YOUTUBE - FIVE RIVERS AUTHORS SUSAN FOREST AND DAVE LADEROUTE, talk with LORINA STEPHENS, PUBLISHER

IN CASE YOU MISSED THIS, I thought I'd post this Youtube clip of Five Rivers authors Susan Forest and Dave Laderoute talking about their Aurora Award nominations with Lorina Stephens, Publisher of Five Rivers. Susan's short story, The Gift, chosen from the Urban Green Man Anthology (Edge Books), has been short-listed for the Best English Short Fiction Aurora, and Dave's YA debut novel, Out of Time (check out this link for Dave's Guest Interview, here on Suzenyms), has been nominated for Best English YA. The clip is only fifteen minutes. Both writers make some great comments about what it means to be nominated, why they wrote the stories they did, and how you can join the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA) to vote for their work and/or other Canadian novels, short stories, poems, etc., that have been nominated. (It only costs $10.00 to join the CSFFA, and that $10.00 gives you the opportunity to read all of the nominations as e-pubs for free. Such a deal! Why not join and take a look?)

A NICE REVIEW of THE URBAN GREEN MAN, including MY STORY, 'EVERGREEN'

I JUST RECENTLY READ A REALLY NICE REVIEW of the Urban Green Man anthology, written by friend and writer, Derek Newman-Stille. I featured Derek recently on Suzenyms: his guest post on writing horror has been one of the most visited on this blog. This is a short note, as I'm getting ready for the Pure Speculation Festival this weekend, but I thought I'd point you all to Derek's blog Speculating Canada, to take a look at what he says about the Urban Green Man anthology (Edge Books), and my story 'Evergreen'.

Here's the link to Derek's post where he talks about the anthology in, 'A Face of Shifting Leaves':

And here's the link to his previous post about 'Evergreen' in 'A Clear-Cut Future'.

Have a great weekend, everybody. Early next week, you're in for a treat. I'm guest hosting Hugh A.D. Spencer, who talks about writing humor in speculative fiction.

GUERRILLA MARKETING: PROMOTING YOUR BOOK WITHIN GLOBAL TECHNO-BABBLE - GUEST POST by BILLIE MILHOLLAND

THE FOLLOWING IS A GUEST POST BY BILLIE MILHOLLAND. I asked Billie to address how she promotes and markets her books, because, as well as being an entertaining and excellent writer, she is one of the most successful promoters I know. What I find especially helpful is that she manages to promote her work in an effective, non-invasive way. She tells me she's just scratched the surface as far as this topic goes. With luck, I can coax her to come back for a future post. 

IN AUGUST, AT WHEN WORDS COLLIDE IN CALGARY, a conversation about book promotion with a couple of new writers hit the inevitable stone wall of disbelief. “I have to promote my own work? I thought my publicist and my publisher did it.”

I’ve heard so many versions of that reaction; you’d think I’d have a canned response ready. I don’t seem to, because the level of shock, resentment, and foot-stomping resistance to this notion is unpredictable. Short answer (elevator response): yes, you do have to promote your own work. First of all, unless you're a celebrity or a well-known professional in a high-interest field, you won’t have a publicist early in your career. Secondly, small publishers have even smaller budgets for promotion. Even if you snag a big name publisher for your first work, you are still an unknown. Your slice of the publicity pie is ribbon thin. Long answer (evening-in-the-pub response): the promotion of your work begins at birth – your birth, not the birth of your book. Okay. Slight exaggeration designed to emphasize the long-term complexity of effective promotion of your literary work. Seth Godin recommends starting your promotion three years before your book comes out. Even if your magnum opus has all the ingredients of an international best seller, enough human beings have to read it for the word to get out.

According to UNESCO data from 2010, about 350,000 new titles are published yearly in North America. As of July, 2013, www.goodreads.com had 30 million members/readers. Faced with stats like these, many authors panic and go into scatter-shot mode. “Aaah! Gotta get to as many readers as possible in the shortest amount of time before I lose the edge.” This often translates into a litany of “Buy my book! Buy my book!” all over Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and, yes, even e-mail. 

