Conference Faculty
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Workshop 10: Live Free. Write Free.
Workshop 20: Christian Fiction Unplugged
Allen Arnold is Senior Vice-President and Fiction Publisher at Thomas Nelson. He’s been at Thomas Nelson for 18 years – overseeing author marketing and branding for more than a decade before launching the Fiction division in 2004. For the calendar year 2009, Thomas Nelson was ranked the #1 Christian Fiction publisher at Christian Retail by ECPA and is recognized for a publishing model that reaches the broadest market with the best stories – always told from a Christian worldview. Prior to his time at Thomas Nelson, Allen worked at numerous acclaimed Advertising Agencies - helping develop campaigns for everything from soft drinks to traveling circuses! He’s passionate about the power of a well-told story to transform hearts and culture – to entertain and inspire. In his spare time, you’ll find him reading Superman comics and C.S. Lewis while eating the spiciest peppers known to mankind.
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CE 3: Writing That Sings: The Secrets to Captivating Novels
Workshop 26: Writing 101: Overcoming Fiction Foibles
Award-winning editor, author, agent, and speaker Karen Ball has built and/or led fiction lines at Tyndale, Multnomah, Zondervan, B&H Publishing Group and is currently an agent with the Steve Laube Agency. She's been blessed to acquire and/or work with such notable authors as Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsbury, James Rubart, Tosca Lee, Angela Hunt, and Robin Jones Gunn. As passionate about craft as she is about story, Karen's own novels have received the Inspirational Readers’ Choice award and finaled in the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Best Inspirational Novel contest and in the Christy Awards for Excellence. Karen and her family live in Southern Oregon.
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Workshop 3: Savory Branding: Perfecting Your Unique Recipe for Successful Fiction Marketing
Katie Bond, Publicity Manager, revels in coaching and encouraging authors and Thomas Nelson Fiction staff in their interaction with media and readers. Before coming to Nelson, Katie served as a publicist at WaterBrook Press, handling corporate communications, events, and book campaigns for fiction, nonfiction, and children’s titles. She began her career at Peachtree Publishers in Atlanta as a publicity and marketing assistant. She holds a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing with emphasis on literary essay, Southern literature, and children’s books. She also completed the Publishing Institute, a short-term graduate program at the University of Denver, and often returns to DPI to coach students considering publishing careers. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America.
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Workshop 9: Preparing for Your Career in Publishing
Sue Brower is Executive Editor and Editorial Director for Fiction at Zondervan. With six New York Times bestsellers in 2010, she led DiAnn Mills, Amy Clipston, Robin Lee Hatcher, Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall and many others. “I love coming to ACFW each year. I never know who I will meet or what kind of project I will be able to acquire.” Notable acquisitions from ACFW appointments include Camy Tang, Lisa Harris, Deborah Vogts, and Karl Bacon. Prior to taking on this role, Sue was Sr. Director of Marketing for Fiction and Inspirational product for over thirteen years. Fiction is business as well as pleasure for Sue as she is an avid reader of both inspirational and mainstream novels.
Sue is on the Advisory Board for the Christy Awards and a member of ACE (Academy of Christian Editors). She was also awarded Golden Scroll Fiction Editor of the Year by AWSA and Fiction Editor of the year for ACFW in 2010. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with husband, Todd, and “kidz”, Pepper, Ollie and Shep.
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CE 6: Forging Ahead: Growing Your Audience And Your Craft
Davis Bunn, a professional novelist for twenty years, has sales in excess of seven million copies in sixteen languages. He has appeared on numerous national bestseller lists, and his titles have been Main or Featured Selections with Doubleday Bookclub, Literary Guild, Mystery Guild, Word Bookclub, Guideposts, and Crossings Bookclub. He is known for the diversity of his writing talent, from gentle gift books to high-powered thrillers. Davis has received numerous accolades, including three Christy Awards for excellence in fiction. He currently serves as Writer-In-Residence at Regent’s Park College, Oxford University, and has recently been named Lecturer in Oxford’s new creative writing program.
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Workshop 31: All About Facebook
Bonnie Calhoun is the Owner/Director of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance (CFBA) where she has 250+ book reviewer blogs that twice weekly do blog tours for the latest in Christian fiction. She is also the Owner/Publisher of Christian Fiction Online Magazine (CFOM), a three-year-old 50+ page Ezine with columns and articles by the best and brightest authors and professionals in Christian fiction. Bonnie serves as the President of the Christian Authors Network (CAN), and Northeast Zone Director of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). She won ACFW’s Mentor of the Year for 2011. She also teaches social networking and blogging at several conferences throughout the year. And she has a debut novel with Abingdon Press called Cooking The Books.
