by A.C. Williams @ACW_Author

 Welcome to the 2025 Writing Conference season! If you have never attended a writing conference, they can be overwhelming and complicated, and if you don’t know how to make the most of them, you might feel unsuccessful at the end.

If you set unrealistic goals for yourself as you attend a writing conference, you might be tempted to think that the expense of the conference is prohibitive. Because, yes, conferences are expensive. Some writing conferences will charge upwards of $800 just for the conference fee. That doesn’t include lodging or food or travel expenses.

So why do conferences cost so much?

Make no mistake: Running a conference isn’t a vacation. It’s not a situation where the organizers can just ask a bunch of people to come in and talk for a few hours each, and everybody sits back and chills by a pool. The sheer amount of organization required in pulling off even a small conference is mind boggling. Not to mention that every member of faculty usually (and rightly so) expects to be compensated for their time and effort and expertise. Renting the facility where the conference is hosted is a huge expense too, and the base cost of food to feed everyone gets higher and higher every year (not even counting the cost of hiring people to prepare it).

All of that to say: Attending a writing conference is expensive because running a conference is expensive. I don’t personally know any conference organizers in any industry who are making it big because of how much profit they make from their conferences.

So how can you tell what conference to attend?

That is the best question you can ask. It’s also the question you need to have in mind as a business person, because, yes, your book is your business. Your story is the capital you are leveraging to operate a business, even if you aren’t making profits yet. And every business usually has to invest up front in order to make a profit down the road.

Every conference is different and intentionally reaches a different segment of the writing industry. It’s a good idea to make sure the conferences you’re considering will help you in your goal to reach your specific audience.

If you want to write for the Christian market, specifically in the genre of historical romance, it wouldn’t be a good idea to go to a general market thriller conference. The other writers you will encounter won’t connect to your genre. The classes and editors and agents in attendance won’t be focused on your genre. You might have a good time, but the connections you forge aren’t going to bring you closer to your writing goals.

Confirm that the focus of the conference is in line with your goals as an author. Confirm that the experts attending are teaching sessions that will be useful to you. Just those two elements will make most any conference absolutely worth your time and money as an author just starting out.

What makes a conference worth the investment?

Frankly, being an author requires more up-front investment than most careers, and it takes longer to recover your costs than other industries too. While there are exceptions, most authors aren’t going to publish their first manuscript. Most authors’ first manuscripts are locked in a drawer somewhere never to be seen. But that first manuscript taught them a lot.

In the same vein, most authors don’t get published from the first writing conference they attend. Many times, an author may not even receive a manuscript request the first time they attend a conference. But there is more value to writing conferences than manuscript requests. So much of the value of a writing conference is the intangible benefits.

Building relationships with other authors is essential to your growth as a professional. Making connections with publishers and agents is vital. Maybe that publisher or agent doesn’t ask for your manuscript this time, but if you are professional and excellent in your presentation, they may remember you next time.

And, yes, usually that means you need to attend the same conference for a few years. Make space to learn from industry professionals who have been successful. Take a chance and build a relationship with another author who is at the same level you are. Give your business cards away to everyone. Be ready to talk about your project (people will ask, take advantage of it, and then ask about their projects).

If you are going to pursue a career as an author, you can’t treat it like a hobby. It will require time, effort, and money. But like anything else that requires time, effort, and money, it also needs wise stewardship.

It’s usually the invisible things that are worth the most.

Some conferences may be too expensive for you at this stage of life. That’s okay. Look for others. Learn what you can. Grow your platform. Hone your skills and your craft. Network with peers and experts. Be teachable. Never stop learning.

If you can walk away from a conference with a head full of industry knowledge, a heart encouraged to act on it, and a soul refreshed and ready to go, I’d say you got your money’s worth.

A.C. Williams is a coffee-drinking, sushi-eating, story-telling nerd who loves cats, country living, and all things Japanese. Author of more than 20 books, she keeps her fiction readers laughing with wildly imaginative adventures about samurai superheroes, clumsy church secretaries, and goofy malfunctioning androids; her non-fiction readers just laugh at her and the hysterical life experiences she’s survived. If that’s your cup of tea (or coffee), join the fun at www.amycwilliams.com.