Zarina Docken

Question:

I am curious about agents' attendance at writer's conferences. Do you attend in hopes to find a "gem" among the participants, or do you attend mostly to educate new writers?

Answer:

Why We Go to Writers Conferences

by Michael Larsen, AAR, partner, Elizabeth Pomada-Michael Larsen Literary Agents

Here is why we attend writers' conferences:

• Johnny Carson said that: "An optimist is an accordionist with a beeper." But like editors, agents are eternal optimists. They always hope to find writers. Jean Auel and Anne Rice were discovered at conferences.
• Writers remember us. One writer sent a query letter because she had seen us at writers' conference thirty years ago.
• I like making people laugh so I use as much humor as possible when we speak.
• Johnny Carson once said that "I was so naive as a kid that I used to go behind a barn and do nothing." I enjoy giving writers the help they need to buy their barns if they want to, to give them the guidance they need to become successful authors, which is how we make a living. This is why I wrote books about agenting, proposals and promotion, and it's why our slogan is "Helping Writers Launch Careers Since 1972."
• I always learn things from writers, agents and editors that I can use in talks, articles and books.
• As any pile of dough will tell you, it's great to be needed. It's a compliment to be asked.
• They get us out of the house. We work at home, so conferences give us a reason to travel.
• We get to meet and spend time with editors and other agents.
• Some conferences are at places we want to visit.

Mike Larsen is a partner in Michael Larsen-Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents and the author of How to Write a Book Proposal now in its third edition; Literary Agents: What They Do, How They Do It, and How to Find and Work with the Right One for You. He is coauthor of Guerrilla Marketing for Writers: 100 Weapons for Selling Your Work.

If readers have questions, they are welcome to write to Mike at larsenpoma@aol.com, or call him at 415-673-0939.