Join our fun and fast-paced pre-conference event Thursday night. Before you head to the pitch rooms, practice your pitch and learn from experts and peers.
Choose your room: Literature, Adaption or Visual Media.
$5 buys you a two-minute pitch in front of a panel of experts who will evaluate and make suggestions for improvement.
Best pitch of the night wins the cash!
(Free to attend, $5 to pitch. You must be registered for the conference to pitch.)
Do you feel that your novel, memoir, or other nonfiction book has potential in the film, television, web or stage? Practice your pitch, have fun competing against your peers, and receive valuable feedback on how to improve your pitch to industry experts.
Join our fun and fast-paced pre-conference event on Thursday night.
Choose your room: Literature, Adaption or Visual Media.
$5 buys you a two-minute pitch in front of a panel of experts who will evaluate and make suggestions for improvement.
Best pitch of the night wins the cash!
(Free to attend, $5 to pitch. You must be registered for the conference to pitch.)
Practice your pitch, have fun competing against your peers, and receive valuable feedback on how to improve your pitch to industry experts.
Join our fun and fast-paced pre-conference event on Thursday night.
Choose your room: Literature, Adaption or Visual Media.
$5 buys you a two-minute pitch in front of a panel of experts who will evaluate and make suggestions for improvement.
Best Pitch of the night wins the cash!
(Free to attend, $5 to pitch. You must be registered for the conference to pitch.)
Practice your pitch, have fun competing against your peers, and receive valuable feedback on how to improve your pitch to industry experts.
Join our fun and fast-paced pre-conference event Thursday night.
Choose your room: Literature, Adaption or Visual Media.
$5 buys you a two-minute pitch in front of a panel of experts who will evaluate and make suggestions for improvement.
Best Pitch of the night wins the cash!
(Free to attend, $5 to pitch. You must be registered for the conference to pitch.)
Practice your pitch, have fun competing against your peers, and receive valuable feedback on how to improve your pitch to industry experts.
An official welcome to all attendees to kick off the 2015 conference.
Before you head out to breakout sessions, enjoy coffee, plan your day, and be inspired by storyteller, author, and writers’ advocate William Kenower as he talks about The Power of Story.
Being published by a traditional publishing house is no longer the only path to a successful career as an author. But self-publishing is not an easy route, and many who try do not find the level of success they hope to achieve. In this workshop, three authors who have found success through self-publishing share the details of their own strategies and methods, offering practical tips and the benefit of their experience with what worked for them and what did not.
This workshop will cover different strategies and formulas for constructing proper loglines, what to include and what not to include, the difference between loglines and taglines, and how to write ones that grab attention and sell! We'll go over loglines from Hollywood hits and writers
should be sure to bring their own loglines which we will workshop and rework in class!
If you are a screenwriter or an author, you do not want to miss this opportunity to hear from the people in the industry who champion the written word to the visual mediums of Film, Television, Web Streaming and Stage.
TWEET your questions to our moderator.
Writing the macabre involves a strange brew of dread, the unnatural and revulsion. Horror is more about the What than the How or the Why but it doesn’t work without the common maxim, “Show don’t Tell.” We’ll examine masters of communicating the dark and learn techniques of horror writing
An editor is usually the first person in a publishing house to get excited about a potential acquisition, and it's the editor's responsibility to rally everyone else (from the marketing
department to the accountants) around the cause. So, how does an author appeal to an editor? What does an editor look for in terms of big-picture stuff but also the finer details of copyediting? And what can turn an editor off to a manuscript?
Wondering how to help your work be discovered among TENS of MILLIONS of Books???
This class will cover how to help ebook retailers and customers discover your book, with advice from a Kobo expert on putting your most professional foot forward. What makes an eye-catching cover? What are effective pricing and metadata strategies? What are the benefits of wide distribution to multiple retailers? This session will benefit both newcomers and established indie authors
It's indisputable - Oregon is bursting with talent. Join us to learn more about local authors who hold this prestigious honor.
During this moderated lunch panel, you may TWEET your questions and pick their brains as you plan your future among them.
Comedy has long been one of Hollywood’s most popular genres, but also one of the most challenging to do well. As a comedy writer you’re charged with the task of not only creating a story that can sustain itself over 90 minutes, but one that also keeps your audience laughing for 90 minutes. This workshop will cover story and character design, setup/payoff relationships, set pieces and runners, what Hollywood is currently looking for, and over 20 techniques that can be used in designing hilarious beats and sequences. A must for comedy writers of all levels and styles.
