By African American Book Writer Denise Turney

Writer conferences, whether virtual or in-person, are among the best places to introduce new, classic and backlist books to book buyers. As an author, just make sure that writer conferences you go to have a spot on the agenda for authors to sell and autograph their books. In addition to introducing titles to new readers, here are practical ways to make the most out of writer conferences.

Writer Conference Strategy Tips

• Bring samples of your writings – Edit and sharpen your best writings. Bring these writings with you to writer conferences you attend, especially if there’s an option to share your manuscripts with literary agents, editors and book publishers.
• Attend three or more conference events – Many writer conferences have events that writers can attend. To get the most out of writer conferences, attend three or more events. For example, you could attend a panel discussion with authors who have written New York Times best sellers. Even more, you could attend a writer’s critique event and a book marketing discussion.
• Meet book editors – Find out the names of book editors attending writer conferences. Introduce yourself to two or more editors that specialize in editing the genre of books that you write.
• Share works with literary agents – Place your writings in a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) and share the works with literary agents. Also, ensure that the works are copyrighted.

More Ways to Make the Most of Literary Conferences

• Giveaway free writing excerpts – Treat book buyers who attend writer conferences to free excerpts from your poems, short stories, novels and other books that you are working on. But don’t just give out free writing excerpts. Add your writer website URL to each page of the excerpt. That way conference attendees can keep in touch with you and maybe even buy your books.
• Network – Introduce yourself to other writers attending the conferences. Consider exchanging website URLs and email addresses. Why? Writers you meet at the conferences could keep you aware of upcoming writer events, places where you could sell more books.
• Blend with book festivals – Aim for writer conferences that have book festivals at the end of the conferences. If not, attend a mix of writer conferences and book festivals throughout the year.
• Newsletter signups – Ask conference attendees to sign up to receive your free weekly or monthly literary newsletter.
• Meet book buyers – Don’t just sell your works. Ask book buyers questions, getting to know these readers. It’s a good way to build relationships.

Beauty Of Writer Conferences

It’s possible to sell 10 to 50 or more copies of your books at a well marketed writers conference, especially if the conference has a strong brand. The National Black Writers Conference, New York City Writers Conference, International Dublin Writers Conference and Kauai Writers Conference are conferences that have been supporting writers, editors, publishers and readers for years.

Local and regional writers attend these conferences. Because of this, the conferences are great networking opportunities. Take advantage of these networking opportunities. Get up and say “hello” to other writers attending the conferences. Who knows? This is where you might develop relationships with other writers, the types of relationships that find you and these writers sharing book marketing, book promotion and book writing tips.

In addition, you might land a book deal with a book publisher. That, or you might strike a contract with a literary agent who has editor and publisher connections to secure you a book deal. But first you need to take the right actions to make the most out of writer conferences.