PPWC 2013 Recollections

By F.P. Dorchak

PPWC 2013. Yeah, I was a little tired, but not too bad, really, better off than I usually am at this point. Truth be told, my neck needed a good crack (it's better now). This year (as last year) I didn't pitch any work to anyone---short of showing around the cover I had created for my upcoming supernatural murder mystery e-book.

But, first, a HEARTY standing ovational thanks to all who worked their butts off getting this conference up and running! It's hard work, and it went off exceedingly well! You all done good!

So...what did I do to justify my $395 event fee?

Plenty!

I took in as many sessions as I could over those three days, focusing on e-book methods and madness (aside: I received many compliments on my cover, created by Karen Duvall, and it really did come out great as a hard copy!). I filled up the rest of the time with other things, like:

• How horror bleeds into other genres. Get it? "Bleeds"?
• How to talk up your book to potential readers ("Hey, do you like to read?")
• How to create e-book covers (Mr. Schwartz really liked my soon-to-be-ebook's cover)
• How to make the Indie and NY thing work together, and not be an "either/or" proposition
• A little about how to write psycho characters ('cause, like, I really need to understand myself, there...)
• Adapting novels to screenplays, and what that process is (I adapted this mystery of mine into a script years ago---Amber Benson taught this!)
• How to deal with the sophomoric slump, or "that next book."
• How to deal with writer's block---which was quite enlightening (on several levels) about how different the reasons between guys and girls are, when it comes to this---or, maybe, not so much?!
• What to do once you're published. Yeah, you're just getting started....
• How to write funny, 'cause Lord knows I need that, too (in my personal life)....

As I'd previously mentioned, I'd also moderated a couple sessions, one read-and-critique session with Kate Testerman and how to write a short story (and send it) in 4 hours, with Zombie-lover DeAnna Knippling (yes, pronounce the "n" in her name). I felt just a little like a fish out of water, moderating, since it's been about 2 years since I'd done any of that. But it was fun getting back into things.

I also met and talked with all kinds of writers. This time out I was trying to get a little more outside my comfort zone by sitting at tables for food consumption (during our lunches and dinners) with authors and others not associated with my brand of paranormal fiction bent. I also met and talked with the more "famous-y folk," listing them in no particular order other than...well...the order I've presented below:

• Terry Banker (always "up," always friendly, always quick with a handshake and a "How've you been, Frank?" He always remembers me...)
• Becky Clark (now, um, Becky. Yeah. I'm still trying to define and categorize her. Might have to make up a word. I'll have to get back to you on this one...)
• Todd Fahnestock (I was so interesting to him, that his eyes glazed over and he had to prop himself up against a wall; that I had him held captive and pinned there only helped in that endeavor...)
• Becky Clark (nope...still got nuthin'...)
• Lynda Hilburn (we've interacted before by email, but you know you're in trouble when her first words to you are, "So, what are your hopes and dreams"? Did I mention she's a licensed and practicing psychotherapist?)
• Lisa Renee Jones (maaan, I wanna' be rich like her!)
• Becky Clark (okay, okay, got one: she tells cool jokes, like "All work and no play make Lincoln a full-term president" Get it? Get it?)
• Aaron Ritchey (this man...he needs his own show; my face and sides still hurt from his EMCEE antics---his 200K "NanoPeakoPikeo" (pardon the spelling, Mr. Ritchey) effort over this weekend; he made me buy his book by being So. Damned. Funny.)
• Becky Clark (Becky, Becky, Becky...she...she...defies...Becknification...)
• Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer star; yeah, PPWC had her; that's the kinda' clout PPWC wields, my friends; she is so danged sweet!)
• Barry Eisler (he worked his "Agency Mind Tricks" on me to buy one of his books. Damn him...I-I mean...yes, yes, Mr. Eisler, I...will...buy...all your books....)
• Becky Clark (okay, she uses lots of K-words, and exaggerates---a lot---but...she did let me take a picture with her...)

