Tag Archives: books

San Francisco Writers Conference

Literary, Writing Conferences & Getaways, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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The 2017 San Francisco Writers Conference will be held on February 16-19 at the historical Mark Hopkins Hotel. Meet keynoters:  

But the SFWC presenters list also includes many more bestselling authors, literary agents, editors, and publishers from major publishing houses.  There are experts on self-publishing, book promotion, platform building, social media, and author websites.

PRESENTERS:
Jon Agee, children’s book author/illustrator
Nina Amir, author, speaker, journalist, nonfiction editor/coach/consultant
Kathleen Antrim, author, Co-President, of International Thriller Writers
Jim Azevedo, Smashwords Marketing Director
Aya de Leon, author and poet
Frances Caballo, SFWC social media director
Zoe FitzGerald Carter, author of Imperfect Endings: A Daughter’s Story of Love, Loss, and Letting Go
Stephanie Chandler, author, speaker and CEO
Mark Coker, Smashwords Founder
Rana DiOrio, Chief Executive Officer of Little Pickle Press
Julia Drake, co-founder of Wildbound PR
Selden Edwards, author of The Lost Prince
Kate Farrell, author, librarian, storyteller
Steaphen Fick, founder of the Davenriche Martial Artes School
Elizabeth Fishel, author of Getting To 30:  A Parent’s Guide to the 20-Something Years (coauthored with Jeffrey Arnett)
Diane Frank, poet and author of six books of poems
Joel Friedlander, award-winning book designer and blogger
Tanya Egan Gibson, author, freelance editor and consultant
Cali Gilbert, author
Jewelle Gomez, author, poet, critic and playwright
Constance Hale, journalist and author
Melissa Hart, author and contributing editor at The Writer Magazine
K.J. Howe, author and Executive Director of ThrillerFest
Stuart Horwitz, founder and principal of Book Architecture
Carla King, adventure travel author, Founder of Self-Pub Boot Camp and Author Friendly
Michael Larsen, author, co-founder/co-director of the SFWC
Linda Lee, web site designer and WordPress expert 
Donna Levin, author/writing teacher
Richard Loranger, writer, performer, visual artist
Mary Mackey, novelist, poet, screenwriter
Susie Meserve, memoirist, essayist, and poet
Tim McCanna, author of Bitty Bot and Watersong
Jennie Nash, author, teacher and CCO of AuthorAccelerator
Louise Nayer, co-authored How To Bury A Goldfish: 113 Rituals for Everyday Life.
Kathryn Otoshi, children’s book author
Douglas Rees, children’s book author and librarian
Olivia Rivers, children’s book author
Jordan E. Rosenfeld, author, editor and writing coach
Orna Ross, Irish indie author. She writes and publishes novels, poetry and the Go Creative!
Naheed Senzai, children’s book author
Lida Sideris, author of Murder and Other Unnatural Disasters
Justin Sloan, video game writer, novelist and screenwriter
Steven Spatz, writer,marketer and President of BookBaby
Elizabeth Stark, author,mentor and podcaster
Penny Warner, author and Agatha Award winner
Dylan Yates, author, writer and vocal coach

The lists for attending agents and editors looks topnotch! Some of the agents will even be accepting pitches during the Speed Dating For Agents. You can see a list of those participating here. Their are also editors doing eight minute consultations. More information on the consults is here. But for an idea of the many agents and editors that will be in attendance, here is a list:

AGENTS:
Lisa Abellera, Kimberley Cameron and Associates (CA)
Peter Beren, Peter Beren Literary Agency (CA)
Jennifer Chen Tran, Fuse Literary (CA)
Amy Cloughley, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc. (CA)
Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank, Fairbank Literary Representation (NY)
Mark Gottlieb, Trident Media Group, LLC (NYC)
Sarah Levitt, Aevitas Creative Management (NY)
Laurie McLean, Fuse Literary (CA)
Mary C. Moore, Kimberley Cameron & Associates (CA)
Dana Newman, Dana Newman Literary (CA)
Kim Perel, Irene Goodman Literary Agency (NY)
Jody Rein, Jody Rein Books (CO)
Andy Ross, Andy Ross Agency (CA)
Rayhané Sanders, Lippincott Massie McQuilkin (NY)
Ken Sherman, Ken Sherman & Associates (CA)
Jennifer March Soloway, Associate Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (CA)
Gordon Warnock, Fuse Literary (CA)
Carlie Webber, CK Webber Associates (CA)
Ted Weinstein, Ted Weinstein Literary (CA)
Anna Worrall, The Gernert Company (NY)
Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Foundry Literary + Media (NY)

EDITORS:
Chuck Adams, Executive editor at Algonquin Books
Brenda Copeland, St. Martins Press
Jason Gardner, New World Library
Mary Knippel, Independent Editor
Heather Lazare, Editor & Publishing Consultant
Tyler Moss, Managing Editor at Writers Digest
Taylor Norman, Chronicle Books
Jane Ormerod, Founding editor at great weather for MEDIA
Mary Rakow, Independent Editor
Leila Sales, author and Associate Publishing Manager at Viking Children’s Books
Lauren Spiegel, Senior Editor at Touchstone (S&S)
Liz Stein, Editor at Park Row Books, a division of Harlequin/HarperCollins
Annie Tucker, independent writing coach, developmental editor, and copy editor 
Monica Wesolowska, Editor and teacher of fiction and creative non-fiction
Lisa Westmoreland, Executive Editor at 10 Speed Press

For those attending, this sounds like a great four days of learning and marketing yourself!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Contest Time!

