DENTON WRITERS
LEAGUE
FIRST
EDITION
NOVEMBER 2003 VOL. 14 NUMBER
11
DWL Home Page: http://byjoni.com/dwl
If you would like a copy of the newsletter e-mailed to you instead of through the US post, please contact George Avera or Joni Latham.
WHERE WE MEET AND WHEN
The second Saturday of every month, at the
Denton Library-North
Branch - click here for map
3020 N. Locust St (corner of Windsor St &
N. Locust St)
Denton, TX
General Meeting 10:30 a.m.
Lunch at Noon at the
Evergreen Super Buffet - click
here for map
1006 W. University Dr
Denton, TX
76201
NEXT MEETING - NOVEMBER 8, 2003
Guest Speakers
2003
November - Julie Rogers & June Ford
December - Open
Meeting
2004
January - Mike & Susan Farris, Farris Literary Agency
February - Pamela
Stone
March - TBD
April - Roxanne Conrad
GUESTSPEAKER
Julie Rogers:
Julie Rogers' award-winning articles have been featured in numerous self-help, inspirational, and fiction publications, including Coping With Cancer, Daily Meditation, Complete Woman, and the annual anthology Writes of Passage: Every Woman has a Story! She is the author of Happy Tails: How Pets Can Help You Survive Divorce. Her online column "Pet Talk" features pets around the nation. Julie also publishes a newspaper column "Animal Talk" under her officership with Humane Society of the Ouachitas.
Julie is the 1999 Writer's Digest Writing Competition Grand Prize Winner for her short story "House Call." She is a journalism graduate of Southern Methodist University and co-founder of Good Shepherds Animal Assisted Therapy.
Julie is represented by Jeff Ross Management in Los Angeles. She is currently working on adapting her stage play "Santa Man" to screenplay for The Vine Entertainment in Los Angeles. She lives with her husband, son, and their many pets in Arkansas.
June Ford:
June Ford founded JFE Editorial Services in 1987. She has worked in a variety of editorial positions for publishing houses, magazines, and newspapers, including in-house for publishing companies as a managing editor, project editor, and editor. She has been commissioned to write trade books in categories ranging from psychology to business and finance, coffee table pictorials to true crime; and has ghost written children's board books, picture books, and chapter books.
In the genres of children's, juvenile, and young adult, June has worked with everything from board, picture, and educational books to nonfiction and fiction series. The majority of the books she has worked with have been or are slated to be nationally or internationally distributed.
June is a Texas writer-in-residence and has a bachelor's degree in the combined majors of print journalism/radio/television/film from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
Vist their website at http://www.jjworkshops.com/.
OCTOBER MEETING RECAP
We had a fullhouse Sat. - 3 visitors and 1 new member. Welcome to the group, Ben.
Diane Fanning spoke on how she gathered information for her book on serial killer, Tommy Lynn Sells and how to add suspense to your novel. She gave us information on how to successfully manage an interview with a psychopath. The psychopath does not process information the same as we do, so be prepared for anything. A few things to remember about talking with a psychopath are below:
Diane saw a 20/20 report on Julia Ray and how she was sitting in jail for killing her son. Julia maintained her innocence. Diane asked Tommy Lynn in a round about way if he knew anything about the killing. He admitted that he was the one who had killed the son. Diane knew that the DA's office had pretty much railroaded Julia, so instead of trying to contact them with the information she had, she put it in a chapter in her book. The book came out in April and by July 1st the legal gears started turning on reopening Julia's case. The Chicago Tribune ran the story about how Diane's book influenced the case against the railroaded victim. The story appeared in the Sunday 10/12 issue and can be found in the web.
When Diane talked about how to build suspense into your writing, I noticed that one suggestion came up that I hear in every genre - you have to make people care about your characters, even your villian/protagonist.
SUSPENSE CHECKLIST
Several ways to build suspense: action at the beginning of the story, conflict (one of the best is when both antagonist and protagonist are right), dialogue (no direct answers, be vague, or mimic the questioner), sentence structure and length (short choppy sentence for fast action and long descriptive ones to build up to the action), sudden attacks on the characters, slow build up to the conflict, scene shifting, and the rollercoaster method (taking the reader up and down - build up suspense to the penacle then wind down, then back up again).
There was a Q&A afterwards which continued at lunch.
Visit her website at http://www.dianefanning.com/pages/490990/index.htm
.
MEMBER NEWS
Jim Matheson's novelette, Lil' Bit's Heart of Christmas has been published Tattarsall Publishing. The first 50 copies sold out in the first week. If interested in obtaining a copy, please contact Crystal Wood at Tattersall at 940/565-0804 or visit Tattersall at http://www.tattersallpub.com/.