Besides all the famous-y ones, I've also met up with those who I many times see only once a year. If that makes any sense. I (hopefully) made some new ones, and met several I've only dealt with electronically, so it was really cool to put pixels and faces and names together. Without having to virus check. One person, Lynda Hilburn was particularly funny in our first face-to-face, in that we'd been talking for a while at food time, Friday (you know about my hopes and dreams, which quickly morphed into my issues with cigars and lint---to this day I still don't know how she did this or where it came from---but in the middle of the ballroom banquet hall she had me up on a couch, recording our session...interlacing images and analyses from Dante's Inferno into my hot, steaming tears and mother issues), when she glanced down to my name tag and blurted: "Oh, you're that Frank Dorchak!" I wasn't quite sure how to take that, so we explored that for a while...

To be honest...I almost did not attend this year.

I'm not gonna' get into reasons why (Lynda's writing a paper on that for Psychology Today), but the point is, I did go. I learned so much about the e-books, the latest agent and editor Weltanschauung  (I love that word: Weltanschauung, say it aloud with me...), and I met so many wonderful, friendly, and, yes, even sweet people (and I don't use "sweet" much, besides "Please pass the sweet...ner"). I give Becky grief, 'cause, well, she gives it right back. Like a two-by-four to the back of  the head. Lynda---she tells people she's not good at small talk and gets right to the heart of any conversation in an instant. She's a wonderful, wonderful woman and an excellent conversationalist. You will never be bored talking with her. Ever. She has so much to say, each of her words so dense with meaning and intent, you're utterly fascinated by her and where her mind goes---and none of it is small talk. Everyone I met and talked with, they all have their stories, their own lives, and I would never have enjoyed any of it...had I not attended this conference.

So, what's my fricking point, already?

If you're a writer, a writer groupie, or simply "just" Becky Clark, and you're hesitant about attending a writer conference---maybe it'd be your first---afraid of putting yourself out there, meeting others, sitting at lunch and dinner tables with people you do not know---that's okay...to be apprehensive---that which does not kill us, makes us stronger (usually)---but do attend. Do not put it off. Do not skip it. Go and enjoy like-minded people you will not find anywhere else. You won't regret it. But you won't know you won't regret it until you come. To at least one. So, make those plans for 2014. Come out and see us. We don't bite.

Well, at least the non-vampire/zombie attendees don't bite....


About the Author: F. P. Dorchak writes about the supernatural, the metaphysical, the unexplained. His first novel, Sleepwalkers, was published in 2001. His newest, The Uninvited, is now available through Smashwords.

One – No, Two – Constants in a Changing Publishing World

By Linda Rohrbough


Publishing is changing. There’s no denying that. It’s changed before, only we forget that. When publishing went from scrolls to single sheets of paper bound together, printed in mass instead of hand copied, there was quite an upheaval. What about all the scribes losing their jobs? What about the waste? What about accuracy, since it was so much “easier” to get things into print? Does any of this sound familiar?

Despite all the changes, there’s one constant in publishing. Distribution. There’s another one, as well, and I’ll get to that.

But back to distribution. You’ve got to have it, as a writer. What good does it do to write when no one is reading your work? Frankly, electronic distribution is invisible. Traditional publishers knew they could get books noticed. Cover design, “dumps” (those cardboard stands that hold books), posters, book signings, newspapers and magazines – they were all visible ways to get books in front of readers. Back when I was writing for McGraw-Hill, it was almost guaranteed that if they put a book in their catalog, they would make money on it. Bookstore buyers read the catalogs. And readers and reviewers depended on bookstores for recommendations. You get the idea.

However, we all know physical distribution of paper books is becoming less and less popular. Barnes and Noble will shut down a third of their stores this year. Borders is gone. Even the hot, independent bookstores that get Publisher’s Weekly’s attention, like the Tattered Cover in Denver, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, or Book People in Austin, are owned by aging people. I’ve heard some of them want to sell and retire.

Will physical books and bookstores go away? No. I’ve had enough experience watching changing technology to know that won’t happen. When the Betamax (the early VCR) came out, the analysts all said we’d never go to another movie theatre. That didn’t happen. Paper books and bookstores won’t disappear either.

