Florida WritersCon 2026 Follow-Up
First: thank you.
Florida WritersCon 2026 was an absolute blast.
Thank you to everyone who sat in one of my workshops, stopped me in a hallway, asked a question between sessions, showed me a cover, talked publishing, compared author-business notes, laughed with me, or trusted me enough to let me poke at something you were actively working on.
One of my favorite moments of the weekend was getting to see advice turn into something tangible in real time. We talked through a cover one day, changes were made, and by the next day we could literally look at the improved version together.
That is why I teach this stuff.
The goal isn't for you to leave a workshop with fifty pages of notes you never look at again. I want you to leave knowing what you can actually do next.
I also discovered a problem while wandering WritersCon answering questions:
There were several resources I kept mentioning that I couldn't exactly pull out of my pocket and hand people.
So… here they are.
Bookmark this page. Share it with another writer. Steal the useful parts.
And please keep in mind that events, Discord invitations, professional availability, pricing, submission windows, and conference programming can change. Always verify current information before spending money or making travel plans.
Where You May Have Seen Me at FWA WritersCon 2026
I taught three workshops and served on one panel this year.
Build a Better Book Blurb
This workshop centered on one deceptively simple idea:
A blurb makes a promise. A synopsis reports what happens.
We broke down the four ingredients the reader actually needs—Who, Disruption, Direction, and Cost—then used a flexible five-beat structure:
Signal → Anchor → Disrupt → Escalate → Stake
From there, we looked at premise before plot inventory, where setup becomes spoiler, how the formula changes depending on the shelf, and some of the most common “blurb leaks”: too much backstory, too many names, unexplained worldbuilding, generic stakes, and questions the reader has not been given a reason to care about yet.
Most importantly, the goal was not to cram the entire story into 150 words.
It was to build a focused reader promise that creates curiosity, emotional momentum, and a reason to open the book.
DOWNLOAD THE PDF SLIDES
Book Covers Readers Click, Share, & Display
This one became especially fun because we could actually look at covers instead of talking about design in the abstract. A marketable cover has four jobs:
Signal. Stop. Travel. Display.
It should signal the right genre, tone, audience, and level of intensity. It should stop the right reader long enough to earn another look. It should remain recognizable when reduced to a thumbnail, cropped for social media, shown in a reel, or converted for audio. And the physical book still has to look intentional when it reaches a shelf, vendor table, camera, or collector's display.
We worked through the Click Test along with thumbnail hierarchy, typography, series systems, front-spine-back continuity, and trend awareness without letting trends handcuff the book.
One of the biggest takeaways was that personal taste and reader needs are not the same thing.
A cover can be beautiful and still make the wrong promise.
The goal is not to attract every reader.
It is to help the right reader recognize the book wherever they encounter it.
DOWNLOAD THE PDF SLIDES:
Direct Sales for Authors in 2026
This workshop shifted the conversation away from:
“Do I need a big online bookstore?”
and toward a much more useful question:
What is the smallest sales path I can build and fulfill consistently?
Direct sales begins when you control the checkout and the customer experience.
That may be a website, but it can also be a vendor table, payment link, preorder page, invoice, signed-copy form, or another simple system that lets the reader buy directly from you.
We talked about what direct sales can actually do—improve margin, build relationships, create options, and generate evidence—then followed the full reader path:
Discover → Choose → Pay → Receive → Return
From there, we moved into practical author-business decisions: unit profit and break-even math, event fit before table fee, building a table shoppers can understand, price ladders, field-kit backups, and why you do not need to carry every book you have ever written to every event.
For online sales, we compared simple setups with earned complexity and looked at three basic fulfillment models:
Stock & Ship → Print & Ship → Batch Preorder
We also covered preorder promises, shipping realities, and a reminder about taxes and records—because gross sales alone do not tell you whether an event was actually worth your money or energy.
Build the sales path you can realistically maintain.
DOWNLOAD THE PDF SLIDES:
Book Marketing Hot Seat
If you attended Sunday, you may also have seen me on the Book Marketing Hot Seat panel.
Attendees submitted covers, websites, sales pages, social posts, and other marketing materials for live feedback from publishing and marketing professionals.
And yes, sometimes a few seemingly small changes can completely alter what a reader notices first.
