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Writer's Digest Conference Speakers

Refine your skills with the help of our experts and revive your creative spark with inspiration from our Keynote Speakers.

Writer’s Digest’s 90+-year history as the go-to resource for writers means we can attract the most knowledgeable, inspiring and helpful editors, literary agents, writers and publishing experts to share their expertise with you.

Check back often to see our growing list of speakers. And be sure to sign up for our e-newsletter to receive updates!


Nina Amir [More Info]
Inspiration-to-Creation Coach/ Author/Coach/Editor/Speaker
CopyWright Communications
Nina Amir, Inspiration-to-Creation Coach, inspires writers to create both publishable and published products and to enjoy careers as authors. She helps writers achieve their goals, fulfill their purpose and live inspired lives. Amir is the author of How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time (Writer's Digest Books), and a seasoned journalist, nonfiction editor, proposal consultant, blog-to-book coach and book and author coach with more than 33 years of experience in the publishing field.


Additionally, she is a popular speaker on topics related to publishing and writing and the regular writing and publishing expert on the Dresser After Dark radio show. The founder of Write Nonfiction in November, Amir writes five blogs, including Write Nonfiction NOW! and How to Blog a Book and has self-published 10 short books. As a popular human potential and spiritual writer and speaker, Amir encourages people to combine their purpose and passion so they “Achieve More Inspired Results.”


 
Porter Anderson [More Info]
Journalist/Speaker/Consultant in Publishing
Porter Anderson (@Porter_Anderson) is a career journalist whose venues have included three of Time Warner’s CNN networks, the Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Observer, D Magazine, the Tampa Tribune, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and other media.

Anderson’s roles in newspapers, magazines, network television, and online network news have included critic, reporter, editor, managing editor, news anchor, content coordinator and senior producer. Anderson’s weekly Porter Anderson Meets column appears in the The Bookseller magazine in Lon­don on Fridays.
Anderson publishes frequent Writing on the Ether columns on the New York-based ThoughtCatalog.com site, and updates on all his columns can be found at PorterAndersonMedia.com
 
Maria Andreu [More Info]
Writer/Speaker
MARIA E. ANDREU is a writer and speaker whose work has appeared in Newsweek, The Washington Post, NJ.com, and the Newark Star Ledger. The Secret Side of Empty is her debut novel. Maria is a proud mother of two.  She was born in Spain, lived in Argentina for two years, and crossed the Mexican border into the U.S. undocumented at the age of eight. An American citizen due to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Maria currently lives in New Jersey. You can visit her online at http://mariaeandreu.com.
 
Clint Arthur [More Info]
World’s Leading Expert on Creating Celebrity for Authors
ClintArthur.com
Clint Arthur’s bestselling books include: Break Through Your Upper Limits on TV,  and What They Teach You At The Wharton Business School. He has appeared on the TODAY Show and 60 other Network News & Talk show interviews, and is the creator of Celebrity Launchpad and Instant Local Celebrity Mentoring. In just the past 2 years, Clint and his students (he calls them “Magic Messengers”) have booked themselves onto more than 1133 Network TV appearances.
 
Margot Atwell [More Info]
Publishing community manager
Kickstarter
Margot Atwell is a publishing community manager at Kickstarter. Previously, she served as Publisher of Beaufort Books, an independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction. Under her leadership, Beaufort published four national bestsellers, including Hide!!! by Jeff Foxworthy, If I Did It by the Goldman Family, and a new edition of I'm Dancing As Fast as I Can by Barbara Gordon, along with many award-winning books.


Margot is also a freelance writer, editor, and book reviewer. Her writing has been published in The Huffington Post, Moviefone.com, Publishing Perspectives, Publishers Weekly, fiveonfive magazine, and Derbylife.com. Her first book, The Insider’s Guide to Book Publishing Success, was published in February 2013.

 
Matthew Baldacci [More Info]
Vice President of Marketing
Scholastic Trade Publishing
Matthew C. Baldacci has worked in book publishing since graduating from Colgate University in 1989, and he has held both corporate and marketing jobs at Simon & Schuster, Dorling Kindersley, and St. Martin’s Press, where he was Vice President and Associate Publisher. He is currently the Vice President of Marketing for Scholastic Trade Publishing, where he oversees marketing and brand strategy for all imprints of the trade division.  

 
Amanda Barbara [More Info]
Vice President
Pubslush
Amanda Barbara is the Vice President of Pubslush, a global, crowdsourcing publishing platform for authors to raise funds and gauge the initial audience for new book ideas.
Pubslush also operates an independent imprint that acquires books from the platform, and for every book sold, donates a children’s book to a child in need. Amanda earned a bachelors degree in Public Relations and Creative Writing at the University of Miami in Florida. In her free time, she enjoys running, reading, and spending time with her family.
 
Cara Bedick [More Info]
Senior Editor
Harlequin Nonfiction
Cara Bedick is a Senior Editor at Harlequin Nonfiction. She acquires for their all non-fiction list in the categories of health & wellness, lifestyle, cookbook, and memoir. She edited Chef Richard Landau and Kate Jacoby’s Vedge, which was named one of the best cookbooks of 2013 by the Washington Post, Cooking Light, Entertainment Weekly, and Yoga Journal. She is currently working with New York Times bestselling author Kimberly Snyder C.N. on The Beauty Detox Power, due out in Spring 2015. Tweet your favorite green smoothie recipe to her @CaraBedick
 
Dara Beevas [More Info]
Co-founder/Creative Director
Wise Ink Creative Publishing
Dara Beevas is the co-founder and creative director of Wise Ink Creative Publishing. She has been involved in the publishing community for twelve years, acquiring manuscripts, managing projects, and creating marketing and sales strategies for authors and publishers. Dara’s emphases are in business, children’s, health, cookbooks and memoir, and she’s helped more than 400 authors publish their books.
Originally from the DC area, Beevas has a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University. She’s a board member of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and is the author of The Indie Author Revolution.

 
Millicent Bennett [More Info]
Senior Editor
Simon & Schuster
Millicent Bennett is a Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster's Free Press, where she acquires the majority of the imprint's fiction, as well as select nonfiction, including memoir, history, and biography.  Her Free Press authors range from the Swedish crime-writing phenomenon Camilla Läckberg to recent PEN/Hemingway winner Brando Skyhorse. Some of her upcoming fiction in 2012 will be Frances Greenslade's Shelter, Anuradha Roy's The Folded Earth, Morgan McCarthy's The Other Half of Me, Katie Kitamura's Gone to the Forest, and Marjorie Celona's Y
Before joining Free Press, she spent three years at Random House, working on a number of distinguished projects in both fiction and nonfiction, among which were David Remnick's New Yorker anthology series, Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, Jon Meacham's American Lion, and a forthcoming novel, Enchantments, by Kathryn Harrison. Millicent began her career first at Knopf and then at Ecco, and over the years she's had the honor of working with several of her literary heroes, including Russell Banks, Alice Munro, Joyce Carol Oates, E.L. Doctorow, John Irving, Pete Dexter, and Gay Talese. 
 
