Austin S. Camacho's Blog, page 25

C3 Conference – Filling Up a Weekend

There is no “how to give a literary conference” kit.  So I’m building one.
Physicist John Wheeler said, “Time is what prevents everything from happening at once..." and while that is only half the actual quote, it’s the part that pertains to today’s blog.  Once we decided where, when and how long the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity conference would be, we had to figure out how we would fill that time. 
A lot can happen in a weekend, and different con directors handle that fact differently.  I’ve been to events where the whole gang moved from one event to another.  That can be boring if you don’t enjoy one of the panels.  I’ve also attended convention that had as many as six things happening simultaneously.  That can feel like everything IS happening at once and there were always things I wanted to see scheduled against each other.
We decided that three panels at a time was a good compromise.  Hopefully there will be ONE panel in each time period of interest to every attendee.
We knew we wanted one hour panels, but before filling in a grid we had to decide when the con would start and end.  With a close eye on our model (did I mention Love is Murder before?) we tried to make the schedule friendly to travelers and the gainfully employed.  So Friday panels won’t start until 1pm.  Four panel hours Friday afternoon (three panels in each hour) will get us to a book signing by all the writers on those panels and then to dinner.
Saturday’s panels will start after breakfast at 9am.  Three sets of panels, then lunch, then four more panel hours.  Saturday’s presenters will all sign books at 5pm, just before the banquet.
There will only be two panel hours after Sunday’s breakfast, so the con will wind up at noon.  Along the way there will be author roundtable discussions, one-person workshops and a few special events. 
But most of the schedule will consist of panel presentations, which called for more decision making.  I’ve seen two-man panels and panels with six or seven authors.  In the latter case, some writers never get a chance to speak.  We want all our attending authors to get a chance to shine so we’ve settled on three authors per panel plus a moderator.  We should still be able to get every writer who registers onto a panel or two.  What all these panels will be about is a story for another blog. 
Oh, and the rest of Wheeler’s quote?  “Space is what prevents everything from happening to me.”

Intrigue Publishing – Equal Rights for Good Books

When planning to launch Intrigue Publishing we took a long hard look at the publishing industry, and we didn’t like everything we saw.  One thing that bothered us was the loss of the midlist.
A few decades ago, major publishers nurtured what we call midlist authors - Authors who consistently published acceptable but not bestselling books.  Publishers would publish writers with potential and keep their careers alive as long as they weren’t big money losers.  Often those writers would find a solid audience and step forward from that midlist to become best sellers, but it took time.
Today’s business model for big publishers seems to be to ignore those solid performers in a never-ending search for the blockbuster!  They will find a book they believe has blockbuster potential and back it with huge promotion, advertising and distribution resources.  This sometimes results in a self-fulfilling prophesy, but after a million dollar advance and another million in promotion a book can sell very well and still lose money.
Well, we’re not chasing the blockbuster.  We’re looking for solid authors who can turn out solid books.  Of course, those books must clear certain hurdles for us to apply our resources.  But since we don’t have millions, we don’t’ expect Stephen King.  Yet.
So, what makes an Intrigue Publishing book?    Each book will entertain its readers. Each book will be worthy of the attention of discerning book reviewers. Each book will appeal to a mass market with major sales potential. That one side of the deal we will make with each novel we publish.  What will that book get in return?
Each book will be carefully edited, designed, and produced. Each book will have a month-long launch in which it is our sole focus. Each book will have a national publicity campaign. Each book will have both a print and a digital strategy. Each book will be promoted well into its publishing life. These novels will all be part of the Intrigue Publishing family.  And like with people, you may not LIKE all your children equally, but you have to LOVE them all equally.  Every book we put in the marketplace will get an equal chance to shine, and receive our best effort.  And who knows… by letting the readers judge which is best we just might accidentally stumble onto the next Steven King.