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CE 5: How to Market Your Fiction Like a Non-Fiction Pro
Rachelle Gardner is an agent with Books and Such Literary Agency. She’s been an agent for nearly five years, representing both fiction and nonfiction. In the publishing business since 1995, Rachelle previously worked for two publishing houses in positions encompassing marketing, sales, international rights, acquisitions and editorial. Rachelle loves sharing information and ideas with writers, both at conferences and through her blog which averages 100,000 monthly page views.
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CE 2: Writing and Editing Toolkit: Taking your novel from unsellable to best-seller
Using her own experiences as a teen mother, and leader, Tricia’s vision is to be a voice of hope and possibility for teenage girls, pregnant teen girls, mothers and wives through her educational and inspirational speaking, workshops and books. Her intention is to serve ordinary women by encouraging extraordinary things with God’s help. Tricia expresses real life, real hope, for real women. Tricia is the author of 30 books and has published over 500 articles for national publications such as Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman and HomeLife Magazine. She won the Historical Novel of the Year award in both 2005 and 2006 from American Christian Fiction Writers, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference in 2003. Tricia’s book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion Book Award in 2005. Tricia’s co-written novel, The Swiss Courier, was a nominee for the Christy Awards
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Workshop 6: Dialogue-The Craft of Teaching Your Characters To Speak
Workshop 25: Special Ops-Outliners & Pantsters Combine Forces
Rene Gutteridge is the award-winning author of eighteen novels, including Heart of the Country, her upcoming novelization release with director John Ward and Tyndale House Publishers. Her recent suspense titles include Listen, Possession and the Seven Hours project Escapement. She’s been published by Bethany House, Tyndale House, WaterBrook Press, Thomas Nelson and B&H. She is teaming again with screenwriter Cheryl McKay for the romantic comedy Greetings from the Flipside from B&H and releasing her new suspense title, Misery Loves Company from Tyndale. Her romantic comedy Never the Bride won the 2010 Carol Award for Women’s Fiction.
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Workshop 24: The Art of Brainstorming Part One
Workshop 29: The Art of Brainstorming Part Two
Rachel Hauck is an award winning, best selling author of twelve novels with more to come. It’s her desire for readers to find hope and escape in the stories she writes, and inhale a bit of the fragrance of Jesus’s love. Rachel is a past president of ACFW and currently serves on the Advisory Board.
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Workshop 30: What Christian Fiction Readers Want Next
Daisy Blackwell Hutton was born and raised on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. After completing her education at the University of Mississippi (B.A. English & French) and Washington University in St. Louis (M.A. Comparative Literature), she moved to New York in to work in the publishing industry. Her first job was answering the phones and reading manuscripts at Grove/ Atlantic, and from there, she went on to spend time at the Georges Borchardt literary agency in New York, and the Perseus Books Group and Harvard Business School Publishing in Boston, before moving to Nashville in 2008 to join Thomas Nelson as VP of International Licensing. Daisy is a passionate fiction reader, and her areas of particular interest include mystery/ suspense, fiction in translation, and the 19th century novel. Daisy is married to Matthew Hutton, a musician and English teacher, and they have two young sons, Leo and Silas.
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CE 1: Basic Fiction Techniques—The Creative and the Practical
Kathy Ide has been a published author since 1989 and a professional freelance editor since 1998. She has written books (fiction and nonfiction), magazine articles, play and movie scripts, short stories, devotionals, and Sunday school curriculum. She is the author of Polishing the PUGS: Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling (tips for writers); Fiction and Truth: Stories that Speak to the Soul (a compilation of short fiction stories with life applications and Scripture); Wounded Silence (a contemporary women’s novel); Christian Drama Publishing; and Typing without Pain. She has also ghostwritten eleven books (fiction and nonfiction). She writes regular columns of writing and editing tips for blogs and newsletters. Kathy speaks at writers’ conferences across the country, teaching workshops and continuing-education sessions, leading mentoring clinics, and offering professional consultations. Kathy works as a full-time freelance editor/mentor/writing consultant for new writers, established authors, and book publishers (commercial and subsidy). She is the founder and coordinator of two groups for editorial freelancers. The Christian PEN: Proofreaders and Editors Network (www.TheChristianPEN.com) is a professional support organization for aspiring and established freelance editors, which offers an e-mail discussion loop, online courses (most of which Kathy teaches), a quarterly e-newsletter, active leads for editing jobs (mostly for authors who are self-publishing), and more. Through the Christian Editor Network (www.ChristianEditor.com), Kathy serves as an editorial services coordinator, matching authors, publishers, and agents with established, professional editorial freelancers. For more information about Kathy Ide, see her website, www.KathyIde.com. Or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or ShoutLife.
