2017 Nebula Conference: Full Schedule

2:00pm EDT

Business and Pleasure: The not-so-secret handshakes of convention life

When you are an early career writer, how do you get the most out of a convention without seeming pushy? Everyone knows that you shouldn't give an editor your manuscript in the bathroom (except for the guy who did it) but you also know that business takes place at conventions. What are the tricks and secrets?

Moderators

Brenda W. Clough

My latest novel, A MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN, is a neo-Victorian thriller just out from Serial Box. My previous novel, How Like a God, is out in e-format from Book View Cafe. My other works there include Revise the World, a time travel novel, and Speak To Our Desires, a dark detective... Read More →

Speakers

William Ledbetter

Writer

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam’s fiction and poetry has appeared in over 90 publications such as Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Lightspeed, and LeVar Burton Reads, as well as in six languages. By night, she has been a finalist for the Nebula Award. By day, she works as a Narrative... Read More →

Caroline M. Yoachim

Thursday May 18, 2017 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Agents, Art Directors, Early Career Writers, Editors, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

2:00pm EDT

Navigating the gatekeepers of Middle Grade

As a middle grade writer, you are writing for an audience that often isn't the one with the wallet. How do find your audience through the gates of schools and parents?

Moderators

Merrie Haskell.

Author

Merrie Haskell’s novels are The Princess Curse, Handbook for Dragon Slayers and The Castle Behind Thorns. She won the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle Grades) and the DetCon1 Middle Grade Speculative Fiction award, and she was twice a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award... Read More →

Speakers

Jessi Cole Jackson

Writer & Professional Theatrical Costumer

Jessi Cole Jackson lives in the prettiest part of New Jersey. By day she builds costumes for a Tony Award-winning theatre. By night she studies Children’s Literature at Hollins University. Somewhere in between, she writes. Her short fiction can be found in Hidden Youth: Speculative... Read More →

Jane Yolen

SFWA Grandmaster

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA, Inc.) is pleased to announce that Jane Yolen has been named the 33rd Damon Knight Grand Master for her contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy. The award is given by SFWA for “lifetime achievement... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

3:30pm EDT

Taxes and Incorporation

At what point should a writer consider incorporating rather than operating as a sole proprietor? There are benefits to both options, but sorting through it can be daunting for someone who isn't a tax professional.

Speakers

Kevin McLaughlin

Writer, Role of the Hero Publishing

Kevin McLaughlin is a USA Today bestselling author of science fiction and fantasy novels, with over thirty books published. He has been a speaker at DragonCon, the Nebula Conference, 20Books, WorldCon, Arisia, Boskone, and other events. He believes in giving back to the writing community... Read More →

Bud Sparhawk

Chief Financial Officer

Bud Sparhawk’s short stories collection NONPARALLEL UNIVERSES will be launched at Balticon17 . His next novel: SHATTERED DREAMS will be launched in autumn of 2017. His most recent novel, DISTANT SEAS is available from Amazon and other booksellers as trade paperback and eBook... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Agents, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

5:00pm EDT

Imposter Syndrome vs. Archives.

In the computer age, it's easy to inadvertently lose your early-career (or current) work. Many early career writers also may feel like they aren't "important" enough to archive their work. We'll discuss strategies for current backups, selection for migration, and long-term maintenance of your literary papers, so that they are there when posterity calls.

Moderators

Lynne M Thomas

Editor/Publisher, Uncanny Magazine

Co-editor in chief/co publisher of Uncanny Magazine.11-time Hugo Award WinnerCo-editor of Chicks Dig Time LordsMember of the Verity! Podcast

Speakers

Laura Anne Gilman

David D. Levine

David D. Levine is the author of novel Arabella of Mars (Tor 2016) and over fifty SF and fantasy stories. His story "Tk'Tk'Tk" won the Hugo, and he has been shortlisted for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Campbell, and Sturgeon. Stories have appeared in Asimov's, Analog, F&SF... Read More →

Bud Sparhawk

Chief Financial Officer

Thursday May 18, 2017 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

5:00pm EDT

Other careers for writers

Rather than quitting your day job, it is sometimes a better fit to find careers that work well in tandem with writing. The stability of a steady paycheck can relieve stress and actually free more time for writing.

