Meeting and Greeting

What To Do at Writers Conferences

October 10, 2008

 

Mary Rosenblum: I just got back from the Oregon Coast...Lincoln City. They invited me out to speak at the library. VERY nice folks.  And I got to talk about the same subject I'm going to speak about today....how to make the best use of contact opportunities.  You can feel very disconnected from the writing/publishing world as a novice. You work alone, you don't get a lot of feedback when you send your work out, it can feel as if you're operating in a vacuum and some kind of magic chasm separates you from those mystical beings the Editors and Publishers.

 It can REALLY give you a boost in confidence if nothing else, if you meet a few editors and find out that they're actually nice people...well, most of them...they have a sense of humor (most of them), and you can actually talk about the weather, your grandkids, and dogs with them. All of a sudden they're not nearly so ...well..scary.  I strongly advise new writers to make use of every possible opportunity to meet people in the publishing world.  That can be a reading at your local bookstore, a writers conference, some kind of art weekend, like our local WordStock here in Portland.

Muleskinner: but still across the chasm

Mary Rosenblum: Well, muleskinner, the chasm is less bottomless, honest, if you realze that the editors are just people, they're not some sort of Vast Authority. The hard part...I do know it's hard...is approaching these folk if you're shy.

Muleskinner: I got an email back from one. She rejected my story but was encouraging

Sol: I have a problem in that conferences are not easy to find up here in Canada. And I can't afford to travel far. AND . . . yes! I'm very shy!

Mary Rosenblum: That's great, mule. Editors do NOT do that unless they think they're going to publish you one day.  And that is hard, sol. Travel expenses are a real issue.

 Muleskinner:  how do you find out about them?

Mary Rosenblum: You will find some online conferences now, and they're worth searching for, if they've included editors, agents, or publishers among their guests.   You can check shawguides.com, mule.  They list writers conferences, and quite a few small ones take place over the US and Canada. Sometimes you can combine the family vacation with a quick side trip to a conference.

Cat Lady: I have the same problem as Sol. Small town TX doesn't have much in the way of writing. But don't the online conferences cost money too?

Mary Rosenblum: I don't know if they all do or not, cat lady.  Many things online are free. It probably depends on who's attending, too. The more prestigious the guests, the more the hosts are going to limit access by charging a fee.  Speck just reminded me that the MuseOnline conference is free. I mentioned that in the LR Newsletter want ads recently. That's a good place to keep an eye on. I do post conference news there when I get it.

Sol: But what do you get from an online conference? don't really get to meet the editors there

Mary Rosenblum: You can get some of what you get in a 'real life' conference...panels on topics that are informative. Most conferences offer panels on breaking in, craft, what the editors are looking for...that sort of thing.  They don't offer the same chance to sit at the bar with an editor. But not everyone who goes to a conference is going to get that opportunity anyway. Especially if you're shy and a bit hesitant about striking up a conversation.  However, conferences are well worth the attendance money if you can do it. Sharing a room with one or two or even three other people can make the lodging expenses very doable.

Cat Lady: Yes . . . how do you strike up a conversation? . . . especially if you are a real new writer with little to talk about? Or if you're still searching for your place in the writing world?

Mule:  and little to show. Is there anything coming up in Houston?

Mary Rosenblum: The attendance fee depends on the size of the conference...from say, 35$ for a small, local conference, to a hundred bucks or more for a really big national conference like the World Fantasy Convention. You don't offer what you have, Cat. Introduce yourself. Tell that editor or author how much you enjoyed a book from that line (if you're talking to the editor) or a book the author has written. There is at least one SF conference in Houston, Mule. I'm sure there are others.  It's a small one...most people go to Austin for Armadillocon in the Sf/fantasy universe.

Muleskinner: How do you sign up?

Mary Rosenblum: Every conference has a website.  Usually you can sign up there. You purchase a membership. That entitles you to attend the entire conference.

Sol: What is the time frame of most conferences? Days (weekend) ? A week?

Mary Rosenblum: As to the earlier question about striking up a conversation...any editor wants you to ask what they do NOT want to see. That saves you both time! Then ask them what they don't see enough of.  Ask how they're enjoying the conference. Ask if they've been to this part of the country, if they're from NY. In other words, simply start a conversation. Any conversation. Ask their opinion of what's going on the publishing world. Editors, agents, writers....we all like to talk and not always about business! Sol, most conferences are over a weekend. The REALLY big ones, where people travel from out of the country, may run four or five days.  Do your homework before you get there.  The conference will post a final schedule on their website and you'll get a schedule when you arrive and register. Look over all the offerings. Most conferences will offer multiple tracks of programming. That is, two, three, or more panels or workshops will be happening at the same time. Decide what you want to see so that you know where you want to go next at the end of each session.

Muleskinner: So who organizes, puts on, sponsors these conferences?