Harnessing social media to call attention to your new publication is essential, but using it as a bullhorn will only annoy people. We are all subject to sensory over-load from social media, and consequently have developed tune-out responses to 'buy-this-look-at-me' noise.The key directive to remember when using social media to get people to read your book? Be Authentic. Notice I said, ‘read’ your book, not ‘buy’ your book. When you’re first published, friends, family, and colleagues will buy your new book, but not all of them will read it. From this early built-in fan base, you need to spread out and find your real readers, strangers – folks who want to read what you write. No matter what combination of social media you choose to use, it still comes down to the old adage – one reader at a time. Social media is built through relationships. Building real relationships is the only sustainable way to increase readership.

Your job is to get your work in the hands of as many people as you can. Traditional marketing of anything is costly. It requires advertising, press releases, and an endless variety of selling techniques. It is essentially an arm’s length process. Guerrilla marketing, on the other hand, is up close and personal. It’s where you include people you’ve met at conferences, sports events, music festivals, online. Not people you've just exchanged business cards with, people you've had a conversation with, shared something that was not your-book related. Guerrilla marketing is where you do the unexpected, create surprises, encourage people to have fun. 

One of the best and most recent examples of guerrilla marketing that I’ve witnessed was a campaign by an Edmonton writer who wanted to go into outer space. Hal Friesen wasn’t marketing a book, but everything he did could be done by an enterprising writer trying to draw attention to an upcoming book. It’s worth your time becoming his friend and scrolling back past September 10, 2013 on his Facebook page to study his 167 days in a space suit. Or, visit his website to get the shortened version of his incredible marketing journey. Of course, now that he has a book to market, he is well on his way toward establishing relationships with a broad spectrum of potential readers.

Guerrilla marketing includes finding ways to cross-promote with other writers. Find out who else in your community has had something published about the same time as your publication. Invite them to share a panel discussion with you at a library event, share a table at a seasonal community event, exchange blog posts. 

Book launch promotion is often under-exploited. At a traditional book launch, a writer stands like a preacher before an audience trapped in chairs. The mood is church-solemn; the writer drones on, reading long passages from the work in question. There are many ways to defeat this tradition. Turn your launch from a class lecture to a casual visit with your readers at your kitchen table or in your favourite watering hole. Create an atmosphere that encourages enjoyment for the passage(s) you plan to read. 

o   If the story is set in real geography, show photos and tell a few focused anecdotes about the place(s).

o   If the story is set in an actual time period, share some interesting trivia from that era that relates directly to what happens in your story.

o   Share some of the interesting adventures you had while researching your book (people you met, unusual facts you discovered). 

·     Read briefly. If you are attached to reading a long passage, break it up and intersperse your reading with interesting trivia about your writing journey. Read slowly. Don’t race. Make sure you know how to pronounce smoothly all the words you’ve used. Keep your chin up; when you lower your head, sound pools at your feet instead of flowing out into your audience. Practice enunciating. Most of us mumble and truncate words in casual conversation. You want your words to be clear. If your audience has to strain to hear what you say, listening fatigue will make them tune you out. They will take to checking their watches instead of anticipating your next phrases. Smile. These are your friends and supporters. You don’t want them to think you’re not pleased that they’ve come out. Thank those who came out and those who helped do anything at all toward your event. Of course, this is only useful if you’ve written a compelling book, but that’s a topic for other discussions, many of which have already been explored on this blog.

ABOUT BILLIE MILHOLLAND: Promoting community events and artistic projects on a shoe string is where Billie first learned to use innovation and surprise in order to be noticed above the sensory overload of this tech-dense era. She has had success with marketing both fiction and non-fiction over the last 20 years. Most recently, she is promoting The Puzzle Box (Aug 2013), a collaborative novel that contains her novella Autumn Unbound – an unravelling of what happens to Pandora after she was blamed for opening Zeus’s forbidden box, and The Urban Green Man (Aug 2013), a short story anthology containing her story, Green Man, She Restless – a near-future revelation of what happens to a scientist after she's imprisoned by a megalithic GMO conglomerate.

WHEN WORDS COLLIDE

I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD to this weekend, when I'll be attending When Words Collide, one of my favorite writers' conventions that occurs every year in Calgary. For those of you who are attending, I'm looking forward to meeting you if we haven't met before. Looking at my schedule, I'm involved in the following launches, workshops, and panels:

On Friday, August 9, 2013: At 6:00 p.m. Diane Walton and I team up to present Live Action Editing, where we take examples from the ABC's of How NOT to Write SF (which I've begun posting here on the blog). We'll challenge the audience to find and discuss the writing errors.

At 9:00 p.m., I team up with funny ladies Melodie Campbell and Sarah Kades, plus the wonderfully talented Tim Reynolds to discuss More Humour in Fiction. Since the hospitality suites are opening at the same time, I may have to bring shots.

