Candy Abbott  *                                                     
Publisher
Fruitbearer Publishing
http://www.fruitbearer.com

More than twenty years ago, after Candy Abbott’s initial response of, “Who, me? Write a book?”, she accepted God’s call and embarked on a remarkable journey to write and publish. Her non-fiction book, Fruitbearer, What Can I Do For You, Lord?, is in its third edition; her first young adult novel, Gavin Goodfellow: The Lure of Burnt Swamp, was released in 2007; and her independent publishing company, Fruitbearer Publishing, serves as a friendly starting place for budding authors. Wife, mother, grandmom, author, speaker, publisher, and director of Delmarva Christian Writers’ Fellowship, Candy’s heart cry is for the Holy Spirit to use her to inspire and equip believers to fan their gifts and callings into flame.

Workshop 5A - "Write" Priorities
One-on-One Appointments

Editorial Needs: Fruitbearer Publishing is open to fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books but is accepting limited submissions.

Marlene Bagnull  *                                                       
Publisher and Editor
Ampelos Press
http://www.writehisanswer.com/ampelos_press.htm

Marlene is the director of the Colorado and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conferences and publisher/editor, Ampelos Press - a small subsidy house that helps Christians self-publish affordably yet professionally. She has over 1,000 sales to Christian periodicals and is the author of five books including Write His Answer - A Bible Study for Christian Writers and the compiler/editor of three books. She is the process of acquiring manuscripts for a new compilation, tentatively titled, Train Up a Child - Devotional Thoughts for Parents.

Conference Director
One-on-One Appointments

Mindy is the bestselling author of the "Million Dollar Mysteries" series and the "Smart Chick Mystery" series, all from Harvest House Publishers.  Her books include A Penny for Your Thoughts, Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels, A Dime a Dozen, A Quarter for a Kiss, The Buck Stops Here, The Trouble with Tulip, Blind Dates Can Be Murder, and Elementary, My Dear Watkins.  She has also written a nonfiction guide for the "housekeeping impaired" called The House That Cleans Itself.  A singer and former stand-up comedian, Mindy is also a popular inspirational speaker and playwrite. She lives near Valley Forge, PA, with her husband, two teenage daughters, and two shih tzus.


Workshop 3B - Creating Mr. Right
Workshop 6B - Tracking the Details
Paid Critiques - Chick Lit, Contemporary and Women's Fiction, Mysteries, Suspense
One-on-One Appointments
 

Author, editor, teacher, songwriter. Dave is the managing editor at CLC Ministries, Int'l. He is the former managing editor at Christian Publications and has over 21 years experience in writing and editing. He has published four books, including a Christian education volume entitled Teaching with All Your Heart (Cook Communications). In addition, he has produced the study guide sections to two books by A.W. Tozer: The Attributes of God and The Attributes of God II. Dave and his wife, Jacque, have two adult sons.

Workshop 5D - Songwriting
Paid Critiques - Nonfiction Book Proposals
One-on-One Appointments

Maurice is a lifelong resident of New Castle, DE, and a member of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where he is active with the Young Adult Network, the Men's Chorus, the Bethel Voices Of Light and the Singles Ministry. He is a member of the Faith Based Literary Extravaganza (FBX), a coalition of Christian authors. This group was organized by publicist Audrey Williams and consists of Maurice, S. James Guitard, Patricia Haley, Terrance Johnson, Victoria Christopher Murray, Jacquelin Thomas, and Marni Williams. Recently Maurice joined the Divine Literary Tour, a conglomeration of Black Greek Authors. As a state certified HIV/AIDS counselor/tester, Maurice works with the Beautiful Gate Outreach Center (BGOC), which provides HIV/AIDS counseling and testing to the Wilmington, DE, community.

Paid Critiques - Contemporary, Mystery, Romantic Suspense
One-on-One Appointments

Shannon has worked in publishing for eight years. Prior to joining editorial she served with publicity and marketing. She also worked in bookstore retail for three years and is the author of several books. Shannon lives in Colorado Springs with Quinn, her retriever/shepherd.  

One-on-One Appointments

Editorial Needs: Fiction is what I’ll be looking at primarily but women’s felt-need-focused non-fiction or creative nonfiction regarding issues of family, marriage, narrative discipleship, or careers can also be considered.

I’m not interested in looking at devotionals, gift books, children’s books, or fiction solely centered toward a male readership, i.e. techno thriller or military. Recommend that conferees familiarize themselves with the WaterBrook Multnomah list to understand what types of books we do publish and what we already publishing that we wouldn’t want to duplicate.

Torry is a writer, author, speaker, teacher, actor, and comedian. He has seven books of Christian comedy sketches that are all published by Lillenas Drama. He also writes for "Adventures in Odyssey," produced by Focus on the Family and writes humor columns for On Course and Breakaway magazines.

Stephanie has worked with Barefoot Ministries as an assistant editor and project coordinator since graduating from Olivet Nazarene University in 2004. In that role, she has worked on several book projects, multiple curriculum lines, and was the initial editor of Credo--a monthly youth devotional magazine that launched in September 2005. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, playing with her niece and nephews, watching American Idol and Numbers, participating in drama, listening to music, scrapbooking, and being part of a launch team for a church that will start in September 2007.

Teens Write! - Ignite the Power of Creativity!
One-on-One Appointments
 

Bill has a long and illustrious career in publishing. He is the author of 30 books and numerous magazine articles. He has served as a former president of the Evangelical Press Association and the former editor of Eternity Magazine and executive editor of Christian Life Magazine. He was the first recipient of the Joseph T. Bayly Award for "outstanding service to Christian periodical publishing." Bill was awarded a doctorate by Eastern College for his contributions to religious journalism. Presently he serves as a Senior Acquisitions Editor with Fleming H. Revell and Baker books and is also an editorial board member of the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. Bill and his wife, Ardythe, are the parents of three grown children.

