President Salley Shannon opens up the conference. Welcome, continental breakfast and networking (including ice-breaker activities)

ASJA's speed-dating event between editors, agents, and ASJA members.

(01) THE IMMERSION EXCURSION: WRITING INVESTIGATIVE BOOKS

Two authors, an agent, and an editor discuss what it takes to write investigative books. Learn what makes a solid proposal, how to get access to sources, when to stop interviewing and start writing, and much more.

Moderator: Cheryl Harris Sharman, ASJA; award-winning freelance journalist whose science, health, and social issues credits include Scientific American, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Miami Herald, The Lancet, Central America's The Tico Times, and other media; recipient of an ASJA Outstanding Book Award in 2009 for her first book, Nightshift NYC

Panelists:

Pete Beatty, associate editor at Bloomsbury Press; edited Douglas Hunter's Half Moon: Henry Hudson and the Voyage That Redrew the Map of the New World, Jeb Brugmann's Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How Cities are Changing the World, and others; formerly at the University of Chicago Press and a staffer at the Chicago Tribune.

Melissa Chinchillo, agent, Fletcher & Company; represents a mix of literary and high quality commercial fiction for adults and young adults, with a special interest in multicultural literature, smart women's fiction, horror, thrillers, crime and the paranormal; previously taught literature, film, and women's studies at universities in New York and Boston.

Ted Conover, author of five nonfiction books including Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2001 and was finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; The Routes of Man: How Roads Are Changing the World and the Way We Live Today; Whiteout: Lost in Aspen; Coyotes: A Journey Across Borders with America's Mexican Migrants; and Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails with America's Hoboes; frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and many others.

Julie Salamon, bestselling author and journalist, former staff reporter and critic for The New York Times and film critic for The Wall Street Journal; author of Hospital: Man, Woman Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God and Diversity on Steroids, and six other books including Rambam's Ladder, a prize-winning book about modern philanthropy and charity.

(02) MAKING THE GRADE: WRITING FOR COLLEGE PUBLICATIONS

Colleges and universities offer competitive pay rates and opportunities to write about a wide range of topics. Learn how to scout out and successfully pitch their magazines.

Moderator: Cathleen McCarthy, ASJA; former new editor, Swarthmore College Bulletin; contributor, Town & Country, Art & Antiques, Washington Post, AmericanStyle, Marie Claire, US Airways and Portfolio.com, and the alumni magazines of UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, and Williams College; editor of the TheCityTraveler.com and the TheJewelryloupe.com.

Panelists:

Kathrin Day Lassila, editor of Yale Alumni Magazine, an editorially independent magazine run not by Yale but by a separately incorporated nonprofit. Stories the Yale Alumni Magazine has broken since 2006 have been covered on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

John Prendergast, editor-in-chief of The Pennsylvania Gazette, alumni magazine of the University of Pennsylvania, since 1996.

Michael Shavelson, editor of Columbia magazine

(03) IT'S ALL IN THE PACKAGING

Who and what are book packagers, and how do you get work with them? Do you pitch ideas or do they already have their own? This session will wrap up all that info in a neat little package.

Moderator: Mary Mihaly, board member, ASJA; author of eight books including 250 Questions Every Self-Employed Person Should Ask, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Demystified, her first book packager experience; contributor to Playboy, Reader's Digest, House Beautiful, Yoga Journal, and others.

Panelists:

Nancy Hall, president of The Book Shop, Ltd.; produces adult nonfiction, juvenile and novelty books (think origami, dream catcher, book-kits); former editor of such popular series as Nancy Drew at Grosset; created products at Macmillan; former VP/associate publisher of juvenile division at Simon & Schuster.

Lynn Sonberg, president/editorial director of Lynn Sonberg Book Associates; producer of 150 titles for major publishers such as HarperCollins, Random House, St. Martin's Press, Perseus Book Group, Penguin USA, Holt, Simon & Schuster; specializing in nonfiction collaborations, mostly health, parenting, business, personal finance.

Valerie Tomaselli of MTM Publishing specializes in reference and nonfiction, including history, science and technology, the social sciences and current events; represents many academic authors, and clients include Scribner's, Macmillan, Grolier, Oxford University Press, and National Audubon Society.

Dan Tucker, managing editor at Sideshow Media; specializes in illustrated books in the visual and performing arts, literature, popular culture, culinary arts, travel, and New York region; clients include Hearst Books, Chronicle, St. Martin's Press, Harry N. Abrams, and Vintage.

(04) BUILDING A BEST SELLER

Learn how to distill the Cyber noise, cut through the PR hype, and select the best options so you can build your own bestseller plan that will maximize sales for your book from the wisest investment of time and money.

