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Friday, August 30, 2013

WVLA Authors Cafe seeking authors

(This news courtesy Belinda Anderson)

The West Virginia Library Association is inviting authors
to present and sell their books at the Authors Cafe Oct. 11 at this
year's conference in Shepherdstown at the Clarion Inn.

This is an opportunity for the state's librarians to
become acquainted with you and your work. WVLA plans to seat each
author at a table of conference attendees to provide librarians and
authors a chance to converse. While everyone enjoys a buffet breakfast
on the last day of the conference, authors will have an opportunity to
make a brief presentation to the group. The buffet starts at 8 a.m.,
with author presentations beginning at 8:30 a.m.

After the presentations, the conference attendees may
visit authors at individual author tables, where you are welcome to
sell your publications. The Authors Cafe is officially open until
10:30 a.m., when conference division meetings begin. but you may still
have some visitors.

There is no charge for participation. WVLA will provide
tables and chairs. WVLA does not have funding available for honoraria
or travel reimbursement, but it's a great opportunity to have
librarians become better acquainted with authors. It's also a great
way for authors to let librarians know of their availability for
programs and book signings. You can choose to read a brief except or
discuss your work.

The time allotments for speaking will depend upon the
number of participating authors. That's why it's important for authors
to sign up by the registration deadline of Sept. 16, so that you can
have advance notice for planning your presentation.

Author Belinda Anderson is coordinating the author
registration, so please let her know ASAP if you'd like to sign up for
the Authors Cafe. Write to her at writingwv@aol.com.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Glen Alton Poetry to support Blue Ridge Workshop

(News courtesy Blue Ridge Studio)

Glen Alton Poetry is a new annual event created to support Blue Ridge Workshop (@ Virginia Tech) and local Appalachian Poets and is sponsored by the United Writers of the Virginias. 

http://blueridgeworkshop.weebly.com
http://uwv.weebly.com

The event will be held 8/31/2013 3-5 p.m.
Nettle Hollow Road, Glen Alton Farm, Giles, Virginia

 2013 Poets @ Glen Alton Poetry Include Members of Appalachian Writers Association and West Virginia Writershttp://www.wvwriters.org/.


Philip Church- McCoy, VA – author, poet and songwriter who has written a book about the legend of Devil John of Big Stone Gap, VA

Spectral Arts- Christiansburg, VA-Performs spontaneous lyric poetry layered with guitar and percussion.

See the Glen Alton Poetry website at http://uwv.weebly.com/glen-alton-poetry.html

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Writers Seminar with Award Winning Author, Belinda Anderson


The Raleigh County Public Library, the Beckley Friends of the Library and The Writers Group are sponsoring a writing workshop with noted, and award winning West Virginia author, Belinda Anderson. 

The day-long seminar on writing Appalachian Prose and Poetry will be held on September 21th from 10am to 4pm at the Library on Kanawha Street in Beckley. The cost of the workshop is $25, and includes a light luncheon.  Applications to attend and participate are available at the circulation desk at the Library. A limited number of scholarships will be available. Check with the front desk for details.
The workshop is directed to writers with some experience or a keen interest in bringing stories of Appalachia and its culture to the written page. Family stories, community events, retold stories are all subjects that might bring writers or aspiring writers to the seminar.

Belinda Anderson is an award-winning freelance writer, author of four books. Her first three books are short story collections: The Well Ain't Dry Yet, The Bingo Cheaters and Buckle Up, Buttercup. Her most recent book, Jackson Vs. Witchy Wanda; Making Kid Soup is a middle grade novel. 
Her literary work was selected for inclusion on the first official literary map of West Virginia, published by Fairmont State University. 

Belinda is a former newspaper reporter with a master's degree in liberal arts studies. With a background in journalism she has led seminars at the West Virginia Writers annual conference, has taught creative writing, has been selected as a mentor for the Monroe Arts Alliance and a Master Artist for the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.  She is currently researching a commissioned project co-sponsored by Alderson Main Street: Wolf Creek Mountain: Remembering a Vanished People.

