Don’t subscribe to this website. I won’t pick up your email from here because the site is infested with SPAMMERS so if you are for real, go to www.MarlaMiller.com–that’s where you can follow/subscribe to MarlaMiller.com’s MarketingtheMuse!

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Follow me over to www.MarlaMiller.com–that’s me—

where MarketingtheMuse now has room to GROW.

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IF…

you like Marketingthemuse.com

THEN….

you will LOVE the NEW

Marketing The Muse relaunched at MarlaMiller.com.

WHY?

It offers more good stuff that authors on the road to publication need to know so please register at the site just by clicking  www.MarlaMiller.com

AND be sure to ‘pick up’ your Complimentary 41- minute Real Time Quick Query Critique Workshop–our way of saying “THANK YOU!”  for your continued support.

Just sign-up and confirm for the MUSE-letter to get access.

Marla

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MUSE READERS, Videos working now–so sorry for inconvenience!

My pal, Michael Steven Gregory, founder of The Southern California Writer’s Conference, SCWC, filmed this video when my hair was that other color, The letter was written by an MD.

Hear what the group has to say about it.

BTW, have you signed up for the upcoming SCWC, Sept 24-26,  held in Newport Beach?   If not, why not? It’s the best bang for your writing investment buck. Seriously, join us.

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Matt Stewart is author of The French Revolution, his debut novel that Kirkus raved about—

“Best of all, Stewart’s language sparkles, sometimes riffing like Bob Dylan, always moving the narrative forward….easy entertainment in book form.” – Kirkus Reviews

He began tweeting his unpublished novel when his agent could not find a publisher to buy it. 30 rejections later, Stewart pretty much said “what the hell” and began tweeting. His followers began calling his tweets ‘Cliff Notes’–offering just enough to want more.

A fun interview that is the first of several with this young author who possesses both the writing chops and a keen understanding of technology. Study his site to learn marketing strategies. www.matt-stewart.com

Speaking of technology- MtheM Skype Author Interview Series will be improving ours soon. Until then, click (below)  to learn a thing a two about publishing in the 21st century.

Generated Video

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Remember, any world you create, you must also navigate your readers through it.  If your query letter isn’t able to accomplish this, what makes you think an agent/editor will trust that your manuscript will read differently?

THE LETTER:

Dear Sir or Madam:
Please consider Pentacle, my young adult urban fantasy novel, set primarily in modern-day San Francisco. The completed manuscript is just under 88,000 words.
Nicola VanDrace despises everything, first and foremost herself, and second, everyone else. She is 13 and seriously considering suicide when she receives an invitation in the mail to attend a prestigious high school, Whitwelle Academy for the Education of Young Ladies of Stature, in San Rafael, California. After laughing her head off at the school’s name, she decides on a whim to attend. Once there, she meets Jacqueline, a girl virtually her opposite, but somehow the only person she doesn’t feel the immediate need to punch.
The two girls begin an unlikely and very close friendship—perhaps too close. Soon, inexplicable things begin to happen to them. They are chased through the streets of San Francisco by a boy with a knife. Nicola has a book that won’t open, which one day begins transforming into a half-star. The Headmistress’ wiener dog is stalking them.
What they don’t know is that they’re not from this world. They are elves, exchanged at birth for human children in order to protect them from the Great Demon, who was once a man, but is now possessed by thousands of malignant spirits. The Great Demon wants the Pentacle, an inter-worldly travel device of immense power– and Nicola and Jacqueline each have half. Nicola is also the spawn of the Great Demon, endowed with the genetic trait that will match her in power to her father, so that she must either kill what he has become, or be possessed herself, spelling doom for everything with a soul. The Great Demon is aware that one of the girls is its daughter, but does not know which changeling’s life it must end. Jacqueline and Nicola enter the struggle not knowing who they are or from where they come, or even for what they fight, but find that ‘kill or be killed’ is the final verdict. They have been fortunate not yet to have learned that the only thing worse than death is to be possessed.
Pentacle is my first novel and the first installment in this trilogy.  Writing for the second in the series is well underway. I attended the 2008 (X) Writer’s Conference, to which I had sent in an early draft of the novel’s prologue and first chapter, earning a full scholarship. I am prepared to send in the completed manuscript, should you desire to read it. Please note that I am querying multiple agents. Thank you for your time in reviewing this query, and I look forward to your response.
Best regards,

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This author has no problem writing. The need to define this book is her challenge. I can’t ‘see’ it on the page. I can only ‘read’ what she wants it to be about and that’s a problem.

