A novel approach to visibility and pitching an agent

Carolyn Howard is a well-known non-fiction writer. She has partnered with another author to do advance marketing for their upcoming book by creating a site for their book proposal here.

It includes their excellent agent query letter here. Their Fiction Marketing site also promotes Carolyn's ebook on making a good first impression. They also include a sample of their blogging chapter, which builds interest for the book, draws visitors to the site, and increases their chances of attracting serious inquiries from agents.

Take a look at it and consider this unusual method of making your work more visible, and showing both your readers and potential agents that you can deliver an unusual approach to marketing today.

Manzanita Rocks

These folks really know how to write. This is a demo blog post done live in our workshop. It is a great weekend to learn about writing projects on genealogy, memoir, medical issues and history, fiction and travel.

How's NANOWRIMO going for you?

Hand cramp or burgeoning book file on your computer? If you're writing well for NANOWRIMO, you've got 4,000 or 6,000 words done by now - over ten percent of your goal. Write extra each day to ease the pace when you have a day where you run out of time.

Reading a HuffPost blog by Steve Ross, former president, Collins Division at HarperCollins and Sr. VP, Crown Division at Random House I found this, which I hope inspires you to find the time, find the time, find the time, find the time each day for your writing.

"Between midnight and 3:00 am each day--after his Senate and family obligations were put to bed--Barack would write, then send his work to his editor for her comments. As the deadlines grew tighter, she would give us regular updates about the progress of the manuscript and sometimes share drafts of chapters for a few of us to read. It was a rare pleasure to watch as the distillation of his message and his vision took shape on paper. Even as a senator Barack continued to care about his work as a writer."

You can read the full article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-ross/the-writer-in-chief_b_342242.html -- but not til you're done writing for today!

Helen Gallagher

Wake up: Daylight Savings and NANOWRIMO today

Good morning,

Today gives you an extra hour to write, and it is Day One of National Novel Writing Month.


If you need motivation to write every day - this is the month to do it. Read more about it at my marketing blog: PajamaMarketing.wordpress.com.

Nov. 7th is National Bookstore Day

Hundreds, if not thousands, of bookstores will be celebrating the first National Bookstore Day on Nov. 7, 2009. This is a day devoted to celebrating bookselling and the vibrant culture of bookstores. You have a bookstore in your community, and Saturday, Nov. 7, is your day to stop in and say Hello.

At The Book Stall of Chestnut Court web site, you can read an essay written by Alan Cheuse, author of To Catch the Lightning, and a favorite book of mine: A Trance After Breakfast, which I reviewed online here.

I'm fortunate to have a speaking opportunity in Manzanita, Oregon that day, and will be selling books at my sister's shop, Ekhani Books after the workshop. Wherever you are that day, please stop in a local book shop, celebrate them, and make a purchase.

Illinois Arts & Humanties Month

It's AH! month again in Illinois and the State has made a big splash for Arts & Humanities month with presence on Facebook, Twitter, and oh look... even on Release Your Writing.


Join in the fun, and celebrate the arts together. Note we are in good company with Gov. Quinn and Pres. Obama speaking in favor our our dedication and passion for the arts:

Gov. Quinn: (after several "WHEREAS" paragraphs):

THEREFORE, I, Pat Quinn, Governor of the State of Illinois, do hereby proclaim October 2009 as ILLINOIS ARTS & HUMANITIES MONTH and call upon our citizens to celebrate and promote the arts and culture in our state and to specifically encourage the greater participation by those said citizens in taking action for the arts and humanities in their towns and cities.

read the rest here

Pres. Obama:
(Too articulate to excerpt: read Proclamation here)

We really should write every day, even for a few minutes.

If you don't believe me, here's research from the Univ. Missouri that says its true: Writing is good for you:

Twenty years ago, University of Texas psychologist James Pennebaker concluded that students who wrote about their most meaningful personal experiences for 15 minutes a day several days in a row felt better, had healthier blood work, and got higher grades in school. But a new study from the University of Missouri shows that a few minutes of writing will also suffice.

Researchers asked 49 college students to take two minutes on two consecutive days and write about something they found to be emotionally significant. The participants registered immediate improvements in mood and performed better on standardized measures of physiological well-being. An extended inward look isn’t necessary, the study concludes; merely “broaching the topic on one day and briefly exploring it the next” is enough to put things in perspective.

