Readings, Art and Wine

Come and visit our 2nd Saturday event, starting April 9th. Find us on Facebook, if you haven't already :) The details are there...

This series is the "SWS Art Bazaar"


What's our goal?

SWS will establish our self in the community this year! With readings, classes and a Wordpress publication, the organization will become more visible than ever. We will have info on what we are planning available at the Art Bazaar, but more besides.

Want to participate?

Check out our official website! We are looking for:

Groups that need new members.

Artists who want to connect with writers.

Writers looking for classes that would augment academic instruction.

What areas are we working to develop classes in/for?

SWS will be organizing classes in the following tracks:

Working as a Writer (self-publishing, publishing, business of writing)

Technology for the Writer (Programs, computer info, internet research, blogging/social media, etc)

Craft of Fiction: Exploring the craft of various genres and forms of writing.

Thematic Discussion: A SWS instructor leads a discussion related to a particular topic relevant to writing.

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Posted in: creative writing,publishing,sacramento Northern California

The Writing Life

How does one become a full time writer? What is required?

The biggest and hardest thing is time management. For me, that's meant kicking myself in the rear and getting myself out of the house. My house is inducing laziness, making me feel like a bum. I need to be out and about in order to accomplish things. You know, like actually writing.

Because that's the next thing you have to do, is write.

But, as I'm learning, it isn't about writing "anything," as much as it's about writing "everything."
Only, the "everything" has to be specific: nonfiction and fiction--stuff I have the interest in researching and writing. If I want to be a full-time writer, I have to do both.

I have to set up a platform of things I am intending to focus on, and when I publish articles these become part of this process. So every step of the way has to be well-thought, thoroughly planned. Research has to be conducted for every step.

As such, I can't expect to support myself on this immediately. I'm expecting getting the first few articles published to be the largest hurdle. But once that is done, the goal will be 4-8 a month in journals/magazines that pay well. Some pay as much as a $1 a word. One a week at that rate--assuming pay on publication--can certainly present a decent income.

A mixture of articles and short stories can provide a large enough wage to support oneself, but the writer must be prolific. The queries have to be making the rounds continually. This is what it means to be a full time writer, and it wasn't what I originally pictured. Though this organized and intense level of writing appeals to my grown-up self, I am now fully aware of the effort it will take.

I have to like writing "everything" as much as I like writing my fiction. Determination, research, and a lot of elbow grease will have to see me through.

--Drea

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Posted in: publishing,research,writing

iPad and Publishing

First: I am so sad I could cry. Or scream. Perhaps the latter is a tad more likely. From my standpoint the fact that Five of the Big Six have jumped on board the Apple wagon in hopes of pressuring Amazon is about to prove a massive error.

Ok, I get it, Apple sells. It's in the brand. We are sensitive to branding and so all the Apple lovers are about to race out and replace their iPods and macs with... what? A colorful Kindle-esque gizmo that can't even let me check my e-mail and chat at the same time? The memory is lousy, and it isn't even capable of flash.

Guess what, there's a new trend: Book trailers. Do a search, check 'em out. I'm not a hundred percent certain of what I think about these things, but if I "assumed" they were here to stay, and my iPad can't read those that have been composed in flash? Well, how many electronic devices do I need in order to do my e-book shopping.

E-books and Amazon are behind the whole Publisher-Apple contract, anyhow. With Apple, the Big Guys can set the price on e-books. Ok. I want the publishing houses to survive the current economic tumult and the cultural progression towards completely virtual existence because, at some point, I want my manuscript to be approved of by one of their editors. Unfortunately, I don't feel that selling e-books through the ApStore at a higher-than-Amazon price tag will win converts. But the publishers need customers and lots of customers to keep up. Print sales are plummeting and have been for awhile, while e-readers took CES by storm. More e-reader platforms, more e-books, more options. As the market expands, supply and demand will determine the future.

Truth is, any electronic data is competing with FREE. Free is illicit, yes, and most of us listen to the angel on our shoulder more than the demon, but the contrast is still present. I fear that the higher the price tag, the more it will drive people to pirate. The blade we'd be walking on is the cost of good intentions, where do good intentions and law abiding ways cost too much?

E-readers are going to be The Thing for the next few years. The trend isn't going anywhere. But the upcoming generation that will be using them exclusively-at some point-will also be a generation accustomed to increasingly free entertainment. The pressures of the law make "cheap" acceptable, and even honorable-- The Right Thing to Do is to buy it, not pirate it. But if the cost to Buy becomes too large a dent in the wallet (keep in mind that one affect of a recession is an increasing awareness of what-can-be-gotten-for-a-better-price) then Free and risk of being caught begins to look more worth it.

In order to compete with piracy, and to keep piracy down, e-books need to be affordable. Amazon has the right idea in that regard. But the Big Six are afraid that selling e-books at such a low price will be the end of their institution.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe brand loyalty carries more weight than a smaller price tag. But entire brand names have been built on the foundation of discount pricing. Mind, that isn't Apple. But the paperback certainly arrived on the scene as a quicker, cheaper alternative to the hardback. Affordable convenience seems to me to be the greatest seller in America today, and I just can't see E-Readership being any different. Perhaps I'm blind. Or perhaps the publishers are... we'll see what this decade brings!

--Drea

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Posted in: iPad,publishing,sylvanopolis,writing

Technology and What it Means

Drea here for Thursday:D

2009 is wrapping up and we're heading into a new decade. There's been a lot of changes in the past ten years, most of which have been propelled by rapidly shifting technology. Writing, Publishing and marketing are not immune to these. Rather, their relevance has become quite marked as e-book sales rise and consumers buy more products online.

Amazon. The past few months have seen WalMart, Target and Sears cut prices on hardback books so dramatically that publishers have grown concerned over consumer price perception.

Nathan Bransford's blog

The fact that Amazon sells books at a loss is not something most customers clicking "add to cart" are thinking as the page gives way to credit and account information. But how can people compete with Amazon selling books at a grave discount?

Then there is Kindle and now nook. Barnes & Noble and Amazon will be bashing heads over e-reader sales as well as e-books and the rights to bully publishers. Publishers prefer the brick and mortar stores rather than the online giant, so they are attempting to curtail Amazon power by delaying the release of e-books. Shattkin details the ins an outs of it.
Or, if you prefer, the Wall Street Journal's version.


Then there is the massive self-publishing effort, which even Harlequin is getting in on with Harlequin Horizons. And the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) calls for Harlequin to prevent these books from being distributed to brick and mortar stores and so preventing them from entering the "real" fiction market.

What does this mean for writers?

Technology has made self-publishing so easy that vanity, POD and old-fashioned self-publishing are on the rise. Enough to get Harlequin in on the cash. Published authors worry about quality control, placing much value in the editing and marketing abilities of publishing companies.

Only, the combination of easy-to-make websites, blogs, social networking sites and conventions gives even self-published authors enough venues to do their own marketing. Classically, authors haven't had the time to do so much of these things. But with technology altering our communication methods, it changes.

E-books have grown in popularity and next year B&T will bring out a free software to read e-books they are to release (with their own e-reader). See: Blio

The catchy innovation here is that it will work on any device with an Operating System. PC, laptop, netbook, ipods and iphones --not Kindle. The competition is on. The trend is already begun.

The writer will see his/her books on more formats than ever before. Reading material is on its way to increased accessibility. However, the market is already inundated and with the changes in consumer habits old-fashioned marketing makes no sense. Put in those terms it makes sense that self-publishing is on the rise. But what's the answer? What thoughts do you have on promoting your book? Any ideas of new ways to utilize our knowledge to promote writing?

Where do you see the industry headed and why?

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Posted in: California writers,e-books,publishing,technology,writing