I don’t know if it’s the time of year, or if these things happen year round, but I’ve noticed several agents talking about conferences and workshops lately.
The problem is, they almost never seem to name which ones they’ve been to. I’d love to see an agent write a post with a round-up of the biggest and best conferences around. I know about RWA’s annual conference, but how do you find out about others? Through RWA networks? Writers’ groups? Google searches (tried this one and wasn’t very successful). And how do you know whether a conference is right for you and worth spending money on if you don’t have an inside source saying whether a certain conference has been well run/helpful/a complete shambles?
Agent Kristin at PubRants has just returned from a conference and gives a couple of tips to writers who are pitching agents. She’s also got loads (currently 45) posts tagged ‘conferences’, some of which have handy tips on workshops and pitches.
Jessica at BookEnds also has several conference posts and mentions a couple by name. She stresses the importance of networking at conferences, so which ones provide the best opportunity to network, and which are mostly for locals who commute in for workshops and burn rubber on the way out?
Have you ever been to a conference? What was the experience like?
