Writer’s Friends—Conferences and Contests

Yikes! It’s a new year and I’ve been so busy editing that I’ve neglected this wonderful blog. Never mind. I’ll bring you up-to-date. I finished off the year with a writing conference. Every writer should avail herself or himself of the chance to mingle with like-minded individuals, and published authors who offer educational insights as well as personal advice. Some conferences for 2016

Crime Bake!

Once again, the November conference put on by Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America was wonderful. Elizabeth George, the guest author, proved to be witty, friendly, and happy to share her writing knowledge and experience. All the authors made themselves available and the panels were informative and humorous. The Master Classes provided up-to-date information on a variety of subjects and made time for Q and A. It was also a great time to catch up with all those writers I haven’t seen for a while.

Conference Opportunities: One of the perks of conferences is pitching your manuscript. This year, Crime Bake held a pitch slam or the chance to pitch to multiple agents. What an opportunity. Two agents asked me to send in partials. Another perk is a manuscript critique. I had an excellent twenty-page critique with Lucy Burdette, who gave me an in-depth review and a written assessment.

Contests: For the Crime Bake Flash

Words contest, a story having to do with crime, and no more than 150 words with 10 chosen from a list of 20 (ashes, blood, body, careless, consequences, death, deception, edge, enemy, evil, hiding, memory, missing, murder, payment, pursuit, shadows, traitor, vengeance, witness).  I was a winner for the fourth year in a row. What an exciting moment, especially sweet after reading all the other excellent submissions. Here is my winner:

Sweet Thing

I was at the River’s Edge Café when he spoke to me—the same chilling words that dogged my nightmares, “Hey there, sweet thing.”

Memories flooded my mind. I was thirteen years old, hiding to spy on my sister and her date. She’d always been careless about boys, and Mom had warned her of the consequences. That night, payment came due, and I was the witness. From the shadows, I’d listened. I’d listened as she laughed. I’d listened as she died. Since her death, I’d thirsted for vengeance.

I blinked and looked at him. The fire in his eyes almost undid me. His honeyed tongue dripped evil. “I was just headed outside for a smoke. Care to join me?”

I sucked back the fear and followed him. Tonight would be different. Tonight I was the one with the gun and the badge to back it up.

###

I’m beginning the new year on a high note with a Submission. On the heels of Crime Bake, I sat down and began re-editing my manuscript, Trace of Evil, to send in to a Ghostwoods Books, as they were accepting submissions until the end of the year. That done, I’m working on a synopsis for the same book to send to RWA’s Golden Heart contest. Once that is out (before 1/11/16), I will work on the changes one of the agents suggested in “Watcher Clan”. Some excellent free writing contests 

This is the year! I'm going to be published. All I have to do is keep on writing.

Publishing Pitfalls

Last Saturday I attended an all-day workshop on publishing put on by Sisters in Crime (SinC). The panels discussed Small Press (Indie), Traditional (Legacy), and Self-Publishing. Authors explained the benefits and down-sides of each. 

Indie publishers have the advantage of a quicker turn-around time and most don't require agents. However, the author has to take care of tasks like promotion and cover art.

Legacy publishers take care of publicity, editing, cover art, and bookstore distribution. Their downside includes the necessity of an agent, early deadlines, lack of flexibility, and the amount of time it takes to produce the book. 

That leaves self-publishing. Many authors claim to have made a lot of money with self-publishing. If you look at the claims, you'll find that most come from previously established authors who already have a following. 

For those of us who are unknown, the story will be quite different. Before any author takes the risky step of self-publishing his book, he has to establish a platform. A platform is an online identity, created by Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.) and a blog. 

People will buy something written by a familiar name, once. If they like it, you're in luck. This brings me to an important part of self-publishing, the editing. Before you send anything out onto the web with your name attached to it, hire a competent editor to go through it. Don't cry about the cost. Do it! Reader's are not used to literature that has spelling or grammatical errors. One or two in 75,000 words can be overlooked, but no more. 

We new authors are still learning, and we need someone to point out problems before the public sees them. Editors do that. Once your name is associated with sub-par work, you've blown it. You won't get another chance. There are too many books out there.

Be prepared to take care of all those little details normally handled by the publisher. Things like cover art, promotion, technical aspects of formatting for different platforms, ISBN numbers, etc. Learn about quotas, royalties and keeping tabs on your sales. You're now in the business of publishing.

You can hire people to take care of any or all of the publishing responsibilities, but it will be costly. 

The bottom line? Look at the publishing choices and make an informed decision, one for which you are willing to do the work and then enjoy your new published state. 

For more information on the workshop, see my blog this Friday, 4/4, at MostlyMysteryBlog.

Ready to Query?

I've been asking myself that question for months. Am I ready to query? Well, if I want to be published, I figure I’m probably going to have to do something other than pray.

The answer to the query question isn't easy. Although my book is great (you’ll love it), I’m still doing some in-depth editing. But, what difference does that make?  I could still send out query letters. Right?

I could. But, what if by some miracle, I get a reply asking me for the whole thing? What do I do? Do I send my baby out before it’s ready? Do I take a chance that the editor or agent will gloss over any mistakes or inconsistencies because my writing is so incredible?

Wait a minute. If someone wanted my work, I could always throw myself into an insane editing marathon and hope that everything would somehow end up being perfect. Right?

Yeah, right. My life would be a mess, not to mention what a manuscript, edited by a bleary-eyed lunatic, would look like. No, no editing marathon.  Much better to work on my masterpiece until it’s ready for the firing squad. Also, this way, I’d have less chance of cultivating an ulcer.

Although my work isn't quite ready for querying, it is close. And, I know that writing a query letter is extremely difficult. The process has been known to demoralize even the most confident writer. Therefore, I wouldn't attempt it alone. Especially since my confidence can be iffy. I tend to moan while waiting in line to pitch my book.

There are many sites where you can find excellent instruction about how to query. Here are three I like:

AgentQueryPage

HuffingtonPost

WritersDigestQueryLetters

Since I've read a lot of these articles, I've learned how to query. Right?

I'm sure you guessed the answer. No. I’m still in novice land. What I need, what a lot of writers need, is feedback, someone to read my pitiful query attempts and point out the problems. Where do you find someone like that?

One venue is a writing group. A good writing group will have members who’ll give you an honest critique. If they've had any experience writing query letters, their help can be invaluable. Often, however, group members’ experience with query letters is spotty. And, what if you don’t have a writing group? If you're not part of a writing group, my advice is to search for one. I have an online critique group through the Sisters in Crime Guppies subgroup and a physical writing group near my home.

Another really good option to solve your query concerns is to find an online workshop where you can get feedback on your letter. You’ll find them advertised through writing forums from time to time. I’m considering taking one next week from Savvy Authors. Savvy'sQueryWorkshop

It’s inexpensive, looks to be thorough, and, best of all, it provides feedback on your efforts. 

Once I have my query letter tucked in my back pocket, I can get back to editing. By the time I’m ready to rock some agent or editor’s world, my query letter will be ready. 

Bestseller lists, here I come!