Meet Hall of Famers WC Jameson & Penny Hamilton

Attitudes at Altitude promise to our readers … We celebrate the outstanding authors inducted into the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame in 2019 and 2021. They are the first in the United States to honor published authors exclusively. The next Induction will be on September 16, 2023.

Each month, two of the past Inductees will be featured with their background and latest books.
One of our past Inductees will offer their sage advice on “how they do it”–whatever “it” is.
You will be the first to hear about Hall Events that are planned. Next up is the Aspiring Authors Scholarships Luncheon on September 16. Plus, nominations for 2023 Inductions will open.

Meet Hall Inductees WC Jameson (inducted in 2019) and Penny Rafferty Hamilton (inducted in 2021) in this edition of Attitudes at Altitude. Both have added new books to their growing legacies this past year. Plus, Penny writes about the essential ingredient that every author must do in this month’s featured article – Promote, Promote, Promote Inexpensively.

Who will they be? The reveal happens later this month. The applicants for the first Aspiring Author Scholarships were terrific... what a variety of genres and writing talents are emerging from Colorado. The entries were turned over to seven judges last month. Huge thank you to Hall Inductee Michael Gear who will head up the judging along with others. The celebration luncheon will be held at Denver University on September 16th. Tickets are now available on the Hall’s website. Come and celebrate this next generation of authors. Your tickets—why not host a table?—can be obtained on the Hall’s website HERE.

2021 Inductee Patricia Raybon will be joining several local authors at the Barnes & Noble Colorado Blvd. store on June 18th and the Lone Tree store on August 6 to sign copies of her All That Is Secret (an Annalee Spain Mystery). BN will be donating back to the Hall at these events. In addition, the Southlands store will be donating back to the Aspiring Author Scholarships.

Meet Board member Mara Purl, bestselling, award-winning actor who has graced many stages from New York to the screen in your living room. The platform for her bestselling book series was first revealed in the hit BBC drama series in the UK.

During the summer months, several Colorado Barnes & Noble stores will be celebrating local authors and donating a percentage of proceeds to the Aspiring Authors Scholarships. Next up is the Lone Tree store on August 6th. And the Briargate Colorado Springs Authors will be September 24th . Local authors will be at each location all day form 9 am to 5 pm. Come. Buy books. Support the Hall and BN, who has aggressively positioned itself to support communities and the authors who reside within them.
See you in September at the Aspiring Authors Awards celebration,

Join us NEXT MONTH. The first class of Aspiring Authors will be featured on Friday, September 16 in the Tuscany Ballroom at Denver University. It will be a unique luncheon recognition and awarding the Hall's first Aspiring Author scholarships, Board Member and author Mara Purl will emcee the event and 2021 Inductee Patricia Raybon will be featured speaker.

Tickets are now available on the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame website. Get yours for $75 now. Bring author friends. Why not get a table? Space will be limited.
Visit: https://www.coloradoauthorshalloffame.org/events

WC Jameson

Award-winning author of more than 100 books, 1500 published articles and essays, 400 songs, and dozens of poems. Jameson, who wrote several of his books while residing in Woodland Park, is the bestselling treasure author in America, and his prominence as a professional fortune hunter has led to stints as a consultant for the Unsolved Mysteries television show, the Travel Channel, and a number of other television projects. He served as an advisor for the film National Treasure starring Nicolas Cage and appears in an interview on the DVD. His book, Treasure Hunter: A Memoir of Caches, Curses, and Deadly Confrontations was named Best Book of the Year (2011) by Indie Reader. Several of Jameson's books have been optioned for film, and his work has appeared in ten anthologies.

Also an accomplished songwriter and musician, Jameson has recorded eight critically acclaimed CDs of original music. In 1999 he was named Songwriter of the Year by the Texas Folk Music Guild. He has contributed to the soundtracks for four feature films, two PBS documentaries, and one commercial short documentary. His music has been heard on NPR, and he wrote and performed in the musical, Whatever Happened to the Outlaw, Jesse James? Two songs written by Jameson have been included in America's Top 100 Western Songs list. and music videos featuring three of his songs have been produced. An actor, Jameson has also appeared in five films.

Penny Rafferty Hamilton

With over 30 years authoring articles and books, Penny Rafferty Hamilton reflects her passions–aviation, Western heritage, and women’s history and calls Granby, Colorado home. A world-record setting aviator, she currently focuses on aviation and aerospace. Recently, she authored America’s Amazing Airports, Inspiring Words for Sky and Space Women, and 101 Trailblazing Women of Air and Space. Hamilton earned numerous journalism, education, business, and aviation awards.

For more than 25 years, her “Penny the Pilot” program has been a cornerstone in many school teaching preschoolers and elementary children about the history of women in aviation. For this contribution to aviation history and preservation, the FAA Central Region bestowed on Penny its Champion of Aviation Education Award and ABC-TV in Denver recognized her with its Everyday Hero award in 2009. Encouraging women to enter STEM fields is a high priority for her, to prepare future generations for the existing challenges ahead, and above.

