Posts Tagged ‘Editors’

Faith Black, editor with The Berkley Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Group

Editor Faith Black, with The Berkley Publishing Group, has confirmed she will attend the 2011 DFW Writers’ Conference.

Bio

Faith Black is an Editor with The Berkley Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Group, where she acquires mysteries and westerns. Her mystery acquisitions are published under Berkley’s successful Prime Crime imprint.

Previously, she worked at New Horizon Press, Cambridge University Press, and Avalon Books.

She is a graduate of Williams College where she earned her degree in English. She also received her Masters from Rutgers University in English and previously studied at Oxford University.

When we began planning the 2011 DFWcon back in the fall of 2009 (yes, it really does take that long when you grow as fast as we have, and you have to find a new venue), I wanted to replace agent/editor pitch sessions with consultations, no finished manuscript required.

But at the 2010 conference in April, we pulled the agents together as an impromptu advice panel, and they said in very clear and unanimous terms: No.

Their reasoning is abundantly clear if you think about writing as a business. Why do agents and editors come to writing conferences? As much fun as most of them seem to have hanging out with writers, they’re not doing it for laughs. They’re doing it to make money.

If you talk to them about a project they think they can sell, but you don’t have a finished manuscript to hand them, then they’ve got nothing to take to the bank. You’ve let them down. Were you an agent or acquisitions editor, would you like that? Not likely. (Note that nonfiction works a bit differently — you can get away with only a partial in that case. But with fiction, a finished manuscript is required by most agents and editors.)

Jason Myers, 2011 DFWcon co-director

The co-director for 2011 DFWcon, Jason Myers (who is in charge of acquiring agents and editors for the conference), wrote a good blog about this a few months ago. I recommend taking a look at it: Don’t Waste Their Time.

Meanwhile, we’re still putting together our list of agents and editors for 2011 DFWcon. We’ve got promises to attend from many, but we’re waiting for them to provide bio information and manuscript requirements before we post them to our site and announce them. As you can imagine, they’re busy and it takes a while to collect and verify all that updated information. Please bear with us.

By Jeff Posey, Director of the 2011 DFW Writers Conference

Why go to a writers’ conference?

There are many reasons, of course, all of them legitimate. But one major reason is to discuss your finished project with an agent or acquisition editor. It’s time to find out if you’ve got an idea, the writing skill, and the professional business skills to take a shot in the bigger world of publishing.

That’s what a little more than half of our past attendees have wanted from DFWcon. (The rest come for education and networking.)

Does it work? Do writers really find agents to represent them at DFWcon? Yes. And here’s proof: Three Success Stories. (Special thanks to volunteers Kyle White and Steve Manning for putting this section together.)

Do you know of any other success stories at DFWcon and other conferences? Has it happened to you? Please let us know in the comments section below.

Other news

We’ve had several agents verify their acceptance to DFWcon. Watch for upcoming blog posts to announce them (sign up for our DFWcon Blog RSS Feed so you won’t miss one, or follow @DFWcon on Twitter).

If you’re already signed up to attend 2011 DFWcon, you’re guaranteed a top spot in making your choice of agent/editor for your 10-minute sessions. If you’ve not yet signed up, don’t delay. We sold out two months in advance last year. We have a larger venue this year, with significantly more agents and editors, but we still expect demand to exceed the 450 spots available.

We’ll also be announcing news and information about speakers, teachers, and classes as they develop.

Ask a Question

Have a question? We have two question-and-answer sections: the Conference FAQ and the Agent/Editor FAQ.

If you have a question that’s not answered here, help us out by asking it in the comments section below. We’ll do our best to answer it, and add it to the appropriate FAQ.

Volunteers

Unlike many conferences our size, we are all-volunteer, all the time. Everyone who works on DFWcon has a full-time job and is dedicated to their own writing projects, as evidenced by their active association with the DFW Writers’ Workshop. As co-director for the 2010 DFWcon, and a volunteer the year before, I can attest to the hours and difficult decisions involved in staging this event.

So please bear with us as we slowly and methodically build 2011 DFWcon to be the best conference we possibly can for aspiring writers just like ourselves, and just like you.