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It only takes one person to write a book, but it helps to have a team when launching it.
To that end, in the early spring Tri-Valley Writers initiated a Book Launch Team program at the suggestion of member J.D. Lasica. He had a book coming out and knew that other members did, too.
“I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be valuable to have an internal group of volunteers to help with the book?'” Lasica recalled.
He proposed the idea to club president Patricia Boyle who brought it to her executive committee, which agreed.
After Lasica made a presentation to the general membership, about 12 club members volunteered to be on the first team.
“They don’t necessarily all volunteer to read your book,” Lasica explained, and authors only request the readers after their books have been professionally edited and proofread.
This one last reading prior to production is important, Lasica said, for three reasons:
1. The readers give final feedback on the manuscript, perhaps suggesting tweaks to passages or dialogue.
2. Readers agree to write reviews on the platform of the author’s choice, such as Amazon, Goodreads or Google.
3. Readers spread news of the launching book by word of mouth or on social media.
Three writers prepared descriptions of the books they had ready to go and presented them to the first Book Launch Team members, who signed up to read the ones that interested them. One writer was Lasica with his high-tech sci-fi thriller, “Biohack.” The others were Yvonne Carder, who wrote “Luminata”; and Jac Fitzenz, author of “50 Countries 4 Million Miles.”
“To get a successful book, you need a killer cover, and I hired a great designer to do that,” Lasica said about “Biohack,” which was published by Best of Indie Publishing. “Next you need testimonials, and I got a dozen fellow thriller authors to write blurbs for me.”
The volunteer readers, who provided the online reviews, were the last step before his launch in May.
Tri-Valley Writers president Boyle said the program was a good addition to the club’s offerings.
“We meet monthly at the Four Points Sheraton and have a speaker who will come — sometimes an author, or someone in publishing,” Boyle said.
The club publishes an anthology every other year, hosts an annual full-day conference in the spring, holds a high school writing contest and sponsors a scholarship at Las Positas College.
“We do a lot of outreach in the community,” Boyle said.
Tri-Valley Writers also has critique groups, field trips to different spots in the Tri-Valley to write (dubbed “plein air writing trips”), and author events at the Dublin and Livermore libraries. Members also meet in smaller genre groups, such as contest feedback and novel writing feedback.
“Just a few months ago, we started an informal drop-in writing session where you pull up a chair and write,” Boyle said.
These sessions are from 3-5 p.m. Wednesdays and 6-8 p.m. Thursdays at Corner Bakery on Bernal Avenue at Valley, a chance for writers to pursue this solitary activity alongside others who are like-minded.
The club also hosts an open mic night at the Pleasanton Library at 6 p.m. the second Monday of each month.
“Each person gets about five minutes,” Boyle said. “It is open to the public, and we’ve had people who’ve written poetry, prose, fiction or nonfiction. It runs until about 8 p.m. or when we run out of material.”
Tri-Valley Writers is one of 22 branches of the California Writers Club. The local branch has about 115 members, Boyle said. She is finishing her term as president after two years, succeeded by Lani Longshore.
Lasica has long been an author and a journalist and is a “new media pioneer.” “Biohack” is the first of three planned volumes in his Gender War Series. He moved to Pleasanton 18 years ago with his wife and baby son but just joined Tri-Valley Writers last year.
“I wanted to get serious about my fiction writing,” he said. “I joined a lot of online groups but there is nothing like meeting people face-to-face. I was surprised about the level of talent in the local community. People are well-read, and they know how to be involved in a critique session.”
To learn more about Tri-Valley Writers, visit www.trivalleywriters.org.