Dan Blank [More Info]
Founder
WeGrowMedia
Dan Blank is the founder of WeGrowMedia, where he helps writers share their stories and connect with readers. He has helped hundreds of authors via online courses, consulting, and workshops, and worked with amazing publishing houses and organizations who support writers such as Random House, Workman Publishing, Abrams Books, Writers House, The Kenyon Review, Writer’s Digest, Library Journal, CLMP and many others.  You can find Dan on his blog at http://WeGrowMedia.com or on Twitter at @DanBlank
 
Patience Bloom [More Info]
Senior Editor
Harlequin Books
Patience Bloom is a senior editor at Harlequin Books and focuses specifically on Harlequin Romantic Suspense, which gives her full license to indulge in her love of the thriller genre and all things suspense. On an average day, she will watch a sweet romantic comedy and follow it up with an episode of Criminal Minds or Snapped. Her work is the perfect mesh of romance and suspense, though she works on many different lines from Christian and historical romances to her home line.
Originally from the Northeast, she has lived in France, Connecticut, Ohio and New Mexico, and now resides in New York City. She has a master’s degree in French literature, which hasn’t really helped with her work as an editor. In addition to editing, her real-life story of editing, romance, and marrying her high school’s popular class clown, Romance Is My Day Job, was published by Dutton in February 2014.
 
Kelly Braffet [More Info]
Author
Save Yourself
Kelly Braffet is the author of the novels Save Yourself, Josie and Jack and Last Seen Leaving. Her writing has been published in The Fairy Tale Review, Post Road, and several anthologies. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University and currently lives in upstate New York with her husband, the author Owen King.
 
Regina Brooks [More Info]
Lead Agent/President
Serendipity Literary Agency
Ms. Regina Brooks is the founder and President of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC. Equally at home in the technical world of engineering as in the literary world of writing and editing, Ms. Brooks has over a decade of experience in senior positions at major publishing houses including John Wiley & Sons Inc. and the McGraw-Hill Companies.
She is a graduate of the Howard University Publishing Institute in Washington DC. Prior to her publishing career she worked as an aerospace engineer for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, and made history as the first African American woman to receive a Bachelors of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Ohio State University. She is also a graduate of The School of the Arts High School in Rochester, NY.

Brooks is the Co-Executive Director of the Y. B. Literary Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote the reading of literature as a meaningful, lifelong activity and transformative experience for youth. In 2004, she was a finalist for the Stevie Award for Women Entrepreneurs and was honored as the NY Urban Leagues Rising Star. She is listed in International Who’s Who under the categories of Engineering, Technology, Entrepreneurs, and Professional Management. She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Forbes, Media Bistro, Writers and Poets, Essence Magazine, Writers Digest Magazine, The Writer, and Sister2Sister magazine and a host of others.  

Ms. Brooks is a member of the Association of Author Representatives (AAR) and has edited over 100 published books, and is the author of Writing Great Books For Young Adults (Sourcebooks) the Essence Magazine 2004 Quick Pick children’s book Never Finished! Never Done!, published by Scholastic Inc. and soon to be published You Really Should Write A Book: How to write, Sell and Market Your Memoir (St. Martin's Press)She has been highlighted in several national and international magazines and periodicals, including Forbes, Media Bistro, Writers and Poets, Publishers Weekly, Essence Magazine, Writers Digest Magazine, The Writer, and Sister2Sister magazine.
 
Kiffer Brown [More Info]
Founder
Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media
Kiffer Brown is the founder of Chanticleer Book Reviews & Media -- Discovering Today’s Best Books with Editorial Reviews and International Writing Competitions. The Chanticleer Reviews quarterly magazine is projected to launch Winter 2015.


In addition to running a professional editorial review service, Kiffer is the president of Whatcom Writers and Publishers, Salish Sea League of Writers board member, Upstart Crows Writers Assoc. founder, and member of Western Washington University’s publishing curriculum’s advisory board. She presents at numerous writers conferences and book conventions.

 
Jane K. Cleland [More Info]
Author
Jane K. Cleland’s multiple award-winning and IMBA bestselling Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series [St. Martin’s Minotaur] has been reviewed as an Antiques Roadshow for mystery fans. Library Journal named Consigned to Death a “core title” for librarians looking to build a cozy collection, one of only 22 titles listed, along with books by Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. “Josie” stories have also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. The ninth in the series, Blood Rubies, will be published in fall 2014. A “Josie” novella, “Booked for Death,” will appear in the January 2015 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Her books have been published in Chinese, Russian, and Hungarian, and are due to be published in Japanese shortly. Jane is on the faculty of Lehman College/CUNY.
 
Harlan Coben [More Info]
New York Times bestselling Author
SIX YEARS, STAY CLOSE, LIVE WIRE, CAUGHT, LONG LOST and HOLD TIGHT
With over 50 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben’s last six consecutive novels, SIX YEARS, STAY CLOSE, LIVE WIRE, CAUGHT, LONG LOST and HOLD TIGHT all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world.  His first Young Adult novel SHELTER was just released in paperback, and the second in the Mickey Bolitar series, SECONDS AWAY, was released on September 18th. His books are published in 41 languages around the globe and have been number one bestsellers in over a dozen countries.


Winner of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award and Anthony Award – the first author to win all three – international bestselling author Harlan Coben’s critically-acclaimed novels have been called “ingenious” (New York Times), “poignant and insightful” (Los Angeles Times), “consistently entertaining” (Houston Chronicle), “superb” (Chicago Tribune) and “must reading” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Harlan’s novel TELL NO ONE has been turned into the commercial and critical smash hit French film of the same name, starring Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas. The movie was the top box office foreign-language film of the year in USA, won the Lumiere (French Golden Globe) for best picture and was nominated for nine Cesars (French Oscar) and won four, including best actor, best director and best music. To see the trailer, click here and for stills and to see Harlan appearing in the film, visit our gallery page. The movie is now available in DVD and Blu-Ray. An American/Hollywood remake is in the works.
 
Reed Farrel Coleman [More Info]
Author
Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan, Reed Farrel Coleman was recently signed to write the next four novels in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series and to begin a new series of his own. He is the author of eighteen novels, including the critically acclaimed Moe Prager Mystery series. He has published novellas, short stories, essays, poetry, and was the editor of the anthology Hard Boiled Brooklyn. Reed is a three-time Shamus Award winner for Best PI Novel of the Year and a three-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories. In addition, he has won the Audie, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony awards. Reed is an adjunct instructor of English at Hofstra University and a founding member of Mystery Writers of America University. He lives with his family on Long Island.

**Reed Farrel Coleman's headshot was provided by Adam Martin
 
Marisa Corvisiero [More Info]
Founder
Corvisiero Literary Agency
Marisa is the founder of the Corvisiero Literary Agency. She is a literary agent there and continues to practice law in New York City specializing in Corporate, Intellectual Property and Publishing and Trust & Estates. She loves Romance novels for most ages (above 17) as well as Thrillers, Adventure, Science Fiction and Fantasy stories. She love mixed genres and will read anything that is unique and well written. She also reads a lot of non fiction in selective topics such as Business, Science, Self-Improvement and Spiritual. Cookbooks and books about pretty things with awesome pictures welcome.

Visit Marisa on-line at her blog, on Twitter @mcorvisiero, on Facebook, Facebook Writer's Network Group, and view the Corvisiero Agency Agent Profile

About the Corvisiero Literary Agency:
We are a boutique literary agency founded by Marisa A Corvisiero, Esq. This agency is a place where authors can find professional and experienced representation that will represent their interests for a successful and long career. We offer international agenting and management services to fiction and non-fiction authors in a wide spectrum of genres. Please see our Agents' Profiles to determine which agent is the best fit for you, and be sure to read our Submission Guidelines before submitting your work.

