Conference Report: East of Eden Writers Conference

Sacramento Suburban Writers

California Writers Club South Bay Branch, East of Eden Writers Conference
Submitted by Esmaa Self

Susan Harrow Session Report

Publcity Secrets of Best Selling Authors

Media Coach Susan Harrow, author of 'Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul', maintains a website from which she dispenses her considerable public relations and media handling knowledge. For more information, visit her site: www.prsecrets.com. I admit it: I am a fan of Susan Harrow. From our first few words exchanged in the hall, through her energetic and clear presentation and the email exchanges we've had since the conference, I have felt her sincerity, warmth and wisdom.

Here's what I learned from Susan's class titled: Publicity
Secrets of Best Selling Authors: Presence, Message, Persistence

People size you up in ten seconds or less. Make sure the impression you leave is the one you choose.

Plan, prepare, practice your message. Know your message and your ultimate goal, and drive toward it.

Before speaking into a microphone, you should be able to answer these questions:
1. What does *your* audience need to know?
2. What is your angle?
3. How do you want to connect with your audience?

Learn to adapt your angle to current events and/issues. For instance, perhaps you've written a book on the gold rush, when folks were interested in get-rich-quick schemes. You could relate those passions to the current tendency for get-rich-quick scheming.

Recognize your areas of expertise and learn to turn them to your benefit. In my case, my knowledge of nature can be used to cultivate opportunities to spread a message of a simplified lifestyle. What do *you* know? How does that relate to your writing?

Susan told the story of how her publicist (yes, she too has a publicist!) secured a spot for her on a national television show by wearing down the booking agent. It took one phone call but six pitches of six different angles
to get to "Yes." Susan's publicist had multiple angles prepared before making the call. He did not give up, nor did he become aggressive to the point of alienating the show's booking agent. He just kept offering a slightly different slant on the message until one clicked.

Persistence is a lot of it. Learn how to handle any opportunity. Be prepared to weave your way through the process.

Generosity
Your message is your gift. Be generous with it. Connect with people, share yourself. Susan tells the story of the woman who approached an author after his lecture with these words, "I am the one who heard you." He took her hand
in both of his and said, "You are the one I came for."

Booksigning Events
Don't bother with book signings! Do an event, perhaps a mini-workshop, perhaps wear a period costume, but make it an event. Have music playing, offer snacks, use a bubble machine, whatever you can to set the tone and the stage.

Broaden your base, open appeal and create a multi-author event. Stand for something. Align yourself with a cause, sell that cause when you sell books and create a more rounded, more satisfying event.

Above all, respect your audience and give them something worth coming out for.

Soundbites Demystified. Soundbites: maximum effect, minimum words.
Effective soundbites often use an anecdote or statistic but can be a question as long as it furthers the conversation. See more about questions under 'Revel in Conflict" below.

If you'd like to raise public awareness of you, the author, through offering quotes to the media, practice soundbites and do it out loud. There is a difference in how things seem timed when recited in your head and when spoken. Work at it until you speak your soundbites with great fluidity.

Condense your soundbite into a line that can be expanded. Create a complement of soundbites, expandable and collapsible versions. Interviewers will probably cut you off after 20 seconds, even if it is to be a 45-minute
interview to create conversational flow. If you have expandable soundbites, you will be able to get your message out multiple times per interview.

Prepare to be Booked
Authors do memorable things, record your life. Create photographs or even video of you living life for use in later interviews as 'B' roll. This way you can create and control your own image. Example: I might take along a shot on me and my super-hiking-hubby on top of Mount Whitney or possibly working in our garden, or possibly smoking salmon on the reservation.

Go to your local cable access station and create 'B' roll. Have a friend ask prepared questions, but keep the camera on you so you can have footage of yourself to offer in later television appearances. (Oh, how I think Jonathan
Franzen would have liked to have done this rather than go through the Oprah 'B' roll fiasco of 2001.)

Before the Show
Before you show up on Larry King Live, plan what you will and will not talk about. Define your boundaries and maintain them. If a question veers into unwelcome territory, simply say, "I don't know about that, but what I do know is . . . and give your message one more time.

Revel in Conflict
Do not be afraid of controversy. Frame your comments to the
negative, they are attention grabbers: Dieting makes you fat!

Susan says people love what they hate. Forget being politically correct. 'Juice' comes from strong opinions, responses and emotions.

Ask gripping questions for which you have an answer. Examples of good questions might be: "Is the guy in the next cubicle an addict?" "Did you know most alcoholics wear a suit?" "Which Indians are sorry Europeans arrived?"

