July 20, 2023 • 10 mins
The producer of the Kauai Writers Conference gives tips for attending conferences and the benefits writers get by involved in face-to-face sessions with authors, agents, and editors.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hello everyone, and welcome to thewriter's class. Y'all, just let you
have the whole thing. I didn'tbet here quietly, I'm Jade, and
I will know to dem as weswitched both today. I know, well
that is what it is. Sowhy but you? I thought you're a
cute in this world, and ofcourse I do because I mean, all
right, y'all, you may nothave as much energy. Yeah, we
(00:24):
have at all day like seminar conferencethat, so we don't have a dim
energy. But we didn't write somebooks. So and I thought the voice
was bad with other life lessons,and I thought being grown up was easy.
Only y'all with mea membo verse andgoing coffee and whittles website all available
when you get your audiobooks, oryou can find out the other books like
(00:44):
and I thought I did my joiningalong your favorite book. You can find
out everything. You're easy doing awww dot and I thought ladies dot com.
But y'all on here to hear aboutit. You're here to hear about
our wonderful gas. Wonderful gas.Would you like to introduce your south Hello,
I'm David Katz. I'm the directorof the Kawai Writers conference. It
is an annual event held every Novemberon the beautiful island of Kawai at the
(01:11):
Royal Semester Kawai Resort. It featuresa faculty of about forty leading authors and
literary agents and publishers. People comefrom all over the world to improve their
their writing and to get published.So to get published that I want to
(01:36):
say, I wanted to ask first. I want to make a comment comments.
So one of the reasons I haveasked you to be on the show
is because everyone I talked to lastyear seemed to be coming to this conference.
Yes, on Earth, do youalways seem to attract the best of
the best and then you always endup in really cool photos with them.
I'm a little jealous. I thinkthe secret of our success is that it's
(02:00):
that it's on Kauai. Everybody likesto come here. It's beautiful. If
we were trying, if we weretrying to do this and I don't know,
some Midwestern city or something, forgetit, you know. But the
word has spread that not only isit, you know, a serious event
(02:21):
with the highest quality presenters, butit's in an incredibly beautiful spot. It
is it is I have to Ihave to admit it. The first time
I heard about it, I waslike in Hawaii, like in Kawai,
that's amazing. I'm jealous. Andthen I was like, oh, okay,
that's just one person and I havehearing it and I was like,
nope, got to know more about, to know more about. So how
(02:43):
long does day? Did you havea question or no? So how long
has this been going on? Theconference? And what can people expect?
It's been going on for nine years. Next year will be our ten year
anniversary. It is divided into twosections. The first it's seven days altogether.
(03:07):
The first four days are a seriesof master classes on all different aspects
of the craft of writing and alsosome on the business side of writing.
And then the next three days arethe conference itself, where there's a whole
variety of talks, panel discussions,workshops, and also one on one sessions
(03:36):
with literary agents. Oh very Iwouldn't know. How long does it take
to put this together? Well,it's kind of hard to say, but
it's been it's been going for allthese years, so you know, it's
a constantly rolling process of new facultycommunity hating with us and wanting to be
(04:02):
part of it and sometimes we'll sayyes, there's a spot or well how
about next year that sort of thing. So it's an ongoing thing. Oh
so yeah, I was wondering ifyou refresh to all. I was like,
oh, I was one of yourefreshed all forty speakers because sometimes I
see like great speakers and they comeback again the next year. So you
(04:24):
have people that fly in from aroundthe world. Now hear the question,
I'm not advertising. Oh yeah,how do you do that marketing and doing
that advertising? Because that's massive.Um, it's always kind of a mystery
to me how people hear about it. But mostly it's by word of mouth.
