Amy Shojai, Friday Keynote Speaker
“Back to the Future . . . The Next 9 Lives”
BIO: Amy Shojai is one of the founders of the Cat Writers’ Association, a certified animal behavior consultant, and an award-winning author of 35+ pet-centric books and thousands of articles.
James Evans, C.A.R.E.
“Emerging Markets: Expanding your target improves outcomes”
BIO: James Evans is a multi-awarding winning creative strategist and leader with 25+ years of experience developing relationships between organizations and their constituents. His expertise has been utilized across a diverse group of brands, both non for profit, and for profit. Specific brand experience includes: Timberland, Disney, The Mills Corporation, NAACP, Baltimore Health Department, Maryland Health Department, Kennedy Krieger Institute, CVS Caremark’s Project Health, Safe Streets Baltimore and many other brands. James and his team have initiated several programs, including the groundbreaking Gulf Spay/Neuter Campaign and HSUS’ Pets for Life. He has also played an integral role in HSUS’ Adopters Welcome, Outdoor Cats Research, Stop Puppy Mills, and HSUS’ Spayathon, as well as Best Friends Animal Society’s Outreach Action Team.
In 2019, inspired by Chetana Mirle and supported by Spring Point’s Life of Riley, James founded Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity [C.A.R.E.].
James is a husband, a proud father of five children [two four-legged], a brother, and part of a great group of friends, family, and colleagues.
Winner of the 2022 Maddie’s Fund Avanzino Leadership Award
Saul Zaentz Film Fellow 2024
SUMMARY: In this talk, you’ll learn why it’s necessary to include everyone when talking about helping animals. You will hear about the history of animal welfare marketing, why we have to change the narrative and how you can not only create positive outcomes for pets, but also provide joy for humans.
Beth Adelman, MS
“The Science of Feline Play”
BIO: Beth Adelman, MS, is a cat behavior consultant, on the Advocacy Committee of the Pet Professional Guild and was a founding member of the Cat Division of the International association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She currently is the resident behavior consultant at New York’s first cat café, Meow Parlour. She is the former editor in chief of Cats magazine and DogWorld and former cat columnist for the New York Post. Beth has worked as a writer and a speaker for the Winn Feline Foundation, and received Winn’s Media Appreciation Award in 2011. She has also been a speaker for Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Camp, PPG, IAABC, Kutztown University, Pet Sitters International, Catsbury Park, the Cat Writers Association, the Garden State Cat Club and the Cat Fanciers Association, and a guest on a variety of podcasts and radio shows. She is a regular on The Pet Buzz, discussing all aspects of cat behavior. Beth has edited more than 100 books about companion animals, many of them award-winners.
SUMMARY: Ms. Adelman will discuss the neuroscience, and social and behavior objectives that underpin feline play, leading to an understanding of how all play for cats is simulated hunting.
Liz Bartek, Book Industry Study Group
BIO: Before coming to BISG, Liz oversaw marketing and events at RJ Julia, a respected independent bookseller based in Madison, Connecticut. There, she served as a member of the management team overseeing operations for three retail locations, one e-commerce affiliate, as well as strategic planning, budgeting, and staffing. In this role Liz oversaw all marketing strategy and activities, including content creation for social media, websites, and e-commerce, as well as e-mail newsletters, advertisements, product promotions, and more.
Liz has been responsible for community outreach to local businesses, non-profits, and schools and universities, building beneficial relationships and cross-promotional opportunities. She oversaw sponsorship relationships on behalf of the stores, and she served as RJ Julia’s point of contact for publishers, publicists, authors, writing groups, local and national press/media, and customers. In her prior role as RJ Julia’s events manager, Liz was responsible for scheduling and executing over 350 events across three bookstores.
SUMMARY: (to come)
Kim Freeman, Lost Cat Finder, the Pet Detective for Cats
“Lost Cats: How Cat Writers Can Help”
BIO: After 12 years as a professional lost cat finder, Ms Freeman has plenty of scars and stories to talk about. Combining animal tracking with the science of lost cat behavior, she’s been deemed the world expert in lost cat recovery, solving cases in 48 states and 23 countries. If you hear about a lost cat, tell the owner about the online Lost Cat Kit so they can employ the tips that make sense for their situation and increase the chances of a happy reunion. The Lost Cat Kit can be found at www.lostcatfinder.com.
