Douglas Smith | Writer of Fantasy and Science Fiction

Thanks to an invitation from the nice people at the Edmonton Public Library, I will be in Edmonton this weekend, May 28-29, to do a reading / workshop on Saturday May 28, and a reading on Sunday May 29.

The Saturday workshop will be 1:30-4:00pm at the Strathcona Branch (8331 - 104 Street) and will be a joint effort by me and Diane Walton, Managing Editor of the most excellent Canadian speculative fiction magazine, On Spec. The workshop structure (more of a lecture with Q&A, actually) will follow a finished story from marketing to sale to post-sale, from the perspective of both a writer (me) and editor (yes, you're right, Diane). Here's what Diane and I are planning:

• Did you know that you never actually "sell" a story?: Licensing rights to fiction, both from a writer's and an editor's perspective
• So you've written a story. Now what?: How to market short fiction. How to choose markets. How an editor chooses a story. Tips from a writer and an editor.
• So you've sold a story. What happens next?: Contracts, editing requests, copy edits, getting it noticed, etc.
• Your story's been published. Is that all there is?: Selling reprints and other rights. Awards. Best of Anthologies. Collections.
• Ebooks and self-publishing: What this means for the short fiction writer and for a short fiction print publisher.
• Question and Answer session
• Reading

On Sunday May 29, I will be doing a reading at the EPL's monthly Writers' Corner at the Stanley A. Milner Library (Downtown).

Audrey's Bookstore will be on hand at both events if you'd like to pick up a signed copy of either of my collections, Chimerascope (now nominated for the 2011 Aurora Award) or Impossibilia (a 2009 Aurora Finalist). If you're in Edmonton, it would be great if you could drop by either (or both!) of these events. Hope to see you there.

EPL's Writer-in-Residence, Marty Chan, also did an interview with me around the upcoming readings.