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Workshop 11: Successful Author Events
Recognizing her niche after working in all areas of book retailing & event sales, Suzanne Kuhn launched SuzyQ, a full-service author promotion firm to help coordinate any type of live event and train authors to engage and connect with readers.
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Workshop 12: Fiction By the Numbers
Mark Kuyper is the President and CEO of ECPA. He has over 25 years of experience in the Christian resources industry. Previously he served as the VP of Business Development and Marketing for CBA (the trade association for Christian retailers). He also worked for NavPress for over 10 years completing his service as Sales Director. During this time he also served on the Leadership and Publishing teams for the organization. He began his career as a manager for Family Christian Stores.
Mark has been married to Vicki, who is an author of more than 50 books, for 30 years and has two adult children.
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Workshop 18: What Your Traditional Publisher Does For You
Workshop 21: Landmines in Your Book Contract
Steve Laube, a literary agent and president of The Steve Laube Agency, has been in the book industry for over 31 years, first as a bookstore manager. His store was named the National Store of the Year by CBA. He then spent over a decade with Bethany House Publishers and was named the Editor of the Year in 2002. He later became an agent and has represented over 700 new books and was named Agent of the Year by ACFW. His office is in Phoenix, Arizona.
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CE 5: How to Market Your Fiction Like a Non-Fiction Pro
Kathi Lipp is a full-time speaker and writer whose articles have appeared in Focus on the Family, along with dozens of other magazines. She is the author of four books through Harvest House Publishers including The Husband Project and The Me Project, with more books coming out with Harvest House and Revell over the next several years.
Kathi loves partnering with authors to promote their writing through social media and speaking. Check her out at www.kathilipp.com
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Workshop 15: Query Letters that Work
A 2006 graduate of Taylor University’s Professional Writing program, Amanda Luedeke has been working as an agent with MacGregor Literary since 2010. Before that, she worked as a copywriter and social media strategist for major international brands, such as Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Brecks and The New York Times. Amanda represents literary fiction, romance, women’s fiction, African American fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, steampunk, middle grade fiction and YA.
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Workshop 14: The Perfect Book Proposal
Workshop 23: The Four Pillars of a Best-Selling Novel
Chip MacGregor is the kilt-wearing president of MacGregor LIterary, Inc., a full-service literary agency that works in both CBA as well as the general market. Chip has been working in the publishing industry for three decades, and made his living as a freelance writer and editor for several years, until he fell away from the Lord and became an agent. He is the author of numerous books, including a couple of bestselling nonfiction titles, and formerly served as a publisher with the Time-Warner Book Group. He began working as an agent fifteen years ago, and has represented hundreds of titles, including dozens of award winners and bestsellers, and one that hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Last year he represented more than a dozen books that hit various bestseller lists, including multiple #1 bestsellers, and landed his authors more contracts than any other literary agent in the United States. Chip started his own literary agency, MacGregor LIterary Inc, six years ago, and according to Publishers Marketplace has been one of the busiest literary agents in the country for each of the past five years. He works with both fiction and nonfiction titles, but the majority of the business he is currently doing is fiction. A well-known speaker at writing conferences and via online writing sites, he lives in Oregon, where he lives and dies with the Ducks.
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Workshop 7: Plot Your Novel in 30 Episodes
Workshop 25: Special Ops-Outliners & Pantsters Combine Forces
Susan Meissner is a former newspaper editor and the multi-published author of The Shape of Mercy, named by Publishers Weekly as one of the top 100 novels of 2008 and the ECPA book of the year for fiction. When she’s not writing she directs the Small Groups and Connection Ministries at her San Diego church. Susan and her pastor husband are the parents of four young adults. She lives in southern California.
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CE 5: How to Market Your Fiction Like a Non-Fiction Pro
Dineen Miller readily admits that one of the greatest lessons she’s learning about life is that there’s purpose in our trials. It’s all about trusting God and putting our hope in Him. Her favorite stories are of the miracles God has wrought in the lives of her family.
