writer's conference - Steven R. Southard (Poseidon's Scribe)

Home » Tag Archive: writer’s conference

Writers’ Conferences in the Age of Zoom

Ever been to a writers’ conference, or a genre conference such as SciFi? They’re a lot of fun. But, as with so many things, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way they’re done, perhaps forever.

Over the past year, Coronavirus restrictions forced conference organizers to get creative. Many chose to hold their conferences in a virtual way, using Zoom, perhaps combined with other software.

I’d been to many conferences before the pandemic, and a few, by Zoom, in the past year. I’ve found there are several disadvantages to virtual conferences, but also some advantages.

Disadvantages

Author/Reader Connections. For an author, the main benefit to conventions is the chance to sell more books. For readers, it’s a great chance to meet authors whose books you love, or to meet new authors. Those connections are more difficult to make in virtual conferences, though some cons have set up virtual fan tables and author reading sessions.
Glitches. With so much electronic hardware and software and transmitted signals between people, glitches sometimes occur. It’s bad if you’re an attendee, but worse if you’re a presenter.
Background. If you’re a panelist/presenter, you’ve got to be aware of your background. Part of your home will be on display, unless you make use of Zoom’s simulated background feature.
Meeting People. At normal writers’ conferences, it’s easier to recognize and connect with old friends, or have the chance encounters where you make new friends. Zoom conference coordinators do their best to enable this, but it’s still more difficult.
Dealer Room. Normal conferences feature a large dealer room with a market atmosphere, a room filled with books and items for sale, sellers trying to attract buyers, and buyers perusing at their leisure and conversing with sellers. Not impossible with Zoom, but virtual is not the same.
Interactions. There’s just something better about face-to-face interactions with people. As a species, we’re both pre-wired for and raised with this means of dealing with others. The virtual connection is good, but not as good.

Advantages

Cost. Virtual conferences, in my experience, have less expensive registration prices. Often much less.
Distance is Free. You can attend any virtual conference in the world. No flying, no driving, no hotel. You don’t even have to leave home.
Ease and Comfort. No need to think much about what to wear. Even if you’re a presenter/panelist, others will only see you from the chest up.
Continuous Communication. At a normal conference panel, the moderator calls on attendees one at a time to ask their questions, and attendees wait their turn. In a Zoom conference, attendees can ask questions at any time in the Q&A feature, and type comments in the Chat feature.
The After-Panel. At a normal conference, panelists and attendees have to leave the room to make way for the next panel, leaving little time for post-panel chatting. At some virtual conferences, organizers arrange chat sessions on Discord or other software so that people can carry on discussions there.
Close-Up View. Rather than seeing from the back of a crowded room, attendees are seeing the author close-up, and getting better views of the covers of the author’s books. Often the author will list recent books in the Chat feature, so all you have to do is copy the title for purchase later.

Once the pandemic is over, I believe conferences will never be the same as they were. I suspect some conferences may continue as fully-virtual cons. Some may go with a sort of hybrid, with some people there in person and others participating by Zoom. Even for in-person cons, I suspect there will be rules about staying away or wearing a mask if you’re feeling sick.

Perhaps at some upcoming writers’ conference, whether virtual or in-person, you’ll meet—

Poseidon’s Scribe

April 11, 2021Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Tailoring Your Author Bio for Success

Among most writers’ least favorite tasks is marketing, and among the least favorite marketing tasks is crafting an author biography. There’s really no avoiding it, so you might as well craft a bio that serves your purposes.

There are various uses for your bio, and I’ll discuss four of them here. Unfortunately, they are different enough to require separate, tailored bios, but time spent crafting good ones can pay off for you.

For simplicity, let’s call the four types the Website bio, the Submission bio, the Anthology bio, and the Convention bio. That is the rough order in which you’ll encounter them as you develop. Let’s delve into each.

Website Bio

This is the bio you’ll use on your own website, and on your author page on various other sites like Amazon, Goodreads, or others. The purpose of this bio is to entice site visitors to buy your books.

Of all the bio types, this can be the longest, but don’t create one so long that nobody wants to read it. Break it up into bite-sized paragraphs. It can include your background, your education (if relevant), and (most important) information about the stories you write. The tone of the bio should match the tone of your stories.

As your writing credentials change, you’ll want to update this bio periodically on all the sites at which it appears.

Submission Bio

On occasion, you’ll be sending a story to a market where the submission guidelines state they need your bio along with your story. Sometimes the editor wants to use that bio in the anthology they’re editing (see Anthology Bio below), and sometimes it’s just so the editor can learn about you.