Moderators

Barbara Krasnoff

Barbara Krasnoff has published over 30 pieces of short fiction in a wide variety of publications, including Clockwork Phoenix 5 (and 4 and 2), Mythic Delirium, Crossed Genres, Space and Time, Broken Time Blues: Fantastic Tales in the Roaring ’20s, Weird Tales, and Memories and Visions... Read More →

Speakers

Sally Wiener Grotta

Author

Sally Wiener Grotta is an award-winning writer and speaker. Her newest book is "Daughters of Eve" (Bayit, 2024) an essay-based discussion & journaling workbook which uses the tales of biblical women to facilitate dialogues about modern life, concerns and crises. Also published this... Read More →

Tee Morris

Author

Tee Morris has been writing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and non-fiction for over a decade. His first novel, MOREVI: The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana, became the first novel to be podcast in its entirety, ushering in a new age for authors — podcasting. He went on with... Read More →

John Murphy

John P. Murphy is an engineer and author, with a background in robotics, machine learning, and network security. His novella The Liar was a finalist for the Nebula Award, and his debut novel Red Noise will be out June 2020.

K. M. Szpara

Author

K.M. Szpara is a queer and trans author who lives in Baltimore, MD, with a tiny dog. Kellan's debut alt-/near-future novel, DOCILE (Spring 2020, Tor.com Publishing), explores the snowballing debt crisis, consent, and privilege, and can be described as "really gay". He is the author... Read More →

Thursday May 18, 2017 5:00pm - 6:00pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Agents, Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

10:00am EDT

Money management for an uncertain income

Most of the budgetting courses and software assume that you will have a regular paycheck. A writer is a freelancer, regardless of if they are self-published or working with a traditional publisher. Learn how to manage your money when your income is random.

Moderators

Laura Anne Gilman

Speakers

Margot Atwell

Head of Publishing, Kickstarter

Margot Atwell is the Head of Publishing at Kickstarter, where she helps authors and publishers build community and find support for their creative projects. Previously, Margot was Publisher at Beaufort Books, an independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction books. Her first book, The... Read More →

Erin M. Hartshorn

SFWA Vice President

Erin M. Hartshorn did her graduate work in fish olfaction (and yes, she’s heard all of the jokes about how fish smell) before turning to words to make her living. Her freelance business makes others’ words look good through copyediting, proofreading, and indexing. Her fiction... Read More →

Jody Lynn Nye

Author

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as “spoiling cats.” She lives near Atlanta with three feline overlords, Athena, Minx, and Marmalade; and her husband, author and packager Bill Fawcett. She has published more than 50 books, including collaborations with Anne McCaffrey... Read More →

Shanna Swendson

Shanna Swendson earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas but decided it was more fun to make up the people she wrote about. She’s written a number of fantasy novels for teens and adults and spends her spare time on knitting and music.

Friday May 19, 2017 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

11:30am EDT

How to handle being orphaned

When your editor or agent retires, what the heck do you do?

Moderators

Laura Anne Gilman

Speakers

Michael Capobianco

Advisor, SFWA

Michael Capobianco has published two solo science fiction novels, Purlieu (Placeholder Press) and Burster (Bantam). He is co-author, with William Barton, of the controversial hardcore sf books Iris (Doubleday, Bantam, reprinted by Avon Eos), Alpha Centauri (Avon), Fellow Traveler... Read More →

Merrie Haskell.

Author

Joyce Schmidt

Writer

Friday May 19, 2017 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
Marquis B

Career Management, Panel

Audience Hybrid, Traditional

2:00pm EDT

Beyond Bookmarks and Postcards

One of the things every author struggles with is swag. From collectible cards, to hand fans, to corkscrews, there's a world of promotional items out there. Our panelists look at cost/benefit analysis as well as best practices for creating them.

Moderators

Piper J. Drake

Author

Piper J. Drake (or “PJ”) began her writing career as “PJ Schnyder” writing award-winning sci-fi & paranormal romance and steampunk. She has received the FF&P PRISM award for her work as well as the NJRW Golden Leaf award and Parsec award. Now, Piper J. Drake is a bestselling... Read More →

Speakers

Walter Day

Jeffe Kennedy

Author

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning, best-selling author who writes fantasy with romantic elements and fantasy romance. She is an RWA member and serves on the Board of Directors for SFWA as a Director at Large. She is a hybrid author, and also self-publishes a romantic fantasy series... Read More →