Writers are often told not to pitch a book as the first in a series. Good thing no one told me that, as my pitch landed me a ten-book series. This session reveals hilarious and instructive anecdotes, historical perspective and up-to-date information on many kinds of series – fiction and nonfiction for all ages. It also details the advantages and disadvantages of series writing.
Discover how crowdfunding can successfully launch a book by providing unique avenues for market testing, pre-publication sales, and building an audience for this book (and your next!). Course includes a review of crowdfunding platforms (including Kickstarter, Indiegogo and PubSlush). Learn what to do before you start, the critical role of socail media, example timelines and budgets, ideas to reward backers, tips on how to deliver your book and then follow up after the campaign is completed. Features case studies of successfully crowdfunded books with insights from publishers who have done the work to succeed (one earning over $150,000 from over 2,000 backers in a month). Includes proven tips to engage and enhance funder excitement. Bring your burning questions: we will make time for Q&A.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is an annual international literary sensation that inspires people from all walks of life to dust off their literary ambitions and finally write that novel they’ve always dreamed of. Participants are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel, start to finish, in the month of November. Whether you’re a novice writer or a well-published professional, NaNoWriMo offers you a great way to jump-start your writing life, or zap new energy into one that’s been stalled. Wherever you are in your writing journey, NaNoWriMo can help you tell your story!
Fostering the writing dreams of Young Writers and helping them reach their writing dreams is no small task! That why NaNoWriMo offers amazing resources and lesson plans to help you inspire the Young Writers in your classroom or at home! Experienced English teacher and NaNo expert Kim Switzer will show you all the goodies offered by NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers.
Program including:
Free classroom kits
Downloadable noveling lesson plans
Virtual Classrooms
Connect with other educators
How to publish students' manuscripts
Get great tips and expert advice on integrating NaNoWriMo’s tools into your classroom!
Teens and Tweens: Are you serious about writing? Join us for a jam-packed session of writing games and inspiration! You’ll meet other young WriMos (NaNo Speak for fellow participants) and discover all the great stuff for young writers to guide you NaNoWriMo and the rest of your novel journey. We’ll have a surprise NaNoWriMo author stop by to share tips and
tricks for writing your novel!
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is an annual international literary sensation that inspires people from all walks of life to dust off their literary ambitions and finally write that novel they’ve always dreamed of. Participants are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel, start to finish, in the month of November. Whether you’re a novice writer or a well-published professional, NaNoWriMo offers you a great way to jump-start your writing life, or zap new energy into one that’s been stalled. Wherever you are in your writing journey, NaNoWriMo can help you tell your story!
From the novice writer to the professional novelist, NaNoWriMo offers something for every writer. Whether you’re seeking a writing community, inspiration, writing tips and tricks, a firm deadline (or a crazy one!), or just permission to focus on your writing for 30 days, you’ll find it
and more when you participate in NaNoWriMo. Regional Municipal Liaisons (NaNoSpeak for the hardworking souls who coordinate events during NaNo) will take you on a fun-filled, hands-on tour of NaNoWriMo, including: NanoNuts and Bolts; Writers Relay Races; GPS for the NaNoWriMo's Soul; The Plotters vs. Pantsers Smackdown; and more! Suprise Novelists and NaNoWriMo inspirators will stop by to sprinkle a little writerly inspiration!
Blogging can be a powerful way to get deeply informed about a topic––while developing your expertise. In this interactive workshop for blogging beginners, participants will map out a plan for establishing a blog that helps you grow your platform. Through a series of prompts and exercises, you will develop an executable blueprint for launching and sustaining your online authority that includes:
1. Foundation: Blog mission, name, and tag line
2. Momentum: An editorial calendar that includes a year’s worth of themes and topics to be covered;
3. Growth and visibility: A strategic map for building your audience and influencing the conversation in your field
I have applied this strategy in developing my pathofpossibility.com and radicaldivorce.com blogs where I have gained an international presence in the conversations about writing as a life practice and divorce as a spiritual practice.
Do you wonder what goes through editors' minds as they read new material?
Do you ponder how to avoid being tossed into the dreaded "slush pile"?
Meet out our newest experiment: In the vein of TV's classic "Gong Show," this fun
game-show-styled session turns YOU into a competitor and puts your opening page
to the test!
Be prepared with 5 printed copies of your project's first page.
Our moderator will dramatically read your anonymous masterpiece aloud to our panel
of publishing editors. When our panelists are no longer riveted, they
will indicate (LOUDLY) that their interest has begun to wane.
After each entry is presented, our panel will offer their experienced insights for the benefit of everyone in attendance – all in good fun, of course.
Prizes for best “First Pages” and entertainment and learning for all!
