Aug 23, 2023
Writing conferences always seemed like a ~magical~ place to me. When I was researching agents to query, it seemed like a TON were closed to unsolicited queries - but would take on new clients. And it seemed like the only way to get in front of these agents would be via referrals, or to pitch them at conferences.
I didn't have a ton of agented writing friends. A ton of loose Twitter acquaintances, yes totally, but asking for a referral to their agent was always a step past my comfort zone.
So: I tried to find a writing conference to attend. And I'm not sure if this was a "me" problem, but I had a really hard time finding writing conferences and workshops to attend in 2023.
It was a two-part problem: googling "writing conferences" never exactly turned up the best results, and if I did find an interesting workshop or conference, 99% of the time it had already passed.
I ended up lurking on Twitter until FINALLY, I saw an agent tweet that they would be taking pitches at a conference that weekend, and all of the stars lined up.
No plans that weekend? Check. Virtual conference? Check. Sign-ups still available? Check!!!
I blacked out at that point, but a couple of hours later, I was signed up to pitch at my first-ever writing conference.
1. Conference Registration
Here's the thing about conferences: THEY'RE EXPENSIVE. And by comparison, the conference I attended seemed… pretty cheap.
A price breakdown:
$189 to attend the conference
$29 per pitch timeslot
Since it was virtual, I was lucky that I didn't have to worry about other expenses associated with going to an in-person conference. I also didn't opt-in for any of the other extras ($69 for a query critique, $89 for a zoom critique of your first 10 pages).
Based on these prices, I could afford to pitch three agents.
Conference total: $276
Before I officially hit "send" on my conference registration, I took a loonnnnggg look at which agents were taking pitches (and out of those, which still had slots available).
For two of the agents I ended up pitching, when I saw their names, I squealed. Literally. One agent I had actually already queried, but hadn't gotten a reply yet (and oh my god did I cross my fingers that they didn't reject me in the three days leading up to the conference!). Both of these agents were "dream" agents of mine, which made it an easy decision to add them to my list.
The third slot was a little trickier! I went back and forth, but ultimately decided on pitching the agent where I best fit their MSWL.
2. Getting my Pitch Ready
One of the best parts of the virtual writing conference was that I got access to a bunch of pre-recorded content, one of which was a presentation by a literary agent on what should be in a pitch.
The advantage of this conference was that every agent time slot was for 10 minutes. You could even book two sessions in a row with an agent for a total of 20 minutes.
The sweet spot for your pitch length should be in the ~90 second range. This gives you enough time to pitch (and breathe during it), but also allow a little room for conversation. Pitch time slots can be anywhere from 3 - 15 minutes, so 90 seconds, no matter what, leaves you enough time at the end.
My pitch ended up being a simplified version of my query letter. From the video I watched on pitching, the following elements were critical:
Personalization!! Why are you pitching this agent in particular
Title, genre, word count
Comps
Blurb
Background/short intro about yourself
This is pretty much the same format as a query letter. What I ended up doing was stripping out about 30% of my query and simplifying the language. I read it out loud several times to get the wording right! Some phrases work really well in print, but not so well spoken. I practiced a LOT (with a very sweet and kind writing friend that let me word-sweat at her for an hour) and it really helped.
3. The Pitch Itself
Before the day-of, I had done some research on what common questions agents could ask after the pitch. These were questions like:
Who are some of your favorite authors?
Where do you see your novel sitting on bookshelves?
What makes this novel different/unique from others in your genre?
How does your main character evolve throughout the story?
What was your inspiration?
Clarify your stakes and what happens if your MC doesn't get them
What would you say is your writing style?
Why are you the right person to write this story?
What is your goal with your writing career?
Can you tell me a scene in your book that captures your protagonist?
Is this your debut / first novel?
(questions thanks to Jen DuPuis & Patrick Carter)
So, I was ready! I had answers sorta prepared for every question. Instead, I didn't really get any of these, lol.
The First Pitch:
The agent was so, SO lovely, super engaged throughout, and visibly took notes on my pitch. Their first response was "well, you were definitely right to pitch me because this is right up my alley!" They asked three main questions:
What is the [FMC's name] emotional arc like throughout the story, and what are her relationships with the other characters?
Tell me more about the spooky forest setting
What makes [Big Bad] such a good villain, and why is he like that?
(Questions loosely paraphrased, they make more sense in context with my pitch!)
We ended by chatting a bit and I was excited to hear that they already were picking up on a few of the bigger themes.