Space in the seminar is limited. Make your application soon and join us for this special event on September 21st.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Cindi Myers Market News

________________________________

Spotlight on Avon Romance and more

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 04:47 AM PDT

"Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need
to start somewhere." ~Anne Lamott

********************

I'm continuing this week with my look at the publisher spotlights from
the Romance Writers of America's national convention in Atlanta in
July. The Spotlight on Avon Books was presented by Jesse Edwards,
Assoc. Publicist; Tessa Woodward, Editor; Amanda Bergeran, Editor;
Shawn Nichols Sr. Director of Marketing and Eric Tsang, Editorial
Director.
Avon publishes historical, contemporary and paranormal romance and has
a long tradition of publishing best-selling romances. "We're always
looking for different ideas in all genres [of romance.] We're looking
for the right story. We're looking for good stories and we hope you'll
keep us in mind."\
Avon began publishing new adult stories this year. Tessa Woodward
talked about Avon's new adult books. "drama filled fun stories that
keep you reading." Heroes and heroines between 18 and 26 or 28.
Amanda talked about Avon Impulse, Avon's digital-first imprint that
launched two years ago. They publish about one book a week,
occasionally more. They publish authors who are new to Avon as well as
established Avon authors. In 2013 they have published 13 debut authors
so far. They can publish as quickly as in 12 weeks, though they can
take more time also. Impulse publishes everything from paranormal,
romantic comedy, erotica, historical — pretty much everything. The
same art, marketing, and editorial team works on Avon and Avon
Impulse.
Sean Nichols in Avon's marketing department talked about Avon's
marketing and publicity team. Campaigns are tailored to each book and
start three to six weeks before the book is released. Examples of the
kinds of things they do are free e-samplers with excerpts from
upcoming titles; QR codes "everywhere"; Facebook; Twitter, as well as
working with retailers to get books primary placement.
Jesse spoke about publicity. Every book has a dedicated publicist and
a dedicated campaign. They also make heavy use of social media,
especially Twitter. They've partnered with Little Black Dress Wines to
sponsor events. They use Street Teams — the Avon Addicts — 25
super-readers who receive a package of swag and books each month.
The final segment of the workshop discussed submitting to Avon. On
Avonromance.com you can post excerpts from your book and get feedback
from other romance fans, writers and some editors, who pop in
occasionally. AvonImpulse.com is the portal to submit your manuscript
to the editorial team. Use the online form to upload your book. They
accept anything from novellas to long novels. They accept agented and
unagented submissions, and will accept simultaneous submissions.

The editors spoke briefly about some of their personal preferences:
Amanda –Contemporary romance with high concept and great new adult.
Romantic suspense, serialized erotica
Tessa — more erotica, whether full-length of serials. "super dark and
dirty heroines and heroes." Historicals — would love a new historical
series with "an amazing concept." She's also looking for contemporary
and new adult.
Erica — "anything but zombies." She does a lot of historicals, also
likes paranormal. She also likes more emotional, gothic historicals
and "dark, angsty stories."
Tip: Follow the editors on Twitter. They sometimes issue calls for
submissions via Twitter

********************************

Entranced Publishing is a Minneapolis-based e-publisher that publishes
young adult, new adult, romance and erotica. They're also interested
in fantasy, science fiction and urban fantasy with strong romantic
elements. Entranced currently released three to four titles each
month. YA and NA titles should be 50,000 to 90,000 words. Other
manuscripts may be from 10,000 to 120,000 words. They pay royalties of
40 percent of net. Find their submission guidelines here.

Entranced is accepting novellas of 25,000 to 35,000 words for an
upcoming anthology of contemporary takes on classic fairy tales. The
editors are interested in stories with strong heroines who rescue
themselves — or maybe even rescue the hero. "Simmering sexual tension"
is a must. The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2013. Find
more details here.

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Authornomy, a project of HarperCollins, is sponsoring a First Line
contest. The winner will receive a package of self-publishing bennies,
including a professional editorial review, a professional book cover,
a book trailer and an e-press kit. Simply enter up to the first three
sentences of your book (no more than 100 words) by September 8. You
must be an Authornomy member to enter, but membership is free. All
genres of fiction are welcome. Get the scoop here.

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As always, feel free to share the information in this blog with
others. All I ask is that you give me credit as the source and include
a link back to this blog. Thanks! Cindi