Thursday, June 18, 2015

It's a broad universe

We're now into June and I've attended my very first online Broad Universe board meeting. We had a bit of fun grappling with Google Hangouts, but eventually it all happened. This is a brand new paddle pool for me to splash around in.

So what is Broad Universe? To quote from the website: "Broad Universe is a nonprofit international organization of women and men dedicated to celebrating and promoting the work of women writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror."

To that end BU offers a number of opportunities to members. 
  • an online newsletter, the Broadsheet, 
  • an online books-in-print catalog, 
  • yearly paper “New Books” booklets describing member’s newest releases that we hand out at genre conventions, 
  • bookselling tables at science fiction and fantasy conventions, 
  • the occasional informational table at a bookseller convention, 
  • two different forums (one for general discussions and one just for announcements), 
  • online mailing parties several times a year to encourage members to get their works in the mail to editors, 
  • group readings at science fiction/fantasy conventions, and 
  • BroadPod, a podcast of group reading
  • affordable access to NetGalley
Unlike a lot of groups, BU isn't free. It'll cost you US$30. But if you have several titles you want to promote in NetGalley, or sell at a convention table, or read from in Rapid Fire Readings or in a podcast, then the investment is worthwhile.

As BU's first non-US director, I'm going to champion more online opportunities for members who don't live in the US. I can say I'd LOVE to be in on some of those convention events that BU runs - but that's not likely to happen any time soon, being as how I live in Australia.

I do have some ideas. For example, I'm considering the possibilities of having a magazine a bit like the excellent Sc-Fi Romance Quarterly.

But folks, I can't do this alone. To get a magazine going I'm going to need some volunteers to help me. Editors, graphic designers, reviewers - our very own in-house group to help authors kick start their new releases. Convention reports, maybe some original fiction.

Please feel free to contact me with thoughts, ideas, things you'd like to see, and questions. Let's get a conversation started.

On the home front, my latest novelette The Demon's Eye has gone to my editor. I should have a cover in the next ten days or so, then we're good to go. The novelette will be set in the Dryden Universe, so the worlds and characters will be available for other authors to use. I'll talk more about that when it happens, but here's my original post on Dryden.

So... have at it, folks. I know many writers of SFR also dabble with other genres. If you think Broad Universe can help you, let me know.

<Grin> Reminds of the days when I sued to announce, "I'm from IT. I'm here to help."

2 comments:

  1. Love seeing Miss Mary on the badge! This sounds like a very cool org. Looking forward to hearing more!

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  2. I've only just joined BU, and I'm still feeling my way around. I don't really have any of the skill sets you're asking for and don't feel I know enough about BU to be much help either. But if you ever need anything shared around, give me a shout.

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