Ann Kopchik

Fran Wilde

Author

Fran Wilde’s novels and short stories have been finalists for four Nebula awards, two Hugo Awards, and a World Fantasy Award. They include her Nebula/Andre Norton- and Compton Crook-winning debut novel, Updraft (Tor, 2015); its sequels, Cloudbound and Horizon; the double-starred... Read More →

Friday May 19, 2017 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

3:30pm EDT

Balancing Mental Health and Deadlines

Starting with the understanding that the trope of the tortured artist is annoying, at best, and harmful at worst, the solitary life of a writer can exacerbate symptoms of mental illness. The stress of deadlines can interfere with productivity. What are some techniques or tools available to writers? What warning signs might a writer pay attention to as a sign of when it is time to get help?

Moderators

Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire was born in Martinez, California, and raised in a wide variety of locations, most of which boasted some sort of dangerous native wildlife. Despite her almost magnetic attraction to anything venomous, she somehow managed to survive long enough to acquire a typewriter... Read More →

Speakers

Gwendolyn Clare

Vicky Hsu

Co-founder, Habitica

Merc Rustad

author / AV

Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

Friday May 19, 2017 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Art Directors, Early Career Writers, Editors, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

3:30pm EDT

Dealing with Discouragement

The short story you're sure is good is rejected by every publisher you send it to. Your carefully crafted novel is shrugged off by 20 agents. Your self-published novelette earns one star on GoodReads. This discussion will cover personal strategies to deal with disappointments, rejection, and other setbacks.

Moderators

Barbara Krasnoff

Speakers

Siena Leslie

Co-founder, Habitica

Bishop OConnell

Writer, Harper Voyager

Bishop O'Connell is the author of the American Faerie Tale series, a consultant, writer, blogger, and lover of kilts and beer, as well as a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. Born in Naples Italy while his father was stationed in Sardinia, Bishop grew up in... Read More →

Trevor Quachri

Editor in Chief, Analog Science Fiction and Fact

Before taking the reigns of ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION & FACT as editor in 2012, Trevor Quachri started off as an editorial assistant in 1999 and worked his way up the ladder at ANALOG and ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION, under Stanley Schmidt, Sheila Williams, and Gardner Dozois, respectively... Read More →

Elizabeth Shack

Shanna Swendson

Friday May 19, 2017 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

3:30pm EDT

Podcasting for Writers: How the Heck Do We Do This?

Podcasting is enjoying (yet again!) a renaissance with new podcasts popping up online left and right, and many authors are wanting to fire up their mics and podcast. But what exactly should you podcast? Yet another writing podcast? Flash fiction? What’s an option? And exactly what does it take to get started? Podcasting for Dummies author Tee Morris and award-winning podcaster Pip Ballantine cover options (and pitfalls) on how to get started and how to keep going.

Moderators

Philippa Ballantine

Author

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa Ballantine has always had her head in a book. At the age of thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself. Her first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on to produce novel length fiction. In 2006 she became... Read More →

Speakers

Piper J. Drake

Author

Tee Morris

Author

Friday May 19, 2017 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Marquis B

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

1:00pm EDT

How to Vet Freelance Editors and Copy Editors

You want to polish your manuscript and need help to catch all the things you miss. Sometimes that's plot. Sometimes it's continuity. Sometimes it's just grammar. But as a writer, how do you tell if an editor is the right person to help you with your blind spots? In this panel, we'll cover how to find freelance editors as well as how to evaluate their work before hiring them.

Moderators

Vanessa Rose Phin

Associate Editor, Strange Horizons

Ness is a developmental editor, learning designer, writer, sensitivity reader, and calligrapher--sometimes all at once. Ve is a Midwestern transplant to Baltimore, where ve somehow earned a history degree writing about crossdressing sailors and genderqueer deities.

Speakers

Neil Clarke

Editor, Clarkesworld Magazine

Neil Clarke (neil-clarke.com) is the editor of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine and several anthologies, including the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. He has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor (Short Form) eight times, won the... Read More →

Brenda W. Clough

Barbara E. Hill

Author, Publisher NobleFusion Press

Barbara E. Hill is an author, publisher, consultant and fairy godmother to all creatures great and small. She’s been addicted to horses her whole life – well, pretty much any critter, truth be told – and manages to squeeze in “real life” around their fluffy furry edges... Read More →

Deanna Hoak

Copyeditor

Bishop OConnell

Writer, Harper Voyager

Saturday May 20, 2017 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie

2:30pm EDT

Avoiding Distraction

Writers are told that they need to diversify their income. How do you manage deadlines when switching between multiple projects?

