ISSN: 1554-0804

Issue 217

March 12, 2009

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Endorsement Quest

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In This Issue:

This Week
Fabulist Flash Recommends
Teleconferences
Submission Call
18Q
Upcoming Events
Free Online Writing Courses
About the Editor
About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

There's no question that the current economy is having an impact on a lot of folks. Of course, I've always been a fan of doing it myself and keeping it cheap. This attitude extends from book promotion to continuing education, and beyond.

This week I listened in on a free teleconference with Patricia Fripp (www.Fripp.com). Fripp always has great advice. One of the many nuggets I took away from this phone event: "Take advantage of the current times and trends to improve what we do, to work on those projects we never have time for." Now, I don't know about you, but I always have a list of projects waiting in the wings. If you find yourself with a little more free time than normal because of downsizing or fewer speaking engagements, why not head to your own waiting list.

In Issue 217, I've got a few frugal ideas to help you continue your self promotion and your learning.

Keep Expanding,

Gregory

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2. Fabulist Flash Recommends

Patchwork Path: Friendship Star

Mention friends and everyone has a memory or story to share. Choice Publishing Group (CPG) is collecting these stories and memories about, by, and from friends for their new book Patchwork Path: Friendship Star.

CPG is looking for original stories and essays from 250 to 2000 words about friendship. Each submission will be reviewed and considered based on creativity, originality, concept, and style. Reading will be continuous and submissions will be considered as they arrive. Not all works will be accepted. There is NO Entry or Reading Fee. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2009.

Submission Guidelines
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3. Teleconferences

Being frugal is a way of life these days. So, how do we keep learning when our pocket books are a little tighter and we can't afford classes? Attend free teleseminars. Just this week I had offers for two different phone events and a live webinar, all at no cost. Best of all, I learned a lot from attending. How do you find out about events like these? Be sure to sign up for the mailing lists of all the Websites you visit.

You can also make this concept work to help you both build your own mailing list and maybe even make a little cash. Develop your own, no cost teleseminar and invite your email list. Sites like FreeConferenceCall.com keep your overhead low. Just be sure to record the call. You can then take that recording and either offer it for a fee or as an incentive for folks to sign up for your own list.

Need help coming up with a topic or teleconference idea? Q&A formats are excellent for teleconferences. Why not interview your writer friends or experts in your niche topic? This type of cross promotion will not only allow you to create a great teleconference, but will also introduce you to the email list of the person you interview.
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4. Submissions

Patchwork Path: Friendship Star
Choice Publishing Group is seeking stories and essays about friends and friendship.
Submission Deadline: March 31, 2009.
Submission Guidelines: PatchworkPath.com

Patchwork Path: Wedding Bouquet
Choice Publishing Group is seeking stories and essays about weddings.
Submission Deadline: August 31, 2009.
Submission Guidelines: PatchworkPath.com

Presenters & Programs 2010
Advertise to 30,000 meeting and event planners in this full-color, glossy catalog from Fabulist Flash Publishing and Turning Point International.
Deadline: October 31, 2009
Details: PresentersandPrograms.com
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5. 18Q

Joanne Seiff takes the Eighteen Questions

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
Writing has always been a part of whatever profession I’ve done—teaching, educational administration, etc. When we moved for my husband’s job to a small college town, I decided to give full-time freelance writing and design a try because there weren’t other local jobs that appealed to me. In that way, writing happened to me.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
B.A. Cornell University, Cum Laude in Near Eastern Studies and Comparative Literature, M.Ed. in English Education and ESL from the George Washington University, M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Several years experience as an educator: high school English and community college writing instructor, adult education, and even music for 4 year olds to adults.

3. When did you ‘know’ you were a writer?
I’ve always been a writer…at least since I could write. I did resist the title for a long time, because I associated it with flaky artsy people. I’m over that now!

4. How would you describe your style of writing?
Direct and talkative…occasionally too wordy. I edit out big words and complex sentences to please editors.

5. What is your writing process?
I think a lot before I write. Sometimes I do research, if relevant, but more often I walk my dogs, knit, or garden. Something clicks and I’m ready to write. I sit down and write, start to finish, very quickly. Then I sleep on it, sometimes ask someone else to read it for me, and I edit and revise once or twice. Then I send it off. Only occasionally is my process more complicated than this.

6. What was your path to publication
Elementary school literary magazine, Summer camp literary magazine, High School and College Literary magazine…and then an essay in Interweave Knits—that’s when I started getting paid.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?
Mention what you do at social events and other interactions. Hand out your card. I got a phone call recently about a potential job from someone whose daughter met me while I was adopting my dog Sally from the pound. You can never tell how these things will turn out…network.

