Julie Hill will be at SBWC for Agents Day June 20, 2017

To sign up for an appointment with an agent:http://www.sbwriters.com/conference/advance-submission.html

SBWC is pleased to announce that Julie Hill will be with us for agents day on June 20.

Julie Hill Literary Agency’s specialty is nonfiction. She handles movie and TV rights as well as books. She seeks unique, innovative but market viable projects in the following subjects: reference, biography, history, religious, mind/body/spirit, health, travel, lifestyle, science as well as memoir, self-help, and advice. She’s also interested in anything in regard to Jewish titles, such as books about the Holocaust.

She especially appreciates authors who have an established audience already and a strong platform or active plans for building one. She advises all nonfiction writers to be able to write a great book proposal.

While she specializes in traditional publishing in nonfiction, she considers viable nonfiction publishing projects of all kinds, including self-publishing. She’ll oversee editing, cover design, printing, and promotion for self-published authors. She consults on contracts and agreements between entities, example: co- authoring agreements.

Julie Hill Literary agency has been in business since 1990, first in La Jolla, and now in Del Mar, CA. The agency's most recent release was in March 2017, titled Leadership Secrets of the Wizard of Oz by BJ Gallagher, author of over 30 business and self-help books. Oz has been granted full rights by Warner Brothers for movie characters and genuine images, an uncommon granting in the book world.

Should I Register for an Agent Appointment at SBWC?

Many of our attendees have gone on to publish their work because of the agents they met during the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. If you are determined to see your project find publication, it makes sense to begin building in-person relationships with agents.

Even if an agent you meet with turns out not to be the agent who represents your work, you will find that agents tend to be a friendly helpful bunch…if you approach them in a friendly open manner seeking their professional opinions.

Literary agents are not the primary gatekeepers in the publishing industry. They are experts full of information that can help you find a publisher.

If you have a viable project, and if you can make a personal connection with an interested agent, that person will be your ally in approaching publishers.

Meeting with an agent at SBWC is your chance to separate yourself from the thousands of emailed queries agents receive each year. The “no thank you” responses that come back might make it seem as if agents are not particularly friendly or helpful.

In reality agents tend to be very nice people who are genuinely looking for clients. Literary agents have valuable industry knowledge, and they will share that with you, if you ask.

The question most writers want to ask an agent is:

“Will you represent my manuscript?”

Better questions might be:

“Are you or any of your colleagues interested in a project like mine?”

“What would it take for you to be interested in taking me on as a client?”

Think in terms of what the agent might be looking for, rather than just what you are hoping for, and the answer you receive will be more valuable to you and will improve your chances of eventual publication.

If your manuscript is complete and polished, and you think you are ready for an agent to represent your work, consider registering for agent appointments with agents who are interested in your genre or already represent clients whose work you think is similar to your own.

If your manuscript is not yet complete, or it needs a lot of polishing, you might still want to speak with an agent. Agents tend to build relationships with their clients. Almost every manuscript that is accepted by an agent goes through a vetting process prior to acceptance. And usually there is at least some work needed before an agent approaches publishers on your behalf.

Even if your manuscript is 100% and ready to go, it can pay off to approach talking to an agent with an open mind and a sense that you understand that you will be on the same team during the time of finding a publisher for your work.

Although SBWC has had many success stories in the past, we make no promises that an agent appointment will immediately result in representation.

We do, however, hope your agent appointments will a rewarding and enlightening experience and that it will be a positive step toward building strong personal connections with experts in the industry.

Scholarship Contest for SBWC 2017

April 21, 2017 Santa Barbara Writers Conference June 18-23, 2017  Dear Writers, Enter to win a scholarship to the 45th Annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference. No entry fee. You may share this opportunity with others. There are three categories to this contest. You may enter one, two or all three. You are welcome to enter each category, once, but please only one entry per email.  Categories: Opening sentence: Limit 50 words Prose: This can be a short essay, a short story, or the opening to your novel or nonfiction project. Limit 500 words Poem: Limit 50 lines The judging team will look for writing excellence appropriate to each category. The judges are award-winning, published authors who are associated with SBWC. We do not announce the names of the judges. To enter: Email all entries to info@sbwriters.com. Put the category of your entry in the subject line. This must be your original work, published or not. Paste your writing entry and contact information into the body of the email. No attachments, please. Contact information should include: Name Phone number where you can be reached if you are a winner Email address Mailing address There will be a full tuition day scholarship to the 2017 Santa Barbara Writers Conference awarded ($650 value) for each category. Scholarship recipients must be able to attend the conference this year If not, the full scholarship will be awarded to the runner up No entry fee Contest opens:  NOW April 21, 2017 Submission period closes MIDNIGHT, Friday, April 28 Submission period is one week only Winners will be announced Monday May 1, 2017.

