Category Archives: self-publishing

Cats on the Keyboard, with Mollie Hunt, Dec 17th 2023

Mollie Hunt currently has around 16 published titles: 11 mysteries in two cozy series, 1 standalone novel, 3 science fiction novels, 1 memoir, and 1 book of poetry! A common theme in her books is cats because…

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Writers’ Mill Minutes, Nov 19th 2023

9 in-person and 11 online attendees were present to see the upload of this year’s anthology to Amazon. We were delighted to welcome new NaNoWriMo participants, and very much hope they might join us at future meetings too. If you’ve not already signed up for our newsletters, please go to the SignUp page on the portlandwritersmill.org website and follow the instructions there. (You’ll get the instructions in an email from admin @ portlandwritersmill . org, so make sure you flag those emails as “not spam” when they arrive.)

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How to Upload your Book to Amazon, from Sheila’s talk, Nov 19th 2023

Sheila had a PowerPoint presentation prepared to guide us through the upload of this year’s anthology, but Zoom and PowerPoint both crashed. Fearing the computer might crash next, she proceeded to give the talk off the cuff instead. By the end of the following day, our latest anthology was on sale at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNPQ2F92/. Get your copies soon, before the price goes up!

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Writers’ Mill Minutes Sunday July 16th 2023

14 members attended July’s Writers’ Mill meeting, and if you missed it, you missed a fantastic presentation from Erick Mertz. His topic—Self-Publishing Success: What Worked, What Didn’t, & What I Would Do Differently—was particularly timely as we approach the release of our next anthology, and included excellent advice and inspiration for all of us. Notes from his presentation will be posted online shortly, with the current password—which you will find in your emails.

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Self-Publishing Success: What Worked, What Didn’t, & What I Would Do Differently, with Erick Mertz

Self-publishing used to be somewhat frowned on and considered less legitimate than “really” getting published, but that is changing, as Erick showed us in his presentation.

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Publish or Perish, or just Put your words out there?

Publish or Perish is a common phrase in British academia. If you don’t publish papers you’ll never advance your career. Guessing that we’re more interested in just putting our words out there, even if we never achieve that great writing career, Sheila offered a few ways we might use to let others see our words. You can find her presentation online at https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230319-publishing-presentation.pdf (pdf file) or https://www.portlandwritersmill.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230319-publishing-presentation.pptx (powerpoint presentation file).

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Writers’ Mill Minutes 2023 03 19

Writers’ Mill March Minutes, March 19th 2023

March’s meeting was well-attended, with some new in person members, and lots of members online. Sheila had intended to be present in person, but COVID intervened, so her “Publish or Perish, or just Put your words out there” presentation was given via zoom instead. Afterward, members were invited to introduce themselves, both online and in person, and there was lots of lively discussion, leading to various unresolved questions. Please contact admin with your thoughts on:

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Writers’ Mill Minutes 20221120

Around 20 members joined us, online and in person, to watch the release of our 2022 anthology and learn a little more about self-publishing. We think we’re getting the hang of this “hybrid meeting” thing, but please send your suggestions and comments—what worked, what was better, what still doesn’t work—and we’ll do our best to continue to improve.

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