Win a scholarship to the Backspace Writers Conference!

From literary agent Colleen Lindsay's (FinePrint Literary Management) blog:

I am thrilled to announce that the good folks at Backspace (an incredible online writers community THAT YOU SHOULD JOIN IMMEDIATELY! GO! NOW!) have once again graciously agreed to donate two scholarships to their upcoming Backspace Writers Conference & Agent-Author Seminar, which will be held in New York City from May 27th through the 29th.

The Backspace Writers Conference (May 28th & 29th) is two days of panel discussions with literary agents, authors, and acquisitions editors, agent workshops, master classes taught by New York Times bestselling authors, and opening pages workshop critiques, PLUS a Friday evening booksigning and cocktail reception. The Backspace Agent-Author Seminar (May 27th) is an extra full day of small-group breakouts with sixteen of my agent colleagues (including Kristin Nelson, Elana Roth, Jason Ashlock, Paul Cirone, Brandi Bowles, Elizabeth Evans, Joanna Stampfel-Volpe and Diana Fox, to name just a few). It's a chance to have your query read and critiqued and to have agents see the first two pages of your novel. The conference itself is held at the Radisson-Martinique in Midtown Manhattan, walking distance from Penn Station and virtually every subway line in NYC. (If you were to pay for the conference & seminar yourself, by the way, it would be $750!)

A special note from Backspace's Chris Graham & Karen Dionne to those wanting to enter the contest:

"Anyone who's interested in the conference - and especially the Agent-Author Seminar - but also wants to take part in the contest can register ahead of time. If you win, we'll promptly refund your money. Because space is limited at the AA Seminar, and it tends to sell-out early, we don't want people to miss out on it, while still being able to enter the contest. And as an added bonus, this year we're giving each of the winners a 1-year subscription to the Backspace Discussion Forums ($40/year), where they'll not only have access to all of the terrific information available, but they can also watch videos from our 2009 Writers Conference and Nov 2009 Agent-Author Seminar!"

So how do you enter? Pay attention:

First, three caveats:

1. You MUST have a finished novel that is ready to query. No exceptions.
2. The scholarship covers admission to the conference only, not travel or hotel expenses. If you're coming from outside the New York-area, bear this in mind.
3. The contest is open only to fiction (any genre, adult, YA or middle grade) and narrative non-fiction manuscripts.

The Rules:

1. One entry per person, please.
2. Print out your query letter plus the first two pages of your finished novel, the same two pages that you want to have critiqued at Backspace. The query letter should be single spaced; the two pages of your manuscript should be standard manuscript format: 12-point type and double-spaced. (Remember, only the first two pages, even if it ends mid-sentence.)
3. Mail your entries (yes, on paper, with a stamp - no email entries for this contest!) to my attention at FinePrint Literary Management, 240 W. 35th Street, Suite 500, New York, NY, 10001.
4. Your envelope MUST have the word BACKSPACE written prominently on the front so that I know it's a contest submission. Otherwise it will be recycled by the ever-efficient interns!
5. Although you are welcome to submit projects that you'd like us to consider for representation, do understand that your contest entries won't get a response. Only the two winners will be hearing back from us.
6. Don't include an SASE; it'll be a waste of a stamp. (See above.)
7. Don't call or email to follow up on your entry. Trust in the U.S. Post Office. They've been doing right by your mail for 150 years.
8. If you do call or email to follow up, your entry will be disqualified and a voudou priestess somewhere in the wilds of the Louisiana bayou will ensure that you get a nasty rash in an unspeakable place for at least a year.
9. Entries must be postmarked by Monday, March 1st. Entries received with a postmark later than March 1st will be disqualified.
10. The two winners will be announced the week of March 15th.

Thanks so much to the wonderful and supportive faculty at Backspace for making these scholarships possible. I'm sure the winners will put them to good use!

(And as if you needed any further incentive to enter the contest, consider this: last year, we had four winners for the Backspace Scholarship Contest; all four found representation through the Agent-Author Seminar!)

Good luck, everyone! And please feel free to repost!

