"Thank you for putting together a fun and informative event in the form of the first ever "Business of Pet Writing Conference." I met so many wonderful dog writers that I know I will stay in touch with, and was very happy with the editor and agent connections made as well. The piece de la resistance for me was the panel which provided a direct line for information needed for many articles I will be writing."

- Denise Fleck, Instructor and Freelance Writer

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Host:
     
Charlotte Reed, Pet Expert and author, The Miss Fido Manners
                               Complete Book of Dog Etiquette


Speakers:
     Peggy Sansevieri, Marketing Experts, Inc.
     Michael Schaffer, Author of One Nation Under Dog (Henry                                    Holt and Co.)
     Harold Underdown, Author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to
                                      Publishing Children's Books
                                      (Penguin Group (USA) Inc.)

     Wilda Williams, Library Journal

Agent Panel:
     Michelle Brower, Folio Literary Management
     Meredith Hays, Fine Print Literary
     Laura Wood, FinePrint Literary Management

Magazine Panel:
     Bud Boccone, AKC Publications
     Gregg Oehler, Oehler Media

Agents:
     Michelle Brower, Folio Literary Management
     Meredith Hays, Fine Print Literary
     Laura Wood, FinePrint Literary Management

Editors:
     Wayne Barr, Barrons Educational Series
     Mara Bovsun, AKC Gazette/Family dog
     Natalie Ann Comeau, Dogs in Canada
     Dana Cox, Animal Wellness
     Andrew DePrisco, Bowtie Press, Kennel Club Books
     Allan Reznik, Dogs In Review
     Holly Rubino, Lyons Press
     Charlene Woodward, Dogwise
     Larry Woodward, Dogwise

Publisher:
     Gregg Oehler, Oehler Media

Photographer:
     Mary Bloom, Mary Bloom Photography




Wayne Barr
Wayne Barr is the sole Acquisitions Editor at Barron's Educational Series. Over 75 of the many titles he has acquired at Barron's have been canine pet books, including a new series called Barron's Breed Bibles. Wayne is an attorney who, during his legal publishing career, served as editor-in-chief and publisher.




Mary Bloom
Mary Bloom has been a professional photo-grapher focusing on the bond between people and animals, especially dogs, since 1978. Her photographs have appeared in numerous publications including Life, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and a variety of other publications. Ms. Bloom has been an official Westminster Kennel Club photographer since 1995. Her studio is located in upstate New York.




Bud Boccone
Bud Boccone, a native and resident of Brooklyn, New York, is an editor-writer-illustrator for AKC Publications. His work has won several honors from the Dog Writers Association of America, including the 2007 "Best Column" award for his "ACE Files" stories in AKC Family Dog. In previous lives Bud was a writer-illustrator for Baseball America and Theater Week magazines, and was twice honored by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets for excellence in comedy writing and directing.




Mara Bovsun
Mara Bovsun is the features editor for the AKC Gazette and AKC Family Dog. She lives in New York City with her husband Michael, and two rescue dogs, Maggie, the Lab, and Lisa, the Leonberger.







Michelle Brower
Michelle Brower is an agent with Folio Literary Management, and was formerly an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates. She has a Master's Degree in English Literature, and represents a wide range of quality fiction and non-fiction. She has worked on Mieshelle Nagelschneider's Through the Eyes of a Cat (Bantam Dell), Elia Anie's Evil Penguins (Simon Spotlight) and Novella Carpenter's Farm City (Penguin Press).




Lynn F. Buzhardt, DVM
For 30 years, Dr. Lynn Buzhardt has cared for dogs and cats in her Zachary, LA veterinary hospital. She has over 25 years of experience working with the FDA in new drug development and has served as national spokesperson for major animal health companies on key issues of concern to pet owners working with major news outlets including TV, radio and print media. Dr. Buzhardt, along with Dr. Sue Steib, authored a book entitled "Can We Have One? A Parent's Guide to Raising Kids with Cats and Dogs. They also have 2 children's books ready for publication.

Dr. Buzhardt serves on the Louisiana Pet Overpopulation Committee, the East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Committee and is a board member of the American Heartworm Society.




Natalie Ann Comeau
Born and raised in Montreal, Natalie studied Animal Health in the faculty of Natural Science at Vanier College. She then spent 10 years working at Dog Guides Canada where, as Manager of Breeding and Puppy Development, she was responsible for the largest working dog breeding program in Canada. In 2007, she decided to devote herself to writing on a full-time basis and studied writing and editing at Ryerson University and the University of Toronto while working as a freelance magazine writer. Natalie specializes in stories about working dogs and has been published in Reader's Digest Canada and Dogs in Canada, where she is currently a contributing editor.




