Thursday, August 27, 2020


100+ sci/fi & fantasy books free for limited time!

Summer's not over yet!  

I've teamed up with more than 100 other bestselling authors to offer you an amazing selection of new books for free, including my young adult science fiction novel, Moonblood. 

Don't delay! This offer ends Sept. 15.

CLICK HERE 

Praise for Moonblood:

“A fantastic book from beginning to end, well worth the time reading."

–M. Mackey, Amazon Review

"I really enjoyed this book a lot! It was very hard for me to put down. I definitely have not read any other book like this one and I’m impressed!"

--T. Marie, Amazon Review



Thursday, August 13, 2020

Guild “Editing Extravaganza” Sept. 12 Offers Publicity Workshop, Consultations with Experts

Sign up now for online editing consultations at the St. Louis Writers Guild’s Sept. 12 Editing Extravaganza! Submit the first five to ten pages of your manuscript or your query letter to be reviewed by an editor and have a 20+ minute one-on-one consultation. 

Starting the day will be a free, online workshop from 10 a.m. to noon featuring international speaker and four-time bestselling author Jill Lublin. She will focus on how to “Get Known Everywhere Using Publicity.” 

Discover how to be the #1 Influencer in your industry by boosting your credibility and amplifying your media visibility. Based on her international bestseller, Guerrilla Publicity, Jill Lublin shares simple strategies and provides cost-effective short‐term, doable tactics. Helping you understand what the media is looking for, so you and your brand can stand out, get noticed and go from unknown to newsworthy. 

Jill shares her proven secrets to understanding what the media wants and provides cost effective short‐term, doable tactics that boost credibility and increase visibility for you and your brand. You will:

1) Understand the real purpose of publicity- To boost your credibility and amplify your visibility.  

2) Uncover your "Oooooo, Ahhhhhh!" factor. Find the Wow! that sets you apart from the crowd.  

3) You are the news! Craft a riveting message that lets others know who you are and what you do.

4) Simplify! Learn how the pros mesmerize the masses by tailoring their message to the level of a five-year-old.  

5) Write a four-sentence announcement that ignites a local media frenzy.

6) Pass the all-important "Who cares?" test by showcasing your expertise in a way that commands attention. 

Consultations with editors are $40. Sign up by clicking the button on the website’s Event page. The form asks for your editor preference. If you sign up before all the editors have been announced, you will be contacted for your first choice. Pages are requested by Sept. 1 to allow editors time to review them. Editing consultations with Meghan Pinson and Andrew Doty and query letter critiques with Catherine Bakewell will be held between 1-3 p.m., Sept. 12.

***

JILL LUBLIN is an international speaker on the topics of Radical Influence, Publicity, Networking, Kindness and Referrals. She is the author of four bestselling books including Get Noticed...Get Referrals (McGraw Hill) and co-author of Guerrilla Publicity and Networking Magic.  Her latest book, Profit of Kindness, went #1 in four categories. Jill is a master strategist on how to position your business for more profitability and more visibility in the marketplace. She is CEO of a strategic consulting firm and has over 25 years’ experience working with over 100,000 people plus national and international media. Jill teaches a virtual Publicity Crash Course and consults and speaks all over the world. She also helps authors to create book deals with major publishers and agents, as well as obtain foreign rights deals. Visit publicitycrashcourse.com/freegift and jilllublin.com 

MEGHAN PINSON is ringleader of My Two Cents Editing, a small band of specialists who provide expert editing, engaging critique, and fearless consulting to authors of novels and nonfiction manuscripts. She specializes in story development and author education and is the author of My Two Cents Editing's Indie-Publishing Workbook: A Guide to the Industry's Best Practices. Her current favorite genres: historical fiction, crime/mystery/suspense, middle grade adventure stories, and prescriptive nonfiction. Connect with her at www.mytwocentsediting.com.

ANDREW DOTY is an experienced editor and project manager who currently serves as the lead project coordinator at Editwright, a publishing services agency whose team serves authors and nonprofits; the Vice President of the St. Louis Publishers Association; and the founder of the budding nonprofit Write for a Change. Andrew is a published poet and a practicing musician. To contact Andrew, visit editwright.com.

CATHERINE BAKEWELL is a fantasy writer, history fan, and opera enthusiast. She has lived in France and  Spain, where she romped through gardens, ate pastries, and worked on her novels. She is represented by Jordan Hamessley of New Leaf Literary & Media. You can check out Catherine's blog about querying and find out about her editorial services at catherinebakewell.com.  


Learn more about St. Louis Writers Guild virtual events at www.stlwritersguild.org/virtual-events.


Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Get up to speed with the Publishing Evolution: Aug. 22 online conference

On Aug. 22, the St. Louis Writers Guild will host a variety of authors discussing the future of publishing at an online daylong conference. 

The event is free to SLWG Members, though registration is required, and $20 for nonmembers, including access to recordings of the four workshops. Sign up for the Publishing Evolution using Eventbrite on stlwritersguild.org

9-10:45 a.m. panel: “Write, Publish, Promote & Profit in the Digital Age”
with Nicole Evelina, Vivian Gibson, Esme Symes-Smith, and LaShaunda Hoffman, moderated by Marie Chewe-Elliott 
Learn tips, strategies and tools on writing and promoting your book from award-winning authors who are achieving success in the publishing evolution.