On Saturday morning, 10:00 a.m., I start the day off with Live Action Slush, Fantasy Edition, where Robert Runté, Graeme Brown, D.B. Jackson, Ed Willett and myself don our editors' hats and listen to samples submitted anonymously by the audience. If you're not familiar with Live Action Slush, the reader (in this case, the lovely Ed Willett) reads the writing sample until three editors signal him to stop. If no one puts their hand up, the writing is good and has grabbed our interest. If we do put our hands up, we discuss what the writer might do to improve his or her work.

At 2:00, I'm involved with the Urban Green Man Launch, with Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine (co-editors), Brian Hades, Publisher of Edge, and other contributing members to the anthology (Susan Forrest, Randy McCharles, Billie Milholland, Sandra Wickham, Celeste Peters, and Suzanne Church). We each read five minutes from our story. As my story Evergreen opens with a tarot reading, I think I'll bring my tarot cards.

At 3:00, I'm off to another panel on Exciting Anthologies, with fellow-panelists and anthologists, Mike Plested (A Method to the Madness, Five Rivers), Adria Laycraft (Urban Green Man, Edge), and Lynda Williams (Okal Rel Universe). My contribution to this group is two anthologies (Divine Realms, Ravenstone Books and Tesseracts Fifteen: A Case of Quite Curious Tales, Edge), so I should have something to add.

THEN at 9:00 P.M., I'M LAUNCHING The Tattooed Witch. Thanks to Diane, Managing Editor at On Spec, and the Pure Speculation folks, I have a place to launch the novel. When I approached the When Words Collide team, it was on very short notice. I wasn't sure the book would be out. Thanks to Lorina Stephens at Five Rivers, it is. Please come by Suite #1057 for drinks and cake!

On Sunday at 12:00 noon, I'm doing a short reading from The Tattooed Witch at the Hybrid Historical Readings which I will share with Graeme Brown and Ronald Hore, and then,

AT 4:00 p.m., it's the Method to the Madness Launch, where I release my hounds and inner evil empress  Calasandra (fashionista, romantic, and conqueror of the Virgo Supercluster). I hadn't intended on sewing this week, but as we're supposed to be in costume...well, let me say, what I'll be wearing isn't what I originally intended. This will also be my first time at COSPLAY. Further, if you haven't yet heard Calasandra's podcast on her own personal website, go here. I will attempt to share (and not conquer) the launch with Jade Brook, Jennifer Rahn, Tim Reynolds, Aaron Kite, Janna Willard, Troy Winn, and co-editor, poor down-trodden Mike Plested. (Or so he claims. I don't believe it.) I'll post pictures if I get good ones.

Next post: Writing Coaches - What Can They Do For You?

Stay tuned.

THE URBAN GREEN MAN ANTHOLOGY - INTERVIEW WITH EDITORS, ADRIA LAYCRAFT AND JANICE BLAINE

AS ONE OF THE CONTRIBUTORS to the Urban Green Man anthology, I'm excited about the book's launch this coming August through Edge Books. (I'm also thrilled that my story Evergreen is the lead and appears right after Charles de Lint's introduction.) I thought I'd pin down editors Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine to talk about the anthology, how it came about, and what their experience was with it.

Ladies, your inspiration for the anthology was the Green Man in all of his (or her) manifestations. Question #1. In a nutshell, what is a Green Man? What drew you to this subject in the first place?

Adria: As a gardener, I’ve always been fascinated with the Green Man faces that are a popular garden decoration. As a writer, I had to know what the story behind the face was. The research taught me about the archetype of renewal and protection of all green growing things, and that many societies had their own version of this mythology. It seemed an obvious idea for a themed anthology, rich with symbolism and ripe for visual art as well. When I mentioned my idea to Janice when we worked in the EDGE office, her excitement led me to invite her to team up on the project and present it to Brian Hades—with very happy results.

Janice:  In college, I was introduced to the writings of Joseph Campbell and Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. The universal myths and archetypes that they wrote about—the idea that we are connected by the stories we tell—fascinated me. I love stories that have a purpose, stories that explore the world and our role in it, myths as metaphors. The Green Man is one of those stories that shows up in many different forms all over the world. He is an Earth spirit who represents the connection between humanity and nature. He represents the cycles of life, renewal, and rebirth. He is often carved on old churches, surrounded by greenery with leaves protruding from his mouth. I've been painting and studying him for years, so I was thrilled with the opportunity to work on an anthology that celebrated him.

