2025 Conferences, Workshops, and Literary Festivals

This list started out mostly focus on Texas (where I am) and Louisiana. However, there are some others listed here for you. Also, keep in mind, many are virtual now, so your own location may not matter. Please let me know if you would like to recommend any others to be added to the list. The list below is what I know of as of today.

First, please let me recommend MASTERCLASS. This is an online set of instructional and motivational videos given by some of the industry's top professionals and gathered together in one location. These are very reasonably priced, and you can read about my personal experiences with it by clicking on the link in the labels below. There are other genres besides just writing that are extremely beneficial and interesting as well. They just added quite a few more options this past month. 

There is also a similar site called SKILLSHARE, but I have no personal experience with it. Let us know in the comments if you have, and what you think of them.

Any Time: More than a dozen authors - https://www.masterclass.com/homepage

Any Time: Skill Share

1/22 - 24 - Writer's Digest University Novel Writing Virtual Conference

1/31 - 2/2 - SCBWI (Children's literature) In-Person Conference in New York - https://www.scbwi.org/events

2/6 - 9 San Francisco Writers Conference

2/21 - 22 - SCBWI (Children's literature) Virtual Conference - https://www.scbwi.org/events

2/21 - 23 - Writer's Digest Romance Writing Virtual Conference

February 23 - 26 - American Booksellers Association Winter Institute in Denver, Colorado.

3/7 - 15 - SXSW Film and writers festival in Austin - http://www.sxsw.com/

3/13 - 16 - Left Coast Crime in Denver, Colorado - https://leftcoastcrime.org/

3/21 - 23 - Writer's Digest Virtual Mystery and Thriller Convention

3/26 - 30 - New Orleans Literary Festival - http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/

3/27 - 29 - New Orleans Book Festival - New Orleans Book Festival

3/29 - The Pre-Quill Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah - The Pre-Quill Conference | League of Utah Writers

March 30 - April 1 - Social Media Marketing Conference in San Diego, California.

5/3 - 4 - TENTATIVE - Austin Writer's and Illustrators Conference - https://www.scbwi.org/events/texas-writers-and-illustrators-conference

6/7 - 8 - Lone Star Book Festival - https://www.lonestarfestival.fun/

6/7 - 14 - The Gutsy Great Novelist Retreat, Bar Harbor, Maine 

6/7 - 20 - Virtual Inkerscon

6/12 - 14 - Children's Institute in Portland, Oregon.

6/18 - 21 - Reader Author Get Together

6/18 - 22 - Florida - Space Coast Book Lovers and here.

6/26 - 28 - Historical Novel Society in Las Vegas, Nevada - https://hns-conference.com/

8/7 - 10 - Quills Conference in Utah - https://www.leagueofutahwriters.com/quills-conference-preview

8/15 - 16 - Love N Book in Seattle - Lovenbooks

9/3 - 7 - World Mystery Convention - New Orleans, Louisiana - http://www.bouchercon.com/

9/17 - 21 - NINC Conference - Novelists Inc.

9/26 - 27 - in Florida - Once Upon a Book Author Signing

10/4 - 5 - Dallas Writer's Conference in Hurst, Texas - http://dfwcon.org/

10/15 - 18 - TENTATIVE In-Person - Houston, Texas - https://romanceauthormastermind.com/

10/23 - 30 - Austin Film Festival -  https://austinfilmfestival.com/

11/3 - 7 - (Tentative) - https://20booksvegas.com/about/

11/6 - 8 - (Tentative) - https://hamptonroadswriters.org/

11/8 - 9 - Austin Book Festival - https://www.texasbookfestival.org/

11/12 - 15 - TENTATIVE - Virtual - Romance Author Mastermind

Year Round - Interested in a more expansive list of national and international options? Checkout this list: Insecure Writer's Support Group: Conferences, Workshops, etc. / Publications (insecurewriterssupportgroup.com)

OR: Writer's Conferences 2025

Please feel free to comment with any you would like to see added to this list even if it's not happening in the USA.  You never know when an opportunity will arise. Right? :-)

Also, if you are looking for a writer's group in Texas, check out: Writers' Groups | Lone Star Literary Life

HAPPY WRITING! 

