Hey Folks,
Wow. I woke up jonesing to get back to writing today.
The marketing webinar was great yesterday, but I’ll have to go over it again. It was a ton of information, and they probably needed 3 or 4 hours (or longer) for a proper presentation. They flew through it, not even showing all the slides they’d prepared (but those are all included in the actual video). If you missed yesterday’s Journal, the link to that video is https://youtu.be/2XTd9NcgWWc.
As an added bonus, you can dowload the slides they used in the video at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GC3CZUCVQqDN0P7iuLJ44qo9xpkXoqAK/view. (When you get there, click the little down arrow at the top right of the page to download the file as PDF.)
Interesting to me that even in a webinar dedicated to marketing, both co-hosts reiterated that the best thing you can do to market your book is Write the Next Book.
I’m not personally big on marketing, mostly because I don’t have a mind geared for business. For me, it’s all a time trade-off. That being said, even I learned a few things I plan to investigate or try.
***
In today’s “Of Interest” Dean announces the Vegas workshops all the way through 2018 and 2019. I’ll do a little “thinking out loud” here that might help you with your own decision regarding those.
If my estimation is correct, attending one — including the workshop fee, hotel, meals and travel — will cost in the vicinity of $2000 (two thousand dollars).
The workshops are $750 each (the Kris and Dean show is $500) and the hotel for a week at the discounted rate is around $800.
Whether it’s worth the cost is up to each individual. For example, if I had the disposable income, I would attend the Anthology workshop in a heartbeat.
I’d also love to see The Kris and Dean Show again (I saw a smaller version at a conference in the ’90s) but for me the cost is prohibitive.
The Business Master Class probably also would be wonderful, but I’m not writing to make money now so much as to leave a legacy that might provide my grandchildren with income.
And then of course the value of the individual craft workshops (there are four) depends entirely on your level of interest in those genres and techniques.
***
Early this morning, intrigued by Otto Penzler’s posts at CrimeReads, I found a few more. They’re in “Of Interest” below. These are ostensibly for readers, but I found things of value to writers as well.
Out to the Hovel at around 9.
Wrote awhile, god a good start on a new story, should finish it tomorrow.
See you soon.
Of Interest
See “How to Write the Perfect Mystery: Writing Advice from the Greats of Crime Fiction” at http://crimereads.com/how-to-write-the-perfect-mystery/. As part of this post, the compilers say “Take the wisdom in doses, chew it all over and use what works for you.” No better advice was ever given.
See Elmore Leonard’s “Making It Up as I Go Along” (writing into the dark, anyone?) at https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/books/info-06-2009/leonard_making_it_up.html.
See “James M. Cain, The Art of Fiction No. 69” (an interview) at https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3474/james-m-cain-the-art-of-fiction-no-69-james-m-cain
To continue from yesterday, see “Fingerprinting: A Journey From J-N” at https://www.leelofland.com/fingerprinting-a-journey-from-j-n/.
In another continuation, see Otto Penzler’s “What Is a Thriller?” at http://crimereads.com/what-is-a-thriller/. (Though as a writer I found this post less than useful.)
Also see Otto Penzler’s “What is a Crime Novel?” at http://crimereads.com/what-is-a-crime-novel/.
Also see Otto Penzler’s “What is a Hard-Boiled Novel?” at http://crimereads.com/what-is-a-hard-boiled-novel/.
See “2019 Vegas Workshop Schedule” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/2019-vegas-workshop-schedule/. This is a long post. I recommend reading it all if you’re interested.
Fiction Words: 2680
Nonfiction Words: 600 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 3280
Writing of A Storyteller (novel and short story collection)
Brought forward………………………………………………………………… 23877
Day 10… 1108 words. Total words to date…… 24985
Day 11… 6073 words. Total words to date…… 31058
Day 12… 3857 words. Total words to date…… 34915
Day 13… 3767 words. Total words to date…… 38682
Day 14… 3338 words. Total words to date…… 42020
Day 15… 2817 words. Total words to date…… 44837
Day 16… 3117 words. Total words to date…… 47954
Day 17… 2680 words. Total words to date…… 50634
Total fiction words for the month……… 25649
Total fiction words for the year………… 186935
Total nonfiction words for the month… 3710
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 53180
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 239845
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 3
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 1
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 0
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 30
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 5
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……………………………… 182