Yours truly with The Wasp herself (and author of the very fun Squickerwonkers children’s book series), Evangeline Lilly, at DFWCon 2023.

So, you’ve summoned the courage to come to your very first writing conference, eh?

First of all, congratulations on taking the leap! I’ve been in your shoes, and that first conference will be eye-opening for you. There is much to learn about writing and publishing. Many hopeful writers come effervescent with excitement, and at least a few (okay, a lot), will be bursting at the seams with nervous anticipation of attending their first conference and facing the enigmatic dark void of hope and despair that is the agent pitch session. Ideally you can attend your first conference in person, like at DFWCon 2025 coming October 4-5 (get your tix now!). You’ll get way more out of it than the online facsimiles.

You’ve read my previous post about writing conferences, but still have questions? Have no fear, ol’ Matthew is here to impart to you some of the wisdom I learned at conferences. This year’s will be my 5th DFWCon, and somewhere around 15th writing conference (most of the others were online). So here are some pearls for you to digest as you prepare mentally, emotionally, and physically for an amazing experience, in no particular order.

What should I bring?

Come with an open mind, ready to drink from the firehose of writing knowledge! A pen and notebook (or your electronic device of choice) are a good idea, though you’ll often get those in a swag bag at registration. Clothes too, ideally worn. On your body.

Should I bring paper copies of my manuscript to show or give to an agent?

You most definitely should not bring copies or pages of your manuscript for your agent pitch (or business cards or bookmarks or anything else for that matter). They will not ask for them, look at them, or take them home. Not only that, bringing a bunch of paper to thrust upon an agent also tells them you’ve not done your homework as there is plenty of advice on the Internet that says to not do that. It is a pitch session. Use your voice and precious few minutes of their undivided attention to let them get to know you.

What are agents looking for?

The #1 thing agents hope to discern from your pitch is if you’d be easy to work with. Many aspiring writers fail this first hurdle, so it doesn’t matter how good their manuscript is. I advise you to check out the internet for other tips on how to prepare. Once the agent is reasonably confident you can be coached, you aren’t a shadowy hermit that hasn’t ever seen the Internet, and have a decent head on your shoulders and good heart in your chest, then they’ll pay attention to your story to see if it could be a fit for what they’re looking for (and more importantly, what publishers are looking for).

How should I structure my pitch?

Start with some pleasantries – know who you’re pitching to and research them, maybe ask them about something you have in common (pets, hobbies, etc. – nothing creepy or you’ll fail that first check). After that, spend about 1.5-2 minutes giving your actual pitch, which should be akin to the back cover blurb that might go on your book. Again, the Internet is a great resource to research what should go into a compelling pitch. If you have time and means to get to DFW the week prior, DFW Writers’ Workshop has a free Writers’ Bloc session on Saturday, Sept 27 (do RSVP!) that will cover how to give an effective pitch. If you can’t make that, the same lessons can be learned on YouTube and elsewhere. In the end, approach your pitch like you’re sitting down for coffee with a friend. Plan to just chat and enjoy your time with them. Agents are people first, agents second, so be friendly and amiable and that’ll go a long, long way. A successful pitch will result in the agent requesting pages from you. The best you can possibly hope for is they request a full manuscript (I’ve had this happen, but it is rare – usually they’ll request a few pages or a chapter if they think it could be a fit).

What if I get nervous and forget what I want to say or stumble on my words?

If you need a printed sheet or index card to read your blurb or notes from to keep your thoughts organized as you pitch, that’s totally cool. Agents are all very gracious when it comes to writers and nerves. They understand these sessions can be stressful and preparation can go right out the window if anxiety wins out.

Anything else I should consider bringing?

If you’re coming to DFWCon, a hard copy you might consider bringing is your query letter to enter into the Gong Show panel (usually early Sunday AM or right after Sunday lunch). An emcee will read your (anonymousified) letter out loud, and the agents on the panel will hit their gong at the point when they would stop reading. Get three gongs and they’ll stop the reading and then ask the agents what made them gong, and how the author could do better. That session is one of my favorites of the entire conference – you will learn a ton about the query process. If you’re staying at the hotel, they have a printer you can print this from if needed.

Also, if you’re planning to participate in one of the “first 10 pages” read and critique sessions, you might consider bringing hard copies of your pages to read from and for the critiquers to have to reference. That way if there are distractions in the hall or your narration is hard to discern, they’ll still know what you’ve written and can provide their best feedback possible. Plus, if the worst happens and the WiFi is down, you’ll still have something to read.

I’m crazy excited and/or I’m so nervous! What should I expect?

Temper your expectations. No one walks out of a writing conference with a book deal. A lucky few (read: a very well prepared and experienced writer that jives well with an agent and has a story the agent knows will get a publisher’s attention) may get an offer of representation quickly right after, but the traditional publishing world moves very slowly. All the agents are doing at a writing conference is fast-forwarding the “get to know you” part of the process when they are seriously considering offering representation to a writer (which typically happens after a full manuscript request, but doing it first saves them the time of analyzing a manuscript if the author is obviously going to be hard to work with). In exchange, you’ll get a skip-to-the-front-of-the-line pass with the agent when it comes to their query slush pile. They always pay more attention to queries that come from authors they meet at conferences, and that alone is worth the price of admission. Cold queries in the slush pile get only a few seconds of an agent’s attention because they get so many. Come with patience and understanding of the publishing industry. Getting an agent is very difficult, but also just the first step, one that millions of other aspiring writers are attempting to do. Don’t give them the agent any reason to say no to you – it only takes one for that opportunity to fizzle.

What’s the best way to approach pitching a trilogy or open-ended series?