Find them on-line at Twitter and on their Facebook Agency page.
 
Lisa Cron [More Info]
Author/Instructor
UCLA Extension Writers' Program
Lisa Cron is the author of Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence (Ten Speed Press) and her video tutorial Writing Fundamentals: The Craft of Story can be found at Lynda.com. She has worked in publishing at W.W. Norton, as an agent at the Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency, as a producer on shows for Showtime and CourtTV and as a story consultant for Warner Bros. and the William Morris Agency.


Her passion has always been story and she currently works as a story coach helping writers, non-profits, educators and journalists wrangle their story onto the page. Since 2006, she's been an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers' Program.


 
Dan Cullen [More Info]
Senior Strategy Officer
American Booksellers Association
Dan Cullen is the Senior Strategy Officer of the American Booksellers Association, the national trade association for independent booksellers. He has been working on behalf of independent bookstores for more than 25 years, beginning in 1986 with ABA, and before that in publishing and managing an independent bookstore in Massachusetts.
At ABA, he works with colleagues on the development of educational programming, information and editorial content, advocacy efforts, strategic initiatives, and communications. He can be reached at dan@bookweb.org and on Twitter at @dancullen.
 
Robin Cutler [More Info]
Senior Independent Publisher Manager - IngramSpark
Ingram Content Group Inc.
Robin Cutler joined Ingram Content Group in 2011. At Ingram she leads a team assisting independent publishers in making their content available to retail partners throughout the world. Formerly Ms. Cutler was vendor manager at CreateSpace, served as CEO of Summerhouse Press and was Assistant Director of USC Press. She holds a BA in Journalism from the University of South Carolina.
 
Nancy Davidoff Kelton [More Info]
Author
Nancy Davidoff Kelton is the author of Writing from Personal Experience and five other books. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Parents, and Redbook among other publications. She teaches at NYU, the New School, and Hunter, and writes a blog, LOVE 'N STUFF, at www.nancykelton.com.
 
Seth Dellon [More Info]
Director of Product Development
PubMatch
Seth Dellon is the Director of Product Development for PubMatch (a joint venture between Publishers Weekly and Combined Book Exhibit), where he oversaw the creation of PubMatch since its inception, targeting and creating new functionality to serve PubMatch's growing network), and helping it grow from simple communication network to a complete platform for those in the rights arena. 
Seth also holds the same title at Combined Book Exhibit, where he helps usher in new products and initiatives for publishers and authors.  Seth received his degree in creative writing from Hofstra University.
 
Dan Dillon [More Info]
Director of Product Marketing
Lulu
Dan Dillon is the director of product marketing for Lulu, where he finds new ways to bring value to self-publishing authors and identifies market problems that Lulu can solve. Lulu.com pioneered the self-publishing industry and paved the way for people around the world to publish books and bring them to market, while allowing authors to retain full control of their work. Lulu.com has enabled people in more than 225 countries and territories to self-publish nearly two million publications.
Prior to working for Lulu, Dan has held editorial and marketing roles at a number of content-driven organizations, including McGraw-Hill. He has also served as editor of ContentWise, a publication covering best practices in creating, producing and delivering content and custom media.


 
April Eberhardt [More Info]
Literary Agent
April Eberhardt Literary
After 25 years as a corporate strategist and consultant, April Eberhardt joined the literary world as head reader for the literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story, followed by five years as an agent with two San Francisco-based literary agencies. She holds an MBA from Boston University in Marketing and Finance, a BA from Hamilton (Kirkland) College in Anthropology and French, and a CPLF degree from the University of Paris. She represents clients worldwide, and divides her time between San Francisco, New York and Paris.


A self-described "literary change agent," Eberhardt founded her own agency in order to assist and advise authors as they navigate the increasingly complex world of publishing. As readers and publishers choose among the many ways literature is being delivered in the new millennium, authors need a literary agent who understands both the traditional and electronic marketplaces, along with the evolving options for agent-assisted independent publishing.


 
Sean Ellis [More Info]
Author
Fortune Favors, Into the Black, Dodge Dalton on the High Road to Oblivion
Sean Ellis is the author of several novels including Fortune Favors, Into the Black, Dodge Dalton on the High Road to Oblivion, and others. He is the co-author of Hell Ship with David Wood, WarGod with Steven Savile, and Prime with Jeremy Robinson. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and lives in Arizona where he divides his time between writing, adventure sports, and trying to figure out how to save the world.
 
Kristin Fassler [More Info]
Director of Marketing
Penguin Random House
Kristin Fassler is Director of Marketing at the Random House division of Penguin Random House. In her role at Ballantine Bantam Dell, she oversees the creation and implementation of the consumer marketing and branding strategies for over 200 fiction and nonfiction titles annually, including campaigns for bestselling authors such as Diana Gabaldon, Debbie Macomber, George R.R. Martin, Lee Child, and Tess Gerritsen.
 
Julia Fierro [More Info]
Author
Cutting Teeth
Julia Fierro is the author of the novel Cutting Teeth, which was a Library Journal “Spring Best Debut” and on “most anticipated books of 2014″ lists by HuffPost Books, The Millions, Flavorwire, Marie Claire, Bustle, The NY Post, Newsday, and other publications. Oprah.com call’s Cutting Teeth "heart-wrenching and hilarious" and The Boston Globe says "Cutting Teeth offers a fresh perspective on the journey of parenting that is at once modern and timeless."
Julia’s work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Guernica, Poets & Writers, Glamour, Psychology Today, and other publications, and she has been profiled in the L Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, The Observer and The Economist. In 2002, ​Julia​ founded The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, and what started as eight writers meeting in her Brooklyn kitchen has grown into a creative home for over 2​5​00 writers. She is a graduate of The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Teaching-Writing Fellow, and lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two children.

​Visit juliafierro.com​ for Julia's upcoming ​book tour ​events.


 
Michele Filgate [More Info]
Writer/Indie Bookseller/Events Coordinator
Community Bookstore
Michele Filgate is a writer, indie bookseller/events coordinator at Community Bookstore, and critic. Before moving to Community, she ran events at McNally Jackson and RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH. Her work has appeared in The Paris Review Daily, The Rumpus, Salon, Buzzfeed, Poets & Writers, Time Out New York, The Daily Beast, O,The Oprah Magazine, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Capital New York, The Star Tribune, Bookslut, The Quarterly Conversation, The Brooklyn Rail, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn.

 
Jon Fine [More Info]
Director of Author & Publisher Relationships
Amazon.com
Jon Fine is Director of Author and Publisher Relations for Amazon.com, coordinating outreach to the author and publishing communities, including the company’s grant program, which supports a diverse range of not-for-profit author and publisher groups (www.amazon.com/author-grants).


Prior to joining Amazon.com, he served as VP and Associate General Counsel for Random House, Inc., where he directed legal affairs for the Alfred A. Knopf division as well as for Random House of Canada. Fine previously served as Senior Media Counsel at NBC, handling content and associated issues for NBC News, Saturday Night Live, MSNBC, CNBC and other divisions. Fine also served as counsel at King World Productions for Inside Edition and other “reality-based” programming. He is a graduate of Cornell University and of the University of Virginia School of Law. He is a native New Yorker, who now lives in Seattle.


