Sue Berger Ramin works for David R. Godine, Publisher in an editorial, marketing and rights capacity. She acquires both adult and children's, fiction and non-fiction books, oversees their marketing and publicity and sells subsidiary rights. She was VP Film & TV Publishing for Penguin Books for 11 years, opening an office for Penguin in Los Angeles in 1993. Prior to that she worked in general trade publishing in the UK. Sue has served as co-producer for two movies: The Gathering Storm (HBO, BBC, 2003), an award-winning movie starring Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave, and The Missing, based on the novel, The Last Ride, by Thomas Eidson (Sony Pictures, 2003), starring Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. She wrote a column on film and TV rights for Publishers Weekly, scouted for a Japanese literary agency, sold rights in video games, and has taught publishing in Emerson's Professional Studies' Program.

Lissa Warren has worked at several Boston publishing houses including David R. Godine, Houghton Mifflin, and Perseus Publishing, and is currently Vice President, Senior Director of Publicity and Acquiring Editor at Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. The author of The Savvy Author's Guide to Book Publicity (Carroll & Graf, 2004), she has spoken about publishing for the Virginia Festival of the Book, Lesley University, Publishers Marketing Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, Publishers Association of the South, BookBuilders of Boston, ForeWord magazine, Grub Street, the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, and the Adirondack Writer’s Conference, among others. Since 2003 she has been an Adjunct Professor at Emerson College—in their Writing, Literature, and Publishing program—and she teaches in Boston University's publishing certificate program. She’s also on the advisory council of the M.F.A. writing program at Southern New Hampshire University.

Elizabeth Merritt, book buyer for Titcomb Books, has many years of book buying and selling experience. She meets with publishing representatives each year, ordering from hundreds of catalogs. Many facets of book procurement are explored at Titcomb's, including used and rare books. Elizabeth's broad experience as a buyer, marketer, and seller allows her to be a valuable resource as to what is happening on the front lines of book selling. Among other topics she will discuss decisions to carry other products besides books in the store, as well as author book signings.

COURSE DETAILS:
Today, more than ever, your chance of having a manuscript accepted depends on a compelling and polished first sentence, paragraph, and page. In this workshop, we will explore many aspects of writing for children – voice, dialogue, theme, plot, character development, point of view, and publishing – from picture books through mid-grade novels, paying special attention to the high-powered lens that is the beginning of the story. Writing is writing, but writing for children demands special skills and considerations: through discussions, readings and (only one or two! very short!) in-class exercises, we will figure out what works and what doesn’t in children’s books. Please bring the first few pages of a manuscript if you have one; on the final day, each participant will be able to present their beginning for group workshopping.

BIO:
Sara Pennypacker is the New York Times best-selling author of eight children's books, including Clementine, The Talented Clementine, Clementine's Letter, Stuart's Cape, Stuart Goes to School, Pierre In Love and the upcoming Sparrow Girl. Beginning next year, she will take over the
Flat Stanley series. Her books have won numerous awards, including this year’s Golden Kite Award for Best Picture Book Text, and have appeared on many 'Best Books' lists.

COURSE DETAILS:

Suzanne says, "If you are dipping a toe into the memoir sea, you may begin by studying, dissecting, and critiquing this most personal genre in a weeklong workshop. Writing assignments, readings, handouts, and lectures will hone skills and start you on your way toward essay or manuscript telling the story of your life as a birdwatcher, the year you were the first girl to enroll in an all-boy's school, or the week you were abducted by aliens."

BIO:

The author of five novels, Suzanne Strempek Shea won the 2000 New England Book Award for fiction. She has also written three memoirs, Songs from a Lead-lined Room: Notes- High and Low- from My Journey through Breast Cancer and Radiation; Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama, and Other Page-Turning Adventures from a Year in a Bookstore; and the newly-released Sundays in America: a Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith. A former reporter and an avid freelancer, she lives in Bondsville, Massachusetts.

COURSE DETAILS:
This course will explore the distinctive character of the mystery genre – with its sub-genres, such as the police procedural, cozies, hardboiled, noir and thrillers – as a context in which artful writers apply their craft. The object of the course will be to help every student move closer to their individual goals. Thus, there will be a strong emphasis on the pragmatic and realistic. This includes improving writing skills, gaining a better understanding of what constitutes a successful work, the importance and interaction of all narrative elements – plot, characters, POV, setting, mood, dialogue – and productive work habits. We will examine a few paragons of the form, and through discussion, attempt to understand what qualities led to that distinction. Students will have a daily writing exercise, which will be discussed in class on a voluntary basis. There will also be a look into the world of mystery publishing and how a work moves from first draft through editorial and into print, and into the marketing machine.

