Everyone's comments both here and on Facebook were very helpful. Yesterday my friend Collin (female Collin, not male Collin) stopped by with a suggestion that took awhile to sink in. The market is tough right now. I know this. I've known this for awhile. You read it all the time in industry articles and blogs. So?

So spending $600 to meet editors in a depressed market isn't as valuable as it is meeting editors in a thriving market. Add in the cost of travel, staying in New York, eating in New York, and drinking with Bill and Danny and the conference has significant overhead with reduced return.

So, for the moment, I'm giving this one a pass. Thank you for all your feedback.

I never really gave much thought to writing conferences, but the agents whose blogs I read often talk about the writing conferences they attend. I started looking into them. It's easier to sell yourself when you're a person in the flesh rather than an anonymous name in the slush pile. Bu at the same time, my experience at ReaderCon taught me that there's a lot and little to be gained from convention panels and whether it's a lot or a little is often a crapshoot. I'm not looking for the rudimentary elements of writing. I have two writing degrees. I've been doing this a long time. I'm trying to take that next step. It's the business aspect I want more of (though I have nearly 7 years of that under my belt as well) and direct feedback on my work, not just generalizations to accommodate the masses.

So, I found a writing conference in New York, the Algonkian NYC Pitch and Shop conference. I sent in my blurb and they gave me the thumbs up that I was approved to register. Yay for that, right? Well, I don't know how much having my application pitch accepted means. For all I know, everyone's application gets accepted. More importantly, the thing costs $600! I haven't been able to find any attendee feedback on the internet that says the experience was worth the money. The business information I get from reading agent blogs in combination with my own experiences at my job seem more than adequate and all that's free (I even get paid for one of them). So I'm essentially paying $600 to get the chance to talk to four editors about my work. Is it worth it?

...I don't know.