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Posted in Conversation of Books, Thankful Gratitudes, The I Just Finished Dot Com Story, author profiles, interview, marketing, media having no comments »
How to Get the Most out of your Writers’ Conference Experience
Those of you who have read some of the articles I’ve had published on how to find an agent (see, for example: http://www.writersdigest.com/article/The_Top_Five_Ways_Not_To_Get_A_Literary_Agent/) know that I’m not the world’s biggest fan of trying to land a literary an agent by sending blind query letters. Does it work on occasion? Sure. We’ve gotten some of our best clients that way. But there’s something so… passive about the process. There’s some element of ceding control that I know that I wouldn’t be comfortable with if I were in an author’s position. To me, the whole process seems to evoke bad memories of high school, sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring to see if you’re going to have a date on Saturday night, when you should have just been out having a good time with your friends anyway.
Besides, what do you do if your preferred agent or agents aren’t accepting unsolicited queries in the first place?
That’s where writers’ conferences come in.
As an unpublished author, attending a reputable, well-run writers’ conference can be the first step to launching your brilliant professional writing career. But it can also be an intimidating, frustrating experience if you approach it the wrong way.
For agents, writers’ conferences are a mixed bag. They can be very positive experiences, full of promising new talent-or they can be grueling experiences that leave us vowing never to volunteer our time ever, ever again.
Here are a few tips to ensure that you get the most out of your writers’ conference experience.
1) Develop a plan for the conference ahead of time. There are as many different reasons to attend conferences as there are attendees. What you can get out of a conference, however, is often a function of where you are in the publishing process. If you’re still in the process of writing your novel or putting together a proposal for your nonfiction book, the craft seminars at the conference are probably where you want to spend most of your time. Figure out which authors, editors, and agents are teaching, and attend the sessions that are taught by the people whose work you most respect. (It’s been my experience that, regardless of the purported subject of the lecture, speakers are going to talk about what they’re best at anyway-so rather than choosing which sessions to attend based on the title of the talk, I suggest you go to the sessions taught by the coolest people-the best agents, authors, and editors. Even if a workshop is on plotting in science fiction and you’re writing romance, what you’ll learn from a master like Orson Scott Card, say, is likely to make you a better writer.
If you’ve already got an agent you’re happy with, or if you’ve sold a book, or are a published author, conferences can still be tremendously valuable. They’re an opportunity to promote yourself and your work, make additional professional contacts, and learn what other successful authors have done to take their work to the next level. The most important thing you can do at this stage-listen. Let the pros know you’re a rookie who’s past that first stage of the game, and ask each one for their one best tip on how to succeed in the business. You can sometimes learn as much as you would in a master class this way.
If you’re at that stage where you’ve written a novel but are still looking for an agent, however-you’re in luck. Conferences are tailor-made for people like you. Take the rest of the tips in this section to heart.
2) Ignore the one on one meetings. I know this is going to be controversial advice, but I’ll stand by it. I don’t like formal author-agent pitch sessions for a couple of reasons. First, most conferences schedule too many of them. If you’re one of the agent’s first pitches you might be in good shape. But if you’re the agent’s 30th pitch in two days, honestly, you would have been better off sending a query letter. As to pitching editors directly, unless you’re writing romance or science fiction, they’re probably just going to tell you to get an agent anyway.
Here’s an inside tip on how agents deal with conferences. Most agents are too polite to say “no” to your face. You can pitch them a book that they KNOW-100% KNOW– they would never in a million years sign up. But rather than deal with the pressure of rejecting you to your face, they’ll say something like “Well, I don’t know. For something like this it’s all in the writing.” They’ll ask you to mail them the first three chapters and then they’ll glance at them for about 5 seconds and then pass, politely, with their standard rejection letter.
Here’s a statistic from experience: in the past three years, I’ve sold about ten books from people I met at conferences. Not ONE of those authors did I meet at a one on one pitch session. So, how did those authors get to me? After my workshop. In the elevator. In the bar after dinner. Basically, in normal, organic situations that aren’t terribly forced like those awful one on one pitch sessions. In ways that proved to me that they would be effective advocates for their work once it hit the shelves.
