Parisian Phoenix Publishing

Among other meetings and commitments, I have attended three local book-related events in the last ten days and today, I will provide a round-up of the advice I heard. Anyone can apply this advice to their business, and perhaps more importantly, in this uber-connected age, anyone can become a product.

During the next three days, I will summarize the events or you can head to parisianphoenixpublishing.substack.com and read the whole thing right now.

EVENT ONE: THE WRITE STUFF

HOST: GREATER LEHIGH VALLEY WRITERS GROUP

April 11-13, 2024

WHY TO ATTEND: The event has been around for decades and has a reputation for being friendly and a venue for networking. The advice is typically geared toward beginning writers exploring publication and usually features editors, agents, authors and other professionals.

The event has expanded to include two days of workshops and one day of sessions with a keynote speaker present multiple days. All three days typically costs $300 to $350 depending on the add-ons you select, hotel room excluded. But the “main event” Friday evening and all-day Saturday costs around $130, without hotel. The event includes lunch for each day you register.

This event is amazing for having the opportunity and the free time to socialize and eat with the presenters. Organizers work hard to attract a “big name” for the keynote, who also participates in workshops and small sessions. These keynotes have advice for writers and authors of all ability/experience levels. This year’s event featured Jonathan Maberry.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Thursday morning’s session with Amy Deardon provided participants with a checklist of everything you need to do in the initial stages of preparing your book for publication and the first push for marketing. Services she recommends: anything from Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur, Story Origin, Book Reviewer Yellow Pages, KDSpy, Publisher Rocket, Nerdy Book Girl.
• Thursday afternoon’s session was with author Melissa Koberlein and focused on the brainstorming side of organizing ideas and content for a podcast.
• Friday featured two sessions with Jonathan Maberry. He recommended reading The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Is it a ghost story or an unreliable narrator? he asked.His web site offers “free stuff for writers.” Click here.
• Saturday featured sessions with Jonathan, Amy, Melissa, and others; pitch sessions with agent Mark Gottleib, agent/author Marie Lamba, and editor Donna Talarico. Middle grade author Jordan Sonnenblick also presented sessions. Topics included romantic comedy, productivity, young adult novels, memoir, querying, anthologies and research.

PRIMARY TAKEAWAYS:

• Keep writing.
• Jonathan believes in the power of being nice and the power of social media. Create a community and support other writers.
• Never say no, and this means you may have to figure some stuff out.
• Spend money and time on making your book and your craft the best it can be.
• Cultivate an audience.