BIO:
About Chris Knopf’s Sam Acquillo mysteries: The New York Times said, “The spare, emotionally eloquent style of The Last Refuge gives shapely form to the story.” Publishers Weekly chose Two Time as a “Best 100 Books for 2006,” and its starred review called Head Hounds “exceptional.” Knopf has been a copywriter for 30 years. He has an MA in Creative Writing and speaks before both marketing and mystery writer audiences

COURSE DETAILS

What is a short story? What makes it breathe?  What makes it different from mere anecdote or the novel?  Geraldine Mills will address the basic difficulties faced by both beginners and more experienced writers in the craft of short fiction. It will explore what is needed to go beyond the first easy thought in order to turn a moment into an event.  It will discuss how once started, where you get the courage to keep going.  Classes will include the basic building blocks of writing a successful piece of short fiction, full of skill and daring, to include: How to draw the reader in. Whose story is it anyway?  Developing an eye for detail and an ear for dialogue.  Breathing life into your characters. Who chooses the ending? Using various prompts to liberate creativity, each session will include an in-class exercise, review of work and examples of the masters in the genre of the short story from America and Ireland.

BIO:

Award-winning Irish poet and short story writer Geraldine Mills has published two collections of poetry, ‘Unearthing your Own’ and ‘Toil the Dark Harvest’ and two short story collections called ‘Lick of the Lizard’ and ‘The Weight of Feathers’ (2007). Her monologue ‘This is From the Woman who Does’ premiered at the Provincetown Theatre in 2004. She was the Millennium winner of the Hennessy/Tribune New Irish Writer Award, and was recently awarded a Kavanagh Fellowship.

COURSE DETAILS:
Did you know that more than 50% of all paperback books sold are romance novels? That sales in this genre are over $1.2 billion annually? To provide the books that readers are looking for, publishers are open to first time authors with wonderful, professionally written stories. In this course, we’ll discuss what makes a romance novel unique and the ingredients you need to write one and have it published. We’ll be having discussion and in-class exercises. So bring your imaginations and learn how to write the “book of your heart” which will touch someone else’s. Students should have read Kindred Spirits by Jocelyn Kelley (Signet Eclipse ISBN: 978-0-451-22344-9) for the session on synopses. Please bring paper and the writing instrument of your choice. You may also bring a laptop for writing exercises. A sense of humor is always welcome, too.

BIO:
Award-winning author Jo Ann Ferguson says she has a split personality. Jo Ann Ferguson is the author of best-selling historicals and Regency mysteries. J.A. Ferguson writes paranormals. Jocelyn Kelley writes historical romances for Signet. Jo Ann Brown novelized Thomas Kinkade’s Home for Christmas, which stars Peter O’Toole. Her 80+ titles have been translated into a dozen languages. They’re sold on every continent except Antarctica. Jo Ann has taught creative writing for 18 years.

COURSE DETAILS:
One of the attributes of good poetry is energy, a quality of language and expression that can take possession of a reader's attention and hold it for the length of the work. One way of accomplishing this is through intensity, a quality of concentration that can inform a poem's composition in a variety of ways. In the course of discussing workshop participant poems with the usual critical attention, we will keep ourselves attuned to three kinds of intensity: rhythmic (including matters of prosody), formal, and narrative. At the same time we will make ourselves available to the rhetorical strategies poems use to achieve their effects. During the week the class we will examine strategies for making poems more intense. We will also look at exemplary poems from a variety of poets. Members of the workshop should come prepared with five poems they want to workshop, and with fifteen copies of those same poems for distribution and discussion. Handouts will be provided.

Writing op-ed columns is a particular kind or art.  It balances the need for brevity and focus with sufficient humor and style to make the product worth reading week after week.  Lawrence will tailor the afternoon to the interests of those who've enrolled, but the general program will look back over 22 years of what was going on in America during the span of his writing... concerns about giving offense - and when to go ahead anyway... the difference between being consistent and being repetitive, being angry and being shrill... the extent to which autobiographical stuff is OK... your growing community role... when and how to use your column to support causes of interest... and the technical stuff: how to pack everything into 700 words.