SUMMARY: “Reward! Lost Cat!” You’ve seen the notices posted on Nextdoor or stapled on phone poles. Maybe you’ve seen all the advice, too. People who’ve never found a cat in their life throwing out random tips and old wives’ tales. Everyone wants to be an expert, but how many actually are? As a cat writer, you are uniquely qualified. This session will give you the latest, science-backed advice that cuts through the typical armchair expert noise.
Find out about the online “Lost Cat Kit and how it can benefit your own endeavor or cat group. Because cats need special techniques tailored to feline psychology, we need to be the voice of species-specific assistance. Join this presentation so you can offer owners real guidance based on science instead of myths. Share in the joy of another cat back home thanks to smart, targeted advice.
· Website: https://www.lostcatfinder.com
· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LostCatFinder/
· Google https://g.page/lost-cat-finder-pet-detective
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lostcatfinder/
Kris Bock, author
“Cliffhangers: Keep the Pages Turning!”
BIO: Author of the “Furrever Friends Sweet Romance” series featuring the employees and customers at a cat café, Kris Bock knows what it takes to keep the pages turning. She has also written the “Accidental Detective” humorous mystery series and the “Accidental Billionaire Cowboys” sweet romance series and coauthored the “Felony Melanie: Sweet Home Alabama” romantic comedy novels.
SUMMARY: A cliffhanger chapter ending can add impact to a dramatic scene and leave the reader desperate to find out what happens next. Learn how to identify your best cliffhanger moments and then make them even more dramatic through pacing and paragraphing. Even when you have to end at a quieter moment, you can drive the story forward by leaving your character – and the reader – with a sense of worry or anticipation.
Marjorie Dawson
“Sharpen Your Cat Photography Skills”
BIO: Marjorie Dawson is a cat photographer, blogger, and writer based in New Zealand. She has been awarded the Cat Writers’ Association Kuykendall Image Award and is the winner of several Muse® Medallions for her photographic and written work. Marjorie believes that everyone can develop their skills as a creative cat photographer. If she can transform from confused newbie to photography award winner, you can tread the same positive learning path to create your own images and memories.
SUMMARY: Marjorie from DashKitten.com provides her top tips to sharpen your cat photo skills.
Teresa Keiger, Cat Fanciers’ Association
“Feline Colors and Patterns: Demystifying the World’s Most Colorful Mammal”
BIO: Teresa Keiger is the editor of the Cat Fanciers’ Association print and online publication “Cat Talk,” a bi-monthly magazine focused both CFA and its shows as well as cats in our culture and health and welfare issues. She both coordinates articles and designs and creates the magazine’s layout.
Teresa is the owner of Platinum Moon Graphics (www.pltmoon.com) full-time since 2013. As such, she is contracted with CFA as their graphic designer, creating a large portion of their print and display materials. Her graphic design background includes 15 years as a commercial photographic retoucher as well as web and print design. She has been a CFA judge since 2007, and has judged cat shows all over the US, and in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
As a CFA Allbreed judge, she has helped present breeds to the public in CFA’s breed presentation at their annual International Show. She has acted as professional resource for a number of national publications, including the latest National Geographic publication for children “Can’t Get Enough About Cats.”
SUMMARY: People use a lot of different terms to describe cats’ colors and patterns, but did you know that cats have official descriptions of their beautiful coats? Learn how to more accurately describe a cat’s color and pattern, and just a bit about why they appear the way they do.
Expert Panel
“The State of Freelancing and Publishing in Today’s World”
BIOS:
Amy Shojai is a certified animal behavior consultant, a founder of CWA, and an award-winning author of 35+ pet-centric books and thousands of articles. She lives in North Texas with her furry muses: Shadow-Pup, Karma-Kat, and Trinity-Kitten. Her website is https://amyshojai.com/
Jen Reeder, an award-winning journalist, has loved animals since falling in love with her first cat, Fluff, at age 7. She’s written around 1,000 articles about pets for local and national publications, including Reader’s Digest, Woman’s World, The Christian Science Monitor, HuffPost, Inside Your Cat’s Mind, PBS’s Next Avenue, The Daily Beast, Best Friends Magazine, the TODAY show’s website, Wine Enthusiast, Modern Cat, the American Animal Hospital Association’s Trends Magazine and many other publications. Visit her online at: JenReeder.com.
Mary Tan is the chief storyteller of Whisker Media, a boutique strategic communications agency where she focuses on public relations for pet related businesses and animal welfare nonprofits. The mission of her agency is to donate profits back to homeless animal organizations, especially cat rescue groups.