(04:45):
Mostly it's from people that have attendedin the past, of which there
are thousands by now, and theytell their friends that it was great,
you should go. So then youknow, we'll get people signing up from
the Netherlands or Australia or of coursemost are from within the US, but
from all over the place. Andsomething I would say probably about a third
(05:13):
are repeat visitors and the people thathave been there in the past, and
two thirds are new people who heardabout it. And we try to spread
the word on places like Facebook andInstagram. UM. But I I really
think it's mostly friends telling friends.Yeah we have We're gonna need to use
(05:36):
that more often. I'm not quitesure how to build up world of word
of mouth, the grassroots movement.Oh goodness, yeah, I think that's
what it is. And the dependabilityand dependab litility of having a great um
backwards every year, that is justamazing and it's got to be hard to
(05:58):
do. So is it shoot andcharge of this or do you have a
lot of people under you or workingwith you? Oh, there's a whole
team of people, each work ondifferent aspects of it. One person works
on the weekly online sessions that wehave, one person is the web designer,
one person is in charge of ourbook sales table. And we have
(06:20):
a whole team of about let's saya dozen people that help out with different
aspects of it. No. Itold the question that I think both of
us want to know. Okay,sure, because we are big on this.
Is there food included with this conference? Yes, there's there's delicious food.
(06:41):
Yes. Ye we share breakfast andlunch each day. Oh see,
now we want to go. Imean Hawaii had we But I was like,
is there food? Right? Becauseif there's not food at all besides
I'm Kuhi and then back to MAUI. True, I shouldn't be too that
additive. Yeah, I don't knowwhy we're planning on coming, but you
(07:03):
have us excited. We're like,I think we should get a take.
So this year, is there anyword spaces for people to sign up and
to come to this wonderful seminar andone of some people that film faculty that
you are highlighting this year? Yes, there is there is space. Some
of the master classes are almost full, but the conference itself still has plenty
(07:27):
of room. Um. I thinkthe limiting factor is rooms at the resort.
We have pretty much the whole resortbooked, and once that is full,
then people need to stay at othernearby hotels. Right now, I
think it's probably about two thirds fullalready coming November. Yeah, this is
(07:49):
gonna be amazing. Yeah. Howmany people normally come again? Best last
year there were about three hundred andfifty. Oh, I was very enjoyed.
Well that's it's nice and small enoughand intimate enough to really learn something.
My next question is a bit ofa selfish question before all the people
(08:09):
out here, that all the authorsout here that are listening to this right
now, I know what everyone wantsto know is how to become a member
on the faculty, because after yousaid, you said it is in Kauhai,
and you know we all are tryingto go someplace lovely to speak.
Well. Becoming a member of thefaculty, we were very selective about it.
(08:33):
We look for people who are bothexcellent authors and also excellent teachers,
and those two things don't always gotogether. In fact, I say more
often than not they don't. Justbecause someone is a great writer doesn't make
them a great speaker or a greatteacher. So we ask for opinions of
(08:56):
their peers, of their colleagues.Okay, well we all know this person's
writing, but have you ever heardthem teach to a large group? How
are they? And we only invitepeople who get high marks in both of
those categories. Oh wow, Ohwell that is fact. So I'm going
(09:16):
to put it on my bucket listto speak there around when I'm seventy years
old. That's great food, soa good location. The next fifty some
years or so, we'll be therewith it. So where can people find
out more information about a conference andsupport you? We encourage everybody to come
(09:39):
to our website, which is easyto remember. Kawai Writers Conference dot Com.
Fabulous. Thank you so very muchfor coming on. I know you
said you have another fall so andI know you're very very busy, but
I want to thank you so muchfor taking the time out of your day
to come on and to be onour show. It's been awesome to have.
(10:00):
If we can't make it to Kauhi, we've had a little piece of
Kawhi make it to us. Sothank you. Thank you for having me.
It was nice chatting with you both, and all the best to you.
Thank you. Do you want towrap up? Absolutely? You can
find out everything your ladies are doingon www dot and I thought Ladies dot
com while you're there to take amoment because the middle of the patients,
he's the charities that we probably support. Maybe you can support them also.
(10:20):
We think you're in the vands forthat. And just remember, y'all,
wisdom is all around you if you'reupen to finding it and accepting it's a
piece of love you guys from Wilmonaand Jade Bye bye, oh yeah,
thanks for listening.
