One of the things no one tells writers about becoming a successfully published author is the importance of building your literary community and participating in book culture long before you land an agent or a publishing contract. There are no shortcuts to creating a career as an author. I hate to disillusion you of the idea that you will be “discovered” and become rich and famous as an author. But it doesn’t happen that way. It takes a literary community to make a book great. Read the Acknowledgements of any book you’ve admired. It takes a good idea to get a publishing contract, but it takes more than that. You need to understand how the publishing industry works for the genre you write. That kind of knowledge is gained through participation in professional organizations and associations. There are many and some are essential to a writer’s career. Authors Guild, AWP, Society for Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators, Romance Writers of America, National Association of Science Writers, National Association of Memoir Writers, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Historical Novel Society, Military Writers Society of America. Join at least one professional writing organization. You learn more about your craft and your profession. Understand what is expected of the author and a manuscript submission. Through literary centers and writing programs, you can find a community of writers. From novice to teaching faculty, you meet others who will help you advance your craft and learn the business of being an author. Those…

Austin hosted another Texas Book Festival over a beautifully crisp and sunny fall weekend, October 27-28. Having gone over budget at the vendor tents last year, I resisted temptation this time by heading straight for the capitol to hear authors speak. Not realizing that I would have to stand in line for a security check and then make my way through the bowels of the capitol building, I felt lucky that I was not shut out of my first choice: John Spong, author of A Book on the Making of Lonesome Dove (University of Texas Press, 2012). I confess I have never read the book or watched the mini-series, but I was in the mood for things Texan, and Spong delivered. As someone who doesn’t live and breathe “Lonesome Dove,” I’m apparently in good company. According to Spong, McMurtry regards it as “just a book.”   Lines were forming around the rotunda floors when I arrived to wait for a seat in the Senate Chambers to hear William H. Chafe, author of Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2012). A history scholar of the women’s and civil rights movements, Chafe, with his white hair and beard, has a very professorial appearance. I cringed when the moderator asked him why he chose such a “heavily trafficked discourse” to write about, and I prayed for deliverance from academic-speak. Fortunately, Chafe’s language was plain and humble as he spoke about the complexity of the Clinton union, as a…

Around the country there are a variety of book festivals which bring authors and readers together. Book festivals are different than literary festivals which are intended for writers instead of readers. They are opportunities for authors to promote and market their book directly to their audience. Readers find them celebrations of their favorite books and authors with readings, signings, presentations, special events, and performances. While some have prematurely declared the book is dead, there is little doubt book festivals are alive and thriving. From the Atlanta Journal Constitution Decatur Book Festival in Georgia to Wordstock in Oregon, there are plenty of festivals for an author to consider in their marketing plans. Ann Marie Ackermann was featured at the Gaithersburg Book Festival in May this year. She received an invitation from the mayor of Gaithersburg after she had contacted him in her efforts to find the descendants of the German immigrant who helped solve the murder case in her new book, Death of an Assassin. Jud Ashman, the mayor of Gaithersburg, also started the local book festival in 2010. When Ashman learned Ackermann had published a book with a connection to Gaithersburg, he invited her to present at the festival. The mayor of Bonnigheim, the German town where the murder occurred, accompanied Ackermann to Gaithersburg for the book festival. You can find a book festival near you at the American Writers Museum site here. The BookReporter also has a list of book festivals organized by month. There are children’s book festivals,…