Notes For Writers I Met at a Local Meet-n-Greet

A series of notes for some of the writers I met at the San Diego local author meet-n-greet (I was just attending, not part of the event itself):

• Congratulations, you wrote a book! You should be super proud of yourself (Seriously, it's an accomplishment). However, the rest of the world may not be so dazzled. It's not enough to write a book. It has to be written in such a way strike people's hearts so that it's important to THEM.

• Nobody cares how many fantastic ideas you have. It's how you use them.

• Hire a professional to do your cover design unless you're a professional graphic designer. Trust me, we can tell.

• Someone asked me and my friend Anthony to take a picture with him for his website so it'd look like he had fans and "Didn't want a picture with other writers." (lol). He apologized several times for putting his arms around us and that he didn't know us. It would've taken three minutes to introduce himself, talk to us, and not make the whole thing feel awkward and fake. I often write down the names of books of people I talk to and check them out at bare minimum. Put in the work to get real readers, please.

• I don't know why I'm writing this list. All of these things require some amount of self-awareness and I'm not sure that can be taught.

• Nearly half of the books were trilogies or the first book of a series. I don't know what the obsession is with lengthy series. Maybe if this is your first book you should explore different ideas first.

• Don't write on the back of your book that it's "The greatest" of anything. Your readers will be the judge of that.

• There was a part of the event where the writers went up to the front and talked about their books. It wouldn't hurt to go to toastmasters or at least write a coherent pitch and practice it before getting up in front of an audience. I get it, you're a writer, public speaking probably isn't your strong suit. However, you can practice. I listened to four people before bailing and I didn't understand what a single book was about.

• Maybe don't introduce yourself to the man I'm talking to and then ignore me because I don't look important. It makes you look bad.

• Anyone who knows anything isn't impressed that you bought a review from Kirkus. Put in the hustle and get actual reviews.

• Writing is a lot of work for little reward and there is a LOT of competition. The good news is that it's really not that hard to be above average if you put in the work. I had a boss tell me once about the "3 A's of excellence" - availability, affability, and ability. If you put in the time and are open to opportunities, are easy to talk to, and display actual skill you'll shoot above the competition. This applies to everything.

• Let's talk about self-publishing. There's nothing wrong with self-publishing per-se but I often see it being used as a crutch. I'd encourage everyone who writes to go through the process of sending in submissions. Your wife may be your biggest supporter, but she's not an editor or owner of a magazine or an agent. Your friends may tell you that your'e great, but nobody's going to publish you to be nice. The submission process is where your ego and your art will be thoroughly tested. If you self publish you lose out on facing reality (And yes, I know, I self published when I was younger but in many ways I regret that decision as it shielded me from the tough process of the slush pile). When I was 20 I went to a pitch session at a horror con and I had an editor from TOR read my stuff for 20 seconds and tell me to my face my prose was too stylish and lacked substance. It hurt, but she had a good point.

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