"Something for Everyone!" Days of WIK15 - Faye Gibbons

"Something for Everyone!"
30 Days of WIK15 - Faye Gibbons

Faye Gibbons will host a workshop during WIK15:

• Mining for Gold
  Has your wonderful story idea gone cold?  Has your middle grade biography become stale?  Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, what you need is new material--fresh ideas.  This session tells you where to find those treasures.  You will learn how to keep and organize notes, how to get help from experts in the field, and how to enlist help from librarians.  The mother lode you unearth may give you ideas for other stories down the road.  Let's go prospecting!

  

ABOUT FAYE GIBBONS:

Faye has 14 books and numerous short stories and articles published.  Her most recent book, HALLEY, has received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal, and is a 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor Winner.  For the past eight years she has taught writing at John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.  Many of her stories draw inspiration from the large mountain Georgia farm family she was born into, and the many mill towns she lived in as she grew up.  She eventually became a teacher--taking on every grade from 4 through 12.  After she married an Alabama boy she ended up on a farm in Deatsville, Alabama.  Faye shared her love of reading and writing with her two sons as they grew up, and now with six grandchildren.

LINKS:

Website

Click here to REGISTER FOR WIK'15 now!

"Something for Everyone!" 30 Days of WIK15 - Kimberly Osborn Sullivan

"Something for Everyone!"
30 Days of WIK15 - Kimberly Osborn Sullivan

Kimberly Osborn Sullivan will host several workshops during WIK15.

• Take the Ouch Out of OOPAuthors commonly feel disappointment when their books go out of print (OOP), but it’s possible to breathe new life into an OOP title. Whether it’s finding a publisher that accepts previously released works or taking the plunge into self-publishing, many authors have faced the OOP abyss and lived to tell the tale. 
• AUDIENCE: Writers and illustrators, advanced.
• New Adult: Just YA with More Sex? The new adult genre is taking the world of fiction by storm. Yet there are still authors, readers, and publishers who aren’t sure exactly what NA is or where it’s going. Is NA just young ddult with more graphic sex and language, or is NA truly something new? Who are its readers? Who’s writing it? And how can you get in on the action?
  AUDIENCE: Writers, young adult, all levels.  

  

ABOUT KIMBERLY OSBORN SULLIVAN:

Kim Osborn Sullivan saw her first book’s publisher exit the YA market even before that book was released. Undaunted, she promoted it on her own and even found a new publisher for the series—until that new publisher went out of business. Now her YA fantasy series is self-published, while she continues to take the traditional publishing route with other works. Her traditionally published books include Stones of Abraxas (Medallion Press, 2006) a YA fantasy; Muammar Al-Quaddafi’s Libya (Lerner Publishing, 2008) YA nonfiction; Slobodan Milosevic’s Yugoslavia (Lerner Publishing, 2009) YA nonfiction. Her first new adult novel, Dead Girls Don’t Get Fat, will be released later this year. She’s co-editor of the new adult book review blog www.NewAdultReads.com. 

LINKS:

Website

Twitter

Click here to REGISTER FOR WIK'15 now!

"Something for Everyone!" 30 Days of WIK15 - S. R. Johannes

"Something for Everyone!"
30 Days of WIK15 - S. R. Johannes

S. R. Johannes will host several workshops during WIK15.

• Marketing Your Book Like a Self-Publisher
• Learn how to market your book to readers through different avenues and climb the charts, and what a marketing plan is and why you need one. Discuss why branding is critical. Learn how to utilize social media and network. Discover which advertising is most effective and where you should put your money.
  AUDIENCE: Writers and illustrators, all levels. 
• Choosing a Publishing Path: Self vs. Traditional (A dialogue) with Harold Underdown
  There are more publishing options available than ever before—but which one is right for you? Join two publishing veterans (editor and hybrid author) as they examine the advantages, disadvantages, and requirements of self- and traditional publishing to help you decide which is right for you or for your manuscript.
  AUDIENCE: Writers and illustrators, all levels. 