Today, distribution doesn’t mean what it used to. Now there’s “easy” electronic distribution. It’s quick, and authors can potentially bypass the traditional publishing channels and keep more of the revenue for themselves. But it is not going to solve the problem writers have now, and have always had, which is how to get readers to read their books. Oh sure, you can make your work instantly available, but how do people find out about it? And find out enough to want to spend their money on it and make room for it in their lives?

Controversy is one way. Offend a lot of people, preferably in a very public place, and then talk about it in other very public places. Create ripples and drama.

The problem with doing that is the world in any field is a small place. Offending people can be a shortsighted and short-lived way to operate.

Let’s look at a publishing pioneer, Benjamin Franklin, the quintessential self-publisher, who wrote, printed, and distributed his own work. I spent some time in Philadelphia on the 4th of July a couple of years back (which I’d recommend, by the way). On the free, hour-long Ben Franklin walking tour sponsored by the U.S. Park Service, I learned that Ben lived, died, and was buried all in a radius of a few blocks. Sure, he went to Paris and he commuted regularly to other cities on the East Coast. But his home, his work, and his friends were all nearby.

Did you know he spent about half the salary the government paid him each year on alcohol, mostly beer? That was an enormous sum of money in those days. But there was no refrigeration back then, so you either drank water, drank something freshly squeezed, or you drank alcohol. Ben didn’t drink all that beer himself. If Ben was around, he was buying. One of his most famous quotes is, “Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy!” He made friends quickly and kept them a long time. In other words, Ben was a master at relationships.

At the end of the tour we visited Ben’s grave. What struck me was that he’d asked to be buried simply, next to his last wife (he lost the others in childbirth) and near his home. That also found him favor with people, because he certainly had the resources and the support to have a monument raised to him like others, such as Thomas Jefferson.

The point is, I think character and relationships still count in any business, but especially in publishing.

What I’ve seen is that people who do well are consistent, generous, loyal, and they care about relationships. Andy Rathbone, named by Time magazine as the best-selling computer book author of all time (he wrote those Windows for Dummies books), tried to get me to sign on with his agent and attend a writing conference sponsored by his agency. I didn’t do it because at the time I thought, why pay an agent a percentage of what I’m doing? How small-minded of me. I didn’t understand then that you need to build a team and you need people to promote and support you. And you get that by promoting and supporting others. Andy is also very responsive. I’d email him, as busy as he was, and have an answer inside an hour. Contrary to what anyone tells you, there’s still room for that in the publishing world.

I don’t know him personally, but I’ve heard Stephen King is another guy people like. I have seen him be quite generous with his comments about his publishers, his agent, and especially about other writers.

In fact, every best-selling author I know is like that. I’ve seen all of them support new writers by buying their books. They also buy books they think are important and hand them out to friends. I know because they’ve given me copies. They offer support, have built a team, and they’ve let go of the rejection of the past.

So let me encourage you to think about how you want to run your writing business, and how you want to get attention for your work. Because the second constant in publishing is building relationships.

About the Author: Linda Rohrbough has been writing since 1989, and has more than 5,000 articles and seven books to her credit along with national awards for her fiction and non-fiction. New York Times #1 bestselling author Debbie Macomber said about Linda’s new novel: "This is fast-paced, thrilling, edge-of-the-seat reading. The Prophetess One: At Risk had me flipping the pages and holding my breath." The Prophetess One: At Risk has garnered three national awards: the 2012 International Book Award, the 2011 Global eBook Award, and the 2011 Millennium Star Publishing Award. An iPhone App of her popular “Pitch Your Book” workshop is available in the Apple iTunes store. Visit her website: www.LindaRohrbough.com.

I'm Just Not Into E-books

By Robin Widmar

Well, you can start scanning the skies for airborne swine: I've finally stepped into the world of e-readers. I've resisted the allure of these gadgets since they hit the market because I never really needed or wanted one. I won’t bore you with the reasons why I succumbed; suffice to say circumstances have changed, and here I am with a shiny new electronic device that's smarter than I am.

