Liars Club Writers Coffeehouse Back Again for 2016

By Dawn Byrne

Jonathan Maberry led the Liars Club Writers Coffeehouse in the Willow Grove PA Barnes & Noble via Skype. Keith Strunk hosted the Liar-filled meeting, which included Marie Lamba, Janice Gable-Bashman, Kelly Simmons, and Kathryn Craft. One of the South Jersey Writers' Group’s recent third Thursday speakers, Donna Galanti, fit well into the nucleus of Club members.

Jonathan began with information on the Writers Coffeehouses. There are nine active ones and more are popping up in the US, and other countries. It started with this group that now meets in Willow Grove. When thanked for starting the Coffeehouse, Jonathan reminded us that the Liars Club started the Coffeehouse, and that he is just a part of the Club. He shares hosting duties with the Coffeehouse in San Diego, where he now lives. “Community matters to writers,” he said, after exchanging familiar and sincere greetings with us. His fondness for our group showed in his face and words.

Questions for Jonathan matched the subject of how to get the word out about your book once it’s published: Blogging in your genre can be the grass roots in promoting your work. Subscribe to other blogs who read yours to making connections with potential readers. Goodreads and LinkedIn are a must. Reach out to writer conferences that do your subject and genre; you’ll meet people who can be helpful. Your writer’s platform on social media and how it’s maintained brings awareness of your book to audiences. Synching up your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts makes posting content easier. Starting a conversation is vital for your audience to make a connection with you. “The author is the brand,” said Jonathan. But don’t promise things that cost you a lot. If people are interested in you, they are more likely to buy your book.

Jonathan suggested multi-platform to promote anthologies. They don’t sell well, but anthologies can engage readers and get audiences interested in you and your other work.

Interviewers don’t always read your book, so give them a cheat sheet of questions to ask ahead of time. Making it easy for them, can make you popular to work with. Give one or two takeaways, that aren’t your plot, to make a memorable engagement with potential readers.

To learn how to do a podcast or book trailer, watch and listen to them. Trailers should be one-minute long, with strong production. After Jonathan had to end his Skype visit, Keith took advantage of the computer to show Kerry Gans’ trailer for her book, “The Witch of Zal.” Keith and Kerry had both worked on it. Donna is also a resource for making a trailer. Check out the one for her book, “Joshua and the Lightning Road.”



Two terms new to me: LookBook, where actors are put into your characters’ roles; and sizzle reel, which requires voiceovers and is expensive because so much goes into it. But the most interesting take away for me, was Jonathan’s advice to read out loud your edited, polished work. Listen to the polished voice of it. Study it, analyses it and contrast it with your original draft. This can help with your next work.

As always, Jonathan shared information on the current markets and trends: Graphic novels, the original ones that don’t feature superheroes, targeting girls are much in demand; pitch yours like a regular novel. Cross genre works are still hot. “I’m seeing a bit of a decline in memoir,” said Jonathan. But real life fiction is huge. Horror is starting to build in mainstream audiences.

Don’t be too specific with your plot when agents ask for summaries of books not yet written. “Be interesting but vague,” said Jonathan. He also highlighted the importance of having an agent: “If it wasn’t for my agent, I wouldn’t be in California.”

March 7, agent Marie Lamba is doing a First Page Workshop and answering questions on a panel for the SCBWI in Eastern, PA. May 20-22 is the Pennwriters Conference in Lancaster, PA. Jonathan and Kathryn will be keynote speakers and Donna will present workshops on craft and marketing.

Kelly Simmons took suggestions for next month’s Coffeehouse. She’ll be leading it, and selling her new book, “One More Day.” The trailer for it is cool.


Remember, no matter how many Sundays are in a month, the Coffeehouse always meets the last Sunday of each month from noon to 3 PM, unless a holiday gets in the way. It’s worth the trip over the bridge and through the city for us South Jerseyans. Three hours of shop talk and cohering with professional and upcoming writers is an exhilarating experience. And, my favorite, it’s FREE.

Liars Club Coffeehouse - Butter Late Than Never

Written by Dawn Byrne

I’ve seen Kelly Simmons’ byline in "Writer’s Digest Magazine", and was happy to find her leading the Liars Club Coffeehouse at Barnes & Nobles in Willow Grove, PA October 25th.

Whipping into the meeting late, I missed something about butter that caused some chuckles. The meeting runs from noon until after 2pm, and I encourage you to catch what you can. Subjects I heard discussed included memoir writing and query letters, among tidbits of information on writing.

