Japan’s Tragedy – Take Action
Mar
11, 2011 |Filed in:
UncategorizedI wanted to share the following email communication I received this morning from a friend of mine in Tokyo. She has allowed me to share it with you all.
"They say the tsunami waves bring all those heavy oil/gas kind of fuels of vessels/vehicles up on the ground, which ignite fires. Then there was this strong wind blowing, which spread the fires to the rest of the cities. The similar case happened about 20 years ago in Hokkaido. Actually, not only Tohoku area but also Kanto area including Tokyo got damaged. So many people in Tokyo are stuck in the city, since all JR trains operation got halted.
I remember in the Hanshin Earthquake, about 6000 people got killed. I am so sad and scared to know about the casualties this time. This time, up there, in some cases a whole community got gulped bu tsunami and just swept away, not just one.
It's so sad and i can't do anything."
There are so many pictures, so many stories in the news now about this horrific event, but I sometimes think, when we, the unaffected, are so far away, we tend to dwell on the horror without doing anything beyond offering a prayer. Don’t get me wrong, personally I think prayer is the first, best and last line in these circumstances. But there are things we can and should do for our brothers and sisters across the world.
Am I talking about sending money? You bet, but focused money through channels you can trust. Do you have a church home set up to help with disasters like this? I do. My church has a donation taken called “One Great Hour of Sharing” that covers anything from terrorist strikes to natural disasters. You can donate to OGHS through International Ministries, which has a website devoted ONLY to Earthquake/Tsunami relief for Japan. If you’re curious how they use the money or wish to know how the process works, click this link. I listed this one first because I’ve seen it work.
There’s the Red Cross and yes, that link will take you directly there. If you’re reading this on a smart phone, use that link instead or call 1-800-733-2767 (1-800-Red Cross).
Would you like to help send search and rescue teams? To donate to Doctors Without Borders, click the link and select the word “Donate” at the top of the screen. Please be aware, while I know these are legitimate institutions, I don’t know the ends and outs of how they use funds.
You can hear the helplessess in Mako’s note above. It made me want to do something and I plan to use one or more of the methods I’ve listed here. But more than that, I wanted to encourage Mako and others. When you see someone in danger, the first thing you do is throw them a rope. Give them your hand or something to connect them to you. What will you throw?
Marketing, Trading and Having Fun
Mar
10, 2011 |Filed in:
Uncategorized
Today I’m talking to Jeannie Lin (author of Butterfly Swords and The Taming of Mei Lin) about a new marketing tool she’s using: Romance Trading Cards.
Jeannie, thanks for agreeing to chat about this fun tool.
You mentioned in your newsletter that there’s a “Community at Romancelandia.” Please excuse my romance-genre-ignorance. Is “Romancelandia” an actual community title or just a term, like “blogosphere.” If it is a place, where is it?
Jeannie: Romancelandia is a term which incorporates the writers, publishers, agents, readers & bloggers of the romance community. I think the romance world is much more connected than other fiction genres. As a result, there actually is a “place”. It’s a combined sphere of the physical realm: booksignings, fan events, romance reader/writer conventions such as Romantic Times and RWA national conference. Then mix that all in with the blogosphere, Facebook, the Twitterverse. Soon it feels like everyone knows everybody.
Victoria: Now, about the cards, were they invented as a fun way for authors to meet and greet at conferences or what?! It’s such a neat idea, but I’m curious about its beginnings.
Jeannie: I think the reason why it took off was there were already a few authors doing them independently. I had spoken to a few authors previously about them since I wanted to do character cards. Then I caught wind of another Twitter conversation about doing romance hero cards. It felt like there was some potential there and all it took was the first handful saying, “Hey, if I do it, will you do it?”
Soon, we started hashtagging #romancetradingcards on Twitter and asking “Who’s in?” By the end of the first several hours, the number had grown over a modest ten authors. I sensed something would tip if we just nudged it so I put it on my website and started listing names. From there, other authors chimed in and it got to the point where authors and readers were asking each other, “Are you in on this #romancetradingcards craze?”
In less than five days, we created a pink RTC logo, authors Amanda Berry and Shawntelle Madison put up http://www.romancetradingcards.com , I ran and posted online tutorials, and more than a hundred authors had said they were IN.
It was the collective excitement about it that got the whole thing rolling. The beauty of the idea is it’s so simple and cheap to join. It allows authors to be creative and provide a way for readers to get something special and collectible that’s unique to each book—and it all hinges on the strong sense of community within the romance genre.
Victoria: What does it take to join the club? I’m assuming you need to have a published book, but what are the other rules? What information does each card need?
Jeannie: There are no rules. J The only requirement is that the author create and print the card and make them available to readers. The design is completely up to them. There are templates to provide people a starting point, but those are just suggestions. I think it’s wonderful to leave it completely open and I think that’s another reason why people are so excited about this. They can customize it and really make the cards reflect them, their books and their readers.
Victoria: Is there any talk of making these things into playing cards? That’s what I thought they were at first, to be honest and I can see where that concept could also be fun, though perhaps more for the fantasy market than Romance. (You mentioned Dragon.com and I can see EITHER form going like hotcakes there.)
