1) It’s Time to Take a Shot – You’ve been working on that manuscript (or that book proposal) for way too long.  It’s good.  Come and meet one-on-one with at least two literary agents and shamelessly hawk it.  Maybe you’ll get lucky!  (I did; I got my first agent at the forebear of this very conference.)  The agents are coming to find out what you’ve been working on.  That book isn’t going to get published unless you make it happen.

2) See The Stars, Up Close – You love their books.  They win prizes.  You wonder what they’re like.  George Pelecanos.  Alice McDermott.  Laura Lippman.  Marie Arana.  Keith Donahue.  This is your chance to hear them talk, in an intimate setting, about their professional experiences and aspirations.  What could be bad about that?

George Pelecanos, Alice McDermott, and Marie Arana: just a few of the speakers.

3) Make Some Friends – It can get lonesome sitting there staring at the screen, cringing over your last sentence, wondering where this damned story goes next, thinking maybe this is all a waste of time.  Get together with people who share those feelings.  Swap horror stories, strategies, and laughs.  They want to meet you.

4) Learn Something About The Crazy World of Books – Where are things going in the world of books?  Up?  Down?  Sideways?  Listen in on veteran industry professionals asking each other the same questions, and another panel filled with explorers from the literary digital frontier

5) Build Your Own Skills – Check out great writers in fiction, mystery/suspense, biography and memoir as they talk about how they build books. To help you track down strange and wonderful stories, two resourceful authors will talk about fiendish research strategies with Tom Mann of the Library of Congress: if Tom can’t help you find something out, you may just have to make it up.

Find out more about the conference, and register today!