Outcome: Asked for the first 100 pages via a special QM link.
The Second Pitch:
Once again, the agent was so, SO lovely. This agent was a bit more casual than the first but listened to the pitch super attentively, engaged the whole time.
Immediately after the pitch, they said, "great! Send it my way! Here's my email."
My brain short-circuited for a second, then I was like ok great thanks!
Then they asked if I had any questions for them, and I got to spend the remaining ~7 minutes picking their brain on things like:
What makes fantasy "accessible" to you?
This was a really interesting conversation to have, especially since genres like "urban fantasy" have gone by the wayside. For the record, I query mine as a "contemporary fantasy" to get away from that label.
What's the line between dark fantasy, horror, and thriller?
How do you work with authors that are interested in writing in multiple genres?
Any advice for querying authors?
I will note here - they said that while conferences like these are great, the best chance to get an offer is via the slush pile. They also said that publishing as a whole is extra sloooooow, so be patient! (I am very bad at that)
Outcome: Asked for the full MS, sent directly to their agent email (aka, bypassing their agency's general query inbox).
The Last Pitch:
Before this pitch, I'm not going to lie - I was a little worried. The first two pitches of the day had gone REALLY well, and I was starting to think that the requests didn't actually mean anything. Like, what if I was just paying for fake full requests that anybody who pitched got?
Not to worry! My last pitch didn't go nearly as well as the first two!
Unlike the other agents, this agent didn't seem to be very engaged during the pitch. After my pitch, they struggled a little with what to say, no feedback given. They said I could send the first three chapters to their email, but they'd need broader agency approval to move forward to a request, and phrased it in a way that, right off the bat, I didn't think it would happen. We chatted for a bit, they answered (well, sorta) a couple questions I had about genre, etc, then we hung up.
Outcome: Asked for the first three chapters.
*A note here - turns out, it was the same amount of pages that their standard query form asks for, so I don't count this as a request.
Sure enough, three weeks later, I got a rejection from them. On the bright side, it was personalized!
Final Thoughts
After my experience, I can't say for sure whether or not a writing conference like this is something that should be on every querying writer's to-do list. Sorry, I know that's not super helpful! Personally, I think I had a pretty good experience.
Pros:
Getting to chat with agents face-to-face was great. 10 minutes was more than enough time to get a little deeper into the book and ask some questions that are pretty subjective.
It also gave me an idea of if I would actually want to work with the agent in the future! Honestly, it wasn't really something I had fully considered before the conference. Querying is rough. Sometimes, I get so focused on just trying to get a "Yes!" that I forget that it's meant to be a two-way street. Talking to these agents in person made me realize like - wow, yes, I'd love to be their business partner. And on the flip side, the agent that ultimately rejected me? The rejection stung less because I already knew we weren't super compatible.
(On the other hand, if I get rejected by the two agents that requested, I'll probably be extra sad bc 1. they were so excited during the pitch, 2. I really liked them, and 3. that definitely meant something is wrong with my MS not just the query)
I'm not going to lie, riding the high of two requests in one day was also fantastic. It's rare that happens, and hearing it in-person is incredibly gratifying!
If an agent is closed to queries, this is your chance! One of the agents I pitched had been closed for a while with no immediate plans to reopen, so I jumped on the opportunity. The other agent was at an agency with a very loose "no response means no" policy, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't just yeeting my query into the ether.
Cons:
It's expensive. No way around it. The Writing Day Workshops are a bit more affordable: it's a virtual conference, so no room and board, and a lower overall conference fee.
Nothing is guaranteed, even if you get a request! This goes without saying, but even though I saw the excitement first-hand, I'm still gearing up for a future rejection on my MS.
I mainly attended for the agent 1:1s, but I still dialed into the conference sessions (I mean, I paid for them!). As someone who was already pretty far along in the querying journey, I didn't feel like the sessions were the most helpful. If I was just starting out, I would definitely feel differently! But for example, one of the sessions I was most looking forward to said it would cover how to work with an agent. Instead, it ended up being more of a presentation on how to get an agent, aka how to find agents and query. I'm really interested in the other side of things - once you sign, what is the relationship like? How do you pick WIPs? What happens if you don't sell? What about different genres? (I realize these are super variable based on the agent, but I would have loved to hear someone's take on it.)
Overall, it definitely had a similar energy to a Twitter pitch competition. You get the dopamine hit of a request, then are back in the trenches and waiting.
Fingers crossed on the outcome, but I'd do it again!