Self-Promotion on Facebook - Annoying or Necessary?

I just finished reading a heated discussion on one of my Facebook sites regarding promotion.  The chief complaint was that a site the reader/participator belonged to began as a place to hang out and chat about a specific genre of books had taken a turn for the worse.  The specific gripe was that lately it had become a place to post begging for those "likes" and "tags" everyone seems to covet.  There were over 100 responses and it was a mixed bag as far as how the responders felt.

My two cents: I am not one of those people who requests likes and tags.  Frankly, I don't even understand the tagging thing.  And more to the point, some people spend what must be an exhaustive period of time self-promoting on the social network sites.  Time I simply don't have.  I am a full-time working mother and wife, my life is very full, and when I have the free time, I'd much rather be writing than pounding the virtual pavement begging for someone to like me.  That being said, I do see the other side of this.

I have two publishers who are delighted to give me contracts for my work, and for that I am grateful.  But, I did try the self-published route and may again.  And trust me, I learned my lesson.  The main complaint about people who self-publish is that their books are not ready for the world, not edited or formatted correctly and as a result, are giving a bad name to those that are.  Well, I am not too proud to say, my first self-published piece was guilty of that.  TEETH AND TALONS was not formatted correctly.  I edited the crap out of it and am happy that no one reviewing me has mentioned bad editing.  But, I was SKEWERED on the formatting.  And they were right.  It was amateurish, poorly presented, and badly executed.  I deserved the criticism.  So, I understand why it's there.

Back to self-promotion.  If it wasn't for facebook and some of the genre-specific groups to which I belong, I would not have had anywhere to promote my book.  I tried to do it sparingly, and only in groups that I believed it would be well-received.  Happily, I got some good reviews in spite of my tragic formatting.  And I was rewarded with new followers on my blog and tons of new friends on my facebook sites.  (A disclaimer here: I rarely turn a friend down.  A great marketing director told me that any friend is a potential reader, and I remember that all the time.)

But I am annoyed by certain people who ONLY promote.  We are always being reminded of where their books are sold, for how much, and how little time we have to take advantage of the staggering discount they are offering.  I am also a bit tired of being told how many more likes they need to get to 100 or 500 or 3000.  But not enough to begrudge them the right to do so.  I just skim over their post and move on.  No harm done.  But I hope they know: next time I see their name I may be tempted to skip their post altogether.  And in my experience, alienating your potential readership is no way to garner more.

And lastly, you don't need to promote all the time to have friends, and tags and likes.  I've discovered the secret and am prepared to share it with you here, now.  Ready?  Here it is:  write a good book.  Then write another one.  And another one after that.  You'll be surprised how talent will beget readers.  I know I was.  Happy reading!

Pirates Totally Suck (sorry Johnny Depp)

So, I'm in a really creative and productive place in my writing right now.  Musina has been around constantly, bugging me in the shower, whispering furtively to me while driving, even breaking our unwritten rule and pestering me in my sleep.  But, I'm okay with it.  I actually had a revelation while chatting on the phone with Mum this evening.....I might be writing so prolifically because I am in a real good place emotionally.

We will be moving to a house I am soo in love with, I finally have the most wonderful job, and Husband and I feel as though four months into the new year, we are finally shedding the oppressive cloak of 2011 and getting ahead where we would like to be.  And even as all these great things are unfolding, a toxin sneaks into my life....a terrorist.....a thief.  My books are being pirated.

I realize that this, to some, in the grand scheme of things is not a terribly critical thing.  But I am bothered and disappointed and hurt by it nonetheless.  I've written about it on my facebook page and felt that even though you know what I'm going to say, it needs to be said anyway.  DOWNLOADING BOOKS FOR FREE IS PIRACY.

Don't misunderstand, I am not banking a mint on my book sales, and I don't see retiring and buying all the family members the obligatory house in my near future, but regardless, I am very proud of my books.  My most expensive ebook right now is priced at $3.99.  At almost 300 pages, that's about a penny a page.  My other ebooks price at less than that.  I feel VERY STRONGLY that my talent is worth you paying at least a penny a page.

It's also a matter if integrity.  If you would steal a book, you would steal a wallet, a cellphone, a credit card, given the opportunity.  You might steal a purse, a car, a life.  You might and you might not.  But, the moment you steal, a small piece of your integrity is eroded.  Enough times and shortly you won't have any.  And if you have no integrity, you have nothing.

