I’d wager a guess that most of our readers are neither independently wealthy nor possessing of vast amounts of free time. I’d also venture that most of you know by now the importance of networking in your burgeoning writing career. The old phrase “It’s not always what you know, but who you know” may be a massive cliche, but there’s a reason for that: it’s true.

So we know we need to show up at conventions, meet our fellow authors and hopefully get some editors and agents interested in our manuscripts. But for the reasons I mentioned above, we can’t just go to every convention that trundles up on the calendar. What’s an aspiring writer to do? What is the convention that gives you the greatest proverbial bang for your literal buck?

For you science fiction and fantasy writers out there, I humbly submit the answer: World Fantasy Convention. I like to think of it as Worldcon’s business-focused little brother. Whereas Worldcon is a fan-oriented event also attended by professionals in the writing industry, World Fantasy is all business. You won’t find anyone wandering around in cosplay there (so as the title says, leave your Spock ears at home), just writers, editors and agents who are interested in networking. Old friends and business contacts are caught up with, new friends and business contacts are made and through it all new opportunities are generated.

World Fantasy 2012 was my first convention and it was just what I was looking for. The afternoon I arrived (the day before the convention started) I met urban fantasy author Kat Richardson in the hotel elevator, and she was kind enough to introduce me around to her circle. I chatted with Pat Rothfuss prior to his panel. At the mass signing I ran into and chatted with epic fantasy author Scott Bakker. I talked with Norm Sherman, editor of Drabblecast, Mass Effect writer and author of The Palace Job Patrick Weekes, and lest I forget, I met a certain Evan Braun, author and blogger for Fictorians, an encounter that ultimately led to the post you are reading now. Make no mistake, this is the highest density of industry professionals you are likely to find at any convention. If you are looking for a convention to maximize your opportunities for career advancement, World Fantasy Convention is where you need to be.

Now, some tips:

-This con should be all about socializing. If you aren’t in a panel, you should probably be hanging out around the hotel bar. People will congregate there day and night. Even if you aren’t a drinker, the bar is the central hub of socialization for the con. If not the bar, find the hospitality suite and if not the suite, find the dealer room.

-Make an effort to figure out where and when the various parties will be held. They are thrown by publishers, sometimes to promote a new book release, sometimes just as a social event. A lot of times they aren’t advertised, so you may need to know someone who knows, so here’s where your people skills come into play. Be a pleasant person that people enjoy spending time with, and they shouldn’t be reluctant to fill you in on the details.

-Maintain good situational awareness. Just because people are at the con in a business mindset doesn’t mean they want to talk 24/7. If you see that agent you’ve been anxious to meet off by themselves but they appear to be busy checking their email, leave them be. The last thing you want is to make a poor first impression and be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

-Likewise, pay attention in panels if you’re looking for conversational icebreakers. If you’re shy like me, finding an excuse for starting a conversation is the hardest part. If you have something to lead off with, like “I really enjoyed your urban fantasy panel today,” that can make things a lot easier.

-Convince some of your writing friends to go with you. Writers tend to be shy, so you can all psyche each other up into approaching people who might otherwise intimidate you.

-Lastly, remember to relax and try to enjoy yourself. There’s no reason you can’t have fun and do your career some good at the same time.

This year’s World Fantasy Convention is in Crystal City, VA (I know the link says Washington, D.C., but any native Virginian will scoff at that) from November 6th – 9th. If you decide to come and see me wandering around looking shell-shocked, feel free to say hi!

Prioritization is the Key in 2014

January 21, 2014

fictorians

The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Scott Eder.

As we boldly step forth into a new year, it seems only natural to reflect on the past to plan for the future. 2013 marked a huge milestone for me—the sale and publication of my debut novel, Knight of Flame. It was an amazing experience awash in Awesome sauce. From the editing to the cover art to the initial promotion to the… all of it really, I loved the whole affair. Too much, really. From writing blogs and interviews for virtual book tours, answering comments, and researching new places to write blogs and interview, I let the process consume me and lost valuable writing time greasing the promotion machine. Happily, I might add. It was a choice I made. Everything’s a choice. Now I have to make up for lost time.