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Social Media Fast Track for Authors at the Backspace conference

by Don Lafferty

Buckle up for the fastest hour of social media how-to for authors, when the Backspace Writers Conference turns me loose from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm on Friday, May 28th.

I’m bummed that my time slot is up against Karen Dionne’s Agent-Author Relationship panel, featuring Scott Hoffman, Norb Vonnegut, Jeff Kleinman, and Elizabeth Letts, but I figure it’s their bad luck too. (If you guys want a few minutes just grab me in the hallway or at the bar.)

One hour is going to fly by, so this is what you can expect:

1:00-1:10: Setting goals, measuring results and time management
1:11-1:20: How to listen effectively and why
1:21-1:30: Essential Web Presence Components
1:31-1:45: Business Development 101
1:46-1:55: Q&A

Attendees will also walk away with an updated version of my ever-evolving cheat sheet, Social Media Starters for Authors, and one hour of personal coaching whenever they need it.

I’ll see if I can hunt down some sweet freebies too, Like Kodak’s tremendous Social Media Tips guide.

If anybody has any suggestions for must-have social media references or web-based resources, please let me know.

For more information about the Backspace Writers Conference’s complete lineup, and to register, click here: Backspace Writers Conference.

I look forward to seeing you there.

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2010 Backspace Writers Conference

2010 Backspace Writers Conference and Agent-Author Day

May 27 - 29, 2010 - New York City

Keynote speakers:

#1 NYTimes bestselling author Lorenzo Carcaterra. In addition to his books, Carcaterra has written a number of feature scripts and teleplays. Among his features are "Dreamer," the story of singer Bobby Darin, for Warner Bros. and director Barry Levinson; "Doubt," a thriller for Robert Lawrence and Touchstone/Disney, and "Street Boys" for producers Steve Reuther and Paula Weinstein and director Barry Levinson. Carcaterra's television writing credits include "The Hall," a pilot for Fox-TV (co-written with Jacqueline Zambrano); "Rounders," an NBC pilot, and "The Force" for the WB network, which Carcaterra executive-produced and filmed in Toronto in the winter of 1999. In 2003-2004, he worked as a writer and producer for the NBC series, "Law & Order."

Neil S. Nyren, Senior Vice President, Publisher and Editor in Chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Among his authors are Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, Patricia Cornwell, Jack Higgins, W.E.B. Griffin, John Sandford, Dave Barry, Daniel Silva, Ken Follett, Frederick Forsyth, Randy Wayne White, Alex Berenson, James O. Born, Ace Atkins and Carol O’Connell; nonfiction by Bob Schieffer, Maureen Dowd, John McEnroe, Linda Ellerbee, Jeff Greenfield, Charles Kuralt, Secretary of State James Baker III, Thomas P.M. Barnett, Sara Nelson, General Tony Zinni, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

with:

Noah Lukeman (Lukeman Literary Management), Paul Cirone (Molly Friedrich Agency), Elizabeth Evans (Reece Halsey Literary Agency), Joanna Stampfel-Volpe (Nancy Coffey Literary & Media Representation), Adam Chromy (Artists and Artisans Agency), Elana Roth (Caren Johnson Literary Agency, Jennifer DeChiara (Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency), Victoria Horn (Liza Dawson Associates), Brandi Bowles (Howard Morhaim Literary Agency), Lois Winston (Ashley Grayson Literary Agency), Rebecca Strauss (McIntosh and Otis, Inc.), Jeff Kleinman (Folio Literary Management) and more to come!

"Unquestionably the best of all writers’ conferences, this two-day annual conference has leaped to the top with its emphasis on quality, not quantity. No more than 150 novelists can attend, and there are no formal pitch sessions. Instead, you’ll have the opportunity to attend quality workshops and mingle with some of the best editors, agents and other publishing professionals in the industry in a comfortable, non-aggressive atmosphere." -- BiblioBuffet

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Excerpts from the 2009 Backspace Writers Conference

Backspace Members' 2008 Releases - The Year in Review
originally posted: January 2, 2009

If you've been stocking a Backspace bookshelf all year, these 112 titles by Backspace members released during 2008 might explain why your shelves are groaning:

