Every year the lineup of Superstars speakers changes. Get to know the featured instructors.
New York Times bestselling author Marc Cameron has written short fiction for The Saturday Evening Post and Boys’ Life Magazine. He’s the author of thirty books—Westerns, Jericho Quinn Thrillers, Arliss Cutter Mysteries featuring a deputy US marshal based in Alaska, and seven Jack Ryan novels for the Tom Clancy estate.
A retired Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal, he holds a second-degree black belt in jujitsu and is a certified law enforcement scuba diver and man-tracking instructor. His career focused primarily on dignitary protection and fugitive operations. As a member of the US Marshals Service rural Tactical Tracking Unit, Marc routinely tracked lost hikers, hunters, and fugitives in the vast Alaska bush. Originally from Texas, Marc is an avid outdoorsman, sailor, and adventure motorcyclist. He and his wife have lived in Alaska for twenty-six years.
During the last 8 years as COO of Shadow Alley Press, Jeanette’s learned a lot about Indie Publishing. It takes persistence, a dedicated team, and big goals and dreams. Since 2016, she’s worked with numerous authors on these exact things. Helping them to narrow down their goals and make them achievable. Along the way she’s become a specialist with Amazon advertising, Facebook advertising, email marketing, and business strategy.
It's Jeanette’s passion to help others find their path and begin to walk it. If you're lost on your author journey, she’d love to help you rediscover your dreams and take some steps to get you back on the path that will take you to them.
She can help you:
Jeanette has spoken at numerous writer and fan events:
James Hunter is a full-time Inkslinger and the bestselling author of Vigil Bound, Rogue Dungeon, Shadowcroft Academy, Discount Dan, and the litRPG epic Viridian Gate Online! In addition to writing, James also runs Shadow Alley Press, a publishing company that specializes in LitRRP, Gamelit, and Progression Fantasy.
James is also a former Marine Corps Sergeant, combat veteran, and pirate hunter (seriously). He’s also a member of The Royal Order of the Shellback—’cause that’s totally a real thing. And a spaceship captain, can’t forget that. Okay … the last one probably isn’t true. When not writing or spending time with family, James occasionally finds time to eat and sleep.
A Webster Award winner and three-time Dragon Award finalist, Chris Kennedy is a Science Fiction/Fantasy author, speaker, and small-press publisher who has written over 65 books and published more than 500 others. Get his free book, “Shattered Crucible,” at his website, https://chriskennedypublishing.com. A retired naval aviator, he uses his experience to give authenticity to his military science fiction stories.
Called “fantastic” and “a great speaker,” he has coached hundreds of beginning authors on how to self-publish their stories at a variety of conferences, conventions, and writing guild presentations. He is the author of the award-winning #1 bestseller, “Self-Publishing for Profit: How to Get Your Book Out of Your Head and Into the Stores.”
Chris lives in Coinjock, North Carolina, with his wife, Sheellah, and is the holder of a doctorate in educational leadership and master’s degrees in both business and public administration. Follow Chris on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ckpublishing/.
Born and raised in Australia. Came to American when I married a Brooklyn boy. I worked for one of the biggest Literary Agents in NY until he fired me and then his clients took two years to convince me to open my own agency by sending me authors and their manuscripts. I handle all genres and subgenres of adult fiction.
Toni Weisskopf is an American science fiction editor and the publisher of Baen Books. She has been nominated four times for a Hugo Award. She has won the Phoenix Award, the Rebel Award, and the Neffy Award for best editor.
David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952. Weber and his wife Sharon live in Greenville, South Carolina with their three children and “a passel of dogs”.
With a blue-collar, science-fiction loving father, a college English teacher mother (who also owned her own ad agency in the 70s), and a life-long love for history, he was clearly predestined to perpetrate a whole host of military science-fiction (and fantasy) novels and anthologies.
Previously the owner of the small advertising and public relations agency he took over from his mother, has written science fiction full time for thirty years. He is probably best known for his Honor Harrington series, from Baen Books, and his Safehold series, from Tor.
Nick Thacker is the USA Today Bestselling Author of action-adventure thrillers and mysteries. He writes and speaks about the future of books and publishing and is the founder of numerous author-centric businesses, including Book Career In A Year and Author.Email. He lives in Colorado with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
Ann Rose is a literary agent with The Tobias Literary Agency. Prior to her joining, she’s been exploring publishing by working and mentoring with literary agents in various capacities for years. Everything she has experienced from editorial work to the magic of finding the perfect match between author and editor has hardened her resolve to be a part of this wonderful profession. She’s thrilled to be building her list and is actively seeking clients ready to grow amazing careers with her. Ann’s perfect manuscript is a character driven story that isn’t afraid to push boundaries. She loves an unlikable character — even though she is incredibly likable herself!
Craig Martelle is a million-selling author of Sci-Fi and Thrillers. He runs the Successful Indie Author series of author-help videos, books, and group.
