Michael Mehas, an author and attorney, who helped Nick Cassavetes write the screenplay Alpha Dog. His most recent novel “Stolen Boy” is based on a true life crime and a death penalty trial in Santa Barbara. The book has garnered the IPPY Gold Medal for fiction, the 2007 Book of the Year Award from Books-And-Authors.net, and first place from the Public Safety Writers Association for best novel.  He’ll speak at 1:30 p.m.

“How to Research and Pitch a Publisher” will be one of the topics taught by Writer’s Digest instructor, writer and lecturer Marilyn Meredith. Meredith is the author of the Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series and the Rocky Bluff P.D. series. Meredith will also lead a seminar on self-promotion for the writer. Whether self-published, represented by an agent, or un-published, Meredith will help authors understand and plan their own promotions. Researching and Pitching Publishers will be at 10 a.m., Promotion at 2:30 p.m.

Sunny Frazier - “I believe the days of agents and large advances are ending. Writers shouldn’t see the attitude of large publishing as restrictive because it has opened up outlets that have never existed before,” Frazier added. Frazier’s short stories have won over 30 awards and can be found in anthologies “Valley Fever,” “Seven By Seven,” and “Never Safe.” Her first novel, “Fools Rush In,” won the Public Safety Writers Best Novel Award in 2007. She’ll speak at 2:30 p.m