Hello everyone, and welcome to thewriter's class. Y'all, just let you
have the whole thing. I didn'tbet here quietly, I'm Jade, and
I will know to dem as weswitched both today. I know, well
that is what it is. Sowhy but you? I thought you're a
cute in this world, and ofcourse I do because I mean, all
right, y'all, you may nothave as much energy. Yeah, we
(00:24):
have at all day like seminar conferencethat, so we don't have a dim
energy. But we didn't write somebooks. So and I thought the voice
was bad with other life lessons,and I thought being grown up was easy.
Only y'all with mea membo verse andgoing coffee and whittles website all available
when you get your audiobooks, oryou can find out the other books like
(00:44):
and I thought I did my joiningalong your favorite book. You can find
out everything. You're easy doing awww dot and I thought ladies dot com.
But y'all on here to hear aboutit. You're here to hear about
our wonderful gas. Wonderful gas.Would you like to introduce your south Hello,
I'm David Katz. I'm the directorof the Kawai Writers conference. It
is an annual event held every Novemberon the beautiful island of Kawai at the
(01:11):
Royal Semester Kawai Resort. It featuresa faculty of about forty leading authors and
literary agents and publishers. People comefrom all over the world to improve their
their writing and to get published.So to get published that I want to
(01:36):
say, I wanted to ask first. I want to make a comment comments.
So one of the reasons I haveasked you to be on the show
is because everyone I talked to lastyear seemed to be coming to this conference.
Yes, on Earth, do youalways seem to attract the best of
the best and then you always endup in really cool photos with them.
I'm a little jealous. I thinkthe secret of our success is that it's
(02:00):
that it's on Kauai. Everybody likesto come here. It's beautiful. If
we were trying, if we weretrying to do this and I don't know,
some Midwestern city or something, forgetit, you know. But the
word has spread that not only isit, you know, a serious event
(02:21):
with the highest quality presenters, butit's in an incredibly beautiful spot. It
is it is I have to Ihave to admit it. The first time
I heard about it, I waslike in Hawaii, like in Kawai,
that's amazing. I'm jealous. Andthen I was like, oh, okay,
that's just one person and I havehearing it and I was like,
nope, got to know more about, to know more about. So how
(02:43):
long does day? Did you havea question or no? So how long
has this been going on? Theconference? And what can people expect?
It's been going on for nine years. Next year will be our ten year
anniversary. It is divided into twosections. The first it's seven days altogether.
(03:07):
The first four days are a seriesof master classes on all different aspects
of the craft of writing and alsosome on the business side of writing.
And then the next three days arethe conference itself, where there's a whole
variety of talks, panel discussions,workshops, and also one on one sessions
(03:36):
with literary agents. Oh very Iwouldn't know. How long does it take
to put this together? Well,it's kind of hard to say, but
it's been it's been going for allthese years, so you know, it's
a constantly rolling process of new facultycommunity hating with us and wanting to be
(04:02):
part of it and sometimes we'll sayyes, there's a spot or well how
about next year that sort of thing. So it's an ongoing thing. Oh
so yeah, I was wondering ifyou refresh to all. I was like,
oh, I was one of yourefreshed all forty speakers because sometimes I
see like great speakers and they comeback again the next year. So you
(04:24):
have people that fly in from aroundthe world. Now hear the question,
I'm not advertising. Oh yeah,how do you do that marketing and doing
that advertising? Because that's massive.Um, it's always kind of a mystery
to me how people hear about it. But mostly it's by word of mouth.