If it’s the latter, the purpose of this submission bio is to convey a professional and engaging persona to that editor, one that won’t detract from the story you’re sending. The only audience is that editor, and the only thing the editor cares about are your writing credentials. These can include a listing of the last three stories you’ve gotten published in the relevant genre, and any facts about your background that relate to the story you’re sending.

Brevity, along with correct grammar and spelling are keys in this bio. A poorly written bio might dissuade the editor from even looking at the story you submitted.

Anthology Bio

If your story appears in an antho, the book’s editor often includes bios of each author, sometimes just before or after each story, or sometimes collected in a listing at the end of the book.

The purpose here is to entice readers to read your story, and to buy your other books. Be succinct, interesting, fun, and different.

I try to tailor my bios to the theme of the anthology. For a Poe-related antho, I crafted a dark bio. For a wing-related antho, I worked in flight words like “soaring,” “uplifting,” and “gliding.” For a cat-related antho, my bio contained cat idioms.

Convention Bio

If you end up speaking at a con, the organizers will likely ask you to submit a bio. Yours will appear in a long list along with bios of other speakers. The purpose is to catch the eye of readers and stimulate them toward attending your panel, session, or signing, and toward buying your books.

Your goal, therefore, is to have the shortest, most impactful bio in the list. Make it irresistible and unique. If the con limits you to 100 words, use half that number, but use 50 enticing words.

Final Bio Thoughts

I know, all you want to do is write stories, not labor over all these bios. But you can simplify the chore by keeping a ‘bio file.’ That makes it easier to tailor an existing one to fit your current needs. Remember to add any new bio you write to your bio file. Also, peruse other author’s bios for inspiration, but don’t copy them.

This needn’t be difficult. You’re a creative writer. Think of a bio as a short, true story about yourself. Surely you can craft a better bio than those of—

Poseidon’s Scribe

September 8, 2019Poseidon's ScribePermalink

After the Writer’s Conference

You returned home energized after attending a writer’s conference and you know that feeling will fade, but you wish it wouldn’t. Are there any techniques for maintaining your enthusiasm level?

Of course there are, and you happened onto the very blog post that reveals them.

Let’s backtrack. After months of laboring in solitude, coming up with ideas all by yourself, and typing away at manuscripts alone, you go to a writer’s conference.

While there, you attend panels and hear published authors discuss tricks of the trade. You hear editors and publishers talk about current trends in your genre. You hobnob with writers and readers, bounce book ideas off other people, discover websites and software that might help you with your next story.

Heady stuff! Your mind is abuzz with plans and notions. You can’t wait to put all that information to use. This conference has revealed to you the hidden secret of getting published, and you’re convinced that this time, at this moment, and armed with this knowledge, you have finally cracked the cypher and will write your masterpiece and the world will stand in awe of the miracle that is you.

Back at home now. Sitting at the computer, your fingers are hovering over the keyboard. You’re ready for greatness.

Really ready.

Any moment now.

But something happened. Someone opened a mental drain valve and the fervor has flowed away. The passion has ebbed and leaked out.

It isn’t fair! One moment you held the key to immortality in your hands, and the next it’s gone, and there’s only you and an unhelpful blinking cursor again. Along with a hungry cat, or a dog that wants its walk, perhaps.

Sadly, there’s no concoction you can drink to restore the zeal you had at the conference. There’s no Excitement Elixir, no Talent Tonic, no Passion Potion. Top scientists are at work on the problem and may someday achieve a breakthrough, but for now you’re pretty much out of luck.

Except…

I have some ideas for—at least partially—restoring that feeling:

Review your conference literature and notes.
Write descriptions of your favorite conference moments, and what you learned.
Using those descriptions, notes, and brochures to write down an action plan of things you’d like to try out.
Whenever you get stuck, blocked, or depressed about your writing, review your conference notes and descriptions.
E-mail any contacts you met at the conference, and engage with them.
Join a critique group.
Join a writer’s group.
Take a course in creative writing.
Read a book about writing.

If all of those fail, well, you can always register for the next writer’s conference. That will at least restart the cycle, beginning with the thrill of anticipation.

It was a great conference, though, wasn’t it? We can’t bottle the feeling, but we can at least recall it and relive it in our minds, and try other things to rekindle it. Though I’m no Snake Oil salesman, I hope you derive some benefit from the ideas you get from—

Poseidon’s Scribe

June 28, 2015Poseidon's ScribePermalink

Pictures from BALTICON

During my book launch at BALTICON, friend and writer Kelly Harmon took some pictures of Steven R. Southard, my alter ego.

At the book launch of “Ripper’s Ring,” I described the story, passed around my 3D-printed version of the Ring of Gyges, and read an excerpt from the story.