So far, I've downloaded a couple dozen PDF files for school and six e-books to read for fun. The PDFs were required reading, but I haven’t even cracked open any of the e-book files.

I have, however, finished three paperback novels in the time I’ve owned the e-reader.

It seems I’m just not into e-books. But after about two months of subtly avoiding the expensive dust collector, I began to wonder why.

Sure, there are the obvious tactile experiences associated with books made of paper. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of opening a brand-new book for the first time, the aroma of freshly printed pages, or the challenge of trying not to crinkle that flawless spine. I love the progression of book pages flipping from the right side to the left side, and the suspense of wondering how the story problems will be resolved as I get closer to the back cover.

But reading is reading, right? At least, that’s what the manufacturers of e-readers want us to believe. While the publishing world touts the commercial success of electronic books, the cold hard numbers don't fully reflect what’s being lost in the transition from paper to e-ink. We’re losing more than physical books.

We're losing memories.

I recently overhauled my writing space, which meant removing hundreds of books from bookcases, rearranging said bookcases, and then putting the books back onto their designated shelves. I spent the better part of a day on the task. Of course, that time could have been shortened if I hadn’t taken frequent breaks to thumb through beloved books from childhood. Or to read the notes my late grandmother scrawled inside a few front covers. Or to reminisce about novels I shared with family and friends.

To me, books are more than stories. They are ties to people, places, and times in my life. Many of the books I gleefully unwrapped at birthdays and Christmases sit on my bookshelves to this day – right next to my collection of Marguerite Henry horse stories, my mom's hand-me-down Nancy Drew mysteries, and my grandfather’s metallurgy texts.

Try passing down e-books to the next generation.

The vast majority of books in my personal library are connected to some sort of memory. One of my favorites is a paperback anthology of James Thurber stories I bought at a little shop on Oahu’s North Shore. It rode in the pocket of my leather motorcycle jacket the rest of that day, and I stayed up late into the night devouring its quirky tales. I don’t know if the store even exists today, but I still have that book, its pages yellowed by time, its thin cardboard cover worn from many readings.

How would that have worked with an e-reader? “Ah, now here’s a file I remember well. See, I was sitting in this little café in Hawaii when I downloaded it from Amazon…”

Not quite the same, is it?

E-readers have their place in our busy world, and I’m sure I’ll get used to reading stories on mine. But the experience can never compare to reading – and collecting – regular books. Some of those paperbacks and hard covers do more than simply convey tales to entertain us. They tell the stories of our lifetimes in a way that digital books never will.

About the Writer:  Robin Widmar works to support a horse habit and writes to follow a dream. When she’s not writing about demons, dragons, or firefighting, she discusses the rampant typographical errors threatening to take over the written world at The World Needs a Proofreader.

Libraries Grow Writers - Long Live the Library by Deb McLeod

A few weeks ago Jamie LaRue and Lisa Casper of Douglas County Libraries met with a group of local authors to talk about publishing e-books at DCL libraries. As executive director of The Writing School and an author with plans to begin e-publishing next spring, I was honored to be included.

Jamie opened the meeting with statistics about e-book growth.

e-Book Growth

• In 2010, Amazon reported selling 115 e-books for every 100 paperbacks and three e-books for every hardback.
• In 2004, there were 29,000 self-published titles in the United States. In 2009, there were 766,000. In 2010, 2.7 million.
• Independent publishers are now publishing almost as any titles per year as mainstream (approaching 300,000).
• Publishers Weekly reported e-book sales rose 117% in 2011

If more and more books are available as e-books, if more and more readers are reading electronically, clearly libraries have to adapt. But legacy publishers aren’t making that easy. Here are the terms from the big six publishing companies for e-book publishing at the library:

Legacy Publishers Stonewall Libraries

• Hachette, Macmillan, Simon & Shuster won’t sell e-books to libraries at all. Under any terms.
• HarperCollins requires libraries to buy e-books again after 26 checkouts.
• Random House increased their prices by 3-5 times. (Danielle Steele’s latest book cost the library $84).
• Penguin is considering selling to libraries after the book has been on the market for six months.
• The library has lost ownership, discount and integration (into their catalogs) for most e-books.