Of course, you'll need to produce questions and controversy that relate to your book.

Top Ten List
Create a tearsheet of top tens related to your book. Top ten lessons to be gleaned from your family saga, say, 'Top Ten Reasons to Remain Chaste' or 'Top Ten Ways to Tell the Difference Between a Lawyer, Mobster and Private Eye'. I write about the Yurok Indian reservation, therefore, my top ten list might include little-know rez life facts or, perhaps a spoof about favorite Yurok ways to smoke bear.

Tips for Getting Booked on Oprah
Susan has helped many people get booked on Oprah and shares
these tips for making the best of such an opportunity:

1.) Tape and watch Oprah.
2.) Pitch a hot topic. (not your book)
3.) Have a winning press package.
4.) Explore the show's web site.

Visit Susan Harrow's website for more tips and an excerpt from the book and/or to purchase "The Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah."

Get your FREE monthly newsletter of publicity and marketing tips (a $197/yearvalue!) at http://www.prsecrets.com

Overview

The conference was held August 23-25, 2002 in Salinas California, the birthplace of John Steinbeck. Events were held in the National Steinbeck Center and the Steinbeck House and other locations around town. For more
information about the conference, visit their website: "http://www.southbaywriters.com"

This first annual event offered 15-minute one-on-one conferences with the following:

Agents:
- Nancy Ellis of the LitWest Group Agency
- Michael Larsen & Elizabeth Pomada of the Larsen/Pomada Agency
- Stephanie Lee of the Manus & Associates
- Kendra Marcus of Bookstop Literary Agency
- Andrea Brown of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency
- Robert Preskill, Esq., of the LitWest Group Agency
- Anne Sheldon and Michael Vidor of the Hardy Agency

- Literary Attorney Robert Pimm

Publishers:
- John Loudon, HarperSanFrancisco
- Don DeHart, DeHart Printers
- Holly Taines White, Ten Speed Press
- Robert Reed, Robert D. Reed, Monterey Pacific Publishing
- Summer Laurie, Tricycle Press
- Melanie Rigney, Writers Digest

Authors:
- Martha Alderson, Madaline DiMaggio, Christopher Fink, Kristen
- Iverson, Teresa
- Le-Yung Ryan, Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Phyllis Taylor Pianka,
- Catherine Rountree
- Catherine Ryan Hyde

Marketers: Susan Harrow, John Cantu and Malcolm Kushner

The workshops offered included such diverse subjects as Creating Blockbuster Plots, Working With an Editor, Screenwriting and Romance
Writing. Later this week I'll report on Robert Pimm's class on Literary Contracts and Susan Harrow's class on publicity secrets.

Miscellany
What to write, what to write? All the agents basically agreed that if they *could* write, that's what they'd probably be doing, but since they are not writing they are more than pleased to offer a service to working writers. It's about the books, say they, and the hope of finding a jewel in the slush.

Literary Agent Elizabeth Pomada says to stop writing memoirs, the market is flooded and unless you were kidnapped by pirates and saved by Flipper, yours won't get a second look. (Okay the pirates and Flipper part was
my paraphrase).

Literary Agent Michael Larsen says to go ahead and write the memoir, but sell
it as fiction. Robert Pimm, attorney, says to write the memoir as fiction,
changing your mother into a barren alien bird dog. (Yeah, that's a
paraphrase, too.)

Syndicated Columnist Sharon Randall says to write what's been given you to
write. If you are obsessed with cancer, write about it, even if it makes you
sick. (That's actually not a paraphrase.)

Author Catherine Ryan Hyde (Walter's Purple Heart, Pay it Forward) says to
write what you believe and realize that what was rejected with a seventh
generation photocopy of a mimeographed form letter yesterday
may be tomorrow's hot property. Agents, editors and producers can be wrong. (I think she actually said they ARE wrong, but since this report has my name on it. . .ahem. . .) She also says to understand that the writing life is
difficult and that's why you are having a hard time. After five titles and
two movie deals, not to mention award winning short stories, she still has a
difficult time.

Catherine has no Plan B; nothing to fall back on. She says her mother told her the trouble with a fallback plan is that you will fall back. You'll work very hard to stay on the high wire when there is no safety net. She implores writers not to assume what a big publishing house says is correct, for if they never made mistakes they'd never publish flops. And this, she says, they do every season. There is no such thing as the submission police.