And this must be said:  People who create for only your enjoyment are to be REVERED.  They can do something you can't.  These writers, these musicians, these ARTISTS, deserve your awe, your praise, and your respect.  We never, ever deserve your contempt.  We write and play and BE for your pleasure.  Reward us for the work we do as you would expect from us.

After all, artists create all the beauty in the world.  The song that transforms you, the sculpture that makes you suck in your breath from its power, and the written word, presented to you so eloquently and perfectly that sometimes you gasp and sometimes you weep with joy.  Reward us.  For without us, truly, your world would be bleak, without color and life.  And we will thank you, over and over again, by creating yet another piece that makes you clap your hands with joy.  I promise.  We're artists.  It's what we do.

Prestigious Review for my Horror Collection

I was very honored to have a request to the well-known, prestigious and global website HorrorNews.net for a review of my horror collection, Teeth and Talons, receive a response right away.  I was even more thrilled when I received the review.  I had sort of held my breath, after all, I am an author of YA and MG paranormal and supernatural fantasy, an easy transition to horror, I thought, but still, my first real horror writing effort.  It turned out to be life-and direction-affirming.  By that I mean it made me feel as though I was going in the right direction.....that I could "do horror".

I'm please to post the review in its entirety here, even as I compile my next horror offering.  Thanks for reading and commenting, if so moved.  And I am honored, John Clements, for your words and your desire to read more.  You inspired me!

Book Review: Teeth And Talons Anthology – Author Samantha Combs

Posted on 04/12/2012 by John Clements  3 comments

TEETH AND TALONS ANTHOLOGY
Author Samantha Combs

There have been less than a handful of stories that, upon finishing reading them, I look up from the page and think to myself “The author had better continue this!” The Ink Man is such a story.

The Ink Man is the first of four short stories in Samantha Combs’ new book entitled “Teeth And Talons Anthology” and it is by far the best of the four (and, thankfully, the longest). The other stories include the all too short tale of The Robbery Countdown, the obligatory vampire tale Rock And Roll All Night, and the paranormal effort of The Chair.

All of the stories are intriguing, to say the least, and most have the horror staple of a twist ending which was fun and added a good dimension to each tale. This anthology is Samantha’s first published foray into horror, but her Young Adult background works well for her making these stories very easy reads. At only 37 pages in length (for the PDF) you can easily finish an individual story in one sitting, if not the entire book.

In The Ink Man, a down on his luck tattoo artist gets a second chance with a new inking set and some new clientele. Ignoring the also obligatory old man’s warning about not buying the inking set, he will soon find out exactly what fate has in store for him.

The Robbery Countdown is barely two pages in length and so leaves a lot to the imagination as far as storyline. However what you are told is enough to make your mind wander and fill in all of the missing gaps well enough to form a complete story. All I know is that I hope I never accidentally wander into that cursed liquor store.

Rock And Roll All Night was a surprising entry. I admit that I did not have the correct ending figured out ahead of time like I thought I would. In this vampire tale, a local bar called The Hive (that should have tipped me off) is in search of a rock band. The vampire band Fang Byte takes the gig for the evening. Drinking and dancing ensues until the fateful closing time hour when you discover the evening is not going to end quite as you thought it was.

In The Chair, George, having recently gotten into an argument with his roommate Tim, is walking down the street to vent his anger when he discovers a chair on the curb apparently thrown out by its former owner. “I can solve all your problems.” he heard in his head. George proceeds to take the chair home. His life will never be the same.

Most horror fiction fans should be fairly pleased by the time they finish the book. The stories are short and simple. There’s no overly descriptive and unsettling death sequences, no odd word use, no particular storyline that’s been re-made over and over. I enjoyed my few hours of reading and am looking forward to Ink Man Cometh or whatever story I hope Samantha follows The Ink Man with.

Letting Your Stories Choose You

As many of you know, I have been searching for a new house for the family for the past few weeks.  I've seen so many, the rooms and features have become blurred in my mind.  And then, this week, we found it.  The most perfect place for so many reasons, it was a glorious bloom in a sea of fertilizer.  Seriously.  What people think constitutes "a great family home built for entertaining" is truly scary.  Anyway.

We had two other places we were considering and those close to me kept telling me I had to make a choice.  But, over the drama of having to move in the first place, I made a decision:  I was going to treat this dilemma exactly the way I treated my writing.  In other words, I let the house choose us.

