GenreLitChat #2: Crime and Thriller

Beverly Bambury/ May 8, 2014/ #GenreLitChat, Announcements, Interviews, Twitter/ 0 comments

We’re two weeks away from the next #GenreLitChat, and this time it’s a crime! The lineup: J.T. Ellison  (When Shadows Fall) (J.T.’s Twitter: @thrillerchick) John Rector (Out of the Black) (John’s Twitter: @john_rector) Christopher Irvin (Federales) (Christopher’s Twitter: @chrislirvin) John Mantooth (The Year of the Storm) (John’s Twitter: @busfulloflosers) What is #GenreLitChat? It’s an occasional Twitter chat with writers on the state of genre, and how their work does–or doesn’t–fit. Learn about new books! Ask authors questions! Crack open a beer! Well, I guess that last part’s optional, but please feel free.  The date of this thriller and crime Twitter chat is Thursday, May 22nd at 8:00 p.m. EDT / 5:00 p.m. PDT. When you join the chat, you can use this page (http://twubs.com/GenreLitChat) which will focus only on the

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The Amazing Stories Response to the Travelling to Cons on the Cheap Guest Post

Beverly Bambury/ May 6, 2014/ Conventions, Guest Post/ 1 comments

A while back, Effie Seiberg was kind enough to author a guest post for me, The Cheapskate’s Guide to SF/F cons: A Guest Post. It’s been among the more popular posts on my blog with its useful info that balances being a fan and attending cons for fun, and the all-important business-savvy advice. Today Steve Davidson, the head honcho over at Amazing Stories, wrote about his experiences at conventions on the cheap from when he was younger and contrasted that with the modern experience. He was kind enough to mention my thought that it could be different for women to do things like crash in rooms or (gasp!) hitchhike. I really appreciated this response and the contrast with how things were before I’d ever

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My Ad Astra 2014 Schedule

Beverly Bambury/ April 4, 2014/ Conventions/ 2 comments

I only have a few panels this year at Ad Astra (which is in a new hotel this year–the former Polaris hotel), though I have many that I’d like to attend, and several launches and readings that are of interest. Clients Bundoran Press and the EDGE gang (Suzanne Church and Michael Martineck) are both having launch parties at the same time, so that allows for some sitcom-like fun of back-and-forth to parties! (Well. Maybe a bit.) I’ll also be going to the Guest of Honour Brunch, and hopefully will sit with Patricia Briggs. It’s funny–I’d told someone recently that my Canadian business wasn’t that robust, but given the number of clients I’ll see this weekend, I’ve realized it’s healthier than I thought. That pleases

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Teacher, Teach Thyself? Lessons Learned in Marketing Myself

Beverly Bambury/ March 25, 2014/ Marketing, Psychology, Public Relations, sales, Social Skills, writers/ 10 comments

It’s been interesting prepping for my upcoming self-promo webinar sessions. Over the last several years I’ve learned a lot about the different types of writing. Stuff I know both practically and from my education: sales writing, business writing, formal argumentation, Facebook posts, etc. So perhaps ironic would be a better way of describing my efforts instead of interesting; because I didn’t do a very good job getting this out the door. What happened was that I wasn’t getting nearly the number of conversions into ticket sales that I would have expected based on the even’ts page views. A couple of days ago it hit me hard: I’d left the Eventbrite page the same text as my rambling blog post. I’ve fixed it up now,

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Press Release: Tesseracts 18: Wrestling with the Gods

Beverly Bambury/ March 20, 2014/ Announcements/ 2 comments

This is the first time I’ve ever published a press release. Normally they don’t have a big place in publicizing a book; but, in this case, Tesseracts, an annual anthology of the best in Canadian speculative fiction, holds a story by my husband, James Bambury. Keep an eye out for pre-orders which should be available soon. Don’t worry. I’ll remind you. – Beverly FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE“Tesseracts 18: Wrestling with Gods” edited by Liana K and Jerome Stueart Faith in Science Fiction and Fantasy Anthology ISBN: 978-1-77053-068-3 (Trade Paperback 5.5″ X 8.5″) E-BOOK: e-ISBN: 978-1-77053-069-0 To be released April, 2015http://www.edgewebsite.com/books/tess18/t18-catalog.htmlAuthors announced for the latest volume of the prestigious Canadian speculative fiction anthology series. (Calgary, Alberta) EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing is pleased to announce the names of the contributing authors

