IDEA Alamo - talk to students

I had the honor of speaking to a group of seniors at the IDEA Alamo charter high school on May 31, about writing my book Hideaway.  Here's a recap of what I told them:

You each have a unique story to tell, unlike anyone else's story.  And there is a hunger for original content.  No one needs to give you permission to write it

So set a short goal.  Share it with someone else.  Settle in for the long haul.

I then read from the chapter where Thomas tells Harvey about his problem and Harvey tells him the temporary solution to go to the Hideaway.

I talked about what the criticisms I expected and how the response was very different:

When I thought it was only a fiction story, I heard "I felt like you were talking"

When I thought it was too short, I heard "I liked that it was a fast read"

When I thought I didn't know enough technical detail, "That's exactly what it is like"

When I thought the characters were too closely based on real like, "You have a vivid imagination"
and
"Which one is me?"

When I thought there were small mistakes, "I didn't notice any"

I told them about publishing on CreateSpace.com and Amazon.  The costs is basically zero:  no minimum order, no setup fee, no artwork fee, no editorial review.  You can choose to pay for these, but you don't have to.  They also liked hearing about the royalty structure (30% to Amazon, exclusive sales channel for 90 days, and recoup of the cost of printing, as well as the costs of shipping.  The printing on demand concept was intriguing as well.

 I think they were most interested in that business end of things and how the costs worked.

Thanks to Ms. Marisol Garcia for setting up my visit.