Kelly Simmons authored The Bird House and Standing Still. She’s “developing a TV series and has been writing a memoir for what seems like her entire life.” Kelly suggested that when writing memoir, think about how you will structure your story. Even if chronological, it needs to have some central significant happening. Ruth Litner added that readers must like the character. This is you, so identifying with and pulling emotions from the reader about you is important too.

Kelly’s statement that a lot of people who start out writing memoir eventually move on to novel writing hit home with my own writing experience. Resources she noted was Beth Kephart’s memoir how-to, Handling the Truth and Jerry Waxler, M.S. These authors can guide you when telling your personal story.

Mature age may not be a plus when facing a prospective agent or publisher. This often is a reality when dealing with professional opportunities. But a writer’s background and rich knowledge can be most beneficial no matter if writing memoir, historical fiction, non-fiction or an upmarket novel.

Kelly reminded us that there’s something to be said for an aged person with a young spirit. Barbara Custer sat next to Kelly and used Barbara as an example. This sweet, petite red head brands herself as the Balloon Lady. I follow Barbara on Facebook and was surprised she was the same person I met at the Coffeehouse. She produces "Night to Dawn Magazine." So don’t mention your age, or that you’ve been writing more since retirement. A writer can produce a book a year; at 60, a writer still has time to birth multiple books.

Leave out your age on query letters, but make use of good letter writing skills by utilizing the P.S. A charming P.S. stands out in an e-mail. Don’t make it too long, and include any personal connections in the subject line. “Judging writers is a lot like dating.”

“Most people spend only 5 minutes on their query letter,” Kelly said, not understanding why. Query letter templates can be dull, but generally, follow them. Talk about yourself and your book in the first two paragraphs. Sometimes you can break rules if your credentials are the most important information you can give about yourself. Kelly said she’d look at anyone from the Coffeehouse’s query.

Tidbits I gleaned before cutting out early from the meeting:

• Procrastination may be a fear of success or a fear of failure, so figure out what the fear is.

• I’ve heard Liar, Janice Gable Bashman, also say that focusing on different components of your work with each pass during revision is a way to really polish your book. Kelly does one pass just to beautify her work after doing others, like for cutting unnecessary words.

• The middle-grade genre is hot.

• Goodreads may not let your Facebook friends publish a review of your book. You may want to keep this in mind when passing out your ARCs.

I’ll be jonesing (thanks for this term, Jim Knipp) two months for the next Liars Club Coffeehouse. The next meeting is January 31st. Make a New Year’s resolution to share company with professional liars. You don’t have to be on time, but you won’t want to miss the butter.

Writers Coffeehouse for April

By Dawn Byrne

On April 27th Keith Strunk led The Liars Club's Writers Coffeehouse that meets at the Barnes & Noble in Willow Grove PA on the last Sunday of the month. Please note that the May meeting is canceled because of Memorial Day.

Keith is a teacher, actor, author and co-founder of River Union Stage. He wrote the book, Prallsville Mills and Stockton and is one of four authors of The Delaware River Byways that's due out in July. Both are published by Arcadia Publishing. Among other credits is his screenplay Time Lock (2005).

Keith talked about collaborating on fiction books, and suggested all involved in the project should agree on an editor, or a person who will have the final say with the project. A signed agreement can be helpful too. Kerry Gans added her experience collaborating with two other writers on a work yet to be completed. Her poem "The Towers Stood" is included in the non-profit first anthology of World Healing World Peace.

Anyone may ask a question to the facilitator or the group throughout the meeting. Keith addressed a question to the group. He needed tips on how to get back into a long project after being away from it for months. Suggestions were: conditioned/response where the writer repeats daily going to a specific area to write, or uses something like smell to trigger the brain that it's time to work on the writing; re-read the entire manuscript; look over notes on the project; make or review character sketches and the outline; get back into the head of the main character.

The discussion turned to branding. I have to admit I helped with this turn, seeking information on taglines. Keith mentioned that a writer's face is their best logo. An author may want a specific tagline for each book, which can be limiting. A tagline for the author is another option. I found myself in good company with Kerry Gans who also is trying to come up with a tagline that encompasses all the types of writing she does.

As an actor Keith was clearly comfortable explaining how dress can brand a person. It depends on what you write. Carol Kasser shared that as a children's author, she dresses in fun hats and child friendly clothing. Barbara Custer uses a balloon as part of her brand.

