New Alliance for Self-Pubs!

Before our guest blogger for the month of May (Chris Wollam) introduces himself (and gives me a much-needed break), I wanted to mention--for those who are self-published authors--that a new alliance has been formed just for us--I'm feeling the love!

 

Check out the AIA here

Mission: The Alliance of Independent Authors is a global, nonprofit, collaborative collective of independent self-publishing writers. We invite such writers to join together in a spirit of mutual co-operation, empowerment and service to the reading and writing community. 

Now, I'll leave you in the hands of Chris while I lie back and cruise the internet (I just love a good staycation)...

A little bit about me. 

-          Born & raised in Washington State

-          Two year “vacation” at Ft. Bragg N.C. (U.S. Army) drew a long straw and literally dodged the bullet of Viet Nam

-          College, all over Washington State, finally graduated EWSC (now EWU) ’76, GO Eagles! Then two years at Ohio Sate U, ’78, GO Bucks!

-          30+ years as an engineer

-          Now semi-retired aspiring author.

What am I working on?  My main project is non-fiction. Here’s the “elevator pitch” We Can Give Our Grandchildren a Better World is the antidote for the attitude that the Baby Boomers are the last generation who can expect to live better than their parents.  This is a scary attitude that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy if we let it.  Just as our grandparents gave us a better world than they received, we can pass along a better country and better world to our Grandkids.  But can is not the same as will; it takes hard work.  Grandchildren’s Future shares why we should be optimistic, and what we have to do to get there.  

I started my book as a labor of love.  I was tired of hearing and reading pundits and columnists complain that boomers are the last generation to live better than their parents.  This whine has been around for at least 20 years and it scares me to think that if too many believe it, it will become true - no team ever won a game they expected to lose.  So I set out to write a Rah-Rah book that “Called BS on the negativity.” After completing the Competition section for my Proposal Package, I realized it has a good chance at commercial success, i.e. I believe the niche is there, if I can: sell the message, produce quality writing and editing, create the right pitch, and find a little fairy dust.   Additionally, when I was laid off /retired and became a full-time aspiring writer, I found that it is really fun to try to craft words into something worth reading.  The acid test: is the piece good enough to pay money for?  Stephen King said (paraphrased), "you can call yourself a writer if someone wrote you a check for something you wrote.  Then you actually cashed the check and paid the light bill with it."  Deidre is a writer; I’m an aspiring writer.

Deidre has shared many ides for gaining a following, most of which involve social media.  For starters I’m on facebook and have a blog: grandkidsfuture.com  [blatant commercial message, Please visit my blog].

‘Nuf about me.  Future blogs will talk about the talents of some of the other folks in our writers’ group, their wisdom and experiences, and some of the books I’ve read on the business of being a writer.