Event Category: Panel

Panel Writers’ Essential Reads, Resources & Recommendations: the IWOSC Summer Share Monday, July 23, 2018   7:30 to 9:15 p.m. (networking…

Panel
Monday, May 21, 2018 

Join IWOSC for our annual Literary Agents Evening, with an author’s dream panel of top literary agents who are “actively looking” for new manuscripts and/or screenplays. These agents will discuss what writers need to know to navigate today’s publishing world.

We’ll cover practical pointers for writers, from what each agent on our panel is (and isn’t) specifically looking for, to general tips on how writers can get an agent’s attention.

Moderator:
Dana Newman
Jane Cowen Hamilton
Michelle Zeitlin
Steve Hutson
Oliver G. Latsch
Alex Czuleger

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, April 30, 2018 

The publishing industry used to be predictable, and writers loved that. But in 2018, publishing and marketing a book is a competitive, high-pressure, and confusing business. How can an author or self-publisher navigate the publishing industry’s often-merciless tides?

Writers, IWOSC’s Trends in Publishing program guides you through what can happen to your book AFTER you type “The End” — and reveals what you as an author can do to ensure that the writing is just the beginning for your book project.

We will cover issues like…

We’ll also examine self-promotion, social media, and the “Blockbuster Mentality…

Moderator: Telly Davidson
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Herbie J Pilato
Sharon Goldinger

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, March 26, 2018

Social Media. Ugh. The single most important thing you can do to build your Platform. Double ugh.

You’re a Writer. You’ve got words to write. It’s hard enough to get the words down, put a book together and get it published. Who’s got time to be a media star or marketer?

Moderator: Steven Sanchez
Panelists:
Alaia Williams
Jennifer Brody
Michelle Grondine

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, February 26, 2018

What author doesn’t enjoy curling up by a fire to write about the heat of love, glamour, and romance?

0ur panel of top romance writers pulls back the covers and reveals how romance writing, the most traditional of genres, stays relevant in 2018 with discussion of steamy issues and practical advice to authors on book topics like trends, controversies, book series, stand apart from the crowd, and more.

Moderator: Robin Quinn
Aviva Vaughn
Maggie Marr
Stacy Wise
Susan Berger

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, January 29, 2018

Travel the globe, stay in top hotels, and dine at the best restaurants — get paid for that as a top travel or food writer!

Sound too good to be true? Well, someone’s getting paid to fill up the pages of Conde Nast, Sunset, and all those travel magazines! How did they break in, and is the gig really all it seems?

After celebrating its 35th anniversary as one of LA’s longest-running professional writers’ organizations, IWOSC starts off 2018 with a star-studded panel on Travel and Food Writing.

We discussed…

Moderator: Deborah Shadovitz
Travel and food writer, Michael Cervin
Travel and food writer, Bekah Wright

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, November 20, 2017

IWOSC’s veteran comedy expert and acting coach GREG MILLER leads us in exploring of how to mix the business of writing with the pleasures of friendship.

Being a writer is often stereotyped as a lonely profession — the ultimate in self-employment,” working from home alone in front of the keyboard. And at times it can be just that. But some of the most successful writers out there work together in teams — from ghostwriters and “written with” authors and their clients, to comedy teams working on screenplays and TV scripts, to husband-and-wife teams (or boyfriends/girlfriends, gay couples, or longtime best friends for that matter) who find themselves as partners 24-7, both on and off the job.

In our final IWOSC 2017 panel, we look at what keeps a writing team together (and what can drive them apart), group and power/control dynamics, appropriate “boundary” issues, and how to find the “write” person and team up successfully to hopefully double your chances of success — plus much more.

Moderator: Greg Miller

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, October 30, 2017  

Writers, do you know that Los Angeles (especially Hollywood and Beverly Hills) is a hotbed of magazine publishing? But the magazines published here don’t always make it easy to for freelance writers to contribute. In fact, they can be downright secretive about their article submission processes!

At IWOSC’s Magazine, Ezine, and Newspaper Editors Panel, top editors – including one from the Los Angeles Times – will share secrets with writers about breaking into their publications. The editors will tell writers how to get their attention, which departments are most actively looking for fresh article ideas, and how freelance writers can contact them. They’ll even suggest hot upcoming topics for writers to focus on!

All this and more.

Panelists:
Jennifer Purdie
Gina M. Salvati
Chris Erskine

Moderator:
Telly Davidson

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, September 25, 2017 

Writers, got knowledge? Great! The trick is to share it and get paid for it. Our panel of experts and authors will give you the how-to on how-to books.