SBWC reconvenes at the charming, seaside Santa Barbara Hyatt, June 18-23. For reservations  use the reservation link below. Reserve your room soon as we are nearly sold out of our special rate block. Santa Barbara Hyatt. $209 (single occupancy) per night SBWC Register here.

$650 -- full 6-day conference $100 -- deposit with balance due May 15 $40 each -- agent appointments with advance ms. submission* *If you wish to have appointments with agents,  you must be registered for the conference.

Please email info@sbwriters.com for group rates and special prices for registered high school and college students.

I hope to see you June 18-23, 2017.

Write On! Grace Rachow SBWC Director

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1976

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: The Fourth Annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference returned to the Miramar Hotel from June 18-23rd in 1976. In addition to the now ensconced regulars and the return of Eudora Welty, new speakers included Rolling Stone Magazine co-founder and publisher Jann Wenner, Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and others), Los Angeles Times book review editor and Book Talk columnist Digby Diehl, and Irwin Shaw (Rich Man, Poor Man, and others).

Ken Millar, the Santa Barbara resident known world-wide as Ross Macdonald, introduced Eudora Welty saying “It seems kind of a miracle that she came from Jackson, Mississippi to speak to us.”

Beverly Jackson recorded Welty’s opening words in a 1976 article in the Santa Barbara News-Press.

“I’d like to clear the air about symbols,” Welty began reading. “The novel exists within the big symbol of fiction, and not the other way around.”

She elaborated, “One way of looking at Moby Dick is that his task as a symbol was so enormous, he had to be a whale.”

Welty continued to pass along other words of wisdom.

“Communication is going on when you can believe the writer. Belief doesn’t depend upon plausibility, but it’s a quality that makes reliability.” Later on she said, “Style is the product of highly conscious effort that is not self-conscious.”

When asked about writing as a woman in the question and answer portion of the lecture, Welty said, “It doesn’t bother me a bit,” to the titters from the audience, then added, “I don’t really feel limitations in writing as a woman. I feel I can see the point of view of a man. Once you’ve leaped into looking at the point of view of another person, I don’t think it matters whether it’s a man or a woman.”

April 2 SBWC Newsletter

April 2, 2017 SBWC Register here. Dear Writers, Excitement is building for the 2017 Santa Barbara Writers Conference, June 18-23. We have a great line up of speakers, teachers, panelists and agents. Our schedule goes from 9:00 AM every day into the wee hours of the morning. Speakers: We're pleased to announce that the very talented Shanti Sekaran has been added to our list of speakers for SBWC 2017. Her latest novel Lucky Boy was named an "IndieNext Great Read" and an "Amazon Editors' Pick." Other featured speakers are Fannie Flagg, Angela Rinaldi, Tracy Daugherty, David Brin, Lesley M.M. Blume, and Catherine Ryan Hyde Workshop Leaders: One of the best things about the Santa Barbara Writers Conference is the faculty. Over 30 workshop leaders cover a broad range of genres. 2.5-hour workshops allow time for learning craft, as well as getting individualized feedback on your work. Panels: We'll have three panels during the week: Agents Panel New Book Panel Navigating the Amazon (Author Platform Panel) Agents: You may register for appointments with any of our 10 agents and advanced submission of a 5-page manuscript to be read before your appointment on June 20. Register for an agent here. Manuscript consultations: All registered students are eligible for a free manuscript consultation with some of our conference workshop leaders. To take advantage of this option, send no more than 10 pages of the opening of your manuscript to: Santa Barbara Writers Conference 27 West Anapamu Street, Suite 305 Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Include a cover letter briefly describing your project. Hotel: We have a special room rate at the Hyatt Santa Barbara: $199 (single occupancy) per night and free parking: 24 rooms in Santa Barbara House, a separate building, but adjacent to hotel $209 (single occupancy) per night and $38 overnight parking, (or free parking close by on the street) in the hotel For reservations call (888) 421-1442, or visit this reservation link: Santa Barbara Hyatt. SBWC Register here. $650 -- full 6-day conference $100 -- deposit with balance due May 15 $40 each -- agent appointment with advance ms submission* *If you wish to have appointments with agents,  you must be registered for the conference. Please reserve your space soon so that you do not miss out. Special prices: $600 -- group rate for 2 signing up together $575 -- rate for registered high school or college students or 3 or more signing up together Please email info@sbwriters.com for promo codes for special pricing. Since its origins in 1972, SBWC has given writers an oasis of time, place and focus to hone craft and connect with mentors, agents and publishers. New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore says: "I went into the Santa Barbara Writers Conference a foundering insurance man and came out a writer. I wouldn't have made it without the camaraderie and enthusiasm for the craft I found there."  Over the past 45 years, SBWC has evolved a learning environment that can transform beginners into bestselling authors ... well, that and a lot of hard work on the part of the authors. We invite you to be a part of this ongoing literary legacy. I hope to see you June 18-23, 2017. Grace Rachow SBWC Director

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1975

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: In 1975 the Santa Barbara Writers Conference opened for the first time at the Miramar Hotel in Montecito, just South of Santa Barbara, beginning a twenty-five year Santa Barbara literary tradition. It was the first year that Charles (Sparky) Schulz came to the SBWC and not only decided to stay the entire week, but became a fixture of the conference, returning and staying for the entire week all the way through to the end of his life in the year 2000. With Sparky's blessing, his Peanuts character Snoopy became the SBWC logo and official conference mascot, and Sparky gave generously of his time and characters without thought of compensation for the next twenty-five years.

