Having Written Feels Better Than Anything

Posted on May 30, 2015 by SharonJoss

Dorothy Parker once said, “I hate writing, I love having written.”

I don’t hate writing, but this week has certainly proven to me that having written feels better than (almost) anything.

I completed the arguably final revisions to my thriller novel. I say arguably, because it feels done (to me), and until an editor says differently, this where I’m standing pat. The writing of the first draft went exactly as planned, but the revisions took longer than I expected; largely because of all the recent (and wonderful) distractions over “Stars That Make Dark Heaven Light”. I’ve never tried to write a thriller before, and this project had stretched me and forced me to try some things I hadn’t ever attempted before. I’m actually feeling excited about the querying process. And now that it’s written, it feels good.

I also signed a sales contract for a short story to professional publication this week.  I won’t say to whom until I have a release date, but it was for a story I wrote at a writers workshop last month. I wrote four short stories at that workshop, the most I’ve ever written in a single week.  I am still on a high from having written four (count ’em–one, two, three, four!) short stories in that one week.  And to sell one of them to a publication I’ve never sold to before (and so quickly) feels fantastic.

FR STEAMI also celebrated the publication of one of my short stories this week in Fiction River, edited by Kerrie Hughes. The Alchemy & Steam edition has my short story, “The Order of the Golden Grapefruit”, along with a lot of other wonderful short fiction by some really talented writers. I wrote this short story as a historical fantasy back in January, 2014. I love this story about a chocolate shop window display competition in Brussels, and had a lot of fun writing it.  Every time I reread it, I relive the pleasure of of that experience.  And now that it’s published, it feels good.

Yeah, having written is WAY better than…well, just about anything. But selling and publication are pretty sweet, too.

Posted in #WOTF31, 2015, Agent query, Alchemy & Steam, Anthologies, award-winning author, chocolate, Fiction River, Having Written, Order of the Golden Grapefruit, published, query, Sharon Joss | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some Things Are Better in a Crowd

Posted on May 23, 2015 by SharonJoss
firstsigningBN052315

photo by Elizabeth Beechwood 5/23/15

Some things are better in a crowd. Book signings, for example.

I had my first solo at a book signing today. The event was at a Barnes & Noble bookstore a few miles from me.

I was excited to do it. First of all, it was my first ‘solo’ signing for the anthology, and, it’s the Saturday of a big holiday weekend and (best of all) the weather is overcast and chilly! Perfect ‘browsing at the bookstore’ weather!

I loaded up the car last night with my big beautiful trophy, the framed art from my story, a whole buncha swag sent to me by the good people at Galaxy Press and Author Services, Inc, and (just in case), an extra box of books (I wanted to be prepared in case the store ran out of books). I’d put up fliers a few days earlier, and gotten feedback from almost a dozen people (people I didn’t even know!) who said they were planning to come. I even bought a brand new shirt to wear that matched the color of the cover!

I needn’t have worried. The B&N people had 6 cases of books on hand. They didn’t have any posters or a place for the signing set up, but they quickly moved some furniture around in the gift area, and brought in a table and chairs for me. Maybe not the best location to attract sci-fi and fantasy readers, but it was out of the way and not far from the front door.

So I set up shop and waited for the crowds.

And waited.

I sold the first book pretty quick, and right after that, my friend Liz came in and took that swell picture of me (above). At that point I was still pretty optimistic.  But an hour later, not so much.  The store manager moved aside some of the furniture and helpfully suggested I stand  at the entrance and introduce myself to people as they came in the door.  I thought that was a bit aggressive, but I did make several passes through the Science Fiction and Fantasy sections, introduced myself to the the people in those sections, and told them I was signing books on the other side of the store.

And waited (sigh).

I did speak to a very nice lady who was there to buy a card for her veterinarian, and spent almost twenty minutes chatting with a four-year-old girl about the dragons that live at her house.  She told me the babies can’t fly yet, and that the grown-up dragons are “quite ornery”.  When her mom came to fetch her, I told her her daughter was going to be a writer when she grew up.

I don’t know what I did wrong.  All my friends have sold a lot of books at their signings.  I had such high expectations.

But I didn’t sell very many books.

 

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Writing Advice For Winners: Eat Your Lima Beans!

Posted on May 12, 2015 by SharonJoss

Aaand we’re right back into the swim of it.

Rejections from three different editors on three different stories in the last 24 hours.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; rejections don’t bother me. I’ve long since stopped taking them personally. I’m a writer. It goes with the territory–like a kid being told he can’t have dessert until he eats his veggies first. To a writer, rejections are like a big ol’, never-ending plate of of lima beans with an ice cream brownie fudge sundae on the other side. You don’t have to like lima beans, but you’ve got to eat a lot of them before you get a bite of sundae.

