Category: PastEvent12

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Annual Holiday Bash! We’re back at the Biltmore! Celebrating the season and our 30th year!

IWOSC’s Annual Holiday Bash!
We’re back at the Biltmore!
Celebrating the season and our 30th year!

BiltmoreLobby
The Biltmore lobby

Wednesday, December 5, 2012
6:00 p.m.
No-host cocktails or hotel tour
(both optional)
7:30 – 10:00 p.m.
Dinner and program

Kick off the season and commemorate our 30 years at the IWOSC Annual Holiday Bash at the Biltmore! Follow the tradition of presidents, celebrities, dignitaries, and IWOSC writers by celebrating history, architectural splendor, and creativity at the beautiful downtown Millennium Biltmore Hotel!

Join fellow scribes and guests in the heart of downtown Los Angeles at the historic, elegant, architecturally striking Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

Biltmore Rendezvous Court
Rendezvous Court

We’ll meet for no-host cocktails in the gorgeous Rendezvous Court or take an escorted tour of the hotel (both optional), including the elegant ballrooms and indoor pool.
At Smeraldi’s Restaurant, we’ll dine on the Biltmore’s famous custom pasta bar with all the trimmings, salad, beverages (non-alcoholic included with dinner; no-host bar available) and great desserts.

Awards and drawings follow,
and some nice surprises.

Location:
Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles
506 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Smeraldis
Smeraldis

Parking:
 Event parking, $6.00 flat rate with the hotel valet.
Parking also available at Pershing Square Garage.

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IWOSC ALL-STARS 1: A Hot Half-Dozen Authors Tell How They Write, Publish, and Promote

Panel
IWOSC ALL-STARS 1: A Hot Half-Dozen Authors Tell How They Write, Publish, and Promote

Monday, November 19, 2012

From Memoir to Mystery, Peanut Butter to Charley Parkhurst, Filmmaking to Therapy, You’ll Learn and be Entertained by These Authors.

The first “IWOSC ALL-STARS” panel discussion! Six authors, all members of the 30-year-old writers’ organization, will share stories of how they wrote, published, and promoted their new books. Fiction, nonfiction, biography, how-to, mystery: it’s a mixed bag, and these stars will shine.

We’ll learn:

  • their writing process
  • their writing history
  • how they researched their topics
  • how they got published (agent and traditional publisher, or self-published)
  • how they market and promote their books
  • what promotional activities translate into sales
  • and more!

We’ll also have time for your questions.
Books will be available for sale and signing.

Our panel:

SYLVIA CARY, ”The Therapist Writer” (how-to; reference)
timberlakepress.com
KAREN KONDAZIAN, “The Whip” (historical fiction)
thewhipnovel.com
JON KRAMPNER, “Creamy & Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food” (nonfiction)
creamyandcrunchy.com
ESTER BENJAMIN SHIFREN, “Hiding In a Cave of Trunks: A Prominent Jewish Family’s Century in Shanghai and Internment in a WWII POW Camp”
JOE WALLENSTEIN, “Practical Moviemaking: A Handbook for the Real World” (nonfiction, how-to)
joewallenstein.com
MARVIN J. WOLF, “The Tattooed Rabbi” (fiction, mystery)
marvwolf.com
MODERATOR:
FLO SELFMAN, Public Relations Consultant, Proofreader-Copyeditor, and President, IWOSC.
Contributing writer to Media Magnetism: How to Attract the Favorable Publicity You Want and Deserve
wordsalamode.com
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Social Media Gold Rush: Mining Pinterest and Google+

Seminar
Social Media Gold Rush: Mining Pinterest and Google+

Saturday, November 17, 2012

What if you could travel back in time to the gold rush era, and go right to where massive amounts of gold was just waiting for you to go get it? How about getting in FRONT of the next Facebook or Google and cash in on their meteoric growth?

Well, how’d you like to get in front of the next two fastest growing social media opportunities before everyone else figures out how to be really big there?

Pinterest has more than 10 million monthly unique visitors and is now the third most popular social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter. Google+, barely 1 year old, is now home to more than 400 million members and attracts 100 million active monthly users.

Steven Sanchez will show us why these two special new social media outlets are so popular and growing so fast. During our workshop we’ll cover:

  • How to get accounts in both networks.
  • What’s different about each network that’s responsible for their explosive growth.
  • How authors can capitalize on opportunities to rise above the “noise” of other marketing efforts.
  • Tips and tricks for getting your book seen and shared
  • …and much more!

STEVEN SANCHEZ recently taught the IWOSC workshop on how to take advance of the social media tool HootSuite. His Los Angeles-based Internet agency, INEXUS, has helped small and large companies start and succeed on the Internet for over 20 years. He is currently working on several books and web sites designed to help authors build successful book platforms, build their business “back-ends” and launch their author careers. He can be reached at Steven@BookPlatform101.com.

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IWOSC Reads Its Own – March 2012

IWOSC Reads Its Own

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Twice a year IWOSC holds a special FREE event — “IWOSC Reads Its Own” — a spellbinding afternoon of eclectic, eccentric, and exemplary works — from poems to true stories to hilarious monologues and beyond, read aloud by distinguished IWOSC scribes. We’ll be regaled with their wit, have our emotions stirred, or be plunged into deep thought at the beautiful independent bookstore, Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena.

Some IWOSC’s talented member writers will read short excerpts from their published, unpublished, or in-progress works.