 The Last SBWC Banner hanging in Barnaby Conrad's art studio

The SBWC became synonymous with Snoopy typing away on the roof of his doghouse, set on the canvas of a sea of blue roofed cottages glimpsed from the 101 Freeway against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. It was the SBWC at the Miramar Hotel era.

How it came to be held there was because of the Cate School's new headmaster's unwarranted concerns about profitability. Mary Conrad had enough of the school's politics and contacted James Gawzar, a friend whose father owned the Miramar Hotel.

“Can we hold the conference there?” Mary asked.

“Sure,” came the answer from the elder William Gawzar.

With those prophetic words the Miramar Hotel became home to the SBWC for a quarter of a century, and birthed more stories than can be included in this volume of the history of the SBWC, or which the lawyers will allow us to relate, but it would not be a true reflection of the history if the book did not contain a generous sprinkling of the tales birthed and passed on along the way.

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1974

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: A short distance South of Santa Barbara, the 2^nd Annual SBWC got underway with Ray Bradbury as Keynote Speaker, Kenneth Rexroth conducting a poetry workshop, and Mel Torme promoting his new book, “I’d Rather Write than Sing.”

Building on the success of the first year, the Conrads produced a line-up of speakers that would be the envy of any well-established conference:

Budd Schulberg showed his landmark film, “On the Waterfront.” James Michener (Hawaii, the Pulitzer Prize winning Tales of the South Pacific and others), gave an evening address and Mel Torme explained why “I’d Rather Write Than Sing.”

Ross MacDonald (Ken Millar) spoke about “Writing, Mystery & Suspense,” and the afternoon speakers included Joan Didion (Slouching Towards Bethlehem and others), John Gregory Dunne (Vegas: A Memoir of a Dark Season and others), Alex Haley (Roots), Clifton Fadiman (Mathematical Magpie and others), and James Sheldon (radio broadcaster, “We, The People”).

By the end of the conference the SBWC had become an institution in Santa Barbara County, and in the world of writers and conferences, but not everyone was convinced.

After the second conference in 1974, Barnaby’s boyhood friend Headmaster Clark left Cate School and the new headmaster was concerned that the school was losing money on the deal the previous headmaster had made with the Conrads.

As a result of the new headmaster's erroneous impressions of the conference, the SBWC moved to the Miramar Hotel in 1975.

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1973

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: Held from June 22nd to June 29th, the first Santa Barbara Writers Conference featured Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451, and others), Clifton Fadiman (The Mathematical Magpie, and others), Ross MacDonald (The Zebra-Striped Hearse, the Chill, and others), Don Freeman (A Rainbow of My Own, Corduroy, and others), John Leggett (Ross and Tom: Two American Tragedies, and others), Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), Niels Mortensen (Endangered, with Barnaby Conrad), and Jessica “Decca” Mitford (Hons and Rebels, The American Way of Death, and others), and Jerry Hannah.

In total there were six workshop leaders and 37 students.

By the second night, Bill Downey wrote, “You could tell the students by the glazed look in their eyes.” Their countenances were attributed to the Pirate Workshops, a device invented of necessity. Rather than lying awake with comments and critiques from the published writers torturing their sleep, students stayed up most of the night reading and re-working the endings or beginnings of their Great American Novels to each other, and those workshop leaders young enough to participate without a full night’s sleep.

It was a grand experiment off to a promising start, if only in the minds of the conference organizers and attendees, but the experience was successful enough to encourage Ray Bradbury and others to return the next year, because unlike most writers conferences, there was something tangibly different from other conferences. When they made their way from the Cate School Campus each looked forward to the next year, as if to a beloved family gathering. Thus began a long-standing tradition of Ray Bradbury making the opening remarks every year until failing health caused him to miss the annual event in 2005.

Barny, Ray Bradbury, and friends

[audio mp3="http://www.sbwriters.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Ray-Bradbury-2002.mp3"][/audio]

Words of wisdom from Ray Bradbury

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1986

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: The following news clipping from May 31 1986 was published prior to the 14th annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference which took place from June 20-27, 1986. By then, the SBWC was fully established in the cottages and confines under the landmark blue roofs of the Miramar Hotel in Montecito, where legends were both celebrated and created.