Before Whisker Media, Mary worked at Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, Minn. where she served as their public relations manager. Previous to that, she headed up government communications for the City of Brooklyn Park.
For many years she was also an award-winning reporter and anchor in cities like Atlanta, Minneapolis, Las Vegas and numerous other television markets. She reported on major stories for most of the major networks including Fox News, CNN, CBS News and NBC News.
When not doing pet public relations work, the Wisconsin native is also a freelance writer for several pet publications including PetVet, Boarding and Daycare and Groomer to Groomer Magazines. Being an animal welfare advocate, Mary believes in adopting rescues. She has a nine-year-old kitty named Farley Waddlesworth and two littermates named Franklin and Fleur, who are two-years-old. She lives in Buffalo, Minnesota with her elderly father and feline zoo.
POSITIONS:
Amy: The state of publishing ANYTHING remains in constant flux, endlessly reinventing itself. Each change prompts writers (like cats!) to feel panic: print magazines died and were reborn as online publications; gatekeepers limited who they asked to write, and blogs of countless talented writers bloomed. Writers survive when we remain open-minded. When markets seem to shrink, find the opportunities in the new incarnation. As writer/creators, our readers (and their beloved cats) will always need us.
Jen: It’s no secret that it’s a tough time for journalism with all the layoffs and budget cuts (plus the looming threat of AI), but I fervently believe the public is hungry for articles about cats that will educate and inspire them. The work we do matters, so it’s important to keep reading and researching potential markets, and to support one another.
Mary: I believe freelancing and contract work is going to be the new norm in the future. With government mandating businesses to provide minimum salaries and benefits, it’s no secret business owners and corporate executives are looking to save on employee costs by hiring independent contractors. I also believe being a freelancer or contractor is an exciting way to make a living and pursue a career, as you are beholden to no one and you can chart your own path to success.
Sarah Fay, Substack columnist & author
“The 3 Things You Need to Succeed on Substack”
BIO: Sarah Fay is a lover of cats and all things Substack. She’s also an award-winning, bestselling author, educator, activist, and entrepreneur. Her journalistic memoir Pathological: The True Story of Six Misdiagnoses (HarperCollins) was an Apple Best Books pick, hailed in The New York Times as a “fiery manifesto of a memoir,” and named by Parade Magazine as one of the sixteen best mental health memoirs to read. Her new memoir Cured, the sequel to Pathological, is a bestselling, Featured Publication on Substack. As a Substack Growth Strategist and the founder and director of Substack Writers at Work, she specializes in helping people produce their best work, build a loyal audience, and earn the income they deserve on Substack. She lives in Chicago, where she is the servant to her two beloved cats, Sweets and Baby Theo.
SUMMARY: This one session will give you the only three things you need to succeed on Substack. In 45 (short) minutes, you’ll have a sense for the incredible possibilities available to you on Substack and the keys to getting subscribers, building a loyal readership, earning an income, and producing your best work.
Vic DiGenti, author
“How to Create a Literary Legacy for You and Your Cat”
BIO: Vic DiGenti is the award-winning author of six novels, a collection of short stories, and ten works of nonfiction. His novels include the Windrusher trilogy of cat adventure-fantasies, and the Quint Mitchell Mystery series published under the pen name Parker Francis. Vic also works as a ghostwriter, biographer, and publisher using his imprint, Windrusher Hall Press. He’s a longtime member of the Florida Writers Association, International Thriller Writers, and is on the Board of the Beaches Museum. He lives and works in Northeast Florida with his wife and four frisky cats. Visit him at windrusherhallpress.com.
SUMMARY: Today’s memoirs and biographies are filled with moving narratives of the people and events that have shaped and impacted the author’s lives. A surprising number of these books illuminate the emotional bond we have with our feline companions. Award-winning writer Vic DiGenti works as a ghostwriter, biographer, and publisher. He’s written 11 biographies and family histories for clients, and will use his ghostwriting experience, his household of cats, and what he learned from writing three novels with a cat as the protagonist to examine both the cat memoir and the more traditional biography. Whether you’re writing about a rescued feral, a library cat, or life through the eyes of a rascally four-legged friend, this workshop will help you turn your feline love story into a marketable book.
