September 12 & 13, 2008
University Plaza Hotel
Columbus, OH

Click here for registration, pay options and schedule.

Keynote Speaker
New York Times Bestselling Author
Mary Jo Putney

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USAToday bestselling author, Mary Jo Putney was born in Upstate New York with a reading addiction, a condition for which there is no known cure.  Her entire romance writing career is an accidental by-product of buying a computer for other purposes. 

Her novels are known for psychological depth and intensity.  Winner of numerous writing awards, including two RITAs and two Romantic Times Career Achievement awards, she has five times had books listed among the Library Journal's top five romances of the year, and three times had books among the top ten romances of Booklist, the magazine of the American Library Association.  Her favorite reading is great stories, but in a pinch she'll settle for the backs of cereal boxes. 

Her most recent books have expanded into the area of paranormal historicals.  Releases in 2008 include the June paperback reprint of her historical romantic fantasy, A Distant Magic, and the October mass market reprint of the anthology Dragon Lovers.  She is now returning to her first love, Regency historical romances. 

Friday Night Workshop
SCENE DEVELOPMENT with Alicia Rasley

Alicia Rasley is a RITA-award winning novelist and a nationally known writing workshop leader.  She teaches writing at a state university and conducts online writing classes for writers' groups.  Her website features her many free writing articles:  www.rasley.com.   Writing workshop information for groups is available by email: rasley@juno.com. Her book, The Power of Point of View: Make Your Story Come to Life, was released March 2008 by Writer's Digest Books.

Editor & Agent Appointments

Esi Sogah - HarperCollins - Avon
Assistant Editor Esi Sogah joined Avon in the summer of 2005, working with Lucia Macro and Erika Tsang. She has worked with bestselling authors such as Stephanie Laurens, Lynsay Sands, and Suzanne Enoch, as well as African-American fiction writers Karyn Langhorne, Nina Foxx, and Beverly Jenkins. She is looking to acquire all genres of romance, especially sexy historicals and multicultural contemporaries.

Deb Werksman - Sourcebooks, Inc.
Sourcebooks continues to publish titles in nearly every shape, size and format. The eclectic and exciting breadth of its list—nonfiction in most categories, commercial and literary fiction, romance novels, gift books, calendars, children's books and more—is unmatched anywhere. Its future is guided by its continuing commitment to reaching readers with books that will illuminate, inspire and enlighten their lives.

For submission guidelines:

Romance- http://www.sourcebooks.com/content/authors_romance_submission_guidelines.asp

Fiction/Non-Fiction-http://www.sourcebooks.com/content/authors_submission_guidelines.asp

Alicia Rasley – Red Sage Publishing, Inc.
Alicia Rasley is a RITA-award winning novelist and a nationally known writing workshop leader.  She teaches writing at a state university and conducts online writing classes for writers' groups.  Her website features her many free writing articles:  www.rasley.com.   Writing workshop information for groups is available by email: rasley@juno.com. Her book, The Power of Point of View: Make Your Story Come to Life, was released March 2008 by Writer's Digest Books.

Emmanuelle Alspaugh - Wendy Sherman Associates, Inc.
Emmanuelle Alspaugh was an agent at The Creative Culture and an editor at Fodor's, the travel arm of Random House, before joining Wendy Sherman Associates in the spring of 2007. She offers her clients the full breadth of her editorial experience, working closely with them to develop and polish their proposals and manuscripts. Her particular interests include literary and commercial fiction, memoir, and nonfiction relevant to contemporary issues.

Sara Megibow - Nelson Literary Agency, Inc.
Sara has been the literary assistant at Nelson Literary Agency since 2006. Her main responsibility is to be the first reader for all queries, sample pages and full manuscripts that are submitted to the agency. Once a project passes her discerning read, she sends it directly to Kristin for review. In the past year, she has supported Kristin in selling books to all the major New York publishers. Nelson Literary Agency specializes in representing commercial fiction (romance, women's fiction, science fiction, fantasy, young adult & middle grade) and literary fiction with a commercial bent. The agency also considers a few nonfiction projects that tend to be story-based, such as memoir and narrative nonfiction.

Clients include New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ally Carter (I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have to Kill You and Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy), USA Today bestseller and RITA-award winner Linnea Sinclair (Gabriel's Ghost and Games of Command), Sherry Thomas (Private Arrangements),Shanna Swendson (Enchanted, Inc. series), Kim Reid (No Place Safe), and Jennifer O'Connell (Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume). Member: AAR, RWA, SFWA, SCBWI.

Please visit our website www.nelsonagency.com before submitting and certainly check out Kristin's popular blog http://pubrants.blogspot.com.

Break Out Sessions – Craft & Career
Industry Professional Q&A Panels
Book Signing

Raffles
Agent/Editor/Author Critiques
Book & Goody Baskets
Notebook Computer

Deadline to register is August 31, 2008!

Conference Registration (doc format)  ::  Conference Schedule (doc format)

April 15th MEMBERS will be able to register and pay for conference
via paypal using the Buy Now button below.

Non-member conference registrations will begin June 1st.

COFW Conference (COFW members only), $100 and fee $103.20