Friday, July 31, 2009

conferences and queries

I've been asked to post about the conferences I'll be attending this year. I'm excited about these--they're all in great locations and have terrific faculty attending. I think they are all still open for folks to register.

The Kentucky Women Writers Conference is September 10th through 12th. An amazing line up of writers will be there and it seems like it will be a really warm and nurturing environment with lots of intensive workshops (and you know I'm in favor of those).
http://www.uky.edu/WWK/index.html

The Writers Digest Business of Getting Published is September 18th to 20th in New York City. I'll be on a self-publishing panel (I'm a big fan of self-publishing as many of you know). Again, an amazing line-up, including an intriguing panel on book doctors. I don't seem to be listed as a presenter, but that may be because after a nightmare of a picture of me was posted on the Kentucky website, I refused to provide a picture of myself on the grounds that I'm probably the least photogenic person on the planet.
http://www.writersdigestconference.com/GeneralMenu/

The South Carolina Writer's Workshop is from October 23 to 25. A number of great agents and editors are attending, including my agent friends Holly Root, Janet Reid and Jeff Kleinman.
http://www.myscww.org/conference/ They'll have some fantastic panels and workshops as you'll see from the website.


Back to queries: It is our goal to respond to each and every query that comes our way. But the volume is still pretty heavy and sometimes the entire e-mail system breaks down and we lose stuff. So if you sent something in March or April and you never heard back, please send another query. Or, if it's been two months and you haven't heard back, please send another query. I apologize profusely for these kinds of delays and mishaps and promise that eventually we'll have things worked out.

Looking forward to hearing from/meeting all of you.

7 comments:

  1. Jenny, Thanks for the conference updates. I'm excited to check out the SC Workshop in October. I love Janet Reid and she knows it. Also, Holly Root seems like a real sweetheart, and I had the pleasure of being in a workshop with Jeff Kleinman at Backspace (where I met you) this past May. What a great group!

    Also, thanks for updating us on your query progress. I've recently sent you one and am glad to know you're making your way through them as quickly as possible. I can't imagine how you do it - so much reading! And, re: your not being photogenic... I'm not saying this to suck up, but that's impossible. You're certifiably adorable. I simply don't believe it.

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  2. I agree with Debra (because I AM a suck up and will be in SC too) but I love the photo of you in your bathtub(it looks like.) It's actually what drew me to your site/blog. To follow through, you may want to have nothing to do with people like me, so I can see your point.

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  3. You ARE adorable! The prize for least photogenic belongs to me, although I have to admit, I love the one on my profile. The Kodak gods were shining on me that day, I guess.

    Thanks for the query update. What about requests you made for full manuscripts? I don't want to be a pain in the ass, but I can re-send if needed.

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  4. Hi there Jenny, I am new to your blog and plan to query you in the near future - but first things first - have you ever picked up a new author from the conferences you attend? Have you ever been part of, or witnessed, an author read their query letter aloud to a Query Panel (as I believe happens at Backspace conferences) and the agents fall about themselves to sign the author?

    Or do you find a lot of authors who are just not ready?

    Just curious...

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  5. I need to find a cool conference just to get out of these 103 degree Texas temperatures. Anyway--

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  6. How refreshing to read your posting. Thank you. Nice to know there are some "good guys" out there, after all! :)

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  7. Thank you for the conference updates! I'm going to try to attend the WD conference in NYC. Hopefully I'll see you there!

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