Message from Kathleen Kaiser, 805 conference producer I’m very happy to bring back five of our best speakers on both the Craft and Business of Writing and introduce the 805 to four more professionals including three who work in the world of books to screen, an important new topic this year. Every time I’ve heard these people speak, I learn something new I can put to use immediately and I hope you can too. Here’s the lineup for this year. Both mornings will focus on the Craft for Writing with 90 minutes sessions, deep dives into how to create a winning book. Saturday is author and screenwriter Alexandra Sokoloff, one of my favorite writers who delivers concise, easy to use information on the structure of successful books. Sunday is literary agent and writing instructor Toni Lopopolo speaking on the new science of how our brains are hardwired for stories and the methods and tools you need to know to connect with the widest audience. Tristine Rainer, considered one of the best people on memoir with her groundbreaking book, Your Life as Story, returns to tell how she took her own advice and translated it into her bestselling memoir, Apprenticed to Venus. Former Masters instructor at both USC and UCLA, Tristine cuts right to the heart of what you need to master to create a great memoir For the Business of Writing, we are fortunate to have book marketing expert Penny Sansevieri return, this time to speak on what to do when your book isn’t selling. Penny is a bestselling author who applies what she does for clients to selling her own books, especially on Amazon. Zhena Muzyka, publisher of Enliven Books (a S&S/Atria imprint) works with her authors to up their game and build a winning platform that sells books. Her topic: Funneling sales through your platform. Zhena is one of the rare publishers who gets what marketing a book by an author truly means because she is also a successful author. NEW THIS YEAR… Author Alex Carroll joins the 805 for the first time, but not because I haven’t tried to get him. He is considered the leading radio publicity expert and I personally use his methods with great success with his Reach Millions approach he will share with us. His methods are simple and effective. He’s sold over a million dollars of his own books, and millions more for others. Hybrid Publishing is taking off and the Independent Book Publishers Association has created guidelines for indie authors to understand what they can expect from a real hybrid.Angela Bole, IBPA’s executive director will go over the just published guidelines so you don’t get fooled by unscrupulous vendors pretending to be hybrid. And finally, BOOKS 2 SCREEN. This is my favorite new session in a long time because it’s happening every day—books are being optioned and turned into mini-series, TV movies or feature films. Look at the Golden Globes and Emmys this year – top winners were first books. This panel will walk you through the process from three points of view with: authorPeter Lance whose trilogy on 9/11 is becoming a mini-series; literary agent Charlotte Gusay whose client’s book became the mini-series WACO that recently ran on SPIKE TV; and, producer Craig Anderson who has taken 15 books to the screen, including one of my favorites Oh, Pioneer! Come learn how to navigate this lucrative outlet for your books. Sign up before March 15 and save $40 on a day pass or $50 on a weekend pass.Prices go up on March 16 and I begin to promote the conference wide.Join me again this year and up your game in the world of publishing.
