This weekend I am attending the UCLA Writers Faire,
a one-day writer’s conference in West Los Angeles. This one is free, and free
is good. As a writer you should take every chance to attend these
events. I’ve
been to conferences, book festivals, panel discussions and anything else I can
find.
Sooner or later, though, you will graduate to a full-blown writers conference. These are multi-day events, usually held in a resort location (although if you take it seriously you won’t be doing much resorting). These events can be expensive. The conference fee alone starts at around $500, and they go up from there.
Having attended a few writers conferences, here are some tips for saving money. After all, you are a writer, and by definition, you are poor.
Early Registration—Most conferences have early registration discounts. You save as much as 15% off the fee. Determine your conference ahead of time and sign up early.
Advance Reader Submissions—Many of the larger conferences offer these opportunities. For a fee you can submit five to ten pages of a manuscript, along with your synopsis and query letter, to a seasoned writer, editor or perhaps an agent, for their professional opinion. I made a good connection with an agent at the last conference I attended. At $40 or $50, though, this adds up. I saw people who signed up for as many as five advance reader submissions. That’s a little over the top. Keep it to two, maybe three. You will find after a while they everyone is making similar comments. You are paying for the same information over and over.
Pass on the Host Hotel—Most conferences are held at hotels and the organizers encourage you to get your room there. There are advantages. You are never far from the action, and there is a lot of action. This comes at a cost, though. The host hotel is never cheap. It can easily cost double the conference fee. At a recent conference I was able to get a room at another hotel for half the host hotel rate. It wasn’t as nice, but if you take these conferences seriously, they can turn into a string of 15-hour days. Why pay $200 a night for someplace where you shower, shave and sleep for six hours if you are lucky?
Save More on Lodgings—At the aforementioned writers conference I was feeling pretty smug because I got my room at $80 a night. Then I was talking to a woman who was staying in a bed-and-breakfast, probably nicer than my place, or $60 a night. It pays to shop.
Watch Food Expenses—Lunch at the host hotel can run you $15 to $20 with the tip. Relaxing by the hotel pool with a bag of PBJ sandwiches, an apple and a hard-boiled egg is not as sexy, but lots cheaper. Besides, if you take this conference seriously, you are there early and you stay late for the evening pirate critique sessions. You will need the nap in the chaise lounge. Use the alarm function on your cell phone to wake you up.
Conferences provide great opportunities for professional development and networking, but they are not cheap. These tips will help you keep costs under control. There are other things you can do to economize at writers conferences. Check out this blog once in a while for additional tips.
See ya’ later.
WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Comments