I can't post this in the 'General' Forum for some reason, so I've put it here.

Are any WWers going to the following? I am going to the London Author Fair and Get Writing and thinking about going to the London Book Fair.

Get Writing has facetimes and pitch sessions (as well as talks and workshops):
http://getwritingday.verulamwriterscircle.org.uk/
(the link doesn't seem to be working atm, but it was a day or so ago, so should be back working again soon).

The London Author Fair has pitches, workshops and talks:
http://www.londonauthorfair.com/

Are any WWers going to the following? I am going to the London Author Fair and Get Writing and thinking about going to the London Book Fair.

My spirit will go. See you there (though you might not see me).

I looked at the Author Fair, but isn't it very expensive?  Get Writing should be good, though.

I agree. It is £30 more than Get Writing (if you want the workshop option in Get Writing), but the 15-minute pitch is included, whereas Get Writing charges £10 per additional ten-minute 'facetime', although the five-minute pitch is included.

Get Writing is exceptional value though. Although, again this year, there is a limited choice of agents (although quite a few good commissioning editors). Too near April again, I guess.

 

I just had a quick look at Author Fair. It's run by what is essentially a manuscript agency, which may explain why most of the speakers/sponsors are involved with self-publishing services. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with this of course. However, you'd probably get the same and more information, and less biased, by attending something like Easter Con or Fantasy Con (which are probably a lot more fun, too).
 
The London Book Fair is mostly for selling books, although there are seminars for authors, too. Publishers are there to push their products so won't be too open to discussing your current manuscript. Mind you, when I went, my children's non-fiction publisher offered me three times the royalty he'd paid me before to do another book (which should give you an idea of how much it was originally). But by then I'd worked out that if I ever did another one I could self-publish it and make a lot more.
 

I must look into these, but at the moment I'm thinking I wouldn't have anything to show an agent at such an event. Is it still worth going to them>

I think it can be well worth going to those events, if the workshops and so on appeal - and the opportunities to meet up with like-minded souls in real life aren't to be sniffed at either, if you don't normally get the chance to do much of that.

If anything, I'd say, beware of spending all that money just to get into the one-to-ones - because although they can be very useful, it's very much the exception rather than the rule that an agent or editor or whoever says, "Send me the rest".

Mostly, it's quick, useful feedback about how it seems to them - sometimes that's feedback you can work with, but sometimes it isn't, not really. In which case, if you were judging the costs purely on 2 x 10 mins or whatever, it would be a very expensive way indeed to get not-a-lot-of-not-very-helpful-feedback. There's also the phenomenon that happens, of the one-to-ones which get you nowhere, but the conversation over lunch which gets you a request for the full. But you can't bargain for that either, for certain. I think that you have to reckon you're buying the whole package - a bagful of possibilities - and try to be a bit relaxed about which of those possibilities end up bearing fruit.

Full Disclosure - I do workshops and one-to-ones at various events, the biggest being York and its little one-day sister Getting Published...

• I must look into these, but at the moment I'm thinking I wouldn't have anything to show an agent at such an event. Is it still worth going to them>

 
It depends what you're trying to do. It's very unlikely that anyone's going to buy your book or take you on at such an event. But it can help with cover letters: either to say I enjoyed talking to you at the event, or what you said on the panel really chimed with me.
 
Also, I know I bang on about this, but it's a much better use of your time to speak to editors rather than agents at these sorts of events. Then you can send something to the buyer direct, which is much better than to the middle man/woman. Agents always go on about knowing what editors' want. Apart from that not really being true; it's surely better if you know what they want and approach them directly.
 
 

Coming at this a slightly different way . . .
 
Obviously, this is a very tough business to get into. There is lots of advice on how to do it, and lots of events (you usually pay for) to tell you how to in more detail. But in the end, only two things count, really: is your work up to standard and, if so, can you develop the attitude that will best serve it?
 
On the latter, I've been trying to develop it effectively for some years now. It's not, of course, a one-off thing, and the goal posts keeping moving. It will take you places you never expected to go. It will show you that at one level, everyone's the same: editors, writers, agents, readers. It will teach you that no one knows anything and some people know a lot, even though that's a contradiction.
 
The only advice I'd give about this, and it might not be too attractive, is that you probably need to make more and bigger efforts, and for less return, than you might think. But after a while, you don't mind that; you realise it's part of what everyone does, unless they're the very rare types that got a lucky break straight to the top.
 
In other words, what doesn't work is to not actually write very much, and without putting your heart and guts and soul into it; then, trundling timidly along to just one event because that's all you can afford this year (note: if you're serious, you'll have to pay a lot more than you might think), having a ten minute one-to-one with an editor or agent and hoping that will get you there.
 

I've found the one-to-ones variable - from the agent who talked graveyards/the other who spent 15 minutes slating other writers (both at Winchester), to another who gave me detailed feedback after requesting my first chapters (five-minute pitch session) and then the ones who say 'not this one, but I do want to see your next'.

The commissioning editors tend to give feedback on how to target the work to hit the needs of the genre/market.

I'd got to the stage where I was sick of pitching, but my current novel feels right. I'm more confident that it should be 'hitting the spot', so I'm going for one-to-ones with the specific aim of assessing this. I am also sending first to the agencies who gave positive feedback (albeit rejections) on my last WiP.

There are a number of interesting workshops at both the conferences, although I agree that the London Author Fair has an abundance of self-publishing sessions but I felt there was enough in the day that was relevant to me. And, even better, I am meeting up with another writer.

Is Easter Con for all genres, Terry?



 

Easter Con is for SF/Fantasy/Horror and is a mix of mainly readers with writers/editors/agents. There are lots of panels (4 or 5 every hour over the entire event; most are genre based, but there are a fair few writing ones, which apply to any genre really. Also, Spec Fic tends to be ahead of the game with the writing industry. The editors and agents that attend tend to be fans too - well, they have to be, since it's a very well-informed readership. Fantasy Con is smaller but almost entirely writing industry-focussed. Again, most of the advice applies to any genre. The entrance fee is pretty good: usually around £60 which is for 4 days (I think for Easter Con and 3 days for Fantasy Con).

Fantasy Con is usually in Brighton but it's in York this year. Easter Con alternates between London and other places: Glasgow this year.

I'm going to Fantasy Con this year but not Easter Con.

If you live in London, it might be worth thinking about LonCon which is the world SF/Fantasy con, not often in the UK.

Thanks Terry

I don't write SF/Fantasy/Horror, so while I'm trying to make the most of my money (I have enough for a few days at Winchester or York atm), I probably won't go to them. However, I can see that EasterCon/Fantasy Con could potentially be useful for a more rounded picture of the industry and I am sure I would learn something there.

 
Edited by Sharley at 07:39:00 on 26 January 2014

Thanks for flagging these, Sharley. Can't go to Get Writing but wondering about the other.
I'd be interested in people's views on taking an unfinished novel to such an event. Obviously the pitch and/or opening pages would have to be pretty polished but, as I'm just embarking on my fourth novel, I'd find feedback on the overall sellability of my plot quite useful. Has anyone else been in this position?

I think you can take an unfinished novel to this type of event, especially if you are undertaking a ten/fifteen-minute facetime and specify that you are enquiring about the concept. Certainly, a number of people have attended these sessions with unfinished novels (just don't try it with a five-minute pitch).

You might also want to consider the Getting Published Day which is, unfortunately, quite expensive in comparison to the others but offers 'Book Doctor' sessions: http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/getting-published-event.html