It was motivating. Four authors who knew each other from a critique group and/or socially, collaborated on an anthology of short stories. They edited each other's work. They had a Christmas/holiday theme when they started. A couple of them have an author based publishing group, also a collaborative effort. One is a recognized published author, coat tails are always nice if you can get them. I thought the book's synopsis was intriguing. Joy to the Worlds: Mysterious Speculative Fiction for the Holidays The event was not well attended, so I'm not saying it was a great success. But I had a chance to talk with the bookstore coordinator and got her card. She said they like local authors because they bring friends and family to the event. The closer I get to finishing, the more motivated I am to get on to the next step, publishing and marketing.
Must've been a fun experience. I've never attended a book signing myself, so I wouldn't be able to relate to your experience. However, I've always preferred smaller more local events with less people over huge crowded events. It's more laid back and enjoyable; also it gives you a better chance to talk with the other people attending the event. Larger events are a lot more chaotic and you have a harder time enjoying yourself.
Part of me felt like, "they are going to look at me like just another writer wannabe" when I said I had a novel I was close to finishing. But I have confidence in my novel, so I ignored that feeling and just asked the questions I wanted to ask, about how they collaborated and who the publisher was. Funny thing was I had no problem seeing an indie/author owned publisher listed but I could see my question about who the publisher was made them feel the need to defend it. In other words I was interested in their publishing experience and they seemed to feel that because it wasn't a major publishing house they had to defend themselves. Guess we all have our insecurities.
Glad you enjoyed it. I've never been to a book signing, but I go to a small book festival in the north of Scotland nearly every year. The setup is such that no events clash with one another, and the authors all hang around the small village for three days, interacting with each other and with the festival-goers. They do readings, but they also discuss other writing issues as well. And they are not necessarily minor authors either. Val Mcdermid, Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyre, Janice Galloway, James Robertson and Iain Banks have all attended, as have many others. The organiser of the festival tends to get at least one Canadian author every year as well (last year we had Michael Crummey) and also a few from other countries too ...Palestine was recently represented by Raja Shehadeh. Small events like this are great windows into the world of writing.
I don't think I've read that one. My favourite of his sci-fi books is Player of Games. But there are many other 'Culture' books that are also excellent. And of course, under his other name, just plain Iain Banks, he's written fantastic non-sci fi books (based in Scotland) such as The Wasp Factory. He was very entertaining in person. Sadly, he died a couple of years ago of cancer. Way WAY too young, and still in his writerly prime. Lovely man.
That's very good to hear! I'm glad there's a lot of events for us writers to take in. I live in phoenix but I have not seen anything related to writers. Maybe I'm not looking for conventions/signings hard enough. I would love to attend one though.
I use this site for meetings in the Philadelphia area. If you look around, you should find something nearby your home. WWW.Meetup.com type in Phoenix and you will be on your way. I love this site.
