It's a quick turnaround from the CityLit Festival, but I will be in attendance at the JHU Spring Festival, which takes place April 25-27 at the Hopkins Homewood Campus. The details are a bit sketchy as when I will be there, but I plan to hand out another box of "The Developers" to event visitors.
Visit the event's website to learn more about other vendors and a full schedule of happenings there.
Starting April 19, 2008, with the Baltimore CityLit Festival, I plan to give away a few books this spring and summer. I hope the next wave of "The Developers" readers gets as much enjoyment out of the book as the first wave did.
Anyway, if you received a free book and want to show your appreciation, check out the free book page "donations" options and/or email me your comments about the book!
My first tour stop in 2008 will be the central branch of the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore, where I'll be a part of the fifth-annual CityLit Project. The event is free to both the public and exhibitors, which is not typical for most book-related events. It's pretty annoying to go to some events where either you have to give up a large percentage of your sales or you have to pay an upfront fee.
I've decided to go a little different route with "The Developers" than your normal let's-just-sell-in-the-bookstore approach. There are numerous reasons I'm trying this, but it comes down to two major ones:
1. Bookstores end up taking a huge portion of the money.
2. Bookstores bury books that aren't being sold at record-setting paces.
Lately I've had a great string of luck in reading good books by good authors. Unfortunately, the string has run out. "Jpod" by Douglas Coupland is not-so-good book by a good author.
I recently found a new blogging site looking for featured columnists. I figured that it couldn't hurt to perhaps add my articles to the site, and they were gracious enough to allow it. Now, a majority of my writing can be found on EnterTo Entertainment. Overall, I'm not sure what this will be worth, but the way I see it, I don't think it can hurt. More exposure can't be bad, right?
I've been a computer programmer for quite some time now, but I've never actually been to a programming conference of any sort. That has changed now that I'm attending the DC PHP Conference on Nov. 7-9. The first day of events went about as I expected, considering that there's a lot I need to learn about the tools I use at my current job.
I recently sent a few copies of "The Developers" to selected MySpace friends, in the hopes generating a little more feedback before attending Book Expo America back in June. Well, at least one of the individuals have weighed in, and the results were good, although I was worried as I initially started reading.
I'm not exhibiting at the Baltimore Book Festival, for a couple of reasons. But that doesn't mean I won't be attending.
From the information on the website, it looks as if there's a lot going on at the festival, for all ages. Also, it begins Friday night and continues Saturday and Sunday, which means you should have the opportunity to check it out at some point.
During the weekend, I began a search to find a suitable agent for my memoir, "Polos to Ties." It's fairly ridiculous how many agents are out there, especially ones that still don't have websites. However, I have narrowed the list to 30-40 who I plan to contact. I'll keep you posted as to what I find out from them, in case there's anyone else out there searching to sell the next great novel.