Conference Faculty
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WS17: Level C: Why Getting Published Isn’t Personal
Beth Adams joined Howard Books as a Senior Editor in 2012. Previously, she worked for Guideposts Books, where she headed the direct mail fiction program, and Random House. She has degrees from Princeton and New York University and teaches a class about publishing to Christian college students. She has written a number of novels under various pen names. She works out of the main Simon and Schuster office in New York, and she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and young daughter.
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CE 5-Level E: Live Free. Write Free.
Allen Arnold, recipient of the 2012 ACFW Lifetime Achievement Award, loves the story he is living. From the mountains of Colorado, he oversees Content & Resources for Ransomed Heart Ministries (led by John Eldredge). Before that, he spent 20 years in Christian Publishing. He’s honored to have been the founding Publisher of Thomas Nelson Fiction, overseeing more than 500 novels during his eight years as Publisher. But that doesn’t really describe the man. Allen loves hanging out with his family, craves the beach, is more in awe of Jesus each day, drinks salsa from a glass, is hooked on the TV series “Once Upon a Time”, savors deep conversations of the heart, and is passionate about helping others, especially storytellers, discover the story God is writing with their lives.
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2hrWS -HOW TO SUCCEED IN HOLLYWOOD (WITHOUT LOSING YOUR SOUL)
Ted has written, edited and contributed to numerous books, including:
• How To Succeed In Hollywood (Without Losing Your Soul)
• The Culture-Wise Family
Ted graduated summa cum laude in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College, attended Cambridge University, the University of Bordeaux & Toulouse, the University of Munich, Northwestern University, and Columbia University’s School of the Arts, graduated with a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law, and received a Doctor of Humanities from Belhaven University.
Ted was president of the organization that produced The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe for CBS-TV in 1980, boasting 37 million viewers and winning an Emmy Award. Baehr produced programs for PBS television. Ted is the Publisher of Movieguide® (www.movieguide.org). Ted has been a featured guest on Oprah, Hannity and Colmes, CNN, ABC, Fox News, MSNBC, and Entertainment Tonight.
Ted has spoken at the European Parliament, the Parliament of the U.K., Oxford, Yale University, Dartmouth College, the University of Virginia, and U.C.L.A. In 2012, Ted was the 4th Dean’s Distinguished Lecturer at the Pepperdine University Graduate School (GSEP). In 2005, Ted was Chairman of the Institute for the Study of Media at the Center for the Arts, Religion and Education at the Graduate Theological
Union at U.C. Berkeley.
Ted’s has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, The L.A. Times, The Washington Post, Hollywood Reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and U.S. News and World Report. Ted’s Annual Movieguide® Awards includes two $100,000 Epiphany Prizes for the Most Inspiring Movie and TV Program and the $50,000 Kairos Prize for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays by Beginning Screenwriters.
Ted Baehr was born in 1946, the son of Robert Allen and Evelyn Peirce, both successful stage, screen and television actors. Ted is married and has four children.
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ALL DAY SESSION
Level C: Quantum Story
JAMES SCOTT BELL is the author of the #1 bestseller for writers, Plot & Structure, and numerous thrillers, including Deceived, Try Dying and Watch Your Back. His novella One More Lie was the first self-published work to be nominated for an International Thriller Writers Award. Under the pen name K. Bennett, he is also the author of the Mallory Caine zombie legal thriller series, which begins with Pay Me in Flesh. He served as the fiction columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine and has written highly popular craft books for Writer’s Digest Books, including: Revision & Self-Editing, The Art of War for Writers and Conflict & Suspense.
Jim has taught writing at Pepperdine University and at numerous writers conferences in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where he studied writing with Raymond Carver. He graduated with honors from the University of Southern California Law Center, and has written over 300 articles and numerous books for the legal profession. He has had three feature screenplays optioned and is on the faculty of Act One, the Hollywood screenwriting program.
A former trial lawyer, Jim now writes and speaks full time. He appeared as an expert commentator on Good Morning America, CBS radio, and in Newsweek magazine during the O. J. Simpson murder trial. His book on search and seizure law is the leading authority in its field, used extensively by lawyers and judges throughout California every day. He lives in Los Angeles.
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WS8: Level E: The Editors’ POV
Sue Brower is Executive Editor for Fiction at Harper Collins Christian Publishing. Her editing credits include numerous awards and bestsellers including #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury’s Loving. Prior to taking on this role, Sue was Sr. Director of Marketing for Fiction 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 has also been awarded the ACFW Editor of the Year and the Golden Scroll Fiction Editor of the Year. Sue lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan with husband, Todd, and “kidz”, Pepper, Ollie and Shep.