 
Dawn Frederick [More Info]
Literary Agent
Red Sofa Literary
Dawn is looking for biography—historical, media-related, political (no personal memoirs); creative nonfiction (smart, with noticeable platform, highly commercial); graphic novels (no manga, please); history that will engage the commercial reader; humor; pop culture; social issues/current affairs (women’s studies, GLTB studies, social sciences, and more); sports (less mainstream, more extreme sport, ex. Roller Derby); women’s narratives (chick lit nonfiction, Latina, African-American, and more). In fiction, she seeks young adult and middle grade.
 
Judith Gille [More Info]
Founder and Owner
Mercantile and City People’s Garden
Judith Gille is the founder and owner of City People’s Mercantile and City People’s Garden stores in Seattle, but her passion is writing about Mexican art and culture and immigration issues. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times Modern Love column, the Los Angeles Times, The Dallas Morning News, the Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Seattle Times, in magazines, online journals and numerous anthologies. Her memoir The View from Casa Chepitos: A Journey Beyond the Border was released by Davis Bay Press in October 2013 and won the Writer’s Digest’s Grand Prize for a Self-Published eBook. She divides her time between Seattle and San Miguel de Allende and is currently working on her second book: The Women of Chepito: Reflections on Love, Life and the Changing Role of Women in Mexico.
 
Kane Gilmour [More Info]
Author
Kane Gilmour is the Amazon bestselling co-author of Ragnarok and the author of Resurrection, the first book in his own Jason Quinn thriller series. He has co-authored two further entries in Jeremy Robinson’s Chess Team series, and wrote the nostalgic horror novella, The Crypt of Dracula, based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the glorious horror films of the 1960s and 1970s. He  co-edited the Warbirds of Mars: Stories of the Fight anthology, based on the popular webcomic by Scott P. “Doc” Vaughn, which Doc illustrates and Kane writers. Kane lives in Vermont with his family.
 
Tim Grahl [More Info]
Founder
Out:think
Tim Grahl is the founder of [Out:think], a firm that helps authors build their platforms, connect with readers and sell more books. He is the author of Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book and works with many of the top authors in the world including Hugh Howey, Daniel Pink, Dan and Chip Heath, Barbara Corcoran and many more. He has launched multiple New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling books.

Through his work with more than 100 authors across all genres, Tim has learned and practiced the secrets behind successful marketing campaigns and teaches these strategies and techniques through his website at http://outthinkgroup.com.
 
Aine Greaney [More Info]
Writer and Essayist
Aine Greaney is an award-winning writer and essayist. Among her writing awards and shortlists are the Hennessy Award for New Irish Writing, the Fish Anthology, the Steinbeck Award, the Rubery International Book Award, the Frank O’Connor Short Fiction Award, the Irish News Short Story Award, and Indie Lit 2011. Her essay, “Green Card” was cited as a notable in “Best American Essays,” and her essay, “Sanctuary” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Other publications include her short-story chapbook collection, The Sheepbreeders Dance (Flume Press, 2006), her debut novel, The Big House (TownHouse/Simon & Schuster, 2003), and the travel book Newburyport: A Photographic Portrait (Twin Light Publishers).

More recently, Aine has published essays in Under the Sun, Boston Globe Magazine, “Salon.com,” Stone Canoe:  A Journal of Arts and Ideas from Upstate New York, The Daily Muse, and many others. Her second novel, Dance Lessons, was published last year by Syracuse University Press and her nonfiction book on writing entitled Writer with a Day Job, was published by Writer’s Digest Books in 2011. As well as working, writing, and teaching, she belongs to PEN New England, the New Hampshire Writers Project, The Cape Cod Writers Center, and the American Conference for Irish Studies.

Aine was raised in County Mayo, Ireland and now lives on Boston’s North Shore.

 
Jeremy Greenfield [More Info]
Editorial Director
Digital Book World
Jeremy Greenfield is the Editorial Director for Digital Book World. He is responsible for managing all editorial content on DigitalBookWorld.com, including the DBW Expert Publishing Blog, the Digital Book Wire and editorial email and social media communications. Prior to joining Digital Book World in October 2011, Jeremy spent three years as a careers editor at FINS.com, a Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal site that he helped launch.
Jeremy has spent time as a journalist covering magazines, media, marketing, advertising, culture, careers, finance, technology, the economy and, now, digital books. Jeremy lives and works in New York City and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.


 
Dan Hampton [More Info]
New York Times Bestselling Author
Viper Pilot, Lords of the Sky, and The Mercenary
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Dan Hampton is The New York Times bestselling author of Lords of the Sky, Viper Pilot, The Mercenary, and The Iron Ring (2015 Harper Collins). In addition, he is one of the most decorated US Air Force pilots in history, having flown more than 150 combat missions during his twenty years in the USAF (1986-2006).
For his service in the Iraq War, Kosovo conflict, and first Gulf War, Col. Hampton received four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor, a Purple Heart, eight Air Medals with Valor, five Meritorious Service Medals, and numerous other citations. He is a graduate of the elite USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School, and USAF Special Operations School. Hampton was named his squadron’s Instructor Pilot of the Year six times and pioneered air combat tactics that are now standard. A graduate of Texas A&M University, he has published articles in the Journal of Electronic Defense, Air Force Magazine, and Airpower Magazine, as well as several classified tactical works for the USAF Fighter Weapons Review. Col. Hampton is also the CEO of MVI International LtD, a private military company.
 
Kristen Harnisch [More Info]
Author
The Vintner's Daughter
Kristen Harnisch drew upon her extensive research and experiences living in the San Francisco Bay Area and visiting the Loire Valley to create the story for The Vintner's Daughter, her debut novel. The Vintner's Daughter is the first in a series about the changing world of vineyard life at the turn of the century and was published by HarperCollins Canada on June 17, and by She Writes Press in the United States on August 5.
Ms. Harnisch has a degree in economics from Villanova University, and currently resides in Connecticut. Visit her online at www.kristenharnisch.com or follow her on Twitter @KristenHarnisch.
 
Michelle Howry [More Info]
Senior Editor
Touchstone books
Michelle Howry has been a senior editor at Touchstone books since 2007, specializing in commercial nonfiction. Her books include the New York Times bestsellers THE GIRLS OF ATOMIC CITY by Denise Kiernan, OFF BALANCE by Dominique Moceanu, A LITTLE BIT WICKED by Kristin Chenoweth, THE NEW ATKINS FOR A NEW YOU, and the BRO CODE franchise of books (with more than 1.5 million copies in print). She acquires platform-driven practical nonfiction in the categories of self-help, personal finance, psychology, relationships, cookbooks, and health.
She also acquires narrative nonfiction in categories such as popular history, biography, popular science and technology, and some celebrity memoir. Some of her other recent books include: BEYOND THE SLING, a real-world guide to Attachment Parenting by Mayim Bialik (aka TV’s “Blossom”); OUR BODIES, OURSELVES, the classic women’s health series; WHAT THE DOG KNOWS, an investigation into the science behind man’s best friend; the iconic JOY OF COOKING series; CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVAS, about the dazzling fashion world of the early 1990s; and I AM PUSHEEN THE CAT, based on the internet’s cutest cartoon feline (sorry, Garfield). For Michelle, editing a book is like taking a “master-class” on a new topic … and she’s always looking for new experts to learn from.

