American Independent Writers
Saturday Seminar—September 6, 2008
Registration from 8:30 a.m., Program from 9:00 a.m.—3:45 p.m.
Research Building, Room No. 163 George Mason University (Web site at www.gmu.edu) 4400 University Drive Fairfax, VA 22030
Metro: Vienna, Orange line and then a CUE bus or GMU Shuttle bus
WRITERS—PUSH THE ELECTRONIC ENVELOPE: Sharing Your Writing and Selling Your Work in Cyberspace
The proliferation of online tools, social networking sites, and Web markets has created a lot of opportunities – and revenue streams – for writers. But along with the possibilities may come some confusion. Do you need a website? What is Twitter? What’s the difference between a blog and a vlog? Why do writers need Facebook?
In this all-day seminar, we’ll walk you through some of the most popular and writer-friendly Web tools to help you find new work, promote your services, sell your book, and build your platform.
Seminar Director
Kristen King, M.P.S., is a communications consultant who has been writing and editing for business and publication for more than five years. She launched her first business, Kristen King Freelancing, in 2004 and re-launched it in June of this year as Inkthinker Communications, LLC, which provides a full range of writing, editing, and consulting services. Her website www.kristenkingfreelancing.com was a finalist in the 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest. King currently writes four blogs, two of her own (www.inkthinkerblog.com, named one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2006, and www.meowbarkblog.com) and two for global information network b5media (www.bizchicksrule.com and www.livelywomen.com). She was profiled in the fifth edition of Lucy V. Parker’s How to Start a Home-Based Writing Business (Globe Pequot Press, 2008), and is scheduled to appear in the revised edition of The Well-Fed Writer, by Peter Bowerman. King has spoken on marketing, networking, blogging, and online promotions to the National Writers Union, the Society for Technical Communications, 40plus, and The George Washington University, among others, and is a familiar face at AIW events. King will be speaking on blog promotion at the BlogHer Reach Out Tour `08 in DC in October. She was elected to a two-year term as an AIW Board Member for 2008-2010. King has a BA in English from Mary Washington College and an MPS in publishing from GWU. She lives near Richmond, Virginia with her husband, an uncoordinated 140-lb English mastiff puppy, a long-suffering 100-lb bullmastiff, an energetic pug, and three very tolerant cats.
First Session, 9:00-10:15 a.m. — Writing for Online Audiences: Writing Web Copy, Selling to e-Markets, and Standing Out Online
Writing for the web is vastly different from writing for print. Readers have different expectations, different reading patterns, and a veritable flood of content to pick and choose how they will spend their online time. This session will teach you how to make your writing stand out from the crowd and land your dream e-signment.
Jill Kurtz, A.P.R., has spent 20 years in communications and public relations and thinks that the greatest value she brings to her employers and clients is an enthusiastic interest in always learning about the new “thing.” She enjoys finding ways to make new technologies help individuals and organizations to accomplish their most basic tasks—to connect with then people that they serve and to thrive. Kurtz has worked for General Motors, International Paper, Fairfax County Public Schools, and Arlington Public Schools. She is currently direction of client services at Balance Technology Group (www.balancegroup.us) where she manages web-based projects for a variety of clients. She is the author of the blog “Communication in a Web Saturated World.” (jakprpro.wordpress.com).
Kari Rippetoe is a freelance copywriter, content strategist, and online marketer based in the Washington, D.C. area. She has over 5 years of experience helping to shape online marketing and content strategies for companies including goWholesale.com (a division of Liquidity Services, Inc.) and Loan Alliance (loanalliance.com), as well a variety of small business clientele. She writes The Caffeinated Blog, which focuses on social media and content marketing strategies for small businesses. Rippetoe is a self-described foodie and coffee geek. She has lived in Texas and the U.K., and currently resides in Arlington, VA with her husband, James.
Second Session, 10:30-11:45 a.m. — Social Networking and Social Media: How to Pump Up Your Marketing Efforts and Get the Most Out of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and More
You know you’re supposed to use all this social media stuff, but how? And for the love of everything writerly, WHY? This panel of social networking and social media experts will give you the basics behind this phenomenon, share examples of success stories, and help you figure out where to leave your social thumbprint.