THE LETTER

Boom and bust; boom and bust. Economists call it the business cycle and say that’s just the way things work. But what if they’re wrong? What if, as seems to be happening now, the booms in our capitalistic system are destined to get shorter and help fewer people each time around, while the busts grow progressively deeper, longer and bring more human misery with every cycle? What if the root problems of capitalism run so deep that no amount of monetary stimulus, jobs creation programs or changes in who runs the country can solve the problem? What do we do when all the ideas we know how to apply to bring balance back to our system no longer succeed?

As with every other approach that’s ever served us – be it feudalism, the horse and buggy or hunting woolly mammoths – when all the fixes have failed, it’s time for a change. None of those systems were inherently evil and they all worked well for a time. When the world changes though, we need to change with it…or die. As conscious, thinking beings we can either do so thoughtfully and voluntarily, or we can wait until life gets so awful we’re left with no choice.  Either way, though, change is coming. The only remaining question to answer is this: will we embrace our current challenges and thoughtfully redesign our future with planning and foresight, or will we allow millions – perhaps even billions – of honest, hardworking people to suffer (or even die) before we pick up the broken pieces of our shattered civilization and start again?

This book opens a dialogue around that very question. After sixteen years as a successful stockbroker with a major Wall Street firm, I quit the financial services business in late 2007 and dedicated myself to writing “Sacred Economics: Designing a World That Works for Everyone” because I realized our entire global economic system was destined to fail, and fail for good. While working as a broker I’d witnessed the stock market crashes of 1987 and 2000, and I’d been warning my clients about the pending collapse of the mortgage and housing market since 2005. Yet still our national economists, those ivory tower thinkers we tend to turn to for explanations, were assuring us things were clipping along just fine. What therefore became painfully clear to me was that it was going to take someone from deep inside the industry, someone who had experienced its strengths and weaknesses from the inside out, to find the courage to stand up and tell some hard truths about what capitalism really is and why it can’t take us any futher, as well as point out the price our planet is paying to try and sustain it.

This isn’t a book that will tell you how to survive the apocolypse, or how to do better than your friends and neighbors in the next economic crash. It’s bigger than that. Nor is its intention to instill fear, or to shame and blame those who’ve promoted capitalism in the past. This book’s intention is to warn everyone of the rising economic tsunami – the rumbles of which we are already sensing as the wave begins to build – that can only be avoided if we stand together and help those standing beside us. I promise you, it will challenge some of your deepest – perhaps even most cherished – beliefs about life and humankind. It has to, because before we can change our world we must first change our minds…one mind at a time.

Video Critique # 9

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As promised, we have added author interviews to our MarketingtheMuse content. Published authors now have an opportunity to build/expand their platforms as MtheM builds/expand through MtheM Skype interviews, also complementary to subscribers.

So without  apology, here’s the first in MtheM Skype Author Interview Series (we promise, editing will improve!)  The intention: focus interviews on one aspect of writing in an 8-10 minute video that authors on the road will find useful.

Colin Broderick’s memoir, Orangutan begins with his arrival in NYC from Northern Ireland when he was 21 years old. The troubled times in this young man’s life mixes sadness and desperation with lots of funny scenes. After all, Colin is Irish. Random House published Orangutan in early 2010 and in 2011 will publish the follow up, That’s That, the chronicles of his early years in Northern Ireland. MtheM Skype Author Interview Series hopes to have him back on to discuss more about this writing life.

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I need your votes so I’m begging on my own website…where else would I beg?  Click the video to hear more about OWN AGING, my audition for Oprah’s OWN TV. I need votes & comments & remember, OWN AGING could provide a platform for over-40 authors  on the road. How that’s for a pitch? Voting closes 7/3/10

(Please cut/paste URL to VOTE)

http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=3157&promo_id=1

Thanks Everyone!

