Dear Daphne,
Since you mentioned the LA SCBWI conference Friday on your blog, I was wondering if you could answer a question about conferences for me.

As an agent, if you’re interested in a novel’s premise while at a conference, what kinds of materials do you expect the writer to have available? I’m wondering if I need to make hard copies of my first chapter to have on hand, or if it’s more a case of trading contact info with the agent and sending the material at a later date.

I don’t want to arrive at the conference unprepared.

Thanks so much for your help!

Amy

Amy, I’m going to make your packing easier. Don’t worry about bringing hard copies of your material. Make sure you have business cards with your name and contact information, and try to get something similar from an agent if they’re interested in your book. Note also that if you’ve signed up for a critique, the agent already may have a copy of your contact information, and if they’re interested, may already have taken note of your details.

But no, if you’re chatting in a hallway or elevator, and the agent asks for your pitch and is interested, all you need to do is trade information and follow up afterwards. In fact, sometimes not even that. The onus will be on you, the author, to follow up (in most cases), and the agent’s contact details will likely be in the conference materials provided to all attendees.

The week after the conference, send an email to the agent’s publicly-provided email address, reminding them when and where you met, recapping your elevator pitch, and sending the material they requested.

I’ve been to my fair share of conferences, and I can tell you, I’d rather leave with less material than I walked in with, rather than more. Especially now when most agents read submissions electronically, paper is just unnecessary baggage.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

Dear Ms. Duin,

As a literary agent who has attended numerous SCBWI events and conferences, as well as various other conferences sponsored by other organizations for writers, I think you missed the point of the conference you attended.

It is meant as a learning experience, and an opportunity for face time with agents and editors who are otherwise just names on a submission list for the many writers who hope to be published by a traditional trade publishing house. Any contact with those agents or editors, whether it is in one-on-one pitch sessions scheduled by the conference, in workshops, or in casual conversation, is valuable. At the same time, if you met a doctor at a restaurant where he was having lunch, would you ask him to diagnose your aches and pains? When agents and editors attend conferences, they too need to eat, and that time is not yours to interrupt with a description of your work — not when there is other scheduled time for pitches, or when they have already expressed an interest in receiving email submissions from conference attendees, when their houses or agencies may otherwise be closed to unsolicited submissions.

As for the cost of the conference, would you begrudge tuition paid to a college to learn how to be a better accountant, or scientist? The cost of a SCBWI conference, which provides fees to the agents and editors who attend, and the rental fees for the location, among other expenses, is far less than most course fees, and the lessons learned are far more valuable, as well as being real-world applicable to those who are open to learn.

Furthermore, your contention that only “one person out of the hundreds” who attends these conferences may find success may be that organizer’s opinion. I know I have met authors who became clients at SCBWI conferences multiple times, to great success. Although it must be said, I also receive hundreds of queries, and of those hundreds, I find less than one new client for every several hundred I receive. If the conference you attended boasted a 1 in 100 success rate, perhaps you need to reevaluate your standard of success.

In the publishing world — which you say you inhabit — that level of success is astronomical.

A final note — yes, there are disreputable organizations that prey on would-be authors, but your intimation that the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is one of these is maliciously untrue, and I have no doubt that you will receive dozens — if not hundreds — of emails in their support.

Regards,
Kate Testerman
kt literary, llc.

I have no doubt that my readers have their own responses, and I invite you to leave them here, but please, also email them to The Washington Times.

I have a quick question for you regarding writing conferences, specifically the [redacted]. As an industry insider, would you recommend this conference for a first time novelist who is searching for an agent?

I’ve read mixed reviews online and know that us first time writers can be a naive group. Any insight you have would be appreciated as I’d hate to spend $1,000+ on the conference and trip to NYC only to find out that it’s not really going to help my writing objectives.

The only conferences I can specifically recommend are ones that I have attended — like the national SCBWI conferences in February and August every year, the SCBWI Western Washington conference last April, or Writers Digest’s pre-BEA Pitch Slam.

Beyond those, and a few others I have personal experience with, I have heard of a few other great conferences I’d love to attend — the Maui Writers Conference and the Highlights Foundation Writer’s Workshop at Chautauqua, among them — and the way I’ve heard about them is by reading the internet, and hearing what other people have to say about them!

You mention you’ve done this, to some degree, and found mixed reviews. If there’s not an overwhelming outpouring of love for a specific conference that you have your heart set on attending, try to read into the reviews — are they from the point of published authors who maybe found the conference’s emphasis on perfecting your craft too basic for them? Or are they the reverse — from the point of view of newbie writers like yourself who were overwhelmed by workshops on marketing and publicity, when they wanted to focus on writing? Many of the bigger conferences have multiple tracks for authors at different stages of their career, so you can make the conference be whatever you want it to be — two days on your craft, or two days on the business of being a writer.

