I’m Organizing an Open Mic Night For Writers. Here Are Some Tips So You Can Do It Too.

I have a great relationship with my local coffeehouse, Watchtower Café.  During the 100 Day Book Program, I did the vast majority of my writing there.  When I finished my 115,000-word first draft, one of the baristas said that if I got published, I could host a book signing there.  While I hung around, writing my book, I started figuring out how things worked there, and more importantly, I connected with the people there.

I’d been planning on holding a reading for my short story, but as someone with an anxiety disorder, this caused a lot of worries.  Would anyone show up?  Would I just be reading awkwardly in a coffee shop?  I talked to one of the baristas, Cecile, and she suggested having an open mic night for writers.

This is a great idea for multiple reasons.

First, I have four English classes, and this makes it easy to promote my short story and the event at the same time.  I can announce the event that’s interesting to everyone, and print out double-sided flyers, with one side talking about the event, and the other side telling people about my book.  I’ll offer them a chance to read the story early if they review it and provide info for my site as well.

Second, I can network at the event, making a sign-up spreadsheet with the following columns:

Name

Email (Don’t Share)

Email (Can share with group)

Website

Title of the piece you shared and genre

How can people read the work you shared?  (Ex. Need beta readers, published on Amazon, or have them email you for a copy).

Do I have permission to record and post your reading so others can view it?  (Not for profit and you can also have a copy).

People can share as much info as they want, with the bonus that if they give me their email, I’ll send them a copy of the spreadsheet and links to the blogs where I post the recordings as well as a blurb for my regular website.  This in turn gives them a very good reason to visit my website.

It’s a win-win situation, really.  Other writers get exposure, we all get to socialize, other people who weren’t at the event get to benefit, and I’ll probably get some new email subscribers to boot.

That’s all great, but how can you, the reader, plan a similar event?  Here are my current recommendations:

–If you don’t have a coffeeshop in mind, use Meetup.com to see what kinds of coffeeshops hold a lot of events.  That’ll be a good start, because if lots of groups are holding events, they’re probably easy to schedule with and popular.

–Go to the coffeeshop, scope it out, and test the baristas for enthusiasm.  Tell them about the event you’re planning on hosting and ask them whether they get a lot of writers.  What you’re looking for is someone competent, someone who says, “Wow, that’s a great idea!” and who generally doesn’t have the attitude that they’re only there to serve you coffee.  Extra bonus if the barista volunteers to show your poster to people.  Your ideal barista, in a word, is enterprising.

–Try out more than one place, and don’t shirk a coffeeshop because it’s fifteen minutes away.  Closer is not always better.

–Now, who to invite?  Of course, you should invite your writing friends, but if those are sparse, make posters/flyers, or hire someone to make them.  Then go to your local university, call them up, or email them.  What you’re looking for is connections in the English and Creative Writing Departments.  Put up posters where they’ll let you.  Ask if they have any ideas on how to get the word out.  I would even recommend writing to professors in those departments and attaching a flyer.

–Don’t forget that having regular people there helps too!  Writers like having an audience.

–Make a Facebook Event so you have some idea of how many people will be there.

That’s it for now!  I’ll let you guys know how the event planning progresses, but for now feel free to steal and/or modify my ideas.  I made the poster in Canva, but I’m not 100% sure how copyright works with multiple users, so only use it if you’re confident with copyright laws.  I’ll try to do some research in the meantime.

What do you guys think of this idea?  Do you have any suggestions?  What would it take for you to take the leap and organize your own event?