Archive for the ‘Questions Answered’ Category

You’ve done it! After months, or even years, of toiling and long hours at the keyboard you finally have that next bestseller sitting on the screen in front of you. It’s printed, the acrid smell of an over worked printer fills the air. You’ve jumped online and registered for the amazing DFW Writers’ Conference. You’ve even selected the top three choices of the agent you want to pitch your book to…

Hold on there cowboy, oh siblings of the pen, master of the wordsmith — not so fast. Have you even read it? What about getting it critiqued by someone you trust? And I’m not talking about a spouse, parent, or your best friend since the third grade. I’m talking about someone you know that will give you an honest to goodness, give it to me until I bleed, type of critique. Why?

Well my old pal Ernie Hemingway said it best, “The first draft of anything is shit.” He really did — Google it.

Anyway, that may give us a license to write our novel, but it doesn’t give us permission to pawn our sh… stuff off on agents. Think about it, for an agent this is business, they’re not there to stroke your ego. They make money by representing a story that will sell and quickly. They aren’t going to waste time on a premise that is still three or four revisions away from even being close to finish. Would you buy a car that was still missing the tires and an engine? “Well they will be in next month,” the salesman says. Your response? “Then call me next month and I might consider it.” Or even better. Would you even want to do business with him or would you go on to the next lot?

Now that I crushed your bubble and ready to request that refund, lets think a little more about that pitch session. That agent high on your list might be the one you ultimately wanting to represent you and your baby (a.k.a. your novel). But now you realize that it isn’t ready — what are you going to do? Well consider a consultation.

“Kirk, I already have an agent. I don’t need the pitch session,” some might add as they politely decline the 10 minutes of one-on-one time your registration offers. Really? You don’t need anything else? Have you not thought about the “author platform”? Remember, an agent isn’t just selling your story, they are selling you as an author!

In the 2012 DFW Writers’ Conference Meredith Barnes, formerly an agent with Lowenstien, and now with Soho Press will be providing consultations. And Stacey Barney, an editor with Putnam Penguin Publishing, will be taking pitches as well as providing consultations. But what exactly can you get out of a consultation? Here are some things to consider.

•  If you have been having trouble with your query, or maybe don’t quite know what genre your book fits into, you might want to consider a query letter consult. Bring a print out of your actual query letter with you and they can read, review, and critique it. Even give you advice of genres you haven’t thought of.

•  Lets say that you have been working at developing your author platform. You got a blog, Twitter, maybe even a Pintrest, but your not sure it’s enough and just want some general advice. The consultants will have laptops available and can get onto your sites and make sure it has the right information and offer some tips for improvement.

• One of the things authors struggle with most when getting rejections, is the paranoia of not being good enough, when in fact there just isn’t a market for that type of story. The consultants can help giving advice based by telling you what is “hot” now, what’s trending and being purchased, and where your story fits in today’s market.

• Or perhaps you have some general questions about proper etiquette or publishing in general. EBooks vs. traditional publishing or self-publishing? This is your time to get a straight answer. Or possibilities you haven’t considered.

The thing to remember here is that you only have ten minutes of face time with these professionals. With such little time you need to be clear and precise with the questions you want to ask. Be prepared and edit yourself! Write your questions out before hand and write down some follow on questions in case you breeze through the first one. Also, be sure to bring pen and paper to write down what’s discussed. Guaranteed, when you get back to writing on Monday, your mind will go blank.

So now that you know this opportunity is available get back to EventBrite and make the most of your selection. And if you selected “no” to having a pitch session, consider a consultation instead.

If you need help, feel free contact me at vip@dfwwritersconference.org.

Kirk von der Heydt

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Another Q&A session today.

Got a question from an attendee on what she should bring to the conference.

Her list said she’s going to bring a) money b) pen and c) notebook.

All excellent things to bring to this or any other conference.

She asked if she should bring business cards, copies of her synopsis, first three chapters, comfortable shoes, nothing…

I would say yes to all three of these as well.

See, I was one of those who thought you weren’t supposed to bring any of your written stuff to the conference. The old adage, “If agents took everything back with them on the airplane, they would need an extra suitcase.” was what I ran with.

However, at last year’s conference quite a few of the agents requested to see work on the spot, one even requesting a full right there. Pretty cool stuff.

Comfy shoes? Heck yes. The past two years, my feet were killing me after the FIRST day. After the second day, I could barely stand. I would recommend changing shoes halfway through the day to give your feet a break.

Here’s a quick list of things you can and probably should bring:

Money
Extra shoes
Writing utensils
Breath Mint
Business cards
Copy of your manuscript package both digital (however you like) and physical

Anything you like to bring to a conference?  Put it in the comments!

~Jason

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I’ve seen this questions asked on Twitter a few times.

It’s a fine question. What should you wear? You can probably find hundreds of articles out there on what to wear when attending a writers’ conference, especially if you’re pitching an agent. As a veteran conference person, let me offer a few tips.

Dress to the nines! Wear your Sunday’s best!

Okay, after you’ve picked up your jaw, let me give you the real scoop: wear whatever is comfortable for you.  If you enjoy wearing jeans and a t-shirt, do it. If you like some nice chinos and a turtleneck sweater–go for it!

There are typically two trains of thought on what to wear.

One says, dress like you’re going to a job interview since you will be talking to an agent. Always remember, two things: The agent actually works for you, not you for them! So you’re really the one giving an interview here. (turned those tables around on you didn’t I Secondly, as long as you don’t look like a slob, you’ll probably be just fine.  The agent isn’t going to critique the fact that you’re not wearing the latest New York fashions. As long as you look somewhat professional, you should be okay. And yeah, you probably should look professional to some degree, this is your career we’re talking about here.

The other train of thought is that you can wear whatever the hell you want! You’re a writer, man! Don’t box you in! You’re an artist with words! You gotta be who you gotta be, and not get pushed down by the man!

Well, yeah. You can come in flip flops, your Superman PJ’s and your hair in a pink mohawk.  We’ll let you in.  But you might give the wrong impression to the agent that you’re not taking your career seriously, so why should they?

But let me close (clothes?) with this: You can come in dressed like Zippy the Squirrel Clown, carrying bagpipes and smelling like a fishery at closing time…but if your writing is stellar and your story is compelling and an agent is blown away by it…your clothes won’t matter.

Remember, it’s all about the writing.

~Jason

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