Mary Rosenblum: Fan organizations put them on, Mule. So do some writers organizations. Willamette Writers, for example, puts on Willamette Writers Conference. Every conference will publish a list of attending pros. Do your homework there. Find out who these people are. You’ll receive their bios in your registration package when you arrive, but you can find out ahead of time easily enough. Decide who you most want to meet. Is an editor attending who might be interested in your book? Be sure to attend panels where he/she is speaking. Linger afterward if the editor doesn't seem to have to rush right off and ask questions about the panel. Remember...someone you know is harder to turn down than a faceless stranger. Here's your chance to present yourself as a novice writer who's out there learning and paying attention. You'd be amazed how well editors remember you.  And then, when you send in your query, in your cover letter you say 'You probably don't remember me, but we had a brief conversation at the Duluth Writers Conference about first person. I thought you might want to see this, since you said you weren't seeing many novels with good female first person narrators...’  And it's very likely that editor WILL remember you from that little jog.

Muleskinner: So what would I type into google to find a conference?

Mary Rosenblum: I'd just google writers conferences mule. See what turns up. You can be more specific. If you write mystery, google mystery writers conference.  If you just show up at a conference, you don't know who's going to be there, you don't know what you want to get out of the conference, you can waste a lot of time and miss a lot. That preparation time, either in the first couple of hours after you arrive or ahead of time, will really help you make the most of your money. Writer connections are quite useful, too. I often pass on open anthology news to novice writers I've met. These won't be listed in any writers market....they're mostly filled by invitation and word of mouth fills the rest.

Look up the writers who will be there. If some of them are writing the type of book you are, go spend a few bucks or hit the library and read something that author has written. If you meet that person, say 'I really enjoyed XYX' you have instantly broken the ice. Every one of us LOVES that believe me! Then you can introduce yourself as a novice and ask for help. You're trying to break into this same niche, what should you do. Nearly every writer I know is very very willing to lend a hand to a newcomer. We all were there once and folk helped us.

Muleskinner: I've been to trade conferences. But they were usually sponsored by equipment companies or some association. They pay people to come talk to you

Mary Rosenblum: Well, Mule, they sort of bribe us to come talk to you all, too. :-) We get in free, although only the main few guests get all their expenses paid.  But for us, it's a chance to visit with friends we only see at these conferences, to schmooze with editors and pick up anthology invites and MOST importantly, to meet new readers who don't know us yet.

Rae: I wrote to my favorite author and asked her how she got started, and she referred me to the marketing Digest. I'm afraid she was thinking I wanted her help or something.

Mary Rosenblum:  Well, Rae, most writers are busy and not all are real willing to spend a lot of time on fan mail. It really depends. And you will get brushed off by some writers at cons, but not many. Most are very approachable.

Sol: So are these conferences for authors of only books/novels?

Mary Rosenblum:  Sol there are all kinds of conferences! Some, like Willamette Writers or the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference are mostly for aspiring authors and are mostly writing workshops and panels. Some include screenwriting. Some are for specific genres: Bouchercon is all mystery/suspense. World Fantasy Con is fantasy, World Horror is horror, and so on. The Romance Writers of America put on quite a few. You have conferences for Children's Writers.

If you are writing in a specific genre, you're best served to attend a conference for that genre. If you are starting to write and mostly looking for help, the conferences put on the writers groups, like the Willamette Writers Conference are excellent. They're geared to improving your writing.

PR: Mary sorry to be an ass, but editors have no say in publishing of books. It is the agents you are able to rep your book and the publishers. The only thing the agent does is to check for flow of content.

Mary Rosenblum:  That's not true, PR. Not as much as it used to be.

PR:  I am a published writer and have never had an editor get my book published!

Mary Rosenblum:  Well, PR, one of the ways you can get around the necessity of agenting your work is to chat with an editor at a conference.  If it sounds as if your book is something that the editor might be interested in, you can ask him or her right there if they'd like to see it. If you get a yes, it is no longer an 'unsolicited manuscript'.  You will still need an agent before you sign a contract, but it's one back door to that 'no over the transom' publishing world.  NOW...that does not mean you should assault every editor there waving your manuscript in hand.

PR:   OK, Wow, so you can get me published based upon you saying and editing my book?

Mary Rosenblum:  No, PR. I’m saying that if you meet an editor at a conference and he says, 'sure, I'll take a look at it', you can send it to him even if the publishing house says 'no unagented work' or 'no unsolicited material'. That editor may not choose to purchase your book, but you got it looked at. No agent can MAKE an editor buy the book.   Much as they would LOVE to.  Quite a few people I know have made their first NY sale that way. But you have to use good judgment. Editors HATE it when a novice writers tries to pitch a book to him/her in the hallway!

Rae: Now I am confused. An editor buys the book? I thought a publisher bought the book?

