{"id":1019,"date":"2026-04-07T18:53:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/?page_id=1019"},"modified":"2026-05-28T13:49:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:49:38","slug":"publishing-professionals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/chesapeake-writers-conference\/publishing-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Publishing Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Each year, we invite an array of publishing professionals to campus to talk about the publishing world. These folks participate in a panel discussion about publishing (how it works, how to break in, what not to do, etc.) and then are available for one-on-one meetings with conference participants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Panelists<\/strong><\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Rose Conway<\/a>, Literary Agent and Publishing Consultant <\/b><\/h3>\n

Rose empowers fiction authors through representation and nonfiction authors through strategic guidance to make informed publishing decisions. After years of witnessing authors navigate mounting obstacles in the publishing landscape with increasingly contradictory and inconsistent advice, Rose founded Foreword Literary Consulting, LLC as a trusted resource for strategic guidance. As an Agent with Confluence Literary Agency, Rose channels her consulting expertise into author representation. She builds fiction careers from the ground up, prioritizing quality writing and smart publishing partnerships over platform size or quick commissions. <\/span>Rose also serves on the board of directors of Sparrow Stories, a nonprofit that makes high-ticket ghostwriting accessible to community advocates and nonprofit leaders. She holds a Master’s in Publishing from London College of Communication and a Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>

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Gaby Iori<\/a>, Publicist and Podcaster <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Born and raised in North Carolina, Gaby Iori (pronounced eye-ori) has a BA in communications and film from UNC-Chapel Hill. Formerly in marketing and publicity at Quirk Books, she\u2019s now a freelance publicist working across genres and specializing in thoughtful, dynamic approaches to the rapidly changing world of media and publicity. She\u2019s also a producer and audio editor for pop culture podcasts under the Material Girls umbrella.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Crystal Oliver<\/a>, Moderator and Editor-in-Chief at EcoTheo Review<\/b><\/h3>\n

Crystal oversees the print and online publication of EcoTheo Review, which features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, interviews, reviews, and visual art exploring the intersections of ecology and belief. She is also the Director of the Chesapeake Writers\u2019 Conference and a professor at St. Mary\u2019s College of Maryland, where she teaches courses in creative writing, songwriting, cultural studies, women in music, and literature. A poet and songwriter, Crystal leads with a focus on literary citizenship, professional literacy, and the delight of multidisciplinary storytelling.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div>

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Callie Updike<\/a>, Director of Development and Publicity at Boa Editions<\/b><\/h3>\n

In this role, she oversees both the \u201cnonprofit\u201d in \u201cnonprofit poetry\u201d and the \u201cpublicity\u201d in \u201cpublicity.\u201d After earning her BA from Columbia University, she returned home to Rochester, NY, as an intern at Boa, leading her to a dream job that combines creative work with community building. When she isn\u2019t writing grant applications, sending review copies, or working on poetry of her own, you can find Callie singing outlaw country, watching film noir with her orange cat, or shooting darts (and missing).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each year, we invite an array of publishing professionals to campus to talk about the publishing world. These folks participate in a panel discussion about publishing (how it works, how to break in, what not to do, etc.) and then are available for one-on-one meetings with conference participants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":269,"featured_media":1061,"parent":927,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"full-width-content","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1019","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","entry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/269"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1019"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1134,"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1019\/revisions\/1134"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smcm.edu\/signature-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}