2024 Colorado Gold Writers Conference: Full Schedule

Welcome, writers! If you have any questions about the schedule or the conference at large, please refer to the conference website at rmfw.org/conference or email conference@rmfw.org. To view the conference floor plan, select or click on map from the menu.

2:30pm MDT

Unleash Your Inner Young Muse: Crafting Middle Grade Magic – A Novel Approach to Writing for Tweens!

Friday September 27, 2024 2:30pm - 4:20pm MDT

Conference Room VIII

Bestselling authors like James Patterson, Rick Riordan, and John Grisham are flocking to write MG Books. Learn how it differs from adult books, get past gatekeepers, the essential rules for 8-12 years-olds, the art of choosing the right subject, characters, themes, AND MUCH MORE.

Speakers

Mariko Tatsumoto

Author

Mariko Tatsumoto emigrated from Japan at the age of eight and was detoured from her love of books by becoming the first Asian woman attorney in Colorado. But she found her way back to writing historical novels. AYUMI'S VIOLIN, her Middle Grade novel, and her YA novel, SWEPT AWAY... Read More →

Friday September 27, 2024 2:30pm - 4:20pm MDT
Conference Room VIII

Conference Room VIII

Topic Workshop
Audience Intermediate
Subject Genre, Marketing

9:00am MDT

Stay Connected to Your Readers: How to Build & Maintain a Successful Newsletter

Saturday September 28, 2024 9:00am - 9:50am MDT

Conference Room I

In this session, you’ll discover powerful techniques to grow and sustain your subscriber list effectively. In just two years, award-winning author, Kerrie Flanagan, took her newsletter list from 50 subscribers to over 5,000. Learn why newsletters are an author’s greatest asset and how to grow your list with reader magnets, newsletter swaps, list-building giveaways, and group promotions. Kerrie will also teach you how to create compelling content to keep your readers engaged and how to sustain a strong email list. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced author, this session will equip you with essential skills to build a thriving community of engaged readers through your author newsletter.

Speakers

Kerrie Flanagan

Event & Outreach Manager, Crave Books

Kerrie Flanagan is an accomplished author, writing consultant, instructor, and freelance writer with over 25 years of experience in the publishing industry. As the Event & Outreach Manager for CraveBooks, Kerrie works to connect authors with their readership and organizes CraveBooks... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 9:00am - 9:50am MDT
Conference Room I

Conference Room I

Topic Workshop
Audience Beginner
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

10:00am MDT

Direct Sales - Is It Right For You?

Saturday September 28, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT

Conference Room I

Direct sales are being touted as one of the best ways to make money for writers, but is it true for your work? In this workshop, we’ll talk about the ins and outs of direct sales and you’ll find out if it’s the right model for your work.

Speakers

Stephanie Reisner

Award-Winning Author

Stephanie Reisner makes her living as a full-time writer/publisher and is published both traditionally and independently, but with focus on her successful indie career. With four pen names, she has over 40 published novels in various genres to her credit and even more novellas and... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT
Conference Room I

Conference Room I

Topic Workshop
Audience Beginner
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

10:00am MDT

Marketing in 2024 & Beyond: Leverage Your Assets

Saturday September 28, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT

Conference Room V

You can write, you can run ads, and you can burn out. What’s changed since we started publishing books is the way readers consume our content. Are you taking full advantage of that? Are you reaching them exactly where they are, with exactly the formats they want? Time to think bigger, broader. Here’s how.

Speakers

Nick Thacker

Founder, Book Career In a Year

Nick Thacker is the USA Today Bestselling Author of action-adventure thrillers and mysteries, including the Harvey Bennett Thrillers series. Often mentioned as a cross between Clive Cussler and James Rollins, his stories are written in a fast-paced, punchy style. Nick likes to build... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT
Conference Room V

Conference Room V

Topic Workshop
Audience Advanced
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

11:00am MDT

Focusing Your Audience

Saturday September 28, 2024 11:00am - 11:50am MDT

Conference Room II

Audience focus techniques with brand marketing profesh and novelist, Oliver Blakemore.

