Krista Rolfzen Soukup, owner of Blue Cottage Agency, presented ‘Steps to Successful Book Marketing’ along with New York Times best-selling author H. Alan Day, co-author with his sister Sandra Day O’Connor of Lazy B, and Lynn Wiese Sneyd, founder of LWS Literary Services, at the Western Writers of America National convention in Sacramento, California on June 28. Day and Weiss recently published The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs (University of Nebraska Press)

Western Writers of America Inc., was founded in 1953 to promote the literature of the American West. The founders were largely authors who wrote traditional western fiction, but the organization swiftly expanded to include historians and other nonfiction authors, young adult and romance writers, and writers interested in regional history set in the American West. The WWA bestows Spur Awards annually for distinguished writing in the western field.

Today it has over 600 members who write everything from mainstream fiction to local history. At their annual convention, members, guests, editors, and agents gather together to renew friendships, do business, attend panels, go on field trips, and conduct the organization’s business. Each convention concludes with the Spur Awards banquet, the moment when the WWA honors those who win the coveted awards.