(04:45):
Mostly it's from people that have attendedin the past, of which there
are thousands by now, and theytell their friends that it was great,
you should go. So then youknow, we'll get people signing up from
the Netherlands or Australia or of coursemost are from within the US, but
from all over the place. Andsomething I would say probably about a third
(05:13):
are repeat visitors and the people thathave been there in the past, and
two thirds are new people who heardabout it. And we try to spread
the word on places like Facebook andInstagram. UM. But I I really
think it's mostly friends telling friends.Yeah we have We're gonna need to use
(05:36):
that more often. I'm not quitesure how to build up world of word
of mouth, the grassroots movement.Oh goodness, yeah, I think that's
what it is. And the dependabilityand dependab litility of having a great um
backwards every year, that is justamazing and it's got to be hard to
(05:58):
do. So is it shoot andcharge of this or do you have a
lot of people under you or workingwith you? Oh, there's a whole
team of people, each work ondifferent aspects of it. One person works
on the weekly online sessions that wehave, one person is the web designer,
one person is in charge of ourbook sales table. And we have
(06:20):
a whole team of about let's saya dozen people that help out with different
aspects of it. No. Itold the question that I think both of
us want to know. Okay,sure, because we are big on this.
Is there food included with this conference? Yes, there's there's delicious food.
(06:41):
Yes. Ye we share breakfast andlunch each day. Oh see,
now we want to go. Imean Hawaii had we But I was like,
is there food? Right? Becauseif there's not food at all besides
I'm Kuhi and then back to MAUI. True, I shouldn't be too that
additive. Yeah, I don't knowwhy we're planning on coming, but you
(07:03):
have us excited. We're like,I think we should get a take.
So this year, is there anyword spaces for people to sign up and
to come to this wonderful seminar andone of some people that film faculty that
you are highlighting this year? Yes, there is there is space. Some
of the master classes are almost full, but the conference itself still has plenty
(07:27):
of room. Um. I thinkthe limiting factor is rooms at the resort.
We have pretty much the whole resortbooked, and once that is full,
then people need to stay at othernearby hotels. Right now, I
think it's probably about two thirds fullalready coming November. Yeah, this is
(07:49):
gonna be amazing. Yeah. Howmany people normally come again? Best last
year there were about three hundred andfifty. Oh, I was very enjoyed.
Well that's it's nice and small enoughand intimate enough to really learn something.
My next question is a bit ofa selfish question before all the people
(08:09):
out here, that all the authorsout here that are listening to this right
now, I know what everyone wantsto know is how to become a member
on the faculty, because after yousaid, you said it is in Kauhai,
and you know we all are tryingto go someplace lovely to speak.
Well. Becoming a member of thefaculty, we were very selective about it.
(08:33):
We look for people who are bothexcellent authors and also excellent teachers,
and those two things don't always gotogether. In fact, I say more
often than not they don't. Justbecause someone is a great writer doesn't make
them a great speaker or a greatteacher. So we ask for opinions of
(08:56):
their peers, of their colleagues.Okay, well we all know this person's
writing, but have you ever heardthem teach to a large group? How
are they? And we only invitepeople who get high marks in both of
those categories. Oh wow, Ohwell that is fact. So I'm going
(09:16):
to put it on my bucket listto speak there around when I'm seventy years
old. That's great food, soa good location. The next fifty some
years or so, we'll be therewith it. So where can people find
out more information about a conference andsupport you? We encourage everybody to come
(09:39):
to our website, which is easyto remember. Kawai Writers Conference dot Com.
Fabulous. Thank you so very muchfor coming on. I know you
said you have another fall so andI know you're very very busy, but
I want to thank you so muchfor taking the time out of your day
to come on and to be onour show. It's been awesome to have.
(10:00):
If we can't make it to Kauhi, we've had a little piece of
Kawhi make it to us. Sothank you. Thank you for having me.
It was nice chatting with you both, and all the best to you.
Thank you. Do you want towrap up? Absolutely? You can
find out everything your ladies are doingon www dot and I thought Ladies dot
com while you're there to take amoment because the middle of the patients,
he's the charities that we probably support. Maybe you can support them also.
(10:20):
We think you're in the vands forthat. And just remember, y'all,
wisdom is all around you if you'reupen to finding it and accepting it's a
piece of love you guys from Wilmonaand Jade Bye bye, oh yeah,
thanks for listening.
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