Superstars Writing Seminars 2025: Full Schedule

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8:45am MST

How to Sell Books Directly to Your Readers

Saturday February 8, 2025 8:45am - 9:45am MST

Getting around the 8,000-pound river gorilla has been the Holy Grail for a while. Learn from our panel of experts on how to cut out the middle-man and sell directly to your readers.

Speakers

Dana Claire

Dana Claire, a marketing and sales expert, public speaker, and young adult author, founded The INKfluence, a specialized marketing agency for authors. The INKfluence offers special edition design & production, Kickstarter campaign management, and direct sales website build outs. Passionate... Read More →

David Sherrer

David Sherrer is a lifelong gamer and story teller, and is the Marketing Director of Chenoweth Press and Lead Game Designer of Chenoweth Games. His debut card game "Cat Magic: The Game" released in 2022 and was funded on Kickstarter within hours of launching.

Mark Leslie Lefebvre

Mark has worked in the book industry since 1992, published more than thirty-five books, and is a pioneer in digital publishing. Past roles include President of Canadian Booksellers Association, Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations and Director of Business Development, and... Read More →

Alex Smith

Alex Smith has been with Printondemand-worldwide for over 7 years during which time he has gained an in-depth knowledge of the publishing industry. This placed him in the perfect position to lead the redevelopment of the Bookvault platform. He has worked very closely with some of... Read More →

Saturday February 8, 2025 8:45am - 9:45am MST
Amphitheater (EPR)

Panel

10:00am MST

Blending Genres

Saturday February 8, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am MST

Amphitheater (EPR)

Our panel of multi-genre authors talk about what makes cross-genre/multi-genre/blended genre stories so fun and appealing to readers.

Speakers

Jennifer Brody

Jennifer Brody (a/k/a Vera Strange) is a Bram Stoker Award Finalist and the author of A SACRIFICE OF BLOOD & STARS, DISNEY CHILLS, THE 13TH CONTINUUM trilogy, STAR WARS: STORIES OF JEDI AND SITH, and SPECTRE DEEP 6, prompting Forbes to call her “a star in the graphic novel worl... Read More →

Chris Kennedy

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... Read More →

Jonathan Maberry

Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling author, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, and comic book writer. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was produced as a Netflix original series. He writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction... Read More →

Todd McCaffrey

New York Times Bestselling Author Todd J. McCaffrey has over sixty books in print including eight in the classic Dragonriders of Pern® series. He holds degrees in art and engineering, is a licensed pilot, and an Army veteran.

Saturday February 8, 2025 10:00am - 11:00am MST
Amphitheater (EPR)

Panel

11:15am MST

Kickstarter

Saturday February 8, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm MST

Amphitheater (EPR)

From Brandon Sanderon's recordbreaking Kickstarter to your indie writer's modest $500 funded Kickstarter project, it seems like every writer is suddenly looking to Kickstarter as a funding source. Learn from our panel of Kickstarter pioneers on how and why you should consider launching your next writing project on Kickstarter.

Speakers

Dana Claire

Joshua Essoe

Joshua Essoe is a full-time editor who’s edited for NYT bestsellers, like David Farland and Piers Anthony, along with hundreds of independents. His books on writing, funded in just hours on Kickstarter cover the most-common issues he sees in fiction writing. Find him teaching at... Read More →

Tanya Hales

When Tanya Hales was a baby, she enjoyed books by chewing them to pieces before eventually moving on to the higher art of reading. Tanya splits her time between her work as a writer, an illustrator, and a mother, all of which she loves intensely. She now lives in Utah with her family... Read More →

Lydia Sherrer

Lydia Sherrer is the award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author of the Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus universe of books which have sold over three-quarters of a million copies worldwide. She has also published the TransDimensional Hunter series with NYT bestselling author John Ringo... Read More →

Saturday February 8, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm MST
Amphitheater (EPR)

Panel

1:45pm MST

Ethical Considerations of AI in Publishing and Illustrating

Saturday February 8, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm MST

Amphitheater (EPR)

What could AI mean for artists? What are the potential impacts on publishing and illustrating? Is it an ethical means of generating creative work?

Speakers

Jake Clark

I make badass art for badass stories. Full of grit and storytelling, my work is geared to capture attention. Using 3-d modeling software combined with digital painting and other assets, my fully custom creations play with perspective and scale in a way few other covers do.

Casey Cowan

Casey brings thirty years of expertise in journalism, publishing, and design to his work as a graphic designer, reporter, and publisher. His career began with a foundation in graphic design, where his creative vision shaped countless projects across various industries. In 2013, Casey... Read More →

Chaz Kemp

I have been a professional illustrator for 25 years and I've done hundreds of book covers, interior illustrations and posters for clients in dozens of industries. In that time, I've studied marketing, branding and business. I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge with the Superstars... Read More →

James Artimus Owen

James Artimus Owen is part artist, part writer, and all heart. He has written and illustrated the Mythworld series, two dozen Starchild comics, available as The Twentieth Anniversary Nearly-Complete Essential Starchild, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica (and coloring books... Read More →

Saturday February 8, 2025 1:45pm - 2:45pm MST
Amphitheater (EPR)

Panel

3:00pm MST

Horror: Scaring Up an Audience

Saturday February 8, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm MST

Amphitheater (EPR)

Horror stories may be frightening, but readers' fascination with the genre is quite enlightening. Join our panel of horror writers, editors, and enthsiasts as they discuss writing and reading in the genre.

Speakers

Mark Leslie Lefebvre

Jonathan Maberry

Marie Whittaker

Marie Whittaker enjoys teaching about publishing and project management for writers. She’s Associate Publisher at WordFire Press and Executive Director of Superstars Writing. She started her career writing horror. Marie created The Adventures of Lola Hopscotch, is published in Weird... Read More →

Saturday February 8, 2025 3:00pm - 4:00pm MST
Amphitheater (EPR)

Panel

4:15pm MST

Fantasy: Making it All Up From Soups to Settings

Saturday February 8, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm MST

Amphitheater (EPR)

Our panel of fantasy authors discuss why this genre is just pure magic for readers.

Speakers

Jim Butcher

Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and his 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... Read More →

Todd Fahnestock

Todd Fahnestock is an award-winning, #1 bestselling author of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age Award. He is a founder of Eldros Legacy—a multi-author, shared-world mega-epic fantasy series—three-time winner of the Colorado... Read More →

Lydia Sherrer

David R. Slayton

David R. Slayton (he/him) grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he writes the books he always wanted to read. His epic fantasy, Dark Moon, Shallow Sea, won... Read More →

Saturday February 8, 2025 4:15pm - 5:15pm MST
Amphitheater (EPR)

Panel