Great American Bargain Book Show Seminar 2008

"How To Become a Successful Author"

August 2, 2008
Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta, Ga.

You're invited to the Great American Bargain Book Show 2008 seminar on Saturday, August 2, 2008. The Seminar title is "How To Become a Successful Author." Following is the agenda, including faculty, topics and times. Enrollment information appears below the agenda.

Seminar attendees receive free admission to the Great American Bargain Book Show - normally $75 per person.

NOTE: Registrants may opt to attend either a Track 1 or Track 2 session in each time block. More detailed information about each instructor appears below, under the schedule matrix.

Instructors

Jackie Kershaw Cooper, author and syndicated journalist, "How To Write Movie and Book Reviews for Fun, Profit and Free Tickets"

 

Jackie Kershaw Cooper was born in South Carolina and now lives in Georgia. He is the married father of two sons and grandparent of a boy and a girl. He is familiar to people living in the middle Georgia area as the "entertainment man" since his entertainment reviews run in newspapers and are shown on television there. His short stories have been used as commentary on Georgia Public Radio. He also keeps active appearing as an after dinner speaker for various events. Portions of his life are contained in his first book, Journey of a Gentle Southern Man.  The journey continued in Chances and Choices. Both books were reprinted and published by Mercer University Press in July 2004. His third book, Halfway Home, was published by Mercer University Press in October 2004. His fourth book, The Book Binder, was published in the fall of 2006. He is featured on Georgia Public Radio twice each Friday on "Friday's With Jackie!"

Anna DeStefano, novelist and president, Georgia Romance Writers, "How To Write Romances and Get Them Published"

Anna DeStefano is a best-selling author of long contemporary romances for Harlequin Superromance. She's a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award winner, has won Cataromance.com's reviewers choice award for the last two years and has been a finalist in such contests as the Maggie Award of Excellence, the National Readers Choice awards, the Holt Medallion and the Book Buyers Best Award. Anna graduated form Georgia Tech with highest honors, worked in corporate IT for 10 years, and had finally settled into a career as a senior tech writer when she began writing fiction. She was first published five years later, and is now working on her seventh full-length novel. Her motivational workshops on planning, drafting and revising manuscripts attract standing room only crowds wherever she speaks, including at the 2005 Romance Writers of America National Conference. Anna's a busy wife and mother, but as time permits, she teaches and works with crisis care groups that provide services to adults and children recovering from grief and loss. In 2007, she was elected president of Georgia Romance Writers. She's an avid tennis player.

Hollis Gillespie, author, "How To Write Memoirs for Fun and Profit"

Hollis Gillespie, writer and former flight attendant, is a syndicated columnist and top-selling author. Her third book, Trailer Trashed, will be published in August. Her column "Moodswing" appears in the alternative weekly Creative Loafing. She is the travel columnist at Paste Magazine and writes a humorous financial column for BeE WOMAN magazine. Hollis has appeared on the cover of numerous publications including Atlanta magazine, Creative Loafing and Tampa's Weekly Planet. She has been profiled in Marie Claire, Bust, Writer's Digest and Entertainment Weekly. Her television appearances include "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno, "TBS Storyline," "Monica Kaufman's Closeups," "Good Day Atlanta" and "TV Land." Her radio commentaries appear regularly on National Public Radio (NPR) and Georgia Public Broadcasting. In 2004, Writer's Digest named Hollis a "Breakout Author of the Year." Other accolades include "Best Columnist" (2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007) and Best Local Author (2004, 2005, 2006) honors in the Creative Loafing Best of Atlanta Readers Survey. Atlanta magazine awarded her "Best 'Tell-All'" in 2006. The film rights to her first book, Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales from a Bad Neighborhod, are currently under option with a major Hollywood studio. Hollis is also the founder and host of the bi-monthly Shocking Real-Life Memoir Publishing Academy.

Russ Marshalek, marketing and publicity director, Wordsmiths Books, Decatur, Ga., the most receptive store in the Atlanta market for author signings, on “How To Arrange Bookstore Signings for Your Book”

Russ Marshalek is the marketing and publicity director for Wordsmiths Books, the largest independent bookstore in Georgia, operating in the literary community of Decatur. Having been involved with Wordsmiths Books since its inception, Russ handles all marketing, promotions, publicity and author bookings, as well as musical acts and other forms of entertainment and programming at the store. He comes from a seven-plus year background in new media marketing and publicity. In “A Fish with a Bicycle on Myspace Is Still a Fish with a Bicycle,” Russ will discuss what he sees as a failure of major publishers to properly market authors and the books they’ve birthed, and how authors can take marketing action into their own hands. He'll cover setting up a signing to “OK, so I have a book signing, now what do I do with it?” Maybe, just maybe (Russ hopes) you’ll walk away having had some fun in addition to gaining a new “inside” perspective on book signings today.