That was part of the point: marketing isn't only about whether something is pretty. It is about whether the thing in front of the reader is doing the job you need it to do.
The Indie Resource Document I Kept Telling People About
Several people asked me variations of:
Where do I find events? How do I find bookstores friendly to indie authors? Where are people finding freelancers? How do I know who works with indie authors? Where do you people FIND all this stuff?
One resource worth bookmarking is a shared IndieDocument maintained by indie author advocate Mille with The Guild Hall community.
It is a community resource collecting the kind of information indie authors are constantly trading among ourselves, including things such as:
Author and book events
Indie-friendly and pro-indie bookstores
Freelance professionals and service providers
Industry contacts and useful author resources
Other opportunities and information authors may want to investigate
A huge thank-you to Mille and The Guild Hall for maintaining and sharing it.
Treat any community-maintained document as a starting point rather than a guarantee. Businesses change ownership. Events disappear. New events appear. Freelancers open and close their schedules.
Research before you hire, pay, ship books, or book a hotel.
But having somewhere to start looking is tremendously useful.
Find Your Author Community
This is also something I talk about in my upcoming Cursebreaker’s Guide to Novel Writing.
Writing does not have to be the solitary suffering ritual people romanticize it as.
There are critique groups, write-ins, livestreams, accountability groups, genre communities, workshops, Discord servers, conventions, libraries, local writing organizations, and wonderfully weird little pockets of authors all over the internet.
Here are several Discord communities currently listed in my Cursebreaker’s Guide resources section.
Accountable Authors Group — An author community focused on accountability and keeping one another moving. This is one ran by JM Paquette and myself. Join Accountable Authors
Indie Author Revolution NonProfit — A larger creative community built around author support, resources, conversation, and—in their own words—a healthy amount of aggressive encouragement. Join Indie Author Revolution
Ink & Echoes — A growing community bringing together indie authors, readers, narrators, editors, reviewers, content creators, and members of the BookTok world. Join Ink & Echoes
The Indie Guildhall — A creator-focused community built around helping writers and artists find resources, connections, and support wherever they happen to be in their journey. Join The Indie Guildhall
Those descriptions and invitations are drawn from the current Cursebreaker’s Guide resource page, but Discord invitations can change or expire.
Also: you do not have to stay in a writing community that makes you miserable.
Find people who challenge you without destroying your enthusiasm, celebrate wins without treating another author's success like a personal attack, and understand the kind of career you are actually trying to build.
The biggest group is not automatically the best group for you.
“Where Do I Actually Meet Agents, Editors, Publishers, and Industry People?”
This came up several times during WritersCon.
First, understand that writer conference can mean wildly different things.
Some conferences focus almost entirely on craft. Some are reader-facing. Some are built for indie publishing professionals. Some offer actual scheduled pitches with literary agents and acquisitions editors.
Others put thousands of writers, editors, presses, agents, literary magazines, and publishing organizations in the same building—but you still need to create your own opportunities.
Those are not the same experience.
Here are several worth researching depending on your publishing path.
Conferences With Strong Agent/Editor Access
San Francisco Writers Conference
February 11–14, 2027 — San Francisco, California
This is one of the stronger options if you are actively pursuing traditional publication. The 2027 event advertises 25+ literary agents and acquiring editors, along with extensive craft and publishing programming. Registered attendees can access short one-on-one pitching opportunities, with the first pitch appointment included under the current registration structure.
Best for: Writers with a query-ready or nearly query-ready project who want both education and direct industry access.
Atlanta Writers Conference
November 6–7, 2026 — Atlanta, Georgia
If you're reading this shortly after WritersCon, this one is coming up quickly.
Atlanta's conference is unusually direct about connecting writers with literary agents and acquisitions editors. Its programming includes manuscript sample critiques, query-letter critiques, query pitches, lightning pitches, agent and publisher Q&As, professional consultations, and networking. Some agent/editor meetings can also be done virtually.
Best for: Writers specifically wanting feedback and face-to-face or virtual pitch opportunities rather than only general conference networking.
Willamette Writers Conference
August 5–8, 2027 — Portland, Oregon + Online
Willamette explicitly brings together writers with agents, editors, publishers, producers, and other industry professionals. Their 2027 timeline currently lists literary-agent announcements for April 1 and pitches/critiques opening April 15.
