Event: Writers’ Institute
Location: Concourse Hotel, Madison, WI
Length: 3 days
Cost: $280 for all 3 days; $180 for day 1 only or days 2-3 only
Website: http://continuingstudies.wisc.edu/LSA/writing/awi/
I first attended this one in 2012, and it has since leapt into an upper echelon of events for writers. I was impressed but not that surprised when there was mention of 80+ more attendees then the previous year. With some conferences struggling to draw 80 attendees total, that’s quite a feat. And despite the increase, there appeared to be no issues, aside from moving sessions into larger rooms.
My involvement this year was limited to pitch sessions and panels, but the conference is fairly comprehensive in what they offer. They also have contests, manuscript critiques, critique groups, practice sessions, individual agent Q&A sessions, and (my favorite) a panel of success stories from attendees. To simplify the process (a must for new conference attendees), they break the schedule down into individual tracks: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, children’s and YA, selling/marketing, maximizing creativity, and for all writers.
My client, Tanya Chernov, was on the faculty, and they kept her busy all weekend, meeting with attendees one-on-one for 30 minutes at a time and giving workshops including: Plotting the Plot, Earning your Artistic Stripes, and Sane People Writing the Insane: Keeping the Darkness on the Page. Her debut memoir, A Real Emotional Girl, was the subject of a panel I got to share with Tanya and Julie Matysik, her editor at Skyhorse. We walked the attendees through the traditional publication process from idea to release date and beyond, sharing personal stories and answering questions (an expanded Q&A with Tanya will be featured in our May newsletter). It was great fun, and we’ll be doing it again at PNWA in Seattle.
Pitch sessions were $15 per 8 minute session, which is very reasonable. I was one of 7 agents, and Julie also took pitches as did film agent Marilyn Atlas.
Overall, the conference was excellent, and frankly a steal at that price. Affiliated with the University of Wisconsin, this is a group that is doing excellent things to help writers and achieve real results, and I imagine they’ll be doing something special next year for their 25th anniversary.
Again, if there’s any info you’d like that I don’t touch on, feel free to comment below. Next up: Atlanta Writers’ Conference, May 10-11.