Things Every Aspiring Writer Needs to Accept

This guest post is contributed by Barbra Jolie, who enjoys writing about online college classes and other academic trends.  Barbara offers a dose of reality for those who want to write for a living.
Every year, thousands of students graduate with degrees in everything from English to Journalism in hopes of becoming professional writers. They might have different styles and pursuits, but they all share a love of the written word and a desire to write for a living. However, compared to those pursuing more traditional jobs as lawyers or doctors, writers must understand the unpredictability of the road that lies ahead of them.As someone who regularly writes, I have definitely dealt with the ups and downs that come with this career. That being said, below are just a few things I have learned that have helped me maintain my sanity and perspective. They just might help others as well. The Job Market is Less than PredictableProbably the most important thing for career writers to remember is that their professional world is unstable. Sure, you have the rare success stories where someone lands a great job right out of the gate, but for the majority of us, this will not be the case. You will get replaced, fired, or whatever. At some point, upper management will cut the budget and leave you jobless.Additionally, fulfilling freelance jobs can be even tougher to find, making the search all the more difficult. However, I'm living proof it's not impossible, you just have to have the drive to make it work. Take on an extra job. Pursue opportunities outside your comfort zone. Do what you must to pursue your dream.Writer's Block Will HappenYou also must come to terms with the notion of writer's block. Believe me; it happens to the best of us. From the seasoned reporter to the newly graduated English major, they will all struggle with forming that perfect sentence, finding that enticing angle. So don't beat yourself up about it. It's usually just your brain's way of saying to decompress.  Sure, there will be times you won't be able to do that—the deadline will be looming and you will have nothing but infinite pages of white space in front of you, but have no fear, this brings me to my next point.You Won't Like Everything You Write……And that's OK. In fact, others won't like everything you write either—it's just another harsh truth you have to accept.  Ideally, everything that poured out of you would be gold, but that's not realistic. A number of factors can affect the quality of your content, and you have to be OK with that. Say you get sick days before a deadline, odds are that piece won't be your best, but something is better than nothing, so suck it up and get it done. Quit agonizing over every line and give yourself a break. Nobody's perfect, and you need to embrace that.This is in no way an endorsement to be mediocre, nor are these points meant to deter you. I simply aim to give you real insight into the path you've chosen. The life of a writer can be a rewarding adventure, you just have to learn how to enjoy the ride.
Barbara is always contemplating and considering issues concerning education and modern society. You can reach her at barbara.jolie876@gmail.com. 

C3 Conference: Food for Thought

Sadly, man does not live by fiction alone.  At some point we all have to stop reading long enough to eat.  When planning the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Con we looked at other cons we've enjoyed from a food aspect.  Some, like Love is Murder, include almost all the meals during the event.  Some, like Thrillerfest, feature just a banquet, and even that is a separate charge so not everyone attends.  We considered the importance of eating during the con in two ways.
First, there’s the cost.  Including meals certainly boosts the cost of a ticket and might discourage registrations.  Then there is the question of relative freedom of movement during the event.
At Thrillerfest we were on our own to find restaurants nearby in New York City.  It turned out to not just be a big expense, but one that was difficult to predict and budget for.  Unless you’re a fast food fanatic, we were able to add meals to the C3 registration for less than it would cost to eat on the outside.  And, once you’ve bought your ticket you don’t have to try to figure out how much more money you’ll need to eat.
We also wanted to promote maximum networking between fans and attending writers.  We figured that having pre-paid meals with events at some of them would encourage attendees to stay in the hotel and hang out together.  Writers might make new fans, and readers might get a chance to chat with authors of interest.
Including meals in the registration cost was clearly the best plan for us.  Thank goodness I had two ladies involved to handle that – one a true foodie and gourmet, the other a seasoned event planner and entertainer.  They pored over the menu choices like a bride planning her wedding.
We settled on a buffet dinner Friday, during which we can offer welcome remarks and present our first keynote speaker, Jeffrey Deaver.
Saturday will kick off with a nice continental breakfast before the panels start.  During the lunch buffet I’ll interview one of our local special guests, John Gilstrap.
Saturday night’s meal will be a served banquet.  Attendees will choose from three dinner options, and if all goes well will hear another keynote address.  Let me know who we should get for this one.  We’re fishing for an author of horror, sci-fi, fantasy or steampunk on Jeffrey Deaver’s level.
Sunday’s buffet breakfast will feature custom made omelets thanks to our sponsor, Acorn Book Services.  And urban fiction author B. Swangin Webster will interview our other local special guest, Trice Hickman.
So, as you can see, the food will be an integral part of the fun at the C3 Con!

