Looking back on this year's ThrillerFest conference, I have almost all positive things to say. I think it was a well planned and well run event. The consensus of people I spoke to was that it was an improvement over last year's conference, which I would agree with. I think ITW is starting to get some of the kinks worked out and really building something nice.
There are still some areas that are less-than-ideal. It's very expensive (which there's not really anything you can do about. Yes, having it in NYC adds to the cost. But it's not like Bouchercon this year is cheap, and that's in Baltimore for crying out loud). There is the perennial challenge of how to produce interesting programs involving authors that don't involve panel discussions. (If there is a solution to that problem, I don't know what it is. Bottom line: 99% of authors can't do anything interesting other than sit on a dais and talk about their books. And a lot of them can't even do that.) And there's also the challenge of attracting more readers/fans and not just a bunch of aspiring writers.
For me, those factors were more than offset by the many positive aspects of the conference. The opportunity to learn about writing and publishing from so many top people in the business is invaluable. Where else do you have so many great and popular writers teaching classes and appearing on panels? Or have a chance to talk to top agents, editors, reviewers and other professionals? (Note that Bouchercon offers some of these opportunities as well, which is why I often attend it, too.)
Attending a conference like ThrillerFest is not something I'd say you need to do every year. But if you have a chance to make it to one, and you're interested in writing suspense fiction or you're a lover of the thriller genre, I think it's worth it.
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