Minutes August 2015 Meeting

Welcome Mary Gillespe (a junior in High School and already published) and Skip McLamb, retired school teacher/administrator and OV resident.

Nobody reported any significant writing accomplishments, as all were focused on the BOOK SIGNING and, well, SUMMER. 

Old Business: 

·         Anthology—

ü  What a fabulous book signing event!  Sold 248 copies!  Amazing. Congrats to all!

ü  As of Friday we had sold 29 print copies and 13 ebook copies through Amazon.  Amazon pays 60 days after month end, so we won’t see any of that money until October.

ü  I hate to say it, but now the WORK begins…Time to Sell some books.  Please continue to participate on the blog and on facebook and anything “socially” to get the word out.  Also, what we REALLY need right now are REVIEWS.  Amazon doesn’t take you seriously until you have 50 reviews.  And they check to make sure they are not all from the author and the author’s friends and relatives (I do not know how they know!) So please ask everyone you know to post a review…or at least give us a few stars.  In order to do that on Amazon you must have an account and verified that you have shipped something to that account (I know all you people were thinking you’d just set up a bunch of gmail accounts and post a bunch of reviews…but Amazon is one step ahead of you there.)  Also please encourage your fans to post on Goodreads.

ü  Now to get the books out to market.  Places who have agreed to sell are: Tidewater Collection, Sunkiss, Sandfiddler, East Beach Sandwich Company.  Places to approach are Creative Wedge, Book store at Wards Corner, Spa.  Any other suggestions?

ü  I am embarrassed to admit I have not calculated royalties on the book launch event but will soon and pay myself back for the inventory then give the remaining to charity. 

ü  Also embarrassed to admit that in the melee of the book signing event I lost track of 2 books.  So 248 still went out the door but only 246 were paid for.  Sorry guys.  Lesson learned, next time have someone not involved in the book signing process be in charge of inventory.

ü  Upcoming marketing Events:

v  EOV Civic League Meeting September meeting. Still working out the details of that.  More information will be emailed.

v  SOS Welcome Social September 10^th.  The SOS Book Club has selected our anthology for their first read in September!  So we hope to sell quite a few books there. If you are interested in being a member of SOS (Surface Officer Spouses Club) please let Michelle or Jenny know and they can get you connected.

v  Steel Beach Picnic September 13^th  3 to 6 pm at the Bayfront Club.  This is the annual fundraiser for the Anchor Scholarship Foundation and they have agreed to let us have a table to sell and sign books.  We would love to have as many authors as possible join us.  If you would like to enjoy the food and drinks at the event, you will need to purchase a ticket of $45 single or $90 per couple.  If you would like to just come and sit under the tent and sign books, you can come for free.  We just need a head count.  An email will be going out about that soon so please RSVP your participation.

Upcoming Conferences:

·         Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival, Saturday, August 22, 24 mystery authors on hand to sign books.  Workshops throughout the day, to include CB Lane and I reprising our wildly popular Anatomy of a Mystery workshop, and I’ll also be on a panel for publishing mysteries.  Starts at noon.  Best of all, it’s FREE! (PS…the event was great!  We had a standing room only crowd for both Anatomy of a Mystery and the How to get Published panel!  Great time!)

·         Hampton Roads Writers Conference set for Sept 17-19.  Keynote speakers Dr. DeWitt Henry and Ellen Meister, both best-selling authors.  More info at http://www.hamptonroadswriters.org/2015conference.php

New Business:

·         MORE By the Bay Stories!  It was agreed that everyone would like to participate in a second anthology.  Same focus…a connection to East Beach and shown in a positive light…but word count will be upped.  Submissions must be between 2,000 and 6,500 words.  We haven’t worked out the timeline yet but the anthology committee will get organized in September so watch for more information…so start writing now!

Writing Quick Tip—

            Hand out “Writers Write: Rewriting—A Checklist for Authors”

Upcoming meetings:

·         September 18—No Meeting as we traditionally take off for those of us who want to attend the HRW conference can do so…and report back to us!

·         October 16—Quarterly Critique

·         November 20^th—Show Us Your Space—Member Participation Meeting facilitated by Jenny Sparks…also bring books for donation to Toys for Tots

·         December 18^th—Holiday Party, and read an excerpt from the favorite thing you read during the year

Starter Sentence: 

·         September starter sentence from Michelle is: “You don’t have to go through with it if you don’t want to.”  We had some great submissions.  Please everyone send them to JennySparks@me.com so she can compile them and send to everyone in the group.

·         October starter sentence from Vickie:  Even though I’ve done this many times before, my heart is racing as I step onto the stage.

·         Up next is Gina (then Sally, Mary-Jac, Pat, Mike, Jenny, Karen, Page, Joni, Will, Michelle, Vickie, Skip) Am I missing anyone?  I kind of lost track.

Today’s Program:  Mike Owens, Psychic Distance

            For those who missed it, Mike gave a fantastic presentation.  It was something that I kind of innately knew about writing, but he spelled it all out for me.  It rocked my writing world!!!!  I even gave him props at the Suffolk conference yesterday.  If you want to learn more on your own, he referenced John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction or Jan Burroway’s Writing Fiction, A Guide to Narrate Craft.  Or try Googling Psychic Distance or Authorial/Narrative Distance.  What it boils down to is the old Show, Don’t Tell mantra that all authors should be aware of.  Thanks again, Mike!