Sandra Locke-Paddon: What I Learned at the New World of Publishing

The May 21-22 workshop with Janet Goldstein was a treasure chest of information. Janet provided a map for the pathway through the fast changing world of publishing. With Laura Davis as our guide, keeping us traveling smoothly along, we renewed our passion and focus. Through a series of exercises and a sprinkling of guest speakers, Janet’s energetic presentation gave us a wealth of tools and information.

The keynote speaker, Daphne Rose Kingma, author of Ten Things to do When Your Life Falls Apart, brought her elegant style in talking about our passions and purpose. She has written many books on the emotions and was inspirational.

The weekend took us from the idea stage of our writing to the nuts and bolts of pitching a project. The laser coaching sessions were dynamic. We could really imagine ourselves in the hot seat struggling to describe what it is we’re working on and by the end we had a much more refined and concrete piece to work with and a better idea of how to express ourselves and our projects.

We focused on our platform, an area that writers in general fall short in. We spend our time with the words but today we need to spend time on the marketing aspects of getting our work out there, it’s not enough to market the work itself. Marketing ourselves via blogs, affiliations with other writers, a good agent, a coach and editor all play a part in creating the foundation for success in getting our work published.

The Publishing Panel guest speakers, Nathan Bransford, who has worked in publishing and is a new author himself, spoke about the online world of publishing. Andy Ross, an agent, spoke about making the deal with a humorous flair. David Carr talked about the value of working with a freelance editor and we came away with more clarity about these aspects of the business side of our writing.

Author Andrea Alban and her agent Barbara Moulton told the story of their journey together with laughter and a glimpse into the relationship between creative writer and sometimes stern but loving agent. All of the authors spent time signing their books and chatting with everyone. Karen Leland was an excellent speaker and source of information about broadcasting our work and getting our message out there.

Being in the same room with like-minded creative fellow writers is a great opportunity to network and talk about our writing, stressed throughout as important in the life of a writer. We dined together and heard each other's stories, and came away filled with luscious food and memories. Janet and Laura pointed us in a new direction and we took with us a plan for the next steps in getting published.

Sandra Locke-Paddon has been writing since childhood. She has written for magazines and newspaper, has senior edited several literary journals, and started two community newspapers. She is currently helping friends write their memoirs and is finalizing a novel about domestic abuse.

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