I attended the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Conference in September and it was fantastic. So many local writers and interesting sessions. Compared to the AWP conference, which was a national event, PNWA was smaller and geared toward genre writing and marketing, rather than literary fiction. While both are interesting - and I certainly got a lot out of AWP - there was more actionable ideas at the smaller conference. I also networked more and I'll include links to some of the people I met at the end of this post.
One of the most valuable aspects of PNWA was the chance to pitch a book in-person to a panel of agents. Exciting and stressful! There were several sessions set up to help refine and maximize a pitch, whether it will be in person or through traditional querying. More on that in later posts.
For now, I want to round up the top 5 pieces of advice I got from the speakers and sessions. There were some great presenters, not only well published and reviewed, but personable and eager to help newer authors.
1. Write more.
I know we all have been told "learn writing by writing," or some iteration of the same. But this time, I mean literally write more. I need to look at my writing process and the genres I write and find a way to increase production. The top categories for book revenue are romance, mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi, all genres I like. And check this out:
Romance novels are the highest-earning genre of fiction, with 19 million printed units sold and revenue of over $1.44 billion in the last 12 months.
Must-Know Book Sales By Genre Statistics [Current Data] • Gitnux
Yes, billion. With a 'B.' The next, mystery, is down in the millions. And while book sales overall are up, romance definitely takes the top honors. Most of the successful authors presenting had 30, 40, even 50+ books out, in several genres including romance, even if they wrote primarily in SFF or thriller. Not every book was a 'success,' but they could show they had sustained sales even years after books were published.
So, maybe a foray into romance...? A new mystery series? Interesting possibilities there.
2. Learn the beats
As a pants-er, I kind of hate this. It feels stilted and formulaic, like a tiny little box I have to conform to. But, every story has beats, or necessary plot moments that drive the story forward and give it structure. I don't have formal fiction training; I just read a lot and go with my gut. But I can look at my own plots and see where I changed things because it was 'slow' or felt like it needed a subplot to deepen the story. I am using the beats, just not consciously.
So if I want to write more and in more genres, I need to really understand how to structure plots so I am not floundering my way through a story. I just need to give myself permission to go off on a tangent when the mood strikes me.
3. Marketing
I will not bore you with the specifics here (and they are so boring), but marketing if key. Even for authors who have 'book deals,' most publishers don't have the budget to manage the author's full marketing plan. So many of them do their own or hire a company to do it for them. And a lot of the successful writers at the conference, those with deals for books and screen plays, actually switched from traditional publishing to independent publishing once they had a solid platform and back catalog. It lets them be more flexible and responsive to market changes.
4. Meet everyone
Talk to everyone. Exchange business cards. Hand out free copies of your books. Follow people on Instagram. This is partly for marketing, but also for connecting with likeminded people who will give you advice, read your rough drafts, meet up for coffee (hot chocolate in my case). I know introverted writers everywhere just shuddered, myself included. But having a network really takes the lonely drudgery out of the process and gives you an outside perspective.
NaNoWriMo is coming up and even you don't want to write 50,000 words, you can still attend events and meet new people. I met my current writing group last year at a NaNo event. I love meeting with them and chatting about issues and successes.
5. Trust yourself
I know you vacillate between loving your writing and hating it. I will write a scene, blinded by my own brilliance, then read it the next day and want to delete it because it's so lame. Maybe you read a book and realize it similar to yours. Someone has already done it and now you must trash your whole idea.
Stop! Let me show you something.
Sticking with the ridiculous amount of money spent on romance books last year (billion?!?) I did a search for 'the duke' in the kindle store, just to see what would pop up. (I love regency romance; I'm not ashamed.) This is an actual screenshot of the results:
More than 20,000 results. Granted, the end of that list is probably not even books or 'duke' related. But I scrolled through a few pages and they were all 'the duke this' and 'the duke that.' Clearly, there is a market for it, even if it is similar to something else. Trust yourself and your story. Country house murders have been done to death (ha!) yet I will still pick one up and read it. How many magical girls or ensorcelled swords or enchanted rings can there be?
In truth, as many as we want. We get to decide what stories we tell. Why not tell the one you love?
I have not read some of these authors, but I wanted to do my own small part of getting their names out there.
Celaine Charles: writes poetry and YA. Super nice! We chatted between session and commiserated on the insanity of pitching to agents.
Julia Ensley: cozy murder series set in Palm Springs. I definitely will check these out.
Joan H Cabreza: memoir about her work as a biologist. I am a total nerd and love science stuff so will pick this up in the near future.
Taylor Hobbs: my own writing buddy! She has a fantastic book idea she pitched to agents at the conference, and I know she'll get offers.
My first book, Archer 887, was a 2022 Indies Today Awards Contest Finalist, and is on sale now and available in Kindle Unlimited. Pick up a copy, leave a review, and let me know what you think!
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I’m about to start reading regency romance after that conference! I met so many writers whose Duke-type romance books sound so good 😊