Southwest Washington Writers Conference
September 10, 2022
Southwest Washington Writers Conference Workshops
WORKSHOP SESSION I: 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.
A. The Five Questions (aka Wowing the Editorial Board)—Jeff Wheeler
In “The Five Questions (aka Wowing the Editorial Board),” writers will learn how to make it easy for publishers and editors to say yes to your manuscript using five questions and answers that Jeff employs each time he pitches a book or series. “Even if you are an indie author, knowing the answers to these questions can help improve the story before it’s even written,” he said.
B. Getting Your Books into the Amazon Top Ten Within Your Category—Julie Bonn Blank
Julie will discuss pricing and promotions. Learn about the different audiences drawn to different price points and how to compete. Understand how to research categories and change the place a book is listed. Discover how to approach your traditional publisher about promotional opportunities. She will also provide a list of the best promo opportunities for the best price and additional resources such as #booktok and other social media, consistent reviews, speaking opportunities, newsletter, book tours, and more.
C. Got a film idea? Screenwriting 101: The Basics!— Pamala J Vincent
Pamala will introduce writers to the film industry and how to push your screenplay past the first reader. She’ll discuss industry-standard software, formatting tips, and tricks, and provide an overview of Acts 1, 2, and 3. “With the forced move to home due to Covid, the movie industry has exploded,” she said. “The world is hungry for quality films that inspire hope. Film writing, like novel writing, has an industry standard.”
D. Writing Novellas—Wendy Kendall
Wendy will teach about novella story structure, different novella types (literary, inspirational, and genre), and ways to use writing novellas to your advantage as an author. Learn what publishers are seeking, what readers want, and marketing options for novellas. “The novella is surging in popularity with publishers and readers,” she said. “We’ll also discuss the opportunities and challenges to the writing craft that novellas present.”
E. Bringing Lives to Life: The Alchemy of Memory—Carolyne Wright
Participants will read memoir excerpts and explore life experiences, journal entries, family history, and reflections—sources of memory we interrogate, embellish, assemble, and re-assemble. Explore inner lives and those of characters, historical as well as fictional. Develop new perspectives on voice and voices. Generate new writing in voices other than your own, which is useful for nonfiction and fiction writers as well as poets. “Through this creative alchemy, we will turn memories, observations, and insights into story, bringing lives to life through our writing,” Carolyne said. “Our writing may be poetry or prose.”
F. Investing in Your Writing Career—Lindsay Schopfer
Lindsay will discuss how authors must spend money to make money. Both published and unpublished writers will benefit from this practical guide to investing in the writing craft without breaking the bank. Students will learn how to shop around for freelancers, how to manage their resources when choosing promotional options, and how to choose the best options for educating themselves in their craft.
WORKSHOP SESSION II: 1:30 to 2:45 p.m.
G. Understanding Amazon—Jeff Wheeler
Face it, Amazon is the gorilla in the publishing world today, selling more books than anyone else among its other products. This workshop will help writers understand the indie publishing market, the difference between Kindle Direct and Kindle Unlimited, the way royalties are paid, and what it’s like to work for an Amazon Publishing imprint.
H. 75 Ways to Sell Your Book Successfully—Pamala J Vincent
Pamala will teach writers how to discover their niche, find where their readers hang out and understand their readers’ needs to better reach them. Writing a book takes blood, sweat, and tears but that’s only the first step to getting your message out there. Marketing, particularly a self-published book, takes the next step of earning an income to the next level. You have to out-wit, out-play, out-last all the other books on the market. Creativity is vital to successfully getting your book in the hands of your readers. Pamala will cover 75 conventional and unconventional ideas to getting noticed.
I. A Cup of Soup—Heidi Gaul
Learn to develop the skills necessary to write and successfully market a short and inspiring nonfiction piece. During the workshop, Heidi will look at the importance of verb choices and word counts, the arc that will hold reader’s and editor’s interest, and how to make a story more relatable to a large audience. Participants will leave with knowledge of concise and gripping writing, a story arc that captures readers, and a story general enough for wide relatability.
