Writing Conferences: A Writer’s Paradise or a Wasted Weekend?

Attending a writers' conference can be an investment in your writing career or a waste of a good weekend and frequent flier miles. If you've ever been stuck on the sad side of a Sunday, wishing you'd spent your weekend doing anything instead of rehashing the merits of plotting vs. pantsing, you know what I'm talking about. But, that said, some conferences can provide value exceeding the price of admission and an eight-dollar concession stand coffee.

During this two-part series, we'll discuss what aspects of a writing conference hold the most value for you, choosing the right conference, and how to get the most bang for your buck. Using our upcoming trek to the 2024 AWP Conference as an example, we'll break down the deciding factors in our selection process. So, grab your bags and get ready to practice choosing a conference with us. First things first, let's ask the most important question:

The first secret of getting what you want is knowing what you want. ― Arthur D. Hlavaty

What Do You Want From a Writing Conference?

To ensure your conference experience is worth your time and money, clarify what you hope to receive from the outing; then, work back from your goal to determine a good fit. These reasons should top your list:

A Chance to Pitch Your Project

If your manuscript is ready for querying, some conferences provide an opportunity to place your story before an agent. Beyond the obvious benefit of pitching your project on the spot, a face-to-face meeting also allows you to establish a connection with an agent, giving you a shared moment to reference in a future query.

Keep in mind, though, that when I say an opportunity, I mean pitching your work at an agent panel or in a scheduled one-on-one meeting. "Remember that time I cornered you by the soda cart" does not inspire pleasant feelings the way "I enjoyed our conversation about…" does.

While we won't be pitching at the AWP Conference, we will be looking for new literary journals and indie publishers to add to our list of publishing opportunities. We're excited to chat with agents and publishers in person and discover new publication avenues to share with our members.

Networking Opprotunities

Writing conferences provide access to a collective of literary professionals at a volume challenging to replicate elsewhere. Along with the chance to engage with industry professionals, as mentioned above, conferences are a fantastic place to connect with other writers.

Establishing relationships with other writers in your genre can be a great way to find critique partners who could evolve into friends down the road. Plus, writers are also readers (or they should be at least!), making genre-specific events such as the Romance Writers of America Conference or Sleuthfest (Mystery Writers of America annual conference) a place to build your audience.

As far as the AWP Conference goes, we can't wait to connect with writers looking to improve their craft and other industry professionals. From sharing our writing workshops with authors to discovering new books to add to our TBR list, the possibilities are nearly endless when literary lovers unite!

Since writing tends to attract introverted types, fortify yourself for socialization by remembering your fellow attendees would also likely prefer to be nose-deep in a good book. Breaking the ice is the most challenging part. Summon up the gumption to say "Hi." After all, you won't have to scramble for common ground; you have an automatic in with all things bookish.

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection. ― Mark Twain

Continued Education

When selecting a conference to attend, think about your specific writing goals and what information will help you bridge that gap between where you are now and where you want to be. Choose a suitable conference, and you can find sessions and panels devoted to everything from using #BookTok in your marketing efforts to guidance on portraying trauma in memoir form.

There's no shortage of information to learn; it's a matter of deciding what's most applicable to this stage of your writing journey. The following list isn't exhaustive, but it's a start as you determine what kind of content will benefit you most:

Craft improvement
Process optimization
Marketing
Publishing trends

In case you're curious (or decide to come along!), we're looking forward to a wide selection of lectures and discussion panels at the 2024 AWP Conference. Join us in sessions like Questions & Wonder: Science in Fiction , Holding Space: Creating a Safe and Supportive Virtual Writing Group , and Pathways to Success: Practical and Personal Tips for Getting Published .

Renewed Motivation

Sometimes, when you're in the weeds of a rewrite or struggling with writer's block, you lose sight of why you began writing in the first place. The change of environment and the collective excitement of other authors can boost you out of that rut. Some writers find that immersing themselves in an atmosphere devoted to writing reignites their excitement for a current project or provides the inspiration they need to begin a new one.

Confession: when February rolls around, team Bardsy will be heading to Kansas City for more than just business. Over 12,000 writers, educators, and publishing industry professionals attend this annual gathering to learn, network, and market, making it the largest literary conference in North America. Put enough people passionate about arranging words in a single location, and magical things will happen, like finding the motivation to push through the winter doldrums. It may not be all about the vibes, but they're a factor.

In summary, knowing what you want is key to getting it—in life and writing conferences. As demonstrated, attending the AWP conference was an easy choice once we established our goals. We'll explore how our objectives influenced the selection process in the next Bardsy blog and share some tips for maximizing your conference experience.

Between now and then, take some time to ponder what you hope to receive from a conference. Also, don't forget to check out the new deadline for the 2023 Winter Anthology Contest. If being published is on your 2024 to-do list, submitting to the contest is a great first step!

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