authors – J. Scott Coatsworth

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Point of View: Running a Group Sales Table, Part One

June 5, 2023June 5, 2023 by scott

This week I thought I’d do a practical advice column for my writer friends. It’s been a while since I did one of these, and being fresh off of not one but two Pride events, with a third to come next weekend, it seemed like a great time to offer a primer on how to set up and run a group sales table. Choosing an Event Big city Prides can be quite expensive. Our local Sacramento Pride festival is now $750 for a booth for two days, and SF Pride is $1600 for a booth, canopy, table and chairs for … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: In the Shadow of Giants

December 13, 2021 by scott

This week we lost another great writer. Anne Rice passed off this Earth, leaving behind an impressive legacy. While I was never a big Rice fan, I was still in awe of her storytelling ability, and how she almost single-handedly created the sexy vampire (and the gay one, too). Sadly, many spec fic writers I idolized as a kid are no longer with us – Asimov, Clarke, Tepper, Le Guin… Each one had their own recognizable voice, their own stories to tell, and an audience waiting eagerly for their next book. Asimov thrilled me with his Foundation novels, and his … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writers Who Inspire Me

April 5, 2021April 5, 2021 by scott

Fan Joel Arellano recently asked me what writers inspired me. Every author writes from a font of knowledge and a stew of weird ingredients created from a life’s worth of experience – where we grew up, how we were raised, and what we consumed over those (for me) long 52 years now. But one big piece of this is the other writers we have read. So here, in no particular order, is a non-comprehensive list of some of the writers who have inspired me, and why. Sherri S. Tepper: I first encountered Ms. Tepper’s work in the supermarket checkout line. … Read more

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Point of View: Waiting for #100

September 21, 2020 by scott

100 is a magic number for authors. There’s an old saying – let’s call it the “Rule of 100” – that you’ll get 100 rejections before you make your first sale. I had maybe twenty, so it’s certainly not a hard and fast rule. But it does give aspiring authors a reason to keep going – what if that golden ticket is just around the corner, and you gave up at 99? They say something similar about trying to get an agent. Agents are the gatekeepers of the mainstream publishing industry – it’s nearly impossible to get noticed by the … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: At Pride

May 20, 2019 by scott

Last week I talked about personal pride. This week it’s all about the capital kind of “Pride” – in this case, Davis Pride. Davis is a college town about 1/2 an hour West of Sacramento. It has an adorable downtown, and at this time of year, lots of college students. This year, for the first time, our local author group – the Queer Sacramento Authors’ Collective – decided to set up shop there for their pride festival in Central Park. Kim Fielding, S.A. Stovall, Mike Lopez, Kelly Haworth, and I all ran the booth, with help from my hubby Mark … Read more