CEO Brian Felson.
I've talked about my sci-fi novel with Author and Physicist Ransom Stephens and Editor Gabrielle Harbowy. I've rocked the open mic with poets Brad Henderson and Dr. Andy Jones. And I've met and discussed my children's book with Andrea Brown, the Agent I dream about running across a beach at sunset to meet. All of these people are regular speakers at the conference and they are wanting to talk to writers. We're all there looking for our dream agents, and they're all there looking for the next best seller. If ever there were a zone of greater potential for a collision with destiny, this is it!
My advice to writers is, get yourself to a conference. Get out of your comfort zone, escape the friends you came with, and meet new people there. Take every opportunity to build relationships. The greatest truth you will hear there is that this industry is built on relationships. Even if you discover that your work isn't ready for publication yet, the relationships you build will help you down the road to success. Then, like me, you'll keep going back because you can't wait to see your friends. And you'll keep pushing yourself as a writer because you can't bear to go back without having some new accomplishment to talk about. If you're there, do look me up. I'm always excited to meet new people who share my passion for this art of communication!
Three weeks ago I submitted my poetry book for children to an agent I met my first year and, she'll be back this year. Needless to say, I've been dreaming the writer's equivalent of the romance movie cliche where the two protagonists are running toward each other across a beach, or a meadow, or an airport, or... Yeah, it's rather ridiculous, but none of us can help our dreams.
It won't be all roses and romance with agents and editors for me. I'm going, as I have in the past, as a volunteer. I'll be working, along with about fifty other volunteers, to help make sure all the classes and special events go smoothly. It's a big job, and the hosts of the event graciously make volunteer positions available for people who could not otherwise afford to go. This is not the case at most conferences anymore, and it is greatly appreciated. Looking at the price tag for the first time, I wondered how anyone could afford to go. The SFWC is one of the more expensive conferences, but it is also the best conference for actually meeting industry professionals face to face. The ratio of attendees to industry pros is 3:1. No other conference has that. Now, I wonder how any serious writer can afford NOT to go.
Every industry has its conferences, and those who wish to excel in their chosen career take advantage of the opportunity to go and learn about what's going on their field. They learn to be better at what they do, and make important connections with others who can help them along their path. For some reason, writers, whose work isolates them by its very nature, don't think they have much to gain from conferences. That is the reason we need it more than most. We need to find out what's happening in publishing. We need to hone our craft. We NEED to build relationships with other writers and with industry professionals, agents, editors, publishers, web designers, marketers, etc.
While this conference will offer more than fifty workshops on everything from craft to platform to poetry, the highlight for me is the between times. The first year I sat down in the lobby next to a bored looking fellow and struck up a conversation. We talked for half an hour before being interrupted by someone with an appointment to consult with publishing visionary Kevin Smokler. I had no idea I had been chatting with someone others paid $50/15 minutes with. He spends each conference in the lobby making such appointments, helping people move along their unique path to publication. Then, he donates all the money back to the conference for a scholarship. And he's a lovely and very approachable person.
Every night of the conference Harvey Pawl facilitates a no host dinner for attendees who don't have other friends to make plans with. I highly recommend anyone attending plan to go to each of these dinners. My first year I sat next to Chuck Sambuchino of Writer's Digest, who edits the Guide to Literary Agents, and learned how much prouder he is of his little humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, than editing the most essential guide to agents for authors. He has become one of the most in demand writer's conference speakers in the country, and he's another wonderfully approachable and entertaining guy. Later, I had dinner with an interesting gentleman who engaged with me and two other fellows in one of the most amusing arguments of my recent memory. Two years later, I'm still engaging in amusing arguments on Facebook with BookBaby founder and CEO Brian Felson.
I've talked about my sci-fi novel with Author and Physicist Ransom Stephens and Editor Gabrielle Harbowy. I've rocked the open mic with poets Brad Henderson and Dr. Andy Jones. And I've met and discussed my children's book with Andrea Brown, the Agent I dream about running across a beach at sunset to meet. All of these people are regular speakers at the conference and they are wanting to talk to writers. We're all there looking for our dream agents, and they're all there looking for the next best seller. If ever there were a zone of greater potential for a collision with destiny, this is it!
My advice to writers is, get yourself to a conference. Get out of your comfort zone, escape the friends you came with, and meet new people there. Take every opportunity to build relationships. The greatest truth you will hear there is that this industry is built on relationships. Even if you discover that your work isn't ready for publication yet, the relationships you build will help you down the road to success. Then, like me, you'll keep going back because you can't wait to see your friends. And you'll keep pushing yourself as a writer because you can't bear to go back without having some new accomplishment to talk about. If you're there, do look me up. I'm always excited to meet new people who share my passion for this art of communication!
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