Monday, October 10, 2016

Author Meet and Greet Update & Links

I'd love to be able to post something of consequence right now, to put out an informative post, or to even post fun horror stuff since this is usually my favorite time of year, but the election and just plain PEOPLE have me so depressed right now that I sit here staring at this blank screen and can't think of anything I want to talk about. I'm thankful it's not impacting my fiction writing, but it's just not happening for me on here.

So instead I'm going to post about the fun Author Meet and Greet I was part of this weekend. Because I had a great weekend until I went on social media tonight, so I'm just going to back up and pretend this evening didn't happen.

A local small press put on a signing event Saturday, and I was invited to be a part of it as one of two horror authors! It was held in a local art gallery, so we were surrounded by paintings and other forms of visual art, which is a great setting. There was wine, there were goodies, and there was a talented group of local authors. Friend and fellow horror author DeAnna Knippling shared the table with me, so we had some fun decorations.


The sign is new. My husband got up early and made it for me that day. Isn't he awesome? He even dropped by and said hi about partway through, and to see if I needed lunch or anything else.

I had four of my titles there, and I sold out of two of them! Not to say I had a big inventory of them or anything, but it was still exciting. Especially as my biggest fear going in that morning was that I would sell a big goose egg, thus letting down the friends running the event. I imagine it helped that it's the month of October. You know, formerly my favorite month. It's the month some folks who don't otherwise touch horror check it out. Even bigger than selling out, I sold to strangers! We authors try to support each other by buying books, but strangers, people who were not writers, they bought my books! Meep!

Now I have to decide whether I'll go through the work of selling my books at MileHiCon at the end of the month. It involves getting sales tax licenses for state and the city of Denver, and I only have two of my books. While I might be able to get my books in time for MHC that I sold out of, I'm not willing to pay expedited shipping to ensure it. So I need to decide this week, and to determine whether it's worth trying to get at least the one book shipped out now. SO MANY DECISIONS!

A lot of people stopped by and chatted, and even when they didn't buy a book, it was nice. All in all, I'd say it was a successful event, but I'm not the one who has to do the bookkeeping on it. If it was, in fact, successful, they'll hopefully be doing it again with other authors, but I don't know how soon that will be. Organizing events is stressful, and nothing teaches you that like doing it!

Now for some links. Bear in mind that I'm not endorsing these, merely passing them along. Always do your own due diligence before submitting.

Accepting Submissions:

Ellipsis, a Westminster College literary journal, is open for their annual publication. Poetry, short fiction, creative non-fiction, drama, and art. Pays $10-$50. Deadline November 1 for most categories.

Belmont Story Review is open for fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. No word limit mentioned. Pays a cash honorarium. Deadline November 1.

Mofo Pubs is open for submissions to their anthology Wanderlust. Sexually explicit literary erotica. 1000-5000 words. Pays $.01/word. Deadline November 3.

Lamplight is open for submissions. Dark literary fiction. Up to 7000 words. Pays $.03/word up to $150. Current deadline November 15.

The Lorelei Signal is open for fantasy short fiction. Up to 10,000 words. Pays between $2 and $7.50. Current deadline November 15.

Contests:

Don't forget the Insecure Writer's Support Group 2016 Anthology Contest. 3000-6000 words. Fantasy with the theme "hero lost." Pays in royalties. You will be published in an e-anthology. Deadline November 1.

New York Encounter is holding a poetry contest. Theme: Reality has never betrayed me. Cash prizes up to $300. Deadline November 1.

For Fun:

It's always good to find new scary books. Here's a list of 40 Scariest Books of the Last 200 Years by Sarah Mangiola on The Lineup.

How was your weekend? Bought any good books lately? Read any books in the last month or so you'd recommend? Are you ready for Halloween? Any of these links of interest? Anything to share?

May you find your Muse.

30 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Selling out is a good thing! Your table and sign look great.
Thanks for mentioning the IWSG contest.

S.A. Larsenッ said...

So much fun! I love that the event was at an art gallery. How appropriate. Your hubby is so sweet to have helped! His support has to feel great.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Excellent, Shannon!

Focusing on the positive, not letting the other stuff get to us too much, that's what we need to do. It's not easy, but I'm trying.

I think I recommend a couple of horror-type books to you over on Goodreads....

H. R. Sinclair said...

Congrats! Selling out, no matter how many, is thrilling.

A Beer for the Shower said...

Oh yes, we absolutely feel your pain. Blogging has been a chore with all of the, uh, angry idiocy going around. That's all we're gonna say on the matter.

Cheers to you and DeAnna putting on a good signing! That's a great sign, btw. Those things definitely help draw people in.

Andrew Leon said...

Those things never seem to work out for me. :(

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Shannon - I'm just glad the event went off happily and you were able to have fun with other authors and friends around the event. Good luck and I hope you 'll feel more cheerful soon .. cheers Hilary

Julie Flanders said...

How awesome that you sold out of a few titles!! Love the sign and I'm glad you had a good time.

Mark said...

Looking great! I think any time you put yourself out there is worthwhile:) I'm doing another book signing this week myself. Keep moving forward:)

Crystal Collier said...

Way to focus on the positive. Selling out of books, that's epic. It sounds like it was an amazing time. See, you make me want to get out of my house and try something like this, and then I remember I'd have to find a way to sneak away from the kids. I guess it can wait a few more years.

LT said...

YEAH! So proud of you - it's not easy - this biz of books! (nice hubby you have too)

mshatch said...

Selling out is awesome! And aside from continuing to slog through revisions and go to work, my life is pretty much a bore!

Jennifer Lee Rossman said...

The real world is depressing lately. Write whatever you can write, and keep selling out! :)

Arlee Bird said...

I guess selling any of a product that is yours is exciting. Selling out is outstanding.

Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out

Unknown said...

I don't care how many books you brought with you, selling out of all the inventory feels dang good. :)

Shannon Lawrence said...

Of course! And thank you!

Shannon Lawrence said...

He's wonderfully supportive, and I'm always grateful for that.

This art gallery is really great about reaching out to the local art community, including writers. There are a lot of areas that snub writers as artists, but not them!

Shannon Lawrence said...

You have, and I'm loving it, thanks!

Shannon Lawrence said...

It is, thank you!

Shannon Lawrence said...

I'm glad to hear it! I see a lot of events up in Denver, but not so many down here.

Shannon Lawrence said...

I'm not sure it would have worked out for me at a different time.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Thank you! I imagine I will once I get past Christmas.

Shannon Lawrence said...

It was very exciting!

Shannon Lawrence said...

I hope they eventually get easier, but I agree that it's good to put yourself out there, even if you don't end up selling anything.

Shannon Lawrence said...

I get that. My kiddos have only now reached a point where I can have this time to get away and do these events. In the meantime, enjoy!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Thank you!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Sometimes boring is good!

Shannon Lawrence said...

It is, isn't it? And it doesn't seem to be letting up. Thank you!

Shannon Lawrence said...

True, just selling one book is exciting!

Shannon Lawrence said...

It so does!