Tag / DFWCon

by Matthew

Writing Conference FAQs

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

by Matthew

The Call of the Writing Conference

Thinking about attending a writing conference? Here’s what you can expect!

Well I’m mostly recovered from my respiratory infection, so it’s time to talk Writing Conferences! The above photo is from the Hurst Conference Center, which is the site of the DFW Writer’s Conference (aka, DFWCon). After missing 2020 and being online-only last year, DFWCon is going in-person again October 8-9, 2022. Check it out here if you’re in the area and interested. I plan to be there! Favor the online thing? Check out Writing Day Workshops‘ online events, they do one every month (though they will resume in-person at some point in the future).

The 3 Sides to Every Writing Conference

Listed in order of importance (my opinion): Pitching, Classes, Networking

PITCHING

One of the two big reasons to go to a writing conference is the opportunity to pitch to agents. As I have discussed previously in my Lessons from Querying posts (1, 2, 3), getting representation from a literary agent is difficult. Like hitting a 100-mph fastball difficult. So finding any avenue to help you through that process will greatly increase your chances, and there is no better way to do that than in-person pitch sessions with an agent.

Why? Well in that 8 to 10-minute window, you’re given the opportunity to cross several agent hurdles at once:

  • Did you write something that is of interest to the agent?
  • Are you passionate about writing and what you’ve written in particular?
  • Did you throw your story together, or put some real effort into the crafting of it?
  • Are you a one-and-done author, or do you have a long-term writing career goal?
  • Are you rude, insensitive, bigoted, or possess other personality flaws that might prevent you from crossing the finish line with a publisher?
  • Do you seem like someone that would be fun/easy to work with?

The wrong answer to any of those is an easy reject for the agent, so it also helps them skip to the ultimate end in the event you pass the first hurdle that would have gotten you past the slush pile into deeper review.

I’ve had way more success in getting agent interest in at least reading my material from pitches than I have through cold querying. I imagine practically anyone would have the same experience, unless they’re failing one of the sanity checks in the list above.

So here’s the downside to pitches: they’re expensive. Some conferences give you a pitch as part of your conference fee, others don’t. They’ll all let you buy more, which can range from $10-$30 per session. Want to talk to ten agents? $300. That’s more than many conference fees. And you’re going to want to go to several conferences. The cost will add up fast. Why talk to that many? Because you’re still up against the odds of numbers that even if you talk to the single-most-likely agent to want to represent your work, if the timing isn’t right (list is full, they rep a similar manuscript already, they don’t have a publisher resource that would want it), you won’t have success in getting representation. A wide net is required.

And I’m gonna reveal the elephant in the room: not all agents you talk to at a conference are there to take on another author. Some of them are there simply for the additional paycheck. It’s an unfortunate side-effect of the machine of the publishing world. Agents don’t get paid for all the up-front effort they go through in scouring the planet for works to represent. They get paid for the fraction of those works that actually get published. And they’ve got to pay the bills like anyone else, so they’ll come to these conferences, go through a bunch of pitch sessions, not actually request materials from anyone, and just collect a check in the end.

Now to be fair, most agents are there to find new authors to rep. I’ve only come across a couple of these bad-faith agents in the dozens of pitch sessions I’ve done, but they’re easy to identify. They don’t ask questions about you or your work, but instead go straight into a planned spiel about the effectiveness of your pitch and ways to improve it. Sometimes they won’t even say that they aren’t interested. I just smile and take whatever feedback they deign to provide and move on.

What to Expect During a Pitch Session

Depending on your conference, pitch sessions last 8 to 10 minutes. You’re going to know who you’re pitching to ahead of time (because you’ve requested/paid to pitch to that particular agent), so you’ve already done your research. You requested that particular agent because they said they rep the kind of thing you wrote. You know their manuscript wishlist, which is typically listed on the conference website, but can also be found elsewhere on the Internet (#MSWL on Twitter, manuscriptwishlist.com, Publisher’s Marketplace, or the agent’s agency website).