Over the space of a quarter of a century, for one magical week a year the SBWC took over the old fashioned resort and became a world unto itself. There was a piano bar where you might walk in to find Steve Allen, Barnaby Conrad, or Cliff, the black house piano man tickling the ivories, and a long hallway that connected the registration desk to the bar and restaurant, aptly nicknamed "Peacock Alley" where people strutted their stuff, and a huge conference hall where the keynoters spoke.

In a smaller hall nestled beneath the main hall, Pirate Workshops were held after the evening speaker, ending when the last person read, almost always after midnight, and often into the wee hours of the morning. Night or day that setting was bordered by the Pacific Ocean and the beautiful Miramar beach front facing cottages, with tennis courts, and railroad tracks that sent locomotives and rattling box cars through the middle of the property at all hours of the day and night, past a stationary railroad club car restaurant beside the tracks. It was a perfect setting for a gathering of creative talent of all levels and genres, all dedicated to nurturing and celebrating their shared love of writing with varying degrees of angst, anger, fear, passion, and hope.

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 2004

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: 2004 was the last year that the Conrads owned the SBWC and it was the conference's last year at Westmont College.

Gayle Lynds who is one of this year's keynoters for 2017, was a keynoter that year.

“I am here,” Gayle stated, “to talk about plotting, because Barnaby asked me.” She directed the students to look in their SBWC packets for The Writer Magazine. “There’s an article written by a very fine writer — the one with plotting, or plotting a thriller or plotting suspense, or something like that — with interviews written by Julian Abbott. Interviews with me, and Dennis Lehane, and Stuart Woods, and so Barnaby took it into his head that it would be a good thing for me to talk about.”

Gayle talked with the audience about her experience plotting and said that everything has a plot. “Even when they say it doesn’t have a plot, it’s got a plot.” She read from a 1939-40 book by Jack Woodford that discussed plotting. He wrote that in any other profession you can put relatives to work, but novels require a special skillset.

“‘Publishers’ relatives can’t write them. No matter how devoted the publisher is to his relatives, he can’t chisel them in on this one profession. It’s an honor left fairly free from nepotism.

"‘Of course publishers’ relatives do write novels, or have them written by ghost writers, but it’s one place where the nepotism game won’t really work, because you’ve got to have some brains to be a writer, and relatives never have brains. All the brains in the family run to one guy, in a given generation.’”

Gayle spoke again about the difference between a thriller and a mystery. She used the same Alfred Hitchcock example of a bomb place underneath a table that Andrew Klavan had used the previous day, “but I want to come to it from another direction.” She used the example of 9/11 in 2001 — acknowledging that it was a terrible event, but that in a thriller the story would start a few days before 9/11, perhaps with the terrorists preparing for the planes crashing, then build up to the moment of the crashes.

For this particular lecture she took the time to give the subtleties of plotting and story elements, interweaving her personal experience with the novels that she has written. “Two key words, for any novelist, are, What if?”

This was how she created a second novel to follow up on an earlier one. For years her publishers were after her to do a sequel, but Gayle could not see the story until finally she had her character go back to school and start a new way of life. At this point she admonished the audience to be in love with the story, because if they weren’t, then they could not credibly write for their audience, and once she came up with the new life for her character, she needed to develop plot elements to move the character into and through the story.

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 2003

An excerpt from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: In the aftermath of the Miramar closing and the transition and adjustment to the SBWC's new home at Westmont College, workshop leader Matt Pallamary wrote an article that Mary Conrad included in the welcome letter that went out to returning conferees and new attendees.

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 2002

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: By the time the 30^th Annual Santa Barbara Writers Conference opened on June 21st in 2002, it felt as if it had always been at Westmont College. Because of the influx of new students due to  regular attrition, hills too rigorous for some old-timers, and overall expanded enrollment because the Westmont College campus was bigger than the Miramar Hotel, the SBWC had the same air of a freshman’s first day at any university campus. It also helped that Mary Conrad doubled and at times tripled the number of Westmont College-student-staff-driven golf carts that criss-crossed the campus offering rides to any students challenged by the college’s hills.

Dorm accommodations enhanced this impression, where endless conversations filled the dorms with tales of the “old days” at the Miramar Hotel. The regularly scheduled meals in the campus cafeteria far exceeded the quality of the food at the Miramar and the new setup of dormitories and dining hall reminded workshop leader Matt Pallamary of his time in the Air Force, prompting him to nickname them the chow hall and barracks.

After the workshop leader introductions and business of logistics on Friday night, Saturday saw the familiar pattern of morning and afternoon workshops. Late Saturday afternoon, SBWC workshop leader Charles Champlin introduced two Hollywood legends, Eva Marie Saint and her husband and director/actor Jeff Hayden, in a reprise of their previous year’s reading of Willa Cather, On the Divide.

