Thursday, September 17, 2015

Upcoming Events for Writers in St. Michaels, MD

On September 30, 2015 I will be giving a reading from my latest novel The Paradise Tree at St. Michaels, MD Free Library, along with some other local authors. More information, HERE.

In October I will be joined by novelists Alexandra Hamlet and Drake Ferguson to teach a class on "How to Publish and Market a Book in the 21st Century." The classes are sponsored by the Academy of Lifelong Learning at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. We will be meeting on Wednesdays, October 7, 14, 21, at 1:30-3:30 pm. The price is $30 for ALL members and $45 for non-members. The location will be in the Van Lennep Auditorium, Steamboat Building, CBMM, St. Michaels, MD. Here is a course description:
Having a book published is the dream of many fine writers. Today’s technology provides resources to help with the challenging task of finding an agent and a publisher, as well as an abundance of marketing tools. Published authors Alexandra Hamlet and Elena Maria Vidal will share their hard-earned knowledge of how to get one’s work published and onto the book store shelves. Drake Ferguson, writer and broadcaster, is here to help you interact with the media and conduct an effective interview, so that you can become an interviewee the media will enjoy seeking out.  He works to create interview formulas to make writers better able to perform on  cue.

Several topics will be covered in 3 weekly two hour classes, including how to write a query letter, how to take rejection and criticism, what to expect from an editor, how to pitch your story, the importance of careful proofreading, how to use social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, BlogTalkRadio, Linked In, Google +, forums, etc.), and how to find your readership. Practical tips will also be given about how to set up book-signings, internet etiquette, how to protect yourself from trolls, navigating Amazon and Goodreads, and what to do if you receive bad reviews. The internet book world is a new frontier where there is great potential but it helps to have a guide. 

To quote Drake Ferguson: "Writers are the modern mountain men. They lead a solitary life pacing the hallways of their minds until the work is finished. Then they get together in a rendezvous to celebrate, party, dance til dawn, and disappear into the mountains again until the next work is finished."

Maryland native Mary-Eileen Russell is the author of four historical novels and one biography, writing under the name of Elena Maria Vidal. She has worked with publishers and has self-published as well. Her fiction has been acclaimed by Kirkus Reviews, the San Francisco Book Review, the Midwest Book Review, and the Portland Book Review. Through Mary-Eileen’s Tea at Trianon blog and radio show her work has gained an international following. Visit Elena at her website.

Alexandra Hamlet is a cultural and defense anthropologist, an international lecturer and a former TV and print journalist. She consults on cultural affairs and international business. She was an auxiliary nurse in London; Visiting Fellow at Harvard University; an executive search specialist for world-wide C-suite positions; and is a consultant on irregular warfare. The Right Guard, published in 2012, is her first novel. Visit Alexandra at her website.

Drake Ferguson has created and produced several hundred audio interviews for WCEI-FM and WINX-FM in Easton Maryland since 2005. He recently volunteered to do the same for WHCP-FM, a new National Public Radio affiliate in Cambridge, Maryland. He has interviewed governors, state and federal senators, doctors, lawyers, volunteers of every type imaginable, and Two Boomer Babes (twice). But his favorite interviewee is an author; perhaps because Ferguson is an unpublished writer himself. He is presently working on his third novel in the David Barrister series.

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