Posts tagged Kentucky Christian Writers Conference
Writers Conferences: Why-to, How-to
Jun 30th
Have you been to a writers’ conference lately? It’s been about a week since I got back from Kentucky Christian Writers Conference, and I’m still working on ideas and leads obtained there.
Why Attend Conferences?
If you’re a writer seeking to get published, you must attend conferences to:
- Improve your craft through sharing information with other writers and through the workshops offered,
- Learn how to present your work to editors and agents,
- Meet editors and agents individually if the conference offers private appointments,
- Get out of your routine so that your creative juices can begin to flow,
- Learn marketing techniques for selling your books and articles,
- Be inspired and/or overwhelmed by the experience.
Beginning writers often fail to understand that the most important information that they gain at conferences is how to market their work. Of course, the other things are important, but marketing is the tool that helps you get your work published. Take a look at the Marketing Mix page for insight.
How Do I Choose a Conference?
Here’s the process I use for deciding which conferences to attend:
- Search the Web for “Christian writers conference” in my area, or browse the conference list on ChristianManuscriptSubmission.com,
- Look for conferences being held near where I live,
- Check the dates and eliminate the ones for which I have conflicts,
- Examine the faculty list and workshop offerings for people I need to meet and subject matter you need help with,
- Add up the total cost, including tuition, meals, housing, and travel expenses,
- Decide which ones I’d like to attend and start working on the arrangements,
- Pray about my choices and let God guide me as I plan.
I welcome comments on any conferences that my readers may have attended. In the past year, I have attended Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference, the ACW Conference in Memphis, and the one in KY. I’ll post an evaluation of the each conference soon.
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Got a Blog?
Apr 14th
Writers aspiring to publication know they should have a Web site, but most don’t even think about having a blog. The Web site doesn’t necessarily have to come first. While there are other ways to have a free online presence, a blog is probably the easiest.
I have four blogs of my own, plus I do the blog for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. My marketing blog has a post about blogging which went up today. Link over to my marketing blog, read the latest post and spend some time browsing the older posts for marketing ideas. Then check out the others, Tennessee Christian Reader, which is a book review blog, and my devotional journal.
If you have a Google or Gmail account, you can start blogging on Blogger right away. There are several designs to choose from. Some of the blogs I follow use Blogger and add their own unique design. This blog is a basic Blogger design with my own graphics in the heading. Others get really creative with their designs, still using Blogger:
Kathy Carlton Willis Communications
Little Nuances by Lee Warren
Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent
The Writing Life by Terry Whalin
Get started blogging today! Set it up and practice until you’re ready to let the public know about it. Meanwhile, I invite you to subscribe to any and all of my blogs. 
Update on Doing My Own Website/Blogs
Oct 6th
I’ve been pretty busy this month re-doing my own site at http://www.emilyakin.com/ and the site for Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. I’m using Front Page 2000, and I’ve forced myself to learn more about it as I’ve re-designed my site with essentially the same structure. I managed to find a nice image to use along with my new portrait. Since I don’t use nail polish, I didn’t want the fingers on the keyboard to be “painted.” I had a hard time finding a keyboard with typing fingers that were, shall we say, gender neutral. You may have noticed that I used the same image in the header for this blog that I used on my Web site.
I started from scratch with the Ky Christian Writers site. The theme for the writers conference is “Publish His glorious deeds among the nations” Psalm 96:3 (NLT). The print logo used by the group has a globe and a book with the Bible verse superimposed. I wanted to keep the concept but have more color and depth for the Web site design. I searched for a free graphic on the Web and found one that’s just right. I set up the banner in Publisher 2000, copied and pasted into Ulead photo software and converted it to a jpg. Once I had the banner, it was just a matter of plugging it in and setting up the rest of the page. I’ll admit, I did have to get professional help at one point.
I used the same banner on http://www.kychristianwriters.blogspot.com/ to provide continuity between the two sites. If you’re at all interested in writers conferences, please subscribe to the KCWC blog, and maybe we’ll see you at the conference next year.
I’m doing OK with Front Page, but I would not have gone out and bought it to do these sites. I want to do more research on the Wordpress version that you download onto your computer. This version requires a hosting account, and therefore is not free. Supposedly, though, you get a lot more functions with that version.
News flash: I just found a great article on Web sites for writers on the Writer’s Digest site. Be sure to check it out, especially if you don’t already have a site or if you’re thinking of changing your current arrangement.