Alan Breslauer, The Catio Guy
“Everything There is to Know About Catios”
BIO: Alan Breslauer, known as Catio Guy (@CatioGuy) across social media, established Custom Catios in 2017 to serve cat guardians throughout Southern California. Since then, his team has skillfully crafted over 400 tailored cat enclosures, bringing joy to countless furry companions. Alan’s expertise has garnered recognition from prominent figures in the feline community, including Jackson Galaxy, who featured Custom Catios on his Animal Planet show, and Kitten Lady, who shared a viral video tutorial of her catio build. As a pioneer in the industry, Catio Guy is dedicated to sharing his knowledge and passion with his extensive social media following, advocating for safe outdoor experiences for more feline friends. His work has captivated audiences globally, earning recognition in esteemed publications such as ABC World News, Business Insider, and Dwell Magazine. Alan, alongside his wife Stephanie, resides in Los Angeles, where they care for their three beloved dogs and three sibling cats.
SUMMARY: Catios are enclosed spaces that allow cats to safely enjoy the outdoors while being protected from dangers, including cars, predators, toxins and poisons. Key topics of this presentation include: benefits, materials choices, best practices and tips, design elements, building for cats, safety, resources, Q&A
Nick Lee, Aime Kitchen
“What’s Up with My Cat’s Fishy Breath?”
BIO: Nick is the Business Development Manager at MPF Pet Foods. Inspired by his adopted pup, Happy, who had an extreme case of separation anxiety, he ventured into the pet industry in 2016 hoping to work in a pet friendly environment. Since then, he has worked for several pet companies including Instinct Pet Food, Spectrum Brands, and H&C Animal Health in various supply chain and product development roles before joining the MPF team. Joining the MPF team has given him a lot of opportunities to work with the industry’s leading animal nutritionists and health scientists to develop the next generation of functional products for pets and livestock. He says he wakes up energized and inspired to go to work daily knowing that he is contributing toward the advancements in the animal health and science fields.
SUMMARY: An overview of how a cat’s bad breath is connected to your cat’s gut health, and insights to our latest research.
Beverly Garland, artist
“My Process for Creating Cats”
BIO: Beverly Garland has a long history as a cat lover and an artist, and found a way to combine the two in 2019 with her fine art cat portraits, as featured in her award-winning “I Love To Draw Cats” YouTube channel.
While she doesn’t hold a degree in Art, she is a 30-year veteran of the computer game animation industry, currently working as an Art Producer for Nintendo. Her past work with cats includes volunteering for cheetah conservation in Namibia, teaching TNR classes in Austin, TX, and writing a Master’s thesis on feral cats.
Beverly lives and travels with her husband and four cats in a school bus that was converted into a motorhome. They own a second bus, which they converted into an art studio/home office. Back when they were traveling extensively, portraits were the perfect business for bus life. Now that her corporate job keeps them in Texas, one of their favorite rituals is taking their cats for a nightly walk around whatever rural property they’re staying. They’re saving up to one day own their own ranch to turn into a cat walking paradise.
SUMMARY: Beverly will give a behind-the-scenes look into her creative process, from making the art to putting together the videos. She’ll also reveal how she manages her time and creativity to keep up with her portrait queue while working a full-time office job and living without many of the usual modern conveniences.
And Jay Hartman, CEO/Editor-in-Chief, Misti Media,
“What Editors Want From Writers”
BIO: Writers and Publishers Network Vice President Jay A. Hartman has worked in the publishing industry for more than 30 years. For 13 years, he served as the creator and Editor-in-Chief of Untreed Reads Publishing. In 2023 he created Misti Media, a company dedicated to book publishing and author education.
Misti Media and its imprints represent a shift in focus to the author as the brand, not the publishing house. From generous royalty terms to unprecedented worldwide distribution for an indie press, Misti Media seeks to have its authors recognized on every continent and to be wherever readers seek out their favorite formats of books. Each of its imprints represents a different genre, with Sandra Murphy Presents being designed to highlight new and emerging voices that have never before seen publication. We’re looking for authors in all genres, fiction or nonfiction. Just tell us a great story! We are particularly interested in works by and featuring characters with typically marginalized voices such as PoC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent and more. Romance, erotica, mystery and urban fantasy are our current main interests as are novellas of any genre.
SUMMARY: This workshop will help book authors understand what types of things make them more attractive to publishers and provide an update on how the bookselling business is working in 2024. Held in an interview format, it will include questions most authors have about publishing, with an opportunity to pose your own questions to Jay.
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