Simple answer: because we need money to keep this website functioning, maintain the forums, and to pay all of our organizers and industry professionals.

Our website gets a very heavy volume of traffic, so we have to use web hosting that frankly isn’t cheap. We also believe that artists, writers, agents, and editors shouldn’t have to work solely for “exposure” or because of “passion,” but should be rewarded for their time, effort, and knowledge with something that can actually buy them groceries.

We know how expensive in-person conferences can be, having attended a few ourselves. You’re not just paying the conference fee, but also for the hotel room, meals out, plane fare or gas money, lost wages from your day job, etc. An online conference eliminates these concerns, and we always try to keep the conference itself affordable.

The entire conference takes place right here on writeoncon.org. With your admission purchase you will be given a login and password to use on our site to access the conference. Attendance instructions are emailed to all attendees the week before the conference weekend, including a link to the URL where you will be able to access the events.

You can pop in any time during the three day event and the week that follows. Blog posts, vlogs, and podcasts go live every half an hour, but can be enjoyed at your leisure. Live events take place every hour; you can interact with the speaker through the comments section of the streaming video. Special instructions will be provided for pitch events.

Extended admission buys you an additional month of access. Live events are only live during their hour-long scheduled time slot; after this an archived copy of the video will be available for viewing. Time Traveler admission gives you Extended admission, but with the bonus of access to all archived content from previous conference years. And Anytime Archive Access gives you one month of access to all past events, any time during the year.

The WriteOnCon conference will take place from February 21-23, 2020. General and Full admission expires on March 1, while Extended and Time Traveler admission expires on March 29. The critique forums will open on February 1 and will remain open until Extended admission closes.

Don’t worry! You don’t need to write or illustrate kidlit to participate in the conference. The conference events will provide craft and industry knowledge that applies to writers and illustrators across the board, and much of it can be helpful to people involved in other areas of the industry, too.

If you’re busy in February but would still like to enjoy the conference events, you can purchase Extended or Time Traveler admission, or Anytime Archive Access, and receive access to all conference materials for additional time.

And finally, you could still help support us by spreading the word! Share this page, re-tweet our account, email your critique partners. Are you a member of SCBWI or a local writing group? Are you participating in NaNoWriMo or know someone who is? Be a pal and let them know about our campaign! We here at WriteOnCon thank you.

No! You can choose to pay through PayPal or by credit card. And even if you click “pay with PayPal,” it will take you to a screen where you can choose to pay with debit or credit, PayPal account not required. It’s confusing, we know.

Shoot us an email and we’ll help you out.