Make Your Book Stand Out from The Crowd: Know Your
Audience By Judy Cullins When I ask who is your market,
where will you find them, how can you reach them, how many books do you want to
sell them, and how much money do you want to make on your book this year, most
authors say, "Everyone will want my book, and when I take it to Oprah, it will
sell millions, and I'll make millions, too." Knowing your specific audience helps
you give your book its unique selling point. Writing for your target audience
focuses your writing and gives your book a great advantage because you know and
can communicate your unique selling point. Now, your book will stand out from
the crowd. Although not everyone will buy it, it will sell more copies because
your buyers really want your message.
How do you know who your audience is?
The biggest mistake most authors make is that they don't write for their one
preferred audience. If an audience is "everyone," the book doesn't have an
angle. Without an audience, your book has too much competition among other
popular authors. The "Dummies" books have done well because they have one
particular focus: beginners.
Know your audience inside and out
through the "Audience Profile." Ask yourself these questions about the people
who will read your book: What do they look like? How old are they? Male? Female?
Age? Baby boomers? Seniors? Entrepreneurs? Corporate? What kind of work do they
do? What is their income? What do they spend discretionary time and money on?
Where do they live? What books and magazines do they read? What values and
attitudes are reflected by those books? What are their interests, hobbies and
values?
What challenges do they face for
which they want answers? Are they business people, retired people, over 50? What
radio shows do they listen to? What TV programs do they watch? What do they do
with their free time? What events do they attend? What organizations do they
belong to? What causes do they support? Are they Internet savvy? What kinds of
sites do they visit and bookmark? How many of them are out there to sell to?
What do they want? What do they need?
Go to your library or use the
Internet to research just how many people belong to your audience. Ask for the
reference books that have census and other information. All agents and
publishers will look for this information in your book proposal.
Even if you publish this book
yourself, do some market research. Research can help you with numbers: 45
million readers read new age books; 55 million baby boomers and 60 million
seniors are out there. They buy online, too. Think of one segment of these
groups your can write and market for: New Age newly divorced, age 50 and up;
Senior women creating a new career at 60; Baby-boomer working mothers who want
healthier food for their children.
By writing a focused book, you will
attract your preferred audience because your whole book is devoted to answering
its concerns.
Subscribe to FREE ezine "The Book Coach Says..."
Email: Judy@bookcoaching.com
Reprinted from BookZone
Pro http://www.bookzonepro.com
Judy Cullins: author, publisher, book coach
Excerpted from: Ten Non-techie Ways to Market Your Book Online and
Write your eBook or Other Short Book-Fast!
www.bookcoaching.com
Texas Conferences and Events
November 8-9, Texas Book Festival (Austin). Watch for updates on website www.texasbookfestival.org. See TBF on this site and Partners.
November 28-30, Houston Book Festival, Town & Country Center, 1-10 & Beltway 8, Follow link for details on this website. Contact Rita Mills books@ghg.net or call 713-937-9184.
December 6, 2003, Fayetteville, 2nd Annual Texas Authors on the Square. See note below. Contact Lois Lawrence, leealawrence@houston.rr.com
February 15, 2004, Wimberley, Texas Writers Roundup, 3rd annual book fair benefiting Katherine Anne Porter School. See Roundup link on this website for details. Contact: Linda Bingham Linda@flamewriter.com .
February 20-22, ConDFW http://www.condfw.org .
March 17-20, 2004, San
Antonio, TLA Conference, Texas Library Association
http://www.txla.org/conference/conf.html
April 17, 2004, Denton, Texas, 4th Annual North Texas Book Festival) from 9 am till 4 pm at the Civic Center. Visit the NTBF website www.ntbf.org for a registration form. Booth fees are slightly higher this year, but percentage of sales is being eliminated.
From the Texas Author’s Coalition, Inc website. URL in listing below.
On-Line Writers resources
Author's
Network-for writers about writing based in Europe, but
interesting-
http://www.author-network.com/
Copyright Forms-
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/
Dallas Sceen Writers- http://www.dallasscreenwriters.com/
New Writer's Market
http://hge.members.atlantic.net/
Preditors and Editors-a resources to check out agents and publishers
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
Society of
Children's Writers and Illustrators
http://www.scbwi.org/
Texas Coalition of
Authors, Inc.
http://www.texasauthors.org/
The Novelist's
Workshop-essays and advice on how to publish your book-
http://www.monash.com/writers.html
Writer's Exchange
http://www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/
Writer's Market
http://www.writersmarket.com/index_ns.asp
Writers Net-source
for information for writers, editors, agents, and publishers-
http://www.writers.net
The Zuzu's Petals
Literary Resource Homepage-for both writers and poets-
http://www.zuzu.com/
There are multitudes of writing resources available on the Internet. Go to any search engine and ask for writer's resources, writer's markets, writer's contests, writer's conferences, etc
DWL OFFICERS:
President Joni Latham
(
joni@verizon.net) - 940/243-5200
Vice President
June Powell - 940/565-1013
Treasurer Joseph Marino
Newsletter George Avera
( gavera@chatter.com) - 940/382-8161
