The one-day conference on Nov. 14th was well attended and featured an excellent mix of sessions on craft, the business of getting published, and also how to promote your writing in this online world. Mark Bowden, author of BLACK HAWK DOWN, gave the keynote. He was terrific!

One tip I thought I’d pass along is the burgeoning use of book “trailers,” which, if you don’t know, are just like movie trailers. Panelists said they can be very useful in promoting your latest book, IF well done. Key is not to use a lot of text and make them short. You don’t need to spend a lot of money. In fact, there are many artists of various stripes who want their work featured on the web and so would likely provide their services at minimum cost. Alternatively, you may want to tackle the production yourself.

Here are a few trailers to check out:

Neil Gaiman

Sugarless

Pynchon

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