Kathryn Alexander
Kathryn Alexander is a college instructor in the fields of business, marketing, and social media, and an emerging author and filmmaker. She’s also the founder of The Social Wizard, a social media and marketing business, with past clients including John Gray (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus) and Deepak Chopra (Ageless Body, Timeless Mind). As the instructor of the Business Management and Social Media Marketing programs at CDI and Reeves College, Kathryn brings nearly a decade of hands-on marketing and business strategy experience to her informative workshops.
William Burleson
William Burleson is both an author and a publisher. He is the founder of Flexible Press, Minneapolis, a publisher of award-winning literary fiction. He is also the author of the novels, Ahnwee Days (2024 Blackwater Press) and The Women’s Knitting and Sci Fi Club (coming in 2027, Running Wild Press); the short story collection Rory’s Not That Guy … and Other Tales from Middle America (2026 Blackwater Press); and the nonfiction, Bi America (2005 Haworth Press). His writing has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers, and journals.
Sam Hiyate
Sam Hiyate is keen to discover new voices and help writers prepare their works for market, and to help them build lasting careers. In the past two decades with THE RIGHTS FACTORY his hundreds of book deals have resulted in several bestsellers such as MORE, the memoir by Molly Roden Winter, THIS ONE SUMMER, the graphic novel by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, non-fiction such as HEALTHY AF (DITCH THE DIET) by Oonagh Duncan and THE MYTH of CAPITALISM by Jonathan Tepper and Denise Hearn, and fiction such as GIRLS IN WHITE DRESSES by Jennifer Close and THE ADULT by Bronwyn Fischer. Interested in: Business, Commercial Upmarket Fiction, Crime, Cross-Genre, Graphica, Food, Health, Lifestyle, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Self-Improvement, Thriller.
Gregory A. Kompes
Gregory A. Kompes (MFA, MS Ed.), founder of The Writer Workshop, is an award winning, bestselling writer of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He’s authored Shards, as well as the Broadway series: Flash Mob, The Middle Man, Tamburlaine, Obsequies, and Busker. Gregory is a MFA thesis advisor at Southern New Hampshire University. Kompes.com
Rick Newberry
Rick Newberry regards Las Vegas as a unique setting for his works of fiction. A resident since 2001, Mr. Newberry writes various genres including crime, mystery, and paranormal. His latest novel, Libby, is a time travel thriller and has received international acclaim. Mr. Newberry is currently working on a suspense series that takes place in and around Las Vegas. It features Christian St. John as a no-nonsense investigator who finds a way to solve cases when law enforcement is stumped. He is known as The Problem Solver.
Judy Pearson
Judy Pearson is a best-selling author, an accomplished presenter, and a graduate of Michigan State University. But her favorite title is “story teller,” with a little “research junkie” thrown in. Those characteristics have resulted in six biographies, including award-winners and a best-seller. Her last three books won a Nautilus Gold Award, a bronze Florida Book Award, and a gold Florida Book Award. Her current work in progress is a novel set in her favorite era. An accomplished presenter, Judy has turned her books’ subjects into presentations viewed by thousands in the U.S. and the U.K. She was named one of Chicago’s Most Inspirational Women, named a Phoenix Healthcare Hero, and the Honorary Chair of the Education & Libraries and Health & Wellness committees of the Greater Federation of Women’s Clubs.
Vanessa Riley
Vanessa Riley is an acclaimed author known for captivating novels such as Island Queen, a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, and Queen of Exiles, an ABC View Lit Pick. She was honored as the 2024 Georgia Mystery/Detective Author of the year for Murder in Drury Lane and the 2023 Georgia Literary Fiction Author of the Year for Sister Mother Warrior. Her craft highlights hidden narratives of power, love, and sisterhoods of Black women and women of color in historical fiction, romance, and mystery genres. Her works have received praise from publications like the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and the New York Times.
Sherri Rosenthal
Sherri Rosenthal earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of California, San Diego as well as a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Literature. She is a tenured English professor at the College of Southern Nevada, where she earned the prestigious Excellence in Online Teaching Award and co-authored two Holocaust memoirs. A published author of short stories, essays, and poems, she is an active member of the Henderson and Sin City Writers Groups. A former Fulbright Lecturer at the University of Barcelona, she is fluent in Spanish.
Jennifer Vance
Jennifer Vance can (and does) do it all — from publicity to digital marketing to design, her passion for representing stories in the most strategic way possible shines through in her enthusiastic and thoughtful interactions with authors. She often shares her expertise when speaking with writers groups and leading workshops at book conferences. Her interest in a wide variety of genres benefits our Books Forward authors, as she thinks creatively about everything from true crime to powerful memoirs to nostalgic young adult fiction. She spends time personally connecting with each author’s story and thinking about the best way to make their particular work sparkle.
Jean Widner
Jean Widner brings clarity and compassion to a subject often wrapped in silence and misconception. With a background as a marketing consultant and joint venture affiliate marketing expert, she and her husband have built and sold two successful e-commerce companies. She also owns a local news and storytelling blog in Boulder City, Nevada, where her love of writing continues to grow. After extensive research, she invites readers to see adoption, through her writing, not as a simple narrative of rescue or loss-but as a layered, human experience that deserves honesty, empathy, and ethical reflection.
Wendy Wimmer
Wendy Wimmer is the author of the short story collection Entry Level, selected by Deesha Philyaw as the winner of the Autumn House Fiction Prize. Her debut novel, The Doomscroller’s Companion, a finalist for the James Alan McPherson Prize, will be published in Fall 2026 by University of Wisconsin Press. She holds an MFA from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and a PhD from the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, both in creative writing. She lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin and posts sporadically at www.wendywimmer.com.
Justin Trevor Winters
Justin Trevor Winters is the co-founder and CEO of Verified Labs, a Web3 Agency, Studio, and Consulting Firm that specializes in connecting talent and brands to the future of entertainment with a focus on producing and distributing film, TV, animation, video games, and digital collectibles. His clients include the Estates of Ernest Hemingway, Steve McQueen and Tupac Shakur as well as Napolean Dynamite, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Triumph Motorcycles.