Wearing my New Jersey Authors' Network (NJAN) hat, I met with the franchise owner and restaurant managers of the COSI restaurants in Secaucus, NJ, and Hackensack, NJ, on Sunday.
We're setting up regular monthly(ish), book-signing events, which will be held on Sundays at both locations.
The folks at COSI seem keen to work with us. I think these events could prove beneficial to everyone concerned. If they go well, I believe we can expand the program to other restaurants (and perhaps even other franchises).
Would you like to sell your books?
If you have a book to sell, and would like to be involved in one or both programs, I'll be posting about it in more detail on in the next day or so. If you can't wait, I've already posted more details on the NJAN Yahoo group. You do need to be a member of NJAN to take part, but it's a free to join, free to use organization. To become a member, you need only join our Yahoo group.
I believe this is a great opportunity. I hope you can take advantage of it.
As always, if you have any questions, please let me know, either by direct email ([email protected]) or in a comment below.
I had a great time at the New Jersey Library Association conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. I met lots of nice people, some of whom I knew via email or telephone only, so it was good to put faces to names. I've got plenty of new contacts for NJAN, and other writerly events. I also sold some books, so all in all, a successful trip.
If you ever find yourself in Atlantic City, NJ, I highly recommend the Revel Resort hotel. The staff were terrific and I loved my room, especially the shower. The towels were so light and fluffy, I could hardly close the lid on my suitcase. I'm not too good with heights, so I did find it unnerving to have a wall-length window view of the ocean from my room on the 25th floor, but it was nothing curtains couldn't fix.
I left a little early so I could get home in good time to make it to my 10 Things Every Writer Should Know talk at Monmouth County Library (HQ) in my adopted home town of Manalapan last night. People seemed to enjoy it. I had another 'Savor the moment' moment afterwards when two people in the audience brought their copies of Fur-Face up to the table. I thought at first they'd come for a refund, but it turns out they wanted me to sign them.
Afterwards, I had a good chinwag with some of my friends from the Monmouth Creative Writing Group for about an hour-and-a-half, which is always fun.
Now it's back to the grindstone. I've got my inbox down to less than a hundred emails now. If I owe you a reply (or a blog comment) I expect to have pretty much caught up by around midday. Then it's lunch, followed by my afternoon writing session.
How about you?
How's your week going?
I set up a fair number of library panel/Q&A events for the New Jersey Authors Network, so I found the comments and ensuing debate resulting from Hildy Silverman's excellent guest post, 10 Things To Think About When Sitting On A Writing Panel, particularly interesting.
Reading through what folks had to say on the subject, it became clear that different people had different ideas about what folks can expect from a writing panel, how they should be run, and also the role of the moderator.
The NJAN panel/Q&As we put on at libraries differ from the sort of thing you might encounter at a writing conference in three ways: They're free to attend (open to writers and civilians alike); the writers on the panel are often less well-known; the panel members' books are available for purchase immediately afterwards.
We usually have a generic theme eg: 'I've finished my first draft, now what?'. The moderator provides the panel with the questions he/she plans to ask in advance, so they have time to prepare their answers. After about 40/45 minutes, we go into the Q&A session. When that's done, panelists give a quick elevator pitch of one of their books, at which point the moderator thanks the audience for coming and invites them to come and meet the panel members and/or buy a book, should they so wish.
Personally, I have several goals in mind when I moderate a panel:
First and foremost, I want everyone there to have fun.
The way I see it, if the people in the audience don't have fun, they won't come back to a similar event in the future, they won't recommend them to other writers, and the library will be less excited about having us back. I prefer a light-hearted approach to a more formal one. That's not to say the answers we give aren't serious, but I think it's much easier to connect with a smiling audience. If the other panelists agree, I also like to set up our chairs in front of the panel's table (and book display). To me, it feels less formal somehow.
I want every single person there (including folks on the panel) to leave the room more excited about his/her writing than when the event kicked-off.
We've all had them, those 'Yes!' moments when a great story idea pops into your head, or a solution to a story problem presents itself. They make you want to drop whatever you're doing and get to work on your ms right then and there. I think a good writing event can inspire/motivate people in a similar way (though hopefully, they'll wait till the event's over before leaving). Information is great, and we should have that, but sometimes inspiration matters more.
I want to get the panel members' names (including mine) off people's 'Never heard of 'em' list, onto their 'Oh yeah, I know him (or her)' list.
With hundreds of thousands of books published each year in North America alone, there's no shortage of things for people to read. Nevertheless, most of us carry a sub-conscious list of writers in our head. These are the names we look out for when we browse the shelves at a library, or peruse the 'Newly published' counter at Barnes & Noble. These names aren't just the writers whose books we've read, they're often writers we've met. Sure, one good encounter won't get your name on someone's internal writers list, but over time, I think it does. Social media works too, but seeing/meeting people in person makes a muc
Today, I'm delighted to welcome my friend and fellow NJAN member, Chris Redding. Chris has a new workshop Lights! Camera! Bestseller! which she'll be teaching at www.savvyauthors.com in February of 2012.
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This evening I'll be at Bound Brook Library, 402 E High St, Bound Brook, NJ 08805, taking part in a multi-author panel/Q&A, The Brave New World of Publishing.
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Tomorrow afternoon, (September 17th) I'll be taking part in a multi-author panel/Q&A at Cinnaminson Library, 1619 Riverton Road, Cinnaminson, NJ08077 in Burlington County, New Jersey.
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I'm preparing for a multi-author panel/Q&A at East Brunswick library tomorrow night. One of the topics I'm sure will come up is the use/misuse of the term 'indie publishing'. I thought it would be interesting to conduct a straw poll to find out what the general consensus is about its meaning.
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