The 2020 Chanticleer Authors Conference

and

the 2019 Chanticleer International

Book Awards Ceremony

will take place

VIRTUALLY and LIVE via ZOOM

Tuesday, September 8 through Sunday, September 13, 2020

Sessions start at 9:30 a.m.

CIBA Ceremonies daily starting at 5 p.m. PST

CIBA 2019 Grand Prize Ceremony – Sunday, Sept 13, 2020

– starts at 5:30 p.m.

MASTER WRITING CLASSES presented by

Jessica Page Morrell and Donald Maass

WORKSHOPS on Audiobook Creation and Podcast Editing and Publication

taught by Hindenburg Systems

Presenters as of Aug 25, 2020 (please check back often for the latest information in these unprecedented times).

Learn from the Best!

HEADLINERS

• Robert Dugoni, International Best-selling Thriller Author. His books are sold worldwide in more than 25 countries. His current work, The Eighth Sister is currently in development with Lionsgate Productions for 11-episodes for TV.

• J. D. Barker, Master of Suspense. J.D. Barker successfully published his debut as an indie and sold enough copies to land on the radar of the traditional publishers in a BIG way including seven-figure advances, two feature films, and a television program.

• Scott Steindorff, CEO of Stone Village Productions, will join us again and share the latest insider information for the Film Industry. He is currently in production for a film adaption of Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Station Eleven will also be adapted into a 10-episode miniseries that will premiere on HBO Max. The miniseries will star Mackenzie Davis as Kirsten and Himesh Patel as Jeevan.

• Paul Cutsinger – Head of Amazon Alexa Labs– (+100 million devices in use) Voice-enabled technology and how it affects storytelling and the publishing industry. ●Why Voice-Enabled Technology is Here to Stay ● The Publishing Industry and Voice Technology ● Storytelling and Voice Technology ● Audio-books and Voice

 

• CC Humphreys makes an encore appearance at VCAC! We miss his humor and wit and valuable insight into the publishing world.

Chris Humphreys is a British actor, playwright, novelist, and swordsman. Born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Peter Humphreys was an actor, writer, and Battle of Britain fighter pilot. His mother, Ingegerd Holter, was a spy in the Norwegian resistance. Chris is also the grandson of actor Cecil Humphreys. Chris (aka C.C.) has published 18 novels in the genres of historical fiction and fantasy fiction.

 

• Anita Michalski, Hindenburg Systems
  In addition to the Comprehensive Workshops on Wednesday, Sept 16, Anita will present Introduction to Podcasting VCAC
• Jonathan Hurley, Hindenburg Systems
  In addition to the Comprehensive Workshops on Wednesday, Sept 16, Jonathan will present Introduction to Audiobook Creation with authors Elana Mugdan and Chris Humphreys who used the HS app to produce their audiobooks and saved thousands of dollars

Learn from the Best!

VCAC PRESENTERS

• Please visit the VCAC 20 Faculty Page for more detailed information about the presenters.
• The presentation schedule will be posted in early August 2020.
• The CIBA Awards Ceremonies schedule has been posted. Details are added weekly.

 

 

• Jessica Page Morrell’s writing craft sessions will help you to take your work to the next level. She is a highly sought after developmental editor. She is known for explaining the hows and whys of what makes for excellent writing and for sharing very clear examples that examine the technical aspects of writing that emphases layering and subtext. Her books on writing craft are considered “a must-have” for any serious writer’s toolkit.

• Donald Maass (New York, NY) heads the Donald Maass Literary Agency in New York City, which represents more than 150 novelists and sells more than 150 novels every year to publishers in America and overseas. He is a past president of the Association of Authors Representatives, Inc., and is the author of several books writing craft books.

More Topics to be Discussed and Presented at VCAC 20

(Please check back as we update this page with the latest information)

• • Podcast generation
  • Audio-book creation
  • Storytelling and Voice Technology
  • Social Media for Authors and Publishers
  • Meta Data, SEO, and Analytics – explained. 3 levels of sessions
  • Publishing Platforms for a GLOBAL Market
  • Ask the Expert Sessions — YES on ZOOM
  • Blockchain and Publishing
  • Why Authors Should Write Series and How To Structure a Series
  • 7 Must-Haves for a Successful Series
  • Making the Unbelievable Believable in Your Writing
  • Just Call Out My Name – Connecting and Cross Promotion
  • Interactive Fiction Writing – Tomorrow’s Best Sellers
  • The Scroll Free Life – Taking Control of Social Media
  • Tools of the Writing Trade: Story Bibles and Style Guides
  • Exploration of New and Revolutionary Ways of Storytelling including delving into immersive, mixed reality, and digital art
  • Nonlinear Story Lines – What Hollywood Wants
  • Subplots – The Stories Within Stories
  • Captivating Co-Stars: Why Secondary Characters Need More Attention
  • BookBub – Navigating and How to Increase Your Success of Getting Your Books Accepted
  • How to Increase Suspense in Your Work-in-Progress
  • More topics added weekly! Please check back!

