Kyle Pratt's Blog: Musings & Rantings, page 27

August 23, 2014

Standby

The digital age continues to change the creative arts.


Standby was created as a final project by college film student Trey Drysdale. It is a short, seven minute, film about a hardworking college student who, after a severe thunderstorm, loses his computer work when an unexpected power surge occurs. He later comes across a strange, portal-like phenomenon in his computer, but is oblivious to the capabilities that it entails.

The film is an excellent example of the new avenues opening for creative artists and fans. I am certain we will see more films like this as cameras, sound systems and special effects, become cheaper and the internet provides more avenues of distribution.

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Published on August 23, 2014 17:24

August 12, 2014

Release Date!

The release date for my next novel, A Time to Endure, has been set.


The exciting saga of Major Caden Westmore continues. In the first book of the Strengthen What Remains series, Through Many Fires, nuclear terrorism destroys six American cities, leaving the nation in chaos.
















In the second novel, A Time to Endure, the economy teeters on collapse. The dollar plunges, inflation runs rampant, and the next civil war threatens to decimate the wounded country. In the face of tyranny, panic, and growing hunger, Caden struggles to keep his family and town together. But how can he save his community when the nation is collapsing around it? A Time to Endure will be released on December 12th of this year.

A third book is planned, but that is another story.

The front and back cover for A Time to Endure are complete and much of the book is now in the editing process. There is still much to be done behind the scenes, but barring unforeseen problems, the book will be released in paperback and on Kindle December 12th. Shortly thereafter, the novel will be released on Nook, Kobo, Smashwords and as an Audiobook.

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Published on August 12, 2014 14:42

August 9, 2014

Looking Forward

The Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference may be over, but I’m still busy!

I said goodbye to Randy Ingermanson, Ben Wolf and others on Thursday. After song and praise, the OCW Summer Conference concluded and, with Barbara Blakey at the driving, headed north toward home. The four days in Portland were a truly an inspiring and fun time.
















However, I’m the kind of person who looks forward, not back, and the next occasion before me is the Southwest Washington Writers Conference. This one day event is scheduled for September 13th, at Centralia College. I will be there listening to great speakers, and also conducting a workshop.

My workshop is titled, “Author Entrepreneur – The Business of Writing” and in it I will discuss the skills needed to manage a successful writing business. I’ll cover things like planning your workday, finding a niche, establishing a platform, product funnels, the 80/20 rule, marketing strategies, and more.

Until the conference I’ll be working hard on completing my next novel, A Time to Endure. The release date is coming soon, but more about that on Monday.

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Published on August 09, 2014 08:46

August 6, 2014

OCW Third Day

I should have kept a list—with pictures.


I mentioned earlier that one of my goals for this conference is to meet people and network. I’ve continued my practice of sitting at different tables for lunch and dinner. For today’s lunch, I sat with Jeff Gerke at a table of speculative fiction writers, including a teen working on his first novel.







Randy Ingermanson and Jeff Gerke discuss business trends





Randy Ingermanson and Jeff Gerke discuss business trends








Jeff is an editor, author, graphic designer and the founder of Marcher Lord Press, now Enclave Publishing, which is the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction. Since I write speculative fiction, this seemed a great place to eat lunch. However, it got even better when, moments later, Randy Ingermanson sat across from me. Eating occurred between talk of what those around the table were writing and trends in the genre.

Unfortunately, I’m meeting so many people, I can’t remember many of the names of people or most of the interesting books they’ve told me about. I should have taken notes.   







Barbara Blakey receives the Cascade Writers Award for unpublished historical fiction.





Barbara Blakey receives the Cascade Writers Award for unpublished historical fiction.









As fun and interesting as lunch was, the real excitement for me came later, at the Cascade Awards Banquet. This award, given by Oregon Christian Writers, has ten categories for both published and unpublished works. These include contemporary, historical and speculative fiction, young adult, poetry and more. I had known for a couple of weeks that my good friend and fellow author Barbara Blakey was a finalist. That meant her book was among the top three in her category.


I sat beside Barbara as they presented the first ten awards. Then it was her category.  The host, Jeff Gerke, read the first line of the winning book and I recognized the main characters name. Then he announced that in the category of unpublished historical fiction the winner was The Secret of Clara Rose, by Barbara Tifft Blakey.

 I look forward to reading in print soon. 

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Published on August 06, 2014 23:14

August 5, 2014

OCW Second Day

Tuesday, my second day at the conference, was a 15 hour day.

I study to stay informed about author and book marketing techniques, but as much as I learn, I want to know more. That led me to take Randy Ingermanson Passive Marketing class. This is a three-day class and much of this first morning was on establishing your vision and goals for success. As they say, how can you get there if you don’t know where you’re going? Tomorrow and the next day are more on the specific strategies and tactics.

One of my goals for the conference is to meet people and network. People tend to sit at the same table for meals but, at conferences, I make it a point to sit at a different table for each meal. Today, for lunch, I sat down at a nearly empty table. Gradually the table filled. As we talked I learned the man on my right was a newspaper editor. A woman on my left had just finished writing her first book.







Frank Peretti and Kyle Pratt and the Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference





Frank Peretti and Kyle Pratt and the Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference








Just before the meal was served, only the seat directly across from me remained available. Moments later, a gentleman sat there. I thought he looked familiar so, I glanced at his nametag. It was Frank Peretti, one of the best-known contemporary Christian authors. I can still remember reading his first adult novel, This Present Darkness when it came out in 1986, and the sequel Piercing the Darkness, two years later. He’s written ten novels and sold over 10 million books. I told him I was a longtime fan, asked him about current projects and got this picture with him.  

