The San Francisco Writers Conference, now in its seventh year, ran from Friday, February 12 through Sunday, February 14, at the historic Mark Hopkins Hotel. With record attendance, the Conference once again sold out, as it has every year since its founding. "This year was the biggest and the best so far," commented Conference Co-Founder, Elizabeth Pomada. She and Michael Larsen run the Conference, in addition to the Larsen Pomada Agency, the oldest literary agency in San Francisco.
Alan Rinzler, Executive Editor at Jossey-Bass and a popular Conference presenter, agreed with Elizabeth's assessment, "This is the biggest so far, the most diverse and the most intense." Due to the extra demand, a Pre-Conference day was added for February 11.
"We had 320 attendees, 12 scholarship attendees, 109 presenters and 65 volunteers. Presenters included agents, editors, publishers, publicists and social media experts among other professionals", Elizabeth observed, "Our attendees included aspiring writers from Turkey, Taiwan, United Kingdom, France, Australia and from all over the US and Canada, with the largest contingent from the Bay Area."
The Conference offered a dazzling array of panels and workshops with more than 70 topics suitable for writers of every niche from "Successful Formula for Writing Childrens & YA ("Young Adult") Books" and "Zombies, Vampires-Urban Fantasy and Paranormal" to "3 Choices for Getting Published in Today's Marketplace." Presenters included New York editors, LA agents, bestselling authors, self-publishing gurus and several publishers. There was more of an emphasis this year on "platform", those activities that writers can engage in to promote their own work, like social networking, speaking, teaching and blogging. Other Conference-wide activities included writing contests and the ability to contribute to the annual published anthology featuring the work of Conference attendees and presenters.
What is the common denominator among this diverse group of writers and aspiring writers? Perhaps, it is determination, determination to get published, to be a better writer, to be a successful author. Ralph Shillace, a retired psychology professor, summed it up, "I'm determined, no matter what, to get my self-help book published. I learned a lot this year and I'll be back next year."
If the difficulties of becoming a successful author were too daunting, Conference attendees could have signed up for Alan Rinzler's workshop: "Why There's Never Been A Better Time For Writers Seeking Publication."
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