Category Archives: Getting Published

Getting published can be a mysterious if not confusing process. Let our expert guests take the guesswork out of getting published in this informative and ongoing series of shows!

Manish Seghal – The Seven Fundamentals of Digital Publishing

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On October 4th, 2012 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with digital publishing entrepreneur and applications guru Manish Seghal about key factors for success in the digital publishing marketplace. Manish is the Founder and CEO of Nov8rix, a New York City-based mobile technology company.  Nov8rixhas created several products which are iPad Publisher, One Publisher, and Smartphone Publisher and two platforms that power more than 300 mobile content publishing apps released on Apple iOS and Android devices. He has expertise in digital publishing, strategy, marketing and monetizing content.  Among the fundamental values we discussed were:

  1. Going mobile: how and why
  2. Know your target market: who
  3. Content is king
  4. Start with replicas
  5. Spend 80% of your resources / budget on marketing
  6. Publish thru your own dev accounts
  7. Track your data

Listeners who hear the complete podcast will learn of a special offer with Nov8rix which can get them started for no money down and a savings of hundreds of dollars on a content-rich, turnkey solution for instant iPad exposure of multiple books or other pubs.  Offer expires October 31st, 2012 so don’t delay!
Manish Seghal

Manish Seghal
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Yvonne Rose – Writing and Publishing African American Books

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On April 6th 2012, Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Yvonne Rose, Associate Publisher and Senior Editor at Amber Communications Group, Inc.  Ms. Rose began her stint at Amber Books in 1998 as the co-author of the Company’s flagship title, the national bestseller, Is Modeling for You? The Handbook and Guide for the Young Aspiring Black Model. Yvonne Rose was appointed to head Quality Press and has turned a few thousands of Self-Published authors manuscripts into completed books.  She spoke with us a wide-range of issues relating to African-American authors specifically and publishing in general

  • Writing for African American culture
  • Publishing hurdles of African American books
  • Target marketing to African American community
  • Writing cross-culture book – mixed race books
  • African American any different than other cultures?
  • Getting the characters right for the culture
  • Importance of covers depicting African American content

Yvonne Rose

Yvonne Rose
She recently published Ageless Beauty: The Ultimate Skincare and Makeup Book for Women and Teens of Color. (Amber Books).  As the Director of Quality Press, Yvonne and her team of editors, designers and printers, oversee the editing, design/layout, registration and manufacturing of every self-published author’s books. She also consults with the authors regarding their marketing, production, promotional, distribution and publicity goals.Yvonne has ghost-written and co-written several top selling non-fiction titles, including: Natural Radiance: A Guide for Ethnic Skin Care (Global Skin Solutions Publishing) by Pamela Springer; Fighting for Your Life: The African American Criminal Justice Survival Guide (Amber Books) by John Elmore, Esq.; Led by the Spirit: A Sharecropper’s Son Tells His Story of Love, Happiness, Success and Survival (Strickland Books) by Robuster Strickland; Let Them Play…The Story of the MGAA (MGAA Books) by John David and A Journey that Matters: Your Personal Living Legacy (Lyceum Group Books) by Erline Belton. She is currently ghostwriting books for two high-profile personalities – retired Arizona Cardinal, Levvar Fisher, and WBLS New York Radio / Television host and personality Doctor Bob Lee.

Ageless Beauty: The Ultimate Skincare and Makeup Guide for Women and Teens of Color

Ageless Beauty: The Ultimate Skincare and Makeup Guide for Women and Teens of Color
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Mark Long – Getting Published by a University Press

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On August 4th, Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with university press publisher Mark Long. He has a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and an MA from the University of North Texas, both in English. In 2004, after teaching for ten years, he oversaw the formation of TSTC Publishing, the publishing arm of the Texas State Technical College System.  Mark Long shared his wisdom about:

