Five top agents will tell you what's getting the biggest and best publishing deals--big advances and great author concessions. Then, an in-depth Q&A segment will address your key questions. Finally, the session will break into roundtable discussions, where agents will critique your pre-submitted proposals—the first five pages—to help you master your own REALLY BIG DEAL. (See the Sunday program details at www.asja.org/wc for submission instructions.)

MODERATOR: Sandra E. Lamb, ASJA board member, author of award-winning How to Write It and Personal Notes.

Matthew Carnicelli, Trident Media Group, handles topical and narrative nonfiction, including current events, history, biography, memoir, science, business, health, psychology, and popular culture, and limited fiction.

Dan Conaway, Writers House, representing a wide range of up-market fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, history, and popular culture.

Gail Ross, Gail Ross Literary Agency, representing history, politics, current affairs, health, memoir, religious/spirituality, biography, business/investing/finance and advice/relationship books.

Andrew Stuart, The Literary Group, representing titles in the areas of history, politics, current affairs, popular science, memoir, narrative nonfiction, sports, some pop culture and psychology, and idea-driven books.

Scott Waxman, Waxman Literary Agency, representing a wide range of popular non-fiction, with a special interest in narrative non-fiction, history, biography, sports, popular culture, current events and lifestyle.

Submission Instructions: You may submit the first five (5) pages of your nonfiction book proposal -- double-spaced and no more than 250 words/page -- to be critiqued by one of the participating agents. (If you would like a particular agent to review your submission, please indicate that in the subject line of your e-mail.) Your submission will be returned to you with comments at the session; authors of proposals selected for discussion may choose to remain anonymous.

Submissions are due by April 6 and should be sent (as an attached Word document) by e-mail to "conference2009s1 AT asja.org".

(S2) ESSAYS AND MORE: TURNING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES INTO STORIES THAT SELL

This panel focuses on the art of crafting various life experiences into stories, essays and more. Use of humor, style and anecdotes to be discussed. Participants are invited to submit, for critique, a short (1,000-word) essay or personal experience snippet that totals no more than five, double-spaced manuscript pages. (See the Sunday program details at www.asja.org/wc for submission instructions.)

MODERATOR: Sandra Gurvis, ASJA, author of 12 books and hundreds of magazine articles; personal experience and essay contributor to Country Living, Mature American, Guide to Literary Agents, Times Outlook, I Love Cats, and CAT'S MEOW (anthology).

Erica Manfred, ASJA, writer and essay contributor to The New York Times Magazine, Cosmopolitan, New Age Journal, Village Voice and other publications; author of He's History; You're Not; Surviving Divorce After Forty (Globe Pequot, 2009)

Kate Walter, Personal Essay Writing instructor at NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies; contributor to The New York Times, Newsday, New York Daily News, The Advocate and the Christian Science Monitor; former columnist for two NYC downtown weeklies.

Submission Instructions: Registrants are invited to submit an essay, whether complete or still in-progress, for critique and discussion at the session. Submissions should be no longer than 1000 words, double-spaced and no more than 250 words/page. Authors of essays selected for discussion may choose to remain anonymous.

Submissions are due by April 6, 2009 and should be sent (as an attached Word document) by e-mail to "conference2009s2 AT asja.org".

(S3) BRAND YOU: POSITIONING YOURSELF AS THE EXPERT

Learn how to leverage your content expertise by building Brand "You". As a co-author on the upcoming book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Branding Yourself (Penguin, 2009), Sherry Beck Paprocki will lead this workshop that will show how top marketers create an emotional bond as they build big brands. Discover from the panelists how to make yourself invaluable to your target audience — the editors, agents and others who hire you.In the second half, learn how to go to new levels with Fern Reiss's short course on becoming the recognized expert in your field, leading to more publishing and consulting opportunities.

MODERATOR: Sherry Beck Paprocki, ASJA, president of Paprocki Ltd, a boutique communications firm; co-author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Personal Branding (Penguin, 2009); author of juvenile biographies about Martha Stewart, Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and others.

Greg Breining, ASJA, travel, nature, and environmental writer for The New York Times, Audubon, Wildlife Conservation, National Geographic Traveler, and other publications; author of several books.

Ray Paprocki, co-author of The CIG to Personal Branding (Penguin, 2009); editor of Columbus Monthly magazine; covers one of the biggest retail branders of the era -- Les Wexner, the founder of Limited Brands, which over time has included Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Abercrombie & Fitch and others.

Fern Reiss, director of the International Association of Writers and CEO of PublishingGame.com/Expertizing.com.

(S4) NEW TECHNOLOGY TOOLS YOU CAN TRY TODAY

MODERATOR: Anne Stuart, ASJA, specialist in business and technology coverage; regular contributor to CFO, Deliver, Inc.com, and others; former staffer, Inc., CIO, AP, and others.

Sree Sreenivasan, new-media director and professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

In this up-to-the-moment hands-on session, tech guru Sree Sreenivasan will demonstrate at least 10 cutting-edge yet practical "tech things." The completely updated workshop -- useful to any writer who uses a computer and the Internet -- will introduce what Sree calls "media-changing" technologies, techniques, ideas and Internet offerings. Minimizing the geek factor, he'll focus on what's most valuable to freelance journalists and authors, covering topics such as: social networking, social bookmarking, new ways to reach new audiences, promoting yourself and your work and much more. We'll leave plenty of time for questions, and you'll go home with a list of things to try.