11a.m.-12p.m.: “Empowering Your Writing: Using Conscious Language for Inclusiveness and Representation” with Crystal Shelley 
Words have the power to do good: to uplift, to inspire, and to validate. Words also have the power to do harm: to hurt, to marginalize, and to erase. In this session, we'll discuss how we can wield words for good by using conscious language, balancing writer intent with reader impact, and incorporating diversity into our stories.  

12-1 p.m. break – Grab lunch and get back to your computer! 

1-2 p.m. “Art for Cause: Writing for Advocacy, Healing & CommUNITY Building” with Marie Chewe-Elliott, Antoinette Crayton and Kate Moore-Freeman
What role can writers and artists play during times of crisis, conflict and chaos in our community? Join this discussion on opportunities to use your work to make a difference and be the change you want to see. In cooperation with the North County Writing and Arts Network. 

2-3 p.m. “Locksmithing for Writers” with Arianne “Tex” Thompson
If you need that break-in scene to read just right - and if you'd like some first-hand experience to help you write it - then step right up! This introductory course includes essential vocabulary and hands-on lockpicking practice with a variety of antique and modern locks, along with little-known hints and facts guaranteed to inspire your next ingenious plot twist. Limber up your fingers and get ready to write some wrongs!

About the speakers:

Marie Chewe-Elliott is a writer, speaker, and poet in north St. Louis County. She is the author of four books and co-founder of North County Writing & Arts Network. Her poems have been published in The St. Louis Anthology, SO Magazine, UMSL's Litmag, and among winning selections in the 2019 Arts Rolla Writing Competition and Arts in Transit's 2019 Metro Lines Contest. Marie's love of words guided her to a career of more than 30 years in various facets of communications, including newspaper reporter, nonprofit and government communications, and adjunct lecturer. She earned degrees from the University of Mississippi and Webster University. Connect with Marie at myelliott61@gmail.com, https://www.mariecheweelliott.com/ on Facebook, or IG.

Esme Symes-Smith grew up in the South West of England, then earned their degree in Literature and Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University in Wales. After graduating, they moved across the world to be with their wife in St. Louis. They have freelanced as a ghost-writer, managed a frozen-yogurt shop, and are now focused on writing the queer kidlit they craved as a kid. They are represented by Megan Manzano of D4EO Literary and can be found at @EsmeSymesSmith on Twitter.  http://esymessmith.com/




Vivian Gibson is a native St. Louisian who grew up in Mill Creek Valley, a neighborhood razed in 1959 to build a highway. Her family, friends, church community, and neighbors were all displaced by this act of “urban renewal.” In her moving memoir, Gibson recreates the everyday lived experiences of her large family, including her seven siblings, her crafty college-educated mother, who moved to St. Louis as part of the Great Migration, and her at-times forbidding father, who worked two jobs to keep them all warm and fed. With an eye for telling detail, she sketches scenes populated by her friends, shop owners, teachers, and others who made Mill Creek into a warm, tight-knit, African-American community, and reflects upon what it means that Mill Creek was destroyed in the name of racism disguised as “progress.” http://vivian-gibson.com

LaShaunda Hoffman turned her love for books into an award-winning online magazine for readers and writers of multi-cultural literature, Shades Of Romance – SORMAG. Her mission in life is to help promote writers by introducing them to readers. Born and raised in St. Louis, LaShaunda started her adventure in life by joining the United States Navy. She served her country for six years and returned to her hometown. She began to work for the U.S. government. LaShaunda is currently working on a Christian romance and is on the hunt for a literary agent. She hopes to one day introduce her books to readers.



Nicole Evelina is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and women’s fiction whose six books have won more than 40 awards, including four Book of the Year designations. Nicole was named Missouri’s Top Independent Author by Library Journal and Biblioboard as the winner of the Missouri Indie Author Project in 2018 and has been awarded the North Street Book Prize and the Sarton Women’s Book Award. One of her books, Madame Presidentess, was previously optioned for film. She is represented by Amy Collins of Talcott Notch Literary. http://nicoleevelina.com

Crystal Shelley is a freelance copy editor, proofreader, and sensitivity reader who works with self-publishing fiction authors. She also practices as a licensed clinical social worker. She unites her love of language and social justice by providing editorial services with a focus on representation and conscious language. Visit her website at Rabbit with a Red Pen to read more tips on writing and editing or to connect with her on social media.  




Arianne "Tex" Thompson is a licensed locksmith, egregiously enthusiastic editor, and professional ruckus-raiser. She is the author of  Children of the Drought, an internationally-published epic fantasy Western series from Solaris, as well as an instructor for Writing Workshops Dallas and ‘chief instigator’ of WORD – Writers Organizations ‘Round Dallas. Now she’s blazing a trail through conferences, workshops, and conventions around the country – as an endlessly energetic, catastrophically cheerful one-woman stampede. Find her online at thetexfiles.com and wordwriters.org!