[Writer Blog] Paying Forward – of a sort
First of all a SOONERCON Schedule change…
The schedule sent to me said – Reading at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The grids show 30 min blocks for readings with me in the Second Slot – so I’ll be reading at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday after Jeff Provine. Still reading the OK set story – just a half hour later.
NOW, for the Wednesday Writer Post…
Monday – which was Memorial Day here in the US – we had our parents over for a cook out, and to give our moms copies of Please, Sir, May I Have Some More? Orphaned Stories of Speculative Fiction. This began a whole discussion on the business of writing and on things I may be able to teach her.
You see, my mother – an aspiring Inspirational Romance Writer – has just retired from TCU after 23 years of Day Jobbery and is now set for her “writer life” to begin. So she’s in the learning and growing stages of some things. Places I’ve been just in different genres. And though it’s a lot of “Shop Talk” which probably bored my father and my mother-in-law , it was interesting to some of us.
This brought up interesting points about some authors not knowing what 1) a chapbook is; 2) options besides letting said stories flounder and die; and 3) what else can be done.
I admit I’m still struggling with ebooks. I’ve never been the most technologically savvy person on the planet. I’m “functionally literate”. I can make things do what they’re supposed to, but getting into code and fancy stuff? Yeah, not so much. I tend to learn a lot on the fly, but that’s out of sheer necessity. Like learning ebooks – it’s becoming a necessity. Mom wants me to learn so I can teach her. Yeah… we’ll see how that turns out. THIS very reason right here – the “1 Technology Too Many” Syndrome – is why I still thoroughly embrace Traditional Publishing. Lower learning curves on the tech part – just higher BS meters.
So, after this discussion it came down to this… Mom’s going to show my chapbook to some of her Christian Writers Groups. I’m considering putting together some proposals for speaking engagements. That’s where some panic is coming into play. What can I talk about?
• Marketing on a Budget – that one is a given. I’ve always had to squeeze the most out of a penny.
• Writing in an AMERICAN IDOL WORLD – this would be a talk expanded from the essays I’ve written on the topic – one of which is in Christine Rose’s book – Publishing & Marketing Realities for the Emerging Author: A Guide to Help Authors Effectively Choose A Publishing Path & Plan Marketing Strategies. (nonfiction)
But what else? This is the audience participation portion. If you’re still reading and know me – what panels or topics have you seen me talk about that you think I could pull off with some authority that would be helpful to other writers????