On Writers and Others, part 2: Another Conference
Friday, May 11th, 2012 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizvogelStatus: You know how I said I was coming down with something? Progressive tense no longer required. I feel like microwaved death, and am being careful not to venture beyond arm's reach of the kleenex box.
So, on Saturday I went to another writing conference, the Spring Fling Writing Thing put on by Peninsula Writers.
My god, what a waste of time.
First up was a panel on self-publishing. I'll admit to some not-entirely-complimentary opinions on self-publishing, but I made a real effort to keep an open mind; go ahead, folks, convince me. One of the panelists was a guy who wrote a book twenty years ago, never did anything with it, got tired of his family giving him grief for going to writing retreats without anything to show for it, and didn't want to wait "months, or even years" for traditional publishing to provide him with 20 copies to give away for Christmas presents. Another was a freelance journalist who wrote a couple of books and, again, wanted a handful of copies to give as Christmas presents. Both had sold a bit above that, but we're talking box-at-a-time print runs. The third was a member of the hosting bookstore's staff who was there to promote their on-demand printing service; nice guy, but my prejudices against self-publishing weren't undermined when I found a typo in the promotional flyer he handed out.
The fourth panelist was the owner of a local self-publishing company. Their flagship book was about some local guy who'd been written up in the local paper for something (she never said what, apparently we were all supposed to already know), and after several years it had recently topped 1000 copies, which much of the audience apparently also thought was impressive. In promoting her service, she actually said, "Your family thinks you have a good book," as a reason why you ought to be published. And no, she wasn't being ironical. She also asserted that traditionally-published authors are moving to self-publishing -- and it's true, some are. Mostly successful authors who already have large followings, or who are putting their backlists back into print. It's hardly the universal movement she tried to present it as.
I'd deliberately sat where I could check the audience for anyone else rolling their eyes, in hopes of finding a fellow spirit. I looked in vain.
We also had the inevitable person who goes on about her personal issues, and who was anxious that even self-publishing wouldn't get her (only half-written) manuscript out fast enough, because it's so important that she break the taboo against talking about this issue... that's being discussed by everybody from street protesters to bloggers. But I guess when your whole circle of exposure is your church group, maybe there is still a taboo against mentioning money problems.
In short, if all you want is a handful of copies to give as Christmas presents, self-publishing is the way to go. (And there's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you want. But let's not pretend it's other than what it is.) The panel failed to convince me that it's good for much else.
The bookstore staffer did a demo of the Espresso Book Machine. I will say, if you're interested in hardware, go watch one of these things in action. (It has clear plexiglass sides, so you can see the whole book being printed, assembled, and bound.) From a purely technical perspective, it was fascinating.
The event was put on by Peninsula Writers, so the next item on the agenda was an example meeting. They use the Dunning method, in which the author hands out copies, reads the work aloud, and then isn't allowed to speak or react while everybody else discusses the work for a few minutes. I wish writing groups would put this sort of thing on their websites/Facebook pages/whatever, because it would be really nice to be able to find out deal-breaker characteristics without having to go to a meeting, only to learn in the first five minutes that it's not a good match.
As for the group dynamic itself, everybody was polite and the commenters provided fairly decent analysis given the very brief time available. However... well, I think it says it all that after the demo, another group member stood up to remind us all that we are to call our comments "responding" rather than "critiquing". Although I'll go on to mention the person who complained that the fellow whose work was used in the sample presentation generally brings polished stories for review, when the group is geared more toward very rough drafts looking for why it's not working.
IOW, yeah, not a good match for me. If all one wants is an audience, and some platitudinous encouragement, PW seems like a fine venue. If one is looking for serious critique, look elsewhere. Frustratingly, PW seems to be the Microsoft of writing groups around here; it seems like half the groups in the state are subsidiaries of PW, and thus follow their methods and, er, standards.
After lunch, we had the "traditional" publishing panel. Qutoes deliberate, because this was clearly a different definition of traditional publishing than I'm accustomed to. We had the editor of a small literary magazine associated with a college, the author of a book recently put out by a small "niche-market" publisher, and a freelance journalist (same as in the previous panel) who advocated working for newspapers for free to get exposure. The only panelist with what I considered traditional publishing cred was a last-minute replacement, a children's author with a nine-book series as well as some other projects. As far as I'm concerned, she pretty well put paid to the self-versus-traditional publishing debate when she mentioned that her first book sold two million copies. (There were some other factors involved, such as getting picked up by Scholastic's holiday promotions, but still.)
The one person whose input might have been relevant to me, an author who recently acquired an agent and has a novel on submission, had to cancel. She did type up her notes and have them distributed to the conference attendees, which, given that she was absent because she was attending a close relative's funeral, I think was pretty damned classy. But it still left me feeling like the Fates were deliberately thwarting my every attempt to get something useful out of this thing.
I suppose I can be said to have gotten my money's worth, since the conference was free. And don't get me wrong; everyone was very nice. (Arguably too much so....) But they all seemed to already know one another, and weren't looking for new acquaintances, let alone critique partners. And as an unpublished-but-serious-dammit writer, somebody who honestly wants to improve my craft, who's bothered to learn how the biz works and fully intends to see my name on a spine where the "real" books are shelved, it was clear that I was not among my peer group.