In a word: don’t.

I wrote a blog post about this very topic because I made this mistake. When it comes to pitching your manuscript, do not pitch it as a trilogy or first in a series. That’s an immediate non-starter for agents right now, unless you’ve got a massive social media platform (which does help you skip a few gatekeepers). You want to pitch your story as a stand-alone, complete narrative. It is totally fine if it has some hooks in it for a sequel or future volumes, but don’t mention those until the agent has asked. If they’re interested, they’ll ask (because they all secretly want to uncover the next Harry Potter smash). They have to be certain the first book will sell to a publisher, and the odds are astoundingly better for debut authors if it’s a stand-alone story to start. Once the publisher asks you to do a series, then you can open the floodgates. But if during the pitch the agent asks if you have plans for a sequel or series, respond that you have ideas where those could go, but the manuscript you’re pitching is a complete story. Do not let on that you’ve already got an entire trilogy written! I made this mistake with the very first agent I pitched, and she taught me what I’ve just told you. You can intend for everything you write to be a series, but you need to pitch (and write) the first book as a stand-alone story.

I don’t have a writing group and haven’t had my writing critiqued before. What can I expect?

If you’re going to get critiqued in one of the “first 10 pages” sessions or a Gong Show type of thing, wear a thick skin, especially if you’re not used to receiving frank and unfiltered feedback. The DFW Writers’ Workshop members that serve as the critiquers at DFWCon for “first 10 pages” go to the Workshop’s read and critique meeting every single Wednesday and are unabashed surgeons when it comes to cutting open a chapter and exposing what’s rank inside. Expect 90% criticism and 10% (or less) praise. This is tough and eye-opening for aspiring writers who aren’t used to getting regular and expert feedback on their work. These reviewers aren’t trying to be mean or hyper-critical, they’re just exceptionally well-practiced at finding a story’s weak points. That said, if you stroll in with a masterpiece, they’ll be able to recognize it. Also, sign up for these early, they fill up fast.

The conference is coming in a few weeks. How should I prepare?

Do your homework. Start studying the agents now, know who you’d like to pitch to, and if you can afford it, buy pitch time with all of the ones that make sense. An agent that’s asked you for pages from a pitch is worth a hundred cold query letters. Make sure your manuscript and the agent are a good fit for age group, genre, and subject matter (check their websites, agency websites, MSWLs, social media, etc.). Check Publishers Marketplace for what the agent has been successful in selling to publishers, and make sure they haven’t sold anything recently that’s a close match to what you would be pitching. They might want stories in the same genre, but they’re only going to take one hockey players on unicorns vs. D&D nerds teen romance. If they already have that in their roster, they won’t be taking yours, no matter how good it is (but that they sold one is a good comp for you to use with a different agent – make sure you’ve read it!). Ensure your manuscript’s word count is within accepted limits for your age group and genre (you’ll find general consensus for these all over the Internet). If you’re pitching a coming-of-age middle grade book and it’s got 120k words, that’s a quick no from every agent under the sun, because that story should land between 40-50k words (which is what publishers want).  If you’re pitching genre fiction, understand the trends for your genre. Who’s selling a ton of books? What about their stories is making them popular. How does your story compare? Come with comps at the ready, agents will almost always ask for these. That question is much more about making sure you’re reading books similar to what you’re pitching and absorbing and employing the verbiage and themes and tropes that successful books are using. This tells the agent you’re doing your homework (and might be someone easier to work with – are you catching the pattern yet?).

Which classes are the best ones to go to?

Once the schedule is out, decide ahead of time what you want to attend. If you’re just starting out on your writer’s path, are new to new-ish to the craft, and haven’t received much in the way of feedback with your work, I’d advise you to lean toward the craft classes (I’ll be teaching one on Scene Structure this year at DFWCon). If you’ve cranked out a bunch of manuscripts, are regularly attending local writing groups, have been getting (and giving) feedback on writing, and have observed that your skill has improved and feel you’re ready to take the leap toward publishing, then lean toward the business classes, which can be very eye-opening to how challenging success can be, but will arm you with solid strategies to give your author career a boost. I will say that DFWCon’s business classes tend toward the traditional publishing side of publishing, and less so on the self-publishing side. There will be some self-publishing stuff, just not as much.

I suck at socializing. What do I do during meals and the evening happy hour?

I’m right there with ya. Most of the time, I would much rather curl up with my laptop and crank out a few thousand words on my WIP than attempt to forge connections with strangers (as evidenced by my stance on networking in my first conference blog post). That said, I’ve begun to approach it with the following mindset: I can curl up with my laptop and ignore the world at home. I still suck at it and it very much goes against my inner conflict (and rejection) avoidance nature. Yet, at a writing conference, you’re amidst a sea of friends and colleagues. You’ll find few places filled with people that share similar goals and interests with you. It can be immensely beneficial to develop a network of editors, artists, and other writers to call upon for advice, or beta reads, or maybe even a connection to an agent or other opportunity. Seven years ago I was a writing neophyte, just taking my first steps at the conference. Now I’m VP of Programs for the DFW Writers’ Workshop (my weekly read & critique group that also happens to run DFWCon) and I’m organizing events and group book signings and all manner of things for people in and outside the Workshop. You never know who you’ll meet or jive with, and what doors knowing that person may open for you in the future. Forge a connection with me (or someone else) at DFWCon this year and you may find an invite to a future opportunity in your inbox at some point. It costs nothing to try to meet someone new. At the very least, you can come find me and introduce yourself. I won’t bite.

And there you have it. No doubt I haven’t answered all your questions or allayed all your fears, so feel free to drop a comment below and ask away. I’ll see you at the con! M