This brought up the subject: How to dress for a pitch. When pitching to an agent or editor, says Keith, dress neat but not necessarily formal. If you're nervous, uncomfortable clothing will add to your issues. This topic led to pitching in general.

Keith gave out information on the Philadelphia Writers' Conference coming in June. He mentioned that even though a writer should have a completed manuscript before pitching to an agent, at the conference that's not a deal breaker. As long as the writer has finished most of their book, it doesn't look bad in this situation to have an incomplete package.

I thank our founder and SJWG librarian, Janice Wilson, once again for driving me to the meeting. As always, carpool conversations are a bonus to the information and inspiration I receive during the meeting. Kindren spirits abound on the last Sunday of most months. May may be a bummer, though. I'll have to fill the emptiness with Memorial Day hot dogs and hamburgers.

The Writers Coffeehouse in Willow Grove

Guest blog by Dawn Byrne

Can you believe there's a group of professional writers who are available to the public the last Sunday of each month? They talk about their claims to fame, share marketing information, and answer questions from the audience about anything related to writing life and its craft. Can you also believe it's free of charge?

The Philadelphia Liars Club hosts this monthly gathering called The Writers Coffeehouse at the Willow Grove Barnes & Noble in Pennsylvania on Park Avenue from 12 noon to 3 pm. The Liars are fiction writers who volunteer their time to inform and encourage networking with other writers.

November's meeting was led by Kathryn Craft, author of The Art of Falling. She blogs at bloodredpencil.blogspot.com where you can find out about her and her novel, which is launching January 18th in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Kathryn talked of patience with publishing and shared the reality of waiting almost two years for her book to debut. She told us that the time of publishers sending limos for authors to speak at events the publisher arranged is over. Marketing and promotion is mostly the author's job. Authors who do, and have an online following, are more desirous to publishers.

Liars suggested bringing translated versions of your work to the book sale if that applies to your work or audience. And if you're an introvert, invite to the book sale a PR pitch friend who has a personality to talk and will schmooze with customers.

Everyone introduced themselves and any writing related information. If you have a business card, bring extras to pass out during the Writers Coffeehouse. You'll surely have an opportunity to receive others. Shameless self-promotion abounds here. This helped us identify others in the group whom we could talk or network with after the meeting. I enjoyed chatting with three other inspirational writers.

The Writers Coffeehouse, photo from Liar Jon McGoran's blog

Kathryn also led an activity she used in workshops she's given in libraries. During a break in the meeting, she suggested everyone choose a book from the Barnes & Noble's shelves that struck their interest. This demonstrated how important certain elements are to sell a book: book cover; where the book is located in the store; if it's faced out or spine out; the blurb on the book; first paragraph in the work. I surprised myself with my choice. My preferred reading is inspirational. I selected a book that appeared inspirational but wasn't yet piqued my interest. Some people bought the book they used as their example.

November was National Novel Writing Month. Audience members and Liars talked about this and about editing their NaNaWriMo novels. Bernie Mojzes, Liar and co-editor of The Journal of Unlikely Entomology, mentioned a call for submissions for April. Check this out at www.unlikely-story.com and www.grumpsjournal.com. Jim Kristofic praised Liar Marie Lamba who is his editor for his memoir, Navahos Wear Nikes: A Reservation Life.

The Coffeehouse doesn't meet in December, but join them on January 26th 2014 and you'll be introduced to writers from a plethora of genres who are eager to inform and encourage newbies, as well as seasoned writers. You can check them out at www.liarsclubphilly.com. To get updates on the Coffeehouse, go here and subscribe.

The South Jersey Writers Group plan a roadtrip to the next Writers Coffeehouse event, if you want to go, click here. Speaking of the SJWG, the above-mentioned Kathryn Craft will be our guest in February, details can be found here.

About today's guest blogger:

Dawn Byrne, a grandmother, writes inspirational and fictional stories about families from her New Jersey home. She's a member of the South Jersey Writers' Group, facilitates the Juliette Writers' Group, and teaches Sunday School. Dawn strives to leave a small carbon footprint, reads classical literature, and has stories featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Wives: 101 Daily Devotions to Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire You and Chicken Soup for the Soul: It's Christmas!: 101 Joyful Stories about the Love, Fun, and Wonder of the Holidays. Her website is www.dawnbyrne.yolasite.com, and her blog is here.