Thinking about attending an event to help you crush your goals? Writing conferences can be a great way to give your freelance writing career a boost.
How? You’ll meet writers, editors, publishers, and marketing peeps in your niche. And you’ll learn more about the business and craft of freelance writing.
Writing conferences can also open your eyes to aspects of freelancing you might not even know about.
Not to mention the training, marketing tips, and story ideas at writing conferences that you can pitch to magazines and trade pubs.
Looking for writing conferences to attend? Check out this list of 20 writing conferences
So which writing conferences should you attend?
It depends on a bunch of things like your budget, calendar, ability to travel. Your niche, current skills, type of writing you do, can also help you choose. Here are 20 to consider!
1. AMWA Conference
Date: October
Location: Baltimore, MD
Registration: See website
This is the annual conference hosted by the American Medical Writers Association. The AMWA Conference includes medical writing workshops and discussions. But you can also connect with potential clients and exhibitors like healthcare organizations, big pharma, health insurance, and companies that specialize in medical devices and software.
2. ASJA Conference
Date: February and September
Location: New York, NY / online
Registration: See website
The American Society of Journalists and Authors is designed to help writers land more assignments, improve pitching skills, understand content marketing, and sharpen research skills. There’s also multiple Q&A sessions with experts in writing, publishing, content marketing, and social media. And if you plan ahead, you can book an appointment with editors, publishers and literary agents.
3. B2B Marketing Exchange
Date: February and October
Location: Alpharetta, GA and Scottdale, AZ
Registration: See website
Want more content marketing work for businesses? You’ll learn about that here. The B2B Marketing Exchange conference offers six different session tracks to choose from: demand generation, content marketing, digital strategy, account-based marketing, channel marketing, and sales enablement. If you get a couple of freelance writing friends to join the conference with you, you may be able to shave a few hundred bucks off the ticket price.
4. BIO Conference
Date: May
Location: New York, NY
Registration: See website
This the annual conference hosted by the Biographers International Organization. You’ll learn skills and strategies from pro writers about pitching, researching, and writing biographies. It’s also where the Plutarch Awards winner is announced for the best biography of the year.
5. The Conductor C3 Conference
Date: October
Location: New York, NY
Registration: See website
If you’re trying to navigate digital marketing or you work with clients on content projects that include SEO, social media, and analytics to understand how content drives traffic, this is content is for you. and content. Includes two days of training and lectures. Plus networking opportunities with major brands and digital marketing companies.
6. Content Marketing World
Date: October
Location: San Diego, CA
Registration: See website
This is both a conference and expo for content marketers. The event includes multiple workshops on content marketing topics like SEO, analytics, traffic, conversions, and social media. The event includes dedicated times for networking with other writers, plus opportunities to connect with marketing pros at global brands like Tyson, Discover, Dell, Volvo and more.
7. ContentTECH Summit
Date: May
Location: Online
Registration: See website
At ContentTECH Summit, you’ll learn about the most meaningful tech tools and strategies for your content program, and how to use them to their fullest potential. The 2024 event was virtual and free to attendees.
8. FinCon
Date: October
Location: Atlanta, GA
Registration: See website
This conference includes workshops lectures and training on finance, investing, and money management. And if you write about money for magazines, trade pubs, or businesses, there’s something for you, too. “[This] is an opportunity for content creators to come together and share their money experiences with others who are working to change their own personal finance stories,” according to event organizers.
9. HippoCamp
Date: HippoCamp aims to return in 2026
Location: TBA
Registration: See website
This conference is hosted by Hippocampus Magazine for creative non-fiction writers. Organizers are still working out the details for this event where you’ll learn about things like writing query letters, structuring a memoir, the editing process, and more.
10. MarketingProfs B2B Forum
Date: November
Location: Boston, MA
Registration: See website
Remember when your inbox used to say, “You’ve got mail?” Email marketing has come a long way since then. At this event, you’ll learn about content marketing and strategy, email marketing, and how to write more effectively to generate more clicks, leads, engagement, and revenue.
11. The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference
Date: October
Location: Dallas, TX
Registration: See website
This annual event hosted by the University of North Texas is for journalists and creative non-fiction writers. You’ll learn from pro writers and editors who cover The White House, corporations, healthcare, courts, professional sports, and the arts.
12. Nonfiction Writers Conference
Date: May
Location: Online
Registration: See website
Since the Nonfiction Writers Conference began in 2010, their mission has been to take the traditional writers’ conference experience and deliver it online. You’ll get training from pros during live sessions with interactive Q&A about writing, marketing, and publishing.
13. MozCon
Date: June
Location: Seattle, WA
Registration: See website
The SEO marketing experts at Moz host an annual conference to teach best practices and talk about trends in SEO writing, digital marketing and content marketing.
14. Write to Pitch Conference
Date: September
Location: New York, NY
Registration: See website
Want to learn how to write a novel, memoir, or narrative nonfiction and get your idea reviewed by publishing pros? You’ll have to make the application-process cut to attend, because this conference only accepts 45 to 65 writers per event. You won’t actually pitch a book idea here, but you’ll learn how to do it to land a contract. And you’ll have the opportunity to work with top writers, editors, publishers, and literary agents in the business.
15. PubCon Pro
Date: October
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Registration: See website
Born in a London pub in 2000, Pubcon has been by your side for every SEO revolution for nearly a quarter-century. This conference focuses on several areas including digital marketing, AI, social media, branding, landing page conversions and content development.
16. Social Media Marketing World
Date: March
Location: San Diego, CA
Registration: See website
This conference is put on by social media examiner, a well-known website crammed with juicy knowledge for those interested in social media marketing, writing and management. Sessions focus on brand building and social media marketing to boost content performance. If you’re on a budget, the virtual ticket is the best deal. If you want to experience it firsthand, then you can expect to pay $1,000 to $2,000, depending on the access level and when you register.
17. Society of Professional Journalists Regional Conferences
Date: Varies, based on region
Location: Varies, based on region
Registration: See website
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) hosts these events for journalists, writers, editors, and freelance writers. The SPJ event typically covers topics including investigative reporting, journalism ethics, government, freedom of information, trends in journalism, and more.
18. WriterCon
Date: September
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Registration: See website
This annual event includes three days of 60+ speakers providing more than 80 sessions designed to cover all genres and aspects of the writing experience. This experience includes skill building, industry knowledge transfers, pitching contests, manuscript reviews, and more.
19. Creative Non-Fiction Collective Conference
Date: TBA
Location: Toronto, ON (Canada)
Registration: See website
If your writing creds and interests include literary or narrative nonfiction, consider attending the Creative Non-Fiction Collective Conference in Canada. Organizers are still working on the details for this event, but presenters include published authors and journalists.
20. Author Advantage Live
Date: August
Location: Online
Registration: See website
Author Advantage Live is a unique three-day virtual event designed to provide you with the best information and industry insights on self-publishing. During the event you’ll learn how to sell your first 10,000 books, build a platform to scale your income and impact, and unlock your Author Advantage. (Disclosure: Author Advantage Live is hosted by our parent company, selfpublishing.com)
Build skills and network at writing conferences
Thinking about attending a writing conference? If your budget is tight, check out free summits or local chapters of national writing organizations. If you’ve got the funds for a road trip, attending a writing conference can be a good investment to help you move up and earn more.
This article was originally written in 2020 by Beth Casey a B2B writer living in Maine. It has been updated to better-serve our readers.