Two debut novelists talk craft, querying, finding agents and publishers: What they learned during their debut years, and everything in between. Noelle Salazar and Jamie Pacton met at PNWA back in 2013, when they were both unagented, unpublished authors. Now, Noelle is a USA Today bestselling author, and Jamie has published several young adult and middle-grade novels to popular and critical acclaim. Join them for an honest look at how they write their stories, their long journies to publication, and what they've learned along the way. This session will include a Q&A at the end.

This workshop explores how we went from novelist to merchandising, tv productions, magazines, etc. It also explains how out of the box thinking can get you to extra income streams using a book as the basis.

Why do we write? How do we write? How do we create something out of just our minds? The longer I've been writing for a living, the more I've been focusing on process. It's unique for every writer, but how we process idea, story and put them into our writing. A topic rarely covered, but I've found it's the most fundamental thing a writer needs to understand.

The ongoing global health pandemic has sent everyone’s stress levels soaring. In addition to the fear and grief directly related to the virus, many of us are also experiencing financial difficulties, ourselves, or we know people who are struggling. This interactive session offers strategies for answering the following questions.
• What do you during an emergency if you don’t have an emergency fund?
• In great uncertainty, should you keep funding your retirement account?
• What resources should you use first if money is tight?
• How do you qualify for unemployment?
• What are the new rules about using retirement accounts for COVID-related expenses?

Peggy will also take questions from the audience, so come prepared with your concerns. Unthinkable emergencies aren’t common, but when they happen, you need a plan.

So you finish your book and then what? Do you build your platform before you query agents, (and p.s. what is a “platform” in the first place)? Do you hire your own marketing people to develop not just your website, but your brand, and if so, where do you begin? Or should you try for the book deal first and hope for in-house marketing support? Or both? Where should you put your social media efforts in a sea of cyber overwhelm? The world of marketing can be as creative as the act of writing, but it uses different acumen and strategies. Laura will break down the essentials for you, as well as take questions to help you gain confidence and vital information to support your dream.

This is a review of where to find more potential readers in your everyday life and how it has helped us to sell. This workshop will explore a lot of anecdotes from our own selling tours.

Launching to Win provides a comprehensive overview of the steps needed to ensure a successful launch of your indie‐published novel. Divided into three phases (Design, Pre‐Order, and Post Launch), this talk reveals the steps bestselling indie authors use to ensure their books launch with a bang and are indistinguishable from those of a Big Five publisher. Attendees will each receive a customizable Book Launch Planning Guide to organize their next book launch as well as a thorough overview of the steps needed to crack the popularity charts, gain – and hold – a high sales rank, and succeed in each launch phases.

Let’s be honest, we all judge a book by its cover. Books with compelling graphics, eye-catching fonts, and superior quality sell more copies than those books without. Join author Gerri Russell as she provides techniques, tips, tricks, and then show examples of book covers that were altered to reach a wider audience and maximize sales.
Host/Moderator

Join agent Erin Cox and her client Noelle Salazar as they talk about the agent and author relationship.

For many of us, writing isn’t just a personal hobby. Yes, we write for ourselves, but we also write for our readers, and we want to make a profit. For the IRS to consider your writing a business, you need to take several steps. This interactive session answers the following questions:
• Why should you treat your writing like a business?
• How do you prove to the IRS that your writing isn’t a hobby?
• What tax deductions are available to writing businesses, and how has recent legislation changed them?
• Can you qualify for government assistance or unemployment as a writer?
• What financial and tax records do you need to keep?
Peggy will also take questions from the audience, so come prepared with your concerns.