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THE LETTER

Dear Agent,
I invite you to read my 128,000 word archaeology-mystery and fictional novel entitled The Ancient Prophecy.
Kirkus Review calls it “a head spinning adventure,” also adding that “The plot pulls the reader smoothly through the action and the scenes from Ancient Egypt have the feel of an authentic fable,” and raves that it is “an Egypt tale well worth reading.”
Four thousand years ago, the Ancient Egyptian god of the underworld is slaughtered… by his own brother. Attempting to take over the world, he is stopped by the rest of gods who entomb him in the layers of time and with him, his very sinister purpose, but not for long.
The story then shifts to modern days where a family of three Egyptologists, father, mother and daughter, are stranded in an ancient Egyptian tomb. The parents meet their demise by means of a curse, while the girl, Maya Montgomery, encounters a near-death experience when she falls into a dark pit during her escape.
At eight years of age, she is left to die inside the tomb until she is rescued by a family friend.  After being transported to the hospital, she is found carrying a single object in her hand that is believed to be an Ancient Egyptian artifact. Maya realizes that she has no recollection whatsoever of the recent mishaps that included the death of her parents or of the origin of the object she carries. She is diagnosed with amnesia and the secrets she once possessed are shrouded within her brain, forever.
Twelve years after the tragedy, she returns to Egypt along with an expedition in hopes to unearth her lost past, but she returns carrying the single object that the god of chaos and evil pursues. How will she stop him from acquiring her only inheritance when it is his key to world dominance?
I believe The Ancient Prophecy will appeal to fans of Dan Brown and J.K. Rowling. Initially, because the subject of Ancient Egypt is one that stands unambiguous to mystery and adventure and almost everyone in the world is interested in this civilization.
I am currently a college student and an active member of the honor society Phi Theta Kappa. I have joined The Writer’s Garret Workshop over the past years while working, at the same time, on my second novel of a series of six. I’m also a fluent speaker of English and Arabic thus I can easily reach a greater audience. Over the past ten years of my life, the Ancient Egyptians have fascinated me to the extent that I learnt how to read and write ancient hieroglyphs. I believe that my novel is a facilitated way to gain knowledge of this great civilization and a great source of entertainment for both young adults and adults.
A complete manuscript is currently available for submission upon your request.
I’m truly looking forward to hearing from you.
signature
POST-critique last word:

IN MY HUMBLE, this author has a shot  at getting attention. He writes well, presents a compelling tale and clearly has the credentials to deliver it.

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Quick Query # 7 is a re-do of Q.Q.C. #6.

THE QUERY LETTER

Dear Ms. Miller,
Love-Laws of the Jungle is a compilation of authentic letters I spontaneously wrote to my clients in the middle of the night from our session that day, synthesizing my afterthoughts and insights. One of my clients was so inspired by my letter; she carried it in her purse for a year. The letters target a variety of relationship challenges prescribing revolutionary tactics and innovative tools, resulting in a collection of Love-Laws that I later created. The letters were edited for clarity and confidentiality.

Desperate times require desperate measures. Despite bestselling relationship books, the divorce rate is holding at 50%. Women still nag men and men go into their cave. Having been in private practice for over twenty years, I’ve detected the missing piece of the puzzle. The root of relationship problems today is the severance from our animal nature. In our earnest efforts to become gentile, we’ve over trained ourselves. In the name of love or peace, reason or restraint, we’re stuck second-guessing ourselves. So we pretend. We lie to ourselves and we lie to our mate. Instead of dynamic, a relationship turns static. The result? I see “dead spouses walking.”

Human nature is not our enemy. At the base of our design is the animal instinct to band together to survive. How? Both males and females bring their skills to the relationship table, balancing compassion and cooperation with assertiveness and sensibility. Cutting to the chase, I teach women and men how to get out of their heads and back into the genius of their natural instincts. Defying politically correct conventionality, in Love-Laws of the Jungle, I utilize human nature without apology, tackling an array of male-female issues via provocative proclamations and clever teasers. And it won’t always be pretty. And it will cause a fuss. And it does work⎯quite easily and quite readily.

Love-Law of the Jungle #23: If your man’s penis is in charge of him, sit down eye to eye with his penis and state your terms for a mutually rewarding deal.

“Tara, undress Rick. Sit down in front of him. Look his penis straight in the eye and bow in honor of King Kock. If you start laughing, compose yourself. A vital marriage requires pleasurable sex for two. Remember, the penis is its own entity. State your claim. Keep your eyes on his penis and start talking.” ~Letter 7~

Love-Law of the Jungle #27: When women curtail shopping the way men have had to curtail sex, we’ll be free of a double standard.

Love-Law of the Jungle #9: Love is like a meal. Feed a man too often, he’ll sit back, put up his feet, then burp. Too much coddling will turn any man into a lethargic crabby fat cat.

