CHARLOTTE ABBOTT

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT particularly for non-fiction authors and journalists on subjects of memoir, business, current affairs, women’s studies, adoption, lesbian and gay studies, African American studies, mind/body/spirit, nature and the environment, and photography.

Charlotte Abbott is a publishing journalist and digital content strategist who has developed a large and loyal online community of authors, publishers, booksellers, librarians, book bloggers, and e-reading innovators, via weekly discussions on Twitter (#followreader). In her 20 years in the book industry, she has been a reporter and editor for Publishers Weekly, a publishing commentator on National Public Radio, a book critic supervising more than 1000 reviews a year, and an acquiring book editor at HarperCollins and Avon Books. Most recently, she has been advising authors and retailers on how to maximize their online visibility through strategic content development, including social media, blogs and traditional media. She is a board member of the Women’s Media Group and has served as a judge of several noted literary awards.

Email: abbcha@gmail.com
Twitter: @charabbott

SUSAN AIKENS

CHILDREN’S BOOKS, YOUNG ADULT & CHAIN RETAIL MARKETING

I’ve always felt that there was something inherently noble about selling books, especially children’s books. I’ve devoted my entire professional career to putting great books into the hands of children. I was Borders’ Senior Buyer for Children’s Books. I bought both fiction & non-fiction for kids, ages 6–teen. Over the last 10 years, I’ve bought thousands of new titles including Harry Potter, the Wimpy Kid series, Rick Riordan’s books, and the A Series of Unfortunate Events books. I worked at the Borders corporate headquarters for 17 years. Prior to joining Borders, I managed a Doubleday Bookshop.

PAULA BALZER

MOMMY BLOGGER, PARENTING, HOME DESIGN, MEMOIR WRITING

Paula Balzer covers parenting for New York Family Magazine and is their home design blogger. She has also written for Modern Bride, Writer’s Digest magazine and one of New York City’s largest parenting blogs, www.achildgrows.com. She is also a co-founder of adhocmom, a popular blog for freelancing moms. A lover of memoir, Paula is the author of Writing & Selling Your Memoir (Writer’s Digest Books/July 2011). She is a frequent speaker on the topic of memoir writing and teaches writing workshops in Northern New Jersey.

ANNE BARTHOLOMEW

ONLINE RETAIL, MARKETING, and CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
favorite categories include debut fiction, mystery & thrillers, cookbooks & food writing, memoir, young adult

Anne Bartholomew is a writer, editor, and bookseller with particular experience in online retail and content development at Amazon.com. Much of her work over the last five years has been focused on connecting authors with readers via custom marketing, interviews, reviews and social media. She is a graduate of Fordham University in New York, as well as the Denver Publishing Institute, and the Institute of Culinary Education. As a reader, her turn-to categories include debut fiction and mysteries, cookbooks, young adult, and memoir, but she’ll happily read anything that comes with a good recommendation.

DAVID CARRIERE

PUBLICITY, PR FOR ILLUSTRATED, NON-FICTION (ALL CATEGORIES) AND CHILDREN’S

With over twenty five years experience, David Carriere began his career publicizing books in 1986. He honed his professional techniques on both coasts of the United States at numerous publishers, including Chronicle Books in California and HarperCollins in New York where he served as Director of Marketing for four of the publishing houses imprints.

David has also worked on many children’s books since the 90′s, for everyone from big houses with big budgets, to self-published authors, including the launch of the classic French NICHOLAS series in the United States for Phaidon, and most recently achieving New York Times Bestsellers status for the innovative picture book BEE & ME, published by Accord.

In 1997, David launched his own publicity firm and is now nestled in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts where he has recently contributed to a number of bestselling campaigns from a variety of publishers including Lisa Alther’s recent chartbuster BLOOD FEUD, Globe Pequot Press, Sterling, and Meredith Books.

Also a writer, Carriere is the author of PUBLICITY: 7 STEPS TO PUBLICIZE JUST ABOUT ANYTHING which was published by Glitterati Incorporated in 2008, an experience which now allows the publicist/author to fully understand both sides of the publishing process.

Email: david@davidcarriere.org
Twitter: @acarridedrive

LAURIE CHITTENDEN

FICTION, EDITORIAL, AND MARKETING

Laurie Chittenden, currently an Editor-at-Large with Hyperion, began her publishing career as a bookseller with Rizzoli Books in Virginia, but upon moving to New York City she took a position as an Editorial Assistant at Hyperion in 1993. She left to hold the positions of Associate Editor and Editor at Simon & Schuster from 1994 through 1999 where she discovered and launched the careers of best-selling authors Richard Paul Evans and Jennifer Chiaverini. 

During her tenure as Senior Editor at Dutton from 1999 to 2006, Chittenden published fiction and nonfiction by such best-selling authors as Marisa de los Santos, Jenny McCarthy, Governor Ann Richards, Erik Weihenmayer and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Diane Johnson. Most recently, Chittenden was Executive Editor at William Morrow, where she published a number of titles including Marisa de los Santos’ New York Times best-selling Belong to Me and IndieNext pick Falling Together; Brunonia Barry’s New York Times best-selling The Lace Reader and IndieNext pick The Map of True Places; national best-seller, IndieNext and Discover Great New Writers pick In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White; and Conor Grennan’s New York Times and internationally best-selling Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. 

