Getting Face to Face With Influencers

The internet has changed the solitary endeavor that writing has traditionally been. Keeping connecting with your peers via the internet is a great way to stay encouraged, learn, and help other writers do the same.

But what good is all that encouragement and learning if you can’t connect with people who have the expertise and influence to help you and your fellow writers benefit from it?

One of the best reasons to invest in a writer’s conference is the opportunity they buy you to meet face to face with people in the industry who can influence your project.

Sure, we can be reached online. But, honestly, it’s the writers we meet in person who set themselves apart from the email deluge.

At conferences, we enjoy being reminded that there are real people with talent and dreams behind the screens we stare at all day long. We appreciate connecting with and helping writers grow and learn. We like talking with authors to help them discover what their next career step might be. And we covet the chance, not only to potentially find a great project, but to help someone take the next step toward their own success.

In publishing, there are few guarantees, but here’s one I feel confident offering:

If you come, you will learn. You will connect. You will have taken an important next step. You will be blessed. And, you will probably be a blessing to someone else.

So, what are you waiting for?

Sandra Bishop – Sandra is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary, an agency of two which is consistently listed in the top five dealmakers on Publisher Marketplace. MacGregor Literary is a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR).  In spite of 2009 being her first full year as an agent, and a very tough year all-around, Sandra placed twenty of the agency’s fifty projects for publication. She is looking forward to exceeding that in 2010.

Prior to agenting, Sandra worked in the marketing department of a major CBA publishing company, and made a living as a freelance writer. Sandra and her husband Glenn have one son, and an adopted Katrina dog who lives with them in Portland, Oregon.

Sandra is currently taking new clients, but only open to unpublished authors she meets at conferences and via referrals from published authors.