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WPNews, February 2024
The We’re Rolling Now Issue
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From Sandra Murphy, Editor
I had this part of the newsletter all written out when something happened that made those words fall flat—or maybe the news has me flying high.
After a spell of inertia, I had a short story published in The Perp Wore Pumpkin, a charity anthology to benefit Second Harvest Food Pantry. That was in October. In January, my story, ‘Pigeon Talk’ was published in (I Just) Died in Your Arms, stories of crime inspired by one hit wonder songs. Both are from Misti Media, Jay Hartman’s new publishing house.
Then came the big news.
Jay offered me my own imprint, Sandra Murphy Presents. The first call for submissions went out last night. The working title is Yeet Me in St Louis: tales of humorous crime under the Arch. The twelve authors will be St. Louis City or County residents, Missouri residents, or if they’ve managed to escape, former residents. If you are one of those and would like to submit, go to www.mistimedia.com/yeet We anticipate the anthology coming out in July. It is going to be so much fun!
Stay tuned,
Sandy, Editor, editor@writersandpublishersnetwork.com
For contributions to the newsletter and Letters to the Editor, please e-mail editor@writersandpublishersnetwork.com.
If you are not a member, join now at www.writersandpublishers.com,
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Learn more or sign up now! Our 25th year at the LA Times Festival of Books!
WPN returns to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
April 20 & 21 on the USC campus
We will host a larger booth—one of the biggest at the festival.
Three ways to have your book at the festival. In person—one whole day or both days—or have it displayed with 20 other books. Why choose the WPN Booth at the LA Times Festival of Books?
📌 Book Sales and Signings: Display and sell your books directly to interested buyers. Share your insights and stories with readers during book signings.
📌 Promotion and Publicity: Benefit from our extensive marketing efforts designed to maximize your exposure before, during, and after the event.
Don't live nearby? Have your book on display in the booth, where it will be seen by thousands of book lovers.
This year WPN will provide exhibitor training to show you how to succeed, what to do, practice pitches, and how to approach potential readers. This will take place in late January with samples of handouts and signs that draw.
Sign up and secure your space. They go fast each year! http://tinyurl.com/37mpmuh2
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Urgent Alert: Protect Your Business Page from Facebook Scam by Adanna Moriarty |
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UPDATE: this morning, as we were prepping this article to go out in the newsletter, I got one of these alerts on my business page as a business recommendation in a thumbs-up review. It brought to light how sneaky these scammers are. The address looks like a Facebook URL, and even I, fully aware of this scam, was almost sucked in. The alerts are based on fear. Facebook will never disable your account. It is important to remember this. They will give you a warning, actually several, and might restrict you, but it takes a massive violation for Facebook to deactivate your account permanently. I wanted to reiterate a few things below from the original that went out to you all. I also added a few suggestions to improve your security from these scammers who pose as Facebook/Meta official employees.
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First, these can come from accounts that this same scam has compromised or its bot networks capable of spamming thousands of users simultaneously. Facebook will always address you by your name or username, never by Dear User.
Second, the pages the URLs lead to look convincing. Watch for red flags, as mentioned below: misspellings, poor grammar, generic greetings, and threats. Meta is professional, offers solutions, and edits and polishes messages.
LEARN MORE AND SEE ADDITIONAL SAMPLES…
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Adanna Moriarty, Co-host & Producer of Talking Book Publishing Podcast
Lead Designer at AbMoriarty Designs- A Web Design Company
Membership Chair of Writers & Publishers Network
https://abmoriarty.com/
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http://tinyurl.com/4yf2r348
Season 4 | Episode 1 • William Bernhardt
Season 3 | Episode 21 • Jay Hartman
Season 3 | Episode 20 • Wendelin Van Draanen
Season 3 | Episode 19 • Kathleen and Adanna
Season 3 | Episode 18 • Dave Chesson
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Ask the Book Doctor: About Agents and Publishers by Bobbie Christmas
Q: I just received an encouraging response from an agent I queried regarding my fiction manuscript. The agent requested a description (approximately one-page summary) and a synopsis (approximately two- to five-page summary).
What do you think the agent is looking for in the description? Do you think it’s supposed to be just a more condensed version of the synopsis?
A: Congratulations on getting an encouraging response from an agent—a rarity!
As I understand the difference, a description describes the book and can include teasers. It talks about the book, rather than just the story in the book. It might start this way:
Learn More... _____
Send your questions to Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications. Bobbie@zebraeditor.com
or BZebra@aol.com. Read Bobbie’s Zebra Communications blog at https://www.zebraeditor.com/blog/.
