Saturday, May 30, 2009

GUYWRITERS PRESENTS QUILTS, COMFORTERS & BEDSHEETS


GUYWRITERS PRESENTS “QUILTS, COMFORTERS & BEDSHEETS: GAY MEN WRITE ABOUT LOVE, RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNITY” AT THE NATIONAL QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL

San Francisco, CA – GuyWriters, the community network for gay writers in the Bay Area, will celebrate its fifth anniversary by presenting “Quilts, Comforters & Bedsheets: Gay Men Write About Love, Relationships and Community” at the National Queer Arts Festival on June 12th.
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This literary reading will spotlight poetry, prose and plays by a diverse mix of local favorites and new voices, including M.S. Allen, Alan Chin, M.L. Heath, Rik Isensee, Enzo Lombard-Quintero, Robert McLaughlin, Jim Provenzano, Eric Rose, Steven Salzman, and Anthony Williams. Special guest Brian Freeman of the Pomo Afro Homos will also read work. The event will also showcase an original community quilt by award-winning quilter Mac MacNamara.
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For event details press here
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Thursday, May 28, 2009

RankTracer.com: Tracking promotional results

RankTracer.com is looking to start building a repository of information on the effectiveness of various marketing, advertising, and review services. They do this by tracking the hourly sales rank of a book or books before, during, and after a promotion (blog review, press release, etc.).

They are looking for published authors who are planning some form of bookpromotion. They will provide complimentary subscriptions for a month or so to anyone who wants to see the effect of a given initiative.

If you are interested in this free test, email staff@ranktracer.com.
For more information (they also have Amazon tracking widgets), check out: <http://www.ranktracer.com/.>

(Per John Kremer)
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Interview with renowned author Victor Banis


Victor Banis has been writing GLBT themed novels and short stories for almost half a century. His published works range from soft-core erotica, to romance, to futuristic novels, to mysteries. He was at the forefront of the early gay-rights moment in the 60’s, and has become an icon in gay culture today. Victor was kind enough to chat with me earlier this year, and the following interview chronicles what this remarkable man had to say:

Q: You published several terrific novels back in the ’60 when gay literature was just taking off. But then you didn’t publish anything for a number of years. If it’s not too personal, can you tell us why you stopped publishing work for so long a time, and what brought you back to publishing your work.

Complicated answer: I'd moved from the west coast paperback publishers to the big NYC houses, and it was a different ballgame; too cutthroat for me. I had major quarrels with a couple of the publishers and I was very angry, and realized one day while I was writing that I hated it. I had started writing just for the joy of it, and I had lost the joy. So, I took a break.


Simple answer: I was probably burned out.

What brought me back: Fabio Cleto tracked me down and asked if he could try to get the C.A.M.P. books reissued, and he did. Now, bear in mind, I hadn't altogether stopped writing, but I hadn't worked on any novels and hadn't written anything for publication; but, then, this young man showed up in my bed one night, he told me his name was Harvey, and he started talking to me about the problems he was having way in the future and, well, I'm a sucker for a young man in my bed, so…

Q: Who are the authors who most influence you, both in your early career and now?

Hmm – been many of them. Different writers for different reasons. Mary Stewart for her sense of place, and those wonderful heroines, feisty but virtuous. And Graham Greene, because he always made/makes me think. Maugham – I come back to him a lot, he was such a wicked old thing; he always insisted he couldn't write humor, and I think he wrote some of the funniest stuff I ever read.

To read more of this interview, click here
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Untreed Reads is collecting Pride Month Activities


Untreed Reads is collecting Pride Month activities to add to its event calendar, as well as a special Pride Month section of the website.

Do you have a signing coming up during June? A new release? Special discounts during Pride Month? Free titles to give away? A free title you'd like to give away as an exclusive to Untreed Reads readers for the month of June? Maybe an exclusive coupon code to Untreed Read readers? I need to hear from you!

Please send any ebook or audiobook related activities for Pride Month to general@untreedreads.com . I'd like to make this one of the biggest celebrations of LGBT ebook and audiobook writing that's ever taken place...until next year, of course!

Thirty days of free promotion...how can you pass that up? If you'd like to be a financial sponsor for the special Pride Section, please contact me at general@untreedreads.com for advertising and rate info.

Best,
Jay Hartman
UntreedReads.com
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Monday, May 25, 2009

The Fall 2009 Written Art Awards


I thought many of my writer friends would be interested in the following:

RebeccasReads.com is proud to introduce The Written Art Awards, a biannual literary awards program that will take place in the spring and fall of every year. It has been founded to pay tribute to authors who are self-published or have had their books published by a subsidy publisher, small press, university press, or independent book publisher.

