Thread: are writers organizations and conferences worth it?
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Old 05-10-2013, 01:56 PM   #4
frahse
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeccaPrice View Post
i write what would be, in the best of all possible worlds, picture books - my stories are to be read aloud at bedtime.

I know that organizations like Romance Writers of America are very friendly to unpublished authors, and that their conferences are welcoming and friendly places.

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is having their annual conference in LA this year. It's $85/year for membership, around $500 membership fee to the conference, and over $200/night for rooms for, say 4 nights... plus air fare... we're talking a couple thousand dollars for 3 days or so. Is this kind of outlay worth it?

I'm still debating between submitting stories to an agent, or self-publishing. I'm really not sure there's a market for fairy stories in the trad publishing world, but my stories are really too short (even in collection we're talking maybe 35 pages) for self-publishing.

has anyone ever been to a writer's conference (other than RWA)? is it worth while?
If you have the coin and the time and have never been, i suggest you go. Keep your eyes and ears open, and try to avoid distractions, like bars and the like. They just take your time and dull your receptors.

Move around and try to get a feel for the exhibits, the crowd, and all the opinions and strategies.
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