The Marymount Manhattan Conference

My aplogies. It's been a long time. Blame time--not enough of it, and working on short pieces and the fourth draft of my next novel is a more compelling way to use it. But also, to put it quite bluntly, there's been nothing worth reporting going on in my life re: marketing.

Not exactly true: There's been so nothing going on in several of my published friends' lives that we've banded together: The Never Too Late Authors, a group of women who have all published our first books after the age of fifty. Some of us have published with POD's, some with independent publishers. Our books are extremely diverse, ranging from poetry to historical fiction, to romance, to romance/suspense, to my tongue-in-cheek contemporary fantasy.

It doesn't seem to make a difference. In our little corner of the world, there are few places/opportunities for getting our books "out there."

So I went to the Marymount Manhattan Conference to get ideas and positive energy, and came away with the absolute understanding that if I want to write, it's a great hobby--the odds are overwhelming that it will never be anything more. I'm OK with that. In fact, that's all I want. All right, I'd like to have people read what I write, but even if no one did, I couldn't stop writing. I'm addicted. Besides, there are my peer-writers' groups....

Back to Marymount. Let me sum up some of the things I learned:

I started with The Publicity Panel--I was enjoying gridlock while the first panel, and the keynote speaker were in session:

I was told to believe in my book; to "get out there," and self-promote. It was stressed that no one else will. I was told to have book parties--that parties get publicity, whereas books don't.

It was thrilling to hear, "There is a shrinking market of local media that will take authors as guests." Readings in book stores are paid for by publishers. The print media is shrinking--few publications review books these days.

I was told that no publicist can guarantee anything, but that every author must have a publicist, minimally for six months, at a cost of $2000 a month or more. That kind of leaves me out. I'm still trying to recoupe my original investment.

Then there's blogging. It seems it's supposed to be a full time job. When, then, do I do my fiction writing??? Of course, no blog is worth anything if other blogs don't talk about it. Is there anyone out there who wants to form a blogging circle? I'll write about you if you'll write about me? At least we'll be reading each other's blogs...

The publicity panel put me in a really good mood for lunch, where I met some friendly people. We commiserated and swapped desserts.

Next came the Agents' Panel, chosen because I may want to try that route for my next novel.

It won't happen. If I want to have any success in this arena, I have to become "a public commodity." I have to go on facebook, myspace, be published in places like the New Yorker, even if it's just a letter to the editor.

"Fiction is very difficult to sell in today's marketplace." Did I need to be told that? Authors need platforms. One agent who spoke deals primarily with "famous people." Perhaps I'll rob a bank. At the very least, it would get me some name recognition.

But even that won't help because you "can't be midlist today." To be considered by an agent, a book must have "blockbuster potential." When the book is presented to an agent, it must be fully edited and in its best possible state. Many books that would have been grabbed five years ago won't be considered today.

With the consolidation of publishing agencies, there are a maximum of twenty places for agents to go with a book. Once an editor at a large house has turned down a book, other editors and imprints can't be approached.

"Business is not good. People don't read, especially young people." There is no market for paperbacks. So much free literature is available on the internet that it is "very hard to sell books."

And if that wasn't discouraging enough, I wrote the word "young," as in the age of desired authors, in the margin, after I'd heard it several times. I checked "young" six more times. Is 65 the new twenty? If not, I'm not the author agents seek, no matter how brilliant my work.

So--onward to the Fiction Panel.
The question was raised as to how the authors got their starts. One author did it the old fashioned way--she wrote "hundreds of letters" to agents before getting a bite.
The second author to speak initially wrote and published her book in Chinese, and it was a best seller in China. Authors three and four were Meg Wolitzer (daughter of novelist Helma Wolitzer,) and Carol Higgens Clark (daughter of Mary Higgins Clark.) Which wasn't very helpful or hopeful for authors whose mothers' most creative writing was their children's school absence notes, and those of us who haven't had a best seller in some other language. Writing hundreds of letters to agents might be good advice, but I suspect that the youth of the author also helped.

Writing tips were also offered which were useful and appreciated,(Meg Wolitzer is always worth listening to.) After all the other things I learned at the conference, I wonder how much good writing enters into the picture, if it is in the kind of cross-genre book loved by some, but never intended to be a mainstream blockbuster.

Enough said. Time to hit my "documents" icon and retreat into the world of fiction. Maybe I'll write a story about a bestselling author. Whoops--did that already--there's one in Perchance to Feast. Now, writing about Bronte Dickens was fun! Hope you've met her. If not, contact me at belbook1@gmail.com or go to iUniverse.com, Amazon.com, or BN.com and order yourself a copy of Perchance to Feast, which will take you out of the depression this entry has walloped you into.