Dana Cox
Dana Cox is the Editor-in-chief, Redstone Media Group. She founded Animal Wellness Magazine 11 years ago after adopting a sickly Siberian husky who literally showed up at her door. While others encouraged her to get rid of the husky because of the dog's health and behavior issues, Dana was able to turn her health around through integrative methods and positive training. Her experience made her realize there were few such resources available, so she founded the magazine to help empower others to improve their animals' quality of life. Since that time, the publisher has added Equine Wellness and Feline Wellness to its roster of magazines, as well as specialty publications, including The Pet Food Report. Before founding the company, Dana worked as a senior creative executive for major advertising and marketing agencies, where she earned numerous awards for her work. She and her whole family, which includes a husky/shepherd, a Shih-poo, and a DSH calico cat, have long embraced an integrative approach to health and lifestyle.




Andrew DePrisco
Andrew DePrisco is the Editor-in-Chief and Creative Director of Kennel Club Books and BowTie Press, both divisions of BowTie, Inc. Andrew has been in the dog publishing world for over twenty years. He began his career in dog books at T.F.H. Publications in 1987 where he remained for over ten years. In 1997 he was hired as Editor for the European pet-publishing Animalia, Ltd. In 2003 he began Kennel Club Books and has served as its Editor in Chief since its inception. He is the author of more than ten books on dogs and cats, including the Benjamin Franklin award-winner Woof! A Gay Man's Guide to Dogs and several DWAA nominated titles, including Canine Lexicon, Choosing a Dog for Life, and A New Owner's Guide to Training the Perfect Puppy.




Sharon Granskog
Sharon has more than 20 years experience placing veterinarians on radio, television and in print. Over the years, Sharon has worked with all three major television news networks, CNN, CNN Headline News, National Public Radio, newspapers in all fifty states, and national magazines such as Time, Newsweek and National Geographic. In addition, she coordinated award winning crisis communications programs for Hurricane Katrina and the pet food recall as well as developing a number of new award winning communications outreach tools.




Meredith Hays
Meredith Hays began her publishing career at Houghton Mifflin in Boston, MA assisting with the production of The American Heritage Dictionary. In the early nineties she moved to New York and took her first job at an agency, Writers House, where she worked in the subsidiary rights department while cultivating a select client list of her own. Next, she worked for two years as a Junior Associate at Linda Chester & Associates and then as an agent with Judith Ehrlich Literary Management. She's now happily part of FinePrint Literary Management where she represents both fiction and nonfiction projects (www.fineprintlit.com).




Jason Merrihew
Jason Merrihew, a graduate of the University of Nebraska, is the communications coordinator for the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), the only organization that accredits companion animal hospitals in the US and Canada. An active member in the community, Jason volunteers for the Make-A-Wish, Give Kids the World Village, the Children's Hospital and the AAHA Helping Pets Fund. When he is not working, Jason enjoys spending time with his wife, Dallas, and their silly cats, Rembrandt and Rinaldo.




Gregg Oehler
As a 30-year publishing executive, Gregg has been involved in over 50 magazine start-ups. Gregg also is president of Oehler Media Inc., a publishing, marketing and advertising firm based in New York City.

He has appeared on "Good Morning America," CBS's "The Early Show,"NBC's "The Today Show", "Dateline" on NBC, "Jane's New York," CNN, "Fox & Friends," and "Martha Stewart Apprentice."

He is publisher of MDC's Blue Book, his other clients have been as Executive Director of www.DoggedHealth.com, and V.P of FIDO Friendly magazine.

As former publisher of The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog magazines and media director of New York City's first annual Pet Fashion Week 2006,Gregg has a great deal of experience covering pet industry trends and the lives of celebrity pet owners.

A proud father to his Boston Terrier, Gracie, Gregg continues to be involved in all aspects of the pet industry.




Charlotte Reed
Charlotte Reed is the ultimate pet industry insider. Renowned for her pet know-how, energy and wit, she is a popular television guest, journalist, and spokesperson. Her new book, The Miss Fido Manners Complete Book of Dog Etiquette: The Definitive Guide to Manners for People and their Pets (Adams Media) hit stores in July, 2007. She owns the Two Dogs & A Goat Incorporated, the most comprehensive pet care provider in Manhattan taking care of dogs, cats and birds. She serves on the New York State Veterinary Board and as a Board Member of Angel on a Leash. Reed is a member of the Dog Writers Association of American, English Toy Spaniel Club and the Junior League of the City of New York. Reed graduated from Fordham Law School and lives with a family of four dogs, three cats and one parrot.