Love-Law of the Jungle #1: Grace is being disappointed without punishing or resenting one another.

I have a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and I’m a Certified Relationship Coach. I was the Associate Clinical Director for Dr. David Viscott for five years. My work has been covered by ABC, CBS, BBC, E! News, Chicago Tribune, London Daily Mail, Der Speigal, Vogue, and more.

Given the self-help books you represent, I’d appreciate if I could send my proposal or manuscript for your perusal. Thank you for your time.

(Signature & contact info)

ONE more thing!

The phrase ‘dead spouses walking’  should be used in the marketing campaign/book proposal as well as here. It’s imagery so fits the content. I’d suggest she consider it as a title but Love-Law of the Jungle suits this self- help book.

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This letter needs work but has potential. If you’d like to view it, please sign up for my Museletter by registering here.  If not, listen to my reading and please add your comments if so inspired. In my humble, it’s biggest speed bump is disorganization followed by confusion re: author’s intention. Not sure if this is ‘tongue in cheek’ or actually a book about achieving sexual harmony by pleasing your man. Would love reader comments on this one!

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My video critique of the following query letter:

The Letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,
The Rubin girls, a mother and her two daughters, each suffer the loss of a son. Each male child dies within a two-year period from different causes. This is their story of survival, healing and hope after such trauma, tragedy and loss.
One daughter tells the story of how a family turns victimization into victory of the spirit, each one in their own unique way. The mother dances her way to forgetting and slowly loses her memory, living to age 94. The eldest sister, an artist, has a mental breakdown, eliciting 14 electroconvulsive treatments (ECT) to change the chemistry of her brain and ward off suicide. She is finally prescribed with the proper medication to be able to live a full and adventurous artistic life. The younger sister, the author and a practicing psychotherapist, survives 15 years tending to her mother and then is diagnosed with cancer. She emerges with a new awareness of love and the heart’s desire to share her awareness, strength and hope with others.
The story depicts the relationships between the three women, their family’s dynamic and the interconnection between the mothers and their sons. It is a story of physical, emotional and spiritual breakdown, which is transformed through the process of insight, mindfulness and recovery. It’s a story of going to the depths of depression and illness then rising above it to the healing heights of acceptance by allowing “life on life’s terms” with grace.
I propose a book length true life story titled, “Swallowing Life’s Lessons: How to Digest the Indigestible.” I am available for travel and interviews.
I am submitting this manuscript for your consideration because of the many women writers you have represented and the nature of your interest and expertise in books on turning victimhood into triumph.
I am a holistic health practitioner working in (city) as a licensed Marriage Family Therapist/Nutritionist. I have advance training in grief and loss through the “Grief Recovery Institute” and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s “Externalization” process. I have studied trauma work with Peter Levine’s, “Somatic Experiencing,” a three year course in trauma resolution, methods and theory. I am a supervisor and trainer of pre-licensed interns on their  road to licensure. I have been licensed in (state)since 1989 and active in the recovery field since 1986. I have practiced mindfulness (Insight) meditation since 1975.
Sincerely,

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(COPIED FROM MUSEletter # 19, May 27, 2010)

Guerrilla Marketing: a way to showcase your business or product in unconventional methods that often times cost little-to-no money. 

The first time I heard this term was back in the early 1990′s when guerrilla marketing was linked to self publishing and Dan Poynter, the ‘maverick’ author who put ‘self’ on book publishing’s map. As much as traditional publishing wanted him to go away, (mostly by pretending not to notice him) he persisted. His take on the business leaned toward book publishers absconding with most of the profits earned by their indentured servants: authors. Traditional publishing’s take on self publishing tipped toward ‘from our reject piles, self published authors are born’.

But what about the less known/unknown among us? We’re using cyber tools, too; some better than others. Among the best at ‘thinking outside the conventional publishing box’ is Vicki Abelson, an author on the road introduced to me by Kimmie Dee, another author on the road. We could all learn a lot from Ms. Abelson’s creation of Women Who Write, the cyber & real time platform she built to launch her debut factional novel, Don’t Jump! 

One WWW meeting hooked me. Abelson seems to intrinsically understand that to get what she wants, publication, she needs to give something back. Women Who Write does just that. So inspired by Abelson’s platform building adventure, I chronicled her journey at More.com. A Salon For Women Writers (And Some Men)  is a ‘must read’ for authors interested in ‘outside the box’ strategies.  

