Category: PastEvent09

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Mastering Radio/TV interviews and Book Readings

Seminar
Mastering Radio/TV interviews and Book Readings

Saturday, October 10, 2009

PART 1:
When you are interviewed on radio and TV, you need to be at the top of your game, appear to be unrehearsed, concise, upbeat, easily understood through clear sound bites and short explanations, and you must do your homework and know your book. We’re at the top of our game by presenting the EMMY AWARD WINNING Barry Kibrick, who will show you the ropes.

In this part of our seminar, we will discuss, as time allows:

  • How to talk on the radio and TV and not sound boring, stupid, unprepared.
  • How to dodge inappropriate questions, and get back on topic without making the host look silly.
  • What makes a good guest and what makes a bad one.
  • Tips for people who may one day want to be a host for their own show, internet or broadcast.
  • The mechanics of “phoners.”
  • The ways to find radio and TV talk programs, and what to expect, or not to expect in terms of sales, as well as the mechanics of same.
  • The “Oprah Effect” and sound bites.

PART 2:
Writers conjure words and make magic in the form of poems and stories. But what happens when you speak them? Is your spoken work listless…or alive? Deborah Edler Brown’s How to TELL a Poem & Other Solo Acts teaches you to release the piece from the page. It is not about memorizing and microphones; it is about using your words, your voice and your imagination to enter the world of the work. It is about getting out of the way so that the poem, song, or story can speak for itself.

kibrickBarry Kibrick is the host and producer for the EMMY award-winning series Between the Lines with Barry Kibrick seen on PBS stations around the country. Between the Lines features in-depth interviews with distinguished authors, celebrity writers, top screenwriters, directors and award-winning columnists and journalists.

Barry’s guests have included such luminaries as: Anne Rice, Mario Puzo, Ray Bradbury, Queen Noor of Jordan, Sir Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Kirk Douglas, Jackie Collins, Sidney Sheldon, Joseph Wambaugh, Richie Havens, Chaka Khan, Erica Jong, Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, John Wooden, Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich and hundreds of others.

 

debheadshot2.jpg.w300h366Deborah Edler Brown is an award-winning poet and journalist, performer and storyteller, author and teacher. She was the 1997 Head-to-Head Haiku Champion and a member of the 1998 Los Angeles National Slam Team.

Deborah’s poetry has appeared in various anthologies and journals. She has told poems and stories in theaters, libraries, bars and bookstores across the country. She holds a degree in Creative Writing from Brown University and was the 2005 recipient of the Sue Saniel Elkind Poetry Prize. Her website is DeborahEdlerBrown.com.

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Mastering Radio/TV interviews and Book Readings

Seminar
Mastering Radio/TV interviews and Book Readings

Saturday, October 10, 2009

PART 1:
When you are interviewed on radio and TV, you need to be at the top of your game, appear to be unrehearsed, concise, upbeat, easily understood through clear sound bites and short explanations, and you must do your homework and know your book. We’re at the top of our game by presenting the EMMY AWARD WINNING Barry Kibrick, who will show you the ropes.

In this part of our seminar, we will discuss, as time allows:

  • How to talk on the radio and TV and not sound boring, stupid, unprepared.
  • How to dodge inappropriate questions, and get back on topic without making the host look silly.
  • What makes a good guest and what makes a bad one.
  • Tips for people who may one day want to be a host for their own show, internet or broadcast.
  • The mechanics of “phoners.”
  • The ways to find radio and TV talk programs, and what to expect, or not to expect in terms of sales, as well as the mechanics of same.
  • The “Oprah Effect” and sound bites.

