Of Books, Storytelling, Marketing and More

We're approaching month #6 of living in the time of the pandemic.  Some of us are still sheltering in place, others not so much. But writers gotta write. Am I right? And they have to read. A librarian stayed busy assembling a special collection of books. You'll have to enlarge the photo but read them starting at the top left.

Locally, a lot of writing is going on. A tip of the hat to the following authors for their accomplishments:

• Congratulations to Bob Black who published two books in June. He tells me Age Successfully was published June 3, 2020, and Life 401 was published on June 15, 2020. He had been working on the books for some years and when he went on a 77-day cruise to South America, Antarctica, and the Amazon early January to late March he was able to finish both.
• Ancient City Chapter award-winning author Jeff Walton's second book has just been released by Sunbrook Publishing. Divine Return picks up where Final Departure left off.
• Nicholas A. Marziani Jr.'s sequel, Fool's Journey: The Showdown, was released on May 30 by WC Publishing. Journey picks up where Holy Fool, Holy Father left off.
• N.L. Quatrano and writing partner D.K. Ludas have a new Ebook out of short mystery stories, released on Jul 4 by Twisted Hair Publications.
• Harlan Rector, author of the recent Once Upon the Corner in Detroit, and Ed Mickolus, author of 36 books, are compiling a collection of micro-memoirs around the theme of Finding Meaning in Life at Any Age. This shared, limited autobiographic project is organized by incidents or periods of life such as childhood, elementary school, high school, adulthood, work experience, marriage/children, career, retirement. Each life period will feature 2-3 incidents or memories from a variety of people, of various ethnicities, ages, religious preferences, and economic pursuits, along with our own memories. Ed and Harlan are looking for contributions of one to five pages. For further information, please contact hrector234@aol.com or edmickolus@hotmail.com.
• And speaking of the prolific Mr. Mickolus, a former CIA operative, he's added book numbers 37 and 38 to his tally. More Stories from Langley: Another Glimpse Inside the CIA is available from Potomac Books, and America's Funniest Memes—Coronavirus Edition may be ordered from Amazon.
• Congratulations to Jacksonville author Kathryn Bain. Her novel, Fade to the Edge was selected as one of the finalists for the 2020 Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards in the Suspense category. Also making the cut is area writer Maggie Toussaint for Dreamed It in the SF/Fantasy and Horror categories. You may see the complete list of finalists and vote for your favorites by clicking here.
• Patricia Daly-Lipe has published Miami's Yester'Years, Its Forgotten Founder, Locke Tiffin Highleyman, the story of the founding of Miami, and one man's vision of paradise in the early 1900s.
• Lucy Cortese reports that her writers group, known as TWINKYs, will launch a new children's book on August 4. Do You Know Me? Poems About the Sea is a book of playful poetry, imaginative illustrations, and science facts for children. It highlights sixteen animals to promote a child's curiosity about their natural world. The book will be available on Amazon and in local bookstores.

Our past Zoom writing workshops have been quite successful, with excellent presentations by Kristin Durfee, Jane Wood, and Charlene Edge. On Saturday, August 22, April O'Leary, the author of five books and founder of O'Leary Publishing, will present "Proven Social Media Book Launch Success Strategies (that cost nothing!)." During her presentation, April will show you exactly what she has done to launch six first time authors to #1 in their category on Amazon this past year. While there are no shortcuts to a successful career as a writer, this is one tool you'll want to have in your book marketing toolkit. Look for the Zoom registration link coming your way in the next few weeks.

I had planned to have another marketing workshop via Zoom, but Tara Alemany, the publisher of Emerald Lakes Books, had serious time constraints. Instead, she offered to share an interview she did with Dave Chesson, a book marketing pro and creator of Kindlepreneuer. In this 48-minute interview, Dave talks about how you can best use Amazon ads to improve your book sales. My thanks to Tara for sharing this interview. Click here to access the interview.

Don't forget FWA's 19th Annual Florida Writers Remote Conference, October 15-18. For only $57, you have access to four days of workshops, plus the Royal Palm Literary Awards Competition.

Here's one final item before I release you to return to your writing life. I will be doing a series of three Zoom workshops for the Jacksonville Public Library. A condensed version of my Novel in a Day workshop, they cover three consecutive Saturdays starting August 29 at 10AM. I've titled the sessions, Storytelling 101, and we'll cover the key elements of the novel, from plotting to characterization, to writing scenes, and more. The workshops are free but you need a JPL library card, which you can acquire online. I'll have more information soon.

Until then, keep in mind these choice suggestions from the Boy Scout Law and remain Helpful, Courteous, Kind, Clean, Cheerful, and Brave.

Cheers,
Vic

Vic DiGenti
FWA Regional Director