Three weeks or so ago, a good friend of mine who is working on his first book asked me if I thought it was worth his time to join a local writer’s group or two (he lives a couple of hours away from me). He wondered if it was “just pumping each other up” or if I was getting anything measurably valuable from the writers group I joined last fall.

As of the evening my friend and I spoke, I wasn’t able to identify a specific insight or value from my group. They’re good, intelligent, talented people. I enjoy the monthly meetings when I’m in town. But none of them have taken the path of traditional publishing that is my dream, so none of them would make a good mentor for me.

The following day, though, one of the writers in my group sent me an email. She had heard about an opportunity for authors to pitch their work directly to literary agents, she remembered I’d said I wanted to publish traditionally rather than self-publish, so she thought she’d tell me about it. I would have remained oblivious to this opportunity had she not emailed me.

The weekend of May 10 & 11, my networking efforts paid off. The Midwest Writers Workshop Agent Pitch Fest was without doubt way out of my comfort zone, but I’m so glad I participated. MWW brought in seven agents from well-respected New York literary agencies. I pitched Beautiful to three agents who specialize in YA. I thought the pitches went well. The agents were excited rather than just polite, and all three requested more material.

So we’ll see. We all know that “looking excited” is not the same thing as a seven-figure book deal. But my point is that networking with like-minded people is always a good idea.