Moderator: Sandy Lamb, ASJA; author of How to Write It, Personal Notes, and the 2010 title: Write the Right Words; books have been Book of the Month Club selections and regional bestsellers.

Panelists:

Kevin Daum, ASJA promoter who transitioned from self-published titles to his new Wiley release, ROAR! Get Heard in The Sales and Marketing Jungle.

Janine Latus, secretary, ASJA; author of If I Am Missing or Dead, which was on the New York Times and Sunday Times (of London) bestseller lists.

Richard Narramore, senior editor at John Wiley & Sons specializing in business books who has published many national bestsellers in his 20-year career.

Cathy L. Saypol, president of Saypol PR; develops publicity plans that maximize media attention using a flexible range of services from TV and the Internet to meet the publicity and financial needs of each client; bestseller clients include authors Sebastian Junger and Floyd Abrams.

Joy Tutela, literary agent with David Black Literary Agency representing NYTimes bestsellers, The Intellectual Devotional, Trail of Crumbs, and Strategies for a Green Economy; represents memoir, self-help, business, history, politics, commercial fiction, and other nonfiction.

(05) EMBRACING YOUR 21ST CENTURY OFFICE

Over the last quarter century, computers and software have become inextricably intertwined with the writing process. Yet, it's no simple task to adopt systems and strategies that maximize productivity. Learn how to decide Mac vs. Windows, go paperless, sync data across multiple machines along with a smartphone, use digital signatures and much more in this interactive, hands-on workshop.

Moderator: Sam Greengard, past president, ASJA, author of AARP Crash Course in Finding the Work You Love; business and technology credits include American Way, Continental, Baseline, CIO Insight, and many others.

Panelists:

Damon Brown, ASJA; covers tech, sex and music regularly for Playboy, New York Post, Family Circle, and AARP: The Magazine; mobile games editor at About.com; author of several books, most recently Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.

Bill Pfleging, computer consultant and technology writer for Inc., Inc.com, The Geek Weekly and The Woodstock Times; co-author, with Minda Zetlin, of The Geek Gap: Why Business and Technology Professionals Don't Understand Each Other and Why They Need Each Other to Survive

Keynoter: Jane Chesnutt Editor in Chief, Woman's Day

(06) WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER: EDITING ANTHOLOGIES

Whether you have a great idea for an anthology, but don't know what to do about it; or want to contribute to one, find out everything you need to know about this unique and fun genre.

Moderator: Megan McMorris, ASJA; editor of the anthologies P.S.: What I Didn't Say. Unsent Letters to Our Female Friends; Cat Women: Female Writers on Their Feline Friends, and Woman's Best Friend: Women Writers on the Dogs in Their Lives

Panelists:

Andrea Buchanan, co-author of the New York Times-bestselling The Daring Book For Girls series; author of Mother Shock; editor of the anthologies It's a Boy, Literary Mama, and It's a Girl.

Elizabeth Kaplan, literary agent at Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency, representing numerous critically acclaimed and bestselling authors; formerly an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic and the Ellen Levine Agency.

Sally Wofford-Girand, founder Brick House Literary Agents, she handles fiction, memoir and narrative nonfiction; previously director of international rights at a boutique literary agency in Greenwich Village where she worked with Salman Rushdie, Grace Paley, Kim Edwards, Peter Carey, Ben Okri and others.

(07) LOOKING AT LIVES: MEMOIRS AND BIOGRAPHIES

Editors are hungry for untold tales of movers and shakers as well as fascinating accounts of everyday folks leading remarkable lives. Learn about the differences between the two genres, how to find the subjects, and where to go from there.

Moderator: Sherry Beck Paprocki, ASJA; award winning author and editor; author, Oprah Winfrey: Talk Show Host and Media Magnate which was placed on the honor list for Voice of Youth Advocates in 2007; author of biographies about Ellen Degeneres, Martha Stewart, Bob Marley, Katie Couric, Michele Kwan, Princess Diana, and others; co-author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Branding Yourself (2009)

Panelists:

Matt Birkbeck; award-winning investigative journalist and author of the critically acclaimed Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob and three other books, including A Beautiful Child; credits include The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Philadelphia Inquirer, People, and Boston; recipient of a 2002 Investigative Reporters and Editors award and 2009 Society of Professional Journalists award for his work on gaming and organized crime in 2009.

Beverly Gray, ASJA; author of a biography of B-movie mogul Roger Corman and Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon . . . and Beyond; currently working on her next book When Doctor Dolittle Met Mrs. Robinson: the Movies, the Sixties, and the Re-Defining of America.