3) Ignore what the conference organizers tell you what to do. Conference organizers are going to get mad at me for this one. But I’m on your side here, so I’m going to give you the straight dope. I’d say about half of the conferences I’ve been to are not particularly well run. They try their best, but they’re usually volunteers with jobs and lives and families and don’t always know what to do to help your career prospects along. So, regardless of what the conference organizers tell you, there are a few things you should always have with you at a conference:
· A memorized, one sentence explanation of what your book is about that’s catchy and explanatory. “It’s a literary retelling of the Noah’s Ark story.” “It’s about a young Japanese-American man and woman who fall in love on the eve of World War II and are torn apart by the war.” Practice this one in front of the mirror. I promise you an agent is going to ask you what your book is about when you’re not expecting it. This is your chance to differentiate yourself.
· A one page synopsis of your novel (if you’re writing fiction) or your completed, polished nonfiction proposal if you’re writing nonfiction, and a one-page bio of yourself.
· The first three chapters of your novel, double-spaced.
· A copy of your manuscript-just in case.
Carry these with you at all times. Chances are nobody will ever ask for them-but if they do, bam. You have them. Don’t ever try to foist them on agents or editors, but they’ll be your secret weapon. And you’ll be more confident knowing you have them if you need them.
4) Understand why agents go to conferences. For agents, going to conferences is as much about the opportunity to bond and network with other agents and authors as it is about finding new literary talent. Remember-it’s not an agent’s job to read your query letters. It’s an agent’s job to sell books. We read query letters and talk to unpublished authors in order to find great books to sell-it’s a means to an end, not an end unto itself. So when you see agents and editors hanging out together, understand that if we didn’t have these opportunities, we might not be at the conference at the first place. The best conferences understand this phenomenon and schedule formal time for the faculty to interact with each other.
5) Don’t do something that’s going to put you in the LTS pile. Every agent has one. LTS stands for “Life’s Too Short.” So, although I really shouldn’t have to say this, there are a couple of times that agents are absolutely, positively off-limits. Don’t bug us when:
· We’re on the way to deliver a talk. We’re thinking about how to best deliver that talk, not about your specific project. After the talk, however, absolutely, positively buttonhole us.
· We’re in a situation where we can’t comfortably shake your hand. Examples: in the buffet line. In the pool. At the gym. In the restroom. (You’d be surprised. Every agent has horror stories, believe me.)
· Understand that no means no. If an agent tells you no, that’s it. Move on. There are lots of good fish in the sea. No stalking allowed.
It’s probably possible to write a whole book on what to do and not to do at a writers’ conference. But I’ll wrap it up here.
Hope this information has been helpful. If you disagree with anything I’ve said (including all the rest of you folioites!) that’s what the comment section is for.
Happy conferencing.
Posted in Writers Resource Guest, Writers Resources having no comments »
Submissions Open for 2009 Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards
The 2009 Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards contest is open to American authors of books published in 2008 in the following categories:
Fiction Nonfiction Poetry & Literary Prose Children’s books (short works) Children’s books (long works)
“The Writers’ League Book Awards are now open to writers all over the country. With all of the great books that came out in 2008, this year’s contest promises to be one of the best yet,” said WLT Executive Director Cyndi Hughes.
The Writers’ League of Texas Book Awards were previously known as the Violet Crown Book Awards, founded in 1991, and the Teddy Children’s Book Awards, founded in 1996.
Past Violet Crown Book Award winners include Texas Monthly columnist and novelist Sarah Bird, mystery author Mary Willis Walker, novelist Amanda Eyre Ward, novelist Clay Reynolds, poet Jack Myers, journalist Carlton Stowers, and NPR commentator Marion Winik. Teddy Children’s Book Award winners have included Diane Gonzalez Bertrand, Angela Shelf Medearis, Kimberly Willis Holt, and John Erickson.
The 2008 winners were Rilla Askew (Harpsong), Marcia Kaylakie (Texas Quilts and Quilters), and Margo Rabb (Cures for Heartbreak).
Publishers, publicists, and agents are welcome to submit books on behalf of their authors.
Prizes
The winner in each category receives:
$1,000 cash
a commemorative awards
an appearance at the Texas Book Festival on Oct. 31
Deadline
The deadline for submissions is April 30.
