We kicked off our 2007 writers' conference schedule in sunny (and a little chilly) San Diego at the San Diego State Writers Conference. Scott Walters, one of our esteemed author advocates from AuthorHouse, joined me yesterday manning our exhibitor table in the registration area of a very active and energetic conference.
I presented my "Internet 101" workshop at 10:30 am and a book marketing workshop at 3:00 pm entitled "Leveraging the Internet to Market Your Book". I have to say that the 3:00 workshop was definately the place to be with a full room of aspiring and accomplished authors all clamouring to learn more about Internet marketing. If business card swapping is any indicator of success, my 1" stack of cards ranks this one as a "10".
After the hustle and bustle of fielding questions from attendees at our table all day, we unwinded at the 5:00 pm wine and cheese reception and got ready for our big announcement. As we have done at past SDSU conferences, we hosted a drawing giving one lucky writer a publishing contract worth $698.
But last night was different.
We collected tickets from anxious attendees, but we also had a surprise for everyone up our sleeves. As Diane Dunaway introduced me, I walked to the podium and made the big announcement:
I explained to the audience that AuthorHouse wants to inspire all writers in their journeys to become published, and to help, we are launching the Authors Across America initiative for 2007. From San Diego to Cape Cod, from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale, AuthorHosue is visiting writers conferences coast to coast sharing stories of authors in their quest to become published. It was appropriate to launch in southern California given the density of published authors and aspiring writers in this area.
After the annoucement, Diane pulled Vivian Smith's name from the fishbowl. She's a young, aspiring author from the San Diego area that grew up in Miami and has always had a love of writing. She told me "I started writing poetry, but when I moved to San Diego I found that I would have a vivid dream in the middle of the night and I would wake up and start writing about it."
Most ironically, this was Vivian's first writers conference, and she admits that she is "just getting started" and this publishing contract will really inspire her to finish that first book. We'll stay in touch with Vivian and see how she comes along in her publishing journey. In the meantime, share your stories on the new AuthorsAcrossAmerica.com web site.
Watch the "I Write Because..." video from various aspiring and published authors from this great conference:
2 comments:
Hello Tom
Who is that hansome gentleman in the poster? Just kidding, I know it's me. haha I so much wanted to be with you and Scott at the launch of Authors Across America in my home town of San Diego. It looked like you had lots of fun. Unfortunately, I had prior committments as author guest at a Fantasy SciFi Con in Chattanooga, TN. If you think the weather was cold in San Diego, try 20 degrees in Chattanooga. Burrrr I was happy to get back.
We missed you Gary! It was just a year ago we bumped into you at the Southern California Writers' Conference in San Diego (next month) and you were holding your out of print book. You were pretty excited to hear that you could get your book back in print. Then we found out you had another one coming...now you've found a home at AuthorHouse. Your story is similar to a lot of folks I talked to this weekend in San Diego at SDSU. People were asking if you were stopping by. Don't complain about the 20's, we're in the teens here!
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