Some miscellaneous thoughts.  You know, those things that hit me while flying back across the country and waiting for American Airlines to find us an open gate to de-plane at Washington National (I refuse to call it Washington Regan so please don’t write and correct me):

1. Editors and agents agreed that the market for new writers is better than ever.  Publishers are showing a willingness to take a chance and are looking for new authors to develop and grow.
2. In a point that may contradict #1 to some extent, the agents I heard speak all said they get some ridiculous number of queries each week - ranging from the hundreds to one claim of over 1,000.  They further said they give a positive response - ask to see work - in about 1% of the cases.
3. Kim Whalen, an agent with Trident, bucked the trend a little and said she did think authors of category romance needed agents.  She says she’s always able to squeeze more money out of Harlequin/Silhouette and that her company has a great relationship with H/S and have made some progress on the contracts.

My thoughts on the conference:  Before I sold, I went to RWA for inspiration, information and a kick in the pants.  See, by the early Spring each year, my determination sputtered.  Okay, it shut down completely.  Going to RWA in July would reignite the fire and get me working again.  I would go to the publishing spotlights to gather information and to hear authors and editors from the houses I was interested in speak.  Sure, I also played fangirl and collected free books, but those really weren’t my main reasons for being there.

This year was strange, a kind of in-between land where I’m not really published because my book hasn’t come out and I’m not really unpublished because I do have a book coming out.  I’m not a joiner or an extrovert so conference in general aren’t my thing.  This year I didn’t need the How To Write A Synopsis class.  I listened to editors and agents but felt a bit out of place everywhere I went.  My editor’s comment to me was:  you don’t need this stuff but next year you’ll be part of the literary signing.  True, but I wonder if I’ll feel more a part of the process next year.  I find it hard to imagine having a book sitting on the shelves provides that much security.

The result is that I’m not sure what my needs are for RWA right now.  The reality is the person who most helps with my writing is my cp and she isn’t a member, I didn’t find her through RWA and I doubt she’d ever join RWA.  I’ll remain a member because the organization fulfilled a need in the past.  I’m hoping it will in the future.  For others it would be a waste of time and money to attend or be a member.  For still others, the information and camaraderie is essential and worth the price of membership.  The question is where you fit in that scheme.  If I figure out my answer, I’ll let you know.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 31st, 2005 at 9:44 pm and is filed under About Contests & Associations, About Me. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.