Entry Fee
The entry fee is $25 per title; three finished books must be included.
Eligibility
The contest is open to all American authors of books published in the United States in 2008.
Authors are not required to be members of the Writers’ League of Texas.
Submissions may be made by authors, publishers, publicists, or agents.
Contest of the Week is sponsored by Moira Allen author of Moira Allen
Writing to Win:: The Colossal Guide to Writing Contests by Moira Allen by CreateSpace
Paperback ~ Release Date: 2009-01-15
List Price: $16.95
Our Price: $16.95
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Naomi’s Musings
Coffee with an Author Secrets
This week has been crazy since I was out of town. Doing the show from out of town usually isn’t a big deal but this time there was a glitch. The computer I was using froze. I mean completely - I couldn’t even turn it off. I ended up taking the battery out.
But the show went on, Linda Warren was a great guest and hung in there for me to get it together. Three Cheers for her!
I’m back in town and now must play catch up with emails and writing. Getting out of town can be wonderful, for a short time. I’m glad to be home.
Guess I just don’t have any secrets this week. My brain is tired from driving. I promise to do better next week.
See you on the computer Monday at 10 AM CST.
Developing Jeremy
Another Week for the books. Here it is almost 5pm CST on Friday. This weeks main accomplishment was the completion of me reading another on of Jim Butcher’s books. The book was one in his Dresden Files series, book 6 to be exact. The books have all be enjoyable. Witty dialog, great characters and solid story line lends his books to be a must read. Although the books flash back to a previous books, these books can be read independently. And that brings me to my bragging point. 1 week from this Monday, I will be attending the Jim Butcher’s newest book release party. Complete with a costume contest and a reading by Jim himself. So nah ne nah ne nah ne 
Renee’s Conversation of Books
We have press passes. Yes that is right. BEA has opened the rolls for press, and we are all set to go. By “we” I mean Leslie, and I. She is our assistant review coordinator and a senior marketing student at Texas A & M University. Her role is shifting from my assistant to an internship in marketing, and preparing for her debut into the big world of marketing and a more full time presence here at Ijustfinished.com. She will be hitting the trade show floor with me at Book Expo America, (also know as Disneyworld for book lovers). She will have her camera and best interviewing skills ready to go. She has also gotten her feet wet today by producing this newsletter for the first time. Please feel free to send her your well wishes and welcomes, I am sure she will appreciate that very much.
On another note, if you have already read Jeremy’s section and you know he is Jim Butcher’s new stalker. Hopefully all will go well, and soon we will have a great interview here, with a cool contest preceding the interview. He is so excited, so make sure you tell him your thoughts. I am off to try to get his press pass for the event. Have a great weekend!
Leslie’s Making It Happen
Hi everyone! This is my first blurb for the Ijustfinished.com newsletter. This week has been a week of new beginnings for me. Renee and I started getting the Writer’s Resource’s page underway, putting together the newsletter, and finding out about going to BEA in New York this May! As Renee said, I am transitioning from assistant to intern, and will start full-time this summer. This will be the first summer I am not taking summer school since I started college, finally! I will get a chance to learn some new computer software, and of course apply some of my marketing knowledge to the world of books. I am excited to now be a part of the newsletter, and I will try to have something exciting and interesting to leave with you each week. Enjoy your last weekend of March!
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Author of Pain Killers
Jerry Stahl is author of the narcotic memoir classic Permanent Midnight; I, Fatty (film rights optioned by Johnny Depp); Perv-A Love Story; and Plainclothes Naked. He has written extensively for film and television, and his much-anthologized fiction and journalism have appeared in Esquire, Details, Playboy, Black Book, LA Weekly, and Tin House. He lives in Los Angeles.
Permanent Midnight: A Memoir by Jerry Stahl by Process
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Pain Killers: A Novel by Jerry Stahl by William Morrow
Hardcover ~ Release Date: 2009-03-03
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Posted in Conversation of Books, Reviews, author profiles, featured author of the week, interview, marketing, media having no comments »
David Michael Slater
The Book of Nonsense
David Michael Slater was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 8th, 1970. He teaches middle school in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and son. David writes for children, teens and adults.