The converted for the conference gymnasium turned auditorium echoed with the words of Willa Cather from the sweeping plains of Nebraska as her work was read aloud by the consummate actors.

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 2001

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: In 2001, the 29^th Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference found a new home at Westmont College in the hills behind Santa Barbara. The Miramar era was over, and the Westmont Campus was a dramatic change from the beachfront blue-roofed Miramar Hotel. With no ocean near the campus, Barnaby said, “There’s no beach to tempt the people away from their typewriters.” Duly noted. “They shouldn’t be on the beach; they should be writing!” he added laughing, in an interview with Santa Barbara News-Press reporter Ann Shields.

Tuesday night veteran newsman Sander Vanocur moderated a “Behind the Headlines” panel of journalists, including Ann Louise Bardach (Troubled Waters, Cuba, and others), Lou Canon (President Reagan — The Role of a Lifetime,) and Martha Smilgis (Time Magazine, People Magazine, and others).

In typical Barnaby style, he introduced Vanocur by saying “There has been altogether too much frivolity around this place,” so he read a piece by Dave Barry about the founding of America, with the hope of instilling some gravitas before hearing from the distinguished panel.

“Hundreds of years ago, America was different,” Barny read. “The only inhabitants were Indians who formed tribes and gave rivers hard to spell names. Meanwhile, in Italy, Christopher Columbus spent hours gazing out to sea and thinking, ‘someday I will be the cause of a holiday observed by millions of government workers.’ Columbus assembled a group of mariners and set out across the storm-tossed Atlantic in three tiny ships, the Ninja, the Piña Colada and the Heidi Ho.

"After numerous storm-tossed weeks they came to an island where Columbus had this conversation with the local chief.

"Columbus: You guys are Indians, right?

"Chief: Ramanona, jaway, which means, ‘No, we came over from Asia 20,000 years ago by the land mass bridge.’

"Columbus: Listen, we’ve spent weeks looking for India in these three storm-tossed ships and we have canons pointed at your wigwams, and we say that you’re Indians.

"Chief: Banama kawowi saki, which means ‘Welcome to India.’

"By the 17^th Century the English had started a colony on an estuary and called it Jamestown. Their leader was John Smith, under whose direction Jamestown engaged in numerous activities primarily related to starving, then just when the colonists were about to give up, they discovered a vast untapped market for a product that consumers would set on fire and they’d inhale, gradually turning their lungs into malignant lumps of carbon.

"Meanwhile, the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock. The new world was harsh and desolate and they would have starved, if not for a friendly native named Squanto. A year went by and the Puritans held their first Thanksgiving. They invited Squanto for turkey. ‘Next time,’ he advised, ‘try cooking it,’ then they watched the Lions/Bears game. Ultimately the Puritans built New England, part of it which can still be seen.

"Next came the revolution, the single most important historical event to occur in America with the exception of Super Bowl IV. Amid this climate the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. Its members realizing their actions could determine the fate of the new world, voted to give themselves a raise. The Continental Congress also knew that they would need an army and they knew just the man to lead it. A man who was respected and admired, a man who had experience, and the leadership needed to organize men and lead them into battle. That man, of course, was Dwight D. Eisenhower."

"None of this stuff,” Barny added, “has anything to do with Sander Vanocur, a man who you all recognize from television news. I give you Sander Vanocur."

February Newsletter

February 5, 2017Early Bird Registration 

 $575--full conference! This price is good through February 15  Register here. Improve your craft. Find your tribe. Make lifelong connections.

Spend your conference week beachside at the charming Santa Barbara Hyatt. Take advantage of early bird pricing and register for the conference by February 15.

We're pleased to announce that our list of 2017 agents is complete, and you may register for an appointment with an agent and advanced submission of a 5-page manuscript to be read before your appointment on June 20. Register for an agent here.

If you wish to register for an appointment with an agent,  you must already be registered for the conference.

We have a great group of agents to choose from:

Annie Bomke  Annie Bomke in San Diego

Amy Cloughley   Kimberley Cameron & Associates

Paul Fedorko  N.S. Bienstock, Inc.

Julie Hill  Julie Hill Literary Agency in Del Mar

Toni Lopopolo  Lopopolo Literary Management

Eric Myers Dystel and Goderich Literary Management

Patricia Nelson Marsal Lyon Literary Agency

Angela Rinaldi The Angela Rinaldi Literary Agency

BJ Robbins BJ Robbins Literary Agency in North Hollywood

Ken Sherman  Ken Sherman & Associates

Over the past 45 years, SBWC has provided a learning environment that can transform beginners into bestselling authors ... well, that and a lot of hard work on the part of the authors.

