Comments on: Two Nights in Austin

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:06:43 +0000

I appreciate your coming to Austin, Jim, and your input during the pitch session. Although these sessions can be mildly brutal (the DFW Writers Conference has a query “gong show” where each agent wielded an actual gong; hilarity ensued), they can also be very, very useful (even though my pitch never got picked). Your panel in particular was helpful and your comments shouldn’t have caused too many hurt feelings, possibly unavoidable disappointment. That just comes with the territory of marketing a book to the publishing community. Since I suspect the vast majority of us have not had the pleasure of an editor showing up at our front door begging to see our books, we have to get used to it.

By: Lisa Marie

Lisa Marie — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:27:16 +0000

Hi, Jim. Glad you enjoyed your visit to my fair city — I live in the historic district, close to where you were hanging out. One of those Weird Austin bluebloods. Hope you got to visit the infamous Alamo Drafthouse and visit all of the places unique to Austin, not just the tourists’ spots. ☺

I am not a member of the Texas Writers League, and yes, they are charmingly aggressive – also in trying to get writers to join. (I’m happy with RWA, thanks!) My thoughts about these conferences: only the people who can comfortably afford to go to them can afford to pitch. I am not one of these people; I am mingy as hell with my money, especially when the luxury in question is > 30 percent of a mortgage payment. Logic then dictates then, with only 64 percent of Americans employed in a full- or part-time job, that the people who show up at these conferences won’t be the hungriest writers (metaphorically speaking). So I feel that the lion’s share of exemplary writers get left out of the mix. Perhaps the very best writers.

I did go to RWA conferences for the learning experience, when I could comfortably afford them – this was before the recession. But I didn’t pitch. Never that. I personally find it a little demeaning. If my work is solid, I shouldn’t need to rub shoulders in person. An email query is free, and a postage stamp only costs … what does it cost, anyway?

By: Kristi Helvig

Kristi Helvig — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 01:08:12 +0000

I laughed out loud at your description of the eager writers as “charmingly aggressive.” The only time I’ve had a large group of people jostle to talk to me was when I conducted a therapy group for men in the county jail–not quite as thrilling as your experience.

By: Debbie Hibbert

Debbie Hibbert — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:07:42 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with you on “Super 8.” It’s like Mr. Abrams said, ‘I was a lot more confident going into that movie…”

By: Suzanne L. B.

Suzanne L. B. — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:13:56 +0000

I love this perspective. You’re the literary equivalent of The Bachelor.

I used to run a fairly successful mom blog. One night I was at a wedding reception, standing alone at the bar during cocktail hour, when I was approached by a stranger. “You’re (pseudonym),” she said. I swear I looked over my shoulder to see if my husband had put her up to it. She rattled off a few anecdotes from postings that spanned a couple of years as I realized this was it– my 15 minutes of fame.

Good luck with the reading!