By Jean Jenkins, freelance editor

I've always been of the mind that every class and every conference is valuable because you bring away SOMETHING, sometimes something expected, sometimes something totally unexpected. So I would never discourage any writer from stretching and growing and daring. I do caution that if you get in over your head (like they're talking about things you haven't a clue about), take as many notes as you can because in the future those notes will mean something.

OK, that said, I do have to admit to not supporting these pitch workshops/conferences very wholeheartedly. I understand pitch meetings in the Hollywood context and how they're important to develop relationships as well as to present material — and then the writer winds up leaving a written synopsis anyway, so I can buy the pitch meeting concept in that way because H-wood is such a collaborative process. But that said, publishing is a traditional industry, and that means that editors READ what writers WRITE and determine whether it might work for their house or not.

We're seeing more and more of these pitch workshops/conferences but I'm just not sure how valuable they are for the writer. Let's say you get 10 minutes wtih an editor. You present them a rehearsed verbal synopsis of your project, they get to ask a question or two which you answer, then you move on. At this point, they haven't read your work and so have no idea whether you can write or whether you can bring the story off the page or whether you can open a good story and then bring it home. All those decisions come from the reading. And if you meet an editor or two that you'd like to work with — think you CAN work with — who's to say from a hurried pitch that they could buy your story? These days, an editor can like a project immensely and support it to the nth degree, but the only way it gets bought is after it clears committee, and that committee is made up of other editors (junior and senior) and sales and marketing staff — a great many of whom read the manuscript before they comment on it in the meeting. It isn't a matter of whether this is a good story, it's a matter of is this a good story and can we market it? Or, perhaps, does another editor have something similar in the pipeline and, if so, how can we make this one different enough so that we can use both?

Bottom line, what I'm cautioning is that although a pitch conference could be an enlightening experience and would certainly introduce you to some editors — contacts which you might be able to use in the future — it could also be an output of a lot of dollars for very little.

I guess you can tell I'm really sort of on the fence. Again, I think you learn from whatever class you attend, whether you're ready for it or not, but as a professional who knows a fair number of agents/editors, I tend to see these pitch workshops/conferences more as moneymakers than practical tools. If it were me, I'd much rather have an editor read what I've written, then be able to discuss it however briefly.

Just my opinion.