ACP Membership Meeting

This session should address how to effectively identify AI-generated images, how to recognize that you are using AI. This session is part of the Design and AI tracks. This session will be promoted as a crossover session for design, marketing, and editorial staff.

Art is a sacred calling, as we imitate our Creator in our creative endeavors, and by doing it well, we invite others into our creativity—people who could be drawn closer to the Lord through that creativity. A good book design should deliver in a glance the message an author unveils through their pages and chapters. In this session, Roseanna White will be discussing how book design is far more than a job—it’s a service to both authors and audience.

Speaker
Roseanna M. White
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy-award winning author of nearly 40 books. When not working on her own projects, she’s designing book covers and interiors for the WhiteFire Publishing Group and her freelance clients, working with some of the biggest names in Christian fiction when they have an indie project. With her experience as an author, editor, designer, and creative director of a publishing group, Roseanna brings a whole-industry approach to each task. You can learn more about her writing at www.RoseannaMWhite.com, her design work at www.RoseannaWhiteDesigns.com and the WhiteFire Publishing Group at www.WhiteFire-Publishing.com/READ.

In the book industry, there is nothing more important than audience engagement, and the way an author first captures that is through their visual elements—their book covers, website, and overall author branding. As book designers, our job is not just to make a beautiful book, but to help an author create a brand to serve them through their whole career. In this session, Roseanna White will bring her experience as both an author and designer to bear to discuss how to achieve successful, beautiful author branding.

Speaker
Roseanna M. White
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy-award winning author of nearly 40 books. When not working on her own projects, she’s designing book covers and interiors for the WhiteFire Publishing Group and her freelance clients, working with some of the biggest names in Christian fiction when they have an indie project. With her experience as an author, editor, designer, and creative director of a publishing group, Roseanna brings a whole-industry approach to each task. You can learn more about her writing at www.RoseannaMWhite.com, her design work at www.RoseannaWhiteDesigns.com and the WhiteFire Publishing Group at www.WhiteFire-Publishing.com/READ.

Here are three questions to address when dealing with an author (whether first-time or long-term):

• Whom is the proposed book for? How to get the author (and editors, designers, and marketing directors) to be as specific as possible in identifying its intended audience early on.
• Who will actually buy the book to give it to the ultimate reader? Is it a gift book? A programmatic book? A parish (or other institution) handout book? A book intended to be purchased directly by the intended reader?
• What is the author trying to persuade the reader to do or believe? Is it persuasive? Why? How?

Three recent ACTA non-fiction books will be used as examples. Samples of these books will be supplied for the session or can be purchased at www.actapublications.com:

• Such Dizzy Natural Happiness: A Long Loving Look at the Lord’s Prayer by Patrick Hannon
• Less Helping Them/More Healing You: The Transcendent Gift of an Ancient Spiritual Practice by Jean P. Kelly
• The Mole at Vatican Council II: The True Story of “Xavier Rynne” by Richard Zmuda

Speaker
Greg Pierce
Greg Pierce is currently the owner, CEO, editor, and publisher of ACTA Publications in Chicago. He has edited and published over 300 books and written 10 books of his own, including The World as It Should Be, The Mass Is Never Ended, and Reveille for a New Generation. He also spent 50 years as a community organizer, volunteer leader, and consultant with the Industrial Areas Foundation.

Because of his experience with my his own children and their friends, one of his passions is working with young adults between 20-40, mentoring them as they choose and pursue their careers and helping them learn to write persuasively and get their writing published.

 

This session should help identify practices for recruiting talent and skills to look for. This session may appeal to editors, editorial leaders, and authors.

Speakers
Ericka McIntyre, freelance editor
Ericka McIntyre is a freelance editor and writer who has run her editorial business, Ericka McIntyre Editing and Writing, since 2011. She has more than twenty years of experience in media and publishing, including roles as Editor-in-Chief and then Editor-at Large of Writer's Digest, and as Editor-in-Chief at Indiana University Press. She started in Catholic publishing in 2000 at Franciscan Media, and has worked with a variety of Catholic media and publishing organizations since, as an in-house editor and a freelancer. She served as Content Director for Jason’s Connection, an organization dedicated to advocacy for people with disabilities. In her current work, she focuses on editing and consulting for clients in both the indie and traditional and Catholic and secular publishing spaces. She lives on a homestead in southern Indiana with her husband, four cats, and two (very loud) geese. You can learn more about her at www.ErickaMcIntyre.com.