8. What are the biggest surprises you’ve encountered as a writer?
The publishing industry seems remarkably slow in terms of turn around when compared to teaching full time. I couldn’t believe how slow the response time was for submissions. I graded 120+ essays a week and returned them within two weeks of receipt when I taught school. Now I wait several months before I finally get a rejection or acceptance.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
I’m an observer—so much inspires or irks me. I’m inspired by my garden, my funny dogs, cooking, creating, just experiencing the world around me. I try to remain intellectually curious and the learning helps me get excited about new things about which to write. Often it’s my outrage about something that spurs me to write, too.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?
When I first started freelancing, I landed a job writing about making jam and the history of canning for The World & I. (This publication is no longer in print; the issue that carried my article was the last print issue.) The editor insisted on photos with the article. Both my husband and father, avid photographers, insisted they could do the photos for me, because I wouldn’t be able to do a good job and they’d just let me publish the photos under my name. I said no. I took the photos for that article not once but twice—the first time, the editor lost the slides and I hadn’t made duplicates because I had so little confidence in my work that I didn’t want to waste the money. The photos worked out very well twice—they used some of them as full page spreads-and I’ve never been so proud of anything since! The pay was the most I’ve ever earned for one piece, too.

11. What’s the best advice you were given about writing?
The publication should pay you to print your work. Never pay them.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
Oh, there have been so many. I got 50+ rejections before I landed a decent agent for what I write. My husband made me stop writing query letters for a while, because he was afraid I was getting so mortified and depressed that I might not make it.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
Writing is a business, and it’s not advertised that way. I spend a lot of time chasing down payment, writing invoices, and negotiating with editors…sometimes more time than I spend in actual writing or designing. The biggest challenges seem to be in expediting communication, bargaining and being treated like a professional.

-I have to break through to an actual human and have a positive exchange at a publication in a prompt fashion. That’s hard to accomplish.

Second, I have to believe that yes, my time is worth money, and it’s worth more money than most editors want to pay at first. Even so, I’m often not paid enough for my time. So many on spec. jobs fall through after I’ve spent a lot of time on them, and then I’m not paid.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?
I write because it comes easily for me, and because I like doing it. If it doesn’t keep working for me, I’ll try something else. Life’s too short to keep getting rejections if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing the rest of the time.

15. When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?
Knitting, reading, handspinning, gardening, cooking, inviting friends over for dinner parties, spending time with my bird dogs, Harry and Sally, and my absent-minded professor husband.

16. Who do you like to read?
I read a lot… light mysteries and knitting books, fiction classics and cookbooks. I love J.K. Rowling and M.C. Beaton at the moment, but I also recently read John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Chronicles. I do a lot of my reading as audiobooks; I can listen while doing knitwear designs or driving.

17. What’s your advice for new writers?
Read a lot. Write a lot. Refer to question #11. Repeat from beginning of this line.

18. What are you currently working on?
Three knitting designs for sweater jackets and an article and two sidebars for a well-known knitting magazine…I’ve just handed my agent a book proposal for a non-fiction knitting book, too. I’m busy.

Bibliography

Fiber Gathering: Knit, Crochet, Spin, and Dye More than 20 Projects Inspired by America's Festivals

Read more 18Q interviews
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6. Upcoming Events

March 25
Writer's Pen & Grill
A social evening for writers in Las Vegas, NV

April 9-12
Clark County Fair & Rodeo
Fabulist Flash Publishing & Choice Publishing Group co-host an exhibitor's booth for published authors. Details

April 16-18
Las Vegas Writer’s Conference
Gregory will present Internet ACE: Online Self Promotion

April 29
Meet the Authors
(Clark County Library, NV)
Gregory, and members of Laudably Tarnished: A Poetry Workshop, host a poetry workshop.

June 18
Las Vegas Writer's Group
Gregory presents 21 Elements of an Author Media Kit

July 29
Meet the Authors
(Clark County Library, NV)
Gregory and the production/publishing team for the Patchwork Path anthology series host a Q&A panel on getting published in anthologies
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7. Free Online Writing Courses

There's a great trend happening in online learning: free courseware courses. Many of these online opportunities are high quality classes offered by top universities (i.e., MIT, Utah State, Purdue University, etc.)

While there are dozens of courses in writing to choose from, there are thousands of offerings.

These lists will get you started:

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8. About the Editor

Gregory A. Kompes

Gregory A. Kompes (www.kompes.com), The Writerpreneur, is the author of the bestselling 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live, and the Writer’s Series that includes Endorsement Quest, Your Online Media Kit and Should You Write an eBook. He is also a contributor to The Complete Writer’s Journal, Writer’s Bloc I, Writer’s Bloc II, Chopped Liver for the Gentle Spirit, and Chopped Liver for the Kindred Spirit. Gregory speaks frequently on internet marketing and publishing at writer and speaker events and conferences. He also teaches an interactive, ten-week, online course: Internet ACE: Online Self Promotion. The author is a monthly columnist for Writers on the Rise, Production Director for Presenters & Programs, and editor of The Fabulist Flash, an informative newsletter for writers, and the award winning Eighteen Questions, a Q&A series that collects and shares the experiences of published authors. Gregory is co-founder of the Patchwork Path anthology series, Presenters & Programs (the Premier Catalog of Speakers), and the Writer’s Pen & Grill, a writer’s social evening held monthly in Las Vegas, NV. Gregory holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Columbia University, New York, a Certificate in Online Teaching and Learning, and a Masters of Science in Education from California State University, East Bay.
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9. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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Email
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Snail Mail
Gregory A. Kompes, editor
The Fabulist Flash
PO Box 570368
Las Vegas, NV 89157

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