The Book of Nonsense (Sacred Books, Vol. I) by David Michael Slater by Blooming Tree Books/CBAY
Hardcover
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Our Price: $11.53
The Infinite (Sacred Books, Vol. II) by David Michael Slater by Blooming Tree Books/CBAY
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Upcoming “Coffee with an Author” schedule:
April 6th: Aaron Paul Lazar
Mazurka and Healey’s Cave
April 13th: Ellen Meister
The Smart One
April 20th: SaraLee Rosenburg
Posted in Coffee with an Author, Conversation of Books, author profiles, interview, marketing having no comments »
This was posted today on Mark Steven’s Blog. If you are not familiar with Mr. Stevens I am sure you know of his books: Your Marketing Sucks and Your Management Sucks are just two that come to mind. He is an out of the box thinker, to say the least, so I am sure he won’t mind if I adapt his essay to apply to writing as well as marketing.
If you read this post with your role as a writer in mind, it is hugely empowering, and thought provoking. He asks you to replace the term “lover” with “customer” and I suggest consider changing it to “reader”. Personally for me, the best writing it that which keeps you thinking long after you have finished reading the words. When you miss the characters or are compelled to question your beliefs the next day or weeks later. That is the torpedo power of words.
I hope you enjoy, and please do visit his blog, this essay is just the tip of the iceberg that Mark Steven’s has to offer.
From: Unconventional Thinking Blog
In his mammoth hit song, “You’re Beautiful James Blunt launches the lyrics with two identical sentences which I adore for its irony.
“My life is brilliant.”
It is an ingenious entree to a story, especially because Blunt proceeds to reveal his failure. His loss. His sorrow. And the abject limits of his “brilliance” or lack of it.
Critics despise the song. I think they don’t get it.
The truth is, as much as I can divine the truth about anything, I believe that words damage. And inspire. And evoke tears. And create highs. And launch empires. And save them.
Ask Churchill.
Yes, the pen is mightier than the sword.
FDR proved words are mightier than economics.
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Obama is discovering that it is a double-edged sword.
Promise “Hope” and then you must deliver. And hope can’t be delivered by Fed Ex.
Blunt tells the story of falling in love, in a nanosecond, with the most alluring woman in the world. The words are sweet nuclear. Yes, sweet nuclear.
In business, we sell stuff. Shirts, software, services, movies.
Well, maybe.
In reality, we sell “words.” Because millions sell some version of what we offer. But the geniuses make words the diffrentiators. IPods, 100 percent “guarantee”, Victoria’s “Secret.”
Product and services may perform. Words make the earth move.
We tend to focus on balance sheets, HR reports, statistics, and the entire Harvard Business School curriculum that has zero to do with success in business. Zero. The greats all drop outs. They make it with words.
Ok, if you’re thinking, “that sounds simple,” you have to face the fact that words are torpedos that will boomerang on you if you fail to live up to them.
Hope. Love. Guarantee. Low Price Leader.
Ask all the wordwise demigods who have fallen from grace.
Listen to Blunt’s, Goodbye My Lover.
In business, we can change “Lover” to “Customer. ”
But then again, business is life and life is business.
There is no escape.
The torpedos are potent.
Mark Stevens
CEO
Posted in Writers Resource Guest, Writers Resources having no comments »
Ernest Hemingway Festival Short Story Contest
Prose For Papa
The Fifth Annual Prose for Papa short story contest is held in conjunction with the 2009 Ernest Hemingway Symposium,
Sun Valley, Idaho October 22-23, 2009
Details for the Ernest Hemingway Festival short story contest 2008, Prose For Papa:
Non-refundable $15 entry fee must be sent with the entry. Checks should be made out to the Community Library.
Cash prize of $500.
First place winner will be published on this website.
Entries must be previously unpublished, original work, typed double spaced,
and no longer than 2600 words or 10 pages. One entry per person.
Attach a separate cover sheet with title, author name, address, email, and telephone numbers.
The story itself should not bear anything but the title and page numbers.
May re-submit a non-winning entry from 2008.
Deadline for submission: May 31, 2009
Click Here to read last year’s winning essay!
