Dear Editor…

At most writers’ conferences, there’s at least one editor and one agent who review first pages and queries and share critiques, so I’m curious: What is the percentage of published writers who were “discovered” at a conference? Thanks for even an estimate.

Sincerely,

Kate

Dear Kate…

I’m not a prestidigitator by nature, so I can’t pull any numbers out of my hat for you, but I can tell you this: At the La Jolla Writers Conference this past weekend, I clapped along with several hundred attendees when an agent and author who’d met at last year’s conference announced that they’d sold the writer’s debut novel to a top publisher, to pub Spring ‘11. It happens.

Happy writing!

The Editor