  • Manuscript/project acquisition (what we look for in proposals): market analysis, author credentials, ease of marketing/sales efforts
  • The textbook sales cycle: summer (research), fall (pre-sell), spring (adoption season)
  • Printing considerations: offset vs. POD
  • Marketing/Sales: how we publicize and sell books: facebook, blogs, email newsletters, trade shows, direct mail pieces, inside sales/cold calling
  • How authors make money: royalties vs. work-for-hire agreements (plus, as well, what publishers pay for vs. authors
  • Future of college (textbook) publishing: ebooks, enhanced ebooks, and apps

Mark Long / TSTC Publishing

Mark Long / TSTC Publishing
With a list comprised of academic and technical textbooks, technical career guides, and technology forecasts, TSTC Publishing’s mission is to provide low-cost yet high-quality materials to institutions of higher education and private industry.

TSTC Publishing offers faculty throughout the USA the opportunity to initiate and participate in a variety of textbook development projects. Of course, in the 21st century a textbook is no longer ‘just’ a textbook, so TSTC Publishing projects now include such ancillary products as instructor guides, student workbooks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, e-books, and companion Web sites. In addition to offering editorial help and guidance to faculty, assistance is also available in the areas of materials production, distribution, and sales.

TSTC Publishing is based in Waco, TX

TSTC Publishing is based in Waco, TX
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Katharine Sands – Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye

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On May 20th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Manhattan literary agent Katharine Sands of the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. She helped educate us on the basics of good “pitchcraft”, including

  • What is pitching?
  • Why is pitching your work so important?
  • Why there is such a relentless emphasis on platforming a book…
  • What are some rules for pitching a book?
  • How does self-publishing play into this equation?
  • What do I need to know about becoming a full-time nonfiction author
Katharine Sands‘ new book Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye is  a collection of pitching wisdom from leading literary agents. Actively building her client list, she likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. when reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir and femoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.
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Donna Kakonge – How to Turn Your Writing Career into Journalism

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On November 5th, 2009 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Toronto-based educator and print, radio, and TV journalist Donna Kakonge about how any writer can successfully refocus their work into the freelance journalism marketplace. She believes that you CAN break into the journalism business without having to have a specialist bachelor’s degree in the subject. Donna has been involved in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio Canada International (RCI) on and off for 15 years at the local, national and international levels of both television and radio. She has also worked for the Discovery Channel and Discovery Channel International, Vision TV, the BBC and various publications around the world. Key talking points of tonight’s talk were:

  • How can I educate myself to start a career in journalism?
  • What important trade associations can help me on my journey?
  • Besides book writing, what other kinds of journalism are out there now today?
  • Should I establish some sort of business identity?
  • Can I make money just form my blogs?
  • What about rejection, how do you deal with it?
 Donna Kakonge
Donna Kakonge started writing seriously at the age of seven. Her grade two teacher, Mrs. Chen, had the whole class keep a journal. She wrote a story about dinosaurs that Mrs. Chen deemed “outstanding.” Ever since then, she has been hooked.She went to journalism school at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada where she graduated with the Marjorie Nichols Award for being the student with the most promise of becoming an exceptional journalist. She has also been nominated for a Gemini Award (the Canadian version of the Emmy) for work done with the Discovery Channel and has been part of a W Network project “Tell it Like it Is” that won a Hugo Award.Her education continued with a master of arts in media studies and communications from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Her thesis was on the politics of black hair. She has written 31 books, one of them called What Happened to the Afro? that gives a different side to Chris Rock’s docu
mentary Good Hair. She has also edited Being Healthy: Selected Works from the Internet and has a book called How to Write Creative Non-fiction is published by Lulu. You can find her books on Amazon.com and other fin e-tailers.She can speak both French and English, a bit of Italian and Spanish. She has received a Quebecor Documentary Fellowship from DOC Toronto. She currently teaches at Seneca College and Centennial College in Toronto. Her subject areas are writing and broadcast.		 How to Write Creative Non-fiction
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