Through this lens she also believes her years as a youth counselor, a Stephen Minister, a women’s ministry leader, and a small group leader fuel her desire to ignite the souls of others through words of truth.
In addition to writing for SpirituallyUnequalMarriage.com, Dineen has won several prestigious awards for her fiction, and her devotional writing has been featured in Our Journey and Christian Women Online Magazine. She’s also a C.L.A.S.S. Communicator and has been featured on the Moody Radio Network, Family Life, and will soon be featured on Focus on the Family.
Married for 24 years to a guy who keeps her young, she shares her life with her husband, two amazing adult daughters and a rambunctious puppy named River.
She is the co-author of Winning Him Without Words: 10 Keys to Thriving in Your Spiritually Mismatched Marriage and the author of The Soul Saver, due to release in May 2012.
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Workshop 3: Savory Branding: Perfecting Your Unique Recipe for Successful Fiction Marketing
Workshop 30: What Christian Fiction Readers Want Next
Eric Mullett, Marketing Director, has been developing his love for story as well as how best to connect and promote creative work for over fifteen years. His career began at the Christian division of Warner Bros. Records working with wonderfully diverse musical talent including the Grammy Award winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. From there he began telling the stories of start-up companies and their visions, as well as developing the digital communications and properties for multiple clients as a consultant. Prior to Fiction, he joined Thomas Nelson to lead the marketing of the Gift Book division which featured bestselling authors—ranging from Max Lucado and Sarah Young to Robin McGraw and Andy Andrews. Eric led Nelson Fiction’s extensive market research project in 2011.
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Workshop 18: What Your Traditional Publisher Does For You
Workshop 22: Your Best Friend in the Industry: Your Literary Agent
Workshop 26: Writing 101: Overcoming Fiction Foibles
Tamela Hancock Murray has been a literary agent for over twelve years and is part of The Steve Laube Agency. A successful novelist in her own right, Tamela is privileged to represent many top Christian authors and, though slots are few, she is open to finding special writers to join her. She earned her BA with honors in Journalism from Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia. Today she enjoys living in Northern Virginia with her family. When out and about, she is often asked by strangers where she buys her red lipstick, which she wears to please her husband—and because she likes it, too. Learn more about Tamela at www.tamelahancockmurray.com as well as www.stevelaube.com. She welcomes Facebook friends, and feel free to follow her on Twitter @Tamela_Murray. Tamela looks forward to meeting you!
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CE 2: Writing and Editing Toolkit: Taking your novel from unsellable to best-seller
Cara Putman is the author of 14 novels and 1 non-fiction book. One of her books won the ACFW Carol for short historical and another finaled in the same category. Cara is also an attorney, university lecturer, active in women’s ministry and homeschools her children. She lives in Indiana with her husband and four children. You can learn more about Cara and her books on her web site and facebook: http://www.facebook.com/caraputman.
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Workshop 5:Surprising Secrets of the Writing Life
Deborah Raney’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title. Her books have since won the RITA Award, ACFW Carol Award, HOLT Medallion, National Readers’ Choice Award, Silver Angel, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. After All, the newest book in her Hanover Falls Novels series releases in May from Howard/Simon & Schuster. Deb and her husband, Ken Raney, enjoy small-town life in Kansas. They have four children and four grandchildren, all of whom live much too far away.
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Workshop 13: A Lady to Love: Turning Your Heroine GMC into Irresistible ARC
Ramona Richards is the Senior Acquisitions Editor—Fiction for Abingdon Press. She is an award-winning editor, writer, and speaker with more than 30 years experience. Before joining Abingdon Press, Ramona worked on staff with Thomas Nelson, Rutledge Hill Press, and Ideals. Over the course of her career in Christian publishing, she’s edited more than 350 publications, and worked with authors such as John Maxwell, John Eldredge, Charles Stanley, Chris Seay, Eva Marie Everson, Denise Hunter, and Melody Carlson.
The author of 8 books and a frequent contributor to devotional collections, Ramona has written sales training videos, feature film scripts, novels, gift books, Bible studies, biographies, cookbooks, and magazine articles. An avid live music fan, Ramona loves Nashville, which she’s called home since she was 10.
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CE 5: How to Market Your Fiction Like a Non-Fiction Pro
Workshop 10: Live Free. Write Free.