One of the best things about the Santa Barbara Writers Conference is the faculty. Our 30 teachers cover a broad range of genres.

The 2.5-hour workshops allow time for learning craft, as well as getting individualized feedback on your work.

We have a special room rate at the Hyatt Santa Barbara:

• $199 (single occupancy) per night and free parking: 24 rooms in Santa Barbara House, a separate building, but adjacent to hotel
• $209 (single occupancy) per night and $38 overnight parking, (or free parking close by on the street) in the hotel

For reservations call (888) 421-1442, or visit this reservation link: Santa Barbara Hyatt.

If you wish to register for an appointment with an agent,  you must already be registered for the conference to signup.

Since its origins in 1972, SBWC has given writers an oasis of time, place and focus to hone craft and connect with mentors, agents and publishers.

The Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook, a history of the conference, written by founder Mary Conrad and longtime friends of SBWC, Y. Armando Nieto and Matthew J. Pallamary, is now available on Amazon.

For SBWC fans in the Santa Barbara area, there will be a book signing at Chaucer's bookstore on February 9 at 7PM. Meet all three authors.

There is a documentary film of the same title debuting June 18, 2017 at SBWC.

The film and the book are labors of love, and both reflect the special nature of this conference.

New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore says: "I went into the Santa Barbara Writers Conference a foundering insurance man and came out a writer. I wouldn't have made it without the camaraderie and enthusiasm for the craft I found there." 

We invite you to be a part of this ongoing literary legacy.

I hope to see you June 18-23, 2017.

Grace Rachow SBWC Director

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 2000

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary:The Santa Barbara Writers Conference went on hiatus during the year 2000 due to the closing of the Miramar, thoughts of the Conference were never far from longtime attendees and staff. It was also the year that the conference lost Sparky.

Poetess and workshop leader Perie Longo captures the essence of the loss of the Miramar with the following poem.

Souvenir from the Miramar: Fall, 2000

by Perie Longo

They could be tears, these bougainvillea blossoms,

shed for the passing of the train we won’t hear

come June, we writers who collected at the Miramar

each year, recollected our lives best we could

in  fog, sometimes fire, turned anguish

into something approachable and fine,

a keepsake until next time. Without notice

they closed it, restoration the reason,

everything for sale; lights and beds, dressers,

night-stands, a cache of  ugly prints torn

from the wall, bolts still stuck in the center

of frame tops. I dragged through the lobby,

dining room, around the pool, peeked

into rooms where the air of years laid down

on tossed mattresses and sighed. Behind

the buildings I wound around yellow tapes

strung  to keep us out, crossed the railroad tracks

and eased to the beach glad to see the sand

still there, the gulls, at least the sky’s blue roof.

And conversations about those who leave

this earth without asking our permission.

I save some bougainvillea petals

from the bush near the train tracks where

a gray parrot once mocked our words.

I wanted to gather a whole sprig,

but overnight they collapsed on the counter

like separate words to be rearranged

into something else, something to carry us on,

we weavers and bleeders of words,

something to bring us back.

September ‘00

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1999

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary:

Catherine Ryan Hyde and screenwriter Leslie Dixon (Outrageous Fortune, Mrs. Doubtfire, Pay it Forward, etc.), were introduced by SBWC workshop leaders and screenwriting team of Vicki Patik and Walter H. Davis. At conference time Dixon was still finalizing rewrites of the screenplay adaptation of Pay it Forward which would star Kevin Spacy.

Catherine was an unpublished writer when she first came to the SBWC as a student in 1993, and then returning as a successful author in 1999. She appeared a tad uncomfortable with her newly acquired fame.

“Leslie, maybe you should tell them about Pay It Forward,” said Ryan Hyde. “Because you didn’t write it and you can be more effusive than I can.”

Dixon began by speaking about screenwriting and the adaptation of an original work to the big screen. “I think when it comes to being a screenwriter and adapting a novel, the biggest thing is; is there a movie in this book?

You look at Beloved, which is one of the best books ever written, and you look at the movie which is a downer, and you ask yourself, what happened?”

Dixon talked about Gone With the Wind, and other novels which became great movies. When adapting a novel to film she said she looks at how the story can be told best by film — without a dreaded “voiceover.”

Where Pay it Forward was concerned, Dixon said she was reading it in bed and kept wondering, what happens next? When she finished reading she turned to her husband who was asleep next to her and said aloud, “I’m going to get this project,” and then to the SBWC audience, she said, “And I did!”

“See,” said Catherine, “I knew she should tell the story!”

The story of how the two women met and worked together was part of the SBWC magic, containing a series of coincidences including a mutual friendship with Barnaby Conrad. For attendees at the 1999 Conference the lecture had a Cinderella-esque aspect that captured the attention of more than one aspiring writer. The enthusiasm of the speakers also bespoke the sense that Catherine and Leslie both knew how rare the Pay it Forward Hollywood experience was for them.