Everyone but my Mum and hubs thought I was crazy.  I heard it all.  If I didn't act fast, I'd lose it.  Someone else would get it if I didn't make a decision.  But I bided my time.  I nearly drove certain people nuts, but I swear, I knew what I was doing.  Sure enough, day by day, reasons to let the others go and choose the one we finally did, kept revealing themselves.  And I realized it was just like writing.

As I have admitted here before, I get ideas for books and stories in the shower.  And I like it fine that way.  I love that the ideas start as seeds and those kernels burst into paragraphs, chapters, story arcs, and finally, a finished project.  But I never sit down and say to myself, Today I will write about....witches.  Or ghosts, or things that you wish would have gone bump in the night.  Every story I write chooses me.

You know the old adage, write what you know?  I do that.  Not even consciously either.  When I wrote Spellbound, I was exposed to a person who was a practicing Wiccan.  Not directly, peripherally, but that was all it took.  Ghostly came about from a conversation with someone about how her grandmother came to her when she passed.  Musina wiggled in my head and said, Why are the ghosts always old grandparents?  What would be wrong with a hottie ghost?  Turns out...nothing.

Would it surprise you to know that when I was the general manager of a failing car rental facility, I wrote a story about aliens landing at LAX?  Or that now as a Risk Manager for a cab company, my freshest horror tome features a graveyard shift cabbie?  Or that my latest big project is set in the same state where I have family and once went to high school there? (shout out to Louisville, KY, ya'll!)

Your stories are out there, waiting, for just the right time to jump in your head.  I promise.  It happens to me time after time.  So what are you doing right now?  Your story has been looking for you.  Let it choose you.

My Muse Has Returned!

My kids were gone all week for Spring Break and you can't believe how much my hubs and I were looking forward to the time alone.  With each other.  And away from them.  We were going to eat what we wanted, watch what we wanted, and maybe even get frisky without locking down the master bedroom like Fort Knox.  But, here's the funny thing.....we hated it.  We hated the no-kidness of the whole week.  The house was lifeless, with no color or happy vibe.  I prowled back and forth from their rooms, peeking in just in case I forgot to send them to their grandparents and Nanny's homes and they might still be there, casually lounging on their beds, playing a pink or black DS, depending.  Hubs walked around the house bitching about how quiet it was, much in the same way he bitches about how noisy the kids are.  But he missed it.

Another nasty by-product of the deafening silence in the house is that Musina took a powder.  Nowhere to be seen.  Va-moosed.  I thought I would be thrilled to write in the lovely peace and quiet.  I couldn't have been, in my son's words, "wronger,"  Not a single word came out of my head or my fingers this whole week.    I had no original thoughts, no fabulous story lines ripping around in my empty spaces, nothing bubbling or percolating at all.

But it was temporary, Thank the Muses, and changed the second my kids were on my radar.

Swear to God, I stepped into the shower this morning, which is my "idea-zone" and the good ones began pelting me harder than the shower stream.  I had to jump out of the shower and pound notes about the gems furiously into my iphone before they left my head for good.  I needn't have worried.  The stream of killer topics and projects have been constant and non-stop since I woke up and realized this was the day the babies came home.

So, I learned something important, besides how much I love those kids.....Musina loves them too. And apparently, we can't write unless they are around.   Even as I write this, one kid is practicing his Cabbage-Patch dance in front of me, and the other is flitting about in her pajamas like a lost moth.  Both of them are in my orbit.  And because of this, I'm writing.  So fast my fingers can barely keep up.  And they ideas keep on rolling in.  Topics include haunted makeup, supernatural trees, harried and weather-beaten cabbies, strippers, scary banjos, creepy ambulance drivers and, believe it or not, a kind of shit-monster.  Yup.  You read it right.  An idea, by the way, my son completely LOVES.  Big surprise.

So, there is really no lesson to be learned from this post, no big "A-ha" moment.  No heartfelt advice I am doling out in the hopes of helping aspiring writers.  I'm just so chuffed my kids are home, I wanted to shout about it.  A writer's equivalent of shouting out?  Blogging, baby!

Oh, and from a person whose child calls them "freaky, but in a good way", enjoy your Friday the 13th!  I sure am.