PART 2:
Writers conjure words and make magic in the form of poems and stories. But what happens when you speak them? Is your spoken work listless…or alive? Deborah Edler Brown’s How to TELL a Poem & Other Solo Acts teaches you to release the piece from the page. It is not about memorizing and microphones; it is about using your words, your voice and your imagination to enter the world of the work. It is about getting out of the way so that the poem, song, or story can speak for itself.

kibrickBarry Kibrick is the host and producer for the EMMY award-winning series Between the Lines with Barry Kibrick seen on PBS stations around the country. Between the Lines features in-depth interviews with distinguished authors, celebrity writers, top screenwriters, directors and award-winning columnists and journalists.

Barry’s guests have included such luminaries as: Anne Rice, Mario Puzo, Ray Bradbury, Queen Noor of Jordan, Sir Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Kirk Douglas, Jackie Collins, Sidney Sheldon, Joseph Wambaugh, Richie Havens, Chaka Khan, Erica Jong, Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, John Wooden, Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich and hundreds of others.

 

debheadshot2.jpg.w300h366Deborah Edler Brown is an award-winning poet and journalist, performer and storyteller, author and teacher. She was the 1997 Head-to-Head Haiku Champion and a member of the 1998 Los Angeles National Slam Team.

Deborah’s poetry has appeared in various anthologies and journals. She has told poems and stories in theaters, libraries, bars and bookstores across the country. She holds a degree in Creative Writing from Brown University and was the 2005 recipient of the Sue Saniel Elkind Poetry Prize. Her website is DeborahEdlerBrown.com.

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HOLIDAY BASH AT THE CULVER HOTEL!

IWOSC’s annual HOLIDAY BASH AT THE CULVER HOTEL!

Monday, December 7, 2009

The historic Culver Hotel is near the epicenter of movie magic. Classic films, such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, were produced just a few blocks away.

IWOSC created our own holiday magic at the captivating hotel where the Munchkins made merriment and mischief while filming The Wizard of Oz. Toast the season with your fellow writers and guests at IWOSC’s annual holiday party!

Culverexterior

 

 

6:30 — Appetizers, beverages and no-host bar in mezzanine lounge,
7:30-10 — A lavish sit-down dinner, created for us by the hotel chef, served family-style (vegetarian options too).  Awards, door prizes.

Culver Hotel
9400 Culver Blvd.,
Culver City, CA 90232 (map)

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HOLIDAY BASH AT THE CULVER HOTEL!

IWOSC’s annual HOLIDAY BASH AT THE CULVER HOTEL!

Monday, December 7, 2009

The historic Culver Hotel is near the epicenter of movie magic. Classic films, such as The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, were produced just a few blocks away.

IWOSC created our own holiday magic at the captivating hotel where the Munchkins made merriment and mischief while filming The Wizard of Oz. Toast the season with your fellow writers and guests at IWOSC’s annual holiday party!

Culverexterior

 

 

6:30 — Appetizers, beverages and no-host bar in mezzanine lounge,
7:30-10 — A lavish sit-down dinner, created for us by the hotel chef, served family-style (vegetarian options too).  Awards, door prizes.

Culver Hotel
9400 Culver Blvd.,
Culver City, CA 90232 (map)

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Editors – Don’t Let The Books You Write Leave Home without One!

Panel
Editors – Don’t Let The Books You Write Leave Home without One!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Our Panel of Expert Editors Tell You How to Make Your Work Stronger, More Saleable — to Publishers and Readers — and Potentially Prizeworthy

In this tight economy, it’s harder and harder to compete for a publisher’s attention. And once you’ve got a book deal, harder and harder to get good editorial help from the publishing house. Having a well-edited book prior to submission will greatly increase your chances to stand out from the crowd — for sale, and possible award winning status. Our panel of expert editors will share tips on:

  • Common mistakes writers make and how to correct them
  • How editors work with you to help you structure your book
  • What to look for in an editor
  • How to work with an editor, and
  • Examples of editing/positioning ideas that have helped authors create award-winning books

Moderator: Ina Hillebrandt, author, publisher, writing coach, and editor. Known for her memoir classes and guide, How to Write Your Memoirs, Hillebrandt’s first book, Pawprints, received the excellent editor Hannah Liebman’s fine touch prior to publication, a step the author has been grateful she took ever since. Launched at the L.A. Zoo, Pawprints led the author to TV and a literacy program, Pawprints Literacy Plus. The book, along with Hillebrandt’s memoir students’ Stories From The Heart, v. 2, were both named best sellers on Amazon.com. Her website is InasPawprints.com.

