In 2019 five historical fiction writers in Northern California created the Paper Lantern Writers historical fiction author collective. We believed that a group identity would heighten our visibility as authors of award-winning historical fiction. Our goal was to work together to promote our novels to readers who would purchase, love, and review them.

 In quick order we solidified our branding, created a website, dedicated ourselves to blogging twice a week, promoted our collective social media accounts, and started presenting at events and conferences. Since that first year, we’ve written and published three award-winning short story anthologies and we recently ventured into nonfiction with our Crafting Stories from the Past: A How-to Guide for Writing Historical Fiction.

In this presentation Ana and Kathryn share insights on PLW's primary promotional pathways: our website, newsletter, social media, public presentations, and publications. While our focus is on group efforts, our ideas are useful for any author committed to promoting their writing. But, we suggest, if you are a solitary author exhausted by going-it-alone promotional efforts, creating or joining an author's collective might be your best career investment.

Ana Brazil loves to write and read historical fiction about curious, ambitious, and totally bodacious women. Her historical mystery Fanny Newcomb & The Irish Channel Ripper won the IBPA Gold for Historical Fiction, and her short stories have appeared in crime and historical fiction anthologies. Many years ago, Ana inherited the scrapbooks, recordings, and theatrical ephemera of vaudeville songstress Elsie Clark, and used this treasure trove to create Viola Vermillion, the smart, sassy, and totally bodacious vaudeville heroine of her latest release The Red-Hot Blues Chanteuse. Ana and her husband live in the beautiful Oakland Hills. 

Kathryn Pritchett writes about strong women forged in the American West. She is seeking representation for her debut novel, The Casket Maker's Other Wife, which was inspired by her polygamous great-great-grandparents’ tempestuous marriage. Her work-in-progress, To See the Love-Light, features Gilded Age actress Maude Adams, Broadway’s original Peter Pan. A journalist by profession, Kathryn has written primarily about design for numerous print and online publications. Kathryn lives in the Oakland Hills where she enjoys playing with her six grandchildren, knitting outlandish outerwear, and puttering in her (mostly) deer-resistant garden.

https://paperlanternwriters.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/paper.lantern.writers

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paperlanternwriters/

UPCOMING MEETINGS

July 19 - CWC members-only summer picnic