NETWO 2007 Writers' Roundup - Featured Speakers

2011 Writer's Roundup - NETWO's 25th Annual Writers'
Conference in Northeast Texas

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Bios for the 2012 faculty

Agents, Editors, and Publishers

Jacque Graham is an editor at 4RV Publishing. She is a published poet, and a retired English teacher. She is open to a wide range of fiction, but does not want to see children’s books, or any books with graphic se or, violence. She also does not want unnecessary profanity, vampires or werewolves.

Weronika Janczuk is a literary agent with Lynn Franklin Associates in New York. Previously she worked with the D4EO Literary Agency and the Bent Agency, as well as at Flux, among others.

Currently she represents a wide range of fiction and non-fiction for YA and adults alike—and is very actively building her list, especially in areas of crime fiction (especially espionage and literary suspense/thrillers), fantasy/sci-fi, horror, women’s fiction and romance, both literary and high-concept YA, memoir, and narrative non-fiction.

Representative sales include Miserere: An Autumn Tale (Night Shade Books, July 2011), which the Library Journal named its August 2011 debut of the month.

Mary Sue Seymour is listed by Publishers Marketplace as one of the top dealmakers in the country. She founded The Seymour Agency in 1992. Ms. Seymour is a member of the Author's Guild, the AAR, ACFW, WGA, and RWA. She has been nominated for ACFW's Agent Of The Year.

Ms. Seymore accepts queries in the following genres: Christian, Inspirational, Romance (including category), and Non-Fiction. The Seymour Agency does NOT represent poetry or erotica.

Vivian Zabel is the publisher of 4RV. Ms. Zabel is also a published writer. Before starting 4RV four years ago, she taught English, writing classes, workshops and clinics on writing.

Some NETWO members have published with 4RV and speak highly of the experience. 4RV published Confessions of a Former Rock Queen, the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award winner in fiction.

Authors

Corey Mitchell is a Los Angeles Times and Borders International Group bestselling author of several true crime books including Hollywood Death Scenes, Dead and Buried, Murdered Innocents, Evil Eyes, Strangler, Pure Murder, and Savage Son. He is also the founder of the #1 true crime blog, In Cold Blog, a former blogger for the Discovery Channel's Hollywood on Crime blog, a contributor to MetalSucks, and the horror film festival blogger for Bloody Disgusting. He is currently working on his eighth true crime book, Teach Me to Kill, about the murder of Diane Tilly. The book should be released in 2011.

He is also working with Philip H. Anselmo (ex-Pantera/Down) on his autobiography which should be released sometime in late 2011. In addition, He is co-authoring a book with Tracey Damron, ex-wife of former Kentucky legislator Steve Nunn, who has been accused of murdering his mistress, which is scheduled for late 2011.

Sylvia Dickey Smith is a fifth-generation Texan. She grew up in a colorful Scots-Irish family living in the midst of a Cajun culture. She spent six years in the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad & Tobago. Awed by the differences in customs and cultures, particularly as they related to West Indian women, she returned to the U.S. to study and then write.

Her writing features those who recreate themselves into the people they want to be, strong women who take charge of their lives and get things done.

Jodi Thomas, a fifth generation Texan, chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state. Her first book, Beneath the Texas Sky, (1988), won the National Press Women's Novel of the Year in its category. Book three, The Tender Texan (1991), was Thomas's first national bestseller and won her the first of her Romance Writers of America's RITA. In all, Jodi has won four (4) RITA awards (the latest in 2010) and has been inducted into the Romance Writers of America’s Hall of Fame.

Ms. Thomas made the USA Today’s Best-Selling list. Her sixteenth book rose to number sixteen on the New York Times bestseller list. In 2005, Finding Mary Blaine received the National Readers’ Choice Award. She has since received this award for two other books. The Lone Texan won the Readers’ Choice in 2009 for Best Western Romance. In 2011, her Somewhere Along the Way won the Booksellers’ Best Award.

Ms. Thomas is Writer In Residence at West Texas A & M University. She lives in Amarillo with her husband, Tom. They have two grown sons.

Jaye Wells served as a magazine editor and freelance writer for several years before leaving facts behind to make up her own reality. Her overactive imagination and life-long fascination with the arcane and freakish blended nicely with this new career path. Her Sabina Kane urban fantasy series is a blend of dark themes, grave stakes and wicked humor. Silver-Tongued Devil is due out in December, 2011, and Blue-Blooded Vamp is due out in May, 2012, both from Orbit.

Ms. Wells lives in Texas with her saintly husband and devilish son. Her work is represented by Rebecca Strauss of McIntosh & Otis.

Bios for the 2011 faculty

Lia Brown, editor at Avalon Books, started her career in publishing at Starlog magazine as a high school intern, fell in love with editing and the creative process, and hasn’t wanted to do anything else since. During the last twenty years she has worked on a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction topics and genres at several publishing houses including, Marvel Comics, HarperCollins, St. Martin’s Press, Oxford University Press, and Random House Children’s Books.