For authors, that means writing up all your advice, tips, hacks. and instructions, putting it into a manuscript and preparing it for publication.

Start your engines. What have you got, and what can you publish? Almost any topic can be successfully turned into a book…

Moderator: Robin Quinn
Debra Eckerling
Rebecca Cooper
Steve Hutson
Jennifer Purdie
Marilyn Anderson

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, June 26, 2017

Dying is easy, comedy is hard – but this panel might just make it a little easier.

We’ll discuss multiple comic styles and comedy formats (TV, standup, essay, etc.), how to get more laughs, lighten up, and create comedy on a structural level with topics including: …

Moderator: Greg Miller
Laura Hayden
Jack Moore
Carrie Snow
Steve Kaplan

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, May 22, 2017

For writers, the decision about getting an agent is critical. The publishing marketplace changes constantly. The right literary agent can be an author’s advocate, fighting for the writer en route to traditional publishing. Agents are also a writer’s partner and guide, pointing authors and screenwriters to editors, publicists, and the right publishing house or producer.

Each April, following the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, IWOSC assembles a panel of Southern California agents — including an agent representing screenplays for film or TV. These agents will give us, the writers, a look at the publishing world of 2017.

They will tell us:

Moderator: Telly Davidson
Sara Nestor, Verve — a talent and literary agency
Charlotte Gusay, The Charlotte Gusay Literary Agency
Steve Hutson, WordWise Media Services

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, April 24, 2017

If you have an issue that pertains to you specifically (need help editing, social media issues, internet issues, want suggestions for a cover illustrator, etc.) this is the place to discuss it.

Some of our Board members will be in attendance, plus many of your fellow writers.

We are confident that we can address your personal concerns.

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, November 21, 2016

Many professions have the burden of the issue of age, defined differently in every profession.

If you are of a “certain age,” you may be passed over because of the perception that your output is less dynamic, not speaking the language of the time, unable to put the time in due to family concerns.
Younger people often have the “Catch 22” needing to be young, but also needing to have experience in order to get noticed and validated.

We are going to deal with both sides of that coin, starting with this month’s panel.

Moderator: Telly Davidson
Jordan Oslin
Scott Kaiser, MD
David Gittins
Ray Richmond
Chuck N. Baker

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, October 24, 2016

It was never easy to begin a career in writing, journalism, or entertainment — but despite the advances made by women and people of color, it often seems like the barriers, obstacle courses, and glass ceilings getting past the “gatekeepers” has gotten harder for everyone over the past 15 or 20 years, not to mention since the 2008 meltdown.

This month we deal with the challenges faced by young, Millennial and Generation X writers, and first-time writers (of all ages) at the beginnings and the early mid-points of their careers.

Scheduled topics will include…

Moderator:
Josh Grapes
Mike Vainisi
Carole Kirschner
Jeff Porter

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, May 23, 2016

TV is a booming business for writers with one-hour dramas and dramedies, half hour semi-comedic series and animation. Even reality TV relies on writers to come up with hours of new, different and compelling material.

This panel will discuss what it takes to get into TV writing – and what it takes to stay there.

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, February 29, 2016

There’s no one formula for writing – there are a thousand!

Aside from raw talent and a tip or two from the Muse, we have principles, rules, devices, guidelines, categories, strategies, tools, tactics, and techniques.

Our expert panel will offer help for all writers whether writing fiction, screenplay, or even nonfiction.

We will discuss (as time allows)…

[To read more, click the title!]

Panel
Monday, March 21, 2016

Magazines are everywhere. It seems as if they must be starving for content, but they don’t make it easy to for writers to contribute. In fact, they can be downright secretive about the process.

Not all magazines pay well; some do not all pay at all. But sometimes the article practically writes itself, and other times the resume credit is worth the effort, even if the money does not fit. And sometimes there are other valuable perks that you might not have considered.

Our expert panel will discuss…

[To read more, click the title!]

WHAT DO PUBLISHERS WANT?

As the greatest writer of them all once said, “That IS the question.” We all know that writing an interesting, involving, and top-quality book is a must, if you want to attract a good agent or a mainstream publisher — and especially if you want to publish it yourself.

But what happens after you write “The End”?

What goes on “behind the scenes” at publishers and agencies that determine if they say Yes or No? What do publishers and agents need from authors themselves, with regard to pre-existing fame and media profile, platform, credibility, education/credentials, and the like, besides writing a good book on a worthwhile topic?

[To read more, click the title!]