BIO:
Lawrence Brown, a columnist for his regional newspapers, has published almost 400 editorials on topics of economics, faith, and politics. Dissatisfied with geography textbooks, Brown wrote his own, parts of which Addison-Wesley published under the title Thinking About the World. He has also published Bodhi Beautiful: how to be a Hindu in America, an explanation of Hinduism in Western terms, articles on yachting, and three popular books on sailing, including Sailing America and Frugal Yachting.    

COURSE DETAILS:

This course to familiarize authors and soon-to-be authors with trade book promotion starts with an overview of book publicity—why it’s important to a book’s success, and the different media opportunities that exist. It then walks you through the publicity process—from author questionnaire, to galley and finished book mailing, to pub-date, reviews, interviews, and tour. It also covers the type of freelance help available, crafting the press material, how to secure and promote bookstore events, the art of the pitch, and the art of the interview. Above all, it’s a chance to determine the level of involvement you want to have in your book’s publicity campaign, what strengths you bring to the table, and how best to get maximum exposure for your book.

BIO:
Lissa Warren has worked at several Boston publishing houses including David R. Godine, Houghton Mifflin, and Perseus Publishing, and is currently Vice President, Senior Director of Publicity and Acquiring Editor at Da Capo Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group. The author of The Savvy Author's Guide to Book Publicity (Carroll & Graf, 2004), she has spoken about publishing for the Virginia Festival of the Book, Lesley University, Publishers Marketing Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, Publishers Association of the South, BookBuilders of Boston, ForeWord magazine, Grub Street, the New Hampshire Writers’ Project, and the Adirondack Writer’s Conference, among others. Since 2003 she has been an Adjunct Professor at Emerson College—in their Writing, Literature, and Publishing program—and she teaches in Boston University's publishing certificate program. She’s also on the advisory council of the M.F.A. writing program at Southern New Hampshire University.

COURSE DETAILS:
Sue Berger Ramin and Debbie Kovacs will address how books get sold to Hollywood, what the producers are looking for, and other reality-based aspects (from behind the scenes) of the selection and conversion of books into films.

BIO:
Deborah Kovacs, Senior Vice President of Publishing, Walden Media
Since joining Walden Media in 2001, Deborah Kovacs has overseen publishing activities for Walden Media, a film studio specializing in the adaptation of children's classics such as Prince Caspian, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Holes and Bridge to Terabithia. She established and is editorial lead in Walden Media's publishing joint venture with Penguin Young Readers' Group, which has resulted in the acquisition and publication of more than twenty original published works, including The White Giraffe and Savvy, both of which are being adapted for the big screen by Walden Media.

COURSE DETAILS:
Sue Berger Ramin and Debbie Kovacs will address how books get sold to Hollywood, what the producers are looking for, and other reality-based aspects (from behind the scenes) of the selection and conversion of books into films.

BIO:
Sue Berger Ramin works for David R. Godine, Publisher in an editorial, marketing and rights capacity. She acquires both adult and children's, fiction and non-fiction books, oversees their marketing and publicity and sells subsidiary rights. She was VP Film & TV Publishing for Penguin Books for 11 years, opening an office for Penguin in Los Angeles in 1993. Sue has served as co-producer for two movies: The Gathering Storm (HBO, BBC, 2003), an award-winning movie starring Albert Finney and Vanessa Redgrave, and The Missing, based on the novel, The Last Ride, by Thomas Eidson (Sony Pictures, 2003), starring Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones. She wrote a column on film and TV rights for Publishers Weekly, scouted for a Japanese literary agency, sold rights in video games, and has taught publishing in Emerson's Professional Studies' Program.

COURSE DETAILS:

There will be a group project/ensemble performance near the beginning of the day for participants to develop a sense of the supportive approach to the workshop, working toward a common goal as well as individual progress. The highlight of the program will be to concentrate on individual performance, using the students' best poems sent in advance.  Depending on the strength and quality of their poetry, we will work on some refinement/ revision before they polish their performance skills. It is important for the enrollees to work with their own poetry  to  develop individual performances. Their comfort level will be maximized using their own original work. 