2). Before you received submissions, what overall ‘vision’ did you have for the anthology? Was there a particular message or theme you wanted to get across to the reader? Does your original vision reflect what the book has become? 

Adria: My original vision was simply to explore the mythology in all its facets, especially because many people I talked to hadn’t even heard of the Green Man. When we decided to narrow submissions to Urban Fantasy, the project took on a life of its own as we saw this myth brought into the modern day. Janice and I realized we wanted this be our way of being environmentalists of a sort, to talk about how the Green Man would feel if he ‘woke up’ to the world today. Our vision was met again and again in the stories and poems we received.

Janice: Because the Green Man is such a huge theme, we needed to narrow it down from the beginning. There seemed to be many Green Man books out there, but most of the ones we found explored the history of the archetype. We thought it would be interesting to bring the myth into a contemporary setting, to see how the Green Man might react to what humanity has done to his wild, natural world. For me, this anthology is an environmental statement. Some of the stories are hopeful visions of the future. Some are cautionary tales. All are explorations of green magic that can still be found in concrete jungles. 

3). Did the two of you two choose to work on this anthology together, or were you assigned to work on it? What do you feel you both brought to the process?

Adria: The original idea was mine, and as I said, Janice became an obvious partner because of her enthusiasm for the project, her knowledge of the mythology, and her strengths that were so different and complementary to mine. Janice turned this fantastic collection into a veritable work of art, enhancing our theme and making it something to collect and treasure. I can’t thank her enough for that. My job was to be a fast reader and to bring my writing, editing, and critiquing experience to the table. 

Janice: The idea was originally Adria's. She mentioned it to me one day while we were working at the EDGE office, and my excitement prompted her to ask me to partner with her. At first I was a bit hesitant, because I'm not a writer by trade. However, I am a storyteller, an illustrator, and an environmentalist. I've spent years studying and painting tree mythology and the Green Man legend. This anthology gave me the opportunity to explore these passions in a way I never expected. Adria and I come from very different backgrounds. Our skill sets compliment each other brilliantly. 

4). Of course, the stories you liked best were the ones you chose for the book. But what drew you to particular stories the most? Was it theme, characterization, plot? 

Adria: We had to reject some stories that we were very much in love with because they didn’t fit the theme. Once we were clear on our theme, we knew that we needed to stay true to it. At first we worried we might not get enough stories that fit—we shouldn’t have worried. The excitement over the project blew us away and provided enough amazing stories for several anthologies! I won't be surprised to see many of the stories we couldn’t keep appear in other publications.

Janice: The response we got to our call for submissions was incredible, not only in volume, but also in quality. We could easily have put together two full length anthologies with the number of excellent stories we received. This was clearly a theme that many people were very passionate about. In the end, we had to reject many excellent stories simply because they didn't quite fit the theme we wanted to reflect.

5). Were there any stories that surprised you? Why? 

Adria: Many of our stories go beyond the speculative fiction I expected to receive. Some of them expanded my mind and left me asking all the right questions, which is what good stories do. The book actually ends on a question, and it fits what the entire project was trying to do, overall. 

Janice: This was my first experience in this type of role, so I honestly didn't know what to expect. A part of me was concerned that there might not be enough interest in the project . (The humble side of me worries about that with every project I take on.) In this case, I had nothing to worry about. The submissions we received exceeded my expectations. I was most surprised by the volume and scope of the stories. We had people submitting from all over the world. 

6). What was the best thing about editing this anthology? The worst? What advice would you give to anyone who might consider writing for, or editing one?

Adria: There have been many wonderful moments. Reading through the stories the first time was a thrill and a privilege, and I enjoyed the process despite receiving three times as many submissions as expected. The worst thing by far was sending out rejection letters. I don’t like getting them, and now I know I don’t like sending them either. It got harder with every round. As to advice, I would say to be sure you’re up for the sheer magnitude of work involved. That, and don’t be surprised in how invested you become. When you write, your stories become your babies. This is no different.

Janice: I am an incredibly slow, meticulous reader, so the biggest challenge for me in this project was working through the volume of submissions. The majority of the slush pile was filtered by Adria. I loved watching our theme take shape as we added more and more stories to the "Interested" pile. I loved exploring creative ways we could arrange the final selections so that the stories would flow and complement each other. And, of course, I loved building all the visual elements. Creating the cover, illustrations, and layout was my role once the stories were chosen, while Adria had the job of editing and polishing the collection.