Allan Reznik
Allan Reznik has been immersed in the world of purebred dogs - as a breeder, dog-show exhibitor, handler, award-winning print and broadcast journalist, and occasional judge - for more than three decades. He is Editor-at-Large for Dog World and Dog Fancy magazines, and Editor-in-Chief of Dogs in Review magazine. In February 2008, he was named Best Editorial Columnist of the Year by the Alliance of Purebred Dog Writers. Before being headhunted and relocating to California in 2002, Allan was Editor-in-Chief of Dogs in Canada magazine, which was voted Best All-Breed Magazine for two consecutive years by the Dog Writers' Association of America while under his stewardship. Allan was one of the three celebrity judges on the successful CBS TV reality series, "Greatest American Dog."




Penny Sansevieri
Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. Her company researched, developed and implemented the first comprehensive Internet publicity campaign called The Virtual Author Tour™.




Michael Schaffer
A former writer and editor for The Philadelphia Inquirer, US News and World Report, and Washington City Paper, Michael Schaffer has written national politics, foreign affairs, and American culture. In 2006, Schaffer decided to go in a different direction, beginning his research on a book about the vast changes in how Americans care for and live with their pets-a look, most importantly, at what those changes mean about us. The resulting book, One Nation Under Dog, published by Henry Holt, has been praised as "informative, entertaining, and sobering" (the Washington Post), "essential reading" (Publishers Weekly), and "Doggone entertaining" (Kirkus Reviews). A graduate of Columbia University who today writes for outlets including The New Republic, Slate, and The Daily Beast, Schaffer lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Keltie Hawkins, their daughter Eleanor, and their pets, Murphy the Saint Bernard and Amelia the black cat.




Stephanie Specchio
Stephanie Specchio is the director of communications at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine. She is responsible for the integrated marketing communications program at the college, joining the team 2 years ago. Stephanie has managed marketing and communications offices for higher education since 1994, coordinating activities that include the production of electronic and print publications, media relations, advertising, photography, public relations, social networking, and crisis communications.




Harold Underdown
Harold Underdown is a freelance editorial consultant. He has worked at Macmillan, Orchard, and Charlesbridge, and has experience in trade and educational publishing. He is also the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Children's Book Publishing and runs "The Purple Crayon," a web site with information about children's book publishing at www.underdown.org.




Wilda Williams
Wilda Williams is a veteran book review editor at Library Journal, the oldest independent professional library publication in the country. She currently assigns books for review in the following categories: pet care, animal husbandry and agriculture, sciences and natural history. She has a Master's Degree in Library Science from the University of Alabama, and her first library job was handling interlibrary loan requests at the American Museum of Natural History. Having grown up with Sealyham terriers and German shepherds, Wilda has now become a ailurophile, seduced by a gray-and-white tuxedo named Felix.




Laura Wood
With over twenty years in the publishing industry, Laura Wood was most recently Associate Publisher of Council Oak Books, an independent book publisher, where she was published DONKEY: THE MYSTIQUE OF EQUUS ASINUS, SANCTUARY: GLOBAL OASES OF INNOCENCE, and KINSHIP WITH ANIMALS. Previously Wood was Manager Merchandising for Barnes&Noble.com where she was the buyer for Science & Nature and Home & Garden, which includes the category Pets. As a literary agent with FinePrint Literary Management, Wood is interested in handling projects with an animal angle.




Charlene Woodward
Prior to establishing Direct Book Services, Charlene Woodward had a background in managing non-profit corporations. In 1986, she created Direct Book Services with her husband, Larry, as a special order book retailer that catered to schools, technical libraries, and individuals with unusual book-buying needs. At the time, the Company did not cater to dog enthusiasts. Eventually, Charlene discovered that dog owers wanted quality canine books that were difficult to find. With the encouragement of her dog-owning customers, the Company started selling books at dog shows in the Pacific Northwest. Now, the business has a specialty team in place that sells books around the country at dog shows. Additionally, to meet the needs of people who do not attend dog shows, the Company created a mail order catalog. That particular strategy has evolved into an active e-commerce site www.Dogwise.com.




Larry Woodward
Larry Woodward is the president of Direct Book Service Incorporated and the chief content editor for its Dogwise Publishing division. He has been involved in the world of dog books for over 20 years at Dogwise, both in its retail operation and publishing arm. He has worked on 20 plus projects over the past five years, including several books which have won awards from the Dog Writer's Association including /Oh Behave!/ by Jean Donaldson and /An Eye for a Dog /by Robert Cole. His most recent editing projects were /The Thinking Dog/ by Gail Foster and /Chill Out Fido!/ by Nan Arthur.