2024 Conferences, Workshops, and Literary Festivals

UPDATED: 1/20/24

This list started out mostly focus on Texas (where I am) and Louisiana. However, there are some others listed here for you. Also, keep in mind, many are virtual now, so your own location may not matter. Please let me know if you would like to recommend any others to be added to the list. The list below is what I know of as of today.

First, please let me recommend MASTERCLASS. This is an online set of instructional and motivational videos given by some of the industry's top professionals and gathered together in one location. These are very reasonably priced, and you can read about my personal experiences with it by clicking on the link in the labels below. There are other genres besides just writing that are extremely beneficial and interesting as well. They just added quite a few more options this past month. 

There is also a similar site called SKILLSHARE, but I have not personal experience with it. Let us know in the comments if you have, and what you think of them.

Any Time: More than a dozen authors - https://www.masterclass.com/homepage

Any Time: Skill Share

2/9-11 - Austin SCBWI In-Person Conference in New York - https://www.scbwi.org/events/scbwi-in-person-winter-conference-2024

February 11-14 - American Booksellers Association Winter Institute

February 15-18 San Francisco Writers Conference

February 18-20 - Social Media Marketing Conference

2/23-24 - Austin SCBWI Virtual Conference - https://www.scbwi.org/events/scbwi-virtual-winter-conference

3/8-16 - SXSW Film and writers festival in Austin - http://www.sxsw.com/

3/14-16 - New Orleans Book Festival - New Orleans Book Festival

3/22-24 -Writer's Digest 10th Virtual Mystery and Thriller Convention - https://www.writersonlineworkshops.com/courses/wdu-mystery-and-thriller-virtual-conference

3/20-24 - New Orleans Literary Festival - http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/

4/11-14 - Left Coast Crime in Seattle Washington - https://leftcoastcrime.org/

4/20 - The Pre-Quill Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah - The Pre-Quill Conference | League of Utah Writers

5/4-5- Austin Writer's and Illustrators Conference - https://www.scbwi.org/events/texas-writers-and-illustrators-conference

6/1 - Lone Star Book Festival - https://www.lonestarfestival.fun/

6/1 - The Gutsy Great Novelist Retreat, Bar Harbor, Maine 

6/5-8 - Reader Author Get Together

6/7-9 - in Dallas, Texas - Inkerscon

6/19-23 - Florida - Space Coast Book Lovers

6/26-28 - Historical Novel Society - https://hns-conference.com/

8/8-11 - Quills Conference in Utah - https://www.leagueofutahwriters.com/quills-conference-preview

8/28 - 9/1 - World Mystery Convention - Nashville - http://www.bouchercon.com/

9/18-22 - NINC Conference

9/27-28 - in Florida - Once Upon a Book Author Signing

10/5-6 - Dallas Writer's Conference - http://dfwcon.org/

10/16-19 - In-Person - Houston, Texas - https://romanceauthormastermind.com/

10/25-26 - Las Vegas - https://lovenbooks.com/lovenvegas

10/24-31 - Austin Film Festival -  https://austinfilmfestival.com/

11/4-8 - (Tentative) - https://20booksvegas.com/about/

11/7-9 - (Tentative) - https://hamptonroadswriters.org/

11/13-16 - Virtual - Romance Author Mastermind

11/16-17 - Austin Book Festival - https://www.texasbookfestival.org/

Year Round - Interested in a more expansive list of national and international options? Checkout this list: Insecure Writer's Support Group: Conferences, Workshops, etc. / Publications (insecurewriterssupportgroup.com)

OR: Writing Conferences 2024

Please feel free to comment with any you would like to see added to this list even if it's not happening in the USA.  You never know when an opportunity will arise. Right? :-)

Also, if you are looking for a writer's group in Texas, check out: Writers' Groups | Lone Star Literary Life

HAPPY WRITING! 

