Keynote Speaker

Jane Friedman

Publishing industry reporter and founder, The Bottom Line

Jane Friedman (she/her) has spent her entire career in the book publishing industry, with a focus on trend reporting and author education. She is the founder and editor of The Bottom Line, a weekly publishing industry newsletter, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2023. Her latest book is The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (University of Chicago Press, 2025), which received a starred review from Library Journal. In addition to serving on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund, she works with organizations such as The Authors Guild to bring transparency to the business of publishing. Learn more at JaneFriedman.com.

Akiko Neumann

Panelist | Production Designer, Chronicle Books

Akiko Neumann (she/her) is a production designer in children’s publishing at Chronicle Books. She works between the realms of in-house design and overseas manufacturing, shepherding the book in its transition from a digital layout to a physical object. Specializing in color management, experimental ink processes, and prepress, Akiko has worked with Caldecott-winning illustrators as well as color-critical licensing partners such as LEGO and Studio Ghibli. Off-hours, she applies this same skillset to her own book and zine projects on Risograph.

Alan Harvey

Panelist | Director, Stanford University Press

Alan Harvey (he/him) joined Stanford University Press in 2002 as Editor-in-Chief, taking over as Director in 2012. His career began at Cambridge University Press in the United Kingdom, slowly moving westward, through New York, and finally to California, where he was manager of the West Coast office and Executive Editor for Science. With a PhD in mathematics, he has spent much of his four-decades-long career addressing issues of technology in publishing.

Alison Law

Panelist | Book Production Manager, Hoover Institution Press

Alison Law (she/her) is the Book Production Manager at Hoover Institution Press at Stanford University, where she oversees all phases of production, from composition through print manufacturing. Previously, she managed the in-house proofreading team at HarperCollins, focusing on the William Morrow and Ecco imprints, and served as senior production editor at San Francisco publisher No Starch Press. She is a graduate of Stanford, where she began her publishing career as an intern at Stanford University Press.

Brooke Warner

Panelist | Publisher, Author, Coach, Podcaster

Brooke Warner (she/her) is publisher of She Writes Press, an imprint of The Stable Book Group. She is a memoir coach and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What’s Your Book?, and three books on memoir. She’s also a TEDx speaker (“Green-light Revolution”), weekly podcaster (Memoir Nation with co-host Grant Faulkner), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack at brookewarner.substack.com.

Darlene Weide

Panelist | Executive Director, Community Boards

Darlene Weide, MPH, MSW (she/her) is a leader of the mediation movement and the Executive Director of San Francisco-based Community Boards, the first and longest running community mediation center in the US, and home to the People Project and the San Francisco Peacemaker Awards. She is also an organizational ombuds and faculty member at Georgetown University, where she teaches advanced mediation courses in the MA Conflict Resolution program, and at City College of San Francisco. She earned her BA from Columbia University and her master’s in public health and social welfare from UC Berkeley.

Eden Julia Sugay

Panelist | Senior Publishing Sales Manager, VIZ Media

Eden Julia Sugay (they/them) is Senior Manager of Publishing Sales at VIZ Media. Eden is also President of Bay Area Women in Publishing, where they govern committees and programs dedicated to uplifting women and nonbinary folks within the publishing industry located in the Bay Area and beyond. Eden received their BA in English creative writing from Mills College and their MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco.

Elizabeth Scarpelli

Panelist | Program Manager, UCPUBS

Elizabeth Scarpelli (she/her) brings deep experience in textbook, scholarly, and regional publishing, with over a decade focused on developing innovative, sustainable publishing service programs for academic and university presses. Formerly Director of Publisher Services at Baker & Taylor, she founded Cincinnati Library Publishing Services and has just joined UC Press as Program Manager for UCPUBS.

Emma Cofod

Moderator | Associate Director of Production, North Atlantic Books

Emma Cofod (she/her) is Associate Director of Production at North Atlantic Books. She has worked in production for more than 20 years at a variety of Bay Area publishers in a mix of genres, including legal treatise, trade nonfiction and literary fiction, and education.

Holly Smith

Panelist | Sales and Marketing Director, University of California Press

Holly Smith (she/her) is an industry-leading eCommerce strategist with more than two decades of experience in book publishing. As the Principal and Founder of Expansive Commerce, she is known for driving explosive, profitable revenue growth on Amazon for book publishers and consumer brands. Holly recently joined UC Press as Sales and Marketing Director, where she oversees sales, marketing, and publicity. She holds certificates in executive leadership from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and in marketing and optimization from NYU, in partnership with the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). Previously, Holly held sales and marketing roles at Callisto Media, Chronicle Books, Tokyopop, and Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam

Panelist | Vice President of Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam (he/him) is Vice President of Editorial at Berrett-Koehler Publishers, an independent nonfiction press now in its 34th year—distributed nationally and globally by Penguin Random House. He oversees the editorial department’s administrative, editorial, and legal responsibilities. He also acquires a limited number of titles annually. (He has submitted a request to change his official title to “Chief Flunky.” The request remains under consideration.)

Jesse Finkelstein

Panelist | Co-CEO, Page Two Books

Jesse Finkelstein (she/her) is a veteran book publisher with a career that spans nearly three decades. She is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of innovative book publishing firm Page Two Books. Before launching Page Two, Jesse held executive and senior roles at several publishing houses, including Chief Operating Officer at D&M Publishers and Associate Publisher at Raincoast Books. Jesse holds a master of publishing degree from Simon Fraser University. She lives with her family in Vancouver, Canada, and travels far and wide to celebrate with Page Two authors as they launch their books.

Johanna Vondeling

Moderator | Founder, Vondeling Ventures

Johanna Vondeling (she/her) is founder of Vondeling Ventures, a consultancy supporting nonfiction publishers and authors. She was President and Publisher at Berrett-Koehler Publishers through December, 2022. She previously served as BK’s Vice President for International Sales and Business Development and as Vice President for Editorial and Digital, having joined the company in 2004. Before that, she worked for Jossey-Bass (a Wiley imprint), W. W. Norton, and Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. In addition to serving on the board of Bay Area Women in Publishing, she is the proud recipient of PPN’s 2020 Distinguished Service Award.

Judy M. Baker

Panelist | Publishing Strategist and Founder, Buzzworthy Books

Judy M. Baker (she/her) is a publishing strategist and the founder of Buzzworthy Books. She works with nonfiction authors who want to share their books without selling their souls—by treating their books as invitations and building author brands grounded in trust.

Karma Bennett

Panelist | Book Marketing Strategist

Karma Bennett began her career as a book publicist for one of the fastest-growing independent publishers (according to Publishers Weekly). In 2009 she struck out on her own with Future Is Fiction Communications, a marketing company specializing in helping authors grow their platforms. Bennett has taught marketing strategy for a variety of audiences, including the San Francisco Writers Conference, AWP 2026, and PubCamp Seattle. She led UC Berkeley extension’s first-ever digital marketing bootcamp. A writer herself, Bennett is communications chair of the Berkeley California Writers Club. She is most recently published in Soren Lit and in the collection Colossus: Home. She lives in Oakland.

Linda Ruggeri

Presenter | Nonfiction Editor and Author

Linda Ruggeri (she/her) is a bilingual (English/Spanish) nonfiction author, editor, and speaker based in Napa Valley, California. She is the author of Networking for Writers (2025 IBPA Gold Medal) and co-author of Networking for Freelance Editors. As the founder of The Networking Studio, she helps writers and editors build authentic, sustainable careers through connection and mentorship. When she’s not editing or teaching, she’s gardening, or making her own vermouth, and would gladly trade any night out for a good nonfiction book.

Lynda Sunshine West

Panelist | Founder, Action Takers Publishing

Lynda Sunshine West (she/her) is a speaker, writer, and host of the Let Me Tell My Stories podcast. She’s a repeat number-one international bestselling author, an executive producer of Wish Man, the Founder and CEO of Action Takers Publishing, and a Co-Founder of the Fear to Faith Foundation. She’s known for her mantra, “Do it because you’re scared,” based on a transformative one-year commitment to overcoming a fear each day. Now, Lynda helps people worldwide turn their stories into lasting legacies.

Madeline Moe

Panelist | Production Manager, Chronicle Books

Madeline Moe (she/her) joined the Chronicle Books production team in 2015 and currently serves as Production Manager, Specialty Publishing. She has managed frontlist, backlist, and custom production projects across a global supplier network, overseeing the manufacturing of an expansive variety of books and gift products. She is also closely engaged with Chronicle’s participation in the Book Chain Project, an initiative that fosters collaboration to create more sustainable, ethical, and transparent supply chains across the publishing industry.

Peter Brantley

Moderator | Director of Online Strategy, University of California Davis Library

Peter Brantley (he/him) is the Director of Online Strategy for the University of California Davis Library. Previously serving with several large academic research libraries, he has additionally held senior technology roles at the New York Public Library; Hypothes.is, a not-for-profit organization; and the Internet Archive. With O’Reilly Media and then the Frankfurt Book Fair, he convened a publishing conference from 2010–2017 called “Books in Browsers,” and co-launched PageBreak, a follow-on conference in San Francisco in 2022.

Reg Lim

Panelist | Marketing Coordinator, Chronicle Books

Reg Lim (they/them) is a writer, editor, and publishing professional with more than seven years of experience. They have edited for the now-defunct but much loved Catapult magazine, written and marketed for Cut Fruit Collective, and their writing at Impact was part of a body of work that won the 2023 Short Award in News & Media. They now work as a marketing coordinator for Chronicle Books—where they help connect beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully written books with educators and libraries across the nation.

Stephanie Moon

Panelist | Marketing and Publicity Expert

Stephanie Moon (she/her) has spent more than fifteen years in book marketing and publicity, leading campaigns for New York Times bestsellers and working with publishers including Chronicle Books, HarperCollins, Scholastic, and Hardie Grant. She mentors authors on how to maximize their book sales by building real relationships and communities. Follow Stephanie on Instagram or read her Substack, The FAQs, where she addresses the most common questions authors ask and shares insights about book marketing and publishing.

Speakers and Moderators