Are you getting into the new year? Or still thinking about the old? We’re having a run of cold weather, but the news in indie publishing continues to run hot. We all need passion in our writing sometimes, and then it’s back to business. Lots of viewpoints make for a more interesting discussion, so dive in.
George Angus on Tumblemoose
You Can’t Fake Passion
“You do not have control of your passion. You have control over what you are passionate about. If what you are writing about resonates with your very essence, if it rings true to your ear, if the word track continues to run in your head long after the words have flowed to paper then you are in a place of passion.”
Tracy Seeley on There Are No Rules
3 Important Privacy Issues in Memoir
“Writing memoir is not for the faint-hearted. We do think about how others will react, or worry we’ll damage our relationships. But writing out of fear is the worst way to go about creating a memoir. Our first obligation is to the art and truth of our story. And that means not censoring ourselves.”
Sandra Beckwith on The Savvy Book Marketer
How to Plan Your Virtual Book Tour
“Virtual book tours are worthwhile for any author whose target audience is online. They allow you to connect with readers personally, share enough information about your book to help people decide if they want to buy it, and – this is my favorite part – include a link to a site where people can purchase it immediately. Who doesn’t like instant gratification?”
L.J. Sellers on A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing
I Left My Publisher, Gave Up on Bookstores, and Started Making Money
“Letting go of that contract was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Not only did it mean taking on the “self-published” stigma, it also meant giving up book signings, which I love. But I had looked into the future and determined that bookstores were not where most people would buy their novels in 2012. For once, I wanted to be ahead of the curve.”
Aaron Shephard on New Self-Publishing
CreateSpace and the Expanded Distribution Channel
“An early major weakness of Amazon’s CreateSpace was that the only major outlet for its books was Amazon.com. CreateSpace has now remedied much of this deficit with its Expanded Distribution Channel, offering self publishers the capability of selling to other booksellers, schools, and libraries throughout the U.S. and beyond. But few CreateSpace publishers have a good idea of exactly how this Rube Goldberg system works, or what they can expect from it.”
Blog Note: Pitchapalooza Coming to Northern California
With the publication of their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published (Workman) co-authors Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry have started another round of the events they call Pitchapalooza.
What’s it all about? Here’s a snippet from a recent article by Sterry for Publishing Perspectives:
(It’s) an American Idol for books where writers would get one minute to pitch their books to a panel of book professionals. The panel then critiques their idea while an audience of aspiring writers and those who love them soak the whole thing in. The panel evaluates everything from character to plot, presentation to marketing, title to comp books, befriending booksellers to finding an agent.
Pitchapaloozas prove Einstein’s theory of relativity over and over. Sometimes a minute goes by in a second. Sometimes it takes six months. But wherever we went, there were so many great stories out there, so many passionate writers who just don’t know how to navigate the stormy waters of the publishing ocean.
And now, a decade later . . . we’re proud to report that many Pitchapalooza participants have gone from being talented amateurs to professional authors with published books.
Does that sound like fun? I’ll be on the panel with the authors to review and react to the pitches that night, and a few people have told me they are already practicing in front of the mirror for the big event.
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, come by and make a pitch. Here are the details:
Pitchapalooza will be at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California.
January 19, 2011
7:00 p.m.
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, California 94925
(800) 999-7909
Store location and driving directions
Watch for a review of this very useful book coming soon.
All Amazon links are affiliate links. Image licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, original work copyright by Meddy Garnet, https://www.flickr.com/photos/meddygarnet/4288935391