Contests, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hey Readers! Take a look at this contest I came across! Don’t you just love “Press This” on WordPress? If you’re looking for a cover design, this ones for you. Oh, and there are a few books to be won! Woot!

Hello readers and writers! Today marks the first day in a month-long contest. The talented Sean Lowery with High Impact Covers and author Allison Maruska have generously donated prizes to 6 …

Source: Contest Time!

12 Book Giveaway!

Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

book-spines

Sharon Johnston and eleven other authors have banded together to give 12 books away they authored. This is a great giveaway around the holiday season. I’ve read both Sharon’s books Divided and Shattered, and highly recommend! As for the other awesome sounding titles, I’m entering in hopes of winning too! I mean, c’mon, who doesn’t like books! Go here for information on entering and links to the other authors.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Queries That Worked

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Every writer knows the angst of summing their fantastical manuscript into a couple brief paragraphs. This grueling step is necessary to write an intriguing query letter. (For non-writers, this letter is the introduction to a manuscript to swoon a literary agent and/or publisher into reading a writer’s story with hopes of being signed.)  Writerly folks can spend hours, days, weeks, and months forming words together, rearranging, and deleting until the paragraphs are just right. And honestly, some writers struggle knowing when the query is the absolute best for sending out into the world.

And sometimes, the problem isn’t always summing up the story. With nearly 130 million books published in the world, it’s likely someone already wrote something similar. So a writer needs to know what makes their story different and highlight that in their query letter. And trust me, this isn’t necessarily as easy as it sounds.

Knowing the struggles of query letters, I decided to inform my readers of a couple places to view query letters that have worked in hopes it’ll help a few writers.

  • Successful Queries via Chuck Sambuchino at Writer’s Digest. The reason I love this sight is because he also lists commentary from the agent that signed the author and why it worked for them.
  • Query Samples via Charlotte Dillon.

And for authors receiving rejections, here are a few best sellers that got snubby rejections but went on to sell millions of copies! Don’t let go of your dream!

P.D. Pabst

Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction.

Intern at Entangled Publishing with Kate Brauning

Internship, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kate Brauning

Exciting news! Editor Kate Brauning of Entangled Publishing is seeking 2-3 additional interns. Yep, you heard that right. Not just one! She looking mostly interns with YA for Entangled Teen but also with single-title adult romance and category romance. POC, LGBTQ+/MOGAI, neuroatypical, and disabled applicants are encouraged. For those not familiar with Entangled teen, know their books are distributed by Macmillan Publishers, which means they can reach 120 countries with English versions of their books (among other things).

This is a remote, unpaid internship. Regular access to the internet will be necessary. Substantial training, mentorship, and copies of the print books from my list are provided. Applicants for the internship should have 8-10 hours per week available, though the internship is somewhat flexible. Prior experience in publishing is not required, but experience in a library or bookstore is a plus.

For guidelines on how to submit, go here.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Guardian of Secrets by Brenda Drake Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal, Literary, Reviews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

guardian-of-secrets

Let us know what you think of the cover for Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2) by Brenda Drake which releases February 7, 2017!

This cover reveal is brought to you by Entangled TEEN & YA Interrobang!

The time has arrived for the cover reveal for the fantastic sequel to Brenda Drake’s Library Jumpers Novels: Guardian of Secrets. I’m soooo excited! Just look at the cover, it says “you’ll love me, so BUY ME.” Seriously, you can preorder NOW! (See links below.) And if you haven’t read the first novel, Thief of Lies, I urge you to do this immediately. You will not be disappointed.

Brenda Drake’s thoughts on the cover:

I had an idea of what I wanted the cover of Guardian of Secrets to look like the entire time I was writing the story. I was delighted (I might have screamed) when the cover showed up in my email and it was EXACTLY what I’d imagined. I love that it’s blue since part of the setting of the book takes place in a cold climate. I’m thrilled the couple is on it, too. They resemble the characters I’ve created in my mind perfectly. The cover is so beautiful, and I’m beyond excited to share it with everyone!

guardian-of-secrets-cover

About Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2):

Being a Sentinel isn’t all fairytales and secret gardens.

Sure, jumping through books into the world’s most beautiful libraries to protect humans from mystical creatures is awesome. No one knows that better than Gia Kearns, but she could do without the part where people are always trying to kill her. Oh, and the fact that Pop and her had to move away from her friends and life as she knew it. 

And if that isn’t enough, her boyfriend, Arik, is acting strangely. Like, maybe she should be calling him “ex,” since he’s so into another girl. But she doesn’t have time to be mad or even jealous, because someone has to save the world from the upcoming apocalypse, and it looks like that’s going to be Gia. 

