In spite of rain from Ivan, I went to VCU's 1st Novelist Award "ceremony." I was expecting a small, intimate gathering of students and authors, casually discussing writing, maybe ala "In the Actor's Studio." Instead I got something more like a corporate luncheon with men in suits and women in business starch. Apparently the former situation was the first choice as the event was advertised as being held in the Student Center, although the announcement gave the street address instead of the name of the building. At the last minute it was moved two blocks away to the VCU Performing Arts Center. I was greeted by two policemen, glass doors, a table full of books for sale, a wine steward and lots of people wearing clothing I usually see only at the office. After wandering around a bit, I found the door to the 500 capacity auditorium, sat down and played solitaire on my Zire until the place was about half full and I was interrupted by someone speaking from the podium.
The program began with a slightly boring introduction by the head of the MFA writing program. He was followed by a man saved by the brevity of his introduction to David Baldacci. Mr. Baldacci is a smooth marketer, a financial supporter of the program, and a great talker. He drew me in with his author-to-author anecdotes and then proceeded to laud worthy causes (all of them his) and to encourage literacy in American. But he did it handsomely (even if he isn't my type) and fluidly so that it was soon and painlessly over.
The star of the evening was the young 1st Novelist Michael Byers. His award for "Long for this World" was smushed in between the introductions and causes. The actual prize: the white elephant of bookends. Actually they looked lovely but my first thought was "What is he going to do with those?" They were ceramic pieces (made by a VCU instructor) about one foot square each and shaped like city blocks of apartment buildings. I have no idea what buildings have to do with first novels. Maybe the people inside are all reading books?
Michael read about half a chapter of his book. And good reading it was, too. He was obviously nervous but it made him more charming rather than boring. A question was later raised by the audience if book signings are part of the job. I could see in both Michael and Mr. Baldacci the honed addressing-the-expectant-crowd tone which must be the result of many book signings. One of Mr. Baldacci's endearing anecdotes was of his daughter telling others that he signed books for a living.
Following Michael's reading was a panel of five (including Michael) moderated by Jason, a well-published author I have never heard of. I enjoyed the discussion. It was quite informative and confirmed what I had learned elsewhere about the business of writing. However, what I hadn't heard elsewhere was about the relationship of agents to publishing houses and whether or not having an agent can help your first novel get considered. The answer: yes it can help but it's also important to write good stuff.
There was brief mention of self-publishing. The two book sellers made the point that thousands of books are on the market and that your one little book hasn't got much of a chance against the 50 publishing reps that come into their stores daily with catalogs of thousands of books. They also pointed out that you need an ISBN so that your sales can be properly reported or you can't have a best seller. Obviously they've never been to lulu.com where anyone can get their book an ISBN.
The panelists drew a parallel between the cyber world and the "real" world. It can't be done. Netizen communities are not the same as communities on the "outside." They dismissed Amazon.com. It's a great resource for looking up books, they said, but none of them take those reviews seriously. One of publishers said he suspects that authors review their own books. One of the book sellers said she didn't believe that anybody read those reviews. Well, either someone's reading them or else Amazon.com is posting bogus statistics. I read those reviews. I also use them to make decisions about what to buy. Sure, I read the "official" review (if there is one), too, but the one that counts with me is the volunteer review from an ordinary person not getting kickbacks and with no vested interest in the book (other than maybe to boost their Amazon.com reviewer status). There are books I have not bought because a good review by an ordinary reader convinced me I wouldn't like it. I have also done the opposite.
Anyway, it was an interesting show. I enjoyed learning about the first novel business and discovering another good author—which may have been the whole point. That and the delicious chocolate cake I took with me on the way out.
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