Event Description

Seminar
A Proposal and Query Workshop

Saturday, April 16, 2011

So you’ve got a story to tell. You’ve done your research, you know this is not a movie or a magazine article. You’re committed to write a book. How do you get published? If your story is fiction, get your backside in a chair and write it. If it’s nonfiction, the first and most critical step is creating a proposal. When you have a proposal, when your novel is in final manuscript, you will need an irresistible query letter that will convince an agent to represent you. Only literary agents have the contacts to get your work seen and read by editors in publishing houses. But how to begin?

Powerhouse writer MARVIN J. WOLF offers practical advice and savvy tips on how to turn your work into an attractive product ripe for picking by the book-publishing establishment. Wolf has written professionally since 1965. In addition to authoring or co-authoring a dozen nonfiction books, his articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world. Wolf collected material and honed his instincts for self-preservation while serving as a U.S. Army infantryman, Ranger School instructor, basic training drill instructor, combat photographer, public affairs officer, communications-electronics officer and company commander. Later, he worked in creative advertising positions for Foote Cone, Wells Rich Greene and in employee communications for Northrop, Transamerica, and Avco before becoming an independent writer in 1978.

In partnership with veteran screenwriter Larry Mintz, Wolf took up screenwriting in 2001. Their script “Ladies Night,” based on a chapter of Wolf ‘s 1988 book “Platinum Crime,” aired in February 2005 on the USA Cable Network, as did “The Pierre Heist,” based on another Wolf book. Wolf’s books include “Buddha’s Child” (St. Martin’s, 2002) the wartime memoirs of former South Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky; and “Where White Men Fear To Tread ” (St. Martin’s, 1995), the autobiography of Native American activist and film actor Russell Means. His “Beating The Odds” (Scribner’s, 1991) recounts the life story of ABC Television founder Leonard Goldenson. In addition, he’s written several true-crime anthologies, including “Fallen Angels, Chronicles of Los Angeles Crime and Mystery ” (Ballantine, 1986), long considered a minor classic of its genre. Wolf is a charter member of IWOSC and served four terms as president. He’s now working in on his second novel, “The Aleppo Codex.”