 Guerrilla marketing is not just for mavericks anymore. 

PS. Any comments added to A Salon for Women Writers, (and Some Men) @ More.com strengthens my platform and is most appreciated. 

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To NEW MARKETINGtheMUSE subscribers: A complimentary video critique is offered to writers who submit query letters here or at marketingthemuse@gmail.com. Cut/paste into email–no files please! 

MtheM Quick Query Critique, click here  Video_53[1]

QUERY LETTER:

Dear Agent,
Attracting bad boys sounds romantic but when they’re demons, it’s just a good way to get killed. Sure, seventeen-year-old Aurora Lahey can psychically track a hellion’s location on earth but who would want to? It’s officially the crappiest superpower on the planet and she and the demons have been happy to ignore it…until now. Someone’s put a bounty on her head and now she’s running from a hellacious hit squad with fangs dripping to carve her carcass into confetti.

To survive she’s forced to turn to the mysterious Hex boys, six teenage hotties with supernatural fighting skills that prove they’re no mere mortals. Just one problem. They might be trying to assassinate her too. It could have something to do with the ancient demon hunting society they belong to that has its own ideas about Aurora’s future—or lack of one. And just when she thought the weird and wacky meter couldn’t crank any higher, Aurora discovers new abilities she can’t explain or control. 

Barreling down the rabbit hole of escalating danger and intrigue, Aurora unravels the twisted secret of her destiny—to save everyone she loves (not to mention the world) she’ll have to give up everything worth living for. But no biggie, because she needs the Hex Boys to pull this off, and chances are teaming up with these guys will kill her anyway.

I’m a student in the UCLA Writing Program and an active member of SCBWI. Because of my love and extensive reading of YA literature I also have a YA book review blog with over 700 followers at (includes URL).

Ribboned with romance and bursting with action, Demonic Attractions is a fast-paced 75,000 word YA urban fantasy. I’d be happy to send a partial or full manuscript upon request.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely

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To new MARKETINGtheMUSE subscribers: A complimentary video critique is offered to writers who submit query letters here or at marketingthemuse@gmail.com. Cut/paste into email–no files please.

Click here to watch my video critique of the enclosed query letter

THE LETTER:

Click here to watch video query letter critique of Amy’s Own, a novel watch?v=HbnDf-v23FI. 

24 April 2010 

Dear________: 

What constitutes love?  Is it possible to re-calibrate after a lifetime of accumulating baggage?   

My novel Amy’s Own (approx. 80,000 words) follows the provocative dynamics between 42-years-old Amy Harrington and her mother.   

Charlene, chronic partners with her gin on the rocks, bi-monthly dye job and mani-pedi, and deliciously uncensored commentary, has always been “Mother” not “Mom.”   

Amy’s childhood of bobbing and weaving like an alert boxer evolves into their pattern of verbal head-butting, chiseled and finely-tuned with age. Now, Amy must find a new path with her mother after her father unexpectedly dies, his affair is exposed and Amy’s discarded first love returns.   

But how can Amy deal with her own upended reality when Charlene’s setting her dead husband’s E-Z Boy and favorite beer cooler on fire in the driveway?  How is she going to make any headway when Charlene padlocks her house–from the inside?  

This is a story about how we can still feel bonds even with those who have neglected us.  It’s about finding one’s way, to meet in the middle or even take the extra step–and finally connect with those essential to one’s life. 

A complete manuscript of Amy’s Own is available upon request. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