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The Publisher’s Perspective on Birthdays and Celebrations by Jay Hartman
Okay, here’s the thing about birthdays and celebrations. Either you really love them, or you come to loathe them. It depends on the individual.
I have a birthday in February. It’s not a milestone birthday (that was three years ago) but suffice it to say that I have fewer years ahead of me than I do behind me. I’ve never made a big deal of my birthday. Usually a nice dinner with my husband and that’s about it for celebration. I’m autistic, so the idea of crowds of people around me, even for positive reasons, reduces me to rubble, not to mention having to be “on” and engage in conversation. It’s exhausting. I spend so much time avoiding celebrations and events I sometimes forget how important they can be to other people.
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Don't make a Newbie mistake - learn about all the types of editing so you can publish your best book! |
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How Should I Publish My Short Stories? by Lisa Tener, Reprinted with permission
In my most recent post, I answered a soon-to-be-published author’s questions about distribution for a traditionally published book; today, I answer their second question: “How should I publish my short stories?”
So, short stories are not in my purview, but I know enough to provide some guidance to this writer. My goal was to ascertain enough information from the author to provide general direction and offer several appealing options to him.
Questions to Discern the Best Publishing Path for Your Stories
I asked the author some questions:
What is your current reach/platform/following?
Are you willing to hire an editor and/or writing/publishing coach?
What are your goals (a book? or reaching people in any possible way, such as magazines, subscription service, books, ebooks, etc.?)
Learn More...
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Lisa Tener is an award-winning book-writing and publishing coach. Her clients have secured five- and six-figure book deals & won numerous book awards. Lisa’s latest book, The Joy of Writing Journal: Spark Your Creativity in 8 Minutes a Day, has won five book awards, including the Nautilus & Ben Franklin.
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You Want It All, But You Can't Have It
Parenting. Work. Travel. Success. Impossible? By Zibby Owens
Reprinted with permission
It’s 11:00 p.m. and I’m still sitting on my son’s bed after I put him to bed. I’m in the dark, the only sound his sweet, even breath and the keys clacking. Piled next to me, over part of the laptop keypad and on top of his stuffed animals, are all the kids’ various school schedules for the rest of the year. Four kids. Three schools. Different breaks. Different holidays observed.
I keep flipping from one to the other, checking my calendar, hand-writing notes as if that will help. Wait, who will be where, when!?
I spent hours over the winter break trying to finalize the kids’ summer plans. I’m lucky to be able to send them to camp or on wonderful summer programs, but there are so many options with various dates and requirements. Forget about the forms. This coming summer, somehow my kids will be ages 9 to 17. Insane. The programs vary widely, to say the least. But the real question is: how did they get to be this old?!
Learn More...
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@zibbyowens on Instagram https://zibbyowens.substack.com/
Zibby Owens is an author, publisher, award-winning podcaster of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, CEO of Zibby Media, the publishing house Zibby Books, owner of indie bookstore Zibby's Bookshop, Zibby Mag an online magazine, GMA contributor, and mom of four, ages 9 through 16.
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Is cursive a curse or a cause to cheer? by Sheila Lowe |
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Many of you will have read that Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a law into effect once again making cursive training a requirement in the California school curriculum. This follows several other states recently doing the same. As one of the architects of the Campaign for Cursive, a committee sponsored by the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation (AHAF) while I was president, I am thrilled to celebrate this news. For the last 12 years the committee has done a tremendous amount of hard work to help achieve this aim.
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AHAF also sponsors the annual Cursive is Cool handwriting contest, which kicks off on National Handwriting Day, January 23, and ends April 15. If you have kids or grandkids in grade school or you are an educator in the lower grades, you can find out how to enter the contest here. Kids love to write in cursive. It makes them feel grown-up and special to be able to decipher a language that many adults these days cannot.
Learn More...
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Bestselling author Sheila Lowe is a handwriting analyst. A certified forensic document examiner, she testifies in court cases. She also earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Psychology.
Sheila’s first two books were non-fiction. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis and Handwriting of the Famous & Infamous. Her first mystery, Poison Pen, debuted in 2007. A starred review in Publishers Weekly kicked off the Forensic Handwriting suspense series Written in Blood, Dead Write, Last Writes, What She Saw, Inkslingers Ball, Outside the Lines, Written Off, Dead Letters and the Beyond the Veil series What She Saw, Proof of Life, The Last Door. The books have all been #1 Amazon bestsellers.