Amazon Steps Over the Line

I was alerted to this article from American Editor by a fellow author at Musa Publishing.  I find the content so important, I am sharing it here.  PLEASE read and sign the petition.  Our indie-ness is in jeopardy!

Several weeks ago, I wrote Breaking News: Amazon vs. IPG, which was followed by Worth Noting: Amazon is an Author’s Friend — Or Maybe Not. The first article was picked up by other blogs and at one of those blogs, Bryce Milligan, publisher and editor of Wings Press, as well as an award-winning poet and author of books for children and young adults, posted a comment that caught my eye. I asked Bryce to write a guest article expanding on his comment. That article follows.

_______________

Amazon’s Assault on Intellectual Freedom

by Bryce Milligan

There is an undeclared war going on in the United States that threatens the linchpins of American intellectual freedom. In a statement worthy of Cassandra, Noah Davis wrote in a Business Insider post last October, “Amazon is coming for the book publishing industry. And not just the e-book world, either.” When titans battle, it is tempting to think that there will be no local impact. In this case, that’s dead wrong. Amazon’s recent actions have already cut the sales of the small press I run by 40 percent. Jeff Bezos could not care less.

One recent battle in Amazon’s larger war has pitted it against a diverse group of writers, small publishers, university presses, and independent distributors. It is a classic David-and-Goliath encounter. As in that story, however, this is more than just pitting the powerful against the powerless. In this case, the underdogs have the ideas, and ideas are always where the ultimate power lies.

Wings Press (San Antonio, Texas) is one of the several hundred independent publishers and university presses distributed by the Independent Publishers Group (IPG), the second largest book distributor in the country, but still only a medium-sized dolphin in a sea of killer whales. In late February, IPG’s contract with Amazon.com was due to be renegotiated. Terms that had been generally accepted across the industry were suddenly not good enough for Amazon, which demanded discounts and practices that IPG—and all of its client publishers—could only have accepted at a loss. Yes, that does mean what it sounds like: To do business with Amazon would mean reducing the profit margin to the point of often losing money on every book or ebook sold.

IPG refused to accept the draconian terms and sought to negotiate further. In what can only be seen as a move to punish IPG for its desire to remain relevant and healthy, Amazon refused to negotiate and pulled the plug on all the Kindle ebooks distributed by IPG, marking them as “unavailable.”

Not a big deal? Imagine that Walmart controls everything you eat, and Walmart decides to stop selling fish because it thinks that fishermen are making too much profit. Amazon is the Walmart of online bookselling. The dispute between Amazon and IPG will affect every literate person in America. It is a matter that goes to the heart of what librarians have termed “intellectual freedom.” In other words, the resolution of this dispute, one way or the other, will affect every individual American’s access to certain books. It will affect your ability to choose what you read.

Restrictions on access to literature generally have more politically motivated origins. The banning of certain Native American and Mexican American authors and books in Arizona, for example, is purely political. Attempts in the past to ban literature based on its “moral content” were largely political in nature. This dispute is purely capitalistic, and is much more difficult to fight.

A single practical example. Wings Press had offered up one of its Kindle titles, Vienna Triangle by California novelist Brenda Webster, for the Amazon daily deal— a limited time offer of 99 cents per download. The book zoomed to the top ten of one of Amazon’s several bestseller lists. While it was still listed as a bestseller, Amazon suddenly marked the title as “unavailable.” The trail of loss increases in impact as it descends the food chain: Amazon doesn’t notice the loss at all. IPG sees it as one of its 5,000 Kindle titles that vanished. Wings Press sees it as one of its 100 Kindle titles that vanished. The author sees it as the loss of her book, period.

Lest one think that eliminating a single ebook novel is a loss of little consequence, Wings Press also publishes the works of John Howard Griffin, includingBlack Like Me, one of the most important works of the civil rights movement and widely considered an American classic. Amazon’s refusal to sell the ebook of Black Like Me should be of serious concern to every American.

Ebook sales have been a highly addictive drug to many smaller publishers. For one thing, there are no “returns.” Traditionally, profit margins for publishers are so low because books that remain on shelves too long can be returned for credit—too often in unsalable condition. No one returns an ebook. Further, ebook sales allowed smaller presses to get a taste of the kind of money that online impulse buying can produce. Already ebook sales were underwriting the publication of paper-and-ink books at Wings Press.