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WS4-Level E: Tight Writing and Sentence Rhythm
Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline “Don’t forget to b r e a t h e . . .”® Brandilyn’s first book, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows. Brandilyn’s awards for her novels include the ACFW Book of the Year, now Carol Award (three times), Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice.
Brandilyn is also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons). The Writer Magazine named Getting into Character one of the best books on writing published in 2002.
When she’s not writing, Brandilyn can be found teaching the craft of fiction at writers’ conferences.
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WS11: Level C: How Do I Decide? Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing
Rachelle Gardner is an agent with Books & Such Literary Agency, 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. She has also edited over 150 books. As an agent, she loves helping authors strategize and build their careers, and takes great joy in sharing the important milestones in a writer’s journey.
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WS1-Level B: The First 50 Pages
Jeff Gerke writes fiction how-to books for Writers Digest, runs an indie publishing company (www.MarcherLordPress.com), is a multi-published novelist, and is a full-time book editor, cover designer, and typesetter. Novels he has published, edited, and/or acquired have won the Christy Award, the Carol Award, the EPIC Award, the INDIE Award, and the Foreword magazine Book of the Year Award. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and three children.
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WS3-Level D: Cooperating for Success: Editors, Agents and Authors
Julie Gwinn has been a professional in the public relations, advertising industry for more than 20 years for organizations such as The American Red Cross, the YWCA and public relations and advertising agencies in Nashville. She joined B&H Publishing Group in 2007 in the trade marketing and publicity department where she and Karen Ball launched the Pure Enjoyment fiction line. Recently, she has been given the responsibility of managing the line including acquiring new authors.
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CE 4-Level D: Xtreme! Master Workout for the Middle of Your Book!
PS (Post-Conference Special): Hands on Brainstorming
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 Executive Board, as well as the worship leader for the annual conference.
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WS12: Level D: Public Speaking Prowess
Four-time Carol award-winning author Jenny B. Jones writes romance with equal parts wit, sass, and Southern charm. When she’s not penning novels, she’s living the glamorous life as a junior high librarian in the great state of Arkansas. Since she has very little free time, she believes in spending her spare hours in meaningful, intellectual pursuits, such as watching E!, Tweeting deep thoughts to the world, and writing her name in the dust on her furniture. She is the author of romantic comedies for women such as RITA finalist Save the Date, as well as books for teens, like her A Charmed Life series. You can find her at www.JennyBJones.com or standing in the Ben and Jerry’s cooler.
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WS5-Level A: Building A Writing Career While Working Full Time
Married over twenty years to her own real-life hero, Lisa Jordan knows a thing or two about romance. She and her husband have two college-aged sons. For the last fifteen years, Lisa has been a SAHMWAHM—stay-at-home-work-at-home-mom—who owns and operates a state-certified in-home early learning childcare program. In the evenings, Lisa heads to her closet-sized office to write contemporary Christian
romance novels for Love Inspired. Her debut novel, Lakeside Reunion, won the 2012 Carol award for short contemporary romance. She is the My Book Therapy Bleachers Forum Coordinator, overseeing the Monday Night Chats, which feature online weekly workshops for writers. She has spoken to small women’s groups in her area and will be speaking to a local MOPS chapter about balancing life, work and kids. In her free time (ha!), Lisa enjoys good books, romantic comedies, crafting with friends and feeding her NCIS addiction.
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WS10: Level B: PANEL Publishing Journeys: (Ask the Authors Anything!)
WS16: Level C: Rapid-Fire Your Fiction - When To Pull the Trigger
Ronie Kendig is an award-winning, bestselling author who grew up an Army brat. She married her own hunky hero, who’s an Army veteran. After twenty-plus years of marriage, she and her husband have a full life with four children and two dogs. Ronie’s degree in psychology has helped her pen novels of raw, broken characters. Since launching onto the publishing scene, Ronie’s Rapid-Fire Fiction has hit the CBA Bestseller List, won the prestigious Christy Award, finaled in numerous contests and reader awards, including ACFW Carol Awards, RWA’s Faith, Hope, & Love’s Inspirational Readers’ Choice Awards, Christian Retailing’s Readers’ Choice Awards, INSPY Award, The Christian Manifesto Lime Awards, and FamilyFiction’s Readers’ Choice Choice Awards. Ronie loves people and helping other writers through speaking, workshops, and/or mentoring.
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WS3-Level D: Cooperating for Success: Editors, Agents and Authors
WS7-Level C: Discover Your Core Story
Natasha Kern has personally sold 1,250 books and worked as an agent for more than 20 years. She has a strong commitment to discovering new talents as well as developing the careers of her clients. Natasha has sold to all major publishers. Her list includes: mainstream women’s fiction; romantic suspense; mysteries and thrillers; contemporary and historical novels, Biblical fiction, romantic comedy, Amish fiction, and issue-oriented fiction. Her clients include several New York Times, USA Today and ECPA bestsellers as well as RITA, CHRISTY, CAROL and EDGAR winners.
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WS18: Level D: The Care and Feeding of Your Publishing Relationships
Steve Laube, a literary agent and president of The Steve Laube Agency, has been in the book industry for over 32 years, first as a bookstore manager and book buyer for a national chain. In 1989 his store was awarded the National Store of the Year by the Christian Bookstore Association (CBA). He then spent 11 years with Bethany House Publishers rising to the position of Editorial Director/Adult Nonfiction and was named the Editor of the Year by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. Since becoming an agent in 2003 he has negotiated nearly 500 contracts representing over 800 new books and was named Agent of the Year by The American Christian Fiction Writers. In addition, Steve has taught at writer’s conferences in more than 50 cities. His office is in Phoenix, Arizona.
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WS10: Level B: PANEL Publishing Journeys: (Ask the Authors Anything!)
WS15: Level B: Making Unsympathetic Characters Sympathetic
Tosca Lee is the NY Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed DEMON: A MEMOIR, HAVAH: THE STORY OF EVE, and the Books of Mortals series with NY Times bestseller Ted Dekker. ISCARIOT, her highly-anticipated novel of Judas, releases February 2013. She is an ECPA and CBA bestseller, two-time Christy Award finalist, ACFW Carol Awards finalist, Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Silver and Bronze award winner and Christian Retailing Retailer’s Award winner. Tosca makes her home in the Midwest and enjoys adventure travel—most recently, angling for pirañas on the Amazon and deep sea fishing off the coast of Mexico.
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WS3-Level D: Cooperating for Success: Editors, Agents and Authors
Award-winning author of “The Daughters of Boston” and “Winds of Change” series, Julie Lessman was ACFW’s 2009 Debut Author of the Year and voted #1 Romance Author of the year in Family Fiction magazine’s 2012 and 2011 Readers Choice Awards.
Winner of 14 RWA awards, released her 7th novel, A Light in the Window: An Irish Christmas Love Story as an ebook original.
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WS10: Level B: PANEL Publishing Journeys: (Ask the Authors Anything!)
Best-selling novelist Robert Liparulo is a former journalist, with over a thousand articles and multiple writing awards to his name. His first three critically acclaimed thrillers—Comes a Horseman, Germ, and Deadfall—were optioned by Hollywood producers, as well as his Dreamhouse Kings series for young adults. Bestselling author Ted Dekker calls The 13th Tribe “a phenomenal story.” Its sequel, The Judgment Stone, released in May, 2013. Liparulo is currently working with director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian) on the novel and screenplay of a political thriller. New York Times best-selling author Steve Berry calls Liparulo’s writing “Inventive, suspenseful, and highly entertaining . . . Robert Liparulo is a storyteller, pure and simple.” Liparulo lives in Colorado with his family.
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WS13: Level D: Marketing Plans Made Easy
Amanda Luedeke is an agent with MacGregor Literary. One of her defining skills as an agent is her understanding of marketing and promotions, as she has experience in using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogging to promote products and brands. Before agenting, Amanda worked as a social media marketer and a copywriter at a marketing agency in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There, she worked with Vera Bradley, Peg Perego, Bejnamin Moore, The New York Times Inc. and other major national clients.
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WS2-Level C: Working with an Agent in the New Publishing Economy
Chip MacGregor is the 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. He is the author of numerous books, including a couple of bestselling nonfiction titles, and formerly served as a publisher with Time-Warner. He began working as an agent fifteen years ago, and has represented hundreds of titles, including numerous award winners and bestsellers, and one book that hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Seven years ago he began his own literary agency, and over the past five years has been the busiest literary agent in the United States. 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 on the Oregon coast.
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WS8: Level E: The Editors’ POV
Ami McConnell is Thomas Nelson Publishing’s Senior Acquisitions Editor. In 2004, she helped launch their Fiction division where she continues to edit today. Her editing credits include New York Times
bestsellers, Christy Award winners, including books by Colleen Coble, Ted Dekker, Homer Hickam, Karen Kingsbury, Max Lucado, and Frank Peretti. Recognized for excellence by such organizations as the American Christian Fiction Writers (Editor of the Year, 2009) and the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association (Fiction Editor of the Year, 2003), she serves on the advisory board of The Buechner Institute at King College. She lives with her family near Nashville, Tennessee.
