Workshop 1: Bill Kenower, Author and Writing Coach

Fearless Writing

Location: Moose Room

Learning the craft is only the beginning of a writer’s journey. After your story is told you must share your work with friends, classmates, agents, editors, and readers. This is what we call being an author, and it is what beginning and experienced writers alike find most challenging in their working lives. Based on his popular book Fearless Writing: How To Create Boldly and Everyone Has What It Takes: A Writer’s Guide to the End of Self-Doubt, Kenower leads a guided roundtable discussion where participants can talk candidly about the real barriers to writing success – questions of voice, intelligence, time, money, and talent.

Workshop 2: Laura Bradford, Agent, Bradford Literary Agency

Your Publishing Game Plan

Location: Salmon Room

Develop a personalized plan for tackling the journey to publication YOU want. Traditional or self publishing, agent or no agent, there are lots of paths possible to get to publication. We will workshop your pitch, query letter and comparable works list as well as discuss market research, branding, targeting agents and/or publishers and goal-setting. 

All participants should leave this class with some kind of game plan for your writing projects and goals that have been tailored to your needs. For those seeking traditional publication, we will also start on a query letter, workshop comp titles, and practice pitches. This class is intended for those with a completed or near-complete manuscript who are wondering what to do next.

Workshop 3: Abigail Samoun, Agent, Red Fox Literary Agency

Those Tricky First Paragraphs—How to Create a Powerful Introduction to Your Story

Location: Beluga Room

Learn to create a powerful introduction to your story that hooks the reader (agents and editors, too!) with an intriguing character, sense of setting, and promise of the premise. In this 3-hour workshop, there will be plenty of time to bring out the “ta-da’s” and “ah ha’s!” in your work-in-progress. So bring it, pencil and paper or computer, and be ready for magic! 

Workshop 4: Bill Kenower, Author and Writing Coach

Fearless Marketing

Location: Moose Room

Most writers’ love of storytelling does not easily translate to marketing those stories once they are published. Unfortunately, authors are increasingly responsible for their own marketing, a task most writers find boring, irritating, depressing, and often fruitless. In this class, William Kenower turns marketing on its head so that authors can take the skills and passion they have for writing and learn how to apply them to marketing. This is not a how-to-market workshop. Instead, it is a how to enjoy marketing workshop. Once you enjoy it, once you stop being afraid of it, you’ll learn how to market your book the same way you learned how to write it.

In this class you’ll learn:

·       How to get over your fear of pitching and writing query letters.

·       How to use your love of your story to find its best marketing strategy.

·       Why making yourself use Facebook or Twitter rarely translates to more book sales.

Workshop 5: Brooke Hartman, Children's Author

Picture Book Chop Shop

Location: Salmon Room

So you've written a picture book... Or you have an idea for one... Or you think you might need an illustrator... 

Bring your works in progress to the Picture Book Chop Shop! Award-winning picture book author Brooke Hartman will start with presenting  various ways to write, edit, and format a picture book, then discuss where to go from here, including publishing options, illustrations, and more. For nonfiction and fiction projects, and everything in between.

Workshop 6: Angela James, Editor, Before You Hit Send

Be a Book Boss: A 5-Part Master Class on the Business of Writing, Editing and Publishing

Location: Beluga Room

Join #1 NYT bestselling editor Angela James for a 3-hour presentation and discussion on some of the most important aspects of your publishing career, including editing & writing, brand, choosing the right publishing path for you, common missteps authors make in their careers and how to avoid them, and the power of community.