James L. Rubart is the bestselling author of ROOMS, BOOK OF DAYS, and THE CHAIR. During the day he runs Barefoot Marketing, helping authors make more coin of the realm. In his free time he dirt bikes, back packs, golfs and takes photos. No, he doesn’t sleep much. He lives with his amazing wife and teenage sons in the Pacific Northwest and still thinks he’s young enough to water ski like a madman. www.jameslrubart.com
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Workshop 8: Getting Some of It On You: Writing Fiction for Kids 8-12
Nancy Rue is the author of 110 books, including 9 novels for adults, 17 for teens, and 60 for tween readers, as well as 2 parenting books, 32 non-fiction books for tweens and teens, and the features for the FaithGirlz Bible. Her Lily Series, published by Zondervan, has sold well over one million copies. Her ability to relate to a wide audience has made her a popular radio and television guest and an in-demand speaker and teacher for writer’s conferences across the country. She has been a regular keynoter for The Young Writer’s Institute and Virtuous Reality Ministries, and now anchors Zondervan’s Beauty of Believing Tour for FaithGirlz, which draws thousands of tween girls and their moms. Nancy teaches at Christian writer’s conferences, is the founder of “Writing the Ages”, a four-day intensive workshop for children’s and Y.A. authors in Glen Eyrie, Colorado, and she offers mentoring for individuals committed to writing ministry. Her latest titles include The Reluctant Prophet for adult readers (David C. Cook) Limos, Lattes, and My Life On the Fringe (Zondervan) for teens, and That Is SO Me (Zondervan), a year-long devotional for tweens – in addition to a book written with her husband entitled What Happened To My Little Girl: A Dad’s Guide to His Tween Daughter. A student of the Academy for Spiritual Formation, sponsored by the Upper Room, Nancy continues her own spiritual journey even as she writes and speaks for mothers, daughters, and would-be writers about theirs.
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Workshop 19: How Novelists Can Partner with Retailers to the Advantage of Both
Kathleen Samuelson is the Publications Director at CBA, the Association for Christian Retail. As such, she produces CBA Retailers+Resources magazine each month, in addition to the association’s weekly e-newsletter and ICRS Daily newspapers. Kathleen’s professional magazine editing and publishing career spans 24 years and includes consumer, trade, peer-reviewed, and association magazines. Kathleen lives in Black Forest, CO, with her husband, two children, and five dogs.
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Workshop 17: From Non-Published to Published: What It Takes
Mary Sue Seymour, nominated for American Christian Fiction Writers Agent of the Year, has been agenting for 20 years and is listed as a top deal-maker for inspirational fiction on Publisher’s Marketplace. She has sold multi-book deals to Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, Harvest House, Bethany House, Cook, Harper One, Guideposts and others. She travels the country and world presenting writing workshops, mentoring writers and doing appointments with them. She has been a guest agent at The Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera, Italy, has attended the London Book Fair and has traveled to almost every American city to writing conferences and she’s loved every minute of it. If you’d like to see current sales, conference pictures or recent covers of books she’s sold, please visit her web site.
She represents several best selling Christian authors such as New York Times best selling author, Shelley Shepard Gray, Beth Wiseman, Mary Ellis, Amy Clipston, Don Reid of the Statler Brothers, Vannetta Chapman and so on; her writers have won numerous publishing industry awards, have been written about in Publisher’s Weekly and other publications.
Mary Sue likes to keep busy since her sons, Matt and Luke, named after the gospel writers, have grown up. She ran the Disney half marathon this past January and took 317th place in her age category of 55-59. She teaches art on cruise ships in exchange for a complementary cruise for two [which has made her exceedingly popular with her friends!]. The most important aspect of Mary Sue’s life is her faith in Jesus Christ. She attends two churches - one service at 9:00 - the other at 11:00 and she is never fearful of witnessing about the love of Christ.
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Workshop 1: Getting Your Book into Bookstores: How Retail Distribution Works
David Sheets is a book industry veteran with experience with some of the top publishers and distributors in the Christian book industry. David has worked with Tyndale House Publishers during the heyday of the New Living Translation (NLT) and the Left Behind series; and Multnomah Publishers during the mega-selling time of The Prayer of Jabez). In addition, David led the sales and marketing teams at STL Distribution as Sr. Vice President. In 2008, David was named as one of Christian Retailing Magazine’s ‘Top 40 under 40.’ David then moved into technology publishing with a startup company that produced a digital product called Glo, which was named the ECPA ‘Bible of the Year’ for 2009.