All of that happened before noon. There were still two classes on public relations, an editor’s panel, an author’s panel and another class with Randy Ingermanson on Scrivener software to attend.

I didn’t get back to my room until after ten o’clock. I don’t think I could survive many conference days like this one. 

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Published on August 05, 2014 22:21

August 4, 2014

OCW First Day

Dinner was the most interesting part of the first day of the conference.

When I say it that way it sounds like a bad thing, that the first day of the Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference was a bust, but that isn’t so. The time spent around the dinner table was simply the best time.

After getting checked in, and receiving my obligatory nametag, (I’ve never liked wearing a nametag) I found my room, but was only able to relax for a few minutes, before trotting off to the conference.

The first item was a panel discussion with literary agents. There were probably more than a hundred people in attendance. Every seat was used and they brought in more. Agents are important to writers. I listened to gain insight on their perspective, but I don’t need an agent right now.

Next was a panel of magazine editors. I don’t write for magazines, but I was willing to hear what they had to say. Ben Wolf of Splickety Magazine, intrigued me. His magazine specializes in flash fiction, entire stories told in 1,000 words or less.

Several years ago, my son James had written several flash fiction pieces. That was my first introduction to them and I had no idea where or how to market them, but here was a man asking people to write them. I wanted to tell James.







Randy Ingermanson, Kyle Pratt and Ben Wolf





Randy Ingermanson, Kyle Pratt and Ben Wolf









Next was dinner in the banquet room. I saw my friend Julie Zander and we walked in together. Each table had a centerpiece with the name of a speaker at the conference. The named person would sit at that table. I noticed the table with Ben Wolf’s name on it. We sat there with Julie on my right.


Ben arrived moments later and sat one space over on my left. The chair between us was empty. I had just starting talking with Ben about his magazine and what type of submissions they were looking for when Randy Ingermanson sat between us. I’ve read several of Randy’s books including Oxygen and The Fifth Man. Julie knew Randy. Randy knew Ben and Julie and for the next hour I got to know both Randy and Ben as we talked about Amazon, the future of writing and magazines.

It was a great start to the conference.  

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Published on August 04, 2014 22:49

August 1, 2014

Exciting Events

I’ll be attending writer’s conferences in both August and September.

On Monday, August 4th, I’m heading south to Portland for the Oregon Christian Writer’s Summer Conference. This four day event is jam packed with nearly 30 workshops, more than a dozen coaching class and opportunities to network with many publishers, agents and fellow writers. I’ll be blogging, tweeting and posting to Facebook each day of the conference.   







Click to enlarge





Click to enlarge








Even more exciting in some ways is the Southwest Washington Writer’s Conference on September 13th. This one day event will be held not far from where I live, at Centralia College, and I will be conducting one of the 12 workshops.

Even though it is only a one day event it’s loaded with great writers and exciting workshops. New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni will give the keynote address, This Day We Write, at the conference. Others who will be speaking or giving workshops include the Washington State Poet Laureate, Elizabeth Austen, award winning author Melanie Dobson, and friends and fellow authors, and friends, Barbara Blakey and Shannon Winslow.

My workshop is titled, Author Entrepreneur – The Business of Writing. I’ll be blogging more about the Southwest Washington Writer’s Conference, and my workshop, after the Oregon conference.

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Published on August 01, 2014 12:08

July 23, 2014

Now on Wattpad

In an effort to reach more of you, my readers, I’m refocusing my social media endeavors. 


Facebook is becoming less and less useful as they filter content and only a fraction of my subscribers see what I post. If someone cares enough to friend or follow me, I want them to see everything that I have available.





















That’s one reason I started using Goodreads, a book cataloging site useful writers and readers. The thing I like about Goodreads is that everything I post is up on the site for all my readers to see and the audience is made up of people who like to read.

That dynamic led me to Wattpad, another reader focused social media site. Wattpad is used by authors to post their stories, articles, or whatever. In addition to reading the material, users are able to comment and like stories or join groups associated with the site.


I’ve posted the Final Duty novella to Wattpad and I’m serializing Through Many Fires to the site one chapter a week as a promo for the sequel, A Time to Endure.


Check out my sites on Goodreads and Wattpad and let me know what you think.

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Published on July 23, 2014 14:05

Now on Wattpad!

In an effort to reach more of you, my readers, I’m refocusing my social media endeavors. 


Facebook is becoming less and less useful as they filter content and only a fraction of my subscribers see what I post. If someone cares enough to friend or follow me, I want them to see everything that I have available.




















That’s one reason I started using Goodreads, a book cataloging site useful writers and readers. The thing I like about Goodreads is that everything I post is up on the site for all my readers to see and the audience is made up of people who like to read.

That dynamic led me to Wattpad, another reader focused social media site. Wattpad is used by authors to post their stories, articles, or whatever. In addition to reading the material, users are able to comment and like stories or join groups associated with the site.

I’ve posted the Final Duty novella to Wattpad and I’m serializing Through Many Fires to the site one chapter a week as a promo for the sequel, A Time to Endure.

Check out my sites on Goodreads and Wattpad and let me know what you think.

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Published on July 23, 2014 14:05

July 20, 2014

Fun to See

One of the hardest tasks for a mid-list or indie author is just getting noticed.

















In this digital age there are more authors writing more stories than ever before. So, no matter how interesting and entertaining my stories might be, it is difficult to spread the word and find readers.


That is one reason I don’t care how often it happens; it’s always fun to see advertisements like this one sent to me by one of my readers.

Unfortunately, for both of us, she already had both of these books.

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Published on July 20, 2014 19:32