Dear WNBA Community,
What a wonderful feeling it is to see the sun shining after such an endless winter in New York! And, even though it
Jane Kinney-Denning, President, WNBA-NYC
was a long season, the NYC Chapter of the WNBA was busy with an impressive series of events.
The Spring 2015 season started with a fantastic Twitter Workshoppresented by WNBA’s own Melissa Rosati and held at Pace University. It was the third in a series of workshops designed to teach some of the practical social media skills authors and publishing professionals need today. It was a great success and all of us in attendance walked away with a new skill.
In early March, we hosted our annual Query Roulette at the AAP offices, billed as something akin to “speed dating for writers,” we offer the opportunity for writers to get feedback on their query letters from a number of dynamic and high-profile literary agents. Membership Chair, Rachel Weiss-Feldman, with the assistance of WNBA member, Linda Epstein, did a wonderful job organizing the event and making sure that everything ran smoothly and of course, a special thank you to all of the agents who so generously volunteered their time and the members who participated.
We also reprised our collaboration with the NYU Creative Writing Center in March with a wonderful panel of writers, agents, editors, and publishing executives speaking on Exploring the Intersection of literary and Commercial Fiction. WNBA member Harriet Shenkmanbeautifully coordinated and moderated the event to large crowd of aspiring writers and publishing professionals. It was again so we hope to host this event again next year.
Our next panel on April 8th, Women Executives in Publishing, was a joint venture with the AAP’s Young to Publishing Group. A sell-out crowd of junior level publishing employees and friends heard from a panel of stellar female publishing executives, who offered up their own career advice and stories. It was so wonderful to see these women giving their time to encourage young women to succeed and move into leadership positions. A big thank you to our Young Professional Outreach Chair, Annie Stone, and to Becca Worthington at the AAP.
Upcoming spring events include a panel on book marketing, publicity and sales, You Wrote it and Now You Have to Sell It, at the Wix Lounge.
Panelists Include:
- Penny Anna Makras, Senior Marketing Manager, HarperCollins Publishers
- Michelle Blankenship, President, Blankenship Public Relations
- Lori Shurtz, National Account Manager, Penguin Random House Publisher Services
- Darcie Rowan, Owner, Darcie Rowan Public Relations
- Melissa Rosati (moderator), Executive Coach and Trainer, Publishing Strategist
Topics covered will include sales schedules and distribution outlets, types of marketing outreach, publicity campaigns, social media engagement and support, and most specifically, what you as an author should be doing to at every stage to help build a platform for you and your book that will help your publisher get (and keep) the book out in the marketplace. Click here to register!
And finally, our Annual Meeting and Networking Party will take place on Tuesday, May 5th at a beautiful Tribeca location. We will be voting in new executive board members and then celebrating another successful year of WNBA programs. This is a members-only event. We hope to see you there (click to register) for good conversation, fun, food and book giveaways!
In closing, just a reminder that we are transitioning from regular newsletters (these will still be done on special occasions) to the using the blog as our primary source of communication so please be sure to check the blog regularly and to sign up for email alerts for new posts (/blog/). The blog is filled with interesting interviews, volunteer opportunities, event postings, program announcements and much more. We also love to hear from our members and encourage members to write for the blog. Post a comment if you would like to become a blog contributor.
Thank you all of the Executive Board and Committee chairs and all of our NYC membership for making our spring season such a wonderful success.
I am looking forward to seeing you soon.
With best regards,
Jane Kinney-Denning
President, Women’s National Book Association-NYC
Vice President and President Elect, WNBA-National