If you are in Santa Barbara join us for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook publication party!

https://youtu.be/KZIkSZWKg4g

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1998

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: On Sunday night the SBWC heard from Robert McKee, an acknowledged guru of Hollywood screenwriters, and a master at any form of story-telling. The title of his lecture was “Character vs. Plot Driven,” and he began by citing one of the earlier teachers and story-tellers, Aristotle in the Poetics.

“What is more important in a story? The story told, or the characters in the story?

“Aristotle also had a hierarchy of good writing,” McKee said, “which included plot, character, idea, dialogue, music, and spectacle.”

According to Aristotle, “Spectacle is the least creative aspect of a production. It is the least important aspect of the production. It just costs money.”

McKee noted that Aristotle had a lot in common with modern day producers. “In fact, Aristotle sounds like a Hollywood producer, more than once in the Poetics,” McKee said. He guided the audience through an examination of modern film and Broadway productions and other forms of story telling, noting Aristotle’s litany  scrambled.

“In what order are things promoted today?” he queried, “Spectacle. Second? Music. Third? Witty dialogue. Number five? The idea. And number six the story.”

McKee said that Aristotle also noted that when story telling goes bad in a culture so does society. The result is decadence.

“Compare for example the last two Oscar winners,” said McKee. “Titanic, and the abysmal The English Patient.” Spectacle and so many caricatures in the movie making.

He continued, “Just once, I’d like to hear the stiff-upper-lip British ship’s captain say, ‘I’m fucking scared man!’”

The lecture continued with a recitation of the intervention points required to stop the decline in culture represented by films, plays, and literature in the U.S. and he discussed character vs. characterization, saying that the only way to know the true human nature of a character is by their choices under pressure. It cannot simply be a good or bad choice because the character will always choose the good or the right from their point of view. It’s one of the laws of nature.

“This is true, from Genghis Khan to Adolf Hitler. Choice and dilemma of the character reveal the nature of a character. Characterization is what is said about the character, what the character says or does, the story. Characterization is not character.

"It is the pressure combined with choices made under pressure that reveals the true 'character' of a character."

McKee said this is true in films, as it is in literature. “Sophie’s Choice, for example,” he proffered.

Increasingly difficult choices that lead to change are the milestones of a good story, movie or production.

JUNE 18-23, 2017

January 11, 2017 Early Bird Registration   $575--full conference! Through February 15  Register here. Improve your craft. Find your tribe. Make lifelong connectionsSpend your conference week beachside at the charming Santa Barbara Hyatt. We're pleased to announce that the very talented Catherine Ryan Hyde has been added to our list of speakers for SBWC 2017. She's an alumna of this conference with 32 published novels and counting. Her latest is Say Goodbye for Now.Another alumna and longtime friend of the conference, the charming and funny Fannie Flagg, will honor us by speaking opening night. Her most recent novel is The Whole Town's Talking. Over the past 45 years, SBWC has created a learning environment that can transform talented writers (beginners included) into bestselling authors ... well, that and a lot of hard work on the part of the authors. One of the best things about the Santa Barbara Writers Conference is the faculty. Our teachers cover a broad range of genres. The 2.5-hour workshops allow time for learning craft, as well as getting individualized feedback on your work. Early bird registration is open now. Please call 1-888-421-1442 and say you are attending the Santa Barbara Writers Conference to get the discounted rate. On February 1, we'll open registration for meetings with agents. You must already be registered for the conference to signup. Since its origins in 1972, SBWC has given writers an oasis of time, place and focus to hone craft and connect with mentors, agents and publishers. The Santa Barbara Writers Conference Scrapbook, a history of the conference written by founder Mary Conrad and longtime friends of SBWC, Y. Armando Nieto and Matthew J. Pallamary, is now available on Amazon. There is a documentary film of the same title debuting at the SBWC in June. The film and the book are labors of love, and both reflect the special nature of this conference. New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore says: "I went into the Santa Barbara Writers Conference a foundering insurance man and came out a writer. I wouldn't have made it without the camaraderie and enthusiasm for the craft I found there."  We invite you to be a part of this ongoing literary legacy. I hope to see you June 18-23, 2017. Grace Rachow SBWC Director

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1997

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: The 25^th Anniversary of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference would have been SBWC Chief of Staff Paul Lazarus’ 20^th anniversary with the conference. Unfortunately, Paul suffered a heart attack after hip replacement surgery.

William Styron (Lie Down in Darkness, Set This House on Fire, Sophie’s Choice, and Confessions of Nat Turner), not seen since the Conference’s early days returned to receive the inaugural SBWC Lifetime of Literary Excellence Award. Charles Champlin introduced him for brief comments on “The Writing of My First Book.”

