Anyone go to writing conferences? What you think?

I went to my first conference yesterday and, much to my suprise, everyone I met was lovely (perhaps working in science has only exposed me to slightly nerdy, conversationally challenged types). Not sure how much I learnt from the speakers, but chatting to other writers was cool.

Also, my fav UK SF agent was there and they told me 5 min before the pitching sessions that he had a free place, so I got to speak to him. Not really sure what you're meant to do during a 3 minute pitch, but I yabbered on for a bit and he said to email a few chapters to him, so I can't have come across like a complete freak.

Good idea for a thread, Dr. Swann. I've never thought much about writing conferences - but now that I do, they seem like a pretty cool concept. I'd be curious to learn more how they operate and hope others who've been to them will respond. In addition I can imagine some nice evenings over a few drinks. Thanks, Jack my website

For the uninitiated, here’s a run-down of the conference I went to. It was in St Albans, run by the writers’ circle there and had maybe over 100 visitors, cost £45, and had a mixture of new writers, those who’d finished a few books, quite a lot with agents and a number with several publications. Everyone was very chatty and I might now join their writers’ circle as it sounds pretty fun.
This link gives talk titles: http://www.verulamwriterscircle.org.uk/getwriting2010.php

There were a couple of agents and publishers there, who gave talks on what their job involved and how to go about getting them to notice a book. Then several authors talked about how they got published, plus there were workshops for around 20 people on stuff like internet marketing, researching historical fiction and creating characters.

I’d say the basic things I leant over the day were:
1. Don’t give up your day job – authors don’t make much money
2. Don’t bother writing if you don’t love it – everyone at the conference, from agents to authors, were massively enthusiastic about books
3. Men who write fantasy often have long hair
4. Once a book is written, it belongs to the author and the reader so write with your readers in mind but don’t try to write for the market or it will show
5. Self-publishing is usually a dead end for publication so don’t do it hoping for a traditional contact to come from it
6. Only submit to agents when you’ve polished the hell out of a book as you have only one chance to impress
7. Gone are the days when authors could be hunchbacked recluses living in caves. You will have to work as hard publicising your book once its published as you did writing it, otherwise publishers will not be very happy with you
8. Talking to other writers is good as they don’t think you’re mad when you talk about your book and they like to go to the pub
9. Don’t give up, it can take decades to get noticed
I knew all of this already, so the day was more useful for meeting new people than learning about writing.

The 3 minute pitches with agents and editors were interesting. Some people took them seriously and had submission packages in nice little plastic wallets, others just turned up and winged it. I’m not sure what is to be gained from these sessions. I was told to make sure the book was polished and to send it in following the instructions on his web site, which I could have done without speaking to him. Maybe it’s more useful for getting writers talking to agents and realising they are human and not really that scary.

I can thoroughly recommend the Scottish Association of Writers which has a conference every March at Erskine, Glasgow. It's held from Friday evening until Sunday lunchtime. I went last year and found it very useful. It holds competitions (winners are announced during the conference) and there are workshops run by published authors, marketing people etc. as well as a keynote speaker. This year it's R.J.Ellory...who is also running a workshop on Novel Writing. It's on this weekend coming ie 5th - 7th March. Can't wait!
Jacqui

I saw Roger Ellory speak recently and he's great value. He will answer anything and has loads of useful stuff to say (mainly about persevering).

If he's running a workshop it should be well worth attending. x