The Self-Publishing Symposium has brought notable keynote speakers including Triple Crown Publications' Vicki Stringer ('06), Amber Communications Group's Tony Evans ('07), and author Karen Quinones-Miller ('08). This year, we are honored to follow this tradition of showcasing authors whose success include sharing their personal experience in our industry. We proudly announce New York Times Best-Seller  Mary ‘Honey B.’ Morrison as our 2010 Keynote Speaker. Below are the panelists that will also participate in bringing pertinent information for you to thrive in the self-publishing industry and beyond!

About Our Emcee. Author and Poet Monda Raquel Webb lives in Rockville, Maryland. She works as a freelance consultant, sells real estate, and has been a featured Realtor® on several episodes of HGTV’s “Get it Sold”.  She  performs her poetry at select venues nationwide. Monda is currently working on 7:33 am the Movie, an independent full-length feature film adapted from her novel by director Aimee Dixon - to be released in Spring 2012.

Tina Andrews wrote and executive produced the critically acclaimed CBS miniseries, Sally Hemings: An American Scandal based on her play, The Mistress of Monticello. She won a Writers Guild of America Award for “Outstanding Television Long Form” and the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding TV Movie, Miniseries or Special.” Additionally, her contribution to TV and film led Tina to be honored with a MIB/Prism Filmmaker Image Award, and a Proclamation from the City Council of New York.  

Her nonfiction book, Sally Hemings An American Scandal: The Struggle To Tell The Controversial True Story, chronicling her 16 year journey to produce the miniseries, won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Achievement in Literary Nonfiction and the Literary Award of Excellence from the Memphis Black Writers Conference.

She also has a featured essay in the book, The First Time I Got Paid For It: Writers Tales From The Hollywood Trenches (Public Affairs). Other essayists include Alan Alda, Steven Bochco, and Steve Zallian. She has been published in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Written By, Grand Tour, Contents and Creative Screenwriting magazines.

Please visit her website at www.tinaandrews.com

Esther Armah is an award-winning international journalist, a playwright, an author and radio host. She has worked in print, radio and television in the UK, US and Africa for more than a decade. As a New York radio host, you can hear her on 'Wake Up Call' WBAI99.5FM, the morning talk show Monday to Thursday 6am to 8am. She also hosts 'Off The Page', a one hour multi-media show about the world of books twice every month also on WBAI99.5FM. In online digital media she is a guest host for WNYC’s ‘The Next New York Conversation; and ‘GRITtv’ on Free Speech TV and Dish TV Network Channel 9415. On tv in New York she has appeared on BET's ‘Hip Hop vs America Part II: Where Did The Love Go?’, award nominated documentary ‘Barack & Curtis’,  BETJ's 'My Two Cents’ and MNN's ‘Ancestor House’ with Camille Yarbrough which she has also hosted. As an international journalist she has written for 'The Guardian' newspaper in London, 'Essence' magazine in the US, and 'West Africa' magazine in several African countries. As a playwright, her plays ‘Can I Be Me?’, ‘Forgive Me?’ and ‘Entitled!’ have all been produced for the New York stage. Her first book was 'Can I Be Me?’. She is a director of Centric Productions, a multi-media and creative marketing production company based in London and New York. As a reporter and journalist she has traveled and worked in London, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho. She now lives in New York.

Bryan Christian began his publishing career as a bookseller with Borders Books & Music based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After several years as a bookseller and then in the marketing department in the corporate office, he moved to New York and has had several positions in marketing at both Simon & Schuster and the Amistad imprint at HarperCollins Publishers. He has worked on several bestselling marketing campaigns including the #1 New York Times bestsellers The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey. He is currently holds a marketing and digital media position at Hyperion, part of the Disney ABC Media Networks Division of The Walt Disney Company.

Tonya M. Evans, Esq. is Assistant Professor of Law at Widener University School of Law and an attorney specializing in the areas of entertainment law (literary, music and film) and intellectual property (copyright and trademark). She is a nationally recognized speaker who presents to various audiences regularly on publishing and intellectual property law issues. She is a former Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Sports, Entertainment and Art Law Committee, and has served as an adjunct professor of copyright, publishing and licensing at York College of Pennsylvania.