Libraries Grow Readers

Research by Pew and Bowker and repeated in Douglas County shows the e-book lending does NOT undercut sales. In fact, the more people that use the library, the more e-books they buy. “Power users” (more than once a week) buy one e-book for every two they borrow.

Libraries Grow Writers

My local library had such a profound effect on me that the thought that there could be a future without libraries is chilling.

My mother told me she had to wait until she was old enough to get a library card to check books out. When she finally did, she spent her days on her bed, eating apples and reading as her immigrant grandmother told her she was going to ruin her eyes, told her to go out to play like her athletic sister.  When I was young, every Saturday we would start family errands at the library. Then we’d go to the grocery store and finally, the Italian store for lunch meat, cheese and bread. The culmination of our weekly ritual was a dinner of giant Italian sandwiches and treat of all treats, we could read at the dinner table. Only on Saturday.

By the time I was seven I had begun eyeing the very small teen section on the other side of the library. I was too young for those books, my mother said. So I devised some goals to keep me occupied. First I read all the purple-spined books on the children’s shelves. Then I went through the children’s catalogue for any book that had been written by, starred or in any other way referred to the name Deborah or one of its derivatives.

When I asked again to move to the teen section, my mother said there were still children’s books I hadn’t yet read. So I did the only thing I could do. I started at one end of the children’s section and read every single book in order, even the ones I’d already read.

Each week I started at the shelf where I left off the week before, not considering that books were checked out and returned all the time, so there were books behind me that I hadn’t read. I just plowed forward. I read as many as I could while we were at the library and checked out a pile when we left. I have no idea how long it took, but I do remember the day I finished.

This time, when I whined to my mother about nothing to read, I had the sense to whine in front of the librarian. Together they decided I had earned my way to the other side of the library.

Ah, the teen section with its stories of girls who had boyfriends, of high school and books that tackled issues like jealousy and thinly-veiled instructions on being a lady. I remember the first teen book I read. A purple-spined book called “To Have and Not Hold.”

But the teen section was small so when I reached the end of that I moved on to the adult section. This time without even asking.

Eventually, my mother got tired of checking what I was reading and soon the whole family was sharing books. I read “Diary of a Mad Housewife,” hidden behind my social studies book at night in bed while my parents watched TV. “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Godfather,” “Gone with the Wind,” “Valley of the Dolls”: the world was an astounding place.

I was a voracious reader and then one day I began to write. Together, my mother and the Town of Tonawanda libraries in New York State grew me into a writer.

It can’t be possible that libraries could disappear.

Enter Director of Douglas County Libraries, Jamie LaRue, and “The DCL Model.”

DCL Model

• Under DCL’s new program, Douglas County Libraries are working with over 800 publishers and buying (not renting) e-books, at discount, and integrating them into their catalogs. In addition to buying e-books, DCL is providing a link to purchase them.
• The DCL Model is being adopted by libraries from California to Florida and has been investigated by libraries from Europe to New Zealand.

Local Authors Lend a Hand

At the task force meeting, the first question asked was: Would you donate a copy of your e-book to the library? The answer was a resounding “Yes.”

That settled; we moved on to talk particulars. How the library might maintain quality by creating a selection process. How the library might be a piece of the local author’s marketing plan.

It was a productive meeting. A hopeful meeting. There doesn’t have to be a world without libraries.

Legacy publishing may perish, but long live the library.

About the Writer:  Deb McLeod, is a writer, creative writing coach, co-founder and executive director of The Writing School. She has both an MFA and a BA in creative writing. She has been teaching and coaching for over ten years. Deb has published short fiction in anthologies and journals. She has written articles and creative nonfiction. Deb has been a professional blogger, tech writer, graphic artist and Internet marketing specialist.