BIOS:

Harris Gardner and Lainie Senechal have been featured poets at one hundred-plus venues including Art Galleries, churches, cafes, bookstores, libraries, universities, museums, and festivals, have six books published  between them and over 125 journal publication credits combined. Gardner had extensive University theatrical training during his undergraduate years at Northeastern University, and worked with  preteens and teens in theater, where he directed The Fantastics as well as original scripts. Gardner was also Poet-in-Residence at Endicott College (Beverly, MA) 2002 through 2005 where he  led student writing workshops  and coordinated a Visiting Poets Series. He also studied with the "Grandfather of Slam Poetry" in New England, Michael Brown. Senechal is a poet, painter, and award-winning public school teacher of 30 years.  She has published over 75 poems, has co-authored two volumes of poetry, appears in four anthologies, and in 2008 her chapbook Vocabulary of Awakening will be released by Pudding House.

Every aspiring author has lots of questions about figuring out where to send a manuscript: how to approach editors/agents; how to know which is the best editor/agent for you; basic etiquette of contacting or speaking with editors/agents/publishing professionals. Every aspiring author has lots of worries about making a big boo-boo that will leave foot in mouth and manuscript unsold. Bring your questions to this Q&A, and let’s talk about how to sell your manuscript and at the same time build a good relationship with your editor and your agent.

BIO:
Read Jo Ann's bio above under Writing the Romance, a five-day workshop.

CHARLES COE - The Role of the Poet in Society; Monday, 11:50 - 12:35

Poet and Massachusetts Cultural Council Program Coordinator for Literature Programs, Charles Coe will converse with conference registrants over box lunch on The Role of the Poet in Society, looking at poets, politics and social responsibility with some history of the poets’ voices in politics

BIO:

Read Charles Coe's biography above under Short Courses: Writers Reading Their Work In Public

SUZETTE MARTINEZ STANDRING -- Column Writing; Tuesday, 11:50 - 12:35

Bloggers and budding journalists: You can parlay a memory, an opinion, or a special expertise into a published column.  Doing condensed writing well translates to all genres of writing.  Solid column writing skills can boost a blog, grow a faithful readership and catch the eye of an editor looking for wide demographic appeal. Turn your passion into a specialty column and learn what it takes to get syndicated.

BIO:
Suzette Martinez Standring is the author of The Art of Column Writing: Insider Secrets from Art Buchwald, Dave Barry, Arianna Huffington, Pete Hamill and Other Great Columnists.  Suzette's Patriot Ledger columns are syndicated with GateHouse News Service. Her humor and lifestyle columns have appeared in The Boston Globe and South Shore publications. She is the past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and her website is www.readsuzette.com

In a book publishing career of more than thirty-five years, Wallace Exman has edited the works of fiction and nonfiction writers for both hardcover and mass market paperback houses. He began his editing career at William Morrow, and held senior editorial positions at Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Stein and Day, Harlequin Books, and Kensington Books.  He has edited the works of Jack Anderson, Nathaniel Philbrick, and Dr. Sam Shephard, such sports notables as Jim Brown, Duke Snider, and international angling expert A. J. McClane, the thrillers of Jack Higgins, and the mysteries of John Creasey. He was for many years the book editor for Charles M. Schultz. After moving to the Cape he was editor and part owner of Paranassus Imprints. 

After establishing successful businesses, studying film to fulfill his creative bent, and working for a literary agency, entrepreneur Adam Chromy went out on his own to represent a novel written by a friend and sold it on a preemptive offer. Since that auspicious start in 2002, Adam's fresh, rule-breaking approach has led to dozens of book deals at major publishing houses; and a number of film deals for his clients’ projects. His NYC firm is Artists and Artisans, Inc., a full service literary management company representing writers of adult trade fiction and nonfiction. Two novels he helped to bring out this year, as novels become more difficult to sell are: World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler, just published by Grove/Atlantic, and is a Book Sense best seller; and Burial of the Dead, a literary mystery by Michael Hogan, coming out in August by Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books.

Another member of the firm, Jamie Brenner has spent the past decade in book publishing. Her experience includes literary publicity (HarperCollins Publishers), book selling (BarnesandNoble.com), and manuscript analysis and book scouting for major film companies (Miramax Films, Davis Entertainment). She is also the editor of the blog www.girlmeetsbook.com. Jamie is actively seeking thrillers, commercial and women’s fiction, literary fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction and books about pop culture/entertainment. She is happy to read first-time writers.

They will both be with us Sunday through Thursday morning of the conference.