Speakers

Oliver Blakemore

Author

Oliver has been writing novels since he was twelve. He’s written fifteen books, and two of them may even be worth reading. He spent four years as a technical writer and six years in brand marketing as a content writer. His credentials include a hard head and nine Honorable Mentions... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 11:00am - 11:50am MDT
Conference Room II

Conference Room II

Topic Workshop
Audience Intermediate
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

1:30pm MDT

Marketing Your Book to Success: Before, During, & After Pubilcation

Saturday September 28, 2024 1:30pm - 2:20pm MDT

Conference Room II

Authors know that marketing their books is 100% their responsibility but most don’t have the skillset or knowledge to create a winning marketing plan for their project. In this presentation, Jennifer S. Wilkov, the founder of Your Book Is Your Hook, LLC, will show you how to master the art of determining what belongs in your marketing platform – and what doesn’t – before, during, and after your book has been published.

Speakers

Jennifer S. Wilkov

Creative Consultant, Your Book is Your Hook

Jennifer S. Wilkov is a multi #1 international best-selling award-winning author, producer, an award-winning freelance writer, The Literary Agent Matchmaker™ and a respected book, business and entertainment creative consultant for nearly 20 years. Jennifer was selected as the Error... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 1:30pm - 2:20pm MDT
Conference Room II

Conference Room II

Topic Workshop
Audience Intermediate
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

2:30pm MDT

Building a Platform With Facebook Ads

Saturday September 28, 2024 2:30pm - 3:20pm MDT

Conference Room I

Have you wanted to try Facebook Ads, but are get turned off by how daunting they seem? Come learn the basics of getting started and see that it’s not all that bad. You’ll learn how to set up an ads account and launch your very first ad with a spend as low as $2 per day.

Speakers

Andre Gonzalez

International Bestselling Author

Andre Gonzalez is the author of all things thriller and horror. He has penned the Wealth of Time series and the Insanity trilogy. You’ll likely find him buried under a long to-do list or his three young (and energetic) children.

Saturday September 28, 2024 2:30pm - 3:20pm MDT
Conference Room I

Conference Room I

Topic Workshop
Audience Beginner
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

2:30pm MDT

Successful TikTok Sales

Saturday September 28, 2024 2:30pm - 3:20pm MDT

Conference Room II

TikTok Shop is officially here and people are buying in! Whether you’re a debut author trying to come out the gates swinging, or you have a great backlist to offer readers, the time to start sell books on TikTok Shop is now. Come learn the ins and outs of TikTok shop and how to sell loads of books!

Speakers

Z.S. Diamanti

Award-Winning Author

Z.S. Diamanti is the award-winning author of the Stone & Sky series, an epic fantasy adventure and the result of his love for fun and fantastical stories. His short works have been published in magazines, literary journals, newspapers, and books. He went to college for a very long... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 2:30pm - 3:20pm MDT
Conference Room II

Conference Room II

Topic Workshop
Audience Intermediate
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

2:30pm MDT

How to Show & Sell Books at Events

Saturday September 28, 2024 2:30pm - 3:20pm MDT

Conference Room V

Ready to hand sell your at live events like cons, library fairs, festivals, and more? No, you don’t need to be pushy, you don’t need to be “salesy,” and you don’t need to give up your soul. Though a midwesterner and congenitally allergic to hard sales, Laura has event success to share with you.

Speakers

Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Award-Winning Author

Laura VanArendonk Baugh writes award-winning fantasy of many flavors as well as non-fiction. She has summited extinct, dormant, and active volcanoes, but none has yet accepted her sacrifice. She lives in Indiana where she enjoys Dobermans, travel, fair-trade chocolate, and making... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 2:30pm - 3:20pm MDT
Conference Room V

Conference Room V

Topic Workshop
Audience Advanced
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

3:30pm MDT

Is Your Book Packaging Hurting Your Sales?

