I had two book signings in the past month, but unfortunately I was so focused on, you know, the signing, that I failed to get any pictures. But here’s one that writer J. Steven York took Saturday, May 15 when I signed books at North by Northwest Books in Lincoln City, Oregon. I was joined by Kris Rusch and Chris York, both good friends and great writers:
I’m the one in the middle, just in case you were wondering.
This game works best if you’re a short story writer, but it could work well if you’re a non-fiction essay writer as well. The idea is simple:
Find a published anthology and write a story for it.
You’re basically pretending an editor has contacted you and requested you write a story for the book. What I like to do is head over to Amazon.com and search specifically for anthologies. I’ll pick one and use the anthology description as my starting point.
Now you might be thinking, hold on a minute, if the anthology is published, then what chance do I have of getting into it? Well, of course you can’t get into that book, but trust me, there’s lots of other potential markets for your story. I find that this idea actually works best when I haven’t read the stories in the anthology — I’m less likely to be influenced by the other writers — but I certainly encourage you to buy the book when you’re finished. And it might be fun to see how the other writers approached the same idea differently.
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One manuscript page — a double-spaced page with 12 point font — averages out to about 250 words. Most writers, once they get moving, can write 250 words in 10-20 minutes. Here’s the other amazing fact:
One page a day = one book a year.
That’s 365 pages. Or 90,000 words. All with only twenty minutes a day.
Whenever I’ve let myself get discouraged by how long it takes to write a book, or how little time I seem to have during the day to write, I remind myself of this fact. Surely I can find 20 minutes somewhere during my day.
And heck, if you’re writing for forty minutes, you’re writing two books a year and considered incredibly proflic by most of the world.
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I had my first book signing last night and it went very well. It was so neat to celebrate the moment with friends and family, plus a fair number of people I’d never met before. We sold a good number of books and everybody seemed to have a fun time. I’m so grateful to everyone for coming out and seeing me, buying my books, and showing their support.
I’m taking the next week off from the day job to attend a writing workshop on the Oregon coast and it should be a lot fun — a lot of writing, a lot reading, and a lot of good conversations with very serious and talented writers expected to follow. Life can be so hectic these days that it’s nice to just wear the writer’s hat once in a while.
But at the end of the workshop, I’m going to do another book signing at a local bookstore in Lincoln City. If you happen to be in the area, come out and see me. Here’s the details:
DEBUT AUTHOR SIGNING HIS FIRST NOVEL
SATURDAY MAY 15TH
AT 1.00 PM.
North by Northwest Books
6334 S. HWY 101 #9
Lincoln City, Oregon
STREET CAR VILLAGE (map)
Bookstore Phone: 541-994-3087