You can now sign up for the 2024 FREE Writers Conference.

Please share this link with all your writer friends!

SCHEDULE

9:00: MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Registration, check-in, and Introductions (The library has a coffee shop where you can get freshly-brewed java and snacks!)

9:15: RANDEE DAWN: “Meet and Greet 101: How to Promote Yourself and Your Work”: You’ve finished your art and want to share it with the world! Congratulations – now comes the next hard part: How? Randee Dawn is a veteran journalist and author with books, short stories and hundreds of interviews under her belt, and she’s here to help you figure how to get everybody on the side of your project! We’ll discuss how to create your image online and how to work with fans and the curious in public at appearances, plus how to make the most of an interview if the press comes calling. You’ll walk away with some key tips to promote without being annoying, and get the most out of every interaction you have to get the word out.

10:30: LESLYE PENELOPE: “World-Building for any Genre”: Creating unique, fully realized environments that readers will want to get lost in is not just a skill for fantasy or science fiction writers. No matter what time period or location your stories are set in, mastering fictional worldbuilding is key to transporting readers into your story. In this workshop you’ll learn techniques and strategies to engage your audience and bring your fictional world to life.

11:30: Lunch (not provided, but there are lots of places nearby or you can bring your own)

12:30: JOSHUA PALMATIER: “Zombies Need Brains!”: Submitting a story to a magazine or anthology isn’t easy. Joshua Palmatier will provide some insights/advice on how to increase your chances of submitting a story and having it accepted, not just at his own publishing house Zombies Need Brains, but at any open call for a magazine or anthology.

1:45: LORI PERKINS: “Do You Need an Agent in Today’s Publishing Marketplace?”: Getting an agent has changed so radically in publishing that authors really need to examine why they need an agent and what an agent can do for them. Lori will discuss her 35 years of experience as an agent to discuss what you can and cannot do or expect.

3:00: MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Panel Discussion and Question and Answer session with all panelists

Admission is free but seating is limited. Please only sign up if you are sure you will be attending. If you later discover you cannot attend, please delete your reservation so there will be enough room for everyone. Do not reserve space for anyone other than yourself — if there is more than one reservation under your name, the extra ones will be deleted.

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WORKSHOPS

Each of the participants are holding smaller sessions during the presentations where you can get individual critiques and comments.

These sessions are $20 each. You can sign up for as many as you want but you must pre-register because space is limited. Please note that by signing up for these personal sessions, you will miss some of the other presentations.

The panelists will contact you by email prior to the session to discuss writing samples and other requirements.

Note that the deadline for signing up for these sessions is APRIL 1 (no fooling).

9:15: Joshua Palmatier

10:45: Lori Perkins

12:30: Randee Dawn

1:45: Leslye Penelope

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ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

RANDEE DAWN: Brooklyn-based journalist and author Randee Dawn has written for many years about film, TV, music, internet trends, books, food and other lifestyle areas for outlets including The L.A. Times, Variety, Today.com and Mental Floss. She’s the co-author of The Law & Order: SVU Unofficial Companion, and contributed to Mental Floss’ The Curious Viewer and been an on-air contributing expert for NPR. Her first novel, the humorous pop culture fantasy Tune in Tomorrow, was finalist in the 2023 Next Generation Indie Awards, and her short stories have been published in numerous anthologies. She’s also the co-editor of Across the Universe: Stories of Alternative Beatles. You can find out more at RandeeDawn.com.

JOSHUA PALMATIER is a fantasy author with a PhD in mathematics. He currently teaches at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York while writing in his “spare” time, editing anthologies, and running the anthology-producing small press Zombies Need Brains LLC. His most recent fantasy novel, Reaping the Aurora, concludes the fantasy series begun in Shattering the Ley and Threading the Needle, although you can also find his “Throne of Amenkor” series and the “Well of Sorrows” series still on the shelves. He is currently hard at work writing his next trilogy called the “Crystal Cities” (to be released in Summer 2024) and designing the Kickstarter for the next Zombies Need Brains anthology projects. You can find out more at http://www.joshuapalmatier.com.

LESLYE PENELOPE: Leslye Penelope is the award-winning author of the Earthsinger Chronicles. The first book in the series, Song of Blood & Stone, was chosen as one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time. Equally left and right-brained, she studied filmmaking and computer science at Howard University and sometimes dreams in HTML. She hosts the My Imaginary Friends podcast, co-hosts the Ink & Magic podcast, and lives in Maryland with her feline dependents. Visit her online at: http://www.lpenelope.com and join her newsletter for writers at https://myimaginaryfriends.net.

LORI PERKINS is an award-winning feminist and erotica expert who has spent three decades working and teaching in the publishing industry, with over 35 years as a literary agent. She is currently the Publisher of Riverdale Avenue Books, and was a founding partner and Editorial Director of Ravenous Romance. She is also a published author of both fiction and nonfiction, and has been an adjunct professor at NYU’s Center for Publishing and NYU’s undergraduate journalism program. Perkins’ anthology, MeToo: Essays About How and Why This Happened and How It Will Never Happen Again received the 2018 Bronze Independent Publisher’s Award (IPPY) in Women’s’ Issues and has been course adopted.She has edited 25 erotica anthologies, including Hungry For Your Love, the first Zombie Romance anthology, which was published by St. Martin’s Press. She is also the publisher and founder of RomanceDailyNews.com, a daily online romance magazine started in 2018 to replace Romantic Times. Her web page is https://lperkinsagency.com/

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA is a Stroudsburg writer with five novels so far, including Big Stick and Bloodsuckers: A Vampire Runs for President. He’s edited a dozen anthologies, including the Baker Street Irregulars anthologies (co-edited with New York Times Bestselling author Jonathan Maberry); Three Time Travelers Walk Into…, and Release the Virgins. His short stories have appeared in other anthologies and magazines. He’s also written nonfiction books about the US Constitution, The Beatles, and the Monkees. At his web page (MichaelAVentrella.com), he interviews authors and editors and gives advice for the starting writer. In his spare time, he is a lawyer.

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The members of The Pocono Liars are committed to making this conference one where every person in attendance feels supported and respected for their endeavors, and a place where all writers feel welcome and are treated with courtesy, patience and respect. While we as individuals might not share the same world views, we in The Pocono Liars believe it is imperative to develop a safe environment for creatives from all backgrounds and beliefs to gather in support of one another. It is our collective wish to provide such a venue in support of the intellectual integrity of all those who attend and wish to participate.

Additionally, as writers, we feel it is especially important that we respect the boundaries of each individual. Therefore, while proactive critiques are most certainly welcome and appreciated, we especially request that those in attendance refrain from putting fellow writers in a position of validating their choice of genre, lifestyle or story. Thank you.