Craig Martelle is retired from the Marine Corps, spending time both as enlisted and as an officer. Then he went to law school, took his law degree into business consulting where he became a business diagnostics specialist and leadership coach. He retired from that at age 52 because he was away from home way too much. That’s when he started writing full time and has not looked back since.
Lisa Mangum has worked in publishing since 1997. She has been the Managing Editor for Shadow Mountain since 2014 and has worked with several New York Times best-selling authors. While fiction is her first love, she also has experience working with nonfiction projects. Lisa is also the author of four national best-selling YA novels (The Hourglass Door trilogy and After Hello), several short stories and novellas, and a nonfiction book about the craft of writing based on the TV show Supernatural. She has edited several anthologies about various magical creatures, pirates, and food for WordFire Press. She regularly teaches at writing conferences, including hosting a writing weekend in Capitol Reef National Park through UVU. She lives in Taylorsville, Utah, with her husband, Tracy.
JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of 51 novels, 165 short stories, 16 short story collections, 27 graphic novels, 160 short stories, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. He writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include the Joe Ledger thrillers, Kagen the Damned, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. Several of his works are in development for film and TV. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, and others. His comics include Black Panther: DoomWar, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Bad Blood and many others. His Rot & Ruin young adult novel was adapted into the #1 horror comic on Webtoon and is being developed for film by Alcon Entertainment. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine.
He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com
An award-winning writer, editor and designer, Allyson Longueira has worked in fiction and nonfiction in multiple media, including newspapers, magazines and books for twenty years. She holds a BA in English from Rutgers University and an MA in journalism from the prestigious University of Missouri School of Journalism. While a newspaper editor, she led her newspaper to three general excellence awards in three consecutive years from the Society of Professional Journalism and the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. After she transitioned to fiction editing, Allyson launched Fiction River Presents, a series of reprint anthologies published by WMG Publishing, for which she serves as series editor. She has taught writing, publishing and design at the college and professional levels, including a post as adjunct professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication as well as teaching professional workshops and lectures through WMG Publishing alongside award-winning authors and editors Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. In 2020, Allyson joined the faculty of Western Colorado University as part of the Graduate Program in Creative Writing, where she teaches alongside Publishing Concentration Director and New York Times bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson. Allyson’s latest projects are co-executive editor with Kevin J. Anderson of Gilded Glass: Twisted Myths & Shattered Fairy Tales (Wordfire Press, July 2022) and Merciless Mermaids: Tails from the Deep (Wordfire Press, July 2023). Allyson is the publisher and CEO of WMG Publishing, Inc., headquartered in Lincoln City, Oregon.
Mark Leslie Lefebvre’s first story appeared in print in 1992, the same year he started working in the book industry. Under the name Mark Leslie he has published thrillers and fiction, paranormal non-fiction, and anthologies. His books about writing and publishing appear under the name Mark Leslie Lefebvre. His industry experience includes President of the Canadian Booksellers Association, Board Member of BookNet Canada, Director of Author Relations for Rakuten Kobo, Director of Business Development for Draft2Digital and Professional Advisor for Sheridan College’s Creative Writing and Publishing Honours Program.
Mark lives in Waterloo, Ontario and can be found online at www.markleslie.ca.
Joni Labaqui has been the Director of the International L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest since 1995. More than 12 New York Times bestsellers and scores of national bestsellers have received their start with the contest to date.
Michael La Ronn (also known as M.L. Ronn) has published over 100 science fiction & fantasy novels and self-help books for writers.
Michael also runs the award-winning YouTube channel “Author Level Up,” with over 40,000 subscribers and 2 million views. Writer’s Digest voted the channel one of the “Best Resources for Writers” in 2020.
Michael devoted himself to the writing life in 2012 after a near-death experience, writing 10 to 12 books per year despite working a demanding full-time job as an insurance executive, raising a family, and attending law school classes in the evenings. His productivity methods are so effective that his YouTube subscribers have accused him of being a cyborg in disguise (he pleads the fifth).
For more information on Michael’s books, visit his fiction website at www.michaellaronn.com and his resources for writers at www.authorlevelup.com.
A life-long bibliophile, Stacey’s experience includes working as a Field Representative for Scholastic Book Fairs, managing at Chapters/Indigo stores, freelance editing, and serving on the organizing committee of When Words Collide (A Festival for Readers and Writers). She joined The Rights Factory in 2018 and represents fiction and nonfiction authors across age categories and across genres. Stacey is drawn to strong narrative voices, innovative storytelling, feeling all the feels, laughing all the laughs, and also the dark and the weird.
Lisa Diane Kastner is the Founder and Executive Editor of Running Wild & RIZE Presses. Featured in FORBES and several other publications, she’s been named to multiple “Best of”s. A writer and editor for more than twenty years, she has an MFA, an MBA. Lisa began Running Wild & RIZE with the belief that we can change the world through story.
