Writing to Live... Living to Write
The
27th Washington Writers Conference Connects the Dots
June 10, 2006
Click here to Access the Order Form
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27th Washington Writers Conference A Voluminous
Success
By Brigette Polmar, WIW Member
It's hard to say just how many inspired words have hit the
screens of laptops throughout the Washington area since the
27th Washington Writers Conference at the Cafritz Conference
Center Saturday, June 10th. But bring together more than
160 writers, more than 60 industry panelists and more than
a dozen literary agents and you have a recipe for success.
This year's conference featured 16 breakout sessions on
everything from the finances of writing to writing for nonprofits
and the government. Participants met with agents and authors
and heard from two well-respected industry leaders: Publishers
Weekly editor-in-chief Sara Nelson and
C-SPAN founder and former "Booknotes" host Brian
Lamb.
Inspiration from an Insider
"'The rumors of publishing's death are greatly exaggerated'
as Mark Twain would say," Nelson told the early morning,
coffee-sipping audience. The commonly held belief that the "Armageddon
of book publishing" is upon us is just one of "a lot of misconceptions
about publishing," Nelson said.
Heralded for bringing warmth to her sometimes chilly industry,
Nelson noted another misconception for the audience of authors—some
accomplished, some nurturing a dream. "It is a myth that
publishing has become this big impersonal faceless thing," she
said. "I really do think that publishing is about the people
that are in it."
Another myth: Publishers can accurately predict the next
best seller or big literary trend. She guided writers to
look within. "You can't write because you think it's going
to sell. You gotta write what you feel," she said. "A book
hits for a million reasons. It's magic and that's what I
love about the book business."
From Literary Late Bloomer to Booknotes
"My arrival at book reading came really when I was 45 years
old," Lamb told attendees. But what an arrival it was. Lamb's
popular show Booknotes ran for 16 years. It was
television's longest running book program. C-SPAN, the network
Lamb founded, aired Booknotes and last year featured
some 1,200 authors. "If we didn't exist those 1,200 authors
in many cases would never be heard," Lamb said.
After interviewing hundreds of those nonfiction authors
since Booknotes first hit the air in 1989, Lamb
counts writers among his favorite subjects. "People always
ask me 'Who's the most interesting person you've interviewed?
Who do you have respect for?'" His answer: "I always come
back around, after all these years, to authors. I guess that
says a lot about politicians."
A Jam-Packed Schedule
The Writers Conference gave attendees a wide range of panels
discussions from which to choose. Here's a look at just a
few of those panels, and the valuable advice offered:
Breakout Session: The Care and Feeding of Your Editor
and Agent
"It took me eight months to write the first draft of the
novel. It took me two years to find an agent," said Keith
Donohue, author of The Stolen Child. But if finding an agent is difficult, finding the right agent
is even more difficult.
"The point here is to find a partner, not necessarily somebody
who will buy you lunch and tell you that your work is wonderful," said James
McGrath Morris, WIW board member and author who
is currently writing a new biography of Joseph Pulitzer for
HarperCollins.
Donohue agreed. "Agents are your partners. They're your
business partners," he said.
Author Barbara Burkhardt, who penned William
Maxwell: A Literary Life, suggests finding an agent
by contacting agents acknowledged in books similar to yours.
The agent that got that book to market will likely know
how to get your book to market and could be more willing
to consider representing your manuscript. "It sounds very
basic, but it might help you," she said.
Once you've found the elusive agent you must nurture that
business relationship. "You've got to have a trusting relationship," said
Donohue. "You get into a real good relationship by being
on time." He also encouraged writers to put their egos aside,
to be open to collaboration and to listen.
Feeding your editor is, in essence, feeding the life of
your book, according to romance novelist Kathleen
Gilles Seidel. Authors must help their editors
build pre-publication support for their book within the publishing
house.
"The importance of in-house support can't be overestimated," she
said. "It determines where your book is on the list, how
many pages it gets in the catalog. It determines how many
times the art department is willing to go back to trying
to come up with the perfect cover."
A testament to the strong in-house support Seidel has cultivated
at St. Martin's Press for her latest novel A Most Uncommon
Degree of Popularity, the art department went back
to the drawing board 30 times to arrive at the perfect cover.
(Seidel designed the custom tote bag and purse to match and
sported the one-of-a-kind marketing creations at the conference.)
Generating that kind of support from your editor means playing
an active role.
"If possible, you go to New York and meet everybody in-house," said
Seidel. "Go with your game face on. Don't go full of complaints.
Don't go desperate for reassurance. Be your very best public
self. Be confident. Be articulate. Make them like you and
show them that they can count on you."
But care and feeding of your editor doesn't always involve
travel. It can be as easy as having a list of blurb-worthy
contacts. "As soon as you're done with your manuscript start
thinking about who can be asked for quotes," Seidel suggested.
"I did help get quotes. That is very helpful. They are very
appreciative of that," said Barkhardt, who took a very simple
approach to her author/editor relationship—she simply asked
how she could help. When she felt her book wasn't getting
the support it needed she intervened and sent out review
copies herself. "It's a balancing act between you don't want
to overstep, but then again you don't want to let your own
book fall."
Breakout Session: Writing for Nonprofits and Trade
Associations
"This city is hungry for writers." These are the words every
freelance writer wants to hear, and accomplished freelancer Anne
Farris delivered. "There's a lot of work out there.
This city has more than 4,000 associations and nonprofit
organizations," Farris said. "It just depends on what sort
of niche you want to be able to carve out."
