Why, hello there. It’s been a busy month for the Write to Publish team. We have roughly half of our panelists confirmed, although we won’t be announcing those lovely folks until closer to the end of summer. Some exciting news that I can offer you is the big reveal of our keynote speaker, Mr. John Mutter, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Shelf Awareness.

In case you haven’t heard of Shelf Awareness, here’s a brief run down. Shelf Awareness publishes two newsletters that go out to readers, professionals in the book industry, and librarians. Combined, these newsletters reach over 300,000 individuals. The newsletters are filled with reviews, author interviews, publishing industry news, and more; it’s considered an essential resource to book lovers everywhere, and if you’re not already a follower, here’s the link to sign up.

Before starting Shelf Awareness, John Mutter was the executive editor of bookselling at Publishers Weekly and the former PW Daily for Booksellers. He has years of experience in the industry, and we at the press could not be more excited to hear him speak and share what he’s learned. We hope you are, too!

By fall, we hope to have most of the developmental side of the conference—like finding sponsors, vendors, and the rest of our panelists—completed, so that we can take a deep breath and dive into marketing. While we are personally contacting panelists, any organization interested in being a sponsor or vendor can feel free to contact us at w2p@ooliganpress.pdx.edu. In the meantime, be sure to check our temporary landing page for updates. If you’re a high school student, you might be interested in our essay contest, created just for you. The winner will receive free admission to the conference and their essay will be published on the Ooligan blog.

More updates will be posted shortly, including information about our short story contest, which is sponsored by Gertrude Press. Be sure to stay tuned!