Our panel of experts on editing:

Ron Kenner, author, former metro staff writer of The Los Angeles Times and widely published freelancer, has been a newspaper, magazine, and book editor. Since founding RKedi, he has edited more than seventy-five published books. He is the editor of Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré, which won 2007 Ben Franklin gold medals for “Best First Book nonfiction” and “Best New Voice nonfiction,” the editor of Ruins of Grandeur, 2009 IPPY Silver medal winner, tie for Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, and editor of the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival winner (Unpublished category) for the just published novel Depth of Deceit. He provided editing for the 2009 Eric Hoffer finalist (Business) Billion Dollar Solution… and edited Derek Parra, Reflections in the Ice: Inside the Heart and Mind of an Olympic Champion, 2004 Ben Franklin Gold medal winner, Autobiography/Memoir. Books edited by Ron have also received Nautilus, National Best Book, Next Generation Indie, DIY, and other honors. He collaborated on two nonfiction books scheduled for 2010.

Flo Selfman. As owner of Selfman & Others PR, Flo has handled celebrities, theatre and arts events, and book and author tours for more than twenty years. A self-proclaimed “professional nit-picker,” Flo gets the bugs out of scripts, manuscripts, and other business and professional documents. It’s all part of her “quest to save the wandering apostrophe.” A certified teacher, she also conducts lively grammar and punctuation review classes for adults. This is her sixth year as president of Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC), a nonprofit organization of freelance writers. Her website, with Roberta Edgar, is wordsalamode.com.

Roberta Edgar is co-author of Think Yourself Smokeless and co-founder and writer/editor of Sixty is Sexy Now, Inc., an online community for baby boomers and beyond. For over 20 years, in addition to writing screenplays and treatments, Roberta has been ghostwriting and editing nonfiction books, particularly memoirs and autobiographies. She blogs on journaling and memoir, and writes articles, web content, biographical profiles, query letters, and a wide range of business material. A graduate of UCLA’s Department of English, she is current Vice President of IWOSC. Her website, with Flo Selfman, is wordsalamode.com.

Robin Quinn is an Editor of over 250 books including the best-selling The Detox Solution, the award-winning Soul-Full Eating, and the newly released Celebrity Leverage. She has more than two decades of experience in book publishing. A highly successful editor of health, nutrition, spirituality, self-help, memoirs and novels. Work spans from book development to the final polish. “Great attitude, amazing talent!” says Patricia Fitzgerald, author of The Detox Solution.

Monica Faulkner, PhD, author and editor, has more than two decades of experience guiding fiction and nonfiction authors to maximize the potential of their publishing projects, both creatively and commercially, in today’s rapidly evolving publishing marketplace. She works with clients to help them plan and create long-term careers, and is proactive about linking her clients with agents and publishers. Editor of the award-winning The Mindful Hiker, she offers every level of editorial guidance, from developmental editing to proofreading. A sought-after speaker at writers groups and conferences, she also offers consulting services to authors who wish to self-publish and are seeking one-stop editorial, project management, marketing, and speaking-career guidance for their publishing projects.
You can learn about her at laeditorsandwritersgroup.com/monica_faulkner.html or publishersmarketplace.com/members/MonicaFaulkner.

Lisa Marguerite Mora is a freelance editor, prize-winning poet and writing teacher. Some of her credits include poetry and prose published in Rattle, ONTHEBUS, and Literary Mama. In 2008 she was the second place poetry prize winner for Blue Mountain Arts. Lisa has taught creative writing in workshops at California State University Los Angeles, West Los Angeles College Creative Writers Club, and the Los Angeles Public Library. She is an instructor at Santa Monica College Community Services and also teaches private workshops on writing and editing at the Electric Lodge in Venice. Her website is BarringtonEditorial.com.