Tonya, known affectionately as "Lawyer by Day, Poet by Night," is also a performance poet and writer, and the author of numerous books, including Contracts Companion for Writers, Copyright Companion for Writers, Literary Law Guide for Authors: Copyright, Trademark, and Contracts in Plain Language, Seasons of Her and SHINE! Her short story, Not Tonight, appears in an anthology titled Proverbs for the People, published by Kensington.Tonya M. Evans, Esquire, is Assistant Professor of Law at Widener University School of Law and an attorney specializing in the areas of entertainment law (literary, music and film) and intellectual property (copyright and trademark). She is a nationally recognized speaker who presents to various audiences regularly on publishing and intellectual property law issues. She is a former Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Sports, Entertainment and Art Law Committee, and has served as an adjunct professor of copyright, publishing and licensing at York College of Pennsylvania.

Tonya, known affectionately as "Lawyer by Day, Poet by Night," is also a performance poet and writer, and the author of numerous books, including Contracts Companion for Writers, Copyright Companion for Writers, Literary Law Guide for Authors: Copyright, Trademark, and Contracts in Plain Language, Seasons of Her and SHINE! Her short story, Not Tonight, appears in an anthology titled Proverbs for the People, published by Kensington.

Diane Gedymin is an experienced veteran of the book publishing industry and partner in Skywriter Books, which offers authors editing, coaching and publishing strategies. She was most recently the Executive Editorial Director of Author Solutions, which includes the self-publishing service providers iUniverse, AuthorHouse and Xlibris; she was VP and Editorial Director of iUniverse prior to the merger. With over thirty years of experience in traditional publishing at top companies, Diane has worked in nearly every area of the business including as a literary agent affiliated with Carlisle & Company (now Inkwell); Sr. Vice President and Publisher of HarperSanFrancisco where she acquired and edited Sidney Poitier’s #1 New York Times best-selling autobiography, The Measure of a Man, which was an Oprah book club selection; and, Vice President and Senior Editor at the Putnam/Berkley Group where she acquired Sheri Reynolds, whose novel, The Rapture of Canaan, was Oprah’s third book club selection and also  #1 New York Times best seller.  She is the co-author of Get Published! Professionally, Affordably, Fast, an Amazon.com and BN.com best seller.  She lives in the metro New York City area.

Selena James is an executive editor at Kensington Publishing Corp. She joined the company in 2006 to oversee and acquire fiction and nonfiction for Kensington’s African-American imprint, Dafina Books. At Dafina, Selena works with New York Times bestselling authors Mary Monroe, Mary B. Morrison, Carl Weber, and many more. She also oversees the publishing programs for Souls of My Sisters and Holloway House Classics. Before joining Kensington, Selena was an editor at Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books imprint, where she acquired and edited romance, erotica, mystery, inspirational, teen, African-American fiction, and chick lit for Downtown Press. Her Pocket Books authors included New York Times bestselling author Janet Chapman, Caridad Pineiro, Dorien Kelly, Essence bestselling author ReShonda Tate Billingsley, and writer/TV personality Abiola Abrams. Before joining Simon & Schuster, Selena was an associate agent with Victoria Sanders & Associates, where she helped discover Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats by Craig Marberry and Michael Cunningham

L Martin Johnson Pratt has been the host of Technocolorradioshow on 90.3FM WHCR in NYC for 8 years. Mr. Johnson Pratt also writes for Rolling Out Magazine. Mr. Johnson Pratt is the editor at large for LIVE NEWS for BlackBirdHome Web Browser which gets 900K hits per month.

Mr Johnson Pratt has worked 22 yrs full-time in Technology. Mr. Johnson Pratt’s philosophy is 1.) Educate the Consumer 2.) Serve an underserved market 3.) Provide a value added product service 4.) Commitment to excellence.

Troy Johnson is the founder of the AALBC.com, LLC (The African American Literature Book Club). AALBC.com was launched in 1998 and is now the largest and most frequently visited web site dedicated to books by and about black people. Johnson serves as a board member of the Literary Freedom Project, an advisory board member of the Harlem Book Fair, and is the Book Editor for Harlem World Magazine. Johnson is also a technology project manager for a global financial services firm and holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, an MS from Polytechnic University, and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business and has completed Stanford University's Publishing on the Web course.