It has been increasingly obvious to independent publishers for the last two years that Amazon intends to put all independents out of business—publishers, distributors, and bookstores. Under the guise of providing greater access, Amazon seemingly wants to kill off the distributors, then kill off the independent publishers and bookstores, and become the only link between the reader and the author. The attack on distributors like IPG and on some larger independent presses is only part of the plan. Amazon has also been going after the ultimate source of literature, the authors.

Having created numerous (seven or more) imprints of its own, Amazon has begun courting authors directly by offering exorbitant royalties if the authors will publish directly with Amazon. Among the financial upper echelon of authors, Amazon is paying huge advances. Among rank-and-file authors, not so. Here they are offering what amounts to glorified self-publication. The effect is to lure authors away from the editors who would have helped them perfect their work, away from the publishers and designers and publicists and booksellers who have dedicated their lives to building the careers of authors, while themselves making a living from the books they love. Even the lowly book reviewer has been replaced by semi-anonymous reader-reviewers. All these are the people who sustain literary culture.

For Amazon to rip ebook sales away from independent publishers now seems a classic bait-and-switch tactic guaranteed to kill small presses by the hundreds. Ah, but predatory business practices are so very American these days. There was a time not so long ago when “competition” was a healthy thing, not a synonym for corporate “murder.” Amazon could have been a bright and shining star, lighting the way to increased literacy and improved access to alternative literatures. Alas, it looks more likely to be a large and deadly asteroid. We, the literary dinosaurs, are watching closely to see if this is a near miss or the beginning of extinction. Fortunately, this generation of dinosaurs is a little better equipped than the last one to take measures to avoid such a fate.

One can choose to buy ebooks from Barnes & Noble (bn.com) or from almost any independent bookstore rather than Amazon. One can buy directly from IPG. A free app will allow one to read those books on a Kindle. The resistance has already begun, and it starts with choice. I invite you to sign the petition at Change.org

Inspiration and Dedication.....Finding Them When You Don't Expect It

Hey all.  I was lucky enough to read a great post in my publisher's private yahoo group.  I was so moved by it, I asked her if she would give me permission to repost it.  She did, and here it is.  Note:  Celina Summers is the amazing Editor-In-Chief of Musa Publishing.  Check out the website for submission information.  You know you want someone with this much vision and passion behind you. http://www.musapublishing.com/ 

We are all part of an artistic community that relies heavily on
inspiration. And, like most artists, we find ourselves upon occasion
sitting at our computers, staring at a blank new document and waiting
fruitlessly for the Muse to emerge.
Yes, I have days like that too. Too many to count lately, it seems,
because I've finished my projects for my agent (who is shopping them
now) and trying to determine what my next project will be. So here I am
on a holiday, getting pissy because I have all these hours to write and
nothing is stirring my imagination. I flipped through the TV stations,
and finally just left the television on the Figure Skating World
Championships--more for white noise than anything else. And then--here
comes this kid, skating his life out. Seventeen years old, Japanese
kid, skating to the soundtrack of Romeo and Juliet (not the DiCaprio
version either). Just watching this kid's performance totally pulled me
out of my writing zone and into his skating zone. He was amazing.
Hitting all his jumps and spins, skating with such joy that he managed
to look electric and at his ease at the same time.
And then he fell. Not on a jump--his skate hit a divot in the ice and
threw him down onto the rink floor. And I thought, "Damn. What a shame.
That kid's not going to recover."
Yep. I'm an idiot.
He got right back up, got right back into step with his routine and hit
every schedule jump. He even ADDED jumps to compensate for the fall.
The entire rink was rooting for him--heck, the entire world was rooting
for him. Not just because his joy in his chosen art was so apparent,
but because he refused to let a setback keep him from his purpose.
And then at the end of his performance, he stood there gasping for
breath--not because he was winded, but because he's asthmatic.
What kind of--excuse the phraseology--balls does it take to stand back
up and supersede your own expectations after you fall in front of the
world? What kind of courage does a young man--yes, a kid--need to face
all of that and come out on top? This young man isn't in contention for
the world championship, probably. Not yet. But he will be one
day--probably for the next winter Olympics. Because he already has the
dedication to his art. He's a skater--he works his ass off every single
day of the week to better himself. And that makes his performances
inspired.
And he knows this at SEVENTEEN, while I struggle with it at FORTY-FIVE.
Sometimes, we find inspiration in strange places. Music, photos, movies,
nature--whatever it might be. The first novel I ever completed was
inspired by a single image on a regrettably not-that-good film. As soon
as the movie was over, I sat down at my computer and started to write. A
month later, I had 100k words. Two years after that, it was published.
The trick is to take that inspiration and dedicate yourself to bringing
it to fruition. What inspires a story in you? And what needs to happen
in your everyday life to develop that inspiration into a story that not
only engages you, the writer, but the people who will one day read it?
I have a storehouse of things I do or places I go online when I'm at a
loss with a story. I have one place I go when I'm getting down on
myself, doubting that I'll reach all my goals and fulfill all my dreams.
All I have to do is to watch a simple film clip,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk> and I discover that I can
dig deeper, find something within myself that encourages me and
reassures me that it's never too late to take whatever it is you desire
above everything else creatively.
My source may not work for you. That's okay. It works for me. What you
need to do is to figure out what will work to inspire you--and what you
need to do in order to dedicate the time and attention you can to make
that inspiration come to its ultimate final state.
A story.
By the way, that kid? Huzuru Yanu placed third in the World Figure
Skating Championships. Despite his age, his asthma, his inexperience,
his fall--he made it onto the podium at the 2012 Worlds with a bronze
medal around his neck. And everything about him during that medal
ceremony was just pure, unabashed joy.
Take joy in what you write. It will make your ultimate victory that much
sweeter.
Celina

