Where Authors Get Successful
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!
Mark Long – Getting Published by a University Press
Aug 10th
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:
|
 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 |
Listen to the PodCast!  |
 |
 |
  |
Katharine Sands – Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye
May 20th
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
|
 |
| 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. |  |
| Listen to the PodCast! |
|
|
|
Donna Kakonge – How to Turn Your Writing Career into Journalism
Nov 7th
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:
|
 |
| 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. |
 |
| Listen to the PodCast! |
|
|
|
Paul Muckley – Writing and Publishing Christian Based Books
Oct 6th
On October 1st, 2009 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Paul Muckley, senior editor for non-fiction at Barbour Publishing, a Christian book publisher. He helped answer some key questions that face authors entering the Christian book market, including
|
 |
| Paul Muckley works at Barbour Publishing overseeing projects ranging from Bible reference to children’s activity books, daily devotionals to Bible crosswords and word searches. He’s been with Barbour since 1998. Paul and his wife, Laurie, have adopted three children, and like to serve as unofficial ambassadors for adoption. |  |
| Listen to the PodCast! |
|
|
|