GLORIETA, N.M. (BP)–Participants in a first-ever conference for Christian writers at Glorieta (N.M.) Baptist Conference Center will have a chance to hear from best-selling Christian authors and editors and interact with representatives from more than 40 Christian publishers, periodicals and specialty companies.
While the Baptist Sunday School Board has held an annual writers’ conference for many years, it has generally focused on Southern Baptist publishing outlets. According to organizer Mark Fisher, the Glorieta conference will target the wider evangelical Christian market.
“Beginning and experienced writers are looking for publishing outlets and Christian publishers are looking for new authors,” Fisher said. “We wanted to bring the two together and provide opportunities for dialogue, inspiration and professional critiques.”
The Glorieta Christian Writers’ Conference will be held Nov. 5-9 at the conference center, located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains 18 miles north of Santa Fe, N.M.
Publishers and periodicals represented at the conference will include Bethany House, Broadman & Holman, Focus on the Family Books, Tyndale House, Brio, Christian Single, Home Life, Journey, Moody Magazine, Pastor’s Family Magazine, Physician, The Christian Communicator and many others.
Keynote speakers will be Calvin Miller, author, speaker and writer-in-residence and professor of communication and ministry studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas, and Steve Laube, acquisitions editor for Bethany House Publishers, executive editor for ACW Press and manager of information services for the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
Participants may attend one of the following instructional seminars led by key figures in the Christian publishing industry:
— “Launching Your Writing Ministry,” Susan Titus Osborn, editor of The Christian Communicator and adjunct professor at Pacific Christian College in Fullerton, Calif.
— “Artistic Integrity in the Christian Writer,” Ethel Herr, historian, author and director of the Literature Ministry Prayer Fellowship.
— “The Sure-Sell Magazine Article,” Jan Johnson, author of eight books and more than 800 adult and youth curriculum sessions and more than 900 magazine articles.
— “Writing a Winning Nonfiction Book: From Conception to Completion,” Bob Hostetler, whose books have sold more than half a million copies. He is also coauthor of seven books with Josh McDowell, including the popular, “Right From Wrong (What You Need To Know to Help Youth Make Right Choices)” and the award-winning “Don’t Check Your Brains at the Door.”
— “Writing Fiction That Will Sell,” Lauraine Snelling, an award-winning author of more than 25 fiction and nonfiction books for adults and young adults.
Participants, who may include beginning through advanced writers, can also choose from 32 workshops covering a variety of topics, such as writing with a computer and the Internet, negotiating book contracts, songwriting, self-publishing, research secrets and effective interviewing.
Also featured will be a writer’s contest, one-on-one appointments with editors and publishing representatives and critique groups for poets, children’s writers and fiction and nonfiction writers.
Tuition for the conference is $200 before Sept. 15 and $225 after that date. A “drive-in” rate of $80 per day ($85 at the door) also is available.
To register by phone or for a free brochure, call 1-800-797-4222. For detailed conference information, contact conference director Mona Gansberg Hodgson, P.O. Box 999, Cottonwood, AZ 86326-0999; phone, (520) 634-0384; fax, (520) 634-3145; email, [email protected].