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CE 2: Level B: Mastering the 3-Act Structure for Your Novel
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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WS18: Level D: The Care and Feeding of Your Publishing Relationships
Tamela Hancock Murray, a literary agent with The Steve Laube Agency, has been in the industry for over 15 years. After graduating from Lynchburg College in Virginia with honors in Journalism, she pursued her lifelong passion for writing, eventually becoming an award winning, bestselling author of 37 books and diverse magazine and newspaper articles covering such topics as art, real estate, church, and humor. Tamela has been a literary agent for the last 11 years. She has represented many top authors and is known for discovering and developing new talent. Tamela has taught many workshops over her career, often focusing on relationships in the industry. She loves being a literary agent full-time, and now confines her public writing mostly to Twitter, Facebook, and her Thursday blog posts for The Steve Laube Agency. Tamela’s office is in Northern Virginia, where she lives with her husband and their youngest daughter.
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WS6-Level B: The Business End of Writing
Deborah Raney’s first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched her writing career after 20 happy years as a stay-at-home mom. Her books have won numerous awards including the RITA, National Readers Choice Award, HOLT Medallion, the Carol Award, and have twice been Christy Award finalists. Deb’s 23rd novel will release from Howard/Simon & Schuster Spring 2013. She and her husband, Ken Raney, enjoy the wildflowers and native grasses in the Kansas prairie garden in their large backyard. They also love traveling together to teach at
conferences, and to visit four children and four small grandchildren who all live much too far away.
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Early Bird: THE LAST 10%
Lisa has helped authors attain deals with Tor/MacMillan, Berkley Prime Crime and others.
She teaches advanced fiction and editing techniques at conferences worldwide, is the founder of the Lisa Rector Young Writers’ Scholarship and author of the upcoming book The Third Draft.
Lisa is married to well-respected literary agent, Donald Maass. They reside in New York.
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CE 5-Level E: Live Free. Write Free.
WS10: Level B: PANEL Publishing Journeys: (Ask the Authors Anything!)
James L. Rubart is the best-selling and award winning author of four novels, including his latest, SOUL’S GATE. During the day he runs Barefoot Marketing which helps businesses and authors make more coin of the realm. In his free time he dirt bikes, hikes, golfs, takes photos, and occasionally does sleight of hand. 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.
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WS14: Level A: Distilling It Down: How to Craft a High Concept Premise for Your Novel
Beth K. Vogt discovered that God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” Despite being a nonfiction writer and editor who said she’d never writer fiction, Beth’s inspirational contemporary romance novel, Wish You Were Here, debuted May 2012 (Howard Books.) Her second novel, Catch a Falling Star, releases May 2013. Beth is an established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International, as well as a former consulting editor for MomSense magazine. She is also the Skills Coach for My Book Therapy, the writing community founded by best-selling author Susan May Warren. Her blog, In Others’ Words, highlights quotes and conversation on a wide-range of topics.
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WS10: Level B: PANEL Publishing Journeys: (Ask the Authors Anything!)
Dan Walsh is a multi-published author with Revell and Guideposts. Of his 6 novels with Revell, 5 received RT Book Review’s 4.5 Star/Top Pick rating (the only one that didn’t received 4 Stars but went on to win a Carol Award). He’s won a total of 3 Carol Awards. His 4th novel, Remembering Christmas became an ECPA bestseller and spent 5 weeks on Amazon’s Top 5 ranking for Christmas novels. It was also a finalist for RT’s Inspirational book of the Year for 2011. His novel, The Discovery, was just named a finalist for the same honor in 2012. His latest novel, The Reunion, received over 100 customer reviews on Amazon in just 2 months (avg 4.9 Stars).
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CE 4-Level D: Xtreme! Master Workout for the Middle of Your Book!
WS10: Level B: PANEL Publishing Journeys: (Ask the Authors Anything!)
PS (Post-Conference Special): Hands on Brainstorming
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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WS9: Level B: Author Voice: Discover, Develop, and Dodge the Pitfalls
Two-time RITA® Finalist and winner of the coveted HOLT Medallion and ACFW Carol Award, CBA bestselling author, Karen Witemeyer, writes historical romance fiction for Bethany House, believing that the world needs more happily-ever-afters.
She is an avid cross-stitcher, shower singer, and bakes a mean apple cobbler.
Karen makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children.
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CE 1-Level A: FINISH THE BOOK!: A Procrastinator’s Guide to Reaching THE END & Pressing Send
Bestselling author Kathleen Y’Barbo is a multiple Carol Award and RITA nominee of over forty novels with more than one million copies of her books in print in the United States and abroad. A tenth-generation Texan and certified family law paralegal, she was recently nominated for a Career Achievement Award as well as a Reader’s Choice Award by Romantic Times magazine. has four grown children, seven bonus children, and her very own hero in combat boots.
You must be 18 years old to attend conference without a parent/guardian present with you at all times.
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.