Today’s option question: What pitfalls would you warn other writers to avoid on their publication journey?
I don’t teach a seminar on book publishing for nothing - study the publishing industry in depth! Take a few months and learn about both paths, traditional and self-publishing. Understand how publishers work, how to write a query letter, what’s expected of you as far as marketing. And if you self-publish, learn all about book covers, editing, formatting, distribution, etc. You need to know what you’re doing because if you do it wrong, it can kill your career.
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group has some great announcements today.
Word count: 3500-6000
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Theme:
Masquerade
A Masquerade can be a false show or pretense, someone pretending to be someone they aren't. It can be a ball, a fancy dress party, it can be a mask. Open to interpretation.
Submissions accepted: September 5 - November 4, 2018
How to enter: Send your polished, formatted (Double spaced, no page numbers), previously unpublished story to admin @ insecurewriterssupportgroup.com before the deadline passes. Please include your contact details, your social links, and if you are part of the Blogging, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter IWSG group.
Judging: The IWSG admins will create a shortlist of the best stories. The shortlist will then be sent to our official judges who will be announced September 5.
Prizes: The winning stories will be edited and published by Freedom Fox Press next year in the IWSG anthology. Authors will receive royalties on books sold, both print and eBook. The top story will have the honor of giving the anthology its title.
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group has partnered with Write…Edit…Publish (WEP).
From their site:
Write…Edit…Publish (WEP) is an online writing community now partnering with the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG). We post the third Wednesday of every second month. Check out our program for 2018 in our sidebar and Pages. WEP challenges are open to all. *Submit your name to InLinkz (free) on the first day of the challenge month. The winner for each prompt wins a $10 Amazon Gift Card with winners’ badges for second and third prize.
From the IWSG Goodreads Book Club:
Our book selection for August/September is: The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
This one is for our memoir writers and anyone who has ever thought of writing a memoir. The discussion will start September 19th and will go to the end of the month, but it will be up indefinitely, so you can hop in whenever you're able.
GIVEAWAY: Book club members have the chance to win a paperback copy of Plot and Structure by James Scott Bell. This is a used copy, but it’s in great condition.
To enter, go to this Rafflecopter Form. It’s free to enter, but you have to be a book club member. We will verify this, so join us on Goodreads!
One winner will be randomly selected on August 8th, and Chrys Fey will email the winner to get mailing details. All info will be kept private.
This past weekend, Dancing Lemur Press had a booth at Supercon - and it was amazing!
In addition to selling a ton of books, we met a lot of incredible people. The cosplay costumes were stunning. You can visit our Instagram to see dozens of them holding our books.
We also got to meet a few celebrities. I got an autograph from Michael Dorn, Worf from Star Trek.
I also got to speak for a moment with Henry Winkler - he is just such a nice guy! I also attended Steve Whitmire’s Q&A session and was the second person to ask him a question. (He was with Jim Henson productions for years - I love Muppets.)
Probably one of the best moments was Saturday morning just as the crowds were coming in - Barry Bostwick (Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spin City, etc.) was wandering through the booths and stopped to ask us about our books. And he was gracious enough to pose for a picture with me!
All in all, it was a great experience and we look forward to Supercon 2019. Our next con - Cape Fear Comic Con in Wilmington, NC on August 25!
Update:
Please visit The Circle of Friends for the release of our latest book, Unbroken by Annie Highwater.
Supercon sounds like such a fun experience! The Dancing Lemur booth looks great. Hopefully no one had any nasty encounters with irradiated lemurs.
ReplyDeleteYour pics on Instagram were so fun! I loved all the cosplay. And I also love the Muppets so I squealed a little when reading about the Q&A. How fun! So glad you had such a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a great time!
ReplyDeleteThe con looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThat's an intriguing theme - will have to think on it! :)
Congrats on a successful ComicCon. It's so cool you got to meet all those folks.
ReplyDeleteA great time was had by all, I'm sure. Thanks for the books you donated to the schools in the Virgin Islands.
ReplyDeleteSupercon looks like a blast! Great advice on studying the publishing industry. In today's market, getting the book written is only half the job.