Learn From the Best!

 

• Simon-Pierre Marion – CEO of Bookchain by Scenarex – a brand new platform to publish and distribute ebooks on Bookchain, the online secure selling platform that allows you to retain your royalties.
  

  Amy Stapleton

  Amy Stapleton, Co-Founder of Chatables, a publisher of voice-first conversational stories and tools to support authors. Prior to Chatables, Stapleton founded Tellables and served as a voice app designer, writer, and editor of content for the Tellables Amazon Alexa story experiences “Tricky Genie” and “My Box of Chocolates. Stapleton retired from a career at NASA to pursue her vision of transforming talking devices into a platform for engaging new story experiences.

   

  

  Wayne Richard

• Wayne Richard, Co-founder of Chatables and publisher of Voice First conversational stories and tools to support authors. Wayne has published a series of “advisor” skills on Alexa. He is embracing the voice user interface as the next new tech powerhouse.

• Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D., the award-winning author has written a column for newspapers, radio, and now online, for the last 30 years where she analyzes educational, political, social, and economic issues across race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status. Janice Ellis holds a Ph.D. in Communication Arts, and two Master of Arts degrees, one in Communications Arts and a second in Political Science, all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

• Diane Garland – Founder of YOUR WORLD KEEPER editorial services – the secret to writing a successful book series

• Tana Hope is a certified Perfect Posture Instructor and a certified 3MAP practitioner (Acupuncture Meridian, Muscle, Massage, Anatomy & Physiology). Tana will help people understand the basic fundamental principles of how body functions and to learn how to operate the body in harmony and operate wisely based on the body design principals to produce maximum performance and longevity.

• Kaylin McFarren has received 50 national literary awards, in addition to a prestigious RWA Golden Heart Award nomination for FLAHERTY’S CROSSING – a book she and her oldest daughter, New York Times/USA Today best-selling author Kristina McMorris, co-wrote in 2008 and was then opted and made into a Hallmark film. Kaylin won Grand Prize in the CIBA CLUE Awards for her psychological thriller, Twisted Threads.

• ElanaMugdan is a proven expert in marketing, cos-playing, and book tours. She will participate in our Market Panel and discuss out-of-the-box marketing techniques that have expanded her audience. As the Vitamin Water Challenge Winner, even more market space has been added to her already impressive resume’. If you are struggling with ideas on how to promote your work, you will not want to miss this panel!

• Pamela Beason – author of 14 mysteries and experiences BookBub user. She will share her knowledge of Bookbub and how to write a sustained series with us.

• Janet Shawgo started writing in 2009 and has five books published to date. Her Look for Me series has some thirty awards and acknowledgments, including the Grand Prize in the CHATELAINE Awards for Find Me Again.

• Sean Dwyer is an award-winning novelist and Renaissance man. He has been a writer since he discovered that people strung words together to tell stories. He is also a polyglot and has written creatively in Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Latin, and Irish. Sean has finished three novel projects and published stories in several journals, anthologies, and Chanticleer Magazine.

 

• J. L. Oakley writes historical fiction that spans the mid-19^th century to WW II with characters standing up for something in their own time and place. When not writing, she demonstrates 19th-century folkways in the schools and at San Juan Island National Park. She also has a cat who thinks she’s editing.

 

• Christopher Leibig is a criminal defense attorney and an award-winning novelist. His last novel, Almost Mortal, a legal thriller about a serial killer with a biblical/metaphysical twist, was a best seller in the legal thriller category on Amazon in the Spring of 2017. Almost Mortal won many national awards, including the Grand Prize in Paranormal Fiction at the 2017 Chanticleer International Book Awards (And First Place Category Winner for Mystery and Fantasy), Best Religious Fiction of 2016 at the Next Generation Independent Books Awards, and the Pencraft Award for Best Legal Thriller of 2017. Chris is a full-time criminal defense attorney and former public defender in Alexandria, Virginia, and regularly handles serious criminal cases throughout Virginia.

• Tina Sloan is best known for her twenty-six-year role on CBS’s soap The Guiding Light and as the author of Changing Shoes: Getting Older – Not Old – with Style, Humor, and Grace based on her autobiographical one-woman show. The Changing Shoes book release coincided with the launch of the show in New York, which went on to grace stages across the U.S. and in London. Her debut novel Chasing Cleopatra, a suspenseful romantic thriller features an irresistible heroine.
  

