2012 Conference Speakers

The New World of Publishing: What's Changed, What Hasn't, and What It All Means for Us Writers

Not long ago, the only way writers could make a living was by selling the rights to their work to a traditional publishing company. Today, writers have options: self-publishing, for one, and hybrid models being pioneered by companies like Amazon. How do we navigate the new landscape? What's important and how do we decide? Barry Eisler will talk about all this and more.

Barry Eisler is an international thriller writer and the creator of the popular John Rain series and other thrillers. His most recent John Rain novel is The Detachment (2011). The Chicago Sun-Times has called Eisler "one of the most talented and literary writers in the thriller genre," and the San Francisco Chronicle described John Rain as "the most charismatic assassin since James Bond." Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA. He then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt along the way. He has won the Deadly Pleasures Barry Award and the Gumshoe Award for Best Thriller of the Year. His novels are included in numerous "Best Of" lists and translated into nearly 20 languages. Eisler is on the forefront of digital publishing, which he writes about in his blog along with other contemporary issues.
www.barryeisler.com

Click on this link to hear an interview with Barry by NPR in October 2011 about his latest novel, Detachment, and his new publishing arrangements.

David Guterson's latest novel, Ed King, debuted in fall 2011. The Seattle Times described it as "brilliant" and a "transcendently dark and dazzling book." Guterson is the author of seven books, including Snow Falling on Cedars (1994), which won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. A cofounder of Field's End in 2002, he served several years as a key volunteer and taught the first of its professional writing classes. He lives on Bainbridge Island.

Award-winning, bestselling author Susan Wingate has written ten novels, two short story collections, a few plays, one screenplay, and tons of poems. Drowning (2011) won a First Place Award for drama in the 2011 Forward National Literature Awards and was a finalist in the 2011 International Book Awards. She has a radio program that airs live every Thursday, "Dialogue: Between the Lines," where she hosts authors and other professionals in the publishing industry. Wingate lives in the San Juan Islands and writes full-time. www.susanwingate.com