Editors have their own plate of lima beans, and it’s called slush. They’re looking for something delectable to publish. If I give it to them, they’ll pay me to publish it. If I don’t, well, then this wasn’t the editor I was looking for (eat a lima bean and move along).

But wait a minute. The thing of it is, I just won this big contest, see? I’m a real writer now, see?

Tell it to the lima beans. Makes no difference whatsoever (although one editor did congratulate me on my recent win).

At the writers workshop last month, Eric Flint spoke to us about what we can expect for the future, now that we’re winners. He was a WOTF winner in 1992 and and sold his first novel three years later.  He’s since gone on to publish publish 48 novels (including 6 NY Times best-sellers). He gave us this excellent advice:

  • You are all now on the threshold of several frustrating years, facing even more rejection.
  •  Good writing is really not all that common, but editors hate going to the slush pile to find stories. There is a saying that editors choose 1 of every 400 stories.
  • If you write well, they’ll know it. But it doesn’t mean they’ll buy your story. Your story may not fit. The length may be wrong
  • The rejections will continue, but keep writing.
  • Don’t give up.

And based on what I’ve seen so far, he was right.  Well alrighty then.

And then today, on the heels of yet another ‘not right for us, but please send more‘, Chuck Wendig wrote THIS lovely bit of brownie sundae advice which in one sense reinforces what Eric said and which I also found reassuring (often just the word ‘fuck’ used in a sentence makes me feel better, and when Chuck does it I usually laugh).

So that’s it. That’s all I got. Your milage may vary.

I gotta go put my stories back in the mail and eat some more lima beans.

Posted in 2015, Chuck Wendig, don't quit, editors, Eric Flint, persevere, rejection, Sharon Joss, Writing Advice | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Release Day #WOTF31

Posted on May 4, 2015 by SharonJoss

WOTF COVERHere it is, the big day. L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future volume 31 in now available in paperback or as an e-book from all your favorite retailers (brick-and-mortar bookstores, too).

I’m proud of my winning story, “Stars that Make Dark Heaven Light”, but I’m prouder still to be standing amid such great company: Steve Pantazis, Daniel J. Davis, Auston Habershaw, Tim Napper, Krystal Claxton, Martin L. Shoemaker, Samantha Murray, Scott R. Parkin, Amy M. Hughes, Michael T. Banker, Kary English, and Zack Chapman.

Not to mention some pretty great stories by Larry Niven, Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta, and short essays by  Orson Scott Card, Bob Eggleton, and of course, L. Ron Hubbard.

All wonderful stories here, seriously.  And like the sign says, these are the future bestselling writers of our genre (and beyond).  All you have to do is click on the #WOTF31 link and buy it.  Read it.  Write an honest review about it.

Go ahead.  You know you want to.

Posted in Amy M. Hughes, Auston Habershaw, Bob Eggleton, Daniel J. Davis, Kary English, Kevin J. Anderson, Krystal Klaxton, Larry Niven, Martin L. Shoemaker, Michael T. Banker, Rebecca Moesta, Release Day, Samantha Murray, Scott R. Parkin, Sharon Joss, Steve Pantazis, Tim Napper, vol. 31, WOTF31, Writers of the Future Anthology, Zack Chapman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

WOTF31 ROCKS!!!

Posted on April 30, 2015 by SharonJoss
UNREFINED by Martin L. Shoemaker Art by Tung Chi Lee

UNREFINED by Martin L. Shoemaker
Art by Tung Chi Lee

One of the fantastic aspects (the very best part, IMO) of the whole Writers of the Future experience is the discovery and founding of your tribe. It doesn’t happen on the first day, or even the second, but as the big names arrive for the gala, all us neopros get our geek on and realize we’ve become a unit.

For the WOTF31 tribe, I think the irrevocable bond solidified as we were called upon to sign 300 copies of the galleys. A daunting task, but not for us. We lined ourselves up in publication order and signed our stories, then opened the book to the next story in the book, and handed it to the person sitting next to us. We got a real rhythm going, and (with Brandon, Deirdre, Vanessa, and some of the other spouses helping), we were done in little over an hour.

By then, we were family.

And then, someone (was it my dear siblings Amy & Brandon?) suggested sending out sample ARCS. And my dear brother Scott R. Parkin narrated wonderful introductory audio blurbs for the stories. And my sweet, sweet, brilliant and clever brother Martin Shoemaker set up UTUBE video channels and yesterday, a new home base for our tribe.