Eligibility
The Written Art Awards are open to all authors regardless of residency, however, books must be published in the English language and intended for the North American market. Works published by any major book publishers, their subsidiaries, or their imprints are not permitted. Books must have a 2008 or 2009 copyright date. At this time, boooks may NOT be submitted for more than one category. Authors may submit more than one title. Books of a racist theme will be not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Judging
All initial judging will be done by RebeccasReads.com reviewers. Criteria for judging is content/originality, presentation/design, innovation, social relevance, production quality, enjoyment/impact, plot/story line, and resourcefulness (depending on category). Five semi-finalists in each category will be determined by a point system. Final judging will be determined by a jury of judges.
In the first level of judging, a review will be written and forwarded to you. The review will also be posted on RebeccasReads.com, as well as our weblog and amazon.com. Though we cannot guarantee the turnaround time for the review, we do attempt to review/judge books as soon as they are submitted. The sooner a book is submitted, the sooner a review will be returned. The review will be available for marketing purposes. If a review has already been received from RebeccasReads.com, another review will not be done, and the book will automatically go to the second level of the judging process. Please, do not wait until the deadline to submit a book.

Categories
Fiction Nonfiction
1 General Fiction Including novels and short story collections
2 Mystery/Thriller
3 Humor/Satire
4 Science Fiction/Fantasy
5 General Nonfiction Including history, science, nature and animals, and travel
6 Creative Nonfiction Including biographies, autobiographies, memoirs
7 Self-help
8 Spirituality and Religion Poetry
9 Poetry

Awards
Three semi-finalists will be chosen in each fiction and non-fiction category. First and second place winners will be awarded in each category. Third place will receive an honorable mention.Two finalists, picked from the top scorer in each category, will be selected as the overall winner of Best Fiction and Best Non-Fiction, respectively. Each will receive a certificate. All certificates and awards stickers will be dated for year 2009.
Semi-finalists will be announced in our monthly e-mail newsletter on September 1st, 2009 and the finalists on October 1st, 2009. If we can possibly speed it up, we certainly will.

Entry Fee
The entry fee is $40.00 per title. A title can only be entered in one category. Entry fee must be in USD via U.S. check or international money order payable to: Rebecca's Reads Contestants may also submit payment via PayPal. Need more information on payment arrangements? Contact us. All books entered will become the property of RebeccasReads.com and will be donated to local charities after the awards program is completed. Submissions received without the entry fee will not even be considered. Entry fee is non-refundable.

Registration Deadline
Authors who would like their book sumbitted for the Fall 2009 Awards are encouraged to submit their entries as soon as possible but postmarked no later than June 15th, 2009. Any submission postmarked after this date will not be accepted. (Help us prevent judge burn-out and submit your book early. Our judges read the book in its entirety; please give them plenty of time to read the book.) We will confirm your entry via e-mail so print your email address clearly.

Registration
The Registration form may be downloaded here. Be sure one form is included with each title submitted. One Registration form must accompany each title and sent to:
The Written Art Awardsc/o RebeccasReads.com
7101 W. Highway 71,Suite 250
Austin, TX 78735

Rights
RebeccasReads.com will not retain any rights to submitted books. Nor will they reproduce or publish any submission. All contact information will not be disclosed to a third party other than the sponsor of the above noted awards.RebeccasReads.com reserves the right to disqualify any entry, without prior notice, if guidelines and criteria are not met. Entry fee is non-refundable to disqualified entries.

Important Notice
Please make sure that you enclose two books for each submission. Do not deface your book by stamping it as "review copy" or "promo copy," as we will donate the books to a local library and SafePlace Austin - a center for abused women and children. We also sell some of the books and all the proceeds we receive go to Higher Power Foundation Scholarship Fund. This fund supports people in need of recovery, to attend life-changing workshops.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009

MLR Press Opens Their Bookstore

MLR Press has recently opened an online bookstore so that buyers can go straight to the source for some high quality GLBT fiction. They have started by listing only ebooks, but they have plans to add printed titles as soon as they have their inventory and shipping plan in place.

You can browse and buy these books at:
Shop & Enjoy.


Friday, May 22, 2009

Amanda Young Interviews Alan Chin

If anyone is interested in discovering all the dirt on Alan Chin, check out Amanda Young's blog today. She was gracious enough to do an interview with me earlier in the year when I was traveling in Southeast Asia, and she posted the interview today at:

http://www.amandayoung.org/blog/

Enjoy.
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