Join agents and editors as they talk about industry trends and tropes.

The synopsis. The source of dread for many authors is actually one of the most versatile tools in the author’s toolbox. From plotting to marketing, a concise synopsis can help an author hone their story to the basic elements that will entice readers to say those magic words, “I want more.” But how does one condense an entire novel into 850 words? By channeling your inner Tony Stark, that’s how.

Want to know how to make a good first impression with your writing? Let Robert Dugoni teach you. Robert's books have earned spots on the NY Times best selling list, as well as Wall Street Journal, Booksense, and Amazon's bestseller list. It's safe to say his books have made great first impressions on his readers.

The next step after writing a novel or memoir is to edit, ideally, with the help of beta readers and critique partners. But how do you go about choosing a critique partner? This presentation will explore two authors and their process for finding each other as critique partners, as well as their experience working with others. What worked, what didn’t, and everything in between.

Simply said, content is information directed to an audience, usually to provide value and influence. As writers, we may need to participate in marketing ourselves and what we write. This means we may spend time and energy creating create written content used to connect with potential readers. This workshop reviews 5 tips for expanding the value of a single piece content, a blog post, for use on multiple social media sites.

There are many ways to organize your fiction writing. This PowerPoint workshop offers a guide to creating a notebook to arrange information such as: character images and descriptions, notes about the setting of your book and research materials, into an easy to use format.

You’ve written your memoir, or have an idea of what to write, now what? This presentation will explore the ways a memoir writer can get their names out there and begin to market themselves well before an agent asks for a proposal. Things like public speaking engagements, public readings, book fairs, smaller press literary submissions, becoming a regular contributor for small presses, and writing communities. It will explore social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and delve into how to use other genres, such as poetry, to continue building a writer’s platform. It will touch on the pros and cons of certain arenas as well as financial barriers and other real-life issues that may complicate platform building and how to navigate around them.

Have you saved an emergency fund to cover unexpected costs? If not, you're in good company! most people find the concept of saving several months of bills overwhelming. However, if 2020 has taught us anything, we've learned that having some money in the bank is important. In this short talk, Peggy Doviak offers a system to make saving an emergency fund easy!

What do you do once you have written a book. Sources for getting published, editing, sales and marketing of your work.

Some people outline. Others don’t. There’s plenty of advice on how to do the former, but those who practice the latter sometimes feel that they’re floundering, and no one’s providing any guidelines. Working with my own process as well as that of students, clients, and mentees, I’ve come up with twelve principles that you can apply, post-pantsing, in order to start moving from chaos to order.