2022 - 01/2022 Meeting
Page Created: 01/08/22. Last Updated: 01/13/22.
MARY FAN
ONLINE
Website: https://www.maryfan.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/mfanwriter
Pinterst: https://www.pinterest.com/astralcolt/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AstralColt
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/astralcolt
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mary-Fan/e/B00BKT4AJW
SELECTED TITLES
Novels:
.....Stronger Than a Bronze Dragon (standalone)
.....Jane Colt Trilogy
...............Artificial Absolutes
...............Synthetic Illusions
...............Virtual Shadows
.....Swept Away Trilogy
...............Starswept
...............Wayward Stars
...............Seize the Stars
.....Flynn Nightsider
...............Flynn Nightsider & the Edge of Evil
...............A Girl Called Firedragon (collection)
.....The Fated Stars
...............Tell Me My Name (novella)
...............Let Me Fly Free (novella)
...............Windborn
Editor
.....Bad Ass Moms
.....Brave New Girls (co-editor)
...............Tech & Tinker
...............Gals & Gizmos
...............Heroines Who Hack
...............Science & Scheme
...............Girls & Gadgets
Meeting Date: January 8, 2022.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.
Attendance: 39.
Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with Author / Editor
Notes:
The Virtual Dinner Run was attended by club members Gary Calhoun, Philip De Parto, Clif Flynt, Anthony Pawlak, John Upton and Moshe Yuda, as well as regulars Gary Frank and Louis Kessler. Topics discussed included computer security, military aircraft, landing on a aircraft carrier, Tom Corbitt, and movies. Some participants were present only briefly.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2022 Philip J De Parto:
Notes for Newsletter Account:
STRONGER THAN A BRONZE DRAGON
.....Wrote in 2017
.....Set in a steampunk world ~ 1800 in an analog of the Ching Dynasty
.....Wanted this book to be traditionally published
.....Queried & landed an agent
.....Worked on rewrite with agent for 8 months before submitting to publisher
.....An editor wanted to acquire the book but was vetoed by marketing department
.....Sent new book to agent who hated it
.....Pitched two ideas, wrote 50 pages of each, agent hated both, so they parted ways
.....Landed new agent through Twitter pitch session
.....Purchased by editor Lori Nolls of Page Street Press
.....Traditional publishing is like going on vacation, you write the book and they handle cover, editing, etc.
Her work as a Financial Services Marketer has influenced the marketing end of her self-published books,
Writes full character bios for the main characters in her books.
Has never taken a writing class
Is a plotter
Uses Scrivener. Showed Scrivener on Share Screen.
Writes evenings. Takes a break between when she comes home and when she starts writing
Brave New Girls anthologies came out in 2015, and 2017 - 2020. Now on covid break
Bad Ass Mom anthology is from Crazy 8 Press
Writes mostly YA because it is more fun
Childhood - College
.....Both parents had Phd
.....Was academic brat, moving from place to place depending on where they were teaching
.....Was in Hong Kong for year at 12. Wrote bad first novel, but she got it done
.....Grew up mostly in NJ as dad got hired by Princeton. Went to Princeton. Music Major.
.....Spent 6 years writing songs
Writing Process
.....Does messy first draft
.....Fixes things in second draft
.....Sends it to Beta readers
.....1 or 2 rewrites based on their feedback
.....Starts submitting when she is sick of book
Query Process
.....3 paragraph query letter
.....1 page synopsis
First Job
.....Bejing
,,,,,Didn't know anyone, so she came home from work & wrote Artificial Absolutes, first novel which sold
Book
.....Found footage
.....Systemic Crate
.....Cryptid Crate
.....Mantis Man
Marketing
.....Philcon was first convention
.....Does 6 - 7 conventions / year
.....Hired companies specializing in online marketing who deal with influencers
.....Used FaceBook Ads, but their prices keep rising
.....Instagram ads
......Instaram tours
......Tried to do a newsletter, but it wasn't for her and she gave it up
......Tik Tok / Book Tok very popular with young people
Sings in NYC Master Voices Choir
Jane Colt Trilogy (Artificial Absolutes, etc)
.....First two books through Red Adept Publishing
.....Third book was self-pubbed, but used same editor, etc as earlier books
.....Red Adept was having problems
Plotting Series
.....Meticulous for first book
.....Looser plot - just ideas - for following books
Brave New Girls
.....Co editior with Paige Daniels
.....What if we published a series of books where girls weren't the the supporting characters
.....Self pubbed
.....Sales revenues go to Society of Women Engineers
Recent nonfiction reading:
.....The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber & David Wengrow
.....The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele & David M Perry
Submitted to a couple of dozen literary agents, then started hitting the small presses