The list of potential assignments for nonprofits and trade
associations is long: articles, promotional materials, conference
materials, annual reports, advertising copywriting, books,
workbooks, editorials, speeches, presentations. The key to
getting those assignments is learning what's important to
the client.
"It's important to know your client and do your research," said Julie
Phillips-Turner, founder of Phillips Turner Communications. "Do
frequent reading about the industry. Know what's going
on with your clients so you can suggest stories." She recommends
freelancers write with an association's culture in mind,
making sure to ask what the group's goal is for the piece.
"You should have a really good idea going in of what
they want. You need to know the writing style and adapt," added
Farris.
Often in the nonprofit and trade association arena writing
will be edited by committee. "It will take much longer than
you'll ever expect," said Robert Udowitz, a full-time freelance communications specialist. "Nonprofits
have their own set of stakeholders that they are beholden
to. Therefore, they become very bureaucratic."
That may mean building in extra time for deadlines and fact
checking that the nonprofit client won't or can't do on its
own. "Let's be honest, they're under-funded, they're under-staffed,
and they don't necessarily have the time to put the effort
that they need to into checking all of what you've
written," said Udowitz.
Bottom line: The potential for writing work in these areas
is high, but the burden on the writer may be high as well.
Udowitz summed up writing for nonprofits and trade associations
this way: "It's not just a writing assignment. It's a writing
responsibility."
Breakout Session: Tapping the Federal Government
Writer's Market
How does a single freelance writer type his way into writing
for or about the behemoth federal government? Nicely—but
not too nice.
"Nice is better than not being nice," explained federal
reporting icon Mike Causey, formerly of The
Washington Post and currently the senior correspondent
for WTOP radio. "If you want to get a foot in the door, particularly
as a freelancer, sucking up to them won't do any good. Enough
people do that."
Establishing yourself as a freelance government writer takes
time, according to Causey. "If you can be fair, and get that
reputation, you'll do well."
While putting a high shine on your sterling reputation,
there are other things you can do to prepare for government
writing. "If you find a particular publication that you're
interested in contributing to, get to know the publication
and their features and their writing style," said Elizabeth
Saloom, managing editor for Federal Employee
News Digest.
Saloom also suggests getting to know the government through
Web sites like www.gao.gov and www.opm.gov. "Just
spend some time clicking around and I think you can learn
a lot."
Longtime journalist, freelancer and senior editor at National
Guard magazine, Chris Prawdzik tells
writers to take it one step further: Become an expert. "If
you can become an expert on a specific area, that's what
most editors are going to look for," Prawdzik said. "If
you're covering a specific issue, focus on that issue and
learn everything you can about it and you're going to become
an expert really quickly. It'll take you a long way."
Above all, he said, become an expert writer. "Perfect your
craft. Become a good writer to begin with."
So Many Resources So Little Time
The frustrating reality of a wide ranging, exhaustive line-up
of breakout sessions is that it's impossible for participants
to attend every session. If you missed the conference this
year or were able to attend, but were boning up on your marketing
skills in one session while they were talking about essay
writing in another, worry not. The WIW Planning Committee
has a solution. CDs of the featured speakers and breakout
sessions are available for $10 each. Or you can experience
the entire seminar on MP3 for $99. Contact Job CRS for ordering
information at info@jobcrs.com.
Brigette Polmar is a freelance writer based in Washington,
D.C. You can contact her at bpolmar@gmail.com.
***
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There was a time when the only thing Sara Nelson—WIW's 27th
Washington Writers Conference plenary speaker—had to do was
read. In fact, that's pretty much all she did for a year
when she persuaded a publisher to pay her to spend 52 weeks
reading 52 books and, yup, write a book about it. The resulting
work, So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate
Reading, was a success and made Nelson the new goddess of
the literati.
Well, those halcyon days are gone. Nelson is now editor-in-chief
of Publishers Weekly, the trade magazine of publishing, read
by those who write, edit, publish and sell books. more
***
In addition to holding two craft sessions at the conference, a faculty member
of the JHU M.A. in Writing Program will read your fiction, nonfiction or
poetry submission submitted in advance of the conference. Submission deadline
is May 1, 2006. Schedule a discussion for Saturday, June 10, 2006 between 10
a.m.–5:30 p.m. This review is for WIW Members only, and the
fee is $125 per category. Click here for details and a registration form. more
***
Agent sessions are available free of charge for WIW members attending the
conference. Members may sign up for two one-on-one meetings. Sessions are
scheduled on a first-come first-served basis, so sign up early. No
on-site registrations. No walk-ins. more
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For an additional charge of $35 for WIW members or $50 for nonmembers, conference
attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy an hour-long breakfast with a
table of writers and an agent available to take questions. The Agents Breakfast
is scheduled on a first-come first-served basis . No on-site
registrations. No walk-ins. more
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Though presented with dozens upon dozens of unsolicited
manuscripts, as well as hundreds of query letters, literary
agents are always looking for new ways to find fresh, talented
writers. A face, a handshake and a voice to go with a manuscript
can move things along. Now more than ever, agents are attending
writers' conferences to make that unique connection with
their next prospective client.
At WIW's June 10, 2006, Writers Conference, writers will have
the opportunity to meet with some of these agents. The 10-minute
pitch sessions will offer writers an opportunity to make their
pitch in person. Ten minutes to impress an agent may be daunting.
Don't get caught up in that timeframe. Prepare yourself for
the meeting and make the most of each minute.
Click here,
for directions and more information on the Cafritz Conference
Center.
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