Saturday September 28, 2024 3:30pm - 4:20pm MDT

Conference Room V

People read your books and love them! So why is it so hard to generate more sales? You must treat your book as a product and understand how it’s packaged and presented to potential readers. Come learn how to analyze market trends and how they relate to the product you are offering.

Speakers

Andre Gonzalez

International Bestselling Author

Saturday September 28, 2024 3:30pm - 4:20pm MDT
Conference Room V

Conference Room V

Topic Workshop
Audience Advanced
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

4:30pm MDT

Stacked Promos

Saturday September 28, 2024 4:30pm - 5:20pm MDT

Conference Room V

Unlock the secrets of strategically coordinated book promotions in this informative workshop. You’ll learn to leverage multiple marketing avenues, cultivate an engaged author platform, amplify your book’s visibility, boost sales, and expand your readership. Join us and take your author game to new heights.

Speakers

LS Hawker

USA Today Best Selling Author

LS Hawker is the author of the thrillers THE DROWNING GAME, BODY AND BONE, END OF THE ROAD, and THE THROWAWAYS. THE DROWNING GAME is a USA Today bestseller and finalist in the ITW Thriller Awards in the Best First Novel category. Her novels have been translated into eight languages... Read More →

Saturday September 28, 2024 4:30pm - 5:20pm MDT
Conference Room V

Conference Room V

Topic Workshop
Audience Advanced
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

9:00am MDT

Professional Marketing

Sunday September 29, 2024 9:00am - 9:50am MDT

Conference Room I

Many authors are new to marketing but it is an established field for other products. Oliver brings his expertise in brand marketing to show how professional techniques that are used to sell anything from concerts to perfume can work for books too.

Speakers

Oliver Blakemore

Author

Sunday September 29, 2024 9:00am - 9:50am MDT
Conference Room I

Conference Room I

Topic Workshop
Audience Beginner
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

9:00am MDT

Serial Fiction: If It Worked for Andy Weir, Can It Work for Me?

Sunday September 29, 2024 9:00am - 9:50am MDT

Conference Room V

Serial fiction has been around for more than 200 years and is making a comeback with the emergence of technology from social media platforms to television streaming and comic books. This advanced program will explore serial fiction’s history, current opportunities, and how it might start or jump start your writing career.

Speakers

Z.J. Czupor

Author

Z.J. Czupor is immediate past president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. In addition to writing monthly columns for Rogue Women Writers, his latest thriller, "Cut Right Through Me," and mystery... Read More →

Sunday September 29, 2024 9:00am - 9:50am MDT
Conference Room V

Conference Room V

Topic Workshop
Audience Advanced
Subject Marketing, Publishing
Area Hybrid

10:00am MDT

Generating Sales with Facebook Ads

Sunday September 29, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT

Conference Room V

Many authors believe Facebook Ads no longer work for generating sales. In reality, the platform has become highly competitive thanks to a flood of major corporations. Come learn how to efficiently carve out your space as an author and gain new readers on a platform that still has a billion users.

Speakers

Andre Gonzalez

International Bestselling Author

Sunday September 29, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT
Conference Room V

Conference Room V

Topic Workshop
Audience Advanced
Subject Marketing
Area Hybrid

10:00am MDT

Unlocking Tween Book Marketing: Unique Tactics for Middle Grade Success

Sunday September 29, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT

Conference Room VIII

Is marketing Middle Grade Books the same as for Adult Books? While many strategies overlap, there are exciting opportunities exclusive to MG Books to boost sales—and have more fun! Join me as we explore the distinctive approaches that differentiate Tween Book Marketing from its adult counterpart.

Speakers

Mariko Tatsumoto

Author

Sunday September 29, 2024 10:00am - 10:50am MDT
Conference Room VIII

Conference Room VIII

Topic Workshop
Audience Beginner
Subject Genre, Marketing