Moderators

Piper J. Drake

Author

Speakers

Vicky Hsu

Co-founder, Habitica

Siena Leslie

Co-founder, Habitica

David D. Levine

Erin Roberts

Attendee

Saturday May 20, 2017 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Agents, Art Directors, Early Career Writers, Editors, Game Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

2:30pm EDT

Setting up your own book tour

Book tours serve to connect a writer with their audience. It also allows writers to interact directly with the booksellers who will potentially handsell their books. So how can a writer set up a book tour to maximize that effectively without breaking the bank.

Moderators

Curtis Chen

Secretary, SFWA

Once a Silicon Valley software engineer, Curtis C. Chen (陳致宇) now writes stories and runs puzzle games near Portland, Oregon. He's the author of the Kangaroo series of funny science fiction spy thrillers and has written for the Realm originals Ninth Step Station, Machina, and... Read More →

Speakers

Jim Freund

Hour of the Wolf Productions

Jim Freund has been involved in producing radio programs of and about literary sf/f since 1967, when he began working at New York City's WBAI-FM at age 13. An audiobook, Chatting Science Fiction, of some recent noted interviews for his radio show, Hour of the Wolf, was released... Read More →

Tee Morris

Author

Saturday May 20, 2017 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
Marquis B

Career Management, Panel

Audience Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

4:00pm EDT

The New Normal: Activism for Writers/How to Balance Activism and Writing

Society is shaped by narrative. How does an author participate in shaping that society by the narratives we choose to tell? Can we take the skills that we have honed on fiction and use them in real life to shape conversations? And how do we decide when and if we want to?

Moderators

Sarah Pinsker

Director at Large, SFWA

Speakers

Andy Duncan

Professor of English, Frostburg State University

I began publishing science fiction, fantasy and horror at the short story, novelette and novella lengths in 1997 and have received a Nebula Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and three World Fantasy Awards. My most recent collection is An Agent of Utopia, from Small Beer Press... Read More →

Annalee Flower-Horne

@leeflower

Sally Wiener Grotta

Author

Sam Miller

Sam J. Miller is the last in a long line of butchers, and the Nebula-Award-winning author of The Art of Starving (an NPR best of the year) and Blackfish City (a “Must Read” in Entertainment Weekly and O: The Oprah Winfrey Magazine). He lives in New York City, and at samjmille... Read More →

Elsa Sjunneson

Attendee

Hugo, BFA and Aurora award winning editor Elsa Sjunneson is a Deafblind hurricane in a vintage dress. Her written work has appeared in CNN Opinion, Uncanny Magazine, Women of Marvel #1, and many other projects and venues. Being Seen, her debut memoir on media and disability releases... Read More →

Saturday May 20, 2017 4:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
Marquis A

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Hybrid, Indie, Traditional

10:00am EDT

Work For Hire

When trying to diversify the income stream, work for hire is a potential option. Our panelists discuss possible pitfalls to look out for in contracts, and how to be creative on demand.

Moderators

Liz Argall

Writer, Argall Creative

Liz Argall is a speculative fiction author, and creator of the all ages webcomics series Things Without Arms and Without Legs, a comic about creatures who are kind. Her fiction can be found in places like Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, This is How You Die: Stories of the Inscrutable... Read More →

Speakers

Kenneth Chiacchia

Senior Science Writer, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center

Ken Chiacchia’s bio reads like a random sampling of events from different people’s lives. A defrocked biochemist, he has since been a public relations writer, freelance newspaper reporter, science fiction author, EMT, search-and-rescue dog handler and search manager, firefighter... Read More →

N.R. (Nancy) Lambert

Nancy Lambert is an author from New York City. As N.R. Lambert, her stories appear or are forthcoming in Lightspeed, VASTARIEN, The Modern Deity’s Guide to Surviving Humanity, Don’t Turn Out the Lights, and elsewhere. She’s also written for Entertainment Weekly, TIME, LIFE... Read More →

Jody Lynn Nye

Author

Sunday May 21, 2017 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Marquis C

Career Management, Panel

Audience Early Career Writers, Game Writers, Hybrid, Traditional