Maybe. If she survives.

Want to read more? Pre-order your copy of Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers, #2) by Brenda Drake today!

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Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Amazon CA | Amazon UK

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Brenda Drake grew up the youngest of three children, an Air Force brat, and the continual new kid at school. Her fondest memories growing up is of her eccentric, Irish grandmother’s animated tales, which gave her a strong love for storytelling. So it was only fitting that she would choose to write stories with a bend toward the fantastical. When she’s not writing or hanging out with her family, she haunts libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops, or reads someplace quiet and not at all exotic (much to her disappointment).

 Have a great writerly/reader day!
P.D. Pabst

Bath Children’s Novel Award

Awards, Contests, Critiques, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

bath-childrens-novel-award

The Bath Children’s Novel Award is an international writing competition for unpublished and independently published novelists. This years judge is literary agent Julia Churchill of AM Heath. And the sponsor is Cornerstones Literary Consultancy. The winner will receive £2,000 (approximately $2467 US) and a shortlist prize of £500 (approximately $616 US)Cornerstones Literary Consultancy vouchers.

This is The Bath Children’s Novel Award’s second year. Inaugural winner Lucy Van Smit was swiftly signed by literary agent Sallyanne Sweeney, Jane Brittan attracted a Carnegie Medal nomination for her indie-published debut and shortlistee Sophie Cameron signed a book deal with Macmillan Children’s after accepting representation with literary agent Hellie Ogden for her YA novel Out of the Blue.

Entry for the award ends November 20th, 2016 (and remember, this is UK time zone)! For complete guidelines and entry fee information, go here. As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

The Bent Agency Generalist Internship

Internship, Literary, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Bent Agency

The Bent Agency is looking for an intern reader for generalist fiction. You don’t have to have any kind of publishing experience, but they’re looking for someone who enjoys books by authors such as:

  • Erin Morgenstern
  • Tana French
  • Eleanor Brown
  • Jacqueline Sheehan
  • Jodi Picoult
  • Gillian Flynn
  • Lori Roy
  • Laurie Notaro
  • Celia Rivenbark
  • Elin Hilderbrand
  • Kristin Hannah
  • Jeannette Walls
  • Kate Atkinson

You don’t need to like everyone on the list but should like at least two of the following genres: humor, memoir, upmarket women’s fiction and literary suspense. And even cooler, you don’t have to live in New York because this is a remote internship! How’s that for awesomeness?

For complete details of how to apply, go here. And as always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

The Bent Agency: Generalist Intern

Internship, Literary, , , , , , , , , , ,

The Bent Agency

The Bent Agency is looking for an intern reader for generalist fiction. You do not need to have any kind of publishing experience, but they’re looking for someone who enjoys books by authors such as:

– Erin Morgenstern
– Tana French
– Eleanor Brown
– Jacqueline Sheehan
– Jodi Picoult
– Gillian Flynn
– Lori Roy
– Laurie Notaro
– Celia Rivenbark
– Elin Hilderbrand
– Kristin Hannah
– Jeannette Walls

– Kate Atkinson

You don’t need to like everyone on the list. But basically, you should like at least two of the following genres: humor, memoir, upmarket women’s fiction and literary suspense. And more exciting, this is a remote internship! That’s right, you don’t have to live in New York.

The internship is a great way to learn more about an agent’s work and decision-making process. Past interns have been writers for children, children’s librarians, elementary school teachers, MFA students, and passionate readers. But if you want to apply, you’d better hurry. They get a ton of applicants and the window will close quickly.

As always, good luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

Self-Published Book Awards via Writer’s Digest

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WD Self-Published Award

Self-published writers are often left out in the cold, struggling to market and promote there books. But every so often, there is an event to help them get noticed. The Published Book Awards via Writer’s Digest is such an event. Here is what is up for grabs:

  • $8,000 in cash
  • A feature article about you and your book for the March/April 2017 issue of Writer’s Digest
  • A press release from Writer’s Digest, to be sent, along with a copy of your book, to 10 different major publishing review houses
  • A paid trip to the ever-popular Writer’s Digest Conference!
  • A guaranteed review in Midwest Book Review, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
  • Guaranteed acceptance in a special sales catalog, providing the Grand Prize Winner with national representation through 60,000 salespeople selling to non-bookstore markets, courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
  • Three hours of consultation on business modeling and marketing with Antoinette Kuritz of Strategies Literary Development ($750 vale).
  • A copy of The CrowdFunding Guide for Authors and Writers and consultation with Book Shepherd Judith Briles (valued at $500), courtesy of Brian Jud & Book Marketing Works, LLC.
  • Four (4) hours of consulting from Ellen Reid, CEO of the Reid Creative Group and President of Ellen Reid’s Book Shepherding.
  • A 30-minute telephone consultation about book marketing and promotion with Scott Lorenze, Westwind Communications.
  • A one-year membership to Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), the largest not-for-profit trade association representing nearly 3,000 independent book publishers, courtesy of IBPA.

There are additional prized for other winners in each category. Be sure and check out the guidelines for submissions. Deadline is April 1, 2016.

As always, good luck.

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.