Dionne, Karen's blog

“Fans of the late Michael Crichton will enjoy Dionne’s exciting second ecothriller (after Freezing Point). Philippe Dumas, a Nobel Prize–winning French scientist deeply concerned about the future of life on Earth, agrees to attend an environmental summit in Santiago, Chile.

From literary agent Colleen Linday's (FinePrint Literary Management) blog:

I am thrilled to announce that the good folks at Backspace (an incredible online writers community THAT YOU SHOULD JOIN IMMEDIATELY! GO! NOW!) have once again graciously agreed to donate two scholarships to their upcoming Backspace Writers Conference & Agent-Author Seminar, which will be held in New York City from May 27th through the 29th.

If so, check out the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar, November 5 & 6, in New York City - two days of panels, workshops, and small-group meetings with ONLY literary agents on the program - Janet Reid, Colleen Lindsay, Paige Wheeler, Scott Hoffman, Jeff Kleinman, Holly Root, Miriam Kriss, and many more - over 20 in all.

Registration is limited to 120. Early registration discount through September 15. More information on the conference website: http://www.backspacewrite...

Backspace is pleased to announce that New York Times bestselling author Joseph Finder (POWER PLAY, KILLER INSTINCT, COMPANY MAN) has joined the 2009 Backspace Writers Conference faculty and will present the discussion, "What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew When I Was Starting Out." Joe's an accomplished author and a fabulous speaker, and we're thrilled and honored to have him!

Other thriller and mystery authors on the program include David Morrell, Jason Pinter, Jonathan Maberry, Clea Simon, and S.G. Browne.

As co-founder of Backspace, an Internet-based writers organization with hundreds of members in a dozen countries, I knew only a handful of friends would be able to attend my book launch no matter where it was held. So I decided to recreate the traditional launch party experience on the Web.

What a fabulous innovation, and just in time for me to plan a few drop-in signings on my travels from Detroit to Boston and back next month! I did a preliminary search by plugging in "Pennsylvania," and this looks great - a huge list of bookstores and their locations and contact info popped up! Once we decide on our driving route, I can pick out what bookstores I want to stop at along the way, and even contact them ahead of time - how cool is that?

Authors post them on their websites. They upload them to Google Video and YouTube. If they’re particularly savvy, they search out display sites like Book Screening and Preview the Book. Even websites that aren’t primarily intended to showcase trailers like the Backspace homepages have a section where users can upload them.

The jury’s still out as to whether or not book trailers help sell books. But perhaps the bigger question is: Is anybody watching?

A few months before the release of my debut thriller, FREEZING POINT, I decided I was going to use the Internet to promote my novel as much as possible.

From talking to other writers, I knew there were plenty of promotional opportunities available - blog tours, online book clubs, book review sites, video sharing, and social network sites where people who might be interested in the topic of my book gathered.

Mystery Writers of America is offering their members who wish to attend the Backspace conference a $50 discount. MWA members should register for the conference at the full price, and then email Margery Flax at: mwa (at) mysterywriters (dot) org for reimbursement.

The 2008 Backspace Writers Conference brings together literary agents, acquisitions editors, best-selling authors, and publishing professionals for a two-day, two-track program of workshops, panels, and networking in the heart of the publishing world.

"We keep hearing this phrase, 'What's the platform?' . . . Well, what it is is this: What does the author bring to the table? Talent is not enough. The number of slots open to fiction on a publisher's list is being reduced all the time." -- Literary agent Nat Sobel, quoted in Poets and Writers Magazine

Three years ago, when then-editor Marcela Landres visited the Backspace discussion forums for an online Q&A, she emphasized the fiction author's platform as being absolutely imperative. At the time, a number of our published authors objected, saying they didn't have one, and they still got published. Their thinking is understandable - an author wants to believe their novel sold because it was good.