Alexandra Sokoloff - THE PRICE (St. Martin's Press)
Allison Winn Scotch - TIME OF MY LIFE (Shaye Areheart Books)
Allison Winn Scotch - THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST AND FOUND (HarperCollins)
Allison Brennan - PLAYING DEAD (Ballantine)
Allison Brennan - TEMPTING EVIL (Ballantine)
Allison Brennan - KILLING FEAR (Ballantine)
Allyson Roy - APHRODISIAC (Berkley)
Amy MacKinnon - TETHERED (Shaye Areheart Books/Random House)
Brett Battles- THE CLEANER - (Dell, paperback)
Brett Battles - THE DECEIVED (St. Martin's)
Brett Battles, Allision Brennan, Robert Gregory Browne, Toni McGee Causey, J.T. Ellison, Patry Francis, Marcus Sakey - KILLER YEAR: STORIES TO DIE FOR...FROM THE HOTTEST NEW CRIME WRITERS, edited by Lee Child (St. Martin's Minotaur)
C. G. Bauer - SCARS ON THE FACE OF GOD: THE DEVIL'S BIBLE (Drollerie Press)
Chris Grabenstein - HELL HOLE (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Chris Grabenstein - THE CROSSROADS (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Christine Blevins - MIDWIFE OF THE BLUE RIDGE (Berkley)
Christopher Johnson - HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILD'S DOCTOR: A HANDBOOK FOR PARENTS (trade paperback, Prometheus Books)
CJ Lyons - LIFELINES ( Berkley/Jove)
Claudia Gray - EVERNIGHT (HarperCollins)
Clea Simon - DEADFALL: CRIME STORIES BY NEW ENGLAND AUTHORS (Level Best)
Clea Simon - CRIES & WHISKERS (Poisoned Pen Press, Trade Paperback)
Cornelia Read - THE CRAZY SCHOOL (Warner)
Damian McNicholl - A SON CALLED GABRIEL (The Friday Project Limited)
Danielle Younge-Ullman - FALLING UNDER Plume/Penguin)
Devon Ellington - HEX BREAKER
E. M. Crane - SKIN DEEP (Delacorte)
Eileen Cook - UNPREDICTABLE (Berkley)
Eileen Cook - WHAT WOULD EMMA DO? (Simon Pulse)
Eliza Graham - RESTITUTION (Macmillan New Writing)
Elizabeth Letts (writing as Elizabeth Alahou) - THE BUTTER MAN (Charlesbridge Publishers)
Gail Konop Baker CANCER IS A BITCH (Or, I'd Rather be Having a Midlife Crisis) (Da Capo Press)
Harry Hunsicker - CROSSHAIRS (paperback St. Martin's Minotaur)
Heather Brewer - EIGHTH GRADE BITES (Dutton/Penguin - paperback)
Heather Brewer - NINTH GRADE SLAYS (Penguin Group)
J. D. Rhoades - BREAKING COVER (St. Martin's Minotaur)
J. A. Konrath - FUZZY NAVEL (Hyperion)
J.T. Ellison - 14 (Mira)
Jack Getze - BIG MONEY (Hilliard & Harris)
Jackie Kessler - HOTTER THAN HELL (Kensington)
Jackie Kessler - HELL'S BELLES (Kensington)
Jane K. Cleland – ANTIQUES TO DIE FOR (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Jane K. Cleland – DEADLY APPRAISAL (paperback, St. Martin's Minotaur)
Jeff Huber - BATHTUB ADMIRALS (Kunati)
Jennifer Talty, writing as Hollie Brooks - IN HIS SLEEP
Jenny Gardiner - SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER (Dorchester)
Jess Winfield - MY NAME IS WILL -- A NOVEL OF SEX, DRUGS AND SHAKESPEARE (Twelve Books)
Jill Elaine Hughes, writing as Jamaica Layne - MARKET FOR LOVE Virgin Cheek)
Joanne Rendell - THE PROFESSORS' WIVES' CLUB (NAL Trade)
John Elder Robison - LOOK ME IN THE EYE (UK - Ebury)
Jon Clinch - FINN (trade paperback, Random House)
Jonathan Maberry - BAD MOON RISING (Pinnacle)
Julie Kramer - STALKING SUSAN (Doubleday)
Julie Compton - TELL NO LIES (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Karen Dionne - FREEZING POINT (Berkley/Jove)
Karen Abbott - SIN IN THE SECOND CITY: MADAMS, MINISTERS, PLAYBOYS AND THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA'S SOUL (Paperback - Random House)
Kay Hooper - BLOOD DREAMS (paperback, Bantam)
Kay Hooper - BLOOD SINS (Bantam - hardcover)