 
Molly Jaffa [More Info]
Literary Agent
Folio Literary Management
Molly Jaffa has been working closely with Folio Literary Management authors’ projects since 2008, and is an Associate Member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR). In addition to building her selective but growing list of clients, Molly utilizes her editorial background, previous work experience in the e-publishing industry, and intimate knowledge of the Folio list in her position as Folio’s Co-Director of International Rights. She actively pursues sales of international and audio rights and attends all major international book fairs, helping Folio clients’ books reach wide audiences in as many formats as possible. Her clients include Lana Krumwiede (The Psi Chronicles middle grade trilogy and the forthcoming picture book JUST ITZY), Julie Murphy (SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY and the forthcoming DUMPLIN’), Jeramey Kraatz (THE CLOAK SOCIETY), Helene Dunbar (THESE GENTLE WOUNDS), Kristen Lippert-Martin (TABULA RASA), Barrie Summy (I SO DON’T DO MYSTERIES series) and Mahtab Narsimhan (SOMEONE STOLE THE TOILET, Scholastic 2016). You can follow her on Twitter @molly_jaffa and read her blog at mollyjaffa.blogspot.com.

 
Kristopher Jansma [More Info]
Writer
Unchangeable Spots of Leopards
Kristopher Jansma received his B.A. in The Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and an M.F.A. in Fiction from Columbia University. His critically-acclaimed debut novel, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, was published by Viking/Penguin in March 2013. He writes a column for Electric Literature’s blog, “The Outlet” about Literary Artifacts, and loving books in a digital age.
His work has also been published in The Believer, Slice Magazine, the Blue Mesa Review, and on The Millions.
Currently, he lives in Brooklyn, where he is a Creative Writing Lecturer at SUNY Purchase College.


 
Daniel Jones [More Info]
Editor
Modern Love
Daniel Jones, author of “Love Illuminated: Exploring Life’s Most Mystifying Subject (with the Help of 50,000 Strangers),” has edited the Modern Love column in the Sunday Styles section of the New York Times since its inception in 2004. His previous books include two essay anthologies—“Modern Love” and “The Bastard on the Couch”—and the novel “After Lucy,” which was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award.
His writing has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Parade, Harper’s Bazaar, Real Simple, and elsewhere. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts with his wife, writer Cathi Hanauer, and their two children.
 
Larry Kirshbaum [More Info]
Senior Literary Agent
Waxman Leavell Literary Agency
Larry Kirshbaum is a senior agent with the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency. Over his lengthy career in publishing, he has worked as a Vice President and Publisher for Amazon Publishing, founder of LKJ Literary Management and CEO of Time Warner Book Group.
 
Maris Kreizman [More Info]
a publishing community manager
Kickstarter
Maris Kreizman is a publishing community manager at Kickstarter. She was previously the editorial director of digital content for Barnes & Noble/NOOK and a book editor at Free Press/Simon & Schuster and Counterpoint/Basic Books. She’s also the creator of Slaughterhouse 90210, a blog and soon-to-be book (Flatiron Books, 2015) that celebrates the intersection of her two great loves--literature and TV.
 
Brandi Larsen [More Info]
Digital Publishing Director
New American Library, Berkley Books, and Celebra imprints at Penguin Random House
Brandi Larsen is the Digital Publishing Director for the New American Library, Berkley Books, and Celebra imprints at Penguin Random House. In this role, she works with publishers to determine digital strategy. Previously, she served as the Book Country Director, where she doubled the growth of the online writing and publishing community in less than a year. Brandi comes to publishing from a successful career in journalism, specializing in digital content strategy.
 
Kimberla Lawson Roby [More Info]
New York Times bestselling Author
The Prodigal Son, A House Divided, The Perfect Marriage
New York Times Bestselling Author Kimberla Lawson Roby has published 19 novels which include A HOUSE DIVIDED, THE PERFECT MARRIAGE, THE REVEREND’S WIFE, SECRET OBSESSION, LOVE, HONOR, and BETRAY, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR, A DEEP DARK SECRET, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, ONE IN A MILLION, SIN NO MORE, LOVE & LIES, CHANGING FACES, THE BEST-KEPT SECRET, TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING, A TASTE OF REALITY, IT’S A THIN LINE, CASTING THE FIRST STONE, HERE AND NOW, and her debut title, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, which was originally self-published through her own company, Lenox Press. 
She has sold more than 2,000,000 copies of her novels, and they have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Essence Magazine, Upscale Magazine, Emerge Magazine, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, The Dallas Morning News, and The Austin Chronicle to name a few, and both BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and CASTING THE FIRST STONE were #1 Blackboard bestsellers for four consecutive months in both 1997 and 2000.  BEHIND CLOSED DOORS was the #1 Blackboard Best-selling book for paperback fiction in 1997.  

Kimberla is a 2013 NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction, the recipient of the 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 Author of the Year – Female award presented by the African-American Literary Award Show in New York, the recipient of the Blackboard Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2001 for CASTING THE FIRST STONE, the recipient of the 1998 First-Time Author Award from Chicago’s Black History Month Book Fair and Conference, and in 2001, Kimberla was inducted into the Rock Valley College (Rockford, IL) Alumni Hall of Fame.

Each of Kimberla’s novels deal with very real issues, including corruption within the church, drug addiction, gambling addiction, infidelity, social status, single motherhood, infertility, sibling rivalry and jealousy, domestic violence, sexual abuse, mental illness, care-giving of a parent, racial and gender discrimination in the workplace, sexual harassment, and overweight issues to name a few.

Kimberla resides in Illinois with her husband, Will.  Her 20Th novel, THE PRODIGAL SON will be released May 13, 2014.

 
Meg Leder [More Info]
Executive Editor
Perigee Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Meg Leder is an executive editor at Perigee Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Her list includes a wide range of nonfiction topics, including creativity, gift books, humor, and voice-driven prescriptive titles. She is not looking for memoir or fiction. Before joining Perigee, she worked as an editor for McGraw-Hill Trade and Writer’s Digest Books, as well as a bookseller for Joseph-Beth Books.
 
Barry Lyga [More Info]
New York Times Bestselling Author
I Hunt Killers, Boy Toy, Hero-Type, Blood of my Blood
Called a "YA-rebel author" by Kirkus, Barry Lyga has published more than a dozen novels for kids, teens, and adults since 2006, including the controversial Boy Toy and the New York Times bestseller I Hunt Killers. His upcoming work includes Blood of My Blood (the final book in the I Hunt Killers Trilogy) and After the Red Rain (written with Peter (Nurse Jackie) Facinelli and Rob DeFranco).
 
Michael Malice [More Info]
Author
Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il
Michael Malice used Kickstarter to raise over $30,000 in order to write Dear Reader: The Unauthorized Autobiography of Kim Jong Il, a first-person account of north Korea's history drawn from propaganda that he spirited out of the DPRK. Malice is also the subject of Harvey Pekar's Ego & Hubris, as well as the co-author of several other books including I Want You to Shut the F#ck Up with comedian D. L. Hughley and Made in America with UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes.

 
Kate McKean [More Info]
Literary Agent
Howard Morhaim Literary Agency
Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in Brooklyn, NY, where she has worked for over seven years. She earned her Master’s in Fiction Writing at the University of Southern Mississippi, and enjoys both the creative and business aspects of her job. She also teaches classes in YA novel writing at Mediabistro and Publishing at New York University, as well as many webinars for Writer's Digest.
Her clients include New York Times bestselling YA horror author Madeleine Roux, YA and adult fantasy author Delilah S. Dawson, and contemporary YA authors Eric Devine, Caela Carter and Jessica Verdi.
 