Man Martin, author and Georgia Author of the Year nominee, "How To Write and Promote a Humorous Novel"

Man Martin was a cartoonist and creator of the syndicated comic strip "Sibling Revelry" before turning to writing fiction. By day he teaches English and coaches Debate at Stephenson High School in Stone Mountain. He lives with his wife, Nancy, and dog, Zoe, in Dunwoody, and is putting his two daughters, Catherine and Spencer, through college. For seven years, he drew the comic strip “Sibling Revelry,” which appeared in some 40 papers around the U.S. He studied writing at Kennesaw State University and Georgia State University, and completed his PhD in Spring 2007. His work has appeared in The Kenyon Review, McSweeney’s Online, Atlanta magazine and elsewhere. Days of the Endless Corvette, his first novel, has earned him a nomination for Georgia Author of the Year. In it, he takes the reader on a magical ride through a world where true love never dies, Corvettes materialize from spare parts and anything seems possible if you can only imagine it. It's a coming of age novel that brings his central character from boyhood to manhood. Along the way, it touches on everything from Schrodinger's cat to Civil War treasure. Days of the Endless Corvette is also about lovingly sharing stories, and of the meaningful transformation storytelling can bring. 

Ahmad Meradji, CEO, Apex Book Manufacturing, "How To Select a Short-Run Printer for Your Self-Published Book"

Ahmad Meradji has been involved in digital printing from its inception at Xerox, providing customers with onsite and offsite digital printing. He held various management positions at Xerox, including  the oversight of Internal document printing. He was one of the individuals involved in setting up the first digital book printing models at Xerox, later serving as a consultant in digital document printing and production. He will discuss a brief history of digital printing and identify the benefits of printing in digital format. In addition to identifying specific activities that take place in an on-demand book manufacturing environment, Mr. Meradji will detail how publishers and authors can benefit from print on demand (POD) technology. Interested  in knowing how much it would cost to manufacture 50 copies of your book? 500 copies? 1,000 copies? Employees of Apex will be on site to provide you with instant quotes.

Patricia Sprinkle, mystery and nonfiction book author, "So You Want To Write a Mystery?"

Patricia Sprinkle was raised in North Carolina, West Virginia and Florida. Her father, a minister, served coal field churches in West Virginia. She decided in ninth grade to become a writer, so she headed to Vassar College, which had a great creative writing program. After a brief stint in Scotland following graduation, she moved to Atlanta and started a series of writing-related jobs. No matter what she was writing, she was reading mostly mysteries. She met and married her husband Bob in 1970. Her first mystery, Murder at Markham (reissued by Silver Dagger in 2001), took 13 years to complete. But she quickly made up for lost time. Since 1988, she has written 19 mysteries, two other novels and five non-fiction books. In the 37 years she and her husband Bob have been together, they have lived in Atlanta (four times), Chicago (twice), St. Petersburg (twice), Mobile, and Miami. They have two sons and two grandsons.

Darlene Ford Wofford, rape victim turned fiction author, has attracted international attention to her writing in addition to generating local interest in the Atlanta media. Her presentation is entitled "How I Got Local and National Publicity for My Books"

Darlene Ford Wofford is the award-winning author of Edgewise: An Assignment to Remember, the first of three novels planned for her Edgewise series. Darlene and husband Carl, both Atlanta natives, have been married for 40-plus years and have three sons. An interior designer, marketing professional and involved in the mortgage industry in earlier careers, she has been a contributing author to national business magazines relating to the mortgage finance industry. She is now a Certified Image Consultant and Advanced Executive Course graduate of the internationally acclaimed London Image Institute, where she is  currently the Graduate Division director. In 2004 she wrote Imagize! (a word meaning “to energize your image”), a workbook for Imagize Consulting Services, which she founded that same year. She now assists individuals in developing personal and professional branding. A recent book tour she conducted, with events at the national chains and individually owned stores in Atlanta and surrounding cities, reflects her marketing expertise. She was recently featured as a guest on TV Fox 5’s "Good Day Atlanta" morning news. As a radio personality, she co-hosted a weekly Atlanta radio talk-show on Saturday mornings in 2006. A Marietta Chapter officer of Toastmasters International, her presentations are always enlightening and inspiring. Known as “The Spirited Southerner,” Darlene will share in her session how she has been promoting her book and herself.

ENROLL NOW TO ASSURE A PLACE. SEATING IS LIMITED! You may enroll by clicking on the appropriate button below, which will take you to our secure Web site.

Following are the tuition fees for workshop students.

If you enroll before Saturday, July 12, 2008: $40

If you enroll on or after Saturday, July 12, 2008: $50
 

If you pay at the door on Saturday, August 2: $60

Tuition will be refunded in full only if you cancel 5 or more days before the seminar begins.

Have a question? Click on the hyperlink below to send an email to seminar planners at Anvil Publishers in Atlanta.

custserv@anvilpub.com

Contact Information

Telephone:

770-938-0289

 

Fax:

770-493-7232

 

Postal address:

P.O. Box 2694, Tucker, GA 30085-2694

 

Ground Delivery and Mail Address:

Anvil Publishers, 3852 Allsborough Drive, Tucker, GA 30084

 

Electronic mail:

General Information: custserv@anvilpub.com

Copyright © 2001-2008
Last modified: 07/04/09