Penny’s ground-breaking Teaching Women to Fly Research Project findings were published in the Proceedings of the Human Resource Development International and in the International textbook, Absent Aviators: Gender Issues in Aviation. She is honored to be a a Laureate of both the Colorado Aviation and Women’s Halls of Fame.

Promote, Promote, Promote Inexpensively
by Penny Rafferty Hamilton, PhD

As our Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame founder, Dr. Judith Briles, always says, “Promote, promote, and promote more.” Here are a few inexpensive hacks to do just that.

Start with your email signature block. Even when corresponding with friends or neighbors, add your web site and include a line about one of your books. Because even your biggest supporters may forget about one of your books as a gift.

Offer to speak to your library book clubs. If you write “how to basket weave” books, organize a free class on “baskets for every occasion.” When I speak to civic clubs about one of my books, I often wear a T-shirt printed with a cover from another of my books. Maybe that Rotary Club wants to purchase a copy of your book to donate to the local library for circulation?

I order inexpensive stickers featuring one of my book covers. Every envelope has a sticker on it, even if it is the Visa payment. You never know who might see it. For a few pennies, you are promoting your new book. Donate an autographed copy of your book to a local charity auction. I usually add interest with a stuffed animal for my A to Z: Your Grand County History Alphabet children’s picture book. If I donate America’s Amazing Airports to an aviation conference, I usually include a more expensive bookmark.

Donating signed copies of your book as door prizes at conferences is another inexpensive promotional tool. I just did that for the International Conference of Women Pilots (99s). I autographed and shipped several copies of 101 Trailblazing Women of Air and Space for door prizes. Inexpensive promotion which is often way less expensive than a convention sponsorship. Your book is tangible. The “winners” will show it around to others at the convention. “Look what I just won!”

Print a post card featuring your book. Or design a collage of your book covers. Pin a post card up on the community bulletin board at the grocery store, library, even the Post Office. Where else can you reach potential readers for a few pennies? Promote boldly and often. You are your own best book promoter. Remember, it is not about you. Readers deserve to know about your awesome book. The whole world needs to know!

As Madi Preda, book marketing guru says, “Writing a book without promoting it is like waving to someone in a dark room. You know what you have done but nobody else does.”

Follow Penny through her website, www.PennyHamilton.com.

Authorship does not and cannot exist in a vacuum. It’s true that the author’s workday is generally solitary. We do spend hours, days, weeks, months, even years that could be described as lonely—except for the characters who keep us company. Yet ultimately, our writing is more dialogue than monologue, because we write for our readers.

Our readers are everything to us. We have them in mind as we construct and imagine, as we edit and polish, and as we present and market our finished works. We’re serious about our words and intend that they make a difference in the thoughts and lives of our readers.

So, to ignore what’s occurring in the larger conversation about reading is to pretend a garden can exist without sun and rain, or that an author can exist without the context of community. And one of the functions of community is support.

Judith Briles, my long-time friend, fellow author, colleague, and organizational co-worker through several previous organizations, saw a need, a gap in this structure of author support. Strangely, no Hall of Fame existed for authors anywhere in the United States, and it was she who noticed this, and determined to do something about it.

I agreed to become a founding board member the moment I was asked. And we began in our beautiful state of Colorado, home to so many authors whose legacies were in danger of sliding off the mountains, down into forgotten valleys. Now, that will not happen. Because we are here to search out these authors and recognize their works and ensuring their legacies shall never be lost nor forgotten.

You’ll know some of their names. And some, you won’t know until we bring them into the spotlight at our biennial induction gala ceremonies. Once you read about them, discover their voices for yourself, you’ll never forget them. You’ll share their stories, be uplifted and inspired by them. You’ll come to understand and appreciate Colorado better for their vibrant connections to this unique state. And you’ll understand yourself better, too, for the wisdom in their words.

It's why I joined the Board of the Colorado Authors’ Hall of Fame.

Support the Hall

The Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame celebrates the accomplishments of living and deceased authors who have been connected to Colorado—their words, wisdom, accomplishments, and the life-changing impact their works create. The result: their legacy lives on.

The Hall is an all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that honors and celebrates authors connected with Colorado by birth, residence, temporary residency for writing encouragement and support, writing about elements within Colorado, or placing storylines in or about Colorado.

Authors’ words have immense power and impact on changing others’ lives. They solve problems, bring awareness to a topic, and provide hours of pleasurable reading. It’s the power of their words.

Your financial assistance through donations and participation at events supports the bi-annual Induction Gala in odd-numbered years, the Aspiring Author Scholarships, and the general operation to bring these events to the public.

Please support the Hall for this year going forward.