The League of Utah Writers held their annual spring conference Saturday at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus.
35 presenters held seminars in the Student Center and shared their expertise in writing, marketing, publishing and editing. The conference also allowed attendees to mingle and network with other writers, exchange ideas and collaborate.
The event included a pitch contest located in the student government offices. Attendees who had previously signed up for an appointed time could meet with acquisition editors or representatives from publishing houses and pitch their written pieces in hopes of having them picked up.
Kyra Palmer was one such contestant who had come to the conference with a romantic thriller manuscript.
“Basically, the forced proximity kind of deal where the girl is partnered with the guy who bullied her childhood,” she says. “She stands up to him and it backfires and almost kills him. And it turns into a back and forth game.”
Palmer purposefully chose to meet with a male representative, which happened to be LUW president-elect Johnny Worthen, because she felt that if she could sell the romance to him, it might mean that her story could resonate with a larger male audience.
“If I can get the guy to be interested then I must be saying it correctly,” she says.
With roughly 300 attendees, event organizer Jared Quan believes the conference was a big success. For anyone interested in writing, he suggests attending the annual LUW fall conference this October to learn what it takes to be successful.
Other upcoming LUW events include two advanced workshops in editing and marketing, and an author signing event called “Spring into Books.” The LUW also has local chapters that meet every month and sometimes twice a month.
Visit the league website for more information about LUW and how to join.