Social media is a drug, and I became an addict. “Did I just get a new review? Did someone just add KOF to her to-be read list? Oooh, I got mentioned in a tweet!” Each and every screen refresh brought something new. Even the angry chibi version of Dean Wesley Smith (see the red pound sign on his cheek?) in the back of my brain shouting that the best promotion is my next book didn’t pull me out.

You know what woke me up? Hearing Ryan Seacrest count down to the New Year and knowing that I hadn’t finished my next book. Crap.

So here we are. 2014. I have a lot to do. I’m not going to bore you with my laundry list of projects and how I’m going to get them done. Suffice it to say, I have a lot of work on my plate. What I want to stress is priority. Set your daily priority and stick to it. Here are my priorities:

1. Family—first and foremost. Without them, nothing else is possible. Nothing else matters.

2. Writing—develop new opportunities.

Write new words.
Edit old words.
Outline next story.

3. Promotion—expand reach of author brand.

Blogging: new content for Mad Muncle’s Forge, occasional guest blogs.
Interviews: radio, blogs.
Social media: simple posts to show I’m alive.

Promotion has to be a far distant third. The writing has to get done. I’m not trying to build a promotional career, but one in writing. And that cannot happen unless I write. Simple, right?

Right. But setting out a bulleted list and making a bold statement doesn’t change behavior. I could say that rhinos fly, but that doesn’t make it so. Words stated, even with the best intentions, are only words… not actions.

So I took action:

I moved. A new year needed a new view. For me, it just meant moving my writing spot to a different part of my house, but it’s somewhere new, somewhere different.
I set measurable writing objectives. Establishing goals helps guide the workday, and sets the tone for a sense of accomplishment. While it doesn’t ensure progress, it helps lead the way.
I restricted my use of social media. Other than a quick check of email and social media during breakfast, I don’t touch it until after I hit my daily writing objectives.

Simple changes, but ones that have had a positive effect so far. When struggling with bad habits or productivity, make minor adjustments in your work habits before going crazy. Even a small change can make a big difference.

Guest Writer Bio:

Since he was a kid, Scott wanted to be an author. Through the years, fantastic tales of nobility and strife, honor, and chaos dominated his thoughts. After twenty years mired in the corporate machine, he broke free to bring those stories to life. Scott lives with his wife and two children on the west coast of Florida. Check out Knight of Flame on Scott’s Website www.scotteder.net.

Mini-Resolutions

January 20, 2014

fictorians

The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by James Orrin.

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions in an attempt to change something about their lives, alter the course of their futures. Unfortunately, most don’t succeed. I recently read some statistics that suggested that only about eight percent of those who make resolutions accomplish their goals with consistency, year after year. Sadly, until last year I fit neatly into the failing side of those numbers.

Why? Because change is difficult, especially the broad, life-altering change that New Year’s resolutions often entail. It’s easy to talk about change, but once you’ve begun, it can feel like a giant boulder standing in your path, discouraging all forward progress.

So how do you deal with a giant boulder? You break it into smaller pieces.

When most people make a resolution, myself included, there is a distinct pattern of vagueness to what they want to accomplish. Exercise more. Eat healthier. Read more. Write more. Travel more. Usually, that’s as far as it’s taken, but I think that’s the reason I fail—I haven’t completely thought out my goals. I need to break them into more manageable chunks and ask myself a lot of questions, not unlike brainstorming a new story concept.

Here’s an example from my life. Last year, one of my goals was to attend more writing conventions. This sounds simple, but there are a lot of steps to take in order to make it happen. I need to decide which conventions I want to attend, arrange time off work, budget money from each paycheck for my trips, purchase registration, and then book hotels and flights. It’s easy to lose track of your goal if you haven’t thought it through, and then, as the first convention approaches, you realize that maybe you haven’t budgeted properly and now you can’t afford it.

I also need to ask myself why I want to attend more conventions, what I hope to gain from it. The most obvious and important answer is to network. As a new writer, my greatest assets are other writers. Not only can other writers help me accomplish my goals, I’ve also been surprised at how much I can learn while helping writer friends accomplish their goals.

So I want to network at conventions. This means I’ll need to consider how to network. How will I meet other writers? How will I conduct myself with them? How will I keep in touch with them after the convention is over? As a natural introvert and anti-social person, these are very important questions to answer for myself.

