Writers Club talks self-publishing

WADESBORO — Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Anson County Writers’ Club has been hosting their monthly meetings on Zoom since March. Attendance at these meetings has been smaller than the ones held in-person at First Presbyterian Baptist Church due to some member’s lack of access to computers.

“Most of our members are able to meet on Zoom,” said Sandra Bruney, Founder and former President of the Writers’ Club. “Some, however, don’t have access to the internet and some with access are intimidated by the program.”

These Zoom meetings usually begin with a brief business meeting presented by Writers’ Club President Kaye Ratliff, followed by a program on a facet of writing, and then a discussion among the members.

“With the meetings on Zoom, we don’t have as lively a discussion as we do in-person,” said Ratliff.

“The last meeting we had at First Presbyterian, before the pandemic, the conversation was so good, nobody wanted to go home, we all just wanted to stay there and keep talking,” said Bruney.

These days, the conversations have been about publishing, specifically Kindle Direct Publishing.

“A lot of people have work they’re ready to publish and they’re kind of daunted by the submission process for traditional publishing houses. Kiddle Direct Publishing also gives the writer more control over many aspects of their work, such as control over the cover and formatting. The biggest thing is also there’s also more money. Authors who self-publish and self-promote get a bigger percentage of the profits.“

Traditional publishing houses do offer some advantages, though. “I don’t have any experience with Kindle Direct Publishing,” said Ratliff, “But I would say the promotion a traditional publisher can offer is one benefit. Goose River Publishing, my publisher, they do promotion for me, such as press releases and things like that.”

“A bigger house can do more promotion for you,” said Bruney. “They’ll put more effort into it and will probably be able to hire a good artist to do a professional cover. Smaller houses and independent publishers, individuals can do the same amount of promotional work they do, you just have to be able to have the time, energy, and know-how to do so.”

So far, Ratliff and the late Louise Thomas are the only members of the Writers’ Club to publish books of poetry, other members have published works of fiction, short stories, or creative non-fiction.

“Thomas wrote beautiful haikus and has been recognized by the Poetry Society,” said Bruney.

“Her niece, who is now a member of the club, is also writing haiku, she’s working on a children’s book in haiku,” said Ratliff. “We’re having to do her like everybody did me, we’re having to urge, and urge, one of the things we do in the club is we try to encourage people to submit their work and to get published.”

The next meeting of the Anson County Writers’ Club will be on Sunday, August 23. Typically, the Club hosts a workshop in November, but that will most likely be canceled this year or hosted on Zoom. The Club may also have their annual contests this year, depending on whether or not the schools open.

“That contest is a pretty big deal for us,” said Ratliff, “It’s for children and adults. In fact, we have one new member, Airyn Jones who was a winner of the contest twice when she was an adolescent.”