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Editors – Don’t Let The Books You Write Leave Home without One!

Panel
Editors – Don’t Let The Books You Write Leave Home without One!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Our Panel of Expert Editors Tell You How to Make Your Work Stronger, More Saleable — to Publishers and Readers — and Potentially Prizeworthy

In this tight economy, it’s harder and harder to compete for a publisher’s attention. And once you’ve got a book deal, harder and harder to get good editorial help from the publishing house. Having a well-edited book prior to submission will greatly increase your chances to stand out from the crowd — for sale, and possible award winning status. Our panel of expert editors will share tips on:

  • Common mistakes writers make and how to correct them
  • How editors work with you to help you structure your book
  • What to look for in an editor
  • How to work with an editor, and
  • Examples of editing/positioning ideas that have helped authors create award-winning books

Moderator: Ina Hillebrandt, author, publisher, writing coach, and editor. Known for her memoir classes and guide, How to Write Your Memoirs, Hillebrandt’s first book, Pawprints, received the excellent editor Hannah Liebman’s fine touch prior to publication, a step the author has been grateful she took ever since. Launched at the L.A. Zoo, Pawprints led the author to TV and a literacy program, Pawprints Literacy Plus. The book, along with Hillebrandt’s memoir students’ Stories From The Heart, v. 2, were both named best sellers on Amazon.com. Her website is InasPawprints.com.

Our panel of experts on editing:

Ron Kenner, author, former metro staff writer of The Los Angeles Times and widely published freelancer, has been a newspaper, magazine, and book editor. Since founding RKedi, he has edited more than seventy-five published books. He is the editor of Orléans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré, which won 2007 Ben Franklin gold medals for “Best First Book nonfiction” and “Best New Voice nonfiction,” the editor of Ruins of Grandeur, 2009 IPPY Silver medal winner, tie for Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, and editor of the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival winner (Unpublished category) for the just published novel Depth of Deceit. He provided editing for the 2009 Eric Hoffer finalist (Business) Billion Dollar Solution… and edited Derek Parra, Reflections in the Ice: Inside the Heart and Mind of an Olympic Champion, 2004 Ben Franklin Gold medal winner, Autobiography/Memoir. Books edited by Ron have also received Nautilus, National Best Book, Next Generation Indie, DIY, and other honors. He collaborated on two nonfiction books scheduled for 2010.

Flo Selfman. As owner of Selfman & Others PR, Flo has handled celebrities, theatre and arts events, and book and author tours for more than twenty years. A self-proclaimed “professional nit-picker,” Flo gets the bugs out of scripts, manuscripts, and other business and professional documents. It’s all part of her “quest to save the wandering apostrophe.” A certified teacher, she also conducts lively grammar and punctuation review classes for adults. This is her sixth year as president of Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC), a nonprofit organization of freelance writers. Her website, with Roberta Edgar, is wordsalamode.com.

Roberta Edgar is co-author of Think Yourself Smokeless and co-founder and writer/editor of Sixty is Sexy Now, Inc., an online community for baby boomers and beyond. For over 20 years, in addition to writing screenplays and treatments, Roberta has been ghostwriting and editing nonfiction books, particularly memoirs and autobiographies. She blogs on journaling and memoir, and writes articles, web content, biographical profiles, query letters, and a wide range of business material. A graduate of UCLA’s Department of English, she is current Vice President of IWOSC. Her website, with Flo Selfman, is wordsalamode.com.

Robin Quinn is an Editor of over 250 books including the best-selling The Detox Solution, the award-winning Soul-Full Eating, and the newly released Celebrity Leverage. She has more than two decades of experience in book publishing. A highly successful editor of health, nutrition, spirituality, self-help, memoirs and novels. Work spans from book development to the final polish. “Great attitude, amazing talent!” says Patricia Fitzgerald, author of The Detox Solution.