Pat McNees, ASJA; freelance journalist; former book editor for Harper & Row and Fawcett; president of the Association of Personal Historians; co-editor of My Words Are Gonna Linger: The Art of Personal History; e-letter scribe for the Washington Biography Group; teaches life story writing at the Writer's Center in Bethesda.

Robin D. Stone, ASJA; journalist focusing primarily on health, families, children and parenting; author of No Secrets, No Lies: How Black Families Can Heal from Sexual Abuse; wife of the late Gerald Boyd, who was the one-time managing editor of the New York Times, she edited and contributed the Afterword to My Times in Black and White, a memoir, after Boyd died in 2006; former editor at several publications including The New York Times, Essence and essence.com, Health, The Boston Globe and the Detroit Free Press.

(08) MEDICAL WRITING: A VIEW FROM THE INSIDE

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a medical writer? Learn from two long-time medical writers and the owner of a medical communications company what it takes to break into medical writing, how to learn the lingo, and how to make your clients happy.

Moderator: Nancy Monson, ASJA; freelance medical writer and editor working for both medical communications companies and health care organizations; co-author of Just What the Doctor Ordered: An Insider's Guide to Medical Writing; author of The Smart Guide to Boosting Your Energy and Craft to Heal: Soothing Your Soul with Sewing, Painting, and Other Pastimes; credits include Family Circle, Glamour, More, Redbook, Shape, and Woman's Day.

Panelists:

Debra Gordon, MS, ASJA; a freelance medical writer for 10 years following a career in newspapers, managed care, and publishing; contributes to medical communication and education companies, medical associations, continuing medical education companies, hospitals, and others.

Linda Peckel, freelance writer specializing in medical writing; co-author of Just What the Doctor Ordered: An Insider's Guide to Medical Writing; former senior editor, editorial director and director of meeting services at major medical communications companies.

Mary Beth Woodin, president and CEO of Menopause Alliance, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the well-being of menopausal women; founder and president of MBK Associates, LLC, a communications agency that has created programs for Pfizer, Inc. and other major pharmaceutical companies.

(09) YES, IT'S A REAL JOB: ARTS JOURNALISM

Imagine getting paid to go to movies and concerts. Covering theater, film, music, dance and visual arts provides a great source of income. Hear how these pros, who are contributors to the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, carved out careers as culture chroniclers.

Moderator: Sondra Forsyth, ASJA; contributor, Dancer Magazine, Dance Spirit; featured blogger on DancerUniverse.com; former dance critic, The Wisconsin State Journal; dance and drama reviewer, Backstage.

Panelists:

David Hajdu, music critic for The New Republic; professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism; contributor to The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair; author of four books including Heroes and Villains, a collection of his arts journalism.

Jim Rutter, freelance arts critic for The Broad Street Review in Philadelphia; one of 23 journalists chosen for fellowships to the University of Southern California for the 2009 Annenberg Arts Institute of the National Endowment for the Arts.

(10) IT'S A TRIP: TRAVEL WRITING

Travel writing is a lucrative market. Hear what travel editors are assigning, what's expected of you, and how to break into this exotic genre.

Moderator: Jennifer Margulis, PhD, ASJA; travel and culture writer; contributor to More, The New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Wildlife Conservation Magazine, Ms., Disney's family.com, and several others; recipient of the 2006 Fulbright fellowship to teach 19th century American literature for a year at the only university in Niamey, Niger, West Africa.

Panelists:

Jamie Ehrlich, associate editor at Frommer's Travel Guides, a division of John Wiley & Sons publishers; editor of three different guidebooks to Alaska and guides to Argentina and Buenos Aires; covers hotels in a column called "Frommer's Checks In" for the Behind the Guides blog at Frommers.com.

Michael Luongo, ASJA; has written and/or photographed for the New York Times, Cond Nast Traveler, Bloomberg News, National Geographic Traveler, Frommers Budget Travel, Business Traveler, The Irish Times, The Forward, and Out Traveler; author, co-author and editor of several books including Frommer's Buenos Aires, Frommer's Argentina, and Gay Travels in the Muslim World, the only gay-themed American book ever published in Arabic; adjunct professor at New York University.

Sean O'Neill, senior editor BudgetTravel.com (the website of Budget Travel magazine); credits include The Washington Post, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, US Weekly, and others; he has also appeared in live segments on CNBC's Squawk Box, Fox News America's News HQ, Fox Business, MSNBC Live, America This Morning, and Live Saturday.

