Event Description
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IPPY Silver medal winner, tie for Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, and editor of the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival winner (Unpublished category) for the just published novel Depth of Deceit.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.