New Year...New Changes. Or How is a House Like Writing?

We have to move.  I didn't anticipate this happening at all, but you know the old saying....Just when you least expect it, BAM!  No way can my life just chug along happily, seamlessly, DRAMA-FREE.  That wouldn't be my life at all.  It makes for an, um, exciting existence.  That's what I keep telling myself.

But being raised by an eternally-optimistic and forward-looking mother causes me to think of reasons why this is a good thing.  I'm still thinking, and haven't had much luck yet, but that's beside the point.  At least I am thinking.  And looking.

We go out with the agent at the end of every business day and have the unique pleasure of tramping through people's lives.  They are pleasant enough, since, ultimately, we have the same goal in mind, but it's still really weird.  We saw a home yesterday where the resident hung all her bras on the back of the bathroom door.  I mean, there was like a hundred of them.  Every color of the rainbow.  Right there in my 9-year old's face.  Still another one we saw had baby gates in EVERY ENTRANCE to climb over.  And another was using the garage as a closet.  Seriously.  There were wardrobe racks everywhere and bins stuffed with shoes.  And one bedroom was so cluttered and stuffed with enormous, oversize furniture I found it hard to think and had to leave immediately.  Never even saw the bathroom.

Then, it was as if the seas of inadequacy and mediocrity parted and I found myself standing in the driveway of my dream home.  I knew I wanted it before I even walked inside.  And I was right.  The home is made for us.  So, we have completed the necessary paperwork to move in and now we wait.  Why?  Because that is how my life is.  I have to YEARN for, and PINE for, and COVET the damn thing or somehow the world will stop revolving.  God forbid something should just fall in place for me.  We have to wait for the owner to return from overseas.  AArrrgghh!  But, and here is my Mum's voice again, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it.  And to make it all suck more, I haven't been able to write.

But quite suddenly, in the middle of this madness, I realized something profound:  writing is not easy.  Just like house-hunting.  Because if it was, everyone WOULD be doing it.  It's hard work.  And it requires a lot of patience.  And an agent.  ANOTHER thing I don't have in my writing life.  I don't have an abundance of patience at the moment, so that must be why Musina has taken a powder for the time being.  I'm sure I'll get back on track, just checking off the next thing on the list and getting my ducks in order.  I'll write soon, because I always conquer whatever is trying to get me down.  And you know what?  I'll do it in my LOVELY NEW HOUSE!

P.S. Prayers, lit candles and spiritual mantras will be happily accepted.

Introducing.....Banjo Slim (AKA: my brother!)

I am taking a departure from my regular blog topics, (namely things I bitch about, LOL!) to use another favorite B-word....BRAG!  I want to blow the horn about my amazing and talented brother.  He has started a newsletter and I am helping him to expand his audience and fan base by sharing it here.  So, let me introduce the fantastic Jason Weiss....Banjo Slim himself!

BanjoSlim's April 2012 eNewsletter           

Hello Everybody,

Welcome to the second issue of the BanjoSlim eNewsletter! You are the fortunate receiver of this bounty of musical information because you are on my mailing list. If you would like to be removed, please send an email to jason@banjoslim.com. Please forward this eNewsletter to anyone who might be interested in it.

