Whether you’re a brand new writer or a veteran mid-career author, this publishing roundtable is an opportunity for you to connect with fellow authors, learn from our experienced moderators, and discuss current publishing trends. Topics will include:
- Traditional publishing
- Indie publishing
- Book marketing
- Author platforms
- Discoverability techniques
- Writing best practices
- The state of the publishing industry
- Publishing FAQ’s
- …and more! Bring your questions, your pain points, and your success stories!
The roundtable will take place at the Marshall District Library,
Meet our moderators, literary agent Carrie Howland and author J. G. Gates.
Moderator
Carrie Howland
Carrie Howland is a twenty-year veteran in the publishing industry. She worked for fourteen years as a literary agent at two New York City based agencies before founding her eponymous agency, Howland Literary, LLC in 2018. Originally from Marshall, Carrie now calls Kalamazoo home.
Carrie holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Albion College, where she was the Poetry Editor of The Albion Review. Her poetry has appeared in various literary journals and magazines.
Her passions include music, pop culture, parenting, counseling and psychology, animals, health and fitness, and the Midwest. She has been featured in several publications discussing her work as an agent including Poets & Writers, SCBWI insight, Akashic Books, and Slice Magazine.
In addition to her work as an agent, Carrie is a longtime animal rescue volunteer, having fostered and found permanent homes for over one hundred fifty dogs to date. She is also a member of the Junior League and an alumna of Delta Gamma Sorority. When not spending time with her husband and son, Carrie teaches group fitness classes at Pure Barre. All of which inform what she reads and represents.
Carrie is accepting submissions for: adult literary and upmarket fiction, contemporary romance, short story collections, prescriptive nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, essay collections, and cookbooks.
moderator
J. G. Gates
J. G. Gates (also writing as J. Gabriel Gates) is the bestselling, award-winning author of fantasy, horror, and sci-fi books, including the Dragons and Aces series, the Luck Gods series, The Lamplighters, The Sleepwalkers, Blood Zero Sky, and more.
By the numbers, some of his recent author achievements include:
- $75,000 raised on Kickstarter
- Over 3 million page reads on Kindle Unlimited
- Over 43,000 social media followers across his multiple platforms
After receiving his B.A. in theater from Florida State University, Gates moved from Michigan to Los Angeles, where he acted in a dozen national TV commercials and wrote screenplays that were optioned by Hollywood producers. He is an alum of Spalding University’s MFA in writing program, and has taught college writing at Kellogg Community College and Olivet College. He has also worked as a ghostwriter and editor and has appeared on stage at The Moth.
He has been traditionally published in the past, but now publishes with his own imprint, Steed Publishing.
