Do Not Sit on Banister

I looked at the sign taped to the wall in the Theater at the Clark County Library yesterday and knew it was going to be a long day: "Do Not Sit on Banister." These signs dotted the arena-style theater where I was attending a conference hosted by the library for writers and published authors. I figured the warning sign was appropriate. It was another way of reminding me to be careful, like a voice speaking softly in the back of my head saying, "Don't take any unnecessary risk."

My life for the last two years, however, has been all about taking risk. But that's another story for another time.

The Clark County Library on East Flamingo is a large complex going under an expansion, thus I noticed black plastic sheeting, tools, construction equipment, and dust on my walk to the theater. When I entered the auditorium I encountered the first of many "Do Not Sit on Banister" signs. Thanks for the warning. I found my seat quickly, positioned left center of the podium at stage front.

In the middle of the two-story arena was the semi-circular stage, dark curtains pulled and pleated. Two items were there: a table with six water bottles lined up like toy soldiers and an old-style oak podium with a microphone. I was reminded of college days in East Texas and for a moment I was back in school waiting for an afternoon production of "On the Waterfront" to begin. Then Frank Sinatra's voice echoed throughout the theater jolting me back into reality--I'm two miles from the Las Vegas strip--about as far from a rural East Texas college town as one can get.

An estimated 300 persons attended the conference hosted by Carolyn Hayes Uber of Stephens Press. Among her first comments when taking the stage were to admire the large crowd and say how proud she was of the "literary scene in Las Vegas." Las Vegas is not readily admired for it's artists and literary talents, unless you consider Penn and Teller creative geniuses and Carrot Top a bookworm. The crowd this day was a mixture of men and women, almost evenly numbered. (I was surprised. Most writing conferences I've attended are dominated by women...not a bad thing since I'm single.)

Ms. Uber spoke of the publishing industry in session one. Then author Maralys Wills spoke in session two about preparing manuscripts for publication. She offered "Ten Ways to Upgrade Your Manuscript". Session three featured an editor. But I left after session two. My back was getting tired. Perhaps sitting on the banister would have been more comfortable.

_________________________________________

Things I Learned at the Writer's Conference

1. 400,000 individual book titles were published last year.
2. Only 10 of those 400,000 book titles sold more than a million copies. Most of the books sold less than 100 copies.
3. You won't get rich writing books.
4. 70 percent of all books published will not make enough money to pay for the author's advance.
5. 10 percent of all the books sent to an agent will actually get published...1 percent will make a profit.
6. Most Americans buy books from four places: Costco, Sams Club, WalMart, and Target.
7. Rejection slips are normal and to be expected. Big Tip (from Maralys Wills): "keep improving your manuscript and keep sending it out until it's published."
8. The average royalty paid to authors: 10.7 percent of net (no longer a percentage of gross). That means the publisher must make money before the author gets paid anything beyond the advance.

A Tale of Two Wolfe's

I've been reading a collection of short stories by Thomas Wolfe. This is the Wolfe born in Ashville, North Carolina in 1900 and published his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel, in 1929. He died a young man in 1938 leaving a trail of manuscripts and stories that have become literary masterpieces.

He is not to be confused with the current writer Tom Wolfe. This Wolfe was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1931. This Wolfe began his career as a journalist writing for the Washington Post and the New York Herald Tribune. He called his mixture of literary techniques and journalism a "new journalism" that experimented with various ways to tell a fact-based story. He may be best known for his novel Bonfire of the Vanities.

Thomas Wolfe attended Harvard, while Tom attended Yale. Thomas taught for time at New York University and later spent time traveling through Europe. Tom, however, spent ten years as a newspaper journalist, mostly as a general assignment reporter.

I'm now reading The Complete Short Stories of Thomas Wolfe (Francis E. Skipp, Ed., 1987). The compilation contains all of his published short story material. The stories are arranged by date, in the order in which they were published.

Having just finished a book on the friendship between U.S. Grant and William T. Sherman, I suppose the idea of reading two authors with the same name was intriguing to me. They certainly weren't friends, nor even knew each other. Tom Wolfe was only eight years old when the elder Thomas Wolfe died at the age of 38. But a pairing is a pairing, even if only by name. I also just purchased a book published in 2003 on the friendship between Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt.

For whatever reason, I'm interested in juxtaposing two historical figures, or in the case of the Wolfes two authors, and discovering what I can about their relationships. I'm not sure I'll learn anything by placing Thomas and Tom side-by-side as I read their works, but I have a sneaking suspicion that something will emerge through their writings that will be simpatico.