What’s Coming Up

At the halfway point of 2017, WAG is making headway toward goals set in January.

Our first-ever Marketing Workshop is drawing near — August 5 at St Leo University. Among the many topics to be covered are book promotion, creating your web page, effective query letters, and navigating through social media (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram).

Six speakers have been lined up! A few words about them here, but read their full bios in the Marketing Workshop article on WAG’s website.

Cassie Dandridge Selleck will share tips and tools that turned her self-published book The Pecan Man into a best seller that has been traditionally published for audio and translated into two foreign languages. Roger Robles, a website designer and developer will discuss the importance of creating an effective website to grow your network. Roz Miller, an award-winning speaker, artist, and speech coach will emphasize the importance of developing skills such as public speaking to market your book. Terry Martin-Back, author of Networking the Right Way, will discuss how to network by meeting and greeting strangers, engaging in small talk, and using brief “oral business cards.” Richard Gartee, the author of twenty books, including Lancelot’s Grail, and winner of the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Award for another novel, will share his marketing secrets for both print and ebooks. And I, (Kim), will show you how I’ve used social media to successfully market my novels.

Space for the Marketing Workshop is limited, so register today.

Additionally, school is out!! Whew, huh! What does that mean to me?

More time to write and connect with leaders in the area. Speaking of connect, one of my goals this year was to get more teens and young adults involved in the WAG community. And this summer, several WAG members are joining with me to team up with Reichert House and, hopefully, Girls Place to help youth develop their writing skills.

The goal of Reichert House is to teach respect, restraint, and responsibility. I’ve already met with one of the directors, and they are excited to work with WAG. Apparently, they have numerous elementary and middle graders who aspire to be poets and writers and look forward to guidance in improving their skills.

The primary goal of Girls Place, is to strengthen the girls’ academic success by engaging them in year-round enhanced learning opportunities.

I’m still looking at other groups to reach out to. Please let me know if you have ideas. Also, if you have free time and wish to volunteer, email me at president@writersalliance.org.

In the fall — October 21-22, to be exact — WAG will participate in the Art Festival at Thornbrooke. This is a popular event and a great one for authors. We get a lot of traffic and support at this festival. I always look forward to it.

Additionally, we are preparing for our first-ever, WAG-sponsored Book Festival, where WAG authors will be able to sell their books. So . . . stay tuned for more information to come.

In the meantime, stay focused, and keep writing and creating.