Intrigue Publishing - On a mission

Every business should have a purpose other than making money.  When we decided to form Intrigue Publishing we spent as much time talking about WHY we were doing this as we spent on WHAT we will do.
For example, we decided early on that we would pay advances.  An advance is just what it sounds like: money the author will earn in the future, paid when the publisher gets the rights to publish his or her work.  Not every publisher pays advances.  Many legitimate small presses simply acquire the rights to a literary work and contract to pay royalties after sales are made.  There’s nothing wrong with that business model.
It leaves the publisher with more funds to apply toward producing and marketing books.  But we choose to pay an advance because part of our mission is to turn writers into authors, and writers don’t FEEL like authors until they get paid for their work.  Our advances will vary based on our judgment of the book’s market potential.  If we don’t think a book is going to make us money, we just won’t publish it.  But if we DO think there’s profit to be made, we feel we should express our confidence in the work by paying the author something in advance.

A company’s mission should state its goals. One of our objectives is to publish at least four books each year.  We’ve already read a number of submissions and selected one for publication.  D.B. Corey wrote a police procedural with strong enough thriller and mystery elements that we are certain it will draw a large audience.  We’re excited about getting the chance to show the world what a great talent this is.
Corey fit our image of the author we want to publish.  He has a unique perspective and writes with compelling authority.  His book will definitely arouse the reader’s curiosity thanks to its unusual, new, fascinating and compelling qualities.  In other words, it will intrigue you.
We are looking for writers who can create quality works that will appeal to the reader’s interest.  We intend to nurture and mentor our authors, pushing them to produce writing that cannot be ignored.  We believe that talented authors deserve attention from their publishers.
Those writers also deserve attention from readers, so selling their books is also an essential part of our mission.  We will work to build an avid audience for each of our authors.  And, while bigger publishers may favor a few of their books and ignore the rest, we will treat each novel we publish with equal respect.
Next week I’ll talk a bit about what we’ll do for every book.

Cost of a Conference

From its inception the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con has been about the fun of writing and the fun of meeting writers.  But sadly, there is one part of planning a conference that is NOT fun.  Like it or not, you have to deal with the money issue.
The biggest expense is the venue.  To get bids you have to know what you want.  After you figure out how many breakout rooms you’ll need, you add a bookstore area, registration space, vendor space, a hospitality suite and a room big enough to hold everyone when your keynote speaks.  We also decided to offer meals as part of the registration package, in order to promote networking by keeping everyone in the hotel at meal time.  Once we knew what we needed we got proposals from several hotels, college campuses and even a VFW hall.  Tours and negotiations finally led to the Hunt Valley Inn.
You may want to offer your keynote speakers an honorarium, and/or to cover their travel expenses.  This makes local writers more attractive, but you need names that will draw attendees.
You need a budget for promotion.  This could simply be post cards or Facebook ads, but you might consider ad space in other conference programs or elsewhere.  Do the research to see how much such things cost.
And don’t forget the cost of your own Con programs.  This will be everyone’s primary souvenir of their Con so budget to get a nice one printed.
Unless one of the organizers is an IT whiz your budget must include putting up a slick web site.  Building the registration page turned out to be a bit more complex than expected, but the convenience of letting people register online is worth a lot.
Don’t forget that even the registration will cost money.  You’ll have to provide name tags and a nice bag or backpack for people to carry their stuff in. 
Many of these expenses – meals, programs, registration packets, etc – depend on the number of attendees you expect.  Here’s where the guessing comes in.  You have to pick a number, based on other cons you’ve been to that were similar to yours.  Once you have your guess for attendance you divide that number into the total projected cost and voila!  You know what the average guest will have to pay for you to break even.
Average?  Well yes, because you’ll want an early bird registration price, and if it’s a multi-day event you’ll want to offer a one-day price.  You may want to introduce other variations like a student rate, or retiree pricing.  You may want to charge less for the authors who will be on panels.
Your budget could change if you find a couple publishers to sponsor parts of the Con, or get vendors for all the space available, or sell souvenirs at a profit (coffee mugs, tee shirts, etc.)  Ideas like these could offset some of the cost.

