by CWC Marin administrator | May 14, 2019 | Classes and Workshops, Events
Audiobooks are hot—but can also be costly to produce. Find out what you need to know to make good decisions about audio and how to leverage an audiobook to achieve your goals. You’ll learn:
- Key considerations in audiobook decision-making
- Production: how to, how long, how much
- Distribution—options, royalties
- Marketing your audiobook to achieve your goals
The presentation will be led by Becky Parker Geist, an audiobook producer and narrator with 37+ years of experience in the audiobook industry. She is the owner of Pro Audio Voices, serving clients internationally for audiobook production and marketing. Becky has narrated and/or produced well over 200 titles to date. Committed to leadership, Becky serves as President of BAIPA (Bay Area Independent Publishers Association) and is a member of IBPA, APA (Audio Publishers Association), and SCBWI. She is the author of 5 titles, including Audiobook Toolkit for Authors: Your Comprehensive Guide to Recording Your Own Audiobook, now available at authortoolkit.com. Her passion is to help great stories come alive!
by CWC Marin administrator | Apr 8, 2019 | Classes and Workshops, Events
Every author, or author-to-be—whether they write literary fiction, memoir, sci-fi, romance, poetry, or how-to—has heard about how valuable it is to build their “writer’s platform.” They spend tons of time, money, and energy gathering names for their email lists, beefing up their social media presence, and hiring publicists to help them secure interviews to promote their books.
But many authors forget that once they build that platform, somebody is going to have to stand on it…and speak…to people.
Join us on May 26 for Betsy Graziani Fasbinder’s presentation: “Public Speaking Skills for Today’s Writers — Pitfalls to Avoid, Practices that Pay Off.”
She’ll help prepare you to stand on your own writer’s platform with the skills and confidence you need to represent your book, your stories, and your ideas with passion, energy, and impact. With a few simple skills to help manage your nerves (or even serious fear) and some easy-to-use tools and techniques, you can engage audiences of any size.
Marin County author of From Page to Stage: Inspiration, Tools, and Public Speaking Tips for Writers, Betsy is a professional speaker and speaking coach. She’s also author of a novel, Fire & Water, and a memoir, Filling Her Shoes.
Whether you’re pitching an agent at a writers’ conference, launching your bouncing baby book at a bookstore event, or speaking to an interviewer on a radio broadcast, these skills are for every writer.
by CWC Marin administrator | Apr 8, 2019 | Classes and Workshops, Events
The Annual Conference on Creative Writing at Pacific is an extraordinary 3 day conference held at the UOP (University of the Pacific) in Stockton for both fiction and non-fiction writers alike. This year’s conference will be held on May 17 – 19.
Interested in pitching your work? All attendees may pitch to literary agents and publishers on site.
Like contests? Check out their contest for Best Unpublished Novel.
You enjoy options and like to choose from a wide array of knowledgeable speakers? Whether you are into fiction, non-fiction, poetry, journalism or are eager to learn more about publishing and marketing your work, this Conference pools together a large host of speakers from which to choose. The array of talent is truly outstanding.
The current speaker list and conference schedule are in process, but we can reveal that Catriona McPherson is one of the keynote speakers.
Catriona was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010, before immigrating to California. A former academic linguist, she is now a full-time fiction writer, the multi- award-winning and best-selling author of the Dandy Gilver detective stories, set in Scotland in the 1920s. She also writes a strand of award-winning contemporary standalone novels including Edgar-finalist The Day She Died and Mary Higgins Clark finalists The Child Garden and Quiet Neighbors.
CWC members may attend all three days for only $120, regular price is $240. Ignore the “any two people” on the registration form, we have arranged for you to be able to obtain this fantastic discount on your own — just mention CWC Marin. But please, invite your friends. This is an amazing opportunity. I’ve attended twice — it was fun, I had lots of choices for each time slot, and it’s an amazing value.
To register or find out more, go to writersconferenceatpacific.com.
by CWC Marin administrator | Mar 31, 2019 | Classes and Workshops
On April 28, we will hold a problem-solving session where you can get feedback on your toughest writing challenge. People will take turns, and we’ll keep it moving so everybody gets a chance.
You’ll discover two things: You’re not alone in the challenges you face, and your fellow writers have a lot of good ideas for you.
by CWC Marin administrator | Mar 31, 2019 | Classes and Workshops
Here’s a note from Carole Bumpus, CWC Nor-Cal Co-Chair and State Board Rep:
The Bay Area Book Festival, May 4 and 5 in Berkeley, is seeking volunteers. Sign up by contacting Carole Bumpus at carole.bumpus@yahoo.com.
by CWC Marin administrator | Mar 31, 2019 | Classes and Workshops, Craft, Events, Member News
[Note: This event has been rescheduled from April 3 in Berkeley to June 5 in Oakland.]
On June 5 at 6 pm, I’ll be leading a two-hour workshop for the California Writers Club in Berkeley — Setting That Works: How Memorable Setting Can Advance Plot, Reveal Character, Echo Theme, and More. We’ll be gathering at WeWork, 1111 Broadway, Oakland. (If you were at the CWC Marin meeting this past November, you saw an earlier version of this workshop.)
We all know that the primary job of setting — in fiction, memoir, and narrative nonfiction — is to immerse readers in the scene. So they can visualize it, feel it, smell it.
But the most memorable and effective setting is more than a pretty, or gritty description. It’s lean and strong because it’s working hard. Doing two or more jobs. Not just showing the reader where the story is taking place, but also advancing your plot, unifying various elements of your story, revealing character, echoing theme, setting mood, and more.
In this hands-on workshop, we will review the different ways setting can strengthen your story, and do several writing exercise putting what we learned into action.
One of the most common jobs of setting is defining, revealing, or changing character. For example, in Larry McMurtry’s western, Lonesome Dove, the characters are so defined by the setting, they almost couldn’t exist elsewhere.
The story follows two retired Texas Rangers and their fellow cowboys as they drive a cattle herd from Texas to Montana, facing bandits, Indians, disease, and the harshness of the landscape. The challenges of the Old West breed a certain kind of character — a loner, macho, self-reliant, independent.
You can read about the other jobs that setting can do in Setting That Works: How Memorable Setting Can Advance Plot, Reveal Character, Echo Theme, and More.
Sign up here.