(11) BOOK PROMOTION 2.0

Take the lead promoting your book. Learn about the new communication vehicles that successful authors are using in their book publicity plan and all the nuts and bolts of book promotions PR specialists say are a must in the Web 2.0 era.

Moderator: Beverly Blair Harzog, ASJA; personal finance and lifestyle topics; co-author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Person-to-Person Lending; print credits include Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, Cooking Light, and others; online credits include AARP.com, Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, and others.

Panelists:

Carrie Bachman, president of Carrie Bachman Public Relations, a boutique firm specializing in cookbook publicity; former director of publicity for cookbooks and lifestyle at HarperCollins/William Morrow where she publicized over 500 cookbooks written by top selling authors including Mario Batali, Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, Emeril Lagasse, Alice Waters and Patricia Wells.

Monica Bhide, ASJA; author, Modern Spice – Inspired Indian Flavors for the Contemporary Kitchen; writes a weekly column, iSpice, for The Washington Post online, blogs about cooking at AARP.org; other credits include The New York Times, American Baby, Parenting, Food & Wine, Health, Prevention, Cooking Light, The Chicago Tribune, and National Geographic Traveler.

Irene S. Levine, PhD, ASJA; journalist/author/blogger/psychologist; columnist for The Huffington Post, PsychologyToday.com and AAAS ScienceCareers.com; author of Best Friends Forever: Surviving a Breakup with Your Best Friend and co-author of Schizophrenia for Dummies.

Allison Winn Scotch, New York Times bestselling author of the novels, Time of My Life, The Department of Lost and Found, and The One That I Want, which will be released in June 2010; previously a frequent contributor to many national magazines.

On-line writing opportunities are expanding exponentially. Don't get left in the (virtual) dust. Come and hear four editors discuss what they're currently buying.

Moderator: Linda Melone, ASJA; award-winning writer specializing in fitness, health, business, recipe development and food; credits include AARP The Magazine, Woman's Day, Better Homes & Gardens, SELF, Runner's World, Heart-Healthy Living and others; columnist for Oxygen; contributing fitness editor for Women's Running Magazine.

(12) 09:00 a.m. -- 09:30 a.m.

Noah Davis, editor, DRAFTMag.com; former editor at mediabistro.com; specializes in writing about beer and soccer, but also penned features and columns for TimeOut New York, The Onion, Co-Ed, Penthouse, SportsIllustrated.com, Goal.com, and others.

(13) 09:30 a.m. -- 10:00 a.m.

Jeri Condit, senior editor, MSN Health & Fitness; former senior editor for Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Companies, multimedia producer for WeddingChannel.com and managing editor for Luckman Interactive.

(14) 10:00 a.m. -- 10:30 a.m.

Annalisa Burgos, senior real estate editor and video host of Scripps Networks Digital's FrontDoor.com, responsible for developing and implementing content strategy, managing staff and other content providers, hosting web shows and serving as a housing expert in the media; previously worked at CNBC.com. The Orange County Register, and Forbes.com.

(15) 10:30 a.m. -- 11:00 a.m.

Rachel Elson, managing editor, CBS MoneyWatch.com; previously worked at MSN.com on the Loeb-award-winning multimedia team at MSN Money and Salon.com; writing and editing credits include Newsweek.com, People.com, Washington Post, TimeOut New York and many more.

You don't have to be an industry insider to write for trade publications. Trades can be good paying markets with accessible editors eager to work with freelancers. Get the scoop on this often overlooked category from four editors.

Moderator: Roberta Wax, ASJA; former reporter with United Press International; contributor to the Los Angeles Times, Emmy, United Parenting Publications, Health Trends, Belle Armoire, Los Angeles, UCLA Magazine, Animation, and more; teaches nonfiction writing through University of California, Los Angeles, Extension.

(16) 11:00 a.m. -- 11:30 a.m.

Frances McMorris, editor-in-chief of On Wall Street magazine which reaches financial advisors and brokers at the most prestigious brokerage firms who serve high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors; credits include The Wall Street Journal, The New York Daily News, Newsday and The New York Law Journal, among others.

(17) 11:30 a.m. -- 12:00 noon

Nanci McArdle, is the managing editor of American Spa magazine, a trade publication for spa professionals. She has more than 10 years of experience writing about topics such as beauty, health, travel, and wellness and has reported on spas all over the world.

(18) 12:00 noon -- 12:30 p.m.

Eileen Feretic, of Ziff Davis Enterprise, currently Editor of Baseline and the Managing Editor of the Content Services group, which provides editorial services for eWEEK and CIO Insight magazine, as well as Baseline.