Contest of the Week is sponsored by Moira Allen author of Moira Allen
Writing to Win:: The Colossal Guide to Writing Contests by Moira Allen by CreateSpace
Paperback ~ Release Date: 2009-01-15
List Price: $16.95
Our Price: $16.95
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Naomi’s Musings
Coffee with an Author Secrets
Spring has sprung here in our part of Texas, due to a few days of rain. That means we all have Spring Fever. At least that is my excuse to not getting this to my Boss a few hours ago. I just couldn’t resist the warm sunny day with a slight breeze. Trees are no longer budding, but leafing and the Blue Bonnets abound.
So much for excuses as good as they are, time to do some work. My bit of advice for to day comes from a phone call I just got. A guest on my other radio show has just had heart surgery so she won’t be able to appear next week. It just so happens that yesterday I pre-recorded a great show that I was having to put off for a month. The topic of the guest with heart surgery isn’t time sensitive so there is no problem moving her show to a later date. The pre-record will work very well in the spot next week.
So my advice is learn to be flexible and as accommodating as possible. Your guests will be more willing to help you out at a later date. Remember to have fun with interviews, they aren’t life or death - enjoy.
I’m sneaking back outside for a few more rays. Don’t tell!
See you on the computer Monday 10:00AM CST.
Developing Jeremy
It is SPRING!!! Worse time of year for my productivity. All my clients are probably now shuttering. Today I took the top of the Jeep, sat on a patio for lunch. Yesterday I went home early and worked in the yard and tomorrow I am going to go meet some friends at the lake and do some fishing. Spring to me feels like a new book or a new video game. I would also liken it to a sports fan feeling at the beginning of a new season. This year holds uncounted possibility. This is the year that things are going to happen for me. But Jeremy, this is the middle of march, the new year started 2.5 months ago. That is true, but life just started for this year (well in the northern hemisphere). So I want y’all to get outside(weather permitting) and have fun. Take a good book with you, and chase down all the possibilities life has to offer!!!
Renee’s Conversation of Books
I am still working on moving the Rockies over just a foot, and this week has been no different. Well actually it is. It is spring break here, so the weather is beautiful, and birds are singing, and the bluebonnets are in full bloom everywhere. As the previous two mentioned, it is harder to stay indoors, and hearing about others’ vacations is enough to turn me green with envy, but focused I am .
I will say that I have been reading for my personal, though loosely defined, vacation. Tracy Fabre was a guest on Ijustfinished.com’s very first Featured Author interview, and I have been a fan of her’s ever since. Her newest book: Reasons arrived last week, and it was so great, I am still longing to have more of it to read. I have the familiar sadness that the book is over, and wanting to check back in with the characters. I highly recommend this book!
Reasons by Tracy Fabre by StoneGarden.net Publishing
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author of the Cat Star Chronicles
A native of Louisville, KY, I graduated from the Kentucky Baptist Hospital School of Nursing and then went on to earn a BSN from Indiana University. Horse crazy from the time I knew what a horse was, my family moved to rural Indiana in 1989. Since then, I’ve managed to accumulate four horses and five cats. I’ve been working full-time as a critical care nurse for more than thirty years which can be exciting, but I’m itching for a different kind of excitement!
As a writer, I find that any fantasy you have can come true if you just write it down! I’ve been keeping my friends entertained with my books for a number of years, and self-published a book in 2006, but Slave is the first of my books to be published with Sourcebooks Casablanca.
What makes it even more exciting is that they have asked me for five more novels in this series!
My other interests include cooking, gardening, singing and guitar playing. I’m really hurt that The Eagles got back together without me!
Rogue: The Cat Star Chronicles #3 by Cheryl Brooks by Sourcebooks Casablanca
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Slave (The Cat Star Chronicles) by Cheryl Brooks by Sourcebooks Casablanca
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Warrior: The Cat Star Chronicles by Cheryl Brooks by Casablanca Pr
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We're a group of book lovers. We found a way to bring the excitement of books to everyone. We relate to the feelings of excitement after reading something amazing, or the disappointment after seeing a movie made from our favorite book. We've all gone to the internet looking for more information on our favorite books and authors, only to find that information difficult to locate. It's from the love of books, and the frustration in gathering more information that this website was born.
