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THE BUSINESS OF WRITING

November 2, 1996
8:00 p.m. Discussion | Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

A round table discussion of the business aspects of the publishing industry featuring editors from major and small publishing houses and journals, agents, publicists, and bookstore managers, that will focus on how a manuscript makes its way from the writers' desk to the bookstores, a process often a mystery to aspiring and published writers alike.

Participants

Dosier Hammond - Marketing Director, W.W. Norton & Company. Mr. Hammond, who will talk about how books are marketed, ranging from print runs and advertising to book jacket design, has extensive experience in all aspects of book sales, ranging from work with Bookpeople, the west coast wholesaler, to Publisher's Group West, to the Princeton University Bookstore, of which he was general manager

Bill Henderson - Founder of the Pushcart Press and editor of the Pushcart Small Press Annual Prizes. Mr. Henderson, one of the foremost small press publishers in America, is the force behind the internationally renowned annual Pushcart Prize which brings the best of the small press publications to the public eye each year. An inveterate skeptic of the major trade book publishers, Mr. Henderson will offer alternative views to publications.

Barbara Jones - Senior Features Editor, Vogue Magazine, Contributing Editor of The Paris Review, and former Associate Editor of Grand Street. Ms. Jones will speak on the process of serial publishing in magazines.

Sally Anne McCartin - Publicist, McCartin Associates. Ms. McCartin, an independent publicist, represents such writers as Walter Mosley, Yevgegny Yevtushenko, and John Edgar Wideman. She will speak about how books and their authors are brought to the attention of reviewers, interviewers, and the general media.

Susan Novotny -Owner/buyer, The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza. Ms. Novotny who has worked in publishing with both Doubleday and Putnam, is a strong voice in the Independent Booksellers scene. She will talk about the role of the bookseller in the process of publishing and the perfidy of chain stores.

Rebecca Saletan - Vice President and Senior Editor, Simon & Schuster Adult Trade Division. Ms. Saletan, who was also Editor at Random House and Vintage Books, works with both fiction and nonfiction writers. Her recent efforts have included works by Chris Offut, Ellen Currie, Marge Garber, as well as Hillary Clinton's It Takes a Village.

Chuck Verrill - Literary Agent with the Darhansoff and Verill Literary Agency. Mr. Verill, formerly an editor with the Viking Press, is an agent for many of the finest writers now working. He has seen unusual works such as Peter Kramer's Listening to Prozac from obscurity to best-sellerdom, and he remains Stephen King's editor, as well as agent.

Cosponsored by the Greater Capital Region Teacher Center

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.