• Avanti Centrae is the author of the international award-winning VanOps thriller series. The Lost Power took home a genre grand prize ribbon at the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) 2017, and an Honorable Mention at the 2018 Hollywood Book Festival. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Clive Cussler. She resides in Northern California with her family and German Shepherds.

 

• Joy Ross Davis After a twenty-five-year career as a college English professor, she retired and traveled to Ireland where she worked as a writer and photographer, publishing numerous travel articles and photos for a travel agency. She has been a contributing feature writer for a local newspaper and has published articles in Southern literary magazines. Her first novel, Countenance, won the Gold Medal for Excellence from Readers’ Favorites. Her newest novel The Madwoman of Preacher’s Cove won the Grand Prize in Paranormal Fiction in 2018 from Chanticleer Author Awards in Seattle and was picked up for publication by Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing.

 

• Gail Nobel-Sanderson worked as a Speech-Language Pathologist and published many educational programs for children with special needs. She now turns her attention to the writing of historical fiction. She published her first historical fiction novel, The Lavender House in Meuse. In September 2017, the sequel to her first book, The Passage Home to Meuse, was published. She is currently working on her next book in this series and a book of short stories.

 

• Denise Ditto Satterfield is a multi-award winning novelist who specializes in Children’s Literature. Denise is a graduate from the University of Houston-Downtown, Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Professional Writing. She published two short stories in her university literary magazine, The Bayou Review, 2001 and 2007 Edition, and won First Place in the Creative Writing Contest for her short story, Summer Breeze. Denise won two Grand Prizes in consecutive years in the Little Peeps Awards for her work in The Tooth Collector books.
  

• Barbara Jean Hicks is an award-winning author, storyteller, speaker, and educator. She’s published eight picture books, taught at the preschool, middle school, and community college levels, and worked in an urban elementary school as author-in-residence, program facilitator, and parent educator. She has also written adult novels and novellas and marketing copy for numerous businesses and trade publishers and worked as an editor and proofreader.

• Wendy Delaney is the author of the award-winning Working Stiffs Mystery series and a sought-after “plotstormer” who loves to help other writers develop their storylines. With over twenty years in the business of being an author, Wendy speaks at regional writers’ conferences and has coached writers to help them map out their stories as well as their author goals. As a veteran of both the traditionally published and indie author worlds, she has a wealth of experience she loves to share with other writers.

• P. J. Devlin tells stories about relationships. Her characters meet at the intersection of acceptance and rejection and their choices impel them to understand what it means to be human. Whether writing of a witch, a dwarf, an elderly woman, white and black teenagers, or a black indentured servant, Devlin’s characters exist in the Philadelphia of her birth and share her love of the Wissahickon Creek.

• Kelly Abell is the author of internationally best-selling romances and romantic suspense. Her characters are filled with passion, power, and purpose in predicaments that keep a reader turning the pages. She lives in Florida where she helps other writers by teaching workshops and sharing writing tips.
• 

  MJ Evans

• MJ Evans has always loved writing, and for seventeen years she coached Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination teams, forming one-act plays for children.

 

• Sarah Stamey is an award-winning novelist who loves treasure hunting, teaching scuba in the Caribbean, backpacking worldwide, operating a nuclear reactor, and owning a farm in Southern Chile – and teaching creative writing at Western Washington University.

 

 

• Jacquie Rogers is a former software designer, campaign manager, deli clerk, and cow milker. Her 2007 release, Faery Special Romances, won the Fall NOR Award for Best Print Sci-fi/Fantasy Romance and final-ed several other contests. Jacquie won 4 Will Rogers Gold Medallions, the Laramie Award Grand Prize Winner, and a RttA Winner for books in her, Honey Beaulieu, Man Hunter series.

• Michelle Rene is a creative advocate and the author of a number of published works of historical fiction and speculative fiction. She is the author of novels, short stories, essays, and video games. She has won multiple indie awards. Her novel, Hour Glass, won Chanticleer Review’s “Best Book of the Year” award in 2018.

• Peter Greene is the author of The Adventures of Jonathan Moore books, a three-volume series including Warship Poseidon, Castle of Fire, and Paladin’s War. Warship Poseidon was awarded the 2012 Adventure Writer’s Competition Grandmaster Award, the “Clive” trophy, sponsored by the Clive Cussler Collector’s Society. Greene won Grand Prize in the GOETHE Awards for Paladin’s War.

• Talking Crows Film Production Company is a full-service video production company specializing in story brand videos, live events, and human-interest profiles.
  
  

 

 

Please check back often as we continue to add presenters on a weekly basis. We will have more information about the presenters on the faculty page.

Don’t delay. Register Today.