Best for: Writers who want craft education plus an opportunity to move a prepared manuscript toward professional conversations.
Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference
PNWA's conference model includes workshops alongside one-on-one pitches and pitch blocks with agents and acquiring editors/publishers. Their pitch blocks are specifically designed to let attendees speak with several publishing professionals during a scheduled period.
Their 2027 conference information is still developing, so watch the official page as dates, faculty, and pitching details are finalized.
Best for: Writers wanting repeated pitching opportunities rather than staking everything on one five-minute conversation.
WNBA–San Francisco Pitch-O-Rama
April 24, 2027 — Virtual
This is a particularly interesting option for writers who cannot justify airfare and a hotel.
Pitch-O-Rama is built specifically around helping writers prepare their pitch and then pitch agents and editors for publication in a virtual environment.
Best for: Writers who want direct pitching opportunities without committing to a large travel conference.
Big Industry Conferences: Excellent Access, Different Expectations
AWP Conference & Bookfair
March 17–20, 2027 — Chicago, Illinois
AWP is enormous.
It brings together writers, educators, editors, publishers, presses, literary magazines, MFA programs, organizations, and other corners of the literary ecosystem. The 2027 event advertises 300+ events and what it calls the largest literary marketplace in North America.
AWP also offers a Writer to Agent program. Registered attendees can apply by submitting a query and sample; participating agents review submissions and choose writers they want to meet. It is therefore an opportunity—not an automatic agent appointment included with registration.
Best for: Literary networking, presses, magazines, traditional-publishing education, serious industry exposure, and writers comfortable navigating a very large event.
IBPA Publishing University
May 20–22, 2027 — Baltimore, Maryland
This is the one where I want to make a distinction.
IBPA Publishing University is not primarily an “I need a literary agent” conference.
It is aimed at independent publishers, hybrid publishers, author-publishers/self-published authors, university presses, association presses, and publishing professionals. Current programming includes expert sessions, workshops, networking, Ask-the-Expert opportunities, and publishing-business education.
If you are building an indie publishing business, becoming an author-publisher, operating a small press, or trying to better understand the business side of books?
Very relevant.
If your singular goal is:
“I have a novel and need to pitch literary agents this weekend.”
There are better-targeted conferences above.
Before You Spend $500–$2,000 Chasing an Agent
A conference can be wonderful.
It can also become a very expensive vacation where you discover the one agent you wanted doesn't represent your genre.
Before registering because you saw the words AGENTS WILL BE THERE, check:
Who is attending? Read their current wish lists and agency/publisher information.
Are pitches actually included? Some conferences charge separately or make meetings application-based.
Does anyone want what you write? “Literary agent” does not mean “represents every book.”
Is your manuscript ready? Networking while drafting is useful. Pitching an unfinished fiction manuscript as if it's query-ready usually isn't.
What are you buying besides access? Workshops? Critiques? Recordings? Networking? Publisher education? Make sure the rest of the conference still has value if no one requests your manuscript.
Are the professionals legitimate? Research agents, agencies, publishers, and service providers before handing over money or manuscripts.
What is your actual publishing goal? Traditional publishing, indie publishing, hybrid, small press, direct sales, and building a publishing company require overlapping—but not identical—education.
Do not pick a conference because somebody online called it a “must-attend.”
Pick it because its faculty, opportunities, format, cost, and educational programming match where you are right now.
One Last Thing: Please Keep Asking Questions
I mean that.
One of the reasons I enjoy teaching writers is because questions expose the places where publishing information becomes unnecessarily mysterious.
Sometimes the answer is complicated.Sometimes the answer is:
“No, you really don't need to spend money on that yet.”
Sometimes I get to stand beside someone, move some things around on a cover, and watch the entire presentation suddenly make more sense.
Those moments are worth it.
Thank you again to Florida Writers Association, the WritersCon organizers, volunteers, faculty, and every writer who spent part of their weekend with me.
And thank you to those of you who stopped me between sessions to continue the conversation.
I hope you left with more than inspiration. I hope you left with something you can use.
Keep writing. Keep learning. Keep asking questions.
And remember:
Publishing is not one road. You are allowed to learn enough about the map to choose your own.
— Valerie Willis
Author • Publisher • Speaker • Book Designer
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