Mary Rosenblum:  It's like this.  Publishers have regular meetings....the publisher, the marketing dept. head, the senior and junior editors.  At the meeting the editors bring out the books they want to buy. Each is sure this book is really hot. The publisher says, we can only do X number of books for our spring catalogue. Then everybody fights about which book is best suited to publish.  The senior editors have more clout. The marketing department does carry some weight.  The publisher says 'okay' or 'no' and the editor gets back to you, the author.  It's quite the free for all.

PR:   Sorry Mary are you and editor with a major publisher or freelance?

Mary Rosenblum:  I am a professional writer, PR. I am only the editor of the LR website. I have a lot of editor and some publishers as friends, along with a number of agents. And a LOT of pro writers.   I’m not in a position to publish your book. If that’s what you’re asking.  I can help YOU get it published, yes. I've been publishing in the NY system for about 20 years, and you get to learn a lot if you hang out with the folk there.  

PR:   Sorry Mary I have my first book to be published after the edit, proof read, art work, then type set.

Kiwi: NY system?  The big New York houses, kiwi. Random House, Penguin Group, that sort of publisher. You have a lot of small press houses that are outside NY, but most of the stock in, say, Barnes and Noble, comes from the NY houses.

Muleskinner:  Well then, I guess I'll have to find a conference and get a rope on an editor

Mary Rosenblum:    Some of the conferences put on by the writing groups will offer pitch sessions with agents.  They'll bring agents out from NY and you can sign up for a five minute pitch session, where you actually get to pitch your book to them. I know one of the agents who was at Willamette Writers this year, and he took four or five manuscripts back to NY with him.

Muleskinner:  Do they like fruit baskets or chocolate?

Mary Rosenblum:    Buy 'em a drink at the bar, Mule. Do it humorously and you'll probably end up in a fun conversation.

Sol:  Wow . . . neat!

Mary Rosenblum:    Pros in this universe love a sense of humor.

Sol:  Fun . . . . I don't know from fun.

Mary Rosenblum:    Mostly, don't treat pros like gods. The deer in the headlights look gets you nada! Actually, a LOT of the pro action at a con goes on in the bar, even if you’re drinking iced tea. Just a hint.

PR:   I bow my head but still don't understand, first before you have to have an agent to even have the big boys look at it. then the publisher will say yes or no. If they say yes then I deal with you in order for you to make it commercial. If I am wrong let me know. I am not trying to put you down My best is both of my editors.

Mary Rosenblum:    I'm sorry, PR, either I'm not following you, or you do have the system confused. Whom are you dealing with? What publisher?

Rae: when you are dealing with a small press, is it normal for them to use LULU or someone like that to publish?

Mary Rosenblum:    Sure, Rae. All the small press are using one of the major POD houses: Lightning Source is a big one. Lulu.

Rae: I have heard really bad things about Lulu.

Sol: POD = Print On Demand?

Mary Rosenblum:    Yes, Sol. Print on Demand is a type of printing technology Small press publishers don't generally own the equipment, they have the book produced by a commercial Print on Demand printer who can turn out small batches. There's nothing wrong with Lulu if you do the work yourself.

PR: No, a publisher unless it is small scale will not even look at a non-agent sent MS. Once they do it does through the interns. If they think it is ok then the publisher will see it. After the publisher see it and ok the project then they send it to you the editor. Were you take it an correct the story line. and so on... If I am not correct I have wasted about 20 years of writing before I became published

Mary Rosenblum:    PR, you need to be careful. From what you're saying, it sounds to me as if you might be talking about a subsidy publisher. These are not real publishers. They masquerade as real publishers, but they 'develop' your book for you and often charge you fees. There are host of them out there.

PR: NO

Mary Rosenblum:    It's a good idea to always check preditors and editors, the scam website, before signing with any agent or publisher.

quixote: Is Amazon.com accounting for a sizeable portion of sales nowadays? They seem to be about to get into publishing as well.

Mary Rosenblum:    They are trying to get into publishing. They are not yet the 1000 lb gorilla of book sales, but they're heading in that dirction and clearly have an interest in publishing what they sell. The publishing world is really in flux right now.

Muleskinner: Is that good or bad?

Mary Rosenblum:    Well, eventually it's going to be good for writers!  Right now, if the NY marketing people don't think you 'fit' their defined niches, you don't get published.  As publishing disseminates from NY to small press publishers, marketing is going to get more diffuse....it won't be whether you're in Barnes and Noble, but which review sites review your work that will get you sales. The system is changing and it’s going to open doors for a lot of writers, but it's going to take some time for things to shake out. Bumpy ride for awhile as things change. Well, we're at the end of the hour, and I have a story on deadline for an anthology. I'm going to have to skip out and get back to work.

Muleskinner: Mary, I remember reading one of your bios or something where you got a break from meeting a publisher. Is that the most common way or is there others?

Mary Rosenblum:    Not really, Mule. I got started by sending my work out, but I did get more sales quickly because I did go to conferences and chat up editors and publishers.  I hope you all come to the chat on Sunday...that's our casual chat.  I should even make it this Sunday, woohoo!  See you all there!