ReplyDeleteHi Diane, looks like you had lots of fun at the supercon!
ReplyDeleteI have LOVED seeing all the pictures from Supercon! It looks like you had a fantastic time.
ReplyDeleteStudy the industry. Yes! That's what I'm doing now. In fact, there's a class on query writing that I'm looking into just so that I can really understand the process. There's so much information out there and I'm super thankful for you and the IWSG and all the information that ya'll have already sifted through.
Have a wonderful August!
Jen
Loved the pics. I'm glad you had a blast. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
Super Con sounds like so much fun. I live in San Diego and really want to go to the Comic Con here, but all the people terrify me LOL.
ReplyDeleteWould love to take one of your classes!
That sounds like it was so much fun. There were a number of celebrities at that con I would have loved to hear speak. Glad you sold a lot of books.
ReplyDeleteEllen, the warning did drawn in some curious people though, which was the plan.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I'm glad you enjoyed them.
Bish, I was happy to do so.
Jen, definitely study.
Gwen, Comic Con is SO huge. I'd love to go though.
You were having one heck of a good time. And Barry Bostwich? Wow! Henry Winkler!! That had to have been one exciting weekend. The booth looked fabulous in the picture.
ReplyDeleteThanks for including the book club info!
ReplyDeleteI saw a lot of your pictures on Instagram. It looked like an amazing con!
ReplyDeleteI saw your pics on Instagram. It looks like it was fun.
ReplyDeleteYes! It is essential to know about both traditional and self-publishing and what they both entail. Right now I am taking a course on Self-publishing from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. It is amazing what a writer needs to plan for and the steps a writer has to take to achieve his or her goals.
ReplyDeleteShalom aleichem,
Pat G @ EverythingMustChange
Glad you had a great time and got the name out there! Yes, we soon realise there's a ton of work to do behind the scenes. It's essential to learn it.
ReplyDeleteAlso they should be wary of scams. I've been hear a lot about those recently. That con looks amazing! I wish I had been there!!
ReplyDeleteSure looks like a grand time indeed. Selling a ton of books is always a win too.
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting time you had. The pictures are great. Especially the kitties. Glad you sold lots of books. You've earned the sales.
ReplyDeleteThat Con looked like a lot of fun. Glad you had a good time. Do you have any suggestions for us who are at the start of our careers as writers on particularly good resources we could turn to as we research and learn about the two publishing tracks? Thanks for the post, and happy writing. :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the Super Con success. I saw and heard the Facebook clip. You have a charming Southerner's voice.
ReplyDeleteKeep shining.
OMG, sounds like it was wonderful! I didn't realize so many of the big guns would be there.
ReplyDeleteIWSG Wed snuck up on me. Totally missed it.
I love seeing that smile! It sounds (and looks) like you had so much fun. How exciting to meet Henry Winkler. I feel like he'd be a cool dude in person and really down to earth. So awesome!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your tips about self-publishing. I had to go back and fix editing issues after I hit publish on my first book. What a pain!
Elsie
Lee, it was an incredible weekend.
ReplyDeletePat, it's a lot to learn.
Kathy, there's are a lot of resources at the IWSG site. (I also have a book called How to Publish and Promote Your Book Now that covers both - eBook is only $2.99.)
Robyn, no! I wanted to keep my Pacific Northwest accent.
Sandra, the list of guests was massive. They went all out.
Thank you, Elsie. He was out from behind his signing table and chatting with people, which is how I got to meet him. And you know what - Henry Winkler isn't much taller than I am. LOL
I loved all the pics. So awesome!!
ReplyDeleteHi Diane - looks to be an amazing event and am so pleased it went so well for for you: congratulations. Your Lemur Press and your ability to help bloggers and authors in this group is wonderful. On top of that you help us with resources etc. So good to know the IWSG and WEP are joining forces ... and good luck with the anthology - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThe new anthology sounds awesome. Hmm. Pity I don't write YA...Glad you had a great time chatting with the Fonz, Henry Winkler...was he wearing his leather jacket?