Kristen McLean [More Info]
Book Futurist, CEO
Bookigee
Kristen McLean is a book futurist, consumer zoologist and idea omnivore. She is also the founder & CEO of Bookigee, a Miami-based company that develops groundbreaking tools and innovative analytics to help the $28B book publishing industry meet the digital future.


Their first product, WriterCube, helps authors discover their audience & marketing opportunities. Additionally, she is the co-chair of O’Reilly Media’s Author (R)evolution Day project, and she speaks nationally and internationally about the future of authorship, books and publishing. When Kristen isn’t building her company or speaking about the future of publishing, she’s on the prowl for great coffee and interesting conversation.
 
Leah Miller [More Info]
Editor
Crown Archetype
Leah Miller is an editor at Crown Archetype. Before taking on her role at Crown Archetype, buying primarily for Harmony Books, Leah was an editor at Simon & Schuster where she worked with the likes of Mehmet Oz, Joel Osteen, Julia Scheeres, Mira Bartok, and many other commercial and critical favorites. She has also worked at several academic presses as well as the Sterling Lord Literistic agency.
 
Jacquelyn Mitchard [More Info]
Author/Editor in Chief
Merit Press
Jacquelyn Mitchard’s first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was named by USA Today as one of the ten most influential books of the past 25 years—second only to the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (but second by a long shot, the author insists that it must be said.)


The Deep End of the Ocean was critically acclaimed, a New York Times bestseller, won several awards and was chosen as the first novel in the book club made famous by Oprah Winfrey. It was later transformed into a feature film produced by and starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

All of Mitchard’s novels have been bestsellers, including The Most Wanted, A Theory of Relativity, Twelve Times Blessed, The Breakdown Lane, Cage of Stars, Still Summer, No Time to Wave Goodbye and Second Nature. Mitchard has also written seven novels for young adults, the most recent being What We Saw at Night. Mitchard recently became the Editor in Chief of Merit Press, a new young adult imprint, for which she’ll be taking pitches during the Writer’s Digest Conference Pitch Slam.

A longtime journalist, Mitchard is a contributing editor for More magazine. With an MFA in Creative Writing, she has taught at Fairfield University and Southern New Hampshire University.

 
Paula Munier [More Info]
Senior Literary Agent and Content Strategist
Talcott Notch Literary Services
Paula Munier, Senior Literary Agent and Content Strategist at Talcott Notch Literary Services, boasts broad experience creating and marketing exceptional content in all formats across all markets for such media giants as Disney, Gannett, Greenspun Media Group and Quayside.


She began her career as a journalist, and along the way added editor, acquisitions specialist, digital content manager and publishing executive to her repertoire. She most recently served as the Director of Innovation and Acquisitions for Adams Media, where she headed up the acquisitions team responsible for creating, curating and producing both fiction and nonfiction for print, eBook, eShort, and direct-to-eBook formats. Her specialties include mystery/thriller, SF/fantasy, romance, YA, memoir, humor, pop culture, health & wellness, cooking, self-help, pop psych, New Age, inspirational, technology, science and writing. Munier is very involved with the mystery community, having served four terms as President of the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America as well as on the MWA board. (She’s currently VP of that organization.)

Munier has also served as both co-chair and Agents and Editors chair on the New England Crime Bake committee for seven years and counting. And she’s an active member of Sisters in Crime. A well-published journalist, author, copywriter and ghostwriter, Munier has penned countless new stories, articles, essays, collateral and blogs. She is also the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including Fixing Freddie, 5-Minute Mindfulness and A Miscellany of Murder.


 
Joe Nelms [More Info]
Writer
Joe Nelms is the author of The Last Time I Died (Tyrus Books/F+W Media, 2014), which the American Library Association describes as “One of the most compelling first novels in recent memory…chilling, cinematic, and unapologetically brash, a heady mixture of all-consuming desire and mortality."

Joe has spent the last twenty years working in advertising, television, and film, including senior positions at DMB&B, Grey, BBDO, and Warner Bros., serving clients like Pepsi, GE, Campbell’s, Foot Locker, the Harry Potter series, the Ocean’s 11 series, and The Matrix Trilogy. He was also the co-founder, artistic director, producer, and director of Live On Tape, a live sketch-comedy show that was bought by NBC. Additionally, he helped produce Between, a feature film that debuted in the Sundance Drama competition, and he co-wrote the teen horror parody film Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (currently available on Netflix).
 
Kathleen Nishimoto [More Info]
Literary Agent
William Morris Endeavor
Kathleen Nishimoto began her career in the Literary Department at William Morris Endeavor after graduating from Brown University with a BA in Comparative Literature. She represents both literary and commercial fiction as well as some narrative nonfiction, with a focus on voice-driven material. She considers adult and young adult material and likes unusual characters or storylines, often with a darker edge. She also works closely with the Speakers Department at WME.

Born in New Hampshire, Kathleen currently resides in New York City.

 
Keith Ogorek [More Info]
Senior Vice President of Marketing
Author Solutions - a Penguin Random House company
Keith Ogorek brings the unique perspective of executive and author, having self-published three books during his six-year tenure as senior vice president of marketing with Author Solutions – a Penguin Random House company. A recognized industry thought leader, Ogorek has spoken at leading publishing conferences including Book Expo America, The San Francisco Writers Conference, Blue Ridge Christian Writers Conference, and previous Writer’s Digest Conferences. He has written numerous whitepapers focused on indie publishing, including most recently, The Four Paths to Publishing. He also shares insights on his blog, www.indiebookwriters.com

 
Gina Panettieri [More Info]
Literary Agent
Talcott Notch Literary
Gina Panettieri is the President and Executive Editor of Talcott Notch Literary. She has successfully placed hundreds of books with such well-known publishers as Berkley, St. Martin's Press, Adams Media, Palgrave-Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, John Wiley & Sons and many others. She represents a full range of adult and children's fiction and nonfiction, with a particular interest in young adult fantasy, young adult realistic fiction, middle-grade humor, adult mystery and thriller, women's fiction, cookbooks, memoir, history, popular science, parenting, true crime and health and fitness.
 
Gabriela Pereira [More Info]
Creative Director and Instigator
DIY MFA
Gabriela Pereira is the Creative Director and Instigator of DIY MFA, the do-it-yourself alternative to a Masters degree in writing. She creates workshops and tools to help writers get the MFA experience without going to school.


Gabriela holds an MFA in Writing for Children from The New School. When she's not teaching or designing learning tools for DIY MFA, she enjoys writing some fiction of her own. She especially loves writing middle grade and teen fiction, with a few "short stories for grown-ups" thrown in for good measure. Visit DIYMFA.com to learn more about Gabriela and DIY MFA.


 
Kimberly Perel [More Info]
Literary Agent
Wendy Sherman Associates
Kim Perel joined Wendy Sherman Associates in 2009 and has since conceptualized sold, and even ghost-written numerous books for major publishers.  She began her career at Forbes magazine,  holds an MFA degree in Creative Writing from The New School. She handles fiction, non-fiction, memoirs and books on fashion, home décor and food.  