Ron Kavanaugh is the executive director of the Literary Freedom Project, a non-profit arts organization that supports the literary arts through education, creative thinking, and new media. He is the founder and publisher of Mosaic Literary Magazine, a quarterly print publication that explores the literary arts by writers of African descent. Ron is also the founder and president of MosaicBooks.com an online literary website dedicated to marketing books. A lifelong Bronx resident, he has attended public schools including Brooklyn Technical High School and Monroe College.

Carol M. Mackey is Editor-In-Chief of Black Expressions Book Club, a club founded in 1999 to celebrate the voices and visions of African Americans.

Under Mackey’s editorial leadership, Black Expressions was voted Best Book Club by the African American Literary Awards Show for 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2004. Recently, she has been featured in Heather Covington’s Literary Divas: The Top 100 + Most Admired African American Women in Literature, a compilation of biographies about African American women who have powerfully impacted America’s literary history.

Widely recognized as a leading expert on African American books, Mackey has appeared on the CBS-TV Morning Show in New York. She is frequently interviewed by the press and in 2005 was named one of the “50 Most Powerful African Americans in Publishing” by Black Issues Book Review. She was recently awarded the Maya Angelou Legends Award in the African American Pavilion during Book Expo America in June 2009 for her contribution to African American literature. Mackey is the author of Sistergirl Devotions: How To Keep Jesus In The Mix On The Job, that will be published by Revell Books in May 2010. She lives in New York with her family.

Moses Miller is an award winning author, journalist and co-founder of Mind Candy, LLC, which is a company focused on book publishing and the development of creative and thought provoking screenplays. A native New Yorker, Moses exhibits the uncanny ability to capture the pulse of the streets with intelligence, strong character development and well thought out storylines. In the past, he has contributed articles and written for various websites and publications including The Voice, Newsday and 88HIPHOP.COM where he is currently the Editor in Chief of content. He holds a Bachelors degree in Business Management and a MS in Technology Management obtained from Polytechnic University.  His first novel, Nan: The Trifling Times of Nathan Jones has received awards and critical acclaim from critics, readers and book clubs around the world. After selling thousands of copies of his first novel, Mr. Miller cemented a deal with F.E.D.S. magazine resulting in a joint venture to publish his second release, Once Upon A Time in Harlem in September of 2007. The highly anticipated second installment in the Nan series, The Game of Trife, was released through his company Mind Candy, LLC in August of 2008. Mr. Miller is a socially conscious individual that strives to play a key role in helping to improve the literacy rates amongst African American and Hispanic teens. Through his American Me “Voices of Our Youth” program, he has partnered with several other organizations in an effort to decrease the high school dropout rates plaguing lower income communities. The program encourages teens to read and also offers exposure to aspiring authors and creative writers. Mr. Miller’s latest release is a non-fiction book titled, The Barack in You, which is an inspirational book written specifically for male African American teens.   

Nakea Murray is a literary enthusiast who is currently the owner and operator of The Literary Consultant Group; a full service publishing consultation and publicity firm based in Philadelphia PA. Her many years of being an avid reader of African American literature and a bookseller has allowed her to turn her passion into profit. Soon after making her mark on the book-selling end, her love for reading challenged her to find others in her community that loved reading as much as she did. As a result As The Page Turns Book Club was formed in the summer of 2001. The Philadelphia based discussion group is still going strong and has since founded As The Page Turns Chapter II in the MD/DC area and One Page At A Time. Both groups celebrate, promote and discuss African American fiction. Nakea utilizes these book clubs to promote both main stream and self-published writers. They have showcased the works of some of today’s national best selling authors. Ms. Murray is also the founder of W.O.R.D (Women Organized For Reading & Development) a non-profit organization that donates books to underprivileged children and provides literary assistance to local libraries and schools in the Tri-State area. W.O.R.D is currently in the process of organizing a book club for teenage girls at risk and feels confident that it will be as successful as the others. On the publicity side Nakea’s publishing, bookseller, distribution and media contacts have made her a highly sought after publicist and consultant by authors and publishers alike. Her genuine love for literature enables her to show compassion towards her clients. This allows them to see that she has their best interest at heart and that she truly enjoys her job. Most recently Ms. Murray has created and launched a radio talk show called “ 3 Chicks On Lit” which interviews authors and airs weekly via the internet.

