Author Conferences: A Recap of Hot Mojave Knights by @Emerald_theGLD #MFRWauthor #HMK2014

For this month’s post, I'm embarking on a timely deviation from my discussions about moderating the MFRW Facebook group to talk a little bit about a reader and author convention I attended last weekend. HMK (Hot Mojave Knights) is a romance reader event designed to bring authors and readers of romance together for a weekend of learning, interaction, fun, and ogling hot men (a.k.a. the knights). This year was its second iteration, and I attended the inaugural conference last year as well.

HMK is held in Las Vegas (which for me serves as a reason to go in and of itself!), and both the reader and author attendees tend to collectively represent virtually all genres of romance. For authors, the convention offers the chance to promote one's work and meet readers both familiar and unfamiliar with it.

But the real reason for HMK is the readers. The founders and organizers of HMK, Shannan Albright, R. M. Sotera, Johanna Riley, and Siobhan Muir (who did not organize or attend this year but was one of the founding organizers last year) developed the event to bring readers into direct and personal contact with the authors whose work they so enjoy. The convention is kept deliberately small, with attendance capped at 200 people if I remember correctly, to allow the kind of intimate interaction the founders envisioned to set HMK apart from the many other romance-oriented conferences that take place each year.

As an author, I consider my attendance at HMK an investment—as well as, I must admit, a blast. I have enjoyed it immensely both years I have attended, and I am already looking forward to attending next year. As an author, I get to promote my books and brand, have swag included in the swag bags handed out to all registered attendees, hear directly from readers (and meet many potential new ones), and display and sell books at the author signing.

The weekend includes craft-related panels for authors on topics such as how to write historical novels, understanding Kindle Direct Publishing, and tips for writing or researching kink-related topics. Evenings are filled with organized social events to give readers and authors alike the chance to enjoy each other’s company in an informal setting. The event is small enough that you’re almost sure to get the chance to meet or interact with any attendee you’d like to.

The author signing is one of the signature events of HMK and offers the opportunity for all the featured and spotlight authors to set up books and swag and aim to dazzle all the visitors that come through. :) Authors keep all the proceeds from any books they sell. This year, the signing took place on the Saturday afternoon of the weekend and was open and free to the public.

HMK 2015 is already scheduled for October 1-4. While the organizers are (I hope!) taking a well-deserved break before they delve head-first into the planning and organizing of next year’s event, there will be opportunities to sign up to be a featured author at it over the next few weeks (registration for featured authors will be open until February 28). If you would like to be kept up to date on that, I encourage you to follow HMK on Facebook and Twitter, and you may also check the HMK website in the coming months for more information. (And if you’re interested in checking out the action that occurred last weekend in Vegas, look up the hashtag #HMK2014 to get a taste.) I have already signed up to be a spotlight author and am looking forward to attending again.

As an author, do you like to attend events or conferences? If so, which ones? Does the idea of a smaller event like this interest you?

Thanks for reading, and see you next month!


Emerald
Emerald is an erotic fiction author whose short stories have been featured in anthologies published by Cleis Press, Mischief, and Logical-Lust. She serves as an assistant newsletter editor and Facebook group moderator for Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW), and she selects and posts the monthly inspirational quote on the MFRW Marketing Blog. Her first solo book, If... Then: a collection of erotic romance stories, is out now from 1001 Nights Press. Find her online at her website, The Green Light District.

The Founder of MFRW Speaks Out: Ellora's Cave vs Dear Author #MFRWauthor #notchilled

Ellora's Cave (EC) is suing Dear Author, a book blogger. There's more to this than you would be led to believe.

As the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers, I often see details behind the scenes because authors from all over the web email me for advice, or to rant safely, or to bounce ideas off someone. Most of the time, I listen and ask a few questions. They already know what they want to do -- I'm there as a sounding board. That's fine with me. I enjoy helping people. I'm good at listening, and I can keep a secret. I've heard some horror stories about publishers imploding, and businesses going belly up because of poor decisions, bankruptcy, owner-hissy-fits... you name it.

This time, I'm the one with the issue, and it's one I have to speak out about.

Back in April 2013, I'd been recruited by Ellora's Cave to write for them. Since their slush pile was a year-long wait, I was flattered to be asked. I had one uncontracted story, outside my usual storyline, about a female dominant BDSM. The editor who'd recruited me loved it, and I had a contract a few days later. Everyone raved about high sales at EC. I saw dollar signs floating in the air and hoped this would be a break for me.

The book debuted in July 2013, and I promoted it all over the place. By October, when I hadn't received a royalty check, I emailed the person who was supposed to be in charge of royalties, and asked. I got a polite "oops-we-overlooked-you" response, and a promise it would go out ASAP. I finally got a check in January 2014.

For a whole $17. Wow.

This was what EC authors were all excited about? Surely not.

I figured okay, maybe the book wasn't that good. Didn't sell. That happens. Or it was the wrong audience. EC readers like male-dominants, not female. Fine.

When I was told recently the book had been nominated for an award at EC's Romanticon, I thought that was odd. Why would they honor a book that made them zip money? I flattered myself that it was good after all, and maybe the editors had nominated it. Apparently, despite the fact that I write erotica, I am naïve.

Not long after, I got a note from my EC editor that she'd miss all her authors, but all the EC contract editors were being let go, and this was good-bye. (I've since hired several for The Author's Secret and was thrilled to get them. We were about to add editing services, so this was fortuitous for the business. I hope to keep them very busy.)

Then two of the publisher's executive officers quit.

I got this horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'd seen this happen to others, but not to me. What was going on at EC?