March was filled with music, but it ended with sadness. On March 28, my hero, the legendary Earl Scruggs passed away at the age of 88. His place of prominence in the banjo world is well known by all. Though he didn't invent it, he revolutionized the three-finger picking technique, turning it from a rare novelty to a unified approach to playing any and all music on the banjo. What I am most grateful to him for, though, is that he pioneered the transformation of the banjo from a demeaned comedian's prop to a respected virtuoso's instrument.

JASON'S APRIL SHOWS

Sunday, April 8, 10:00am-2:00pm         

Plow @ Urban Solace, North Park

Saturday, April 14, 1:00pm-2:00pm

The Tail Draggers @ Bluegrass Day at Flower Fields, Carlsbad

Saturday, April 14, 9:30pm-10:30pm

Plow @ Winston's, Ocean Beach, opening for Ten Mile Tide

Saturday, April 21, 3:30pm-4:30pm

Plow @ Adams Ave Unplugged, Adams Park Stage

Sunday, April 22, 5:00pm-6:30pm

Plow @ Adams Ave Unplugged, Kensington Cafe

Sunday, April 22, 10:00pm-11:00pm

The Tail Draggers on KSON's Bluegrass Special with Wayne Rice

Tuesday, April 24, 8:00pm-9:00pm

The Tail Draggers @ SDBS Feature Band Night, Boll Weevil, Kearny Mesa

Saturday, April 28, 5:00pm-6:00pm

Plow @ the Train Song Festival, Old Poway Park

Please visit my website at banjoslim.com for more information and updates.

THURSDAY JAM NEWS

After a discussion at the last Thursday Jam, I've decided to leave "Bluegrass Basics" on the website and perpetually open to revision. Instead of having preprinted copies of the entire songbook, jam regulars can print out copies of individual songs to keep in a folder. I will print out some easily amendable copies of the songbook for audience members and those who don't want to bother with maintaining a folder. This system will allow us the freedom to revise the songbook whenever we wish. And since Banjo Bob started this jam to be primarily a learning environment, we can select tunes that highlight musical lessons to be learned, for example.

Banjo Benny asked me to pass on the message that he is forming a band. Talk to him at the jam for more information if you're interested.

OTHER NEWS

Although I've have it for a couple of years now, I'm finally going to get with the program and start using my twitter account. Of course, I have a facebook accounts that I've been using for years. Please friend, follow, like, tweet, and poke me at twitter.com/banjoslim and facebook.com/banjoslim.

Though Plow had planned to record our St. Patrick's Day show up in Wynola last month, the weather had other plans. That day saw plenty of rain and snow, and with it, too many variables to risk an expensive venture such as professional mobile recording. However, Plow is still eager to do a live recording, so further bulletins as events warrant.

On the subject of recordings, the Sickstring Outlaws have finished work on our upcoming album, "Johnny Drank Jack." Production is complete and I already have an advance copy. It really looks great (I know it sounds great because we got Dennis Caplinger to lay down a bunch of tracks!). I warn you: bluegrass it is not. The Sickstring Outlaws play a rowdy form of old country music that the leader Ron Houston calls "outlaw country." On the album, I play both acoustic and electric banjo, but when we play live, I play solely electric.  The album will be released very soon; we're just looking for the right venue for a release party. Check out thesickstringoutlaws.com or my website for information.

 

My own recording project is still on track to be released this summer. No name yet, but since one track is named "San Diego Home," I might use that name for the whole album.

My friends from the Julian Family Fiddle Camp wanted me to convey some information: There's still room for guitar and mandolin players at this month's camp. Also, there's going to be a huge jam at Town Hall on Main Street in Julian at 12:30PM on Saturday, April 14th, and musicians get a 10% discount on anything bought in town on that day. See familyfiddlecamp.com for more information, and a list of some great weekend concerts happening up there.

My friend and guitarist extraordinaire Alex Finazzo just published his own website! Check it out at afinazzo.com.

And in case you haven't seen it yet, the fiddle and mandolin phenom (and Thursday Jam alum) John Mailander has a website at johnmailander.com.

That concludes this installment of the BanjoSlim eNewsletter! If you're still reading, thank you very much for staying with me to the very end!

Jason

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