2023 - 02/2023 Meeting

Page Created:  11/13/22.  Last Updated:  03/20/23.

JOSEPH R LALLO

ONLINE

Website:  https://www.bookofdeacon.com/about-the-author/

FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/JosephRLallo/

Mastadon:  https://mastodon.social/@jrlallo

Tumblr:  https://jrlallo.tumblr.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/jrlallo

Wattpad:  https://www.wattpad.com/user/jrlallo

SERIES

The Book of Daecon (Epic Fantasy)

.....Main Series:  6 Books + Side Quests & Collections

Big Sigma (Science Fiction)

.....Main Series:  6 Books + Side Quests & Collections

Free-Wrtench (Steampunk)

.....Main Series:  6 Books + Side Quests & Collections

Shards of Shadow (Urban Fantasy)

.....Main Series:  3 Books + Side Quests

The Greater Lands Saga (Epic Fantasy)

.....Main Series:  6 Books + Side Quests

Between (Humorous Fantasy / Science Fiction Mashup)

.....Main Series:  1 Book + Side Quests

Pizza Dragon (Humorous Fantasy)

.....Main Series:  1 Book + Side Quests

The Other Eight (Humorous Superhero)

.....Main Series:  1 Book + Side Quest

The After-Image (Virtual Reality Adventure)

.....Main Series:  1 Book + Side Quest

Other Works

.....Rogue Derelect (Science Fiction Novel)

.....Paradoxes & Dragons (Short Story Collection)

.....Pardoxes & Dragons 2 (Short Story Collection)

Meeting Date:  February 11, 2023.

Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Attendance:  19 + 11.

Meeting Program:   Talk, Q & A with Horror Author.

Notes:

Newsletter Account:

The following account is reprinted with permission  THE STARSHIP EXPRESS  Copyright 2023 Philip J De Parto:

The Saturday, February 11, 2023 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River.  Independent author Joseph R Lallo was our speaker.

Joseph R Lallo is the author of over 30 fantasy and science fiction novels, as well as numerous shorter works and collections.  He is best known for his epic fantasy Book of Deacon series, but has written space opera, steampunk, urban fantasy and humorous fantasy.  He also runs a podcast in collaboration with other writers.

Our guest began telling stories set in the world of THE BOOK OF DEACON when he was in Second Grade.  By the time he graduated High School he had filled 17 hand-written spiral notebooks of stories set in the world.  He wanted to program video games, so he attended New Jersey Institute of Technology where he completed a Masters Degree in Computer Engineering.  More importantly, he typed out all of his notebooks.

Mr Lallo took a position in Information Technology for Horizon Blue Cross and continued his fantasy writing in his spare time.  He decided to go the indie author route and self-published THE BOOK OF DEACON  (note to newbie authors:  do not make the title of book one in a series also be the title of the series, it only leads to confusion) in 2010.

His friend, Lindsay Buroker, suggested doing a podcast about writing with fellow authors Laura Kirwan and Jeffrey M Poole, and thus was born the SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY MARKETING PODCAST where they picked the brains of more successful writers.  In the podcasts he uses himself as an example of how to do things wrong.  That podcast is now defunct, but he, Lindsay Buroker, and Andrea Pearson have created the SIX FIGURE AUTHOR PODCAST which is still going.

There are six books in the main sequences of THE BOOK OF DEACON, a related novel about one of the side characters, and two collections of stories set in the world.  The first book is free at Amazon but ends in a cliffhander.  About 10% of the readers purchase the second book.  He follows the same strategy for his other multi-book series.  As the years went by and his sales increased, he was able to quit his job and write full time.  He started out as a pantser, but is now a loose plotter.

Additional information appears below.

Notes from Meeting

Went from selling $ 19.00 to $ 190.00 per month.

? Amazon or Wide - check with author

Amazon will match lowest price of book.

Has written an unpublished Star Trek Book.

Likes epic fantasy best.

Writes 3 K per day when actively writing.

Self published first book in 2010.  Released it on his birthday.

Book of Deacon (first book) is available in 5 languages.  Bulgarian edition was his first foreign rights sale.

German translators are very good & expensive.  Their name goes on the cover & they get 50%.

Hit # 20 in Amazon Free Book Chart and # 150 overall.

Writes cinematically.

In fantasy you can make everything up.

In science fiction you must avoid the impossible.

Did not read many comics growing up.

Types of editors:  Line Editor, Copy Editor, Developmental Editor (looks at big picture).

He uses a Copy Editor ~ $ 1,000.00.

Originally a pantser, but this led to lots of dead ends, so now he is a loose plotter.

Has a Patreon where subscribers get free stories set in his universes.  He later bundles and sells the stories as collections..

Has 3 D printed creatures he created in his writing.  He passed two around.

Has gone lots of guest posts to spread his name.  Lisa Norman at Writers in the Storm is a Patron.

Collecting sign-ups for a newsletter is the most effective publicity.

Uses Mailchimp.

PODCASTS, AUDIO BOOKS, YOUTUBE, WEB COMICS

.....Podcasts

Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast (finished) with Lindsay Buroker, Jeffrey M Poole, & Laura Kirwan.

https://www.marketingsff.com/about-us/

Six Figure Author Podcast with Lindsay Buroker & Andrea Pearson.

https://6figureauthors.com/

.....Audio Books

It takes one hour to narrate 14K words.

You can either pay the narrator upfront as work for hire, or do a No-Advance, 50-50 split of royalties.

...........Did first three books

............Did rest of his audio books

.....YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/@JosephLallo/videos

.....Web Comic

Weird Nothing

MISCELLANEOUS

.....Writers should continue to read in their genre and not worry about accidentally plagiarizing.  A chef does not stop eating.

INFLUENCES

.....J R R Tolkien, but read out of order - The Return of the King first

.....Brit humorists - Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett

SNAPSHOTS OF HIS SERIES

Book of Deacon.....Epic Fantasy Hero's Journey

Big Sigma..................Set 400 years in the future.   No aliens, hundreds of human colonies.

Free-Wrench...........Steampunk

set in the world of The Lowlands where most of the world has beeb killed by The Fug, a heavy, toxic vapor.

Rogue Derelict.......Space Opera set in Lindsay Buroker's Fallen Empire series.

The Other Eight.....Superheroes with lame powers must battle a powerful supervillain.  Sequel is planned.

Structophis..............YA humorous fantasy about a teen who accidently hatches a dragon egg in his uncle's pizza oven.

Top Level Player.....In vein of Ready Player One

Shards of Shadow Series..........Urban fantasy set in Philadelphia about evil, life-draining shadows.  Patterned after Dresden Files.