  

ABOUT S. R. JOHANNES:

S.R. Johannes is the award winning author of the Amazon bestselling Nature of Grace thriller series (Untraceable, Uncontrollable, and Unstoppable). She’s a winner of the IndieReader Discovery Award in YA, an IPPY Silver Medalist for YA Fiction, a finalist in The Kindle Book Review’s Best Young Adult Fiction, and a finalist in US Book News Best YA Book. She is also represented by Lara Perkins at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. 

LINKS:

Website

Twitter

Click here to REGISTER FOR WIK'15 now!

"Something for Everyone! 30 Days of WIK15 - Susan Nees

"Something for Everyone!"
30 Days of WIK15 - Susan Nees

Susan Nees will host a workshop during WIK15.

• Making It Happen! Starting and Managing a Career in Children’s IllustrationAimed at illustrators just starting out on their careers, this workshop covers everything from creating a competitive portfolio, to tips on submitting your work, to the ins and outs of finding an agent. We will discuss how to get your work seen, and what makes a successful promo piece, managing your digital portfolio, what you need to know about working with art directors (and editors). We will answer questions about how best to spend your promo dollar and how to price your work.
  AUDIENCE: Illustrators, all levels. 

  

ABOUT SUSAN NEES:

Susan Nees is the author and illustrator of the Missy’s Super Duper Royal Deluxe chapter book series for emerging readers published by Scholastic Press. She graduated with honors from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and has also received the American Institute of Graphic Arts Award. Her artwork can be found in a number of collections including the Low Library of Columbia University and in special collections at Princeton. In addition to her chapter book series, Nees creates comics that she posts on her website and has illustrated the soon to be released It’s Me, Clover, written by Lola Schaefer. She lives in Watkinsville, Georgia, is a member of SCBWI, and is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary Agency. 

LINKS:

Website

Twitter

Click here to REGISTER FOR WIK'15 now!

"Something for Everyone!" 30 Days of WIK15 - Lisa Lewis Tyre

"Something for Everyone!"
30 Days of WIK15 - Lisa Lewis Tyre

Lisa Lews Tyre will host a workshop during WIK15:

• Rocking Your Social Media
  No matter where I am, or what I’m doing, someone wants to talk about social media. I guess with over one BILLION Facebook users, 540 million active users on GooglePlus, 225 million Twitter accounts, and 200 million users of Instagram, it’s on a lot of people’s minds.
  
  
  Or it could be that I’m a Social Media Evangelist and I’m the one always bringing it up. Whichever. I can’t help it. I LOVE social media, and despite the large numbers of people using it, you can still make great, authentic connections without spending every waking minute in front of the computer.
  
  
  This year I’ll be presenting Rocking Your Social Media at Wik15 and if I do it well, it’s going to be fun, useful and interactive – just like good social media! Together we’ll discuss good/bad social media practices, time management tools, the most popular platforms, connecting with influencers, etc. There may even be prizes.
  
  
  In between marketing my debut book and writing my next one, I spend my time blogging, posting, and tweeting for a variety of clients, and consulting with those who want to do it themselves. Trust me when I tell you, this CAN be fun.
  
  
  Hanging out at the SCBWI Southern Breeze conference will be great, but we don’t have to wait until then to connect. Follow me on twitter @lisalewistyre and let’s get social!
  
  
  Of course, we can always go old-school and talk face-to-face at the conference. Find me! I’ll be the one with the selfie stick.  

ABOUT LISA LEWIS TYRE:

Lisa Lewis Tyre is a middle grade author (Last In A Long Line of Rebels, Nancy Paulsen Books) a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, a founder of the multi-author blog, Middle Grade Mafia and a social media evangelist! Follow her on twitter!

LINKS:

Website

Twitter

Click here to REGISTER FOR WIK'15 now!