Monica Faulkner, PhD, author and editor, has more than two decades of experience guiding fiction and nonfiction authors to maximize the potential of their publishing projects, both creatively and commercially, in today’s rapidly evolving publishing marketplace. She works with clients to help them plan and create long-term careers, and is proactive about linking her clients with agents and publishers. Editor of the award-winning The Mindful Hiker, she offers every level of editorial guidance, from developmental editing to proofreading. A sought-after speaker at writers groups and conferences, she also offers consulting services to authors who wish to self-publish and are seeking one-stop editorial, project management, marketing, and speaking-career guidance for their publishing projects.
You can learn about her at laeditorsandwritersgroup.com/monica_faulkner.html or publishersmarketplace.com/members/MonicaFaulkner.

Lisa Marguerite Mora is a freelance editor, prize-winning poet and writing teacher. Some of her credits include poetry and prose published in Rattle, ONTHEBUS, and Literary Mama. In 2008 she was the second place poetry prize winner for Blue Mountain Arts. Lisa has taught creative writing in workshops at California State University Los Angeles, West Los Angeles College Creative Writers Club, and the Los Angeles Public Library. She is an instructor at Santa Monica College Community Services and also teaches private workshops on writing and editing at the Electric Lodge in Venice. Her website is BarringtonEditorial.com.

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DON’T GET SCAMMED!” — A Writer’s Survival Guide and Free Legal Clinic

Seminar
DON’T GET SCAMMED!” — A Writer’s Survival Guide and Free Legal Clinic

Saturday, November 21, 2009

“Don’t trust anyone,” goes the longtime maxim of Hollywood and New York publishing. Yet today, writers have to trust their material and ideas to dozens of people — agents, acquisitions editors, and development professionals. And over the past decade, scam literary agents and agencies and disreputable “editing services” have cost writers tens of thousands of dollars. “Idea theft” lawsuits have become more common than ever, in today’s online, new-media age. And how can writers who choose to go the self-publishing route best protect their books — and their pocketbooks? How can a writer tell “the wheat from the chaff?” How can we be sure that we won’t get ripped off?

Author and published film/TV critic (and IWOSC member) TELLY DAVIDSON will be interviewing top Hollywood entertainment lawyers CHRISTINE VALADA and (IWOSC’s own legal counsel) MICHAEL S. KLEIN on how to navigate these issues, including:
** Bad literary agents — how to tell incompetent / scam agents from good ones
** Editing Services — The Good and the Bad
** Legitimate POD (print-on-demand) and self-publishing businesses versus fraudulent “vanity publishing” houses
** How to Protect Your Ideas — and Avoid Idea Theft!

And while we cannot offer extensively tailoired “free legal advice” on individual cases, there WILL also be plenty of time set aside for Q&A with these experienced attorneys on the issues that you want to find out more about.

CHRISTINE VALADA is an experienced entertainment and intellectual-property attorney in Los Angeles. She has served on IWOSC’s annual Agents’ Day panels in the past, and is Legal Counsel for the Science Fiction Writers of America’s (www.sfwa.org) and an active contributor to their “Writer Beware” service (www.writerbeware.com). An avid photographer, she has taught photography at the college level, and is actively involved along with her husband Len Wein, in the comic-book world. She has conducted and served on numerous legal clinics and panels on subjects relating to intellectual property and fraud/abuse cases in Hollywood and publishing.

MICHAEL S. KLEIN is Legal Counsel for IWOSC, and a senior partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Klein & Weisz. After graduating Summa Cum Laude and elected to Phi Beta Kappa from Indiana University, he received his law degree at Yale, and has served as a Board Member for both the Beverly Hills Bar Associaton, the State Bar of California, and the First Amendment commission of the ACLU. He has spoken on the subject of civil liberties and the First Amendment on CNN, PBS, Pepperdine University, Loyola University Law School, and Southwestern University Law School. He has been an IWOSC member since its founding in 1982 and has offered special prices and reduced rates for IWOSC members’ legal work and consultation.

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Ghost Stories, Ghostwriters Emerge To Discuss Their Craft

Panel
Ghost Stories, Ghostwriters Emerge To Discuss Their Craft

Monday, October 26, 2009

Have you ever considered ghostwriting? For our October program, professional “ghosts” will come out from the shadows to discuss why they sometimes trade visibility as a writer for the projects they receive. In addition, a co-author with a new book will share why she choose that path. We’ll cover tips as well as a look at the pitfalls you’ll want to avoid. How does a writer collaborate with the client to gather the best material? How do you capture their voice? Can your ego handle the discreet role of the ghostwriter? The panel will also explore how a ghost or collaborator can help support a client in the publishing process.

Panelists:

Michael Levin: A New York Times best-selling author, Michael has written, co-written or authored more than 80 books. A highly successful ghostwriter of numerous titles, including biography, business, sports and celebrity books.

Claudia Suzanne: Author of This Business of Books and Secrets of a Ghostwriter; Founder of the Ghostwriter Certification Training program; ghost of over 100 titles including a New York Times best-selling nonfiction and two award-winning novels.

Idelle Davidson: Co-author of the ground-breaking Your Brain after Chemo, written with UCLA’s Daniel Silverman, MD. Jane Brody, health columnist for the New York Times, calls it “an excellent new book.”

Ellen Violette: Known as the eBook Coach, Ellen will discuss how a ghostwriter could incorporate ebooks as a part of their approach to developing projects for their clients.

Moderator:
Robin Quinn: Editor of over 250 books including the award-winning Soul-Full Eating, ghostwriter of 8 titles including a health niche best-seller and a classic men’s health title.

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Ghost Stories, Ghostwriters Emerge To Discuss Their Craft

Panel
Ghost Stories, Ghostwriters Emerge To Discuss Their Craft

Monday, October 26, 2009

Have you ever considered ghostwriting? For our October program, professional “ghosts” will come out from the shadows to discuss why they sometimes trade visibility as a writer for the projects they receive. In addition, a co-author with a new book will share why she choose that path. We’ll cover tips as well as a look at the pitfalls you’ll want to avoid. How does a writer collaborate with the client to gather the best material? How do you capture their voice? Can your ego handle the discreet role of the ghostwriter? The panel will also explore how a ghost or collaborator can help support a client in the publishing process.

Panelists:

Michael Levin: A New York Times best-selling author, Michael has written, co-written or authored more than 80 books. A highly successful ghostwriter of numerous titles, including biography, business, sports and celebrity books.

Claudia Suzanne: Author of This Business of Books and Secrets of a Ghostwriter; Founder of the Ghostwriter Certification Training program; ghost of over 100 titles including a New York Times best-selling nonfiction and two award-winning novels.

Idelle Davidson: Co-author of the ground-breaking Your Brain after Chemo, written with UCLA’s Daniel Silverman, MD. Jane Brody, health columnist for the New York Times, calls it “an excellent new book.”

Ellen Violette: Known as the eBook Coach, Ellen will discuss how a ghostwriter could incorporate ebooks as a part of their approach to developing projects for their clients.

Moderator:
Robin Quinn: Editor of over 250 books including the award-winning Soul-Full Eating, ghostwriter of 8 titles including a health niche best-seller and a classic men’s health title.

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Magazine Editors Summit

Panel
Magazine Editors Summit

Monday, Sept 21, 2009 — (date change from regular pattern due to Yom Kippur)
In this annual IWOSC panel discussion, top magazine editors reveal the inside track on getting your work published. Find out how to get the attention of an editor with a winning story pitch or query. Learn about the most recent trends in the magazine publishing world and where to direct your focus to generate assignments.