Break Free from the Perfectionist Prison

A blogger and freelance writer, Melissa Miller specializes in sharing education tips with readers (For instance, even in this tough economy, did you know that job seekers will still find associate degrees in demand at all kinds of companies?)  Today, Melissa shares some inspirational tips that will help get you back to the keyboard.  Remember, perfect is the enemy of really good!
“If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” – Margaret Atwood
Perfectionists have a problem unleashing imperfect work in the world. This can be especially problematic for beginning writers who self-edit themselves into a perfectionist prison. With no editors, professors or deadlines to force an imperfect completion, how can the perfectionist ever hope to finish?1.      Allow for uninterrupted, raw creativity.

Being a writer can sometimes feel like living life in a pressure cooker. A million different ideas, scenarios, details and characters can get housed in the same thought chamber as financial pressures and everyday obligations. So what’s the problem with working under these conditions? Well, it’s a little like putting a sock in with the roast. Even if you take the sock out before you serve it, that roast is going to taste a little funny. In fact, it might be downright awful. The roast and all the time you spent making it could be wasted. (But socks, just like our day-to-day worries, are plentiful and easy to come by.)

Find time to isolate yourself from all other obligations. Your perfectionism could be calling you to water the garden or pay bills online; but you must establish a singular and focused time to write and create uninterrupted.Our perfectionism can also serve as an interruption. Many people tend to write and edit at the same time.  Creating is a different process for everyone, but in essence, it is a time to generate fresh concepts, visualize scenes and imagine possibilities. Evaluating your art prematurely or too often can bring things to a halt. Those who self-edit constantly can become exhausted and discouraged with imperfection, and those who edit too soon can stunt a brainstorming session that could have led to a promising idea.

2.      Start writing with the belief that you ARE good enough.

Perfectionists, by definition, set impossibly high standards. If you are so self-critical that nothing feels good enough, chances are that you will fall in love with a project only to abandon it. Accept the fact that you won’t get it right the first time. If you have trouble beginning, set realistic goals based on quantity. Don’t allow yourself to edit until you’ve written a substantial amount. When reviewing your work, give yourself credit for the strongest parts. Find the pages or paragraphs or sentences that embody your vision and your passion. Position these passages as the foundation of your revisions and move forward.

Each revision should bring you closer to your vision and should, in turn, build your confidence in your talent and skill. It is the process that gives us confidence as writers, not the publishing.Remember, your final edits will not be your publisher’s final edits. It’s the same practice as when you turned in assignments in school. It’s going to come back with opportunities for improvement. This is what book editors get paid to do.

3.      Break out of your comfort zone and make something ugly.

Writer’s block can be a product of perfectionism. Ernest Hemingway, who was one tough guy, cited the blank page as the most frightening thing he had ever encountered. As writers, we are so often consumed by our craft that we can become obsessed and imprisoned by the pressures of creation. Prolonged fixation on a scene or dialogue can bog down the creative process and dampen the spirits. The easy answer to this is to skip the scene. Move on to the next one and then write its precursor as a transition or foreshadowing. However, sometimes the fixation is too big to be skipped.

