–Al Gore

If luck is ability meeting opportunity, you are part of the luckiest generation of writers who ever lived. If you want to write about creating change, you have the biggest opportunity writers have ever had. The problems our communities, states, country, and planet face continue to grow, as does the gap between what government and nonprofit organizations can do and what must be done to ensure our future.

Writers are needed urgently to provide the hope, vision, guidance, and inspiration to act that humanity needs to thrive. Writers have the creativity, independence, and the ability to

• research, organize, and write about their ideas
• test and promote their work
• build communities of people eager to help

And they have the power of technology, the greatest gift to writers since the printing press, to accelerate and amplify their efforts. Al Gore did a thousand talks in high schools before An Inconvenient Truth was published or the film about it was released. A Vice President has access to audiences and the media that new writers don’t, but writers can use all of the media to communicate their message. Gore’s efforts changed the public’s perception of the problem and led to new initiatives to solve it.

What nobler challenge can writers ask for than helping to solve the problems that threaten our children? Readers and publishers want books that foster change. Small houses, niche presses, and university presses are less concerned about an author’s promotion plan than big and midsize houses. You may want to self-publish your book, if only to test-market it. Sell enough copies and publishers will coming looking for you.

If writers don’t do all they can, who will take their place? So find a need and help fill it. Pick a problem you’re passionate about and dig in. Contribute to the most vital conversation on earth. You can accomplish far more than you think you can. And as Thomas Friedman wrote in Hot, Flat and Crowded, you have just enough time if you start now.

The Third San Francisco Writing for Change Conference: Changing the World One Book at a Time / November 13-14, Hilton Financial/Chinatown / www.sfwritingforchange.org / Keynoters: Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) and John Robbins (Diet for a New America)

The world desperately needs ideas that can break through the obstacles that prevent the changes crucial to our future. Nothing can stop ideas whose time has come. Business, government, and religion can’t provide them, but writers can be powerful agents of change.

The right idea and the right book can change the world faster and more easily than ever. By connecting a billion residents in the global village, the Web empowers writers to help extinguish the flames that threaten all of us. Writers have more ways to test and build a constituency for their ideas than ever: a blog, social media, articles, videos, podcasts, talks, and books.

In addition to ideas, we need writers who are passionate advocates for them. The goal of the Third San Francisco Writing for Change Conference is to empower and inspire writers to play a role in solving problems in areas such as politics, law, the environment, health, technology,  spirituality, social issues, contemporary affairs, personal development.

Attendees will learn from and network with:

• authors who have written books about these problems
• agents and editors from both coasts to whom they can pitch their books
• publishing profesionals who will discuss writing, promotion, the options for getting their books published, and how to use technology to test-market their ideas and build their visibility
• other writers who share their goals

It’s faster and easier than ever for the right book to change the world. The SFW4C conference will help writers to develop the craft, the community, and perspective they need to succeed as authors. Writers with passion, skill, commitment, and ideas are the catalysts we’re waiting for, and there’s not a moment to lose.

We hope you will share this with interested writers.

The Third Francisco Writing for Change Conference: Changing the World One Book at a Time / November 13-14, Hilton Financial/Chinatown / www.sfwritingforchange.org / Keynoters: Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) and John Robbins (Diet for a New America)