Most recently, David launched a consulting company to work with independent authors, publishers and ministries; and joined Snowfall Press, a rapid growth, short run print solutions company. Snowfall works with authors, publishers, ministries and businesses to produce high quality, short book runs with unique retail and direct-to-consumer distribution options.
During his career, David has sold to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Family, LifeWay, Christian Book Distributors, ministries, churches, businesses and international wholesalers/retailers. David holds a BS degree from St. Cloud State University in Advertising and Public Relations.
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Workshop 11: Successful Author Events
Rusty Shelton first spoke at Harvard on the changing world of public relations at the age of 23. Now he is the CEO of Shelton Interactive, a full-service digital agency focused on helping clients start conversations that matter. The firm is the lead digital agency for Chicken Soup for the Soul and Harvard Health Publications and works with leading publishers and top brands like IBM, Amazon and numerous best-selling authors. Shelton spoke at SXSW Interactive this year and sits on the University of Texas Texas Exes PR Committee.
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Workshop 4: Writing a Novel Proposal That Will Get Noticed
Jan Stob is a senior acquisitions editor with Tyndale House Publishers. She has worked on the Left Behind series, as well as projects with Joel Rosenberg, and Randy Alcorn. Her recent acquisitions include Jan Watson, Mel Odom, Rene Gutteridge, Candace Calvert, and Allison Pittman. She loves discovering new talent and unique concepts and enjoys working with authors who share her passion for publishing books that bring hope to a troubled world.
Tyndale’s fiction team takes the corporate mission seriously—striving to reach both readers of fiction who are spiritually grounded and those who are spiritually searching.
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Workshop 16: Fiction Writing: Passion, Calling, Ministry-Or Business?
An active Literary Agent for 19 years and Executive Editor of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild, Les Stobbe also serves as director of International Christian Writers. He has been denominational editor, newsletter editor, book editor, book club vice-president, curriculum managing editor, and president of a book publishing house. He has written curriculum, journalism lessons, 14 books and hundreds of magazine articles. He loves working with writers of both non-fiction and fiction.
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Workshop 2: Platform Boosting E-Newsletters
Workshop 28: 7 Secrets of Amazing Author Websites
Thomas Umstattd Jr. built his first website at the age of 13 and taught his first web design class at only 16 years old. He has been helping authors and small businesses use the web ever since. Thomas currently serves as the CEO of Castle Media Group LLC, a company that builds websites for world changers.
He runs AuthorMedia.com a resource for authors timid about technology. As an award winning speaker, Thomas teaches all over the world. His friendly speaking style blends multimedia and audience participation. His blend of experience and youth give him a unique perspective that can help you use the web in a whole new way.
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CE 4: The Heart of the Matter: Developing the Inner Journey of your Character
Workshop 23: The Four Pillars of a Best-Selling Novel
Workshop 27: Flying Monkeys: Creating A Fan Base Who Will Fight For You!
Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of thirty-five novels with Tyndale, Barbour, Steeple Hill and Summerside Press. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Carol Award (and the ACFW previous award, Book of the Year). A seasoned women’s events speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you! She is also the founder of www.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.
A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at: www.susanmaywarren.com
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CE 1: Basic Fiction Techniques—The Creative and the Practical
Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author who has written seven novels, four novellas, and Plain Wisdom, a work of nonfiction coauthored with her dearest Old Order Amish friend, Miriam Flaud. She’s been featured on ABC Nightline and the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and has worked with National Geographic on a documentary concerning Amish life. She’s won the Fiction Book of the Year, Reviewer’s Choice Award, and Inspirational Reader’s Choice Contest, as well as been one of Crossings Best Books of the Year. She’s been a finalist for the prestigious Christy, Rita, Carol, Christian Book of the Year, and Christian Retailers Choice Awards. She lives in Georgia with her husband, three sons, two daughters-in-law, a new granddaughter, and a dog named Jersey who wants to dominate the world, starting with the Woodsmall household.
If you’d like more information or to contact her, you can go to her website: http://www.cindywoodsmall.com or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorcindywoodsmal
You must be 18 years old to attend conference without a parent/guardian.
Participation of an individual presenter, agent, editor, or publisher in the ACFW conference does not constitute endorsement by ACFW. Conference attendees are advised to use due diligence and take personal responsibility when choosing industry professionals with whom to schedule appointments or enter into agreement.