"Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." Cyril Connolly

Why did I use the above quote? I attented the Long Island Romanace Writers Luncheon yesterday. I had a great time talking with other writers, agents, and editors. However it seemed everyone was looking for Paranormal Romance and Young Adult Paranormal Romance. Yeah, I don't write that. And I won't attemtpt one either - it's just not my voice - I know it.

I did get a few requests so that's good. I'm still waiting to hear from an editor on my completed manuscript,Playing For Keeps.

Steven Zacharius, President of Kensington Books was the Guest Speaker - he said...
important things to do:
keep a list of fans (mailing list)
social networking
blog
website

when Google launches e-books expects that it will be BIG
see hardcover eventually going away
stores are buying less upfront
By next year 10% of Kensington sales with be from e-books
every morning he goes into google news and searches under 'book publishing news'
general ads (with the exception of Romantic Times) do nothing - $ better spent elsehwere.
Kensington Brava with be holding a contest Writing w/the Stars in conjuction with Romantic Times

There were two terms that were being thrown around and some of the writers at my table were unfamilar with them so I thought I'd define them here (with the help of Wikapedia)
Steampunk...
is a sub-genre of science fiction and speculative fiction, frequently featuring elements of fantasy, that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used — usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era Britain[citation needed] — but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage's Analytical engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.

Dystopia is a vision of an often futuristic society, which has developed into a negative version of Utopia, in which society has degraded into a repressive, controlled state. A dystopia is often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. It usually features different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and a state of constant warfare or violence. A dystopian society is also often characterized by mass poverty for most of its inhabitants.