7). What’s next for you both? Another anthology, perhaps? 

Adria: I would be honoured to work with Janice again, but at this point we’re not sure what that might look like. I know we certainly work well together, but I also know the project has to be right before I would commit to it. I have my own novels and short stories I’m working on, including a middle grade science fiction series that I’d like to see in schools someday.

Janice: I would welcome the opportunity to work with Adria on another project. What that project might be, I can't say at this point.

Adria’s Bio: Adria Laycraft is a grateful member of IFWA and a proud survivor of the Odyssey Writers Workshop. She works as a freelance writer and editor of The Write Initiative. Look for her stories in Tesseracts 16, Neo-opsis, On-Spec, James Gunn's Ad Astra, DKA Magazine, Hypersonic Tales, The Alien Next Door, and In Places Between. Author of Be a Freelance Writer Now, Adria lives in Calgary with her husband and son. Learn more about Adria at www.adrialaycraft.com or at www.thewriteinitiative.com. 

Janice’s Bio: Janice Blaine is a professional commercial artist working out of Calgary. Throughout her career, she has worked on a wide variety of projects, ranging from pre-production animation to design and illustration of children’s books. Her illustrations have appeared on the covers of numerous magazines and books. Her cover illustration for Neo-Opsis's Issue #20 was nominated for an Aurora Award. She currently works as the Production Manager at EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. She also does freelance illustration and design work. Her personal work is fuelled by a passion for storytelling and a love of nature. Her paintings explore the universal language of myth and folklore. Her portfolio may be viewed a www.paintersblock.com. 

(Thanks Adria and Janice! For those who are interested, you can pre-order the book from Edge Books here: 

Next Post: Dropping the 'F' Bomb, Guest Post by Michael R. Fletcher

Stay tuned.

NEW BEGINNINGS - THE TATTOOED ROSE and THE ABC'S of How NOT TO WRITE SPECULATIVE FICTION

The Fool Card from Artist's Vision Tarot

SOME PEOPLE GET THEIR DAILY HOROSCOPES mailed to them. I get daily tarot cards. This morning, I received The Fool which is appropriate, considering I'm about to begin work on The Tattooed Rose. I always find starting a new book daunting. I have so much I want to say, I've scribbled down plot, but there are still many details I need to work out. Here's a short version of what my daily tarot reading said:

"The Fool card affirms that my alter ego today is a Quantum Leaper with a hero's heart. I am liberated by free will and trust, which lead me to explore simple speculations for their own sake. I can move beyond the fear factor. I don't know where I'm going, and I don't care where I've been. I only know that, as the hero of my own story, it's for me to find out. Like Alice, I'm on the verge of stepping into the rabbit hole, unless I stop short and play it safe. I'll know soon enough where following my own feet has landed me on this curious venture. So despite familiar warnings, irresistible promise draws my eyes wide open and away from domestic comfort zones. I'll never know until I try."

The Fool is always about beginnings.

Here's another 'beginning' that may interest some of you. I was thinking of re-vamping my non-fiction book on how not to write - The ABC's of How NOT to Write Speculative Fiction. The book will cover an A to Z span of all the writing errors I've encountered as an On Spec editor over the last twenty years. When I looked at the book yesterday, I realized there was so much more I wanted to say compared to what I wrote seven years ago. If I were to revise it in one go, it would take me several months to finish it. Sooooo...I've decided to post the ABC's as I rewrite them here, on Suzenyms. If you want some writing tips, or you want to make sure you're not committing the errors I'll be posting about, or if you're already error-savvy and have things you want to contribute for everyone's benefit, please feel free. Once I'm done, I may put all the new posts in a book and sell it on Amazon. So far, the book has had two small printings through On Spec, so why not publish it as an e-book?

And while we're on the subject of tarot cards, my story Evergreen (soon to be published in the Urban Green Man Anthology, Edge Publishing) opens with a tarot reading. Check out the link if you want to know more about the anthology or you'd like to pre-order. The collection is set to launch this August in Calgary at When Words Collide. I'll be featuring co-editors Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine in a guest interview in the next week or so.

Next Post: Publicists, Part Three: What 'Exactly' Can a Publicist Do For Me, and How Much Will It Cost? by Rachel Sentes.

Stay tuned.