The Portable Writers' Conference: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Published

It's 8:24 a.m. on a rainy Ohio Saturday. Jamie Fergurson, attorney and mother of two, shakes the water from her umbrella, crosses the carpeted foyer to the eight-foot banquet table serving as a registration desk and joins the tens of thousands of writers and would-be writers who attend one of more than 400 writers' conferences held in the United States each year. Jamie will learn not only something of the craft of writing but alsoof such things as first serial rights, self-publishing, literary agents, query letters and royalties: the elements that constitute the business side of writing.

These conferences, depending on venue, number of workshops, who the workshop leaders are and various other factors, traditionally cost anywhere form $65 to $3000. Now, however, Ms. Ferguerson can take advantage of one of the most comprehensive writers' conferences ever produced 47 workshops presented by a host of distinguished agents, authors and editors for less than $20. And this conference doesn't require travel time or expense; the workshops may be taken in any order she wants and she may repeat them again, in their entirety, whenever desired. That's because this writers' conference is a conference in a book: The Portable Writers' Conference: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Published, edited by Stephen Blake Mettee.

The workshops are about evenly split between craft and business, fiction and nonfiction. Warner-Aspect Books' Editor-In-Chief Betsy Mitchell explains how to sell yourself in a query letter without offending the pro-spective editor. Literary agent Natasha Kern reveals how to find the right agent for you. Self-help book author Eric Maisel offers a twelve-step program for non-Ph.D's who want to write a self-help book. Suzanne Forster, recipient of Romantic Times Magazines's Career Achievement Award in Sensuality, tells how to write love scenes that sizzle. Novelist Marilyn Meredith shows how to turn your genealogy into fictional stories. Sara Ann Freed, executive editor, Mysterious Press, shares her seven secrets to creating memorable characters. Attorney-author John D. Zelezny deals with copyright.

More than 45 chapters called workshops in the book provide instruction on the writing craft and the business of getting published.

Here's just a sample:

"Slice Yourself a Piece of Mud Pie!: Writing for the Children's Market" by children's literary agent Andrea Brown.

"Surfing the Internet for Facts: Tips for Researching Your Nonfiction Book, Novel or Article Online" by Judith Broadhurst, publisher of Freelance Success and author of The Woman's Guide to Online Services (Houghton-Mifflin)

"How to Write the Dynamite Love Scene: Sizzle Sells More Than Just Steaks, Learn How to Add Steam to Your Novel or Short Story" by novelist Suzanne Forster, recipient of the "Career Achievement Award in Sensuality" from Romantic Times Magazine.

"So You Want to be a Columnist?: Learn What Periodical Publishers Look for and How to Supply It" by Frances Halpern, LA Times columnist and co-host of National Public Radio's "Beyond Words" literary talk-show.

"Running a Home-Based Writing Business: Tips, Tools & Techniques" by Terri Lonier, author of Working Solo: The Real Guide to Freedom & Financial Success With Your Own Business (Portico Press)

"Listen!: How to Use Dialogue to Light Up Your Characters Until They Attract Readers Like Moths to a Flame" by award-winning novelist Parke Godwin, author of many novels including Firelord, Beloved Exile, and Camelot.

The contributors are all experts in their particular field in the publishing industry. They include: Sybil S. Steinberg, interviews editor, Publishers Weekly, Katheryn Falk, editor and publisher of Romantic Times Magazine, self-publishing guru Dan Poynter, Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief, Warner-Aspect Books, James Frey, author of How to Write a Damn Good Novel (St. Martins), attorney Jonathan Kirsch, author of Kirsch's Handbook of Publishing Law (Acrobat) and Sara Ann Freed, executive editor, Mysterious Press.

Interest in writers' conferences, with over 400 presented across the nation annually, is growing. This is the only "portable" writers' conference.

Collectively, the editor and the 47 contributors present workshops or talks on writing and publishing over 200 times a year, making exposure for this book both continuous and extensive.

Includes a thorough, annotated resources section listing writers' associations, magazines and other publications for writers, World Wide Web sites for writers, books on writing and publishing, sample magazine and book publishers' guidelines, software for writers and other helpful resources.

Stephen Blake Mettee is president and publisher, Quill Driver Books/Word Dancer Press, Inc., a California-based publisher of nonfiction books.

Mettee is the editor of The Portable Writers' Conference: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Published, a Writer's Digest Book Club selection, and has published scads of nonfiction articles on subjects ranging from parenting to business. He is currently working on a book on nonprofit fund-raising for the amateur.

Mettee serves on the board of directors of Writer's International Network-Writer's Inter-age Network. He was director of WIN-WIN's annual William Saroyan Writer's Conference from 1992 to 1997 and continues as chair of the conference.

Mettee has taught classes on writing and publishing in a number of venues including the University of California, Davis extension program, the California Library Association's annual conference and the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival. He was evaluated as a "highest rating" presenter at the California Writer's Club Asilomar conference.

QDB/WDP is recognized by industry periodical Book Marketing Update as one of the "Top 101 Independent Book Publishers" in the United States. Writer's Digest magazine identifies QDB/WDP as one of the "100 Best Book Markets for New Writers."

Mettee is always in the market for nonfiction books, particularly California regional titles; writing titles; practical, upbeat encouraging works that enhance the lives of people over 50, for QDB/WDP's trademarked Best Half of Life series; and concise, clear, how-to books for QDB/WDP's Fast-Track Course series.