Submit simultaneously, no one will knock on your door at midnight. If you don't sim sub, there's a very good chance you'll die unpublished. So send your stuff to lots of places and do it all at once. If you agree to give someone a four-month exclusive, send that miss out to someone else in four months and one day.

Catherine says don't be afraid to sub to small literary magazines whose idea
of payment is a copy of the issue, hopefully one in which your work appeared. An agent contacted Hyde by going through Bottomfish (that was
fun to write) after seeing one of her short stories in that now defunct
magazine.

Says she: Rejection means absolutely nothing. Don't delude yourself into
thinking it is even a strong comment on the editor's opinion. Here's what she thinks rejection means: you are a writer sending out your stuff.

One other thing about Catherine: she possesses a delightful, wicked wit. If you have the opportunity to hear her speak, go, dog, go!

Sales table thoughts:
I saw a table filled with postcards selling books. MJ Rose's card was the largest, and that helped her stack stand out. Most cards on the table were redish-purpleish in overall tone. There were two examples with
white backgrounds that really grabbed attention. Simple is more eye-catching,
especially when competing in this forum of visual overload. As near as I can
tell, all displayed postcards used the book cover. (So this might be something
to think about when picking your book cover fights with your publisher.) MJ's
was the only one that included review quotes on the front.
(Good job, girl!)

A book's cover art says a great deal. For instance, one author's postcards seemed to scream at me "Hey! You! You'll hate my work, so don't even think of buying my books!" You may wonder how I got so much information.
(Indeed, it seems I may have guessed this author's lineage as well) But
let's take the high road, shall we? Okay. His sexist and poorly drawn cover
art convinced me I'm not his target audience.

A row of books stacked ten-deep face-up look like a wall or barrier from across the room. Be sure to vary the height and display of your table. (So,
set some books on end.)

Robert Pimm, Literary Attorney Session Report

Anatomy of a Literary Contract

Robert Pimm is an attorney, and thinks like one. He presented the class with printed copies of a flow chart titled The Anatomy of a Literary Contract and stated that he did so to keep us from having to take notes. Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce said flow chart for you because; 1.) Pimm copyrighted it, and 2.) What? You didn't read number one?

But here's the zest of what Robert wants authors to know about our rights: You have lots and they can be sold separately. He likens copyright to a bundle of sticks.

Says he, authors should hold onto any right with which the publisher has no history of capitalizing. For instance, if your publisher has never sold film rights, don't let them have yours. If they are no good at finding overseas buyers for translation rights, don't sell them translation rights, find your own overseas buyer. Keep as many rights as possible with the intention of selling them later to a better-equipped publisher.

Robert also handed out a Literary Law Flow Chart. It's going in the file next to that other flow chart.

Robert complemented his flow charts with a sample copy of a worst-case publishing contract. He painted the picture of publishers writing contracts that allow them to hold onto author royalties as long as possible --over half a year-- and agents doing the same. I had my agency contract with me: my agent pays royalties in seven working days. (Now if only I'd earn some!)

Pimm wants authors to make themselves familiar with contract law so they might line-through boilerplate jargon and request specific, narrower language. I second that.

He warns writers to reject any cross collateralization clause, as that allows the publisher to withhold royalties from books two and three, say, if book one flopped.

Pimm suggests familiarizing oneself with Nolo Press books on publishing contracts and joining the National Writer's Union.

His best advice, I think, was that if you have an attorney who is also an agent, be sure to enlist his services as an attorney as there are more restraints and controls governing attorney actions than those of an agent.

Perhaps my "Eh?" attitude stems from the fact that his class session was my final one of the conference (read: I was exhausted, yet thrilled) but it seems this attorney sees life as a series of horrid possibilities, from which one must protect oneself. And mayhap that's his job, so the likes of me can continue to tiptoe through the tulips, too.

Trust me, I plan to speak with a literary attorney if any portion of any future book contract doesn't make sense to me. (By the way, Robert stated his average fee for contract review is around $500, most of that incurred discussing details with the author.)

Robert Pimm's email address is bob@RGPimm.com. His website is: www.hometown.aol.com/RGPimm

(Contributor bio: In 1973 Esmaa Self, a fourth generation American, was abandoned on the remote northern California Hupa/Yurok Indian reservation and refused to leave when authorities tried to place her in an off-rez foster home. Her semi-autobiographical account in novel form is currently making the rounds in New York City. Contact Esmaa through her agent, Janet Kobobel Grant at <www.janetgrant.com>)