7 NYC Publishing Conferences for Job Seekers in 2026

Hosted by Publishers Weekly, the U.S. Book Show picked up where BookExpo left off. It is a two-day conference about the business of books, not a fan event. In 2026 it runs workshops and special events on June 2 and a full day of programming on June 3, covering topics like AI, audio, book-to-screen deals, distribution, literacy, and how newer professionals can build a career.

Publishers Weekly says the show draws more than 700 attendees, and many come back year after year. If you can only afford one industry ticket in New York, this is usually the one to choose.

BISG is the trade association that handles things like book metadata standards, supply-chain working groups, and training that cuts across departments. If you are job hunting, two of its New York events are the ones to watch.

• Doing Rights Right is a full-day rights conference, usually held in January at the Goethe-Institut, with talks and workshops on licensing, metadata, and making money from rights.
• Book Publishing Next is the bigger event. The 2026 edition, on September 16, pairs an afternoon forum with an evening reception at the New-York Historical and looks at where the business is headed.

During busy conference weeks, BISG also runs informal meet-ups, like a June 2026 happy hour in Greenwich Village timed to line up with the U.S. Book Show. Its events calendar also lists committee meetings and training sessions, many of them online, that are a good way to get comfortable with the operations side of the business before an interview.

The Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) runs this one-day conference for people who work on the deal side of the business, not for authors out promoting a book. The sessions are about the day-to-day work of agents and editors, including how submissions get handled, how auctions run, and how the two sides build working relationships. There is also plenty of time set aside to meet people across different genres.

AALA describes it as one of the few industry events that focuses on the people who make books rather than the books themselves. People who have gone say a single day of hallway conversations can be worth months of lunches. Registration usually closes in mid-September, and it can fill up sooner, so sign up early if you already work in editorial or at an agency, or are joining one that will cover the cost.

ThrillerFest is the main event put on by the International Thriller Writers. It runs several days of classes and panels, and it draws the agents, editors, and publishing staff who work on suspense titles. New York houses with strong crime and thriller lists tend to show up even when they are not actively hiring, simply to stay close to the community.

If you want to work on mystery, crime, or psychological suspense, going shows you understand the category in a way a resume cannot. You can skip the pitch sessions aimed at writers unless you are working on your own book, since the useful networking happens in the panels and the hallways.

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators holds its annual Winter Conference in Manhattan each January. It is mostly for children's book writers, illustrators, and translators, but the program also has industry panels, sessions on craft and the business, and an optional add-on called Behind the Scenes Industry Access ($125) that includes editor-led tours of publishing houses along with portfolio programming for illustrators.

If you are trying to get into or move around children's editorial and design roles, it is a good chance to hear how editors and art directors talk about the books they take on, and you can book paid one-on-one sessions with industry professionals. It is not a job fair, though, so if you work on the publishing side rather than the creative side, treat it as a companion to a trade event like the U.S. Book Show.

Run by NYU's Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media, API is a five-day program for working professionals, closer to a short course than a conference you drop into. It took over from the old Yale Publishing Course and brings publishing leaders together for case studies, workshops, and conversations about marketing, audio, AI, and selling books overseas. The 2026 faculty included people from Macmillan, Storytel, Circana, Spotify, and other major companies.

If you are early in your career, think of this as something to work toward, or something your employer might send you to later on. If you already manage a marketing or editorial team, going, or even just knowing it exists, shows you pay attention to how senior people keep their skills current.

Hosted by the Book Manufacturers Institute, this one-day event is the New York gathering for the people who handle how printed books get made, from paper and printing to binding and distribution. The day includes industry overviews, panels with publishers and printers, sessions on the retail market, and an afternoon expo. BISG suggests going the day after its September 16 Book Publishing Next forum, which makes for a natural two-day run if you work in operations.

It is easy to skip if you only think about editorial, but operations and production are among the fastest-growing job categories in New York, and this is where those teams meet their vendors in person.