Shashi Bellamkonda (http://www.shashi.name/) – bio pending
Monte Lutz (http://www.edelmandigital.com) – bio pending
Alexandra Rampy (http://fly4change.wordpress.com/) – bio pending
Lunch Break—On your own (11:45 a.m.-1:00 p.m.)
Third Session, 1:00-2:15 p.m. — Breaking into the Blogosphere: Blogging, Vlogging, and Microblogging
Just what is a weblog—or blog—and how can writers benefit from them? This panel will cover blogging for clients, blogging for yourself, blogs as platform builders, and a variety of types and styles of blogs. Be warned: You may rush right home and start your own blog after this session.
Deborah Ager, publisher of 32 Poems, has received the Tennessee Williams Scholarship in Poetry from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and fellowships and residencies from the MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She holds an M.F.A. from the University of Florida and a B.A. from the University of Maryland. Poems from her forthcoming collection, Midnight Voices, have appeared in Best New Poets 2006, Tigertail: A South Florida Anthology, The Georgia Review, New Letters, New England Review, and the Writing Poems textbook. Visit her poetry magazine blog at blog.32poems.com.
Mark Athitakis is the arts editor at Washington City Paper and a freelance writer whose reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, Business 2.0, Salon, and the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. He regularly contributes to two of City Paper’s blogs, and operates the daily literary blog American Fiction Notes (americanfiction.wordpress.com).
Michael Yessis (http://www.worldhum.com) – bio pending
Fourth Session, 2:30-3:45 p.m. — What Every Writer Needs to Know About Professional Websites
The only thing worse for your business than not having a website is having a bad website. In this panel, our web experts will teach you the concepts you need to know to create a stellar online presence that will impress your editors, woo your fans, and make you feel pretty darn good about all you’ve accomplished about a writer.
Jo Golden, M.S., Ph.D., is a principal at Chaos To Clarity LLC, a woman-owned small business established in 2003, providing education services in the DC Metro area and web presence services to clients across the US. Jo specializes in self-education and communication in the digital world. She has worked with adults from 18–80+ as they change their relationship to education and technology. Jo cares deeply about supporting people who feel left behind by technological change and want to empower themselves by learning new ways of living and working in a digital world. She refined her approach to education, in part, while teaching at Georgetown University for several years, and believes in starting from wherever people are, customizing their approach to education, and establishing the confidence and competence they need to succeed in a digital world. Jo also supports clients by polishing their story for the web, communicating their business or professional identity in writing, and establishing a compelling web presence that allows others to connect with their work in meaningful ways. She is currently writing about self-education strategies and skills, knowledge work, identity, and conflict around learning and change in a digital world.
Tracey Holinka, M.S., began working with the Web more than ten years ago and quickly developed a passion for creating easy-to-use, functional, end-user focused technologies. Before joining Chaos To Clarity LLC full-time, she worked as a Senior Web Developer, creating innovative web development tools and cutting-edge approaches to programming, procedures, and applications. Tracey is our Technology Specialist and Managing Partner who supports clients by developing and implementing their web presence, educating for business success, and supporting technological competence and confidence. She believes that technology ought to be clarified by professionals, not cloaked in mystique to exclude everyone else.
Anne Shroeder, an Internet professional with nearly 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, is the principal at Hoofprints Consulting, a web development firm based in Maryland that offers full web site services as well as customized technical training. She also teaches professional web site development at Montgomery College. Ms. Shroeder has worked as a full time webmaster for non profit organizations, including Conservation International and the Internet Society, and has developed web sites for a wide variety of organizations, businesses, and governmental agencies. Originally trained as a linguist, she knows Spanish, French, German, Italian, Arabic, and Portuguese. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.A. from the University of Michigan. She has also studied at the Alliance Française of Paris, the University of Bonn, Germany, and the American University in Cairo, Egypt. In her spare time she shears sheep and writes humorous essays about farm life.
Member cost is $89, non-member cost is $129, and student cost is $49. To RSVP, call (202) 775-5150, send an e-mail to rsvp@washwriter.org, or register online at www.aiwriter.org. Please mention the event for which you are responding and your membership status.
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This is great!!