ReplyDeleteLoved seeing all the pics on Instagram! Glad to hear you sold a lot of books and had a great time!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a great con experience. The booth looks great!
ReplyDeleteGlad your con experience was so great. It sounds like you made some great connections.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great weekend at Supercon.
ReplyDeleteThats a lot of good news at IWSG. And good advice about really learning the ropes.
ReplyDeleteI loved all the instagram pictures! They made me smile. It looked like a wonderful event. The theme this year sounds so exciting! Have a lovely rest of your day :)
ReplyDeleteThe Instagram pictures were priceless! I can't imagine how exciting and fun it must have been. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteGood advice, Diane. So glad you had a good time at Supercon. I'm going to go to one one of these days.
ReplyDeleteLynda, we had so much fun sending them out.
ReplyDeleteDenise, no he wasn't. What surprised me is that he's really short. Not much taller than me.
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the Instagram pictures. It took me until Monday evening to send them all out.
That's good advice to research the publishing industry before launching a book.
ReplyDeleteThe anthology topic sounds good. I'm sure you'll get some great entries for it.
So glad Supercon was a success and that you sold a lot of books! Thanks for sharing the pictures!
I bet getting into the publishing business led the way to all kinds of adventures never expected ... like Supercon. It sounds like you had an absolute BLAST! (AND you sold books!!!)
ReplyDeleteWow, that looks like it was a lot of fun. Jealous of your Michael Dorn, Worf autograph. I love Star Trek almost as much as Star Wars, lol. He was always one of my favorites. Congrats on the spectacular booth.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI published with small and e press for several years before I went Indie and I'm really glad I did it in that order.
ReplyDeleteYou met the Fonzie! What a great time you had and it shows.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice, Diane. Also nice photos. Looks like it was a huge fun.
ReplyDeleteToo cool about the conference! So glad it went well! Thanks for dropping by my blog, again. You always have such great information...
ReplyDeleteJuneta, he's my favorite, so I had to get a photo.
ReplyDeleteThank you, all!
Good luck in Cape Fear and for another smashing success!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic experience that was for you! Lots of great stuff in this post. I think the IWSG/WEP unification is a great thing. And I love the theme for the new anthology. Looking forward to reading that one, too :)
ReplyDeleteSo much good news this month!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the Supercon, what fun, and what amazing opportunities!
Great pictures!
Congratulations, Diane! Sounds like a great time. Thanks for sharing the pictures and experience.
ReplyDeleteThe Supercon sounds like a fun event. Glad you had such a great time.
ReplyDeleteDid the celebrities have name tags or did you just know who they were? I'd probably not even recognize a lot of folks like that, but maybe the Fonz.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
Wow. What a great conference! Super encouraging, and look a that roster of books! Whew! Epicness and a half.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about getting educated about the industry before diving it. It's one of the big pieces of advice I always give newbies.
Memoirs seem to be picking up steam, don't they?
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! Very important to learn before one leaps into the publishing world.
ReplyDeleteSounds like Supercon was amazing. I loved all the pictures on Instagram. Awesome that you got to meet some stars too. :)
~Jess
Hi L. Diane...
ReplyDeleteLOOKS like you had a blast at SuperCon... what fun! Celebs and all... YAY, you!
Very sound advice. And you are SOOOOO right! Thanks!
The DLP booth looks fab, Diane!
ReplyDeleteBook covers, editing, formatting, distribution... such great advice to learn all these aspects... but it IS a lot to learn. Sheesh.
I suppose it's an ongoing learning process which never really ends, hey?
Sound advice, but I don't think there's any such thing as killing a career these days. With the advent of online publishing, authors can go back and correct mistakes, add better covers, hire a skilled editor, etc. There's always a new pseudonym if you've published something regretful under your real name.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost time for the next Con.....
ReplyDeleteHope you're resting up after your book festival. Love the photos. Just watched Mr. Bostwick's daughter in a powerful performance in the film HomeFront. She did an outstanding job.
ReplyDeleteHave fun at the Cape Fear CC.
ReplyDeleteLoved your photos on Intagram and TWitter of the Cosplayers. Awesome!
ReplyDelete