Once I had answers to all of these questions, I was able to create mini-resolutions, each one a step along the path to my greater goal. When taken individually, each was fairly easy, and made me feel as though I was making progress. And by doing this with all of my goals last year, I was successful with most of them—which was more than I could say for previous years.

I’m doing it again this year. I’ve taken each of my hopes and goals for 2014 and broken them into mini-resolutions. If you find yourself falling short of your goals year after year, professional or personal, I suggest doing the same. I’ve found it to be tremendously helpful.

Guest Writer Bio:
James Orrin lives in Northern Arizona, where the unique blend of landscapes fuels his imagination and passion for writing fantasy and science fiction. His personal website is www.jamesorrin.com.

When Words Collide: A Must-go-to Festival for Readers and Writers

January 17, 2014

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Conventions No Comments

When Words Collide is one of my favorite events. It’s a dynamic, cross genre (science fiction, fantasy, romance, crime, literary, young adult, horror, urban fantasy, horrors and more), readers and writers festival. There is a variety of panels ranging from homicide, criminal psychology, taxes, play writing, transhumanism, writing dirty scenes, adapting the novel to script, indie versus traditional publishing to name a few. Coffee clutches along with readings and key note addresses provide great opportunities to hear your favorite authors. Previous years have seen guests such as Patricia Briggs (fantasy and urban fantasy), Michael Cassutt (TV/Film Scriptwriter and Sci Fi), Barbara Fradkin (Mystery), David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson (Fantasy, historical fantasy), Adrienne Kerr (Editor Penguin Canada), Kevin J. Anderson (Science Fiction), Anthony Bidulka (Mystery) and Rachel Caine (Cross-genre). I spoke with festival Chair, Randy McCharles about the event.

WWC is billed as a festival for readers and writers, not a conference. Why is this?
Writers conferences provide content for writers, usually those still learning the basics of the business. More established authors as well as editors and agents are the speakers, and 100% of the content is structured to help new writers enter the game. Readers festivals are mostly opportunities for readers to purchase books and have them signed by the authors, as well as listen to a number of authors read and perhaps speak on discussion panels. When Words Collide is relatively unique in that it addresses both these demographics and provides content for more advanced writers as well. One of the most enjoyable things over all three years was meeting new and interesting people, many of whom I continue to associate with throughout the year. The festival is, after all, a social event where readers and writers gather to meet like-minded people and discuss their interests.

Why a readers and writers conference?What will readers get from it?
When we started When Words Collide, we had no idea who would be interested in attending, but desired to be as inclusive as possible. As it turned out. Everyone was interested. For the first 3 years we collected registration demographics, which indicate that 50% of attendees classify themselves as readers. When we put together each year’s program, we work to include quality content for beginning writers, established writers, and for readers. Some of the reader content includes readings by festival guests and attending authors, an autograph session, a merchants area for popular and hard to find books, and nonstop panels discussions by authors and avid readers on topics of interest to readers. Many readers are also interested in the writing process and attend presentations and discussion geared for writers, especially if authors they enjoy are speaking.

Who are the guest speakers for 2014?
Our editor guest is Mark Leslie, Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations at Kobo Canada. Kobo is a major player in Canada’s publishing community and Mark has vast expertise in the area of how to be published both traditionally and through self-publishing. We also have four big name authors. Diana Gabaldon is an award-winning author of Historical Fiction whose Outlander series is currently being made into a TV series. Jacqueline Guest is an international award-winner of Young Adult and Historical Fiction. D. J. McIntosh is the author of the internationally bestselling Mesopotamian Trilogy mystery. Brandon Sanderson is a bestselling author of Epic Fantasy, for his own work as well as the final three books of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

Tell us about the pre-festival workshops you’ve added this year.
We have several workshops ranging from 3 hours to 1 day. The workshops offer a deeper look at the subject matter by masters in their fields and are a great compliment to the more relaxed, shorter events during the festival. More information can be found online.

