MEDIA RELEASE
For media information
Penny Porter 520-296-5299 • wporter202@aol.com
Barbara Stahura 520-575-9650 • Barbara@barbarastahura.com
To Write and To Sell: Top Publishers, Agents, Editors and
Keynoters Coming to Wrangling With Writing Conference
TUCSON, Ariz. (July 10) — Top publishers, agents, editors and keynote speakers will join hundreds of published and aspiring authors in Tucson Sept. 27-28 for the 36th annual Wrangling With Writing conference.
The conference, at the Holiday Inn Palo Verde, will feature more than 30 workshops and keynote presentations by Taylor Mali, the nation’s foremost poetry slam specialist and passionate teacher’s advocate (with a rousing performance of his poetry); Corey Blake, instrumental in the development of more than 300 screenplays and manuscripts (“Your Book, Your Legacy”); and multiple book author Deborah LeBlanc, president of the Horror Writers Association and Mystery Writers of America’s Southwest Chapter (“When Everyone Else Says You Can’t”).
Complete information, including a downloadable registration form, is currently available at the Wrangling With Writing website or call Registrar at (520) 296-5299. Cost is $275 for members of the Society of Southwestern Authors, and $350 for non-members. The fee includes five meals and registration packets. In addition, there is a $20 fee for each pitch or consultation interview scheduled with guest editors, agents, publishers and marketing consultants.
Full-time writing, English, and literature teachers can receive a $75 discount. Two full scholarships will be awarded to deserving participants.
In addition to keynote speeches, presentations, and professional interviews, books from faculty members and other authors will be available for sale. The conference will run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, and from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28. Workshops begin each day at 9:15 a.m. The Saturday dinner at 6:00 and Taylor Mali’s performance will be open to the public.
Presented by the Society of Southwest Authors, Wrangling With Writing enjoys a lasting reputation as one of the nation’s most affordable and valuable conferences, in terms of both presentations and marketing opportunities. It also enjoys the presence of many of the country’s top workshop presenters and agents.
“We always try to accomplish two things above all with Wrangling With Writing—providing as much technical and marketing inside information to our participants as possible, and to give participants the best possible opportunity to sell their work, or receive the best advice on doing so,” Wrangling With Writing Director Penny Porter said. “We’ve had quite a few book deals come out of this conference, and many other leads and consultations that led to book deals.”
Wrangling With Writing is anchored by a faculty of 30-plus editors, authors, workshop presenters, publishers, and marketing consultants — including National Book Award and Pulitzer nominees, Burroughs Award and Independent Publishers Book Award recipients, and publishers St. Martin’s Press and Harlequin. Workshop topics cover creative and technical points of all forms of writing—fiction, non-fiction, essays, memoir, screenwriting, and poetry. Topics will also address the business side of publishing, including marketing, self-editing, preparing manuscripts for agents and publishers, selling to non-traditional markets, and more.
“One of the things that, I feel, distinguishes our conferences from others is the attention we pay to all forms of publishing,” Porter said. “You can’t be a writer in today’s publishing world and expect the publisher to buy your book, expect them to do all the work, and wait for the advance and royalty checks. While this can and does happen, it’s very important to know the many ways to publish today—and how you can help your own cause by being informed. Like our other presentations, these workshops give the very latest information and tips on the publishing world.”
For more information, contact Penny Porter at (520) 296-5299, or Barbara Stahura at (520) 575-9650.