Source: Utne & veryshortlist.com

Pen to Press workshop success

Yesterdays symposium "Pen to Press" at John Marshall Law School was a well-run, well-attended event, with perhaps 80 interested writers in attendance. Let's hope this is the first of many future "Pen to Press" events they sponsor.

Despite all the talk in the industry about the difficulties in getting published, the rumored death of publishing, and worries over ebooks and ebook reading devices (Kindle, Sony, etc). none of this will cause publishing to vanish. The enthusiasm among yesterday's conference attendees was palpable. Folks went home and wrote, I'm sure, and reconsidered their options in getting published.

For, above all, the conference conveyed the sense of hope and purpose for writers to continue along their path to publication. No one is stopping you from publishing your book, but also no one is pushing you forward to accomplish it either. You need the internal drive, motivation, and energy to take the next step.

So take that next step. Happy publishing days are ahead...

I'm pleased to have met so many who stopped by my booth and wish you all tremendous success.

Chicago event: "Pen to Press"

Lawyers for the Creative Arts and The John Marshall Law school are hosting this one-day workshop “Pen to Press": The fine print in self-publishing.” Deadline to sign up is September 12. The event is Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. Cost for the full day workshop is only $75.

I’ll be an exhibitor there, so please stop by and say Hello if you’re there.

Special Event Announcement

Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 8 pm
Celebratory Readings in the Snug ~ Remembering Frank McCourt ~ (1930-2009)


Friends with deep Irish roots will share laughs in a night of reading selected passages from the works of Frank McCourt, who passed away recently.

With well-chosen excerpts, full of life and his self-deprecating humor, we share the best of his work from Angela's Ashes, 'Tis, and Teacher Man.

Featuring Irish Authors:

Helen Gallagher (Release Your Writing: Book Publishing Your Way),
Carol McCarthy LaChapelle (Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Stories),
Marguerite O'Connor (Griefstruck and Leading Change & Navigating Success),
Jack O'Keefe (Brother Sleeper Agent and the forthcoming Famine Ghost).

LOCATION INFO:
The Celtic Knot Public House
626 Church Street
Evanston IL 60201
(847) 864-1679
www.celticknotpub.com

**PLEASE NOTE** Seating in the Snug is very limited. Come early to reserve your seats, have a meal in our dining room, and then retire with your drinks for the reading!

NO COVER. Reservations strongly recommended.

Double your miles: Blog mentions blog about blogs

Two weeks flew by....

Oh my gosh, I didn't mean to be a post-less blogger for the past two weeks, but I've been traveling a little, speaking to writers about publishing and marketing their work, and seeing the fabulous Julie & Julia movie. I also moved. Just two blocks away but hundreds and hundreds of books came along with me. Laid end-to-end they surely would have traversed the move like dominoes if I stacked them in the street and nudged them a bit.

The result is lovely: A lifetime of books to pack and unpack, shelve and re-shelve, read and re-read!

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.

Charles W. Eliot (1834 - 1926), The Happy Life, 1896

Put yourself out there. It's the write thing to do...

As you may know, I write online book reviews. It keeps me reading, and writing, and lets me choose to share opinions on books with special appeal.

I happily reviewed "My Life in France," the memoir Julia Child wrote at age 91. In that review, and in my recent workshops to writers in the Chicago area, I explained the significance...
A girl named Julie Powell decided to "borrow" her mother's copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking."

In her small New York apartment, Julie fulfilled her commitment to cook every recipe in the book.

She blogged about it to friends.

An agent read her blog. That's right: An agent read her blog.

And next week, you'll be seeing Meryl Streep play Julia Child in the movie version of Julie Powell's book "Julie & Julia."

My review also earned this badge of honor at BlogCritics, so I'm sharing both the review and the incentive to write, so you'll continue to do as Julie Powell did, and get your work out into the world.

"The Price is Write" - another favorable article on self-publishing

If you had your head up in the clouds in May, flying on United Airlines, you might have enjoyed the Hemispheres Magazine article "The Price is Write.:

In it, author Willa Paskin says:

"As the chances of landing a book deal dwindle, even tweedy literary elites are whispering that self publishing might be an acceptable path to legitimacy." She then explains the reasons why self-publishing and print-on-demand can be the best choice for an author, and that sometimes "it's the only game in town."

So, don't wait your life away. Release your writing this year!
Helen

Read the full article here.