EC authors began complaining on the author-only Yahoo group, claiming they hadn't been paid. (EC says it's having software problems). One author created a restricted Yahoo group so those EC authors who wanted to join could keep in touch. In case things went bad and we got shut out. Publishers have been known to shut down communication, thinking if they can keep authors from talking to each other, it'll be fine. (It's not.) I've been published since 2004, and I've seen a few failed pubs. That's sadly what happened in several cases. But today, we have social media, and it's not as easy to shut people out or keep them from connecting.

When the book and author blog site Dear Author posted an article about the EC situation, I read it. Didn't see anything I hadn't heard from others. There was nothing new there.

A few days ago, EC sued Dear Author for defamation. Let me repeat that: A publisher is suing a book blogger.

This is unprecedented.

Why? It's tantamount to an author suing a reader for a 1-star review. It's not simply saying "Hey, you defamed us" -- it's intimidation. It's telling bloggers that if they dare speak out, EC will come after them too.

As much as I'd like to play it safe and stay in the background, I can't. This is wrong. I have to speak up and speak out. I have to urge others to do the same thing. I am speaking about it from the Marketing for Romance Writers marketing blog because this kind of thing affects every author.

If you haven't heard about this story until now, I urge you to read other posts. This fight is going to be huge. It's going to rock the publishing world, because it's a fight that should never, ever have happened. I am not alone in speaking out. There are multiple posts everywhere, because we are not going to be intimidated into silence.

About a month ago, I took my one EC book down from my website, and refused to promote it any more. I'm not getting paid for it anyway. Maybe the book really wasn't all that good. Maybe there are other reasons why I'm not getting paid. I'm not sure. That doesn't really matter any more.

What matters is that I was afraid to speak out about this, because I didn't want to be sued, or singled out in some way. And to be afraid because I thought my own publisher would come after me for being truthful... that's just WRONG.

What can you do to help?

I'm asking everyone to take a look at this issue, and speak up. Stand with EC authors. They are the ones who are suffering. Buy their other books. Follow them on social media. This is hurting their livelihood, and that hurts all of us. A blogger is being sued for speaking out, and if we don't stand with them, we could be next.

Share this post. Share other posts about this issue. Here is a list of several.

http://www.kaetrinsmusings.com/2014/09/echoing-the-streisand-effect.html

http://the-digital-reader.com/2014/09/26/elloras-cave-sues-dear-author-book-blog-defamation/

http://www.badmenagerie.com/were-small-bloggers-but-were-feeling-the-fallout-elloras-cave-and-the-suit-against-dear-author/

http://jennytrout.com/?p=8077

http://herhandsmyhands.wordpress.com/2014/09/27/elloras-cave-dear-author-the-streisand-effect-and-freedom-of-speech/

http://wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/09/little-miss-crabby-pants-is-almost.html

http://deirdre.net/elloras-cave-author-exodus-support-thread/

http://kbgbabbles.com/2014/09/the-wtfckery-report-elloras-cave-suing-dear-author-blog-for-defamation-why-book-bloggers-should-be-worried.html

http://www.thepassivevoice.com/09/2014/elloras-cave-sues-dear-author-book-blog-for-defamation/

If you have comments, please share them. If you've written a post, and it isn't listed here, feel free to share it in the comments. If you've found this post helpful, please share it on your social media.

FYI: the hashtag #notchilled is being used to discuss this issue on Twitter.

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Kayelle Allen is the founder of Marketing for Romance Writers. She is a multi-published, award-winning author, and the owner of The Author's Secret, an author support company. Her unstoppable heroes and heroines include contemporary characters, futuristic immortals, covert agents, and warriors who purr.

Homeworld http://kayelleallen.com

Unstoppable Heroes Blog http://kayelleallen.com/blog

Twitter http://twitter.com/kayelleallen

Facebook http://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author

The Author's Secret https://theauthorssecret.com

The Business Of Writing: Formatting that Manuscript #MFRWAuthor

As an editor I see lots of new authors make simple mistakes when it comes to basic formatting and some those are time consuming when you have to fix it. Here’s one I see a lot. When you prepare your manuscript please don’t use the tab to start the beginning of a paragraph. Using the space bar to indent doesn’t help your publisher either. You should go into Paragraph (a formatting tool in Word) and program your document to indent for you. If you use .5 and your publisher wants .3 that’s an easy fix. All your editor has to do is go in and make the change in paragraphs and your whole document has been adjusted. If you use tabs to make that indent every one of them has to be removed. If you use the space bar to indent they have to be removed too.

Writing tip: If you can afford it, use some version of MSWord. The freebees out there are great but these programs can put weird symbols into your document when opened in Word, even if you save it as an RTF. You also can’t see any of the comments an editor might leave to help make your ms stronger.

Barb:)

Writing for Barbara Donlon Bradley  started innocently enough, like most she kept diaries, journals, and wrote an occasional letter but she also had a vivid imagination and wrote scenes and short stories adding characters to her favorite shows and comic books. As time went on she found the passion for writing to be a strong drive for her. Humor is also very strong in her life. No matter how hard she tries to write something deep and dark, it will never happen. That humor bleeds into her writing. Since she can’t beat it she has learned to use it to her advantage. Now she lives in Tidewater Virginia with two cats, one mother in law – whose 87 now, her husband and son.

Website: http://www.barbaradonlonbradley.com/

Publisher: http://www.phaze.com/author.php?author=21

Blog: http://barbaradonlonbradley.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Donlon-Bradley/118673448173249

Twitter: https://twitter.com/barbbradley

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/barbaradbradley/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7773192-barbara-bradley

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0072OTZJE

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Barbara-donlon-bradley

ARe:http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Barbara+Donlon+Bradley

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Search?Query=Barbara%20Donlon%20Bradley

Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/search/books?Keywords=barbara%20donlon%20bradley