 
Carl Pritzkat [More Info]
Vice President of Business Development
PWxyz (PublishersWeekly and BookLIfe)
Carl Pritzkat is vice president of business development for PWxyz, the company that owns Publishers Weekly and BookLife.  Pritzkat oversees new business, digital strategy and product development for PWxyz and serves as president of BookLife, PWxyz's site dedicated to indie authors.  Prior to PWxyz, Pritzkat co-founded interactive media company Mediapolis, inc., where he oversaw projects for The New York Times, Viacom, NPR, Sony, Johnson & Johnson, Volvo and others.  He also ran ECM Records for Bertelsmann.  He has a degree in music from UCLA.
 
Emily Pullen [More Info]
Store Manager/Bookseller
WORD Bookstore
Emily Pullen grew up and attended Grinnell College in Iowa, and then she lit out for the coasts -- Boston, then Los Angeles, and finally Brooklyn. She has worked in bookstores since 2004 and has also done editorial work for independent press Two Dollar Radio. She is currently store and inventory manager at WORD in Brooklyn.

 
Ember Reichgott Junge [More Info]
Attorney
Former Minnesota State Senator Ember Reichgott Junge is author of Minnesota’s 1991 first-in-nation charter school law, a winner of the 2000 Innovations in American Government Award from Harvard University’s JFK School of Government. The 18-year legislator served as Senate Assistant Majority Leader before stepping down from public service in 2000. In honor of the 20th anniversary of chartering, Reichgott Junge wrote Zero Chance of Passage: The Pioneering Charter School Story, a candid memoir of her challenging journey of pioneering the first charter school law from idea to national movement. The book has won multiple national awards, including 2013 Grand Prize Winner of Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, and Third Grand Prize Winner for Nonfiction Books in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards (www.ZeroChanceOfPassage.com).
 
Jeremy Robinson [More Info]
Author
Secondworld, Pulse, Instinct, Threshold
Jeremy Robinson is the author of numerous novels (nearly twenty) including the highly praised Secondworld, as well as Pulse, Instinct, and Threshold, the first three books in his exciting Jack Sigler series, which is also the focus of and expanding series of co-authored novellas deemed the Chesspocalypse. Robinson also known as the #1 Amazon.com horror writer Jeremy Bishop, author of The Sentinel and the controversial novel, Torment. His novels have been translated into ten languages. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and three children.
 
John Rudolph [More Info]
Literary Agent
Dystel & Goderich
John Rudolph joined Dystel & Goderich in 2010 after twelve years as an acquiring children’s book editor. He began his career at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers as an Editorial Assistant and then moved to the G. P. Putnam’s Sons imprint of the Penguin Young Readers Group, where he eventually served as Executive Editor on a wide range of young adult, middle-grade, nonfiction, and picture book titles.
He is actively looking for narrative nonfiction, especially in music, sports, history, popular science, “big think”, performing arts, health, business, memoir, military history, and humor. He is also interested in commercial men’s fiction—thrillers, mysteries and other “boy books.” On the children’s side, he is keenly interested in middle-grade and young adult fiction, and would love to find the next great picture book author/illustrator.


 
Chris Russell [More Info]
Associate Editor
Viking Penguin, Penguin Group USA
Chris Russell is an Associate Editor at Viking Penguin. He is looking for literary and upmarket commercial fiction and narrative nonfiction. His other interests include cultural history and the arts, food and cooking, memoir, essays, and humor.

 
 
Margot Sage-EL [More Info]
Owner
Watchung Booksellers, Montclair, NJ
Margot Sage-EL is the owner of watchung booksellers since 1996. Watchung Booksellers is a small community bookstore with a powerful outreach in a vibrant and literary suburb, committed to supporting local authors.  Margot serves as events manager,  buyer and bookseller, and oversees a dedicated staff of booksellers.  She is currently serving as President on the NAIBA (New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association) Board.  She earned a BS in Sociology, Barnard College.
 
Chuck Sambuchino [More Info]
Editor/Writer
Writer's Digest Books
Chuck Sambuchino is an editor and a writer. He works for Writer's Digest Books and edits two annual resource guides—the Guide to Literary Agents and the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. Chuck’s first humor book, How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack (gnomeattack.com), was released in 2010 and has been featured by Reader's Digest, USA Today, the New York Times and AOL News. His second humor book, Red Dog / Blue Dog: When Pooches Get Political (July 2012) has been featured by Political Wire and the Huffington Post.
His Guide to Literary Agents Blog (guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog) is one of the biggest blogs in publishing. In addition, Chuck has written two other writing-related titles, is a freelance editor, and was recently included in a FORBES Top 10 list of "Social Media Influencers: Book Publishing."
 
 
Phil Sexton [More Info]
Publisher
Writer's Digest
Phil Sexton is the Publisher of Writer’s Digest. Over more than 20 years in the book business, he has served in numerous capacities, including Vice President of Sales for F+W Media, Sales Director of Adams Media, Director of Merchandising for United Magazine Company and Independent Bookseller. He is the author of A Picture is Worth 1000 Words, Legends of Literature and The Writer’s Lab (Oct 2012), and co-author of The Writer’s Book of Matches. He is also the co-founder and co-editor of the much loved (and sorely missed) literary journal, Fresh Boiled Peanuts.
 
Dani Shapiro [More Info]
Author
Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life and Devotion
Dani Shapiro is the bestselling author of three memoirs: Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life (2013), Devotion (2010) and Slow Motion (1998); and five novels: Black & White (2007), Family History (2003), Picturing the Wreck (1995), Fugitive Blue (1992) and Playing with Fire (1992).
 

Her newest memoir Still Writing—a meditation on the artistic process and a searching look at her own creative life—is both a lodestar for aspiring scribes and an eloquent memoir of the writing life. More magazine wrote, "Part passionate primer, part benediction, this is Shapiro's love letter to a discipline, and to the colleagues, students and readers who share its rigors and rewards." In Devotion, Shapiro explores her spirituality—with the help of a rabbi, a yogi, and a Buddhist—prompted by her son's questions about God, mortality and the afterlife, giving us an insightful and penetrating memoir that thousands of readers have identified with. Devotion is the subject of an hour-long conversation between Oprah and Shapiro that aired on Oprah's show Super Soul Sunday (October 2013). Shapiro's first memoir, Slow Motion, details the tumultuous life of her early twenties and the rebirth she experienced in early adulthood. Shapiro’s work has also appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Tin House, One Story, Elle, The New York Times Book Review and The Los Angeles Times and has been widely anthologized.

She has taught in the writing programs at Columbia, NYU, The New School and Wesleyan University, and is co-founder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. She is a contributing editor at Travel + Leisure. She lives with her family in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
 
Susan Shapiro [More Info]
Journalist/Author/Professor
The New School, New York University
Susan Shapiro, a Manhattan journalism instructor, has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Salon, Psychology Today and Writer's Digest. She's author of nine books including the acclaimed memoirs Lighting Up, Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Only As Good as Your Word and coauthor of the new memoir from Penguin, The Bosnia List.
 
Douglas Singleton [More Info]
Buyer and Literary Journal Curator
McNally Jackson Books
Douglas Singleton is a buyer and literary journal curator for McNally Jackson Books in Soho, and a freelance PR consultant. He has written criticism on the arts for The Brooklyn Rail, L Magazine, and BOMB.
 