(19) 12:30 p.m. -- 13:00 p.m.

Kathleen M. McBride, editor in chief, Wealth Manager; formerly senior editor at Investment Advisor magazine and web site; she ran new-media startups and developed interactive financial media, as well as traditional media, for more than a decade, working with Reuters, Prodigy, Lipper Analytical, Dow Jones, Cablevision's Metrochannel, Operational Risk, Inc., and CBS; formerly a correspondent and senior producer, and columnist, reporting on-air, in print, and online for CBS MarketWatch and others.

From the TOC to the dust cover, hear from four book publishers and/or editors giving insights on what they're currently buying.

Moderator: Alisa Bowman, ASJA; prolific ghost writer who's penned more than 25 books, including 6 New York Times best sellers; marriage blogger at ProjectHappilyEverAfter.com; author of the memoir Project: Happily Ever After, about the year she spent saving her marriage.

(20) 2:45 p.m. -- 3:15 p.m. Mark Gompertz, executive vice president of digital publishing at Simon & Schuster, where he was involved in publishing the world's first Vook, a book and a video hybrid; prior to that, he was publisher of Touchtone Fireside, where he doubled the size of the house and published the authors Philippa Gregory, Ursula Hegi, and Bethenny Frankel, among others.

(21) 3:20 p.m. -- 3:50 p.m. Denise Oswald, editorial director of Soft Skull Press, an independent publisher which has been called "The literary version of a punk rock label"; previously she spent more than a decade at FSG (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), where she oversaw the music, film and theatre books.

(22) 3:55 p.m. -- 4:25 p.m. John Oakes, co-founder of OR Books, an alternative publishing company that embraces e-books and other new technologies' prior to OR, he co-founded Four Walls Eight Windows, which was eventually purchased by the Avalon Publishing Group. Among the authors he has published are Andrei Codrescu, Sue Coe, R. Crumb, Cory Doctorow, Andrea Dworkin, Abbie Hoffman, Gordon Lish, Harvey Pekar, Rudy Rucker, John Waters and Edmund White.

(23) 4:30 p.m. -- 5:00 p.m. Nancy Green, senior editor at W. W. Norton & Company, where she is responsible for developing Norton Professional Books for Architects and Designers, a publishing program encompassing architectural history, design, and practice, historic preservation, urban design, landscape and interior design. Previously, she's served as editor, editor-in-chief, vice-president and publisher of a list noted for its architecture, design, and craft publications and related subjects at Van Nostrand Reinhold Company; conceived and ran the Design Press imprint and its successor, Design Books.

This mixed bag of editors represent some of the most sought after markets. And they've come together to explain what comprises a great story, what they're currently looking for and how to land a stellar assignment with them.

Moderator: Gina Roberts-Grey, board member, ASJA; celebrity, consumer issues and health writer; print credits include AARP the Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Essence, Glamour, Parents, SELF, Woman's Day, and others; custom credits are Bottom Line/Women's Health, Health Monitor Network, American Baby, and many others; online credits include AOL.com, Creditcards.com, EverydayHealth.com, HotJobs.com, MSNMoney.com, Yahoo.com, and others.

(24) 2:45 p.m. -- 3:15 p.m. Ellen Cannon, managing editor, Bankrate.com where she writes Plastic Rap, a blog about the credit card business, and oversees stories on credit cards, college financing, banking and other personal finance topics; she has covered personal finance topics for more than 20 years, including 10 years with Bloomberg L.P.; as a print journalist, she specialized in magazine startups, most notably Entertainment Weekly and the Australian edition of People, as well as all of Bloomberg's publications.

(25) 3:20 p.m. -- 3:50 p.m. Lisa Gosselin, editorial director, editorial director of EatingWell Media Group, publisher of EatingWell magazine, EatingWell books, EatingWell.com and EatingWell Custom Publishing. She joined EatingWell in 2006, taking on both the role of editor-in-chief for EatingWell magazine and Editorial Director for the company's expanding content offerings. Prior to that she has been the Editor-in-Chief of Audubon, Bicycling, and Islands magazines and has served as executive editor of SKI magazine.

(26) 3:55 p.m. -- 4:25 p.m. Julie Sherrier, managing editor for CreditCards.com and former senior editor for Rellek Book Publishing, taught journalism at the University of Texas, and is the former editor of three trade magazines and managing editor of The Hudson Review.

(27) 4:30 p.m. -- 5:00 p.m. vacant

ASJAers unwind with new members, friends, and colleagues. Enjoy cocktails and conversation in the Roosevelt's lovely historic ambiance.