March Program: Speaker Bios

Peter Bowerman, an Atlanta-based freelance commercial writer, speaker, and business coach, is the author of the 2000 award-winning Book-of-the-Month Club selection, The Well-Fed Writer, and its 2005 companion volume, The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds, a triple award-finalist (both self-published.)
www.wellfedwriter.com

His books have become how-to standards on starting a lucrative commercial freelancing business writing for corporations and creative agencies. He chronicled his self-publishing success (50,000 copies of his first two books in print and a full-time living for over five years) in his third book, the late 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living.
www.wellfedsp.com

Jean Iversen is a freelance writer and editor and native Chicagoan. She is the author of the first and second editions of BYOB Chicago, which have collectively sold 15,000 copies so far. She has been on WTTW11's "Chicago Tonight," "190 North," "Fox News," and the book has been featured in Chicago magazine, Chicago Sun-Times, Time Out Chicago, The Onion, Newcity, Daily Herald, and more. Time Out Chicago just listed BYOB Chicago, 2nd edition as one of the top "Five Useful Chicago Books" in their annual "Essential Chicago Lists" published on March 1, 2007.

Jean has over 10 years of book publishing experience. She was senior acquisitions editor at Dearborn Trade Publishing and executive editor at American Bar book publishing division. She has been a full-time freelancer and self-publisher since 2004.
www.byob-chicago.com

William McGrath, co-founder of Davis McGrath LLC, has practiced intellectual property and business law since 1976. His areas of concentration include copyright, trademark, information technology law, as well as publishing law, trade secret law, and software licensing. His experience embraces counseling, litigation, arbitration, and mediation.

Mr. McGrath is Associate Director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law at The John Marshall Law School, where he also teaches graduate courses. He is Past President of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Chicago, has served as Chair of the Patent, Trademark & Copyright Committee of the Chicago Bar Association and on the Board of Trustees of the Copyright Society of the USA, and is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A.

He has published numerous articles and is a frequent lecturer on copyright law issues.
www.davismcgrath.com/profiles/wtm.html