J. Power Pack Your Prose—Mary Stone
Word choice matters. Verbs offer writers an opportunity to grab readers’ attention and retain it throughout the story. Verbs can make characters and plot spring to life—or not. Certain words fashion a ho-hum experience for readers. Learn to kick extraneous words to the curb. It works wonders for writers wanting to write tight and pack a punch. Attendees who bring two pages from their writing will find the workshop activities most helpful.
K. From Body Language to Brawls—Lindsay Schopfer
During the workshop, participants will learn how to manage pacing, balance character reactions and event descriptions, and use effective word choice to keep the reader fully immersed. “Action scenes are some of the most exciting, intense moments in our stories, but they can be tricky to get right,” he said. “Too little detail and the reader won’t be invested; too much, and the action will be lost in a sea of unnecessary details.”
L. Writing Kids in a Grown-Up World—Evan Ramzipoor
During the workshop, students will learn how to write kids and young adults for an adult market, craft believable, compelling child characters for adult fiction, write child-centric dialogue that pops on the page, and advance a child-centric plot. “Some of our most memorable and sophisticated fiction is populated by child protagonists,” Evan said. “Children often see and hear everything that we miss, which makes them uniquely difficult (and interesting) characters.”
WORKSHOP SESSION III: 3:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
M. Panel: What I Wish I had Known: Four veterans of the indie trenches—Ellen King Rice, Johanna Flynn, Lee French, Connie Jasperson
Four veterans of the indie trenches share insights into the pitfalls, pratfalls, and potholes in the publishing world. They will offer writing tips and advice for authors in all stages of their careers. Each will describe unanticipated challenges. Be prepared to laugh, groan, and take notes on helpful tips. Topics will include aspects of setting up business paperwork and selling online and in person. Learn to avoid the pratfalls in selling at bookfairs, bookstores, and conventions. Identify and step around the potholes littering the marketing road. Stay clear of the pitfalls in the business end of writing.
N. Building Your Platform with Your Best Website—Julie Bonn Blank
Learn the components to include in an author’s or publisher’s website and how to best use those components for search and sales. Discover which platforms to avoid— all-in-one-options that aren’t search-engine friendly or place limits on platforms, which actually can hurt self-branding and book sales. Learn to create the best website without breaking the bank and maintain it easily without paying someone else to do it. Understand the opportunities that come with a great website functioning as it should. Learn to draw traffic to the site, highlight your writing, track results, create a mailing list, and more.
O. 5 Keys to a Professional Book Cover Design—Kathy Campbell
Graphic designer Kathy Campbell will address how to design a professional, eye-catching cover and focus on cover design concepts and genres, color, and imagery as well as typography and what elements make up a book. The five key topics crucial in designing a cover that sells books include image choices (what and where), color, concept, and typography.
P. Historical Fiction Writing: Bringing the Past Alive—James Shipman
In this workshop, James will describe his journey to becoming a published fiction writer and explore the process of preparing for and crafting a historical novel. He will address his research methods, travel to historical locations, interviews with people who have historical knowledge, and the historical novel creation process.
Q. Get Published: How to Find a Home for Short Stories, Essays, Poetry, or KidLit—Alle Hall
People don’t need to have finished work to benefit from this workshop. More experienced writers will also find gems: how to go about finding journals that are right for your work, tracking submissions, and recovering from rejection. Learn effective techniques for successfully submitting essays/creative nonfiction, poetry, KidLit, or short stories. Through discussion, examples, and exercises, the class will explore genre, magazines, journals, and query letters; destigmatize submission and rejection to move into rebound; and discuss money. Attendees will leave with a firm understanding of the publishing industry and a drafted query letter to submit to 15 to 50 magazines.
R. The Art of Mystery—Wendy Kendall
Wendy will present an analytical approach to a highly popular and diverse genre and teach how to build a better mystery, thriller, or suspense novel. Learn about the different mystery genres: hard-boiled or soft-boiled PI, cozy or traditional, paranormal, suspense, legal, historical, police procedural, and more. First, know what you’re writing to do it well and pitch it successfully to the right agent, acquisitions editor, or target market. What are the essential ingredients in a good mystery? Learn the most important question a writer can show when plotting and developing a mystery.
