Jenny Yacovissi, local writer and current president of the Annapolis MWA chapter, will share her ongoing experiences as a debut novelist at the chapter’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, October 21st. Her talk, “Publishers, Publicists, and a Reading Public,” focuses on many of the lessons she’s learned the hard way leading up to and following the April 2015 publication of her first novel, Up the Hill to Home, including the concept of direct submissions to publishers (that is, traditional publishing without an agent), what to expect when working with a publicist, and the many challenges associated with building readership.About the Speaker: Jenny grew up in Bethesda, Maryland just a bit farther up the hill from Washington, D.C., the setting of her literary historical novel about four generations of a D.C. family between the Civil War and the Great Depression. Foreword Reviews magazine selected Jenny’s book as one of eight debut novels of note in its Summer 2015 issue, and Readers’ Favorite reviews recently awarded the novel a 2015 gold medal. In addition to writing and reading contemporary and historical fiction, and serving as MWA Annapolis chapter president, Jenny is also a regular reviewer for the Washington Independent Review of Books and the Historical Novels Review of the Historical Novel Society. She owns a small project management and engineering consulting company, YES, Inc. Read more about the book at jbyacovissi.com.
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The meeting is open to the public and free to MWA members and first-time guests. All others may pay $5.00. Annual dues to MWA are $40.00 and include other benefits on top of monthly attendance. The Annapolis MWA chapter typically meets the third Wednesday of every month in room 205 at Maryland Hall. Maryland Hall is located at 801 Chase Street, Annapolis, MD 21401. For more information visit: www.marylandwriters.org.