Are you a member of a professional writers' organization?
When I started submitting my work for publication in the summer of '09, I had one goal: to be published. By the summer of the following year, I had two publication credits, and my aspirations grew to include breaking into a pro-paying magazine. By mid-2011, I really wanted to qualify for SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) membership, and I was determined to sell stories to three big-name zines in order to claim that holy grail.
After making sales to Daily Science Fiction and AE Science Fiction in '11 and '12, I knew I was close, and I just needed one more; but after plenty of near misses, I started to think the writing gods were taunting me, keeping that third sale I needed beyond my grasp.
Then last Thursday, after weeks of countless rejections, I finally had a story accepted: by Nature Futures. (Feel free to imagine wild and crazy fireworks at this point.)
So now I'm eligible to join the SFWA as an active, card-carrying member. (As long as I have $90 to spare, of course.) But the rebel in me is wondering...Is it worth it? Specifically, will it help me sell stories to top-tier publications or land an agent? Somehow, I don't think so.
But I'm more interested in what you think. Weigh in, won't you?
The Best, the Worst, and a Contest
What's the best movie remake you've ever seen? The worst? Alex Cavanaugh & Co. are hosting a blogfest today, and you can check out the other entries here.
When Hollywood runs out of ideas, they remake older films. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it fails miserably.
List the best remake you’ve ever seen and the worst.
To mix things up a bit, I'm having you guess which of the two movies below earned my vote for best and worst. And to make things a little more interesting, I'm not sharing their titles. Everyone who correctly guesses the movies AND my opinion of them will win a copy of my short story: "Beneath the Surface."
Let the fun begin!
Saturation
The blog tour. The tweet blast. The Facebook event. The Goodreads giveaway. There's a certain level of marketing we have to do for ourselves when it comes to promoting our work, but do you ever get the feeling there are just too many of us hawking our wares all at once?
My Twitter stream is choked with BUY MY BOOK tweets, and when a fellow blogger publishes his or her new novel, often the cover art will show up on so many blogs and Facebook updates that I feel like I already own it. But what's the alternative? And how much is too much?
I have a novella that will be available at the end of the month from Musa Publishing. I know better than to think Musa is going to do my marketing for me. I'm very happy with how Immaterial Evidence turned out, and I think it might be one of my best works. At close to 100 pages, it'll be my longest publication to date. And I want to share it with as many readers as possible.
But I don't want to be a social-networking nuisance.
I want to write. I want people to read and enjoy my stories. I want to take readers places they've never been with characters they'll never forget.
Maybe that's worth a tweet or few (hundred). I hope you don't mind.
My Twitter stream is choked with BUY MY BOOK tweets, and when a fellow blogger publishes his or her new novel, often the cover art will show up on so many blogs and Facebook updates that I feel like I already own it. But what's the alternative? And how much is too much?
I have a novella that will be available at the end of the month from Musa Publishing. I know better than to think Musa is going to do my marketing for me. I'm very happy with how Immaterial Evidence turned out, and I think it might be one of my best works. At close to 100 pages, it'll be my longest publication to date. And I want to share it with as many readers as possible.But I don't want to be a social-networking nuisance.
I want to write. I want people to read and enjoy my stories. I want to take readers places they've never been with characters they'll never forget.
Maybe that's worth a tweet or few (hundred). I hope you don't mind.