It’s called WOTF31 ROCKS!. Bless you, Martin. It’s our very own scrapbook, and it’s all here.

We are the class of 31. And we always will be.

Posted in 2015, Martin Shoemaker, Scott R. Parkin, Sharon Joss, Tribe, workshop, WOTF, WOTF31, WOTF31 ROCKS, Writers of the Future | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Marketing 101 – Getting the Word Out

Posted on April 27, 2015 by SharonJoss

I’m back in the land of the living again, after 8 days in Hollywood for the Writers of the Future gala, home for three days, then back out to Lincoln City for an 8-day long craft workshop, I’m catching up on mail, and getting used to a new ‘normal’.

PeterWacksDuring ‘gala week’, I posted on this blog about what it was like to experience the WOTF writers workshop and gala event. Well, part of that workshop involved a tremendous presentation from cool dude and marketing expert Peter Wacks about how to market your work. And Peter challenged us (all 24 winning writers and illustrators) to help ourselves gain discoverability of our work.  And even as he acknowledged that we would likely find these efforts a bit uncomfortable (at first), he reminded us that if we wanted to make a living at our craft (and we assured him we did), no one would know about our wonderful, award-winning talents unless we learned to market ourselves.

He spoke to us about VELOCITY versus SALES.  Velocity being the speed of sales, as opposed to the number of sales.  And while we all knew that the number of sales is what we need to make a living, it’s the velocity that makes you hot.

And we all want to be hot.

In this case, we were discussing the Writers of the Future #31 anthology, but the principle applies to any work.  Once you have completed your work (be it art or writing), you need a marketing plan–a way to inform people that you have new work available.

For example, if you are indie published, the temptation may be to make your novel available as soon as possible (a few days after you get your cover designed). But the number of potential readers you’ll reach with a Publishers Weekly review can generate sales far beyond anything you could possibly do on your own.  And a Publisher’s Weekly review requires an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) to be submitted at least four months prior to publication. Okay, so you decide to submit your ARC to PW and wait four months.

Available for pre-order now!

Available for pre-order now!

But wait! Those four months would be wasted if you didn’t also work on setting up your novel for pre-order, sending out more ARCs to critics and friends for honest reviews, lining up book signings with your local brick-and-mortar bookstore, filing press releases, arranging blog tours, and maybe a Twitter or Facebook giveaway or two. There’s more, but as   Peter told us, this activity (before the book launch) builds up demand, such that when the book is released, there is already a handful (or more) of honest reviews about your work, which can attract new readers, and (even on a small scale) raise your visibility, drive more word-of-mouth, which can build into velocity. And and velocity drives momentum–and sales, far beyond selling your greatest masterpiece to just your sister.

Something to think about.  Writers of the Future Volume 31

 

Posted in #WOTF31, 2015, Anthologies, Discoverability, Honest Reviews, indie publishing, MArketing 101, Marketing Plan, Publishers Weekly, Sharon Joss, Social Media, velocity, WOTF, Writers of the Future, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Epilog – Writers of the Future

Posted on April 16, 2015 by SharonJoss

WOTF-GROUP-SHOTforwebThe pictures are still coming; I thought I’d share some of my favorites, along with some final thoughts about the experience. ‘Amazing’ hardly captures it, but it probably comes closest to summarizing the week.

PEEPSontheredcarpet

We arrived as a nervous and skittery group of writers, most of whom barely knew each other except through the Forum, and by the end of the week, we had all learned to ignore the cameras (just like the pros), written a story in 24 hours (just like the pros), survived two book signings (just like the pros) and forged lifelong bonds of friendship with our peeps. The ‘Class of 31’ has graduated into the ranks of the neo-pros.  We still have a lot to learn, but we’re on our way.

Along with the main event, the lessons we learned from the greats in our field has been life-changing, and the 24-hour story taught me that there is no reason whatsoever for me to ever say ‘I don’t have time to write’.

MikeResnickandMe

This week has been the biggest single event of my writing career (and probably my life, for that matter), but I know there are many more milestones ahead.  Like all the other winners, I’ve earned the formal validation I’ve so yearned for from the masters of my craft. But this is not the time to rest on the laurels of this one success; I’ve got other dreams and goals off in the horizon. Along with the rest of my class, I’ve earned a new first name, “Award-Winning Author”, but I cannot allow myself to become complacent.  I’ve got more craft classes and workshops lined up for later this year; in this business, there is no end to the learning.

I’m still paying my dues, but now it’s time to start earning a living…

 

Posted in 2015, Sharon Joss, WOTF, writers conference, Writers of the Future, writers write, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment