Carol Taylor

The Whole Package:
Conceptualizing and Pitching Your Book

Carol Taylor, a former Random House book editor, has been in book publishing for over ten years and has worked with many of today's top black writers, including Edwidge Danticat, Nelson George, Lolita Files and Zane. Carol also taught the editorial process in Walter Mosley's publishing certificate program at New York City college. She is the editor of the best-selling, Brown Sugar series: Brown Sugar, Brown Sugar 2: Great One Night Stands, Brown Sugar 3: When Opposites Attract and Brown Sugar 4 and Wanderlust: Erotic Travel Tales. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in many publications. She writes a relationship column for Flirt.com. She lives in New York City and is at work on a collection of her own stories. She is the CEO of Brown Sugar Productions, LTD.

Email Carol or visit her website

Tonya M. Evans-Walls, Esquire, is the managing attorney of TME Law, a Philadelphia-based boutique transactional firm concentrating in public finance, intellectual property, literary law, and estate planning. The firm is a nationally recognized municipal finance firm listed in the Red Book. She is also the author of Literary Law Guide for Authors: Copyright, Trademark, and Contracts in Plain Language, now in its second edition. Tonya presents regularly on copyright, trademark, and contracts issues within the publishing industry and is well regarded throughout the country as an expert in literary law.

Tonya graduated with honors from Howard University School of Law, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Journal and received her J.D., and graduated on the Dean's List from Northwestern University, where she received her B.S. in communications. During law school, she interned with the Honorable Arthur L. Burnett, Sr. in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia, with U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah and with the Honorable Theodore A. McKee in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Prior to attending law school, Tonya competed on the professional women's tennis circuit. She played most notably in the U.S. Open, Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, and the Lipton in 1993. As a former professional tennis player and published author, her success is derived from her ability to empathize with her clients' unique needs in the business and entertainment worlds.

Tonya is also the author of two books of poetry, Seasons of Her and SHINE! And her short story, "Not Tonight," appears in an anthology titled Proverbs for the People, published by Kensington. She also owns Legal Write Publications.

Tonya lives in Philadelphia with her husband, O. Russel Walls, III, Esquire, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. For more information, visit Legal Write Publications

Shelia Dansby Harvey, a native Houstonian, is the author of the sizzling debut novel, Illegal Affairs from Kensington Books. The story follows the exploits of four savvy professionals attending law school at a HBCU in the heart of Texas. Life is sweet for the privileged, close-knit group until survival of the fittest competition sets in.

Shelia Dansby Harvey knows her subject well. She received her law degree from Texas Southern University, a HBCU. She is a practicing attorney and has taught at Texas Southern's law school and at Rice University's graduate school of business. Among her many accomplishments, she was the publisher of Black Tie, an African American lifestyle magazine. Shelia lives with her husband, Henry, in Houston, Texas. The sequel to Illegal Affairs, Bad Girls Finish First, is scheduled for release in April 2006.

Visit Shelia's website.

Author, Attorney, Professor and CPA Shannon King Nash recently completed her third book, For The Love Of Money: The 411 To Taking Control Of Your Taxes And Building Your Net Worth – a financial empowerment book that uses popular songs (from Marvin Gaye to Snoop Dogg) to teach valuable finance and tax lessons. Shannon is also the author of “Vault Guide to Tax Law Careers,” (Vault Inc., 2004) and “Helping the Non-profit Client,” (Kleinrock Publishing, 2004). She’s an adjunct professor at California Lutheran University, where she teaches Non-Profit Law.

Shannon is the owner of Nash Management Group Inc. The company specializes in business management, non-profit consulting, tax planning services, compliance and due diligence audits, and general contracting services.

She is the former Secretary of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) Tax Section, a professional organization representing over 20,000 tax attorneys, and chair of the National Bar Association’s Tax Law Section, the largest and oldest African-American bar association.

Shannon volunteers in her community and serves on the board of directors for several non-profits. She received her Bachelor’s degree in accounting and her JD from the University of Virginia. Shannon lives in the greater Los Angeles area with her husband and their two children. In her spare time, Shannon likes to read, write non-fiction books and is an advocate for children with disabilities.

Visit Shannon's website.