Beta Basics: How to Find, Use, and Love Beta Readers

 

Annette Kassis

 Author and Historian

Do you need beta readers? If you write with the intent to publish, the answer is YES!

However, finding good beta readers is just a starting point. If you don’t know how to use them—or why you need them—you may be wasting a golden opportunity. A good beta reader is more than just a bookworm or a bibliophile…A LOT more. Annette Kassis discusses how she works with beta readers, what makes a good beta reader (and what makes a bad one!), and—perhaps most importantly—what you as the author can do to get the most out of the process.

Annette Kassis is the author of 3 works of Sacramento history: Sacramento on the Air; Prohibition in Sacramento; and Weinstock’s: Sacramento’s Finest Department Store. A repeat guest on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight with Beth Ruyak,” Annette has also appeared on C-Span’s Book TV and in the documentaries “The Sacramento Picture” and “Alhambra: Sacramento’s Palace of Fantasy.”

annette.kassis@gmail.com          https://www.kassiscreative.com/

Writers Network Meeting
January 3, 2020
9-11 AM

Perko’s, 6215 Sunrise Blvd., Citrus Heights (north of Greenback)

Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

 

Read A Sample of Your Work Aloud

 

First Friday Writers Network attendees in December will be flocking to the microphone to read a short selection from their work.  It’s the ultimate show, don’t tell opportunity.  There won’t be time to set up, contextualize, introduce, or explain what you are reading.  It’s strictly about speaking in your writer’s voice until the time is up.  So, bring approximately 250 words (a page) of text and be ready to jump in.  It should be great fun!

Writers Network Meeting
December 6, 2019
9-11 AM

Perko’s, 6215 Sunrise Blvd., Citrus Heights (north of Greenback)

Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

 

Capture Those Special Moments

Before They Flitter Away

 

with

Ingrid Lundquist

Author/Speaker

About the speaker:

Ingrid Lundquist, founder of The Book-in-Hand Roadshow, is a creative spirit with talents in photography, writing and event production. Author of five business books, a photo story book, and the short story collection Touching Venus, she also teaches classes for Sierra College, Elk Grove Adult Community Education, and the Crocker Museum.

Join Ingrid and learn tips and tricks about building a book that can be wrapped as a present and maybe even serve as a group-bonding project.

See IngridLundquist.com

Writers Network Meeting
November 1, 2019
9-11 AM

Perko’s, 6215 Sunrise Blvd., Citrus Heights (north of Greenback)

Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

 Research Tips for All You Write

with

Gini Grossenbacher

Award-Winning Author, Editor, Speaker at  Elk Grove Writers & Artists/JGKS Press

About the speaker:

Gini Grossenbacher, M.Ed. A California native and former CWC board member, Gini Grossenbacher teaches creative writing in the AWA method, edits fiction and memoir, and writes historical romantic fiction and poetry. She has recently published Madam in Silk, a woman’s novel of Chinatown in 1849 San Francisco. Her debut novel Madam of My Heart garnered the 2018 IPPY silver medal for Historical Fiction; finalist in the 2018 American Fiction awards for Historical Fiction; honorable mention at the 2018 San Francisco Book Festival for General Fiction; and runner-up in the 2017 Hollywood Book Festival for Genre Fiction; and was a “recommended book” by Kirkus Reviews.

Writers Network Meeting
October 4, 2019
9-11 AM

Perko’s, 6215 Sunrise Blvd., Citrus Heights (north of Greenback)

Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.

 How Fiction & Creative Nonfiction

Can Influence & Improve Your Work

 

with

Valerie Fioravanti

Writing Instructor & Coach

Stretching is good for muscles, and it’s good for writers, too. Writing in a different genre can supply a greater awareness of language, purpose, and perspective, qualities which can then inform and influence your current form.

About the speaker:

Valerie Fioravanti is the author of the linked collection of Brooklyn stories Garbage Night at the Opera from BkMk Press, which won the Chandra Prize for Short Fiction. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in many literary journals, including North American Review, Cimarron Review, and Hunger Mountain. Her work has garnered eight Pushcart Prize nominations and a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy. A New York City native, she lives in Sacramento, where she teaches workshops and coaches writers privately.

 

Writers Network Meeting
September 6, 2019
9-11 AM

Perko’s, 6215 Sunrise Avenue, Citrus Heights (north of Greenback)

Bring Market Leads & Marketing Tips

 

 

Questions? Ask via our Contact page.