Writers' Conferences: Are They Worth the Cost?

by Kathy Ide I attended my first writers' conference in 1988 at Biola University. It was the first time I'd heard that writers weren't all people who had degrees in creative writing and were working full time for publishing houses. When I realized that a lot of authors wrote in their "free time," before work, after work, on weekends, etc., I decided to give it a try. And to my great surprise, I actually started getting things published! I've attended several writers' conferences since then, and they've been a great boost to my writing career. (They're also incredibly fun! Christian writers and editors are the best people in the world to hang out with.) But since I started doing professional editing for a living, I've also found writers conferences to be great ways to market my business. When sitting at a table sharing a meal with six other conferees and a representative from a publishing house, I have asked acquisitions editors if their houses used freelance proofreaders or editors; if so, I've requested the names and e-mail addresses of the people to contact. Then I've gone home and contacted those people, letting them know that I was available. (Truth to tell, that hasn't worked directly for me. But it does get the word out to the industry in general that I am a professional freelance editor.) I approached the representative from a major Christian subsidy publisher in the buffet line at one conference, and I've been working steadily for them ever since. Mostly, though, writers' conferences have been beneficial to my editing business because of personal one-on-one contacts with authors. Many times, when I've told fellow conferees what I do for a living, either they are looking for an editor themselves or they know someone who is. I've handed out flyers and business cards, and I've set out acrylic stands with my flyers and business cards on the "freebie tables." After a while, word gets around. This year, I attended four writers' conferences: one in Kansas, one in Houston, one in Nashville, and a local one in Orange County, California. The smallest was maybe thirty or forty people; the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Nashville consisted of ten times that many. But I got new clients from every single one. At the Nashville conference, where people also know me because I'm on the ACFW online loop, several authors came up to me and told me they'd heard I was "the best." I don't let comments like that go to my head, because I know there are a lot of really good editors out there. But what that told me was that people were talking about me; they knew I was an editor, that I was a professional, and that I did a good job. Like they say, "Word-of-mouth is the best advertising." I've also been able to promote The Christian PEN at these conferences. At the ACFW one in Nashville, an agent approached me and said that she would like to refer people to our network who needed editing before they would be ready for an agent. Very exciting! Writers' conferences can be expensive, especially the big ones that last a few days. Mount Hermon, for example, costs several hundred dollars (depending on your choice of accommodations). But that includes five awesome days of hanging out with new, aspiring, intermediate, and multi-published authors; networking with agents and acquisitions editors from numerous Christian publishing houses; great meals; accommodations in a beautiful retreat setting; instruction from top people in the industry; and some of the most amazing spiritual inspiration, worship, and singing of hymns and praise songs you will ever experience. Oh, yes, and fantastic opportunities to promote your editing services. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kathy Ide edits, critiques, and proofreads fiction and nonfiction manuscripts including short stories, play scripts, screenplays, devotionals, articles, and book-length works. She also speaks at writers conferences across the country. She is the author of Christian Drama Publishing, Polishing the PUGS: Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling, and the soon-to-be-released Typing without Pain. Her works have been published in numerous magazines, compilations, and script collections. For more information, check out her Web site.