Category: Writers

Seminar: Online Marketing and Digital Platforms

Posted on by Mark Davis

I (Mark Davis) will host a seminar on Saturday, May 28th from 2-4 PM at Good Samaritan Village, Building E, 3045 Buena Vida Circle. I will also stream the seminar via Zoom (invitation will go out to members email list a day before).

Reaching audiences and selling books online is very 21st century, but don’t expect that if you build it they will come! In this seminar, I will give an overview of online marketing approaches and the idea of a “digital platform” that is designed to assemble an audience using a variety of tools.

This class is designed for writers of all skill levels who have an interest in marketing and promoting their books online. The goal will be to survey the available channels for reaching your audience and do a few deep dives on the technical aspects of those online systems. While some of the details may be technical, the presentation will provide both a primer for those hoping to do-it-yourself and options for those looking for assistance.

This seminar dovetails with George Pintar’s planned July seminar, Branding Your Business.

Topics to be covered:

  • The idea of a “digital platform”
    • Examples of platforms
    • Hybrid models: marketing online and in person
    • Goals of platforms
    • A zoo of possibilities: Twitter, websites, Goodreads, Instagram, Facebook, oh my!
    • Models:
      • No-cost
      • Low-cost
      • High-cost
    • Measuring stuff: conversions
  • Hiring a Service vs. Do-It-Yourself
    • Trade-offs: Costs vs. Learning Curve
  • Deep dives:
    • WordPress website creation
      • Registrars and URLs
      • Services
      • Creation and editing
    • The Facebook/Instagram ecosystem
    • Twitter
…
Read more

Chile Charlie Rides Again with Navajo Tainted Beliefs

Posted on by Mark Davis

Navajo Tainted Beliefs by George Pintar is culmination of a yearlong project to learn the similarities and differences between the Bible and Navajo stories regarding the creation of the earth and mankind. Pintar’s fictional characters Chile Charlie and Dolly Sweet Thompson interview both Navajo Shamans and clergymen to obtain the facts about the written and oral stories. These are enticing and creative side-by-side comparisons. They are well-written and easy to understand. Here is a description of a shaman: “Blue Rope wore an authentic Kachina outfit. His face was covered with a mask, and his eyes hid behind the darkness of the mask. Under his right feather-winged hand, he carried a small gourd bucket.” Another is “Next, he created man from dust and woman from man’s rib. God did not think man should live alone. But in Navajo stories, the sun had the sole power to communicate, which was a big difference in the creation stories. One of the most striking is that a woman is made with a man in the Navajo version. They were made under the same buckskin simultaneously.

You may laugh, you may cry, and you may wonder why as you read Navajo Tainted Beliefs. Now available on Amazon Books.…

Read more

Pre-Order Bob Worthington’s Newest: The Making of an Army Psychologist

Posted on by Mark Davis

LCW’s Bob Worthington’s newest book, The Making of an Army Psychologist, is now available for pre-order from McFarland Press. Here’s a synopsis:

In the early 1970s the U.S. Army was undergoing seismic changes. The Vietnam War had ended, almost 600 American POWs were released by North Vietnam, the draft was terminated and the Army itself was in dismal shape. A decorated former infantryman turned behavioral scientist, Bob Worthington returned to active duty as a clinician and served as a senior psychology consultant, helping the Army remain an effective fighting force. His insightful memoir describes his pioneering research in PTSD, the managing of a clinical service and mental health center, his work focusing on pilots and aviators, and a stint as a sports psychologist for the U.S. Olympics.…

Read more

LCW Authors Pintar and Cicero at Branigan Library

Posted on by Mark Davis

On Wednesday, March 30th George Pintar and Judy Cicero, local storytellers and authors, will be at the Branigan library’s second floor to autograph and explain the story line of their recent books. The event will start at 10:15 and conclude at noon. If you have books by either author that have not been autographed bring them.

Pintar’s books takes you on journeys throughout the Southwest including Antelope Wells, Deming, Great American Duck Race, Madrid, Chiz, population one, and other ghost towns.

Cicero’s book, an enchanting fairy tale, follows Tate, boy hero and Little-One, a refugee baby spider in their search for Little-One’s home web on the mysterious lotus pond. These unlikely friends accompanied by Tate’s imagination face the dangerous Bully Fish, menacing Sumo Snails, the evil Kameko, a renegade turtle taxi driver and the deadly Steaming Vapors.

If you are or know a local author, there will be information about the Las Cruces Writers. Their mission is Writers Helping Writers.

Enjoy a blind date with one of their books!…

Read more

LCW’s Bob Worthington Contracted for New Aviation Book

Posted on by Mark Davis

Our own award-winning author, Bob Worthington, is writing a new book on general aviation for McFarland & Company. The book, his fourth with McFarland, will cover Bob’s 40 years as a pilot and owner of several airplanes. Bob is an aviation journalist (author of “The Left Seat” column in Midwest Flyer magazine) and an aviation psychologist. Bob’s first book with McFarland, Under Fire with ARVN Infantry (2018), won a national award for excellence in literature. His second McFarland book, Fighting Viet Cong in the Rung Sat (2021), is under consideration for a literary award. His third McFarland book, about his decade as an Army Psychologist will be released in late 2022.…

Read more

Valentine’s Day Book Signing (and a free sonnet)!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Don’t forget to join us for the LCW Valentine’s Day book signing event at Good Samaritan Village this Sunday, February 6th, from 2-4PM. All your favorite authors will be there!

Shall I compare thee to an exquisite book?
Though art lovely yet less breviloquent.
Rough prose encountered in my corner nook,
The lines do twist as the river is bent.
Oft the Bard’s cold specter calls out to me,
But he fades before the writing begins;
The words meander like brook, lark, and tree,
Then enjamb in ungrammatical sins;
But for thee, our plot is not complete yet,
Our dénouement remains to be written,
Nor shall your cover fade when showers wet,
And of your voice I am always smitten.
   So long as we write, all our hopes do grow,
   So long lives you, and all the worlds we know…

Read more