Next up in our Demystifying Publishing Series, the Society of Midland Authors Presents…
Basics, Considerations, and Strategies for Crafting Your Nonfiction Book Proposal, a Virtual Panel Discussion
- WHEN: Tuesday, November 12, 2024, 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
- ZOOM LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89302354226?pwd=DkET7ZzB9d8o57SuQ4rD6UWej74um2.1
- COST: Free and open to all.
Join us for an enlightening virtual panel on the basics, considerations, and strategies of crafting winning nonfiction book proposals from the perspectives of an agent, two acquisitions editora, a publisher, and two non-fiction authors. SMA board member and former publisher Sharon Woodhouse leads the discussion with panelists University of Chicago Executive Editor Timothy Mennel, University of Wisconsin Press Editor in Chief Dan Crissman, agent Tina P. Schwartz of The Purcell Agency and authors Arnie Bernstein and Dominic Pacyga. All attendees will receive a free PDF of the book, Pitch What’s True: A Publisher’s Tools for Navigating Your Best Path to a Published Nonfiction Book by Sharon Woodhouse.
Timothy Mennel is the Executive Editor of University of Chicago Press. He joined the Press in 2013, having worked at Random House Adult Trade, Artforum/ Bookforum, Princeton University Press, and the American Planning Association. He has consulted at the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and elsewhere. He has a special interest in ambitious histories.
Dan Crissman is Editor in Chief at the University of Wisconsin Press. He previously served on the editorial staff at Indiana University Press, W.W. Norton, Belt Publishing, and Farrar, Straus & Giroux. He has written two books, Cleveland in 50 Maps and Brewing Everything.
Tina Purcell Schwartz founded The Purcell Agency in July 2012 after she spent twelve years writing and marketing her work, along with helping several others get published. After a career in advertising, radio sales, and marketing, she turned to her true passion, selling manuscripts. She sold her first book contract in 2004 and has sold ten nonfiction titles in the teen and youth markets to traditional publishers.
Arnie Bernstein specializes in narrative nonfiction. His books include Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing (University of Michigan Press) and Swastika Nation: Fritz Kuhn and The Rise and Fall of the German-American Bund (St. Martin’s Press and Picador). He is a popular media guest and talking head for television, podcasts, and other media including MSNBC, C-SPAN Book TV, The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, the BBC, Australian Public Radio, The Times of Israel, as well as media outlets in Ireland, Germany, Spain, Poland, and Russia. This past year he appeared on the acclaimed PBS series “American Experience” in their documentary “Nazi Town, USA.” Arnie is a member of The Society of Midland Authors (where he both served a term on the board and as a judge for the annual awards), The Author’s Guild, PEN America, and The International Federation of Journalists. Awards include a grant from the Puffin Foundation, earning a slot in the prestigious Warner Brothers Comedy Writing Workshop, and named to The New City Chicago annual “Lit 50.” Arnie received honors from both the Illinois State Library and the State Library of Michigan. He hopes to someday receive similar recognition from the State Library of Hawaii. Check out his website at www.arniebernstein.com.
Dominic A. Pacyga is professor emeritus of history in the Department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences at Columbia College Chicago and serves on the board of the Society of Midland AUthors. His books include Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago: Workers on the South Side, 1880–1922; Chicago: A Biography; and Slaughterhouse: Chicago’s Union Stock Yard and the World It Made, all from the University of Chicago Press. Pacyga is the 2014 Mieczyslaw Haiman Award winner for exceptional and sustained contribution to the study of Polish Americans.
Sharon Woodhouse was an indie publisher for over 25 years (Lake Claremont Press, Everything Goes Media). She currently owns Conspire Creative, a book business agency that provides coaching, consulting, project management, and marketing support services for authors and publishers, with a specialty in entrepreneurship and publishing options. Her next book, The Profitable Author: 1,001 Ways to Build a Business You Love Around Your Books, will be released in January 2025.