If you’re still not finding enough information online about the conference you’re looking at, maybe you should check out other conferences. If you have to consider finances (and who doesn’t?), maybe seek out a local conference before trekking across state lines. Local conferences and/or workshops are a fantastic way to ease into the conference scene, without breaking the bank. You may also find yourself connecting with other writers who can provide more detailed information about the bigger conferences you’ve considered. Check out local chapters of the SCBWI or RWA, or ask at your local library to see if they know any writers groups nearby.

What you take away from a conference depends on what you bring to it — with a little research, you can be sure you’re bring the right attitude! (Or shoes.)

• A killer combination punch in Mo Willems’ and Chris Crutcher’s keynote speeches on Saturday. Mo had all of the agents and editors in the room gasping as he told prospective writers not to read (more specifically, to “write”, since people who read are called “readers,” not “writers”) and that the way to get published is simple: BE SUPERLATIVE. I was also deeply impressed and repeated this to a number of people I spoke with — in talking about picture books, Mo said the words and the pictures should neither one of them alone be understandable. Of course, he said it more wittily, but the gist was there.
• In Sunday’s closing keynote, Arthur Levine of Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic, spoke about the cornerstones of good fiction: plot, theme, character, and voice. Any one of them alone might work, but won’t be as memorable as all together working in concert. He compared the book and film versions of the first Harry Potter — the book had plot AND theme AND character AND especially voice, whereas the film manged to tell the story (plot), but without the voice and overarching theme, felt flat.
• I had the pleasure of participating with Arthur on a “First Pages” panel, where we took turns reading the first pages of attendees’ manuscripts, then commenting on whether we’d read more, why, or why not. What a fantastic way to cover a lot of material very quickly, and give a lot of attendees a chance to have a professional eye look at their work!
• I also did 12 more detailed manuscript critiques, of 5 pages or less, in ten minute blocks throughout the weekend. Some real possibilities there, as well as a few others I could see working with other people after some editing.
• Speaking of other people, it was such a pleasure to see friends, colleagues, and people I’d like to get to know better, to call both. Betsy Bird, NYPL Librarian Extraordinaire and blogger, spoke a number of times over the weekend, and it’s my goal to get mentioned in one of her “best of” website reviews. I got a master class in illustration from the vibrant and lovely Laini Taylor, graphic genius Jim Di Bartolo, and S&S Art Director Laurent Linn. I also was able to better get to know my agent colleagues Marcia Wernick, Rosemary Stimola, and Stephen Barbara. I think it’s important for writers to know that we do try to be civil, that it’s not about stealing clients from other agents, and that we’re all aware we have a lot to learn from each other.
• Regional Writing Groups Rock! I knew this from the Eden Writers Workshop I went to last fall in Utah, but I was reminded this weekend how very strong the regional groups can be — whether that’s because they’re far outside the “traditional” New York publishing community, or just because like finds like, but I was way impressed by the number of published authors, award winners, and aspiring writers in just this one local area.

All in all, it was a brilliant time, and I hope to be invited back! I’m already putting together some thoughts for a new workshop that combines several areas of my expertise, but more on that in the future!

A friend and I wrote a book over the summer about philosophy and I have recently finished a poem book of 40 or so poems, all of which I would one day love to see in print. I’m aware of the hardships I face being only 15, with no money and the content of these books being things people don’t like to read but I would love it if you could email me any advice you have about getting these things published.

Sarah, congrats! Only 15 and already you’ve finished two books — well done! You write about the hardships of being 15 in trying to get your work done, and no lie, that can be a stumbling block. But it’s not about your age, per se. It’s about experience.
Publishing is a tough business for all writers, and your book of poems or philosophy has to compete with all the other submissions agents and editors are reading. Your youthful enthusiasm can only take you so far — you need to be able to back that up with strong writing, with good, quality work, or no one’s going to give your manuscript a second look. You write that you’d “one day” love to see your work in print, and I totally think that’s the right attitude. It doesn’t need to happen right away — most successful writers have spent years practicing their craft, before they finally get published. Keep reading, keep writing, keep learning about books, and publishing, and poetry, and philosophy… and other great words that start with “p.” (Peep-toe pumps!)
And finally, put aside the idea that you need money to be published. You don’t, unless you’re looking at vanity presses where you have to pay them to produce your book. That’s not traditional publishing, and that shouldn’t ever be your first course of action if you plan to be a published author. Researching agents, sending email queries, joining a critique group, polishing your manuscript — none of this takes any money to do, except what you need to support yourself while you’re writing. And that’s just called life.
Good luck!