Turkeys are cooking, but here at 49writers, we’re launching our next online experiment and we’re hoping you’ll take part and help spread the word.
On Black Friday, we’ll begin our first ONLINE HOLIDAY LITERARY AUCTION, which will run for 10 days at ebay. This is the second part of our paired online fundraisers which support our expanding 2011 programs. Once links and bidding go live, visit http://stores.ebay.com/49alaskawritingcenter. Until then, here’s a preview of the seven items we’re offering up to bid, all lovingly chosen to help writers and readers have a fantastic, productive, and very literary 2011.
IMMORTALIZE YOUR PET AND ENTER THE AMAZING SCI-FI WORLD OF DAVID MARUSEK.
You can immortalize your pet in a literary work! Award-winning Fairbanks science fiction author David Marusek (http://www.marusek.com/) occasionally offers pet cameos at auction for local non-profits. His novels, Counting Heads and Mind Over Ship, and a novelette still in the works include a cat and several lucky dogs who have brought in hundreds of dollars for worthy community groups. The auction winner sends a photo and a little bio sketch of their pet. Marusek fits the pet by name and description into an upcoming nationally published story or novel. In the past some of these animals have taken part at critical plot points! Marusek says, “The pet cameo can be pretty much any kind of animal. If it lives with you, I should be able to fit it in. (Alternatively, I can do a cameo of your favorite boat, car, country estate, and so forth. No living people please).” Due to the vagaries of publishing, the release of the novel or story may take up to several years to occur. Minimum bid is $75.00.
WOW YOUR BOOK CLUB WITH PHONE-IN OR SKYPE GUEST HOPE EDELMAN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND MOTHER-DAUGHTER EXPERT.
Edeleman, author of the international bestseller, Motherless Daughters (which sold over 500,000 copies), as well as a memoir, The Possibility of Everything, is a moving speaker and a leading expert on early parent loss and daughter-mother relations. Invite her into the living room of your next book club gathering and enjoy a spirited conversation about motherhood, daughterhood, the memoir genre, and more. This is bound to be your best book club ever! Read more about Hope and her books at http://www.hopeedelman.com/.
LEAP PUBLISHING BARRIERS WITH THE HELP OF A PARTIAL MANUSCRIPT CRITIQUE BY AN ANONYMOUS NEW YORK EDITOR AND PUBLISHING EXPERT, “MOONRAT”
Famous for several years as the kind, savvy voice behind the anonymously authored and much-beloved “Editorial Ass” blog, Moonrat has hung up her blogging shoes, but she continues to discover new authors and intriguing works from her secret editor’s desk somewhere in Gotham. The highest bidder will get a bit of her undivided attention as she reads the first 20 pages of your unpublished work (fiction or nonfiction) and shares her candid appraisal via email critique. This is money well spent if you’re on the prowl for an agent or editor. Soak up some of her archived advice at http://www.editorialass.blogspot.com/.
GET ALASKA RESEARCH HELP FROM FAVORITE LIBRARIAN, MICHAEL CATOGGIO.
We all make mistakes, but when it comes to books about Alaska, writers seem to make a bunch. If you’re writing a book set in the north, here’s your chance to check tricky facts and hunt down obscure sources. Or perhaps you’re just beginning to think about an Alaska writing project and need some more general reading and research recommendations. Michael Catoggio of the Loussac Library in Anchorage will offer you three hours of research librarian advice and assistance that could start you on the way to writing the next great Alaska classic.
ENJOY THE QUIET OF A TWO-DAY WRITER’S OR READER’S RETREAT AT SHEEP MOUNTAIN LODGE
Your own “Classic cabin” rental. Two nights. Snowy (or green) woods. Yes, they’ll tell you can spend the time skiing 20 kilometers of cross-country trails or exploring nearby Matanuska Glacier. We know you’re going to use this exceptional rustic retreat to catch up on months of glorious reading or to start revising that novel that needs the perfect, quiet place to finish taking shape. Purchaser gets a lodging gift certificate good through Dec. 2011 and a brochure – the rest is up to you! Daydream at http://www.sheepmountain.com/.
CELEBRATE AND ENJOY THE WORK OF OUR NEWEST STATE AUTHOR, PEGGY SHUMAKER, BY OWNING A COLLECTION OF HER WORK
Auctioned as a set, this collection includes three books of poetry – Underground Rivers, The Circle of Totems, and Wings Moist from the Other World – plus Peggy’s amazing memoir, Just Breathe Normally, and a beautiful coffee table book, Blaze, with poems by the author and paintings by Kesler E. Woodward. Perfect for anyone interested in the Alaska literary scene or any poetry lover, period. http://www.peggyshumaker.com/.
BECOME SOCIAL-MEDIA SAVVY (IT’S NEVER TOO LATE!) WITH A PERSONAL CONSULTATION BY INTERNET PIONEER ALIZA SHERMAN
Everything you ever wanted to know about social media but were afraid to ask – or at least 10 things – will finally be answered. Ask Web pioneer and social media innovator Aliza Sherman those 10 burning questions that have been perplexing you. How do I create a Page on Facebook to promote something? How do I tweet? How can I have a blog if I’m not a writer? How can LinkedIn get me more business? If it’s social media, Aliza knows social.
Aliza Sherman (http://www.alizasherman.com/) is a Web pioneer, business and Internet strategist, and social media innovator. She is the author of The Everything Blogging Book, Streetwise Ecommerce, PowerTools for Women in Business and is working on her eighth book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Crowdsourcing (Penguin, Spring 2011). She started the first woman-owned Internet company in 1995, Cybergrrl, Inc., and the first women’s Internet organization, Webgrrls International. She also co-founded one of the first social media marketing agencies, Conversify.
IN ADDITION TO THOSE GREAT AUCTION ITEMS…
…we still have book bags packed and ready to go out the door, topped off with great signed books that continue to roll in, from authors including Jo-Ann Mapson, Kim Addonizio, Heather Lende, and many more. The fixed cost (no bidding required!) is $80, which includes five donated books plus shipping. For more book bag info please visit http://www.49fundraiser.org/.