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Bits and Pieces – News You Might Have Missed |
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25 Podcasts for Authors on Writing, Publishing, and Book Marketing
http://tinyurl.com/3b5eaart
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Vignette Books Succeeds in Selling Surprise Vintage Titles
Vignette Books is an online bookstore that offers books like “blind date with a book.” You pick a category, and they pick the book. It only offers used and vintage books, usually titles published at least 20 years ago. It’s like a book grab bag. http://tinyurl.com/4esb99yj
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Boosting your attention span: Tips to train your brain http://tinyurl.com/bd8mvb58
Life is hectic; calm and focus your brain. From the Optimist Daily, a nonprofit open-source library of solutions news stories.
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One Piece of Advice From 42 Romance Authors in 2023
Last month featured mystery and thriller advice. Now romance, just in time for Valentine’s Day! http://tinyurl.com/2trapnds
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OverDrive Reports Another Record Year for Digital Library Circulation
Worldwide, library users borrowed 662 million e-books, digital audiobooks, and digital magazines in 2023, a 19% increase over 2022. Also, 152 library systems reported over a million digital checkouts, an increase from 2022’s 129 library systems. The popular digital reading app, Libby, hit a major milestone early in 2023, with more than one billion total checkouts since it launched. Libby app checkouts in 2023 were up 17%.
Its 662 million total checkouts were as follows:
E-books borrowed: 370 million (+12%)
Digital audiobooks borrowed: 235 million (+23%)
Digital magazines borrowed: 56 million (+75%)
Digital comics and graphic novels: 37 million (+14%)
E-book and digital audiobook holds/waitlisted: 253 million (+19%)
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Writer’s Digest
magazine’s January/February issue has an article by Amy Clark titled “Your Book’s Next Chapter.”. If you’re unhappy with your contract, there’s a lack of sales, no promotion, the publisher was sold, or isn’t a good fit after all, there are ways to get out of the contract. When and how you can republish your book after contract termination or rights reversion. (not online yet, print only).
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AdventureKEEN Acquires Shelter Publications
The publisher of books about DIY homebuilding and personal fitness becomes AdventureKEEN’s seventh imprint.
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Skyhorse to Phase Out Regnery's Salem Books Imprint
Skyhorse will maintain Regnery’s devotion to religion books but will not acquire new titles for the Christian imprint, Salem Books. Titles already published as Salem Books will still show the name. Any future Christian titles will be published through Skyhorse's Good Books imprint.
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10 Publishing Trends for 2024 from Written Word Media
1. Quality Becomes More Important Than Ever
2. Authors Build Their Brands and Communities
3. Promo Stacking Becomes The Standard
4. Artificial Intelligence Is Embraced for Book Marketing
5. The TikTok Ad Market Matures
6. Copyright and Fraud Protection Become More Important
7. Authors Refocus On the Long Game
8. Subscription Models Gain Popularity
9. Controversy Continues on Social Media
10. Publishing Continues to See Consolidation
For all the details, go to: http://tinyurl.com/bdy8u395
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32 Book Awards You Should Know About (Trad & Self-Pub!)
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For readers who have followed her column in this newsletter, here’s a new book, hot off the presses by Penny Sansevieri.
The Amazon Author Formula: Insider Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Selling More Books! Kindle Edition by Penny C. Sansevieri
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From Writer Beware—all the schemes, scams, pitfalls, industry shenanigans, good advice, and weirdness from 2023
http://tinyurl.com/832uzf3k
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REMINDER: Help keep Unite growing!
With 2024 elections approaching, cynical attempts to bring library books into the culture wars and generate fear-based voter engagement will likely continue. We need Writers & Publishers Network's support more than ever to combat book banning. Please use the tools below to support our year-end friendraising efforts.
http://tinyurl.com/2s4bzkn8
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Want to talk to kids about book bans but don’t know how? These books will help.
Books for Young Readers Addressing Book Banning
http://tinyurl.com/2p9vpkhd
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Not Another Banned Book by Dana Alison Levy
Mr. Lemoncello’s Fantabulous Finale by Chris Grabenstein (covers not yet available)
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Lerner Publishing Group acquired the New Zealand–based childrens-book publisher Gecko Press. They specialize in translations. The deal involves approximately 200 titles with plans to publish 18–20 new books this year.
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Publishers Weekly’s 2024 Book Business Events Calendar
PW created a Google calendar that will be updated throughout the year, to which readers can subscribe to keep track of select trade shows, book fairs, and awards and prizes throughout the year, starting with the first half of 2024. http://tinyurl.com/5c3fn8ee
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Contest for Kids! Deadline April 15, 2024
The AHAF (American Handwriting Analysis Foundation) Campaign for Cursive sponsors the annual Cursive is Cool contest. Any grade-school-age child is welcome to enter in the U.S. or Canada. Be sure to watch the short, fun video made for their site by previous contest winners.