Sincerely,

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Dear Agent,
      I enjoyed your interview with (insert name) for the (whatever magazine or blog), and believe, from your comments, you will be interested in my 70,000+ word novel about prejudice, friendship, and courage―and how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of one family, two friends, and their community. 
     Fate Carries Its Own Clock takes place in Hadlee, Mississippi, a town no bigger than a flea turd on the map.  It’s the 1980s, and racism lingers, but Jason Lee Rainey’s friendship with a black boy named Samson never wavers, despite the bullying they endure from others. 
     Jason Lee never knew his daddy, but he does know he marched for civil rights, and he’s been told the man died a hero while fighting in Vietnam.  The boy worries he won’t ever measure up to that kind of person. 
     He lives with Mama, a woman of unwavering strength, and his Uncle Mooks, a man of simple wisdom due to a head injury.  Mama holds the family together until her suppressed grief develops into a melancholy she can’t shake, and has to seek help at a clinic. Her absence coincides with Jason Lee’s discovery of his daddy’s hand written journal from the ‘65 Selma-to-Montgomery march.  It enlightens him and Samson about the true power of the civil rights movement, and incites them to want more than a life in Hadlee―to become men who make a difference.  It’s also when he finds out the real truth about his fathers death.
     In Fate Carries Its Own Clock, Jason Lee learns the lessons of inequality; flourishes with the bond of friendship; finds the courage to stand up to his uncle for what he believes is right; endures the senseless death of his best friend; and is always true to himself.  It’s 1984, the year he turns fifteen, and truly becomes his father’s son. 
     I wrote this novel as a work of literary fiction, in the vein of Sue Monk Kidd’s, The Secret Life of Bees.  It has been suggested it could also crossover into the YA category due to the age of my protagonist.  I’ll leave that decision to the experts. 
     I’ve been honing my writing skills for ten years now, mostly on short stories, until Fate insisted on becoming a novel.  I just received word it is a finalist in the San Diego Book Awards, unpublished novel category.  The winner will be announced in early June.  I have been a two time finalist for Glimmer Train short story contests, took home Best Unpublished Short Story and a finalist honor at the San Diego Book Awards in past years, and won four Excellence In Writing awards from the Santa Barbara Writers Conference.  My first published story appeared in “Art Times.”
     I have included the first few pages below.  If you would like to see more of Fate Carries Its Own Clock, please let me know.  I look forward to hearing from you.
    Sincerely.

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The daylong writers workshop was FAB as usual.  I will post more media soon but for now wanted to share  a 90 second video of keynote speaker, Barnaby Conrad, author of too many books to list and mentor of too many writers to mention.  I filmed him reading on stage. SBCC workshop leaders sat behind him; I had a clear shot of this literary legend and man I’m honored to call my friend.

In his introduction, Workshop leader Jerry Dunn described Barnaby Conrad as “a true Renaissance Man” –prolific  author, painter, teacher, saloon keeper and bullfighter.

In 1972, Barny &  Mary Conrad founded the renowned Santa Barbara Writers Conference that in its 30+ year history launched many careers and taught many how to become better writers.

Barny has 3 new books in the publishing pipeline.
Here he’s reading  from his Samples of the 101 Best Beginnings Ever Written: A Romp Through Literary Openings for Writers and Readers. http://www.amazon.com/101-Best-Beginnings-Ever-Written/dp/1884956866.

This video passage includes a mini John Steinbeck critique and Barny’s take on opening a story with emotion.

Enjoy!

Barnaby Conrad (90 seconds)

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I’m in my post-Women Who Write phase; the rapture part that follows so much satisfaction from spending another afternoon with Ms. Vicki and the girls, (mostly).

Vicki Abelson’s Women Who Write meets monthly. Sometimes held in NYC but mostly Vicki hosts WWW in her LA home, 4 freeway exchanges away from mine though I don’t even think about the drive.  My monthly at Vicki’s is so worth it.

Women Who Write was born from passion that seeps through Vicki Abelson’s every pore; passion for family, friends and creative expression all blend into one powerhouse of a woman. Each month, we gather to hear women share their art. Almost always, Vicki’s guest speakers include at least ‘one name to drop.’  Last month, SNL founding cast member,  Laraine Newman read from her work in-progress: thoughtful prose mixed with so much funny and signature Laraine Newman. This month, her song writer sister Tracy Newman sang a love song  about her baby sister titled ‘Laraine’ that made me  mist up.

Jackie Collins joined us this month and though the woman who has sold over 400 million books – by right - took top billing, everyone on Vicki’ Abelson’s family room center stage shines. Kelly Carlin read from Dirty Laundry.  a collection of essays written by writers connected to famous people.  George Carlin was her dad. She  first realized he was famous when she was 9 years old which she writes about in her contribution. Candy Somoza read from Olivia Slept; more misting in the room. Vicki read chapter 16  from her novel, Don’t Jump, which is getting some attention. Not surprising; her protagonist’s voice demands attention–funny, hip, smart and riddled with self doubt. Jackie Collins read from her latest, Poor Little Bitch Girl,  by introducing the  four characters telling this  naughty vs. nice tale that’s vintage Jackie Collins.  Afterwards, she stood in Vicki’s kitchen signing lots of books and hanging out; one of the girls for the afternoon. 