Jeffrey Somers [More Info]
Author
Jeffrey Somers began his writing life as an Editorial Assistant at a medical/science publisher in New York City. Most experts agree that this is likely where the young man went insane. In 1995 Jeff began publishing his own magazine, The Inner Swine (www.innerswine.com). His first novel, Lifers, was published in 2001. The Avery Cates series, beginning with The Electric Church, was published by Orbit Books from 2007-2011. In 2013, Jeff published Trickster with Pocket Books with a sequel to follow. He's also had stories published in many magazines. His story "Ringing the Changes" was chosen for Best American Mystery Stories 2006 and his story "sift, almost invisible, through" appeared in Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris in 2010. He currently lives in Hoboken, NJ, with his lovely wife Danette and their plump, imperious cats Pierre, Oliver, Spartacus, Otto, and Coco. Jeff insists the cats would be delicious.
 
Cheryl St. John [More Info]
Author/Instructor
WRITING WITH EMOTION, TENSION & CONFLICT
Among her achievements, which include over fifty published books in both contemporary and historical genres, Cheryl St.John has received multiple Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Awards and four RITA nominations. In describing her stories of second chances and redemption, readers and reviewers use words like, “emotional punch, hometown feel, core values, believable characters and real life situations.” She has taught writing on local and national levels, and is in demand as a motivational speaker. Her best-selling book WRITING WITH EMOTION, TENSION & CONFLICT is available from Writers Digest.
 
Emily St. John Mandel [More Info]
Author
Emily St. John Mandel is the author of four novels, most recently Station Eleven (Knopf, September 2014.) She is a staff writer for The Millions, and her essays and short fiction have appeared in numerous anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2013 and Venice Noir. She lives in New York City with her husband.
 
Shari Stauch [More Info]
Founder
www.WhereWritersWin.com
Shari Stauch, creator of Where Writers Win, has been involved in publishing, marketing, and publicity for 30 years. She is the principal author of the Where Writers Win blog, and speaks at conferences around the country on practical methods of author marketing. The Where Writers Win team’s mission is the “shrink the web” for authors. Their newest collaboration is The Winner Circle – vetted book review directories, accessto live book clubs, media contacts, and other curated resources for emerging authors.

 
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo [More Info]
Co-Owner/Events Coordinator
Greenlight Bookstore
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo is co-owner and events coordinator at Greenlight Bookstore, which opened in 2009.  Before that she had ten years of experience working in New York independent bookstores.  Jessica and her business partner Rebecca Fitting were named two of Brooklyn's top 100 "cultural influencers" this year by Brooklyn Magazine.  Jessica has served on the Booksellers Advisory Council to the American Booksellers Association, the board of the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association, and the Emerging Leaders Council for peer mentoring for young booksellers.  She has spoken at Book Expo America, Digital Book World, the NYU and Columbia publishing programs, and other conferences and workshops on issues related to independent bookstores.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two-year-old daughter, who is already obsessed with books.
 
Michael J. Sullivan [More Info]
Author
Michael J. Sullivan is a publishing veteran, using a wide range of options including: self-publishing, small-press, big-five, Kickstarter, print-only, foreign translations, and audio. His best-selling, debut series, The Riyria Revelations, has sold more than half a million copies, been translated into fifteen foreign languages, and appeared on more than eighty-five “best of” or “most anticipated” lists including those compiled by Library Journal, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and Audible.com. Michael shares his business experience and pulls back the publishing veil in a regular column for Amazing Stories.

 
Mare Swallow [More Info]
Founder and Executive Director
Chicago Writers Conference
Mare Swallow is the founder and Executive Director of the Chicago Writers Conference, where she works with (and hires) writers and authors. She has been a public speaker for over 15 years, and a public speaking coach for the last 10. She works with writers to help them polish their presentation style and prepare their own work for reading in Live Lit venues, bookstores, or events. Mare is also a fixture on the Chicago Live Lit scene, where she performs regularly at Tuesday Funk.
For three years, she wrote and hosted the Etiquette Bitch blog & podcast, then went on to create the Chicago Publishes Podcast, where she interviewed authors and publishers from across the country.
 
Robert Swartwood [More Info]
Author
The Serial Killer's Wife
 Robert Swartwood is the USA Today bestselling author of The Serial Killer’s Wife, The Calling, Man of Wax, and several other novels. His work has appeared in The Los Angeles Review, The Daily Beast, Postscripts, ChiZine, Space and Time, Wigleaf, and PANK. He created the term “hint fiction” and is the editor of Hint Fiction: An Anthology of Stories in 25 Words or Fewer. He lives with his wife in Pennsylvania.
 
Shanna Swendson [More Info]
Author
The Enchanted, Inc Series
Shanna Swendson is the author of the ENCHANTED, INC. series of humorous contemporary fantasy novels. She’s also contributed essays to a number of books on pop-culture topics, including Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl, I Learned from Judy Blume, Serenity Found, Perfectly Plum, and So Say We All. When she’s not writing, she’s usually discussing books and television on the Internet, singing in or directing choirs, taking ballet classes, or attempting to learn Italian cooking. She lives in Irving, Texas, with several hardy houseplants and a lot of books.
 
Kate Travers [More Info]
Director of Digital Business Development
Workman Publishing
Kate Travers is the Director of Digital Business Development at Workman Publishing. She oversees all Workman web properties and services, online communities, and overall digital business strategy.

 

 
Kenan Trebincevic [More Info]
Author
The Bosnia List
Kenan Trebincevic was born in a town called Brcko in 1980 to a Bosnian Muslim family who was exiled in the Balkan War. He came to the United States in 1993 and became an American citizen in 2001. He works as a physical therapist in Greenwich Village and lives in Astoria Queens, amid 10,000 other former Yugoslavians. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Op-Ed page, The International Herald Tribune, Salon.com, on American Public radio, and in the Best American Travel Writing Anthology 2012. His memoir The Bosnia List, coauthored with journalist Susan Shapiro, was published by Penguin in February 2014.
 
Lena Valencia [More Info]
Frontlist Buyer
The POWERHOUSE Arena
Lena Valencia is the Frontlist Buyer and former Event Coordinator at The POWERHOUSE Arena. She holds an MFA in Fiction from The New School and is the curator of The HiFi Reading Series at The HiFi Bar in New York City's East Village.
 
Ryan G. Van Cleave [More Info]
Author
Ryan G. Van Cleave, Ph.D., is an international speaker, freelance writer, writing coach, instructor, and author (or co-author) of more than twenty books, including poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. His work has appeared in such venues as The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard Review, The Missouri Review, The New York Times Review of Books, Ploughshares, The Progressive, Psychology Today, and The Writers’ Journal. His work has also been features in such books as Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry (Prentice Hall), The 15th Annual Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror (St. Martin’s), Never Before: Poems About First Experiences (Four Way Books), and In a Fine Frenzy: Poetry Inspired by Shakespeare (University of Iowa Press).


Ryan is a faculty member at The Ringling College of Art + Design, as well as Executive Director of C&R Press, a non-profit literary organization. He has taught creative writing and literature at Clemson University, Eckerd College, Florida State University, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also the 2007-2008 Jenny McKean Moore Writer-in-Washington at George Washington University.

 
Roseanne Wells [More Info]
Literary Agent
Jennifer De Chiara Literary
Roseanne is interested in narrative nonfiction, science (popular or trade, not academic), health, history, true crime, religion, travel, food/cooking, and similar subjects. She also seeks strong literary fiction, YA, sci-fi, fantasy, and detective mysteries (more Sherlock Holmes than cozies).