Lia Brown will be taking individual interviews, as well as reading some writing samples in advance of the conference. See "Agent Interviews."

Bestselling author Jo Davis spent sixteen years in the public school trenches before she left teaching to become a full-time writer. Jo currently writes romantic suspense, erotic suspense, and paranormal romance for New American Library. She’s been multiple finalist in the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence, has captured the HOLT Medallion Award of Merit, has been nominated for the Australian Romance Readers Award in romantic suspense, and has one book optioned as a major motion picture.

She is currently at work on a new contemporary vampire erotic romance series titled LORDS OF PLEASURE for NAL Heat and is also busy writing a new paranormal romance series for NAL/Signet Eclipse scheduled to debut in 2011 under a new pen name. Jo lives in Texas with her husband, Paul, and their two children.

David Haynes is an Associate Professor of English at Southern Methodist University where he directs the creative writing program. He also teaches regularly on the faculty of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. He has published six novels for adults and five books intended for younger readers. Several of his short stories have been read and recorded for the National Public Radio series "Selected Shorts." He had been called one of America's Best Young Writers.

His most recent published novel is The Full Matilda, and his latest novel is currently seeking a good home.

Linda Houle, a native Californian, always dreamed of a full time career in publishing. So, in Texas, she teamed up with Lisa Smith to form L & L Dreamspell, an independent publishing house. She is in charge of the non-fiction book side of the company.Recently, L & L Dreamspell has initiated a new imprint for the non-fiction. It is called Wisdom Trends. This should lead to even more non-fiction titles coming out of this publishing house.

Along the way, she has written and published several books of her own.

Spike Gillespie is the critically acclaimed author of six books-- three memoirs and three on the topic of quilting. These include All The Wrong Men and One Perfect Boy, Surrender (But Don't Give Yourself Away), Pissed Off, Quilty as Charged, Quilting Art, and Quilts Around the World. She has written countless magazine articles-- her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Real Simple, GQ, Esquire, Elle, Smithsonian, National Geographic Traveler, The Christian Science Monitor, Texas Monthly, The Dallas Morning News, and other publications. In 2006, Austin Chronicle readers voted her Best Author in Austin.

Spike has also been a commentator for Austin's NPR affiliate, KUT. And she is the President of the Office of Good Deeds, an informal group of Austinites who enjoy performing good deeds for those in need. She lives in Austin with her partner, Ori, four hyper dogs, and one very loud cat.

Kathleen Ortiz began her career in publishing at Ballinger Publishing as an editorial assistant, writing and editing for their young adult section, and as an interactive media designer, working to boost the magazine’s online presence through social networking. She then moved on to UWire as online editor for the features, art & entertainment sections. She has also taught high school classes as a visual media instructor.

After teaching for a few years, and even a seven-year stint in veterinary nursing, Kathleen moved on to her true passion of working within the book industry. She interned with Fine Print Literary and Caren Johnson Literary Agency, and is currently working toward her M.S. in Publishing at Pace University.

Kathleen is currently Associate Agent and Foreign Rights Manager at Lowenstein Associates. With the continued demand for online marketing in publishing, a strong online platform is essential for today's authors. Kathleen uses her background in interactive media design to assist Lowenstein Associates’ clients with branding themselves.

Katie Shea, agent with Caren Johnson Literary Agency, began her career as a reader with FinePrint Literary Management, to assisting agents at Folio Literary Management and Langtons International Agency. Katie focuses her list on beautifully written literary fiction, commercial and women's fiction, memoir and narrative non fiction. She holds a strong interest in personal overcome, family dynamics, travel, food, art, and lifestyle. She looks for books with a direct character-to-reader connection. Katie is a published writer.

Lisa Smith is a native Texan who started as an avid reader. Next, she became a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Along with Linda Houle, she formed L & L Dream-spell to open up publishing opportunities to more writers.

Lisa serves as acquisition editor. She believes in research to make character and setting accurate and believable.

David Ciambrone is a retired scientist, Oceanographer, professor, magician, US Treasury Commissioner and author living in Georgetown, Texas. Dave writes a helpful hint newspaper column under the name “Ask Uncle Dave” for the Williamson County Sun. He has published five "Virginia Davies Mysteries:" Laguna Treasure, Napa Nights, Pelican Cove, Castle Finlaystoke and Left at Georgetown.

Ciambrone has also published three management books. He has also written a handbook for mystery writers called The Poison Handbook for Writers. He has been past vice president of Sisters-in-Crime; Orange County, CA, a member of Mystery Writers of America, Texas Writer’s league, Austin Mystery Writers and is President of the San Gabriel’s Writer’s League in Georgetown.

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