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Calls for Submission #5

Beverly Bambury/ March 12, 2014/ Calls for Submission, Submissions, Useful Stuff, Writing Markets/ 4 comments

This week Selene MacLeod once again brings us the occasional column Calls for Submission (CfS). You can see all of the CfS columns here. Don’t forget to joint Selene’s Facebook groups  Call for Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Art and Open Call: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Pulp, as well as similar active groups Open Call: Horror Markets, Open Call: For the Love of Horror, and Open Call: Crime, Thriller and Mystery Markets. Finally, you should sign up to receive my news and columns by email; make sure you don’t miss useful stuff in the social media shuffle! Now here’s Selene with various calls, some with quickly-approaching deadlines! – Beverly Greetings! I hope everyone is staying warm and looking forward to spring. I know I am! This time around, there seems to be

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Self-Planning for Self-Promotion: A Book Marketing without B.S. Web Workshop

Beverly Bambury/ March 10, 2014/ Announcements, Book Marketing, BookMarketingWithoutBS, Comic Marketing, DIY, Public Relations, Publicity, Queries, Self-Promotion, self-publishing, Social Media, Traditional Media, Useful Stuff/ 0 comments

I am doing an in-depth online workshop on self-promotion for all authors and comic creators. This isn’t just for the self-published, either. If you’re published by any house, big or small, you know how much work falls to you for your own book marketing and publicity. In fact, it’s telling that my clients primarily fall in the small-to-medium publisher category, with the next largest being major publishing houses. (And yes, I have a few self-published/owner-created comics clients, too!) Right now there are two dates: Thursday, March 27th at 7 p.m. Eastern Time and Sunday, April 13th at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (get those tickets here). I will do this again a few times a year as long as there is interest, so if you

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Self-Promotion for Authors and Comic Creators Webinar Update: Timing Survey

Beverly Bambury/ March 3, 2014/ authors, comic creators, DIY, Self-Promotion, survey, Timing, webinar, writers/ 0 comments

Hi, all! I am planning that webinar on self-promotion for writers and comic creators sometime this month. It’s an update and expansion on the free talk I gave at SFContario this past fall. I plan to charge somewhere in the neighbourhood of $15 for the session, which I expect to take 1.5 to 2 hours. If you’re potentially interested in this, take this survey to help me get an idea of the best day and time to run a session. I’l consider two sessions if necessary, or even more, depending on response, so tell me what works for you and I’ll make a schedule late this week. Anyhow, here’s the survey for your radio button-clicking convenience: Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey ,

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Calls for Submission #4

Beverly Bambury/ February 25, 2014/ Calls for Submission, Submissions, Useful Stuff, Writing Markets/ 0 comments

Thanks, as ever, to Selene MacLeod who brings us the occasional column Calls for Submission (CfS). You can see all of the CfS columns here. Don’t forget you can check out Selene’s Facebook groups  Call for Submissions: Poetry, Fiction, Art and Open Call: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Pulp, as well as similar active groups Open Call: Horror Markets, Open Call: For the Love of Horror, and Open Call: Crime, Thriller and Mystery Markets. Finally, don’t forget to sign up to receive my news and columns by email; make sure you don’t miss useful stuff in the social media shuffle! Enough of me. You’re here for Selene. Enjoy! – Beverly I hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying Women in Horror Month. Be sure to check out some of the great blogs

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Self Publishing Comics Panel Report: A Guest Post by Ricky Lima

Beverly Bambury/ February 22, 2014/ comic creators, comics, Conventions, DIY, Guest Post, Marketing, Self-Promotion, self-publishing/ 0 comments

This past January there was a comics self-publishing event at PAMA (a local art gallery and historical archive). On the panel were Sanya Anwar (Site | Twitter), Ricky Lima (Facebook | Twitter), Jason Loo (Site | Twitter), and David Bishop (Facebook | Twitter).  I was unfortunately unable to make the event, so I asked Ricky to tell me about it in the form of the guest blog post you are about to read. I hope you enjoy it, and let me know if there are similar events in your city you might like to report on.  Bishop, Loo, Anwar, Lima (L-R)Photo credit: Stadium Comics Peel Art Gallery, Museum, and Archive is hosting an exhibit dedicated to graphic story telling. The gallery has an awesome collection

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