So, on Saturday I went to another writing conference, the Spring Fling Writing Thing put on by Peninsula Writers.
My god, what a waste of time.
First up was a panel on self-publishing. I'll admit to some not-entirely-complimentary opinions on self-publishing, but I made a real effort to keep an open mind; go ahead, folks, convince me. One of the panelists was a guy who wrote a book twenty years ago, never did anything with it, got tired of his family giving him grief for going to writing retreats without anything to show for it, and didn't want to wait "months, or even years" for traditional publishing to provide him with 20 copies to give away for Christmas presents. Another was a freelance journalist who wrote a couple of books and, again, wanted a handful of copies to give as Christmas presents. Both had sold a bit above that, but we're talking box-at-a-time print runs. The third was a member of the hosting bookstore's staff who was there to promote their on-demand printing service; nice guy, but my prejudices against self-publishing weren't undermined when I found a typo in the promotional flyer he handed out.
The fourth panelist was the owner of a local self-publishing company. Their flagship book was about some local guy who'd been written up in the local paper for something (she never said what, apparently we were all supposed to already know), and after several years it had recently topped 1000 copies, which much of the audience apparently also thought was impressive. In promoting her service, she actually said, "Your family thinks you have a good book," as a reason why you ought to be published. And no, she wasn't being ironical. She also asserted that traditionally-published authors are moving to self-publishing -- and it's true, some are. Mostly successful authors who already have large followings, or who are putting their backlists back into print. It's hardly the universal movement she tried to present it as.
I'd deliberately sat where I could check the audience for anyone else rolling their eyes, in hopes of finding a fellow spirit. I looked in vain.
We also had the inevitable person who goes on about her personal issues, and who was anxious that even self-publishing wouldn't get her (only half-written) manuscript out fast enough, because it's so important that she break the taboo against talking about this issue... that's being discussed by everybody from street protesters to bloggers. But I guess when your whole circle of exposure is your church group, maybe there is still a taboo against mentioning money problems.
In short, if all you want is a handful of copies to give as Christmas presents, self-publishing is the way to go. (And there's nothing wrong with that, if that's what you want. But let's not pretend it's other than what it is.) The panel failed to convince me that it's good for much else.
The bookstore staffer did a demo of the Espresso Book Machine. I will say, if you're interested in hardware, go watch one of these things in action. (It has clear plexiglass sides, so you can see the whole book being printed, assembled, and bound.) From a purely technical perspective, it was fascinating.
The event was put on by Peninsula Writers, so the next item on the agenda was an example meeting. They use the Dunning method, in which the author hands out copies, reads the work aloud, and then isn't allowed to speak or react while everybody else discusses the work for a few minutes. I wish writing groups would put this sort of thing on their websites/Facebook pages/whatever, because it would be really nice to be able to find out deal-breaker characteristics without having to go to a meeting, only to learn in the first five minutes that it's not a good match.
As for the group dynamic itself, everybody was polite and the commenters provided fairly decent analysis given the very brief time available. However... well, I think it says it all that after the demo, another group member stood up to remind us all that we are to call our comments "responding" rather than "critiquing". Although I'll go on to mention the person who complained that the fellow whose work was used in the sample presentation generally brings polished stories for review, when the group is geared more toward very rough drafts looking for why it's not working.
IOW, yeah, not a good match for me. If all one wants is an audience, and some platitudinous encouragement, PW seems like a fine venue. If one is looking for serious critique, look elsewhere. Frustratingly, PW seems to be the Microsoft of writing groups around here; it seems like half the groups in the state are subsidiaries of PW, and thus follow their methods and, er, standards.
After lunch, we had the "traditional" publishing panel. Qutoes deliberate, because this was clearly a different definition of traditional publishing than I'm accustomed to. We had the editor of a small literary magazine associated with a college, the author of a book recently put out by a small "niche-market" publisher, and a freelance journalist (same as in the previous panel) who advocated working for newspapers for free to get exposure. The only panelist with what I considered traditional publishing cred was a last-minute replacement, a children's author with a nine-book series as well as some other projects. As far as I'm concerned, she pretty well put paid to the self-versus-traditional publishing debate when she mentioned that her first book sold two million copies. (There were some other factors involved, such as getting picked up by Scholastic's holiday promotions, but still.)
The one person whose input might have been relevant to me, an author who recently acquired an agent and has a novel on submission, had to cancel. She did type up her notes and have them distributed to the conference attendees, which, given that she was absent because she was attending a close relative's funeral, I think was pretty damned classy. But it still left me feeling like the Fates were deliberately thwarting my every attempt to get something useful out of this thing.
I suppose I can be said to have gotten my money's worth, since the conference was free. And don't get me wrong; everyone was very nice. (Arguably too much so....) But they all seemed to already know one another, and weren't looking for new acquaintances, let alone critique partners. And as an unpublished-but-serious-dammit writer, somebody who honestly wants to improve my craft, who's bothered to learn how the biz works and fully intends to see my name on a spine where the "real" books are shelved, it was clear that I was not among my peer group.