When the pitch begins, spend 30-60 seconds talking to the agent as if they’re a human being. Ask how they’re doing, mention a shared hobby or pets or their Twitter feed, or a book they liked on their MWSL that you’ve also read. Be sociable. This helps check boxes from the list above. They’ll probably invite you in short order to talk about your manuscript. I won’t go into the what’s and how’s to pitch your manuscript here, but spend 4-5 minutes talking about your story, then leave the rest of the time for the agent to ask questions.

If they like you and what you’ve discussed, they’ll request pages. Some will have you send it through regular query channels. Most will have a dedicated means for you to skip ahead of the slush pile line (these are the agents that are taking the pitch sessions most seriously), usually a special Query Manager link or separate email.

If they pass, and some will because you will inevitably find yourself barking up the wrong tree on occasion, graciously accept any feedback they provide and then get yourself ready for your next pitch. Because you’re not going to pitch to just one agent, are you?

CLASSES

Anyone who has yet to become a represented and published author still probably has a thing or two to learn about writing stories and/or the publishing industry. The second big draw of a writing conference is all the various breakout room classes you can attend to drink from the proverbial author firehose. Here’s a sampling of various sessions you can expect:

  • Query letters
  • Query dos and don’ts
  • Hooking readers with your opening pages
  • Compelling dialogue
  • Crafting believable characters
  • Avoiding the “mushy middle”
  • World building
  • Author platforms and social media
  • The life of a literary agent
  • Self-publishing vs. traditional
  • Non-fiction book proposals
  • Workshops where you read your first chapter or query letter and receive feedback
  • Agent Q&A panels
  • Agent “First Page Gong Show” panels

Large conferences like DFWCon will typically also have a keynote speaker (usually a known published author) in a big audience space like the picture above. The rest of the classes will be in small, 20-30 person breakout rooms.

Most conferences will have some variation of the above. Depending on the size they’ll have some, all, or even more than the above to choose from (like genre-specific workshops for say thrillers or romance). Once you’ve gone to a few conferences, you’ll find the vast majority of the advice inside any one of the sessions is the same, so the return you’ll get from these classes will diminish over time because you will presumably have already been taking the lessons to heart and applying what you’ve learned to your craft and your queries.

The “Gong Show” panels are where a handful of agents will sit and listen as a moderator reads an anonymously submitted first page from a conference attendee (submit yours if you’re brave!). Each agent raises their hand at the point when they would have stopped reading and rejected the query, and if enough agents raise their hand, the moderator will stop reading and then discussion will ensue. These panels are the most useful conference session to me (having attended many conferences in the past few years), as they provide insight from a handful of agents as to what the publishing world is looking for right at that very second. It also reveals the sheer subjectivity of the matter when an agent starts reading a prospective manuscript. Very easy to identify flaws in your own approach to the first page when the agents are all raising their hands at the point when they would have stopped reading. Usually in an hour, the panel will get through 10-12 submissions, and typically only one or two make it through the full page read without most or all of the agents raising their hand and the moderator stopping early.

NETWORKING

Here’s where the online and in-person conferences diverge, as there is limited-to-no networking taking place during online conferences. If you’re like me and find it hard to walk up to random strangers and start making small talk, you won’t find this a huge loss. Online conferences usually lean on social media as the forum for attendees to talk to each other (with limited to middling results).

Big conferences like DFWCon have networking time in the evenings where authors, agents, and others can meet and mingle. Adult beverages will be on offer. The prospect of having time to talk to agents outside of a short pitch session is attractive, but in my experience the opportunities for this are few. Most agents don’t attend the networking hours, and those that do are mobbed. There are hundreds to thousands of writers at these conferences and maybe a couple dozen agents tops. The numbers are not in your favor to get quality alone time with an agent, much less the one that you really want to talk to that reps what you wrote. If you have a positive pitch session with an agent and can arrange to meet with them at the networking event ahead of time, then great. But don’t count on it.

What can you expect to get out of the networking time? You’ll find a few freelance editors and cover art designers milling about, handing out business cards and looking for prospective clients. If you’re in the market for such services, avail yourself. But the vast majority of people there are writers, just like you. If you don’t have a solid group of writers you work with for feedback and accountability, then this could be a good chance for you to find some new peeps.