16 More Conferences and Literary Festivals

February 16 - 19 San Francisco Writers Conference

February 20 - 23 - American Book Sellers Association

March 13 - 15 - Social Media Marketing Conference

March 16 - 19 - Left Coast Crime

April 29 - The Pre-Quill Conference

June 7 - 10 - Reader Author Get Together

June 9 - 11 - Inkerscon

June 22-25 - Space Coast Book Lovers

July 14 and 15 -  Once Upon a Book Author Signing 

August 30 - September 3 - Bouchercon

September 20 - 24 - NINC Conference

October 7 - 9 - InD'Scribe Conference/

October 27 - 29 - LoveNVegas

November 6 - 10  20booksvegas

Other to check back with:

Romance Author Mastermind

Hampton Roads Writers

Please feel free to comment with any you would like to see added to this list - even if it's not happening in the USA.  You never know when an opportunity will arise. Right? :-)

HAPPY WRITING!

IWSG: Twitter Pitch

#IWSGPit is coming!

The next #IWSGPit will be January 25
9:00 am - 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

Create a Twitter-length pitch for your completed and polished manuscript and leave room for genre, age, and the hashtag. 

On January 25, 2023, Tweet your pitch. If your pitch receives a favorite/heart from a publisher/agent check their submission guidelines and send your requested query.

Many writers have seen their books published from a Twitter pitch - it’s a quick and easy way to put your manuscript in front of publishers and agents.

Get the full details here.

Will you be participating? Do you know anyone who has received a request/deal from a Twitter pitch? 

2023 Conferences, Workshops, and Literary Festivals

This list mostly focuses on Texas and Louisiana (where I am). However, there are some others listed here for you. Also, keep in mind, many are virtual now, so your own location may not matter. Please let me know if you would like to recommend any others to be added to the list.

Since the pandemic, many events have either been cancelled, or moved to virtual. The list below is what I know of as of today.

First, please let me recommend MASTERCLASS. This is an online set of instructional and motivational videos given by some of the industry's top professionals and gathered together in one location. These are very reasonably priced, and you can read about my personal experiences with it by clicking on the link in the labels below. There are other genres besides just writing that are extremely beneficial and interesting as well. They just added quite a few more options this past month.

Any Time: More than a dozen authors - https://www.masterclass.com/homepage

2/25 - Houston Writer's Guild Conference - Virtual NY- Virtual Winter Conference 2023

3/9-11 - New Orleans Book Festival - New Orleans Book Festival

3/10-19 - SXSW Film and writers festival in Austin - http://www.sxsw.com/

3/22-26 - New Orleans Literary Festival -  http://www.tennesseewilliams.net/

4/29-30 (Tentative) - Austin Writer's and Illustrators Conference - https://austin.scbwi.org/events/austin-2022-writers-illustrators-working-conference/

5/13-14 - Lone Star Book Festival of Seguin, Texas - Lone Star Festival

6/8-10 - Historical Novel Society - HNS Conference 2023

8/30 - 9/3 - Murder at the Marina - San Diego, Ca. - http://www.bouchercon.com/

10/21-22 - Unconfirmed, so check back: Dallas Writer's Conference - http://dfwcon.org/

10/26- 11/2 - Austin Film Festival -  https://austinfilmfestival.com/

11/4-5 - Unconfirmed, so check back: Austin Book Festival - https://www.texasbookfestival.org/

Year Round - Interested in a more expansive list of national and international options? Checkout this list: Insecure Writer's Support Group: Conferences, Workshops, etc. / Publications (insecurewriterssupportgroup.com)

Please feel free to comment with any you would like to see added to this list - even if it's not happening in the USA.  You never know when an opportunity will arise. Right? :-)

Also, if you are looking for a writer's group in Texas, check out: Writers' Groups | Lone Star Literary Life

HAPPY WRITING!

This Saturday