In 2002, Maryann Reid was invited by USATODAY to write a novella for the Open Book section of their website. In Jan/Feb, her series, "Single Black Female" ran for several weeks and attracted a new audience to her already popular first book, Sex and the Single Sister.  In 2003, Reid wrote Use Me or Lose Me, a spin off to Sex and the Single Sister, published by St. Martins. Her third book Marry Your Baby Daddy was published by St. Martins Press in Sept 2005. Her fourth novel, Mrs. Big is her latest book and is available in stores everywhere.

Reid is a regular guest and relationship advisor on radio and television shows, most recently, for Life & Style, a syndicated daytime talk show seen on Oxygen and UPN.
 
Reid obtained her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The University of Miami. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.  
 

Tee C. Royal, a former Air Force officer with a background in project management, is approaching a decade of service to the African-American literary community. She is most known as the founder of RAWSISTAZ Literary Group (http://www.rawsistaz.com) which supports and promotes African-American authors and their work, but she is also a freelance reviewer, editor, literary agent and web designer for a host of authors & literary sites. Tee is also listed in Literary Divas: The Top 100+ Most Admired African-American Women in Literature and wrote the foreword to Gumbo for the Soul: Here's Our Child-Where's the Village?

In addition to the website, the online chapter of RAWSISTAZ and local chapters in cities across the United States, Tee leads one of the first organized review teams specializing in African-American literature and maintains an extensive 6500+ book review repository at http://www.blackbookreviews.net. RAWSISTAZ is considered a leader and innovator in supporting African-American literature and is a major resource for readers, writers and literary enthusiasts alike. Under her direction, RAWSISTAZ has been named one of Writers Digest's Top Sites for Writers and is called upon by authors and publishers when it comes to marketing their books.

Gilda N. Squire is the founder of Gilda Squire Media Relations, which she began in 2008. Prior to establishing her own public relations firm, Gilda was the Director of Publicity for Amistad where she was responsible for overseeing publicity and book tours for HarperCollins’ imprint dedicated to publishing fiction and non-fiction works by and about people of African descent. The Amistad imprint is the publisher of such prestigious titles as the Pulitzer prize-winning The Known World by Edward P. Jones; supermodel Alek Wek’s ALEK: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel; actress/comedienne Mo’Nique’s Skinny Cooks Can’t Be Trusted; the New York Times bestselling Confessions of a Video Vixen by Karrine Steffans and Off the Record: A Reporter Unveils the Celebrity Worlds of Hollywood, Hip-Hop & Sports by Newsweek reporter Allison Samuels, for which she acquired, edited and executed the publicity campaigns; and #1 New York Times bestseller The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner. In addition to Amistad, Gilda also managed publicity campaigns for select non-fiction and fiction titles of the HarperCollins General Books imprint, which includes Super Bowl winning quarterback Phil Simms and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. Gilda began her career in publishing at Penguin Putnam where she worked with best-selling authors such as Suze Orman (The Road To Wealth), T.D. Jakes (God’s Leading Lady), Dr. Hilda Hutcherson (What Your Mother Never Told You About S-E-X), and Drs. Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins (The Pact). From there, she worked at a private public relations firm, Hilsinger Mendelson, where she continued to work with Suze Orman, Food Network’s Sandra Lee, as well as fitness guru/entrepreneur Suzanne Somers and mega-magazine Parade. Her crown jewel was developing and executing the campaign for Bling, the New York Times best-selling debut novel by Erica Kennedy from Miramax Books. Prior to entering book publishing, Gilda worked for nearly six years at investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, where she began as an executive assistant in the investment banking division and after two years, was promoted to the Corporate Communications department as a global brand marketing manager during which she established the firm’s first U.S. diversity marketing program. Gilda graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Communications from George Mason University.