Becoming obsessed with a particular scene could mean that you’re taking it too seriously. One of my remedies for this is to draw a sketch of what I’m seeing. As a horrible artist, this usually sparks a big response from my impulses as a writer. By drawing something ugly, I can see what it truly is that I was trying to capture. If you don’t have a clear vision, it’s okay to use the blank page as a brainstorming session. Keep track of the most basic impressions, starting with the sensory experience, and expound from there. It may be messy and unfocused, but writer’s block is often about seeking too much control in the creative process.

Once you can accept imperfections and rewriting as part of the writing process, you will find yourself more prolific and creative than ever before.
Of course we invite your comments here, but Melissa also welcomes feedback at melissamiller831@gmail.com. 

Conference Planning: Location, Location, Location

 Last week I told you that we here at Intrigue Publishing will launch a new conference for writers and fans next year.  Once we decided to hold the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity (C3) conference the next decision we had to make was where to put it.

We wanted our con to draw readers and writers of the chosen genres from the entire DMV – The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.  We also wanted it to be easily accessible for people coming in from farther away.  And we wanted to keep costs down.  The less expensive the venue, the less we would have to charge for registration.  But we had absolute minimum space requirements.  We needed enough rooms to have three panels going on at one time, plus spaces for a bookstore, registration, an author roundtable and special events.  The hunt was on.
A cost comparison quickly ruled out any venue in DC.  Several places in Northern Virginia were in contention, especially in Arlington where Malice Domestic was held for several year, in easy reach of Reagan National Airport.  Then we looked at some promising places near Baltimore Washington International Airport. 
We found what we were looking for just north of Baltimore.  The Marriott Hunt Valley had the space we were looking for at a reasonable price.  It is an easy train ride from BWI Airport.  Plus, the folks there have valuable experience.  For years they’ve hosted Balticon, one of the better known science fiction gatherings.  They know how to do this con thing, and how to handle the special kind of people we call fans.  And did I mention that they offered us a really nice discounted rate for attendee’s hotel rooms?  We met with them and ran through all the details with smiles on both sides of the table.
The next decision was about food.  At some cons the visitors are on their own for dining.  At others meals are included.  We decided to follow the Love Is Murder pattern and include as many meals as possible in the registration price.  This would prompt people to stay in the hotel and network when they weren’t watching a panel.  We arranged to have Friday’s dinner, all three meals Saturday and Sunday’s breakfast be part of the package.  And since the panelists will all be there, fans will be able to sit at a table with their favorite writers, or maybe with new authors they just met.         
Of course, there are a lot of other details involved in putting a con together.  I’ll talk about more of them next week.

Papa’s Prose: 5 Tips from Hemingway

Today's guest blogger, Mariana Ashley, writes about educational topics for www.onlinecolleges.net/ .  This time around she reminds us that if we're going to learn from another writer, we might as well learn from the best.  

