Category: Industry

Please join me and dozens of your favorite authors at the 2011 Beach Party at Writerspace on Sunday, August 21st from 8pm ET to 11pm ET.

Authors will be dropping in to chat all during the evening and we will be giving away 100s of new books and other fantastic prizes — 2 Kindles, tons of autographed books, advance copies plus special treats like gift cards and more.

We hope to see you Sunday night! You don’t have to be present to win, but you must be egistered. To register, and for details on all participating authors and the prizes they’re giving away, visit http://www.writerspace.com/beach

I am saddened to report that New York Times Bestselling author LA Banks (Leslie Esdaile Banks) passed away this morning.

All funds raised from the LA Banks Auction will be given to her daughter Helena. My thoughts go out to her friends and family. And I thank all who participated  and gathered together to help this author in need.

You can find out more about the life and career of this versatile author here.

If you’re in the Philly Area, The Liar’s Club is hosting a big Benefit Party to help the family with final needs and expenses and to celebrate Leslie’s life. It’s on Saturday, August 6th and there will be music, drinks and a silent auction. Find out more about the Writer’s Bash here.

I will post another ‘Writers are Crazy’ post next week, but I wanted to share some thoughts on the RWA conference.

Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights. Pauline R Kezer

I really enjoyed the recent RWA conference in New York even though I lost a beautiful earring my mother had bought me (note to self—don’t wear lovely earrings when setting up for a luncheon for over 2000 people) and every day I had to dodge people dressed up as Mickey and Minnie Mouse on my way to the conference hotel (I was in the overflow hotel several loooong blocks away).

Overall I found the conference informative.  And one topic that resonated throughout was that the industry is in a state of change due to the big Es—eBooks and Economy, and the big Bs—Bookstores and Buyer habits.

Being among my fellow attendees, I sensed a lot of fear and anxiety do to these shifts, but change is necessary if this industry is going to survive. I’m confident it will. My hope is that authors/writers will take this opportunity to understand their value again. For a long time (too long) they’ve thought of themselves as the bottom feeders of the industry–easily replaceable and tolerated. The new shifts in the industry have allowed many authors, including myself, to  discover that through eBook and POD publishing they can make their work available to readers and build an audience (at their own pace). This has reinvigorated writers who, because an agent or editor said so, thought their careers were over. Old series are getting a new life. Writers are becoming creatively free again.

I enjoyed the workshops and chatting with other writers. Here are five things I learned (okay, so I already knew them, but they were reinforced):

Roles have changed for everyone. Some authors are becoming publishers, some distributors are becoming booksellers, and many agents are trying to find out where they can ethically stand in this changing climate. Everyone is scrambling to know how best to manage all the different options and for writers the options are vast. There are small presses, big presses, ePresses, indie publishing and more. Instead of being fearful, it’s time for writers to think like entrepreneurs and seize the opportunities presented before them.

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