 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Author's Corner. January was an exciting month. The Barnes & Noble event on January 18th was really special. They had over twenty authors for a two hour special event. Each author was given an opportunity to speak to the crowd and make a quick pitch on his/her book. I've never seen an event quite like that and it drew a very good crowd.
ChattaCon was a very pleasant experience as well. I had the opportunity to speak with some very interesting and prominent people in Paul Levinson and Hunter Cressal. We had a chance to chat and exchange ideas on several occasions during the festival. The ChattaCon staff did an excellent job, particularly Holly Hina, of coordinating programs and meeting every challenge that arose. They made ChattaCon quite a success. I look forward to returning next year.
MegaCon in Orlando is coming up on February 25th to the 27th. I'll have a table there for the weekend and I'm hosting a panel on Friday (25th) from 4-5 on marketing and promotional techniques as well as strategies to consider when writing a book or series.
I've had to shift gears a little bit for March. I had to cancel my trip to Charlottesville for the Virginia Book Festival on March 18th to 20th. Instead, I'm planning to attend LunaCon in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel. I hope to have more information available in next month's edition.
For Memorial Day weekend, I've been invited to participate in BaltiCon at the Inner Harbor. The festival will be held inside the Wyndham Hotel. I've heard many good things about this festival.
On December 9th through 11th, I've been invited to participate in PhilCon. I'll provide additional information as soon as it becomes available. In the past, it's been held at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Philadelphia but I've heard that it may be moved to another location.
I may be attending TechniCon in Blacksburg, Virginia on April 1st to 3rd. There are still some details to be ironed out but I'm hoping to be there. There are a host of other festivals for the second half of the year but I'll save them for later.
I've completed the 10 episode TV series to follow the Fractured Time screenplay and I'm currently working on the 10 episode TV series to follow Twisted Fate's screenplay. This has been an exciting challenge which allows me to use some of the scenes from the book which wouldn't fit into the screenplay. It also allows me to use other characters form the book which had smaller roles. I've pulled some of the opening scenes from Dark Horizon into the series as well. If and when the package is sold, it promises to be a very exciting film project. We'll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens.
The Eye of Icarus is the first book in the new Space Frontiers series. I've held off on pursuing a publisher at this point so I can complete the Fractured Time film package. As soon as I have a time frame available, I'll pass it on to you. I'm anxious to get this series going but, at this point, I'm looking at tactical options for selecting a particular publisher.
This month's writers' tip is about exposure. As a new and rising author in any field, you need to let people know who you are and what you've written. I've discussed festivals in past editions as being a good source of exposure and signings as well.
One of the new and growing methods of exposure is through radio. There are shows dedicated to particular fields. In the case of science fiction, the SciFi Zone (scifiradio.com) is an example of the increasing exposure that science fiction is getting these days through a new medium.
How does that pertain to the writer? The SciFi Zone crew had a table at DragonCon last year. I stopped by to talk with them for a short while. I offered them a free copy of Fractured Time. When someone in the group reads it and gives it a thumbs up, you know they'll be talking about it on the air.
I haven't been in touch with them in a while but I've received a number of info e-mails from the poll on the website from radio/tv. I haven't really done anything on TV in a while so the radio show must be paying off. Unfortunately, if they give it a thumbs down, well, that's not good for you as a writer. If your work is lacking, then you probably ought to find out sooner than later so why not try. If it's worthwhile, these groups can really give your book a shot in the arm. Well, thank you again for joining me. If you have any questions, e-mail me and I'll be glad to answer them. Just be sure to put something in the subject space so I don't discard it as spam. See you next month.
- Michael D'Ambrosio
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Visit the Author's Corner Archives
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
