Wednesday was the busiest day of the convention so far. There were lots of interesting talks and panel discussions, impromptu and arranged meetings of participants to discuss matters of interest, and all sorts of conversations in corners about collaborating on projects or helping in areas of expertise. I can see that the networking at this convention is just as important as the talks for many of the attendees.
I've been concentrating on talks and presentations about the business of writing, in an effort to organize and streamline my own efforts. There were several talks of interest, including topics such as:
- The Five Pillars of Publishing
- Amazon Ads
- The Business Basics of Writing and Publishing
- Advanced Business Concepts: How the Publishing Market Works
- Tricks of Staying Productive over Time
Lots to keep me busy, and food for thought.
Among other things, I'm considering putting out at least one book in serial format, via Kindle Vella, Substack (which would open books to non-Amazon customers) or a similar service. This may be a way to overcome the problem of life and health getting in the way of publication. If I can write in chapters, publishing each one a week or two apart, it will be a way to keep my readers interested while still producing output in a respectable timeframe. The idea is that regular readers/subscribers would get early access to a book, chapter by chapter, for a small regular fee, and get a free copy of the entire book once the serialization had been completed. This wouldn't apply to all my books, only to those written with this format in mind. What do you think, readers? Would this interest you? Please let me know in Comments.
Miss D. and I went out to supper last night (braving the Las Vegas traffic to do so - the heaviest I've been in for years!). We went to the local branch of the Cornish Pasty Company, drawn there by my drooling as I remembered growing up on English-style pies and pasties. (It's a bit of a contradiction in terms: in show-mad Las Vegas, the word "pasty" usually means something else . . .). Sadly, their menu does not include steak and kidney pie; according to the waitress, Americans don't go for eating kidneys, for some strange reason. However, they had plenty of delicious alternatives. We started with Cornish meatballs and a Scotch egg. Miss D. went on to a lamb and mint pie, while I chose the Guinness Stew Pie, which was absolutely wonderful. I paired it with mushy peas, which were enough to make any British or Colonial expatriate feel homesick. We shared a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. My tum was very happy indeed as we left - lots of childhood foody memories clamoring for more! Sadly, the prices were in true Vegas tradition (ridiculously high), but that's the way it is in this town.
Thursday will be our last day in Las Vegas, and we both have seminars to attend and things to do. Friday morning we'll head out on our way home, hopefully pausing to take in some of the sights along the way. I'd like to hit the west rim of the Grand Canyon in passing, but it may take too much time to get from there to our destination on Friday evening, so it'll be a toss-up whether we make it on this trip or do it later.
Peter
4 comments:
Some states have banned the sale of offal-based foods in restaurants. Many commercial foodservice agencies don't make them because the inspection process runs in parallel to the existing process, requiring separate and apparently more stringent process management... from what I understand.
Although it is a hotbed of leftism and communism's HQ on the continent, my trip to Boston last month included getting blood puddings with an Irish breakfast, which is not available in my home in real America, 1200 miles to the south.
For home delivery, Peter, I use jollyposhfoods.com and scottishgourmetusa.com for my black and white puddings, bangers and haggis, and other forms of keltic breath-based birth control.
My wife hates it, but then again she eats liver and onions, which smells like one of those bible stories where it doesn't work out too good for the misbehaving folks.
I'd sign up for a substack subscription, Peter. I'll expect daily updates to your stories, of course ;-)
Monthly serials. Isn't that how Dickens started? You're in good company, then.
Looking forward to talking to you about that approach.
I've enjoyed subscribing to a number of authors who did the subscription thing. In fact I helped Dave Freer do his. That was more of a storytellers bowl thing where people tossed in tips as they read because the mechanisms for easy subscriptions weren't really there at the time
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