Vicki wrapped up this month’s  Women Who Write by announcing that Jackie Collins volunteered to write a blurb for Don’t Jump. Won’t Ms. Vicki’s publisher be pleased?

In my earlier post,   The Future Is Here, I shared  highlights of David Mathison’s keynote address at SCWC, www.writersconference.com .  The author of bestselling BE THE MEDIA – launched by TWITTER connections – advised authors on the road to ”Do something remarkable.”

Vicki Abelson,  founder of WOMEN WHO WRITE and author of Don’t Jump is doing just that. 

Kelly Carlin, Vicki Abelson, Jackie Collins

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I taught three workshops @ the Southern California Writers Conference, www.writersconference.com held recently in San Diego. The one I call my quickie query critique workshop always draws lots of writers searching for instant feedback on whether or not their query letters ‘hook.’

This Show & Tell is a favorite among writers because they leave with concrete examples of query letters that HOOK and query letters that don’t.

It’s time to take this workshop into cyberspace. Please help me out by sending query letters you’d like critiqued. I can’t promise to critique all but all will benefit from the query letters critiqued here at Marketing the Muse so please send your query letters and stay tuned. I’ll let you know when my quickie query critique workshop is ready for viewing.

Writers, for an on-the-spot critique of your query letter, cut/paste it into the body of your email and send to marketingthemuse@gmail.com

A complimentary critique the prize if yours is chosen.

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At SCWC’s 3-day conference, keynote speaker & first time author David Mathison inspired us with his road to publication tale of  BE THE MEDIA, http://www.bethemedia.com  whose essence encourages writers to maintain control of our intellectual properties-our words. David Mathison delivers complicated material in fairly easy to understand internet lingo both in-person and in BE THE MEDIA, a reference-thick book that steers writers away from traditional publishing and toward the internet. He got my attention immediately. I took lots of notes.

Evidently, multi published author Pamela Redmond Satran needed no convincing that the future in publishing is right here on the internet. Check out her latest novel, Ho Springs a serialized novel and multi-media event set in a fictionalized version of Hot Springs, Arkansas..  This is the FIRST online/interactive novel to HOOK me—totally.  If I were a betting writer, I’d bet this award-winning author/writer has offered us the template for writing fiction in the not so distant future. Study this one and learn a lot. http://creating.hosprings.com/2010/02/20/hello-world/

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I am pleased to be teaching 3 Marketing the Muse workshops at the 24th annual www.writersconference.com  held in San Diego over President’s Weekend, 2/12-2/15/2010

Mention Marketing the Muse for $50.00 conference discount. I love this conference–it’s run EXTREMELY well and offers   a LONG list of published authors who credit SCWC for making it happen –mega NYT bestselling author of Wesley the Owl is just one of many.

See you there!!!

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It’s called an “upstairs/downstairs arrangement,” and for some couples, it’s the best solution to a marriage gone sour.

Go read the rest of my latest MORE.com column—once again, autobiographically inspired…

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Marketing The Muse .com virals its way into the e-mailboxes of writers on the road to publication.

In time, writers that visit MarketingtheMuse.com will refine the focus just as writers in my real time workshops do.  Please consider it your site with me as benevolent dictator. Visit often. Tell me what you want to know more about. Look for postings of contests, giveaways and interviews with industry Pros sharing what they’ve learned along publishing’s highway.

Marketing The Muse In Brief:

• Publishing news worth knowing gleaned from websites the Pros check daily.
• Self publishing’s inroads
• Annual book convention highlights
• Tips: How to hire a professional editor: Who? When? Why? How much?
• Opportunities: Query letter sessions & contests
• Agent speak
• Editor speak
• MarketingtheMuse.com visitors’ blog speak

Beyond this, I don’t have a view but I don’t need to see the entire road to begin this journey, a lesson I learned from Anne Lamott when she spoke at SBWC in 1995. It was the year after her bestselling book on craft, Bird by Bird, debuted.  She was working on a novel and didn’t know the ending. She quoted a noted novelist who compared novel writing to driving at night down a dark, winding road. You just need enough light to see what’s ahead.

Let me know what you think of MarketingtheMuse.com. I’ll let you know about opportunities to participate. Also coming soon, a DVD that incorporates two Marketing the Muse workshops and features literary agent Katharine Sands, Borders Book executive Kate Schwab and bestselling author Carol Kline.

Until we meet again, be well and keep writing.

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