Adrienne Kerr (Penguin Canada) is returning for her 3rd year and will teach 2 1-day workshops on manuscript critiques.
Mark Leslie (Kobo Canada) is offering 2 half-day presentations: one on how authors can promote themselves and the other is on the pros and cons of traditional and indie publishing.
D. J. McIntosh has a workshop on how to get published based on her own overnight sensation experience. Jacqueline Guest is also teaching a workshop on producing and promoting your book.
Jack Whyte is returning to conduct the popular SIWC (Surrey International Writers Conference) master class workshop, Manuscript Strengths & Weaknesses.
Alberta Romance Writers Association has a workshop: Monochrome or Tapestry – Engineering your stories for texture and depth.
Brandon Sanderson had hoped to provide a pre-festival workshop, but his schedule won’t permit, so he is giving a 2 hour presentation as part of the weekend festival instead.

What are some of the features which set WWC apart from other conferences?
We have brought together several events:

The Blue Pencil is a short sit down with and editor or author (who does a lot of editing) to receive some feedback on a piece of your manuscript. The Pitch Session is where you pitch your novel idea to agents and editors. Alberta is not overflowing with agents, so we often have authors stand in who can still give excellent feedback on your pitch and possibly refer you to appropriate agents. We do have several acquisition editors at WWC and they do request manuscripts.
The Live Action Slush has grown very popular in recent years. It may have started at SIWC (Surrey International Writers Conference) as Writer Idol, but we changed the name to be more reflective of what it actually is. Essentially, members of the audience submit anonymous first pages to be read and listened to by a panel of editors. Editors raise their hand when they would have stopped reading and rejected the manuscript. The editors then comment on why they stopped. This is a great experience, not just for those who submit pages, but for the entire audience as a great insight into how books are rejected or selected by publishers. Many readers also enjoy these session. It is so popular that WWC holds several sessions focused on different genres.
The 50 Minute Workshops are also very popular. In 2014 we will run more than 40 of them. Essentially an instructor gives a presentation or hands-on workshop to a smaller audience (less than 30 people). These may be on any topic of interest to readers or writers.
Our Friday Keynotes are also unique. Most conferences have sessions with 1 keynote speaker, as do we. But we also have a 2 hour session where all of the festival guests speak for 15-20 minutes on any subject. The range and mix of profoundness is my favorite part of the festival.
One of the most enjoyable things is meeting new and interesting people, many of whom I continue to associate with throughout the year. The festival is, after all, a social event where readers and writers gather to meet like-minded people and discuss their interests.

Where and when is WWC happening?
When Words Collide is always on the second week of August. This year it’ll be held from August 8-10 at The Carriage House Inn in Calgary, Alberta.

How can you make all this happen with a registration fee of $60 at the door or $45 if people register before April 1st?
Attending 3 days at When Words Collide costs $40-$60 (depending on when memberships are purchased), making it a bargain for writers and affordable for readers. We limit invited speakers to 5 or 6, usually 1 editor and 4 or 5 authors working in a range of genres for whom we cover travel expenses and provide an honorarium. Last year we had 150 volunteer presenters (professionals, writers and readers). All organizers and staff are also volunteers some of whom work tirelessly on grant requests, which greatly subsidize our costs. The festival is very much a labor of love. We are always on the lookout for new presenters we may be unaware of, and encourage people to contact us. Unlike most events, we publish our schedule online as it is being developed so that attendees can see our progress throughout the year.

Is there anything else you’d like people to know?
If you are interested in reading or writing, be it literary or genre fiction, poetry, or even non-fiction, When Words Collide is the one event in Canada that you want to attend. We expect over 500 attendees in 2014 from across Canada and from the US. Each hour of the day has 10 different activities to choose from. You will meet authors, make new friends, and learn as much about literature in Canada as you like. You can even watch our schedule develop online through the year as invited guests and attending presenters confirm their activities. Links to information about previous years are also available.

Randy McCharles is active in Calgary, Alberta’s writing community with a focus on speculative fiction, usually of the dark and humorous variety. In 2009 he received Canada’s most prestigious award for speculative fiction, the Aurora Award, for the novella Ringing in the Changes in Okotoks, Alberta which appeared in Tesseracts 12 (Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing) and was also reprinted in Year’s Best Fantasy 9 (David Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer, ed). When not making up tall tales, Randy organizes literary events, including chairing the When Words Collide festival for Readers and Writers. Information on Randy’s published works can be found on his website.