Next Meeting

Effective November 22, 2019, the St. Petersburg Writers Group is inactive. We hope meet again sometime in 2020.
Thank you for your interest.





Friday, August 16, 2019

September 19 ~

Cover Design:  Tips to Create a Cover on Your Own or to Prepare for Hiring a Designer
Speaker: Deb Von Cannon



This mini-course will cover the basic elements of cover design, how writers can develop their own basic cover and what should be prepared for and provided to a cover designer for-hire. The participants will have a hands-on experience of design elements, learn about some of the tools they can use to create their own covers and discuss a checklist of what to prepare should they decide to hire a cover designer.



Deb Von Cannon is an Army veteran and the small-business owner of Urban Artist Florida Studio LLC in St. Petersburg, Florida.  In 2019, two divisions were added: 1) ZoĆ«-Milles Publishing, to assist those needing technical assistance and writing services for their self-published works and 2) Forward Flight Photography, photo services for custom photography, author bio photos and the artist's private collection of work. Deb has designed over 15 book covers since 2017 for local-area authors in addition to creating a food-truck wrap design, custom logos, business cards and multiple fine art pieces. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies with a minor in Studio Art, and an A.A. in Drafting Technologies with over 14 years of drafting and design experience. She is currently working on a degree in English in preparation for graduate level studies at USF St. Petersburg. She lives in the Historic Kenwood District with her husband, Martin, and dog, Luna. Deb has been a member of the Artist Enclave Historic Kenwood (AEHK) since 2016. Her studio website can be viewed at www.urbanartistflorida.com.  She can be reached at deb@urbanartistflorida.com.

Monday, August 5, 2019

August 15th ~ Thursday

The Basics of Marketing

Speaker: Elle Andrews Patt


The Basics of Marketing will cover why and how to set up an author page at Facebook, boosting posts, targeted ads, autoresponders and the role of landing pages in email list creation, and highlight ad basics on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have a laptop or iPad, please come prepared to work. 

Elle Andrews Patt's short fiction has been published in online and print magazines such as Saw Palm, Solarcide, and The Rag, as well as several anthologies. She has won several RPLA awards in both short fiction and novel categories, and an honorable mention from The Writers of the Future for "Prelude To A Murder Conviction", which was originally published by DarkFuse Magazine. Her book-length work is represented by the Donald Maass Literary Agency. She blogs for the FWA on "The Writing Life", and speaks on the writing life and marketing basics for authors.