Writing the Page-Turning Novel with Jeniffer Thompson

Join festival co-founder and host of The Premise podcast, Jeniffer Thompson, as she moderates this lively discussion about secrets and questions, pacing and plot twists, riveting yet relatable characters, and chapter-ending hooks that force your hand to turn “just one more page” until you find yourself at the end of the book.

Featuring:

• Bill Clegg, author of The End of the Day
• Joe Ide, Shamus, Macavity and Anthony Award-winning author of the IQ series, including the latest installment, Smoke
• Lisa See, 2020 Tucson Festival of Books Founders Award-winning author of The Island of Sea Women
• Katherine Seligman PEN/Bellwether Prize winning author of At the Edge of  the Haight

Event Sponsor: Captain Lew Maurer, author of Herman and The Princess Gull

Meet the Speakers

Jeniffer Thompson is a personal branding expert, digital marketing strategist and host of The Premise podcast. She is an author and speaker who delivers strategy-rich content and actionable tools that educate and empower authors. With a BA in Journalism from SDSU, Jeniffer is an ardent believer in the power of storytelling—she is always looking for, or telling, a story. She believes that story has the power to develop a greater sense of empathy, transform us, and build community.

Jeniffer is passionate about helping authors establish highly visible brands. She and her husband, Chad, co-founded Monkey C Media in 2004 and have been creating award-winning book cover designs and author websites ever since. They specialize in author services that integrate digital marketing strategies and engage readers all over the world.

She is a co-founder of the San Diego Writers Festival, serves on the board of the San Diego Memoir Writers Association, and is currently writing her own coming of age memoir.

Jeniffer is a rock climber and thrill seeker. She and Chad live in San Diego with their persnickety Manx cat, Mishka, and three fluffy chickens who love to follow her around and give her delicious eggs almost everyday.

For author services, visit MonkeyCMedia.com; for actionable brand strategy techniques and digital marketing strategies, subscribe to her blog at JenifferThompson.com. Listen to her podcast at ThePremisePod.com.

Bill Clegg is a literary agent in New York and the author of the bestselling memoirs Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man and Ninety Days. His first novel, Did You Ever Have a Family, hit the New York Times bestseller list and was longlisted for the National Book Award, Man Booker Prize, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence. Bill has also written for The New York Times, Lapham’s Quarterly, New York magazine, The Guardian, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Joe Ide is of Japanese American descent and grew up in South Central Los Angeles. Joe’s favorite books were the Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories. The idea that a person could face the world and vanquish his enemies with just his intelligence fascinated him. Joe went on to earn a graduate degree and had several careers before writing his debut novel, IQ, inspired by his early experiences and love of Sherlock. Joe lives in Santa Monica, California.

Lisa See’s new novel, The Island of Sea Women, is about the free-diving women of South Korea’s Jeju Island. Booklist called The Island of Sea Women“stupendous… enthralling…and engrossing.” Jodi Picoult has given her praise: “Lisa See excels at mining the intersection of family, friendship and history, and in her newest novel, she reaches new depths exploring the matrifocal haenyeo society in Korea, caught between tradition and modernization. This novel spans wars and generations, but at its heart is a beautifully rendered story of two women whose individual choices become inextricably tangled.” Independent booksellers honored the novel by selecting it as an Indie Next pick, while Barnes & Noble chose the novel for its nationwide March 2019 Book Club.

Ms. See lives in Los Angeles. You can also follow her adventures on Instagram, Twitter & Facebook

Katherine Seligman is a journalist and author who lives in San Francisco. She has been a writer at the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, a reporter at the San Francisco Examiner, and a correspondent at USA Today. Her work has appeared in Redbook, Life, Money, California Magazine, the anthology Fresh Takes, and elsewhere.