There is no cost.
https://ahafhandwriting.org/Cursive_is_Cool_Handwriting_Contest
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Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
The 23rd
annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest offers $3,750 in prizes, with a first prize of $2,000, a second prize of $500, and a third prize of $250. The top 12 poems will be published online. The winner will also receive a two-year gift certificate from our co-sponsor, Duotrope (a $100 value).
There's no fee to enter. Jendi Reiter will judge, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest welcomes published and unpublished work. Your poem may have up to 250 lines. One poem only, please. Submit online by April 1, 2024. http://tinyurl.com/ycxj4cfc
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Each year, the Pikes Peak Writers organization offers a limited number of scholarships to aspiring writers who could not otherwise afford to attend the Pikes Peak Writers Conference.
Applications open on November 1, 2023.
Deadline: February 11, 2024.
Email scholarship@pikespeakwriters.com
with any questions you may have.
What happens after I send my application?
Applicants will receive an email acknowledgment of application receipt within twenty-four hours. If you do not receive an acknowledgment, please check your spam folders. If you still can’t find the acknowledgement, contact scholarship@pikespeakwriters.com. All applicants will be contacted as to the final status of their request no later than February 25, 2024.
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Left Coast Crime #34. April 11-14. Bellevue, Washington.
Left Coast Crime 2024: Seattle Shakedown Guests of Honor include Megan Abbott, Robert Dugoni and Fan Guest of Honor Fran Fuller. Wanda M. Morris will be the toastmaster. It’s so easy to get to. Take a plane to Seattle and rent a car or Uber over to Bellevue.
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Malice Domestic 31. April 26-28. Bethesda, Maryland.
For more information, check out its Facebook page: Malice Domestic Updates | When will registration be open for Malice Domestic 2024 | Facebook
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Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards. May 1. New York City, New York. www.edgarawards.com Edgar® Awards Info & Database | MWA Presents The Edgar® Awards
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ThrillerFest XVII. May 28-June 1. New York City, New York. http://thrillerfest.com/. Guests include Steph Cha and Ruth Ware. ThrillerMasters are Tess Gerritsen and Dennis Lehane.
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Killer Nashville. August 22-25. Nashville, Tennessee.
https://killernashville.com/. Karen Dionne is the guest of honor. This conference is geared towards writing craft and how to find an agent.
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Bouchercon 2024. August 28-September 1. Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville 2024 bouchercon2024.com Guests of honor include J.T. Ellison, Brad Thor, Heather Graham, Harlan Coben, Rachel Howzel Hall, Anthony Horowitz, V.M. Burns, Mick Herron, Kelli Stanley, and Clay Stafford.
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Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con September 13-15. Columbia, Maryland Doubletree Hilton Hotel. The purpose is to gather readers and writers of genre fiction (mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal) to meet in an informal atmosphere. The conference offers panels on the craft and business of writing as well as panels tailored to engage and entertain fans. The registration fee includes Friday’s dinner, three meals Saturday, and Sunday breakfast, so readers and writers dine side-by-side. Plus: keynote addresses, author interviews, an onsite bookstore, two giant book signings, and readings open to the public.
https://creaturescrimesandcreativity.com/ Scholarships are available, check for details.
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Sleuthfest 2024. September 26-29. St. Petersburg, Florida. http://sleuthfest.com/.
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New England Crime Bake Mystery Conference November 10-12 Hilton Boston/Dedham, Masschusetts
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2024 Conferences in February |
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February 2024
Feb 15-18 Savannah Book Festival, Savannah, Georgia
Saturday, February 17, 2024, 30+ authors will give free 30-minute presentations in multiple unique venues in historic Downtown Savannah. Authors will discuss their creative processes and their life as a writer, followed by a Q&A and book signings. Food trucks will provide delicious refreshments between presentations.
https://www.savannahbookfestival.org/festival-saturday/
February 3 Murder in the Magic City, Birmingham, Alabama
February 3, 2024, Homewood Library, Guests of Honor, S. A. Cosby and Wanda Morris
http://www.mmcmysteryconference.com/
Feb 20-24 Granite Noir, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
February 20-25 2024
http://tinyurl.com/3yxjk7u7
Feb 23-24 Amelia Island Book Festival, Amelia Island, Florida
https://www.ameliaislandbookfestival.org/
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