Wordcraft – Want blurbs for our books? Start searching now!

Fourth in an occasional series about publication and promotion

Last Tuesday’s post dealt with searching for literary agents at conferences. Today’s post deals with finding other authors willing to blurb our published books. Wait – we don’t even have agents, let alone publishers, and suddenly we’re talking about those fine lines of print that read “Excellent entertainment,” “Mesmerizing,” “The Ultimate guide” – to quote blurbs from a few books on my reference shelf.

But isn’t it a little early to be looking for that kind of praise? After all, reviewers or famous authors have to be able to read our book before they can heap praise on it, and we don’t even have a book yet for them to read.

We may also be muttering that we would rather crawl into a hole and die than approach (insert famous author’s name here) and ask him/her to time out of a busy, possibly even profitable schedule to read a book by an unknown writer. That’s the good part. Because right now, we’re not asking for blurbs. We’re not even thinking about blurbs. We’re asking to be friends, or at least fans, of authors whose books we like. What author, famous or not, wouldn’t welcome that kind of request? But somewhere down the line, we may have reason to stop and think, yes, these are the people I’d like to get blurbs from.

Because the best people to get recommendations from – and a blurb is only another kind of recommendation – are people with whom we have a personal relationship. And we start those by taking the first step, a meeting. Online is one way to meet. Face to face is another. Which is why I’m listing conferences with plenty of authors ready and eager to meet with readers.

The literary conferences listed last Tuesday (title) are also full of authors happy to chat with readers, and even happier to sell books to readers. But there are even more conferences that feature only authors, and they’re usually less expensive.

image: wikimedia commons

One that has my local chapter of Mystery Writers of America talking is Bouchercon, the world mystery convention, meeting September 15-18 this year in New Orleans. Please note that the deadline for registration is September 9 (this coming Friday). No registration will be available at the door, so hurry for a chance to meet and hang out with hundreds of mystery and thriller authors. 

Also this month, one of my favorite Dallas-area small conferences: FenCon, September 23-25. This features dozens of science fiction, fantasy and horror writers giving readings and opining on panels, all of them with books to sell.

Interested in young adult and middle grade books? Check out the Texas Teen Book Festival in Austin, October 1. Or for the every genre imaginable festival, the Texas Book Festival, November 5-6, also in Austin.

For romance readers, a Dallas-area convention is Readers ‘n’ritas, November 11-13, in Allen, Texas. Smaller than those above, but with dozens of romance authors eager to connect with readers.

For other single-author events or series, see “Fall into autumn with Texas literary events,” at this site, August 16, 2016. To search for authors as well as agents, see "Where the heck do you go to meet an agent?" also at this site, August 30, 2016. Above all, get on the mailing lists of any local or regional bookstores that host author signings.

So now we’ve met, chatted, bought, taken pictures of us smiling with (insert famous author's name here), posted on social media. Aren’t we among hundreds or thousands of fans who’ve done the same? How are the authors of our dreams going to remember us from among all the rest? That’s the next step in the process. But I’ll take a brief hiatus and let book publicist Stephanie Barko tell us next Tuesday what her profession can do.

Wordcraft – Fall into autumn with Texas literary events

This week’s cooler temperatures make it easier to remember that fall is coming, and with it a new season of literary events, most but not all in North Texas. I’m posting about these a little earlier than usual, to give myself a head start on autumn’s plenty.

August 20: Grand re-opening of the Dallas Library’s 7^th floor History and Archives Division, 10:30 a.m. If you’ve never (or not recently) visited this collection, prepare to be amazed. Besides a Shakespeare first folio and a first printing of the Declaration of Independence, the revamped 7th floor houses over 1,800 historic images by pioneering black Dallas photographer Marion Butts, coverage of President Kennedy’s assassination (and related items, including Lee Harvey Oswald’s library card, documenting his overdue books) and more. These unique and fragile items do not circulate outside the library – see them on the 7^th floor only.

August 22-26: For this 10^th anniversary of its Points Summer Book Club, the Dallas Morning News selection is 2016 Pulitzer finalist If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran, by Carla Power. The online discussion runs next Monday through Friday. RSVP  now for for a free forum and book signing with the author August 24, 7-9 p.m., at the University of Texas at Dallas. And see the September 14 World Affairs Council’s event (below) to continue the conversation.

September 6: Tickets will be available at the Richardson, Texas, public library, 900 Civic Center Drive, for the Richardson Reads One Book forum with Joshua Davis, author of Spare Parts, the story of four undocumented kids, one ugly robot and a dream come true. Books are available at Half Price Books Richardson. The author discussion and book signing is September 20 at the auditorium of Richardson High School, 1250 West Beltline Road. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. Free, but tickets required due to limited space.

September 11 – November 17: Dallas Museum of Art’s Arts & Letters Live opens its fall season with author Robert Hoge, author of the memoir Ugly. See the site for a complete list of events and ticket prices. Most authors will appear at the DMA, 1717 North Harwood, Dallas.

September 14: World Affairs Council features Joby Warrick, author of Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. $40. See the site for details.

September 19 – October 23: The Authors LIVE! series opens with a wow – an appearance by Colson Whitehead, author of The Underground Railroad, “the most anticipated literary novel of the year” and, no surprise, a pick of Oprah Winfrey’s book club. The series is held at 7 p.m. in Wesley Hall of Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane. Free, no reservations required, but readers may attend a reception with the author and receive a copy of the book for $30. See site for details.

September 23-25: FenCon, the literary science fiction and fantasy convention at the Westin DFW in Irving (State Highway 114 and Esters Road). This year’s con incorporates a 1632 minicon, for fans of the series. $40 online registration through September 1, $45 at the door. Dozens of author panels and signings.

October 1: Texas Teen Book Festival, St. Edward’s University, 3001 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas. Free, with loads of authors. It’s an offshoot of the big mama, the Texas Book Festival (see below). Need we say more? See site for details.

October 13: SMUReads hosts attorney Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, 4:30 p.m. at McFarlin Auditorium, 6405 Boaz Lane, Dallas. Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative, dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need. Stevenson’s lecture is free, but the university requests preregistration at www.smu.edu/smureads.

November 5-6: Texas Book Festival, with hundreds of adult and teen authors and dozens of venues in and around the State Capitol building, this is huge! Free, see the site for complete author list, schedule, and details about where best to enter the massive event.