Chittenden is also an adjunct professor at NYU where she has taught the Workshop in Manuscript Editing for the Masters in Publishing program. She has lectured extensively at BEA, book expos, conferences, universities, journalist associations, and on television and radio in the United States, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. She has been featured for her work in the New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, the Observer, Poets & Writers, Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. She is a member of the Women’s Media Group. In addition to her love of publishing, Chittenden is the Special Events Director for the New York Cycle Club and an active volunteer with the Young Professionals Group of the Nature Conservancy.

Email: Lauriechittenden@gmail.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/laurie-chittenden/12/38a/694

SEAN CONCANNON

RETAIL MARKETPLACE, INDIE BOOK SELLING and SOCIAL MEDIA

As an independent publisher’s representative, Sean Concannon called on chains, wholesalers and independent booksellers throughout the northeast for Perseus, Routledge, Kensington, and many others. During his 15-year bookselling career, he has advised hundreds of publishers on sales strategy for thousands of titles.

Email: seanconcannon@sonnetmedia.net
Twitter: @seanconcannon

JACK COVERT/800CEOREAD

BUSINESS, RETAIL, SPECIAL SALES

Jack Covert is the President and Founder of 800-CEO-READ. In 1984, Jack was hired by the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops (an independent chain of bookstores in Milwaukee from 1927–2009) to promote business and computer books to the Milwaukee business community. Over the past decade, 800-CEO-READ has concentrated on selling business books while also spreading great business ideas via its daily blog, its monthly newsletter The Keen Thinker, the monthly publication of essays on ChangeThis, its annual Business Book Awards, and its yearly magazine In The Books. In 2010, 800-CEO-READ began a partnership with Inc. to publish and promote its Business Book Best Seller List. In 2012, 800-CEO-READ will offer an exciting new online service, KnowledgeBlocks, to help users save, organize, and customize their business information.

Jack grew that 3-shelf business book section of the store into a 7-million-dollar specialty business book retailer and has earned quite a reputation. “[I]n the world of business-book publishing . . . , his championship of obscure works has helped turn such books as The Goal into national bestsellers, and his monthly best seller list is a frequently cited standard.” Then–Doubleday/Currency editor Harriet Rubin described Covert “as not simply a bookseller—he’s a tracker and a prophet” (Inc., 1995).
In 2000, Jack began writing reviews of new and notable business books in a monthly, nationally syndicated column entitled “Jack Covert Selects.” Ultimately these reviews led him to collaborate on The 100 Best Business Books of All Time, a book that not only ranks the best business books, but also provides references to nearly 400 notable books for the business reader. The 100 Best has now been updated in paperback and reprinted in ten languages.

Email: Jack@800CEOREAD.com
Twitter: @JackCovert

KAYLEE N. DAVIS

CHILDREN’S BOOKS, YOUNG ADULT BOOKS, MARKETING, PUBLISHING, RETAIL BOOKSELLING, PUBLISHED AUTHOR

Kaylee N. Davis is a publishing and marketing consultant specializing in children’s publishing, entertainment, editorial and marketing, with experience in bookselling and retail marketing, book buying, as well as development of Author Care programs and working as a literary agent for children’s books.

Kaylee’s history in publishing includes: Senior Author Promotions Manager, Barnes & Noble, V.P, Marketing, Children’s at HarperCollins Children’s Books, Editor-In-Chief, Children’s Book of the Month Club at Bookspan , V.P. Marketing, Golden Books Family Entertainment, and Director of Marketing, Adult Books William Morrow & Company. She also works as a literary agent at Screenland Literary Associates, a literary agency committed to discovering new voices in children’s literature.

A true children’s book lover, Kaylee has edited the title selections for and wrote reviews for 85 of the titles included in the American version of 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up packaged by Quarto, and published in the U.S.A. by Rizzoli in 2009.

Kaylee’s next book is The Barnes & Noble Guide to Children’s Books in which she selected and reviewed over 1000 children’s titles for ages newborn to twelve years-old, across ten categories  including: Newborn – 2, Picture Books, Beginning Reader, First Chapter Books/Series, Poetry, Middle Grade Reader, Fairy Tales – Folk Tales & Anthologies, Growing Up, Non-fiction & Reference, Innovative formats. She has solicited guest essays from twenty authors & illustrators for inclusion in the book as well.  It will be published by Sterling Publishing (Fall River Press) in April of 2013.

Email: kndavis@optonline.net
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kaylee-n-davis/5/2b4/82

BARBARA J. GREENBERG

BOOK PUBLISHING MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTION

Barbara Greenberg brings more than 30 years of experience, creativity, and expertise in book publishing management and production to Your Expert Nation. Her skills have been finely honed over 20 years of in-house work at Macmillan, FSG, Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, DK Ink, Winslow Press and Random House, overseeing adult trade, illustrated books, and books for young readers. She was also instrumental in launching Barnes & Noble’s early eBook initiative. Concurrently Barbara maintained a freelance business proofreading adult and children’s titles for a variety of publishers.

Barbara left in-house work in 2003 to start BJG Publishing Services, where she offers proofreading for print and e-books, pre-submission review of manuscripts when titles need editorial tidying before submission, and editorial services for self-published titles. Barbara also offers a project management service, where she will put together a team of highly qualified professionals who can edit, copyedit, proofread, and design a project from start to finish, and anything in between.

Email: bgreenberg@bjgpublishingservices.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarajgreenberg