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Welcome to the August edition of Author's Corner. It's great to share this time with all of you. I looked at the number of hits on the counter and checked out some of the other authors' websites. Very few had counters and those that did didn't come close to the number of hits on mine. That's a tribute to my readers. Thank you.
Next month's Author's Corner won't be updated until around the tenth to the fourteenth of September because of the DragonCon Festival. I'm sure the students will be back in school by then. I hope to hear from many of you, particularly the high school students.
For those of you who are looking for something to do with your time, I recommend that you check out the Dragon Page at www.dragonpage.com. This is the only science fiction radio show in the country. The hosts, Mike and Evo, are very entertaining to listen to. The show is carried by radio stations in several parts of the country and seems to be gaining momentum.
I met with them in Phoenix last month and had an interesting conversation with them. They recorded an interview with me and aired it during the week of July 19-25. This was a neat experience as it was my first radio interview. When you listen to yourself on the air, you realize how hard it is to speak well. For those of you in school, public speaking is very important. You never know when you'll need to use it in your future.
This month, I've completed the screenplay for Dark Horizon. I've also completed the screenplays for the first two one-hour episodes for the Fractured Time series. I've also made a lot of headway on my new book, Space Frontiers: The Eye of Icarus. I hope to have it finished by November. I'll have some questions to answer when I'm ready to have it published. I'm very happy with iUniverse who are the publishers of Fractured Time and Dark Horizon. At some point, later in the year, I am closing out my contract with the publisher for Twisted Fate and moving TF to iUniverse. For Space Frontiers, I have to decide if I want to retain the rights as I did for the FT Trilogy.
If my goal of selling the Trilogy package (movies and episodes) reaches fruition, then it becomes an important financial point for me to own the rights. If I'm still in limbo, I have to decide whether to have my agent market the story to the mainstream publishers or use iUniverse to publish it. For those of you who didn't know, iUniverse is a reputable print on demand publishing company that I am using for Fractured Time and Dark Horizon.
As I mentioned earlier, I'll be attending DragonCon as a participant this year. My publicist is waiting for replies from LosCon (Los Angeles-11/26-28), PhilCon (Philadelphia-12/10-12), Virginia Festival of the Book (Charlottsville 3/16-21), BaltiCon (Baltimore 5/27-31), and WesterCon 58 (Calgary, Alberta (7/1-4). I'm hoping to participate in each of these as well.
While in Phoenix, I had the opportunity to do my first panel discussion alone. Being the first day of the WesterCon Festival, I guess many of the participants hadn't arrived yet. I enjoyed the opportunity to speak with the audience about the scheduled topics and to digress into other topics as well. I think everyone was pleased with the session. I would enjoy doing my own panel, perhaps as a workshop, in the future.
My next public relations move is to contact many of the science fiction clubs and offer Fractured Time for review. If they enjoy FT, hopefully they'll promote it in their area and purchase the second and third books. I intend to make a point of visiting high schools, clubs and organizations that support me in promoting my books. It is so important as an author to make people aware of you and your books. The worst thing you can be is obscure. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who represents an organization for reading, writing or science fiction/fantasy with a proposal for me.
This month's Writers' Tip is a marketing tip. When you participate in signings, speaking events or appearances, a cardboard display on an easel is a great advertising instrument to have with you. It's important to design the information you want to display. I portray an illustration of each book with a brief description. I also provide my website address along with a brief update on major events regarding my books. Many people shy away from direct contact with a speaker. The display gives them an opportunity to build an initial impression of your work. If they like what they see, they'll more than likely speak to you about it.
Join me next month for another edition of Author's Corner.
- Michael D'Ambrosio
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