Shannon Wimp Schmidt, author

Shannon Wimp Schmidt is the Content Director for TENx10 Youth Ministry Collaboration, co-host of the Plaid Skirts and Basic Black podcast, and award-winning co-author of Fat Luther, Slim Pickin’s: A Black Catholic Celebration of Faith, Tradition, and Diversity (Ave Maria Press, 2022). A veteran pastoral minister, Shannon holds a bachelor’s degree in Theology from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters Degree in Pastoral Ministry from Catholic Theological Union. She also serves on the Board of Catholics United for Black Lives, a not-for-profit working for racial justice. Shannon lives in Chicagoland with her long-suffering husband, Eric, and their four beautiful children.

This session should appeal to editors and marketers. This session should address how can you parse what is a good use of AI in writing, when AI is helpful and not helpful, how to use AI well for translations, and talk about the practical implications of basic intellectual property concerns.

Speakers
David White, Chrism Press

David J. White, the visionary behind WhiteFire Publishing Group since 2005, has cultivated a vibrant community of storytellers, including a dedicated staff and authors who share a commitment to exploring the complexities of faith and humanity. Together, they seek out narratives that resonate deeply, highlighting the power of redemption and truth.

David's ambition to blend the art of storytelling with cutting-edge AI technologies drives the development of innovative tools at Classesforwriters.com and whitefireai.com. His dedication to advancing how stories are told and experienced not only reflects a quest for meaningful connections but also a desire to enrich readers' lives, inviting them to Anoint their Imagination with each page turned. Under his guidance, WhiteFire strives to illuminate the many ways in which faith, technology, and storytelling intersect, continually evolving to meet the reader's quest for authenticity and depth.

This session should help attendees better understand what the questions we need to be asking and the answers to the questions we currently have, and address legal/ethical issues of intellectual property issues.

Speaker: Craig Gipson, Flagler Law Group

This session should address how organizational culture has changed since the pandemic including the impact of remote/hybrid work environments. The session should include insights on managing different generations of workers and generational expectations. This session will be in 2 parts.

Speaker

Dr. Kathryn Scanland is an organizational process consultant who helps organizations maneuver through complex changes in leadership, strategy, or direction with finesse and compassion. She helps them design solutions that move their organization forward in ways that make organizational change sustainable.

Her introduction to Christian publishing began in the mid ‘90s as market research manager for Christianity Today. Throughout the following decades as a consultant, she worked with numerous Christian publishers and is currently the Board Chair for Baker Book House Company.

Kathryn works with a variety of purpose-driven organizations and is also an adjunct professor and instructional designer for Davenport University’s Institute for Professional Excellence. Her expertise is in strategic planning, change management, and leadership development.

This session should include insights into best practices for using social media and influencer marketing well.

Speaker: TBD

This session should address best practices on how to choose and use key words and metadata well.

Speaker: Bethany Olsen, I V Press

With the ever-evolving changes to privacy, targeting, and algorithms in the digital marketing landscape, serving ads to the Catholic audience has become even more challenging for authors, publishers, and businesses. In this session, you’ll learn the best practices 5 Stones uses as a Catholic marketing agency to reach Catholic audiences across an omnichannel digital ads strategy.

Speaker
Mary Kizior, 5 Stones
Mary Kizior is a marketing strategist at 5 Stones with 10 years of experience helping Catholic publishers and other content creators build their brands, gain exposure, grow their tribe, and sell more products. Specializing in e-commerce and digital media strategy, Mary is passionate about helping the Church in its mission of evangelization. When she’s not hands-to-keyboard, Mary enjoys gardening, hiking, and traveling.