After a successful career as a geologist specializing in the volcanoes of Alaska, Elizabeth left research science in 1995 to devote herself to writing. She is the author of over 40 scientific publications and in the last seven years, has sold over 40 articles to a variety of publications including Inside Journal, Breakpoint Radio, Charisma, Ministries Today, Christian Parenting Today, Decision, Virtue, Women Alive!, Power for Living, and Spirit-Led Woman.

Workshop 2C - Writing Life Stories
One-on-One Appointments

Rick is an accomplished writer/editor who has managed the workflow of approximately one hundred titles for AMG Publishers in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Rick has worked with both experienced and fledgling authors through the years, but perhaps the best-known titles he has edited are in AMG’s Following God Bible study workbook line. The Following God series now includes more than twenty studies targeted to adults, youth, new Christians, and women, and offer practical insights into “living the surrendered life.” Rick, his wife Susan, and son Allen live near Ringgold, Georgia.

Workshop 3A - Writing Tight
One-on-One Appointments

Editorial Needs - Basically, I’m looking for well-written books with a Christian flavor.  We can overlook a lot of things if the book is outstanding in its writing.  Issue books and good Bible studies are important to us. Not really interested in devotional books right now unless it is super unique like the Civil War devotional we are doing.

We have a broad interest in biblically oriented books including: Biblical Reference, Applied Theology and Apologetics,  Bible Study Books in the Following God series format, Christian Living, Women/Men/Family Issues, Single/Divorce Issues, Contemporary Issues, (unique) Devotionals, Inspirational, and very select gift books. 

Our interests, though, do not include General Fiction, Poetry, Children’s books, Personal-experience stories, and Autobiographical stories.

Patricia has written for more than 20 national magazines with more than 300 articles published. She has also published 10 books plus written another 12 that are in the process of being published. She left a job as a newspaper editor to start Journey Stone Creations, LLC in 2003. Journey Stone’s company mission statement is to reach children of all ages, ethnic groups and socio-economic ranges and plant a seed that God is out there and He loves them. Journey Stone originally published inspirational books and then branched off into high-quality moral products, instituting a strong message to parents and children alike—good stories help reinforce good moral values. If the child also meets God in the process, it is an added bonus. Journey Stone has grown over the last three years from three titles to plans for more than 200 over the next twelve months.

In addition to writing, Patricia has always been involved in her church and is co-president of their ladies group, Women on Mission. She teaches a ladies Sunday School class and belongs to a "wonderful group of ladies called the BRATs: Beautiful Radiant Angel Team. They are my inspiration." She has been married to her first love, Rick, for 37 years. They have three grown and married children and two grandchildren.

The award-winning development, editing, design, and marketing solution for publishers.

Continuing Session - Writing to Change Lives
One-on-One Appointments
Paid Critiques

Editorial Needs
Wesleyan Publishing House is looking for "vertical" books that deal with developing one's relationship with God. NOT looking for "horizontal" books such as Christian finances, parenting, marriage, church leadership, . . .

Tom is a sought-after book consultant and publisher. He utilizes his 21-years of business, marketing, and publishing experience to assist authors, experts, and corporations with the effective publishing of their books. Tom also instructs on publishing in nearly a dozen colleges or universities. Known for expertise and creative thinking, Tom often suggests new approaches to publishing to meet unique goals.

One-on-One Appointments

Editorial Needs - Established or up-and-coming experts, consultants, coaches, speaking professionals and independent authors from most genres.

A daughter of American missionaries, Jeanette grew up in the jungles and small towns of Colombia, now guerrilla hot zones. In 1985, Jeanette and her husband moved to Bolivia to work with an interdenominational Christian mission organization where she worked with women and children at risk.
    Jeanette began her publishing/writing career producing Spanish-language educational and inspirational material for women and children at risk as well as writing articles for a variety of international publications. Her first book, a children's novel based on her own experiences growing up in South America, was published in 1991. This was followed over the next years by seven more children's books, including the six books of the Parker Twins Adventure Series, a young adult mystery/suspense series set in a multi-cultural background. 
    Her first major adult fiction release, CrossFire, a 630-page political/suspense novel set in the counter-narcotics war in Bolivia, was released in July, 2000. A teen novel, Jana’s Journal, and a second adult political/suspense novel, The DMZ, set in the guerrilla warfare in Colombia, were released in spring of 2002. FireStorm, an exploration of Islamic terror ties in Latin America, was released July, 2004. Her most recent suspense novel, Fires Below, will be released by Tyndale House Publishers in coming months.
    Jeanette serves as a consulting editor and mentor in developing indigenous writers in a dozen different countries from Mexico, Spain, Philippines to Croatia and Bulgaria.

A book editor for 17 years, Wendy edited for Thomas Nelson, Zondervan and other publishers before coming on staff with Bridge-Logos. She has helped to develop first-time authors as well as editing seasoned and best-selling authors, including Dee Brestin, Kathy Troccoli, Robert Whitlow, and Ray Comfort. A former magazine editor and public relations professional, Wendy lives in Long Island, NY, working from home for the Orlando-based publisher.

One-on-One Appointments

Editorial Needs -

Encouraging & equipping you to write about a God
who is real, who is reachable, & who changes lives.

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was founded in 1983. Click here for info on our monthly meetings.

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Last Updated:  08/25/08
Contact mbagnull@aol.com