Next HSW Meeting 

Saturday March 8th at 11 am at
Raleys ONE Supermarket on Wedge Parkway in the Community Room

Mastering Marketing as an Author

Marketing is one of the biggest challenges for authors. As creatives, our strengths lie in storytelling—not necessarily in selling our work. But the good news is marketing is a skill that can be learned, and at our next HSW meeting, we have the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Join us as Matt Bayan shares his expertise on book marketing and how to make it work for you.

A little background on Matt: He spent a decade as Director of Sales and Marketing for a division of GE and successfully turned his first book into a bestseller. With his deep knowledge of marketing principles, he’ll break down how to apply them specifically to the publishing world.

In this session, we’ll not only discuss effective marketing strategies but also brainstorm ways to promote your individual books. Whether it’s securing interviews, setting up book signings, or leveraging your subject matter to attract readers, you’ll walk away with actionable insights to help boost your book’s visibility.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a pro—see you at the meeting!

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PROJECT REPORTS! Over the past two months, five of our authors have tried the book launch push plan Matt outlined in December. At this meeting, we’ll have an update with quick summaries of the results from Matt, Jacci, Lynda, Teresa, and Rene. (Cue: Authors, please be prepared to present your results.)

FIRST PAGES: Matt will be doing First Pages at the March meeting. If you would like to get feedback on the first page of your work from the group, then send it to Matt (MattBayan@aol.com) before 6 pm by Friday, March 7th. The page should be double-spaced in Times New Roman or equivalent 12 pt type. Do not include your name on the page but do include the genre.

COLD READS ACCEPTED

If you have a cold read you’d like to have the attending members critique, please email no more than 6 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (or similar) 12pt with one inch margins all around to Linda at least 2 days before the meeting.
If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, email Linda at Lynda.r.bailey@gmail.com.

See you on the 8th!

GUEST OR TOPIC IDEAS!
If you have a topic area you’d like covered or know of someone you’d like to have as a guest speaker at an upcoming meeting, please drop a line to board@highsierrawriters.org

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Critique Groups Update

Reminder: You must be a current PAID member of HSW in order to participate in one of our critique groups.  If you’d like to join a group or have general questions about critiquing, contact Linda Enos at lynda.r.bailey@gmail.com MYSTERY WRITERS (and more) WANTED! The Mystery and More group is looking for authors! If you write mystery, or any genre other than romance or children’s, let Linda know. She’ll put you in touch with the group leader, Ron, so you can learn more details. MEMOIRISTS WANTED! We have an increased interest in starting a memoir-only critique group. If you’re a memoirist and would like more information about joining such a group, contact Linda. PLEASE REMEMBER… If you have a few pages you’d like the HSW members to critique cold, don’t forget to send your submission (max of 6 pages, double spaced with New Times Roman, or similar font, 12pt) to Linda at least 2 days before the monthly meeting so hard copies can be made. FYI… The After-the-Regular-Meeting (ATRM) critique group will gather following the meeting on March 8th. Please feel free to sit in and observe.  Don’t forget to contact Linda Enos at lynda.r.bailey@gmail.com with any questions or concerns!

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Change in Price for 2025 Dues

Annual dues are $5 for 2025

If you haven’t paid your 2025 dues yet, they are now overdue. Please renew, especially if you are in a critique group and find it valuable. If you’re not sure if you’ve renewed, contact Rene at RPAverett@gmail.com and she will check your status.

You can pay them online using this payment link for PayPal: $5-for-25
or send a check to:
High Sierra Writers
PO BOX 17205 – RENO NV 89511
     (Please let us know by email to board@highsierrawriters.org if you mail it in, so we can check the mailbox.)

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Drop-in Critique Group at B&N

Matt hosts a drop-in critique meeting at the Barnes & Noble cafe on S Virginia Street from 6 PM to 8 PM. Meetings will be held on the FIRST and THIRD Wednesdays of each month.

Drop-in means no prep and no homework. Just bring 5 or 6 pages on which you want feedback and read them to the group. If you want, someone else can read your material out loud. If you’re really ambitious, you can bring hard copies, but that starts to look like homework and we really want to avoid work of any sort.

Your material can be a chapter or a passage you want to test, like an action scene, or dialogue, or something you’re just not sure about. Fiction or nonfiction.

You don’t need to be there for the whole meeting. If you can’t make it until 7 PM, no big deal.
You don’t have to bring material. These sessions are a great way to build up your editing muscles by analyzing work of other writers.

See you there.

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HSW Writers’ Success Stories

High Sierra Writers has quite a few published writers in the group. We have a page featuring the various books grouped by author under genre. These are under HSW Authors link. As our authors release new books, we’ll feature them here. If you have a release coming up, send me your press release to RPAverett@gmail.com.

This month, Rene Averett released the revised version of her science fiction adventure series, O’Ceagan’s Legacy. You all should have received the promotion email on Feb. 27th, but in case you didn’t read or open it, here’s the short pitch.

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