http://marketingthemuse.com Marla Miller's Muse-Worthy Tips For Writers Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:54:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en From: Melissa Fischer Message: Dear Marla, It was a pleasure to meet you at the Writers’ Conference in San Diego. Thank you for your feedback on my query letter and the tip to pitch my literary novel, A Tangible Moment, to Betsy Amster. I’ve visited your website, Marketing the Muse, and am dizzy at the possibilities. Thank you ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2010/03/08/187/   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 ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2010/02/24/authors-on-the-road-head%e2%80%99s-up/ 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 ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2010/02/22/complimentary-query-letter-critique/ 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 ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2010/02/22/the-future-is-here/ 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 ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2010/02/03/the-southern-california-writers-conference-coming-soon-to-san-diego/ 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... http://marketingthemuse.com/2009/12/04/my-latest-more-com-column-that-once-again-is-autobiographically-inspired/ What defines it? Writers often confuse memoir writing with other narrative non fiction which includes autobiographical writing. So what is a memoir? Think of it as a turning point—that time in life when crisis catapulted you in some significant way. Read good memoirs. Favorites of mine include Drinking: A Love Story and Eat, ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2009/09/14/about-memoir-writing/ Literary agent thumbs his nose at recession. Bookstores struggle. A little optimism for struggling writers. NY literary agent Jason Ashlock ignores Recession and opens literary shop. While Borders & Barnes & Noble continue to struggle, Amazon Has Big Year-Publishers Weekly In a recent Publishers Weekly article, BookExpo Canada's (BEC) representative said the show will go ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2009/07/14/more-publishing-industry-news-links/ Like many writers, during my early years, I worked for nothing. One magazine grew from a start-up to a high end publication that sold for almost 3 million dollars. I did not get a raise when new management took over; nor did I ask. I was happy to be kept ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2009/05/21/indentured-servants-also-known-as-freelance-writers/ A Good Example of Branding & Platform Building At the 2008 Santa Barbara Writers Workshop, a writer asked about platform building and branding. Here's a good example of both. This publish-on-demand author found her market and built her platform squarely on it. Study her website for clues. Lois Stern is a publish-on-demand author who ... http://marketingthemuse.com/2009/05/15/marketing-the-muse-workshop-questions-branding-platform-building/