Jeannie: Other people have thought the same. Everyone kept on asking me if they could still join. Some thought that after we hit 52 authors, no one else could come in. That’s not the case at all. There’s no reason why people can’t do playing cards if they wish. (See previous note about “No rules”) They can package cards together and give them away with gum. They can create a role-playing game around it in Pokemon/Yu-gi-oh style if they want.
That’s why I refer to this as grassroots/guerilla marketing. It’s growing organically and the experience evolves based on all the people participating.
And regarding DragonCon: I’m going this year. Who else is in? J
Victoria: To your knowledge, are there other genres adopting either approach (trading or gaming cards)?
Jeannie: I think the potential is there. I’m sure fantasy and paranormal authors have independently created these as promotions. All it takes is a little interest to get the ball rolling.
Victoria: Where did you go to get your cards made and how much did they cost? (If you don’t mind sharing the latter data.)
Jeannie: Many of us are using GotPrint.com simply because we’d used them before for other promotional materials like bookmarks and postcards. The cost is relatively cheap. 100 cards will cost you about $17 and 1000 is only a bump up to about $25. That’s not including shipping.
Where it can get more expensive is artwork and graphic design. Many authors are using stock images as well which can cost around $10-$20 each for nice ones. Some are hiring graphic designers to do the work, which makes sense because they’re job is to write and graphics programs can be time consuming. I designed and created my own, but I had previously commissioned character artwork for Butterfly Swords from an artist I liked on deviantArt.com. So in truth my Ai Li and Ryam cards are a bit expensive.
But you really can be in for about $20 and create a great card with a little computer savvy (see the Tutorials page on http://www.romancetradingcards.com) and a really nice cover.
Victoria: Thanks so much The whole concept has me stoked.
Jeannie: I’m glad to hear you’re stoked. The excitement I’ve seen from authors and readers has been quite uplifting. It’s so good to see people gather around and get excited about something positive. The beauty of it is we’re really seeing how fast the Internet and a community can mobilize and I’m just thrilled to see something positive go viral. Okay, maybe not quite viral, but at least feverish! I hope it will be a great experience.
One more link of interest
Mar
02, 2011 |Filed in:
UncategorizedMy apologies for breaking my schedule this week. Sick husbands, broken furnaces and needy cars still plague the Dixon household.
I needed a good laugh this week and this provided it. If you’re sick of hearing about the electronic future of publishing, check out this video. It’s hysterical.
Links to Conferences and Giveaways
Feb
20, 2011 |Filed in:
Uncategorized
The William Bernhardt Writers Workshop and Seminar is accepting attendance forms. You can find more information here and please take note, if you send in your form and fee before April 1st, the Workshop fee is reduced by $50 and the Seminar fee goes down by $100. I know not everyone is in the Midwest, but if you are, this is a great opportunity to meet two different agents.
And The Winners Are…
Feb
14, 2011 |Filed in:
Uncategorized
Thank you so much to the many wonderful readers who commented this month! You have been a true God-send. Most of you aren’t aware, but I struggle with severe winter depression from October through March and February is always my worst month. This contest and forcing myself to interact with people when I instinctively want to squirrel myself away has been helpful to my sanity. 🙂
The ultra-cool prizes include:
A. First Fifty Pages Critique
B. Query Letter or Synopsis Critique
C. The wooden box to the right, carved by East Indian artists.
D. A Barnes & Noble Notepad with this beautiful Chinese-style illustration and magnetic closure. (See the picture at the top of this post for the cover and inside illustrations.)
E. Wonton Bath Fizzers. Fill your bathrub with warm water and dissolve the wonton – err, fizzer in it. Kinda cool, huh? (For all those interested, they contain Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Pentasodium Triphosphate, Cellulose Gum, Talc, Sodium Sulfate, Isopropyl Palmitate, Parfume, FD&C Blue #1 Cl42090.)
F. A copy of Malinda Lo’s “Ash” OR Diane Lee Wilson’s “To Ride the God’s Own Stallion” were added last week. You saw that, right? 😀
That makes a grand total of eight prizes, just so you don’t have to count.
Now, onto our winners! This was a pretty straight-forward contest in that the winners are those who followed, commented and posted about the contest. Without further delay, broo-ha-ha, obfuscation… Oh, all right. LOL The winners are:
My winners are 1. Eve (aka, Lilacfield). Eve, you get a fifty-page critique OR your first pick of any of the above prizes!
Second place goes to Lynda Young and third to Susan B. Kason and can choose between the two remaining critiques (see below) OR one of the other gifts. Janet Johnson won fourth prize and Rachna Chambria won fifth. Margo Berendson won sixth place, TK Richardson and Lisa Gibson won seventh and eighth places. Wait a minute. There are seven prizes, you say? Yup. Since I have such wonderful commenters who gave me a tie in points, I’m adding in one more prize – a synopsis critique (instead of having it be a query or synopsis critique).
So, wonderful ladies of the blogosphere, would you please be so kind as to contact me at victoria[_]dixon[@]msn.com so I can get your prizes to you? (I apologize for the brackets! Stupid spambots.)