Attend, rinse, repeat.

There you have it. Now all you gotta do is find a writing conference to attend and get your butt in the chair. Hope to see you there! M

by Matthew

Lessons from Querying #2

Hello again. Gonna attempt to make this blog a twice-a-week habit. Should be easy enough with the lessons from querying series. There are plenty to share.

Today, we shall discuss the very first thing I learned from the very first literary agent I ever pitched, which was at the DFW Writer’s Convention (aka DFWCon) in 2018, before the world went nuts. Since that point, I’ve heard this same advice from agents a zillion times, so you can take this one as written in stone (with a few exceptions mentioned toward the end).

When pitching/querying a novel, especially a debut novel, you must have a standalone story. It must have a beginning, middle, and end. The goals of the protagonist and threats of the antagonist must be resolved. In short:

You shouldn’t pitch/query the first book of a planned trilogy, or first volume of an open-ended series.

Here’s why:

Publishers are far less likely to be interested in an open-ended work of an unproven author. It’s simple risk/reward math to them. They don’t know if your story will sell. And if you don’t have an established track record of productivity, they don’t know they can count on you to produce sequels in the timeframe they want. Subsequently, agents are far less likely to be interested in representing said work.

“But Matt, I’ve already written the whole trilogy. Won’t that save them a lot of time?” Time, perhaps. But publishers think with their checkbooks first. They don’t want to buy three books when they don’t know if the first book will sell or not.

In addition, as a traditional publishing hopeful wanting to be productive with your writing time, you don’t to spend time writing sequels to books that don’t go anywhere with a publisher or agent. Write three entirely different stories and query them all. Yes, querying sucks at your soul, but your odds are better (very, very low x3 > practically nil x1).

If you plan to self-publish said series if you don’t get anywhere with an agent, then the advice is generally reversed. You want to have a series of books queued up for planned release at Amazon or wherever, as that tends to boost your sales. Lining up multiple books takes advantage of the “You may like…” and “Other readers purchased…” marketing algorithms online booksellers employ. And you want to take advantage of those, because they are time-limited. My focus (at the moment) remains with traditional publishing, so we’ll leave the advice on self-publishing at that for now.

Back to writing standalone stories vs. a series. It is entirely fine and, in some genres encouraged, to leave elements in your worldbuilding and subplots that can turn a standalone novel into the first of a larger story. If you do happen to have a successful debut novel, your publisher will most definitely be interested in your follow-on stories with a now-established audience.

Exceptions? Of course. If you have a million followers somewhere. If you’re a celebrity or known politician. If you write like Amanda Gorman. If you check all the boxes of a publisher’s flavor-of-the-month acquisitions binge. If you happen to query the exactly right agent at the right time that happens to have a great relationship with exactly the right editor and that editor’s publishing house’s cards all line up for you at exactly the right time. Long odds to line up all of those ducks in a row.

Success in traditional publishing has long odds already. As writers we must do what we can to improve our chances. Don’t make it easy for an agent to say no to you in the slushpile phase.

“So Matt, what happened with that first pitch session?” It was a polite decline. She gave no further reason than I had admittedly written the first book of a trilogy. The quality of the plot or characters or worldbuilding didn’t matter. I didn’t pass that first hurdle. I learned that lesson quickly and altered my pitch to the other three agents I met at the conference that weekend. All three requested materials. When I got home, I spent a furious week fixing the story before submitting my queries to those agents. I adjusted the ending, tweaked the goals, the antagonist, and trimmed the various subplots that were intended to further the story into books 2 and 3. I never got any further with an agent than the initial requests for materials from those pitches, or from unsolicited queries (which usually provide zero actionable feedback), so it’s entirely possible I didn’t de-trilogy it enough.

That manuscript is now on the shelf, biding its time. I still love the story. It’s the one that got me into the passion of writing in the first place. It’ll get attention again some day. Now that I’ve completed two more manuscripts (both entirely different stories), I suspect the quality of the writing wasn’t where it needed to be to catch an agent’s eye. We’ll talk more about that in an upcoming post.

Keep writing! M