Styron shook his head and said, “For years people have been calling my first novel LAY Down in Darkness. It’s Lie Down in Darkness.” Regarding the editing demanded by his first book’s publisher, the story would have been tame by modern standards.

“There’s not a single four-letter word in it,” Styron announced to the Miramar audience.

“Thank God,” some said out loud.

The road to writing and publishing was about as straight forward for Styron as for any aspiring writer. His first book made the best-sellers list at number seven when he’d been called to service in the Marines for the Korean conflict. He was in good company, as that list also included Norman Mailer’s From Here to Eternity and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. Time magazine spurned the three young writers as “doomed to obscurity.” Styron enjoyed telling that story to the SBWC students.

The story of how he came to write his first book was also interesting. He quit his job reading manuscripts for a New York publisher in 1947. “I burned to write a novel,” he said, “but what about?”

He was motivated when he learned that a 22 year-old woman from his home town that he had a crush on, but never pursued, had committed suicide. “He’d never so much as held her hand,” Barney Brantingham wrote in a Santa Barbara News-Press article at the time.

Styron worked long and hard on the novel in a state of shock in his Brooklyn Flatbush neighborhood rooming house, and eventually finished Lie Down in Darkness. It was during that period that he met a fellow boarder, a Polish woman who didn’t speak a lot of English and had a tattoo from a German death camp. He developed a crush on her too, although his timing was bad because besides the language barrier she already had a boyfriend. Years later she became the title figure in Sophie’s Choice.

At the time there wasn’t a lot written about the holocaust and he had been working on a novel that wasn’t quite coming together.

“I’d become preoccupied with the camps. One book had the story of a gypsy woman forced to make a choice between her two children, forced by the Nazis to become a murderer of her own child,” then it occurred to him to marry the story of the woman from his boarding house twenty-odd years prior. He put aside the incomplete novel and began anew. Four years later Sophie’s Choice was the result.

1997 ended on a sad and somber note for the Santa Barbara Writers Conference family. Susan Miles Gulbransen wrote about the passing of Paul Lazarus in a December 1997 column with affection.

“Every once in a while, someone touches your life, makes a huge difference and leaves you a much better person. Paul Lazarus was that kind of someone. As an insider in the movie business, the retired studio executive could have been a pontificating guru or a larger-than-life celebrity. Instead, Paul always remained a gracious, humorous and supportive friend whether in the company of deal makers or aspiring writers.

“Few people knew the movie industry like Paul Lazarus. As the middle of the Lazarus generational sandwich, he grew up in the movies. His father began a film career in 1916 while the industry was still in its infancy and warned his son not to try the crazy business.”

Paul Lazarus, retired Hollywood studio executive and SBWC Chief of Staff did end up working in the film industry. He brought his wisdom and experience in the genre to the SBWC, and a generation of writers thank him. He was loved, admired, and he will be remembered.

Paul and Ellie Lazarus

THE HISTORY OF THE SANTA BARBARA WRITERS CONFERENCE — 1996

An excerpt from the upcoming book by Armando Nieto, Mary Conrad, and Matt Pallamary: On Monday night two accomplished writers took the stage, one a newcomer, the other an old friend of the Conference. Elmore “Dutch” Leonard author of 32 novels including Mr. Majestyk, Hombre, Stick, and 52 Pick-up, fifteen of which were made into films and Scott Frank an accomplished screenplay writer, including the screen version of Leonard’s Get Shorty.

Dutch opened with a reading of how he wrote a scene in the book Get Shorty, where the character Chili Parker played by John Travolta meets the producer played by Danny Devito, as a way of showing how the written word gets transposed on film. True to his style, Leonard’s read words were short, crisp, and pithy.

“If only I was a light skinned black chick I could sing and do it on my own,” he read, the words of a transvestite reacquainting herself with Chili.

The patter between Chili and other characters continued in Leonard’s gravelly, cough-accented voice for ten minutes. Short bits, (cough), “inflict pain if I need to,” the character said. “Look at me,” Chili said, “no, I mean look at me like I’m looking at you. You’re nothing to me. It’s nothing personal. It’s just business...”

The audience was then treated to a slice of the Get Shorty movie and a scene played out by Danny Devito and John Travolta. Oddly enough, the dialogue between Devito and Travolta was close to what Dutch had read, but the rest of the scene so crisply read by Leonard was fleshed out with an overacting transvestite character. Clearly, the best part of the scene was the dialogue that Travolta and Devito delivered almost exactly as Dutch had written.

Scott Frank related the story of a two hour lunch with Leonard where he told of how others had made movies of his novels that were horrible. Scott went home and said to his wife that he didn’t want to give Leonard another horror story.

For that reason more than any other the scene with Devito and Travolta rang with verisimilitude, to the pleasure of the audience, author, and screenwriter.

Elmore (Dutch) Leonard