Ernest Hemingway is one of the most admired writers of the 20th century, and though one certainly wouldn’t want to imitate his life overall, one could do a lot worse in terms of role models for writing. Here are five quotes from the master that illuminate something about what made him great.
1. “Writing, at its best, is a lonely life….For [the writer] does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.”
This is absolutely true, and it’s something far too few writers are told when they get into the craft. Personally, I am an extrovert, meaning I find the company of others a net energy gain rather than a drain. Being alone for long periods of time is bad for me. Yet I’ve chosen a career that is inherently solitary. TV shows may be written by committee, but novels and articles rarely are. I’ve had to find ways of consciously maintaining an active social life and keeping up with professional contacts. Because even though the writing’s done alone, it’s important to be part of a community of writers.
2. “After you learn to write your whole object is to convey everything, every sensation, sight, feeling, place and emotion to the reader. To do this you have to work over what you write.”
There are a couple of important things being said here. One is that detail is key, and not meaningless detail, but the immediate sensory data in an experience that lead to a certain feeling. You must remember, or invent, the particulars in order to make that connection between a literal occurrence and its subjective effect.
The second sentence is equally crucial. It points out that real writing is rewriting. You’re rarely going to get it right on the first try, even when it seems like you have. Don’t underestimate the importance of revisiting your work with a cool head and sculpting the raw material into the final artifact.
3. “I think we should never be too pessimistic about what we know we have done well because we should have some reward and the only reward is that which is within ourselves…. Publicity, admiration, adulation, or simply being fashionable are all worthless.”
Writing must be its own reward. If it’s not, you’ll eventually give up. Real-world “success” is not only elusive, but illusory. If your end goal is to be rich and famous in this pursuit, you’re not concentrating on the right thing...and honestly, you’re astronomically unlikely to ever even get that, especially if it’s what you’ve got your eye on. Whereas if you work at it hard enough, you can write something good, whether people buy it or not. But they might, if you make it worth their while.
4. “A serious writer is not to be confounded with a solemn writer. A serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl.”
Don’t forget to have fun, and put passion into your work. At the same time, Hemingway also pointed out, “A man's got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book.” The same way you gotta suffer if you want to sing the blues. Humor, even when we’re laughing at someone falling down, secretly comes from a place of pain and empathy.

5. “It wasn't by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.”
Papa was most admired for clipping his prose down to the bare essentials, i.e. knowing when to shut up. On that note, I’m out. Happy scribbles!

We welcome your comments here, but you can also reach Mariana directly at mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.

Why We Publish What We Publish

Last week I told you about the launch of our 10 year old imprint, Intrigue Publishing, as a legitimate small press.  Until May, 2012, Intrigue Publishing was defined as my novels.  When we decided to publish others we needed to establish an identity.

It made sense to build our corporate identity around our name.  We decided that every book we published would need to truly represent “intrigue.”  Each new publication would arouse curiosity or interest by unusual, new, fascinating or compelling qualities… it would succeed by appealing to the reader’s curiosity and interest.  It would draw and capture the reader’s mind. 
With that as background, we wanted to establish a broad list, but not too broad.  We needed to choose what kind of books we knew well enough to spot a winner, and whose market we could reach.  Our name immediately led to one specific genre.  Crime fiction almost always fits the bill, and I feel I have pretty deep expertise in mystery and thriller novels, so we knew we would start there.  But what other genres might we publish? 
Sandra Bowman, writing as B. Swangin Webster, has been successful with urban drama.  Her novels are NOT street-lit which, in my personal opinion, tends to glorify the worst facets of inner city life.  Instead, her books are powerful journeys of self-discovery and tales of family or interpersonal drama.  They are rooted in the African American community but their messages and the emotions they evoke are universal.  Still, there is a specific, easily targeted market for this literature – the growing community of educated and professional African Americans.  And as this writing is filled with intrigue, it fits our focus perfectly.
Denise Camacho, Intrigue Publishing president and a lifelong romance fan, recommended sensual erotica.  She has searches for stories of interpersonal relationships that are unapologetically sexual without sinking to the level of pornography.   These books will not pretend that the lead characters are in a 1950s high school, nor will they focus on graphic physical details at the expense of the exciting emotions involved with romance.  Sensual erotica may be difficult to describe but, like pornography, you will know it when you see it, and from what we’ve been told it is what a lot of readers are looking for.
Like any business, Intrigue Publishing must consider the market to be successful.  No audience in publishing is hotter than Young Adult (YA) right now, so we knew we could not ignore it.  While we are not YA authors, we have read extensively in this area.  Between us, the three principals of the company have raised ten children to adulthood and we know exactly what we wanted those young people to be reading.  We will look for uplifting, morally positive YA books that are engaging and, yes, intriguing.
So that’s what we intend our product line to look like.  Four separate imprints for four very different markets.  I’ll share some of the company philosophy and goals next week.