Kelli Stanley - NOX DORMIENDA (A Long Night for Sleeping) (Five Star)
Kellyann Zuzulo - A GENIE IN THE HOUSE OF SAUD: ZUBIS RISES (Mystical Publishing)
Kristy Kiernan - MATTERS OF FAITH (Berkley Trade)
Laura Benedict - CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS (Ballantine)
Laura Major - MISMATCHED (Amira Press)
Laurel Corona - THE FOUR SEASONS (Hyperion)
Laurel Corona - UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH; A HOLOCAUST STORY OF LOVE AND PARTISAN RESISTANCE (St. Martin’s Press)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted with Greg Logsted & Jackie Logsted - THE SISTERS EIGHT, BOOK 1: ANNIE'S ADVENTURES (Sandpiper)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted with Greg Logsted & Jackie Logsted - THE SISTERS EIGHT, BOOK 2: DURINDA'S DANGERS (Sandpiper)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted - ME, IN BETWEEN (Simon & Shuster)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted - BABY NEEDS A NEW PAIR OF SHOES (Red Dress Ink)
Lauren Baratz-Logsted - SECRETS OF MY SUBURBAN LIFE (YA Simon Pulse)
Lesley Kagen - LAND OF A HUNDRED WONDERS (NAL)
Lesley Livingston - WONDROUS STRANGE (Harper Teen)
Linda Gerber - DEATH BY LATTE (Puffin)
Linda Gerber - DEATH BY BIKINI (Puffin/Sleuth)
Lisa McMann - WAKE (Simon Pulse)
Lisa McMann - WAKE (Simon Pulse paperback)
Lorelei Armstrong - IN THE FACE (Iota Publishing)
Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore - THE 731 LEGACY (Midnight Ink)
Marcus Sakey - AT THE CITY'S EDGE (St. Martin's)
Marcus Sakey - GOOD PEOPLE Dutton Adult)
Mardi Link - WHEN EVIL CAME TO GOOD HART (University of Michigan Press)
Marta Stephens - THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (Bewrite Books)
Michael Haskins - CHASIN' THE WIND (Five Star)
Michelle Rowan - LADY AND THE VAMP (Forever)
Minette Meador - STARSIGHT II Stonegarden)
Minnette Meador - STARSIGHT VOL. I (Stonegarden)
Minnette Meador - THE CENTURION & THE CELT (Resplendence)
Pam Jenoff - THE DIPLOMAT'S WIFE - (Mira, UK)
Pam Jenoff - THE DIPLOMAT'S WIFE - (Mira, US)
Patrice Wilton - DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSIE (Wild Rose Press)
Patrice Wilton - REPLACING BARNIE (Wings e-press)
Patricia Wood - LOTTERY (Penguin Group, trade paperback)
Patrick Balester - IN THE DISMAL SWAMP (Avalon)
Patry Francis - THE LIAR'S DIARY (Dutton trade paperback)
Richard Lewis - THE DEMON QUEEN (Simon and Shuster Children's)
Richard Lewis - THE KILLING SEA (Simon & Schuster)
Robert Gregory Browne - KISS HER GOODBYE (St. Martin’s Press, paperback)
Robert Gregory Browne - WHISPER IN THE DARK (Macmillan UK)
Safari Sue Thurman - Maybe We Are Flamingos (Guardian Angel Publishing)
Sandra Kring - THANK YOU FOR ALL THINGS (Delta)
Shawn Rohrbach - PLAYING THE GAME (Cacoethes Publishing House, LLC)
Stephen Giorgio - EMPTY KNIGHT (Ithaca Press)
Sue Thurman - INSIDE SCOOP: ARTICLES ABOUT ACTING AND WRITING BY HOLLYWOOD INSIDERS AND PUBLISHED AUTHORS
Susanne Dunlap - THE MUSICIAN'S DAUGHTER (Bloomsbury USA Children's Books)
Tasha Alexander - A FATAL WALTZ (William Morrow)
Tasha Alexander - A POISONED SEASON (paperback)
Terri Molina - HIS WILL, HER WAY (Cobblestone Press)
Tish Cohen - THE ONE AND ONLY ZOE LAMA Dutton Children's Books)
Tish Cohen - INSIDE OUT GIRL (HarperCollins)
Tish Cohen - TOWN HOUSE (paperback, HarperCollinsCanada)
Tom Swift - CHIEF BENDER’S BURDEN (University of Nebraska Press)
Toni McGee Causey - BOBBIE FAY'S (KINDA, SORTA, NOT-EXACTLY) FAMILY JEWELS (St. Martin's Press)
Vincent Diamond - ROUGH CUT: VINCENT DIAMOND COLLECTED (Lethe Press)
WR. Park - COMA

