Event Details

A panel of writers and publishers discuss the ways they have used social media to bridge the gap between writer, reader, town, and country.

• Local fiction writer, Courtney Maum will discuss the various ways she has built a literary community outside of academia and the omnipresent MFA program, including online workshops such as Gotham Writers’ Workshop and Zoetrope’s Online Studio, online forums, self-publishing and writers’ conferences.

• Local non-fiction writer, Alana Chernila discusses her unexpected journey from Farmer's Market
vendor, to food blogger, to cookbook author. Her first cookbook is forthcoming in the spring of 2012 with Clarkson Potter.

• Eugenie Sills, founder and publisher of The Women’s Times and consultant on social media strategy and content, will discuss the authenticity of social media and how online tools can be used to grow a community, a career, or an organization.

• David Lamb, owner of Vantage Press, Inc., America’s oldest self-publishing corporation, will talk about the changing status of self-publishing within the evolving trade publishing environment. Is there still a stigma attaching to paying to publish with a so-called vanity press?

• Local publicist, freelance writer and social networking fiend Jaclyn Stevenson will talk about social media tools and tactics for writers and explain just what people mean nowadays by the word "platform."

The event will be followed by a Q&A session. All writers, regardless of genre, are encouraged to attend to learn more about how they can share their writing with the world.