Kevin Ikenberry is a life-long space geek and retired Army officer. As an adult, he managed the U.S. Space Camp program and served in military space operations before Space Force was a thing. He’s an international bestselling author, award finalist, and a core author in the wildly successful Four Horsemen Universe. His fifteen novels include Sleeper Protocol, Vendetta Protocol, Runs In The Family, Peacemaker, Honor The Threat, Stand or Fall, Deathangel, Fields of Fire, and Harbinger. August 2022 will see the release of his alternate history novel The Crossing from Baen Books. He is an Active Member of SFWA, the International Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors (IASFA), International Thriller Writers, and SIGMA – the science fiction think tank.
Henry Herz’s stories will/have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Weird Tales, Pseudopod, Metastellar, Titan Books, Highlights for Children, Ladybug Magazine, and anthologies from Albert Whitman & Co., Blackstone Publishing, Brigids Gate Press, Air and Nothingness Press, Baen Books, and elsewhere. He’s edited seven anthologies and written twelve picture books, including the ALA Notable Children’s Book, I Am Smoke. www.henryherz.com
John Goodwin, President Galaxy Press, has been involved with book publishing since 1986, publishing the fiction works of bestselling author L. Ron Hubbard which includes the Writers of the Future anthology. He is also host of the award-winning Writers and Illustrators of the Future Podcast.
Dr. Charles E. Gannon is best known for his multiple best-selling and award-winning Caine Riordan hard sf series and Dragon-nominated Vortex of Worlds epic fantasy series. He has written in or collaborated with many authors in their own universes: Ring of Fire (Eric Flint), Black Tide Rising (John Ringo), Starfire (White & Weber), Honorverse (David Weber), Known Space (Larry Niven), and War World (Jerry Pournelle). His awards include the Dragon, ALA Choice, & Compton Crook and he has been a finalist for the Nebula four times and the Dragon three times. Earlier in his career, he was a TV writer/producer and writer/designer for GDW games.
As a Distinguished Professor of English, Gannon received five Fulbrights, and his book Rumors of War & Infernal Machines won the 2006 ALA Choice Award for Outstanding Book. He is a frequent subject matter expert for national media venues (NPR, Discovery, etc.) and for various intelligence and defense agencies.
Gannon has five children (four living) and lives Annapolis, Maryland.
Robert Davis is an editor at Tor Publishing Group, acquiring for the Forge and Tor imprints. Over the last 10 years he has had the opportunity to work with many talented authors, as well as major franchises including The Wheel of Time and Dune. You can follow @rdavisreads on both Instagram and Twitter.
Katie Cross is ALL ABOUT writing epic magic and wild places. Creating new fantasy worlds is her jam. When she’s not hiking or chasing her two littles through the Montana mountains, you can find her curled up reading a book or arguing with her husband over the best kind of sushi.
Amy Cowan, a seasoned professional with nearly a decade of experience in publishing, excels in acquisitions, editing, and financial intricacies. Presently the Publisher at Young Dragons, an imprint of Roan & Weatherford Publishing Associates, she spearheads Children’s and Middle Grade content, collaborating seamlessly with picture book illustrators. Based in Northwest Arkansas, Amy enjoys spending time with her always-supportive husband, six children, and three grandchildren, often accompanied by her newly-found love of crochet projects. Her expertise in shaping literary landscapes and her devotion to family and artistic pursuits define Amy’s dynamic presence in both her professional and personal spheres.
Gail Carriger writes books that are hugs, mostly comedies of manners mixed with steampunk, urban fantasy, and sci-fi (plus cozy queer joy as G. L. Carriger). These include the Parasol Protectorate, Custard Protocol, Tinkered Stars, and San Andreas Shifter series for adults, and the Finishing School and Tinkered Starsong series for young adults. Also nonfiction: The Heroine’s Journey. She is published in many languages, has over a million books in print, over a dozen New York Times and USA Today bestsellers, and starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, and Romantic Times.
Her first book, Soulless, made Audible’s Best list, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book, an IndieBound Notable, and a Locus Recommended Read. She has received the American Library Association’s Alex Award, the Prix Julia Verlanger, the Elbakin Award, the Steampunk Chronicle‘s Reader’s Choice Award, and a Starburner Award. She was once an archaeologist and is fond of shoes, cephalopods, and tea. Get early access, specials, and exclusives via her website gailcarriger.com.
Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it.
Jim goes by the moniker Longshot in a number of online locales. He came by this name in the early 1990′s when he decided he would become a published author. Usually only 3 in 1000 who make such an attempt actually manage to become published; of those, only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. The sale of a second series was the breakthrough that let him beat the long odds against attaining a career as a novelist.
All the same, he refuses to change his nickname.
Superstars Writing Seminars teaches writers the business of being successful in the publishing industry. Instructors are chosen from the top of the industry and include International Bestselling Authors, Top Editors, Indie Publishing Platform Managers, and many more. The primary goal at Superstars is to teach you how to have a successful writing career by sharing how those at the top of the industry manage their careers.
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