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The Backspace Book Promotion Network
originally posted: June 7, 2008

A few months before the release of my debut thriller, FREEZING POINT, I decided I was going to use the Internet to promote my novel as much as possible.

From talking to other writers, I knew there were plenty of promotional opportunities available - blog tours, online book clubs, book review sites, video sharing, and social network sites where people who might be interested in the topic of my book gathered.

I heard words like "Authorbuzz" and "LibraryThing" and "Shelfari," but didn't know what they meant, or how these sites and services could help promote my book.

And while I had an author page at MySpace, I wasn't sure how to make the most of it.

I looked for a resource that would explain it all; that had all of the Internet promotional opportunities listed in one place - a central database where everything could be accessed without wasting precious writing and promotional hours googling.

And when I couldn't find one, my Backspace partner, Christopher Graham, and I decided to make our own.

What is The Backspace Book Promotion Network?

The Backspace Book Promotion Network is a searchable database of thousands of listings of Internet book promotion opportunities. Current, comprehensive information - an extensive collection of everything related to Internet book promotion that we could find on the Web. Most of the listings are free, while some, such as newsletter advertising and press release services, are available to authors for a small cost.

But The Backspace Book Promotion Network is more than a vast collection of links. Our Articles section tells you how to USE these promotional opportunities to best advantage. The articles are written by the people who know: website designers, publicists, best-selling authors.

Publishers have a finite amount to spend on marketing, and the bulk of their promotional dollars go to best-selling authors. Literary agencies hire full-time publicists to take up the slack. Authors with small presses and self-published authors are at an even bigger disadvantage.

Smart authors are figuring out new and innovative ways to promote their books using the Internet. The Backspace Book Promotion Network can help. $30 for six months; $50 for one year.

Not much more than the price of a good book.

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Re: MJ Rose Receives Backspace's Bob Kellogg Award (August 13, 2008)

M.J. Rose is awesome and most definitely deserves this award. She has helped me grow my career as a writer and is a constant support. She is a champion for writers everywhere. Kudos to M.J.! -- Michele Scott

Patry Francis unfolds her story as effortlessly as nature unfurls the petals of a rose. When I read The Liar's Diary in hardcover last summer, I was totally spellbound by her skill with words. She is a gifted writer, but more than that, she is an exquisitely compassionate and loving person. I am proud to call her my friend. -- Natalie Neal Whitefield

The Backspace organization is predicated on the idea of writers helping writers, which we accomplish by means of discussion forums, a guest speaker program in which agents, acquisitions editors, and bestselling authors regularly conduct online question and answer sessions with the group, and articles and advice from agents and other publishing professionals on our homepages, along with useful links, conference and book reviews, and more.

Backspace has attracted the support and/or participation of Richard Curtis, Dan Lazar, Jenny Bent, Sara Nelson, Kristin Nelson, Jeff Kleinman, Kristen Weber, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, Robert Crais, Neil Gaiman, Chris Bohjalian, Elizabeth George and many other publishing professionals.