Authors Access

Richard Boes Memorial 2012 Award winner

Victor Volkman — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:10:07 +0000

Deadly Lode

The 2012 Richard Boes Memorial Award goes to Randall Reneau for his book Deadly Lode ISBN 978-147913179-2). The award is a $200 cash prize for best debut book by a veteran (fiction or memoir) and is sponsored by Modern History Press. An excerpt from Renau’s book will appear in an upcoming issue of Recovering The Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing. The contest is administered by Reader Views Inc., which includes a general book award contest as well.

Daryn Watson’s review at Reader Views noted: “Deadly Lode is a great fiction novel and a very easy, enjoyable and quick read.”

Richard Boes (R.I.P.)

Richard Boes enlisted into the US Army and served in Vietnam in 1969 – 1970 with the First Air Cav. He is the author of two books, The Last Dead Soldier Left Alive (2007) a firsthand inquiry into why thousands of Vietnam veterans have committed suicide and Last Train Out (2008). Right up to his death Richard was writing a third, In the Valley of Dry Bones. He passed away on Feb 21st, 2009 at the VA Hospital in Albany, NY.

Past winners of the Richard Boes Memorial Award

2009 My Last War: A Vietnam Veteran’s Tour in Iraq by Charles M. Grist (ISBN 9781440152689)
2010 Sworn to Secrecy for Life: A Young American Spy’s Odyssey through War-torn Germany and Russia by Charles Joseph Fickey (ISBN 9781432761189)
2011 A Haunting Beauty: Vietnam Through the Eyes of an Artist by James John Magner (ISBN 978-1461057543).

Deltina Hay – Book Marketing on the Mobile Web

Victor Volkman — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 01:20:36 +0000

On December 22nd, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke withDeltina Hay, author of The Bootstrapper’s Guide to the Mobile Web and The Social Media Survival Guide, is a web developer, publisher, and small business owner. She is the founder of Plumb Web Solutions, helping small businesses and publishers with website creation; search and social media optimization; and content marketing. Deltina informed us on several points of interest including

How is the mobile web different than the regular Internet?
Why do I need a mobile version of my website?
Mobile apps are all the rage, but do I need one?
I hear some people are offering their books as mobile apps. How can I do that?
What should I do differently when marketing to smartphone users?
What are QR codes, and how can I leverage them to sell my books?
How can I leverage location-based services like foursquare and Google places?
What should I know about the future of mobile marketing – such as augmented reality and NFC chips
How do I choose platforms: Android or iOS (iPad/iPhone)

Deltina Hay

Hay presently teaches the graduate level Social Media Certificate program for Drury University, and teaches classes on Udemy.com. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), and the International Marketing Standards Board.

The Bootstrapper’s Guide to the Mobile Web

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Social Media & Marketing Funnel Consultation Case Study

Victor Volkman — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 00:39:18 +0000

Social media marketing is the 800 pound gorilla in the room nowadays. The trend is so widespread that it is one of the most popular ways to market a business or profession on the internet besides using Google to be findable.

Of all social media platforms, Facebook is the most used. With over 1 billion users as of September 12, 2012, businesses, professionals, and every day folks are riding the wave with no end in sight.

Interestingly, Google recognizes the significance of this trend and they count the importance of social media platforms when ranking websites for search engine optimization. In layman’s terms that simply means if you’re popular on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., Google will know it and will reward your website with higher ranking if you correctly set up linking between your site and the social platforms.

Lastly, businesses and professionals are urged to create a marketing funnel using social media platforms and search engine marketing. Combined, it is powerful marketing.

Irene Watson

Victor Volkman — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:47:46 +0000

Irene Watson

We regret to inform everyone of the passing of Irene Watson from this earth. As you may know, she was instrumental in launching the show. I would not ever have even started the show without her infectious enthusiasm for the project. We just uneventfully passed our 6th anniversary of recording the first show. For now, we will record one final show this year on Dec. 20th 2012 with Deltina Hay.

Irene Watson’s Memorial: A Celebration of Life

WHEN: Saturday November 17, 2012 at 1:00 pm

WHERE: Unity Church of the Hills,
9905 Anderson Mill Rd.
Austin TX 78750

A reception will follow the service. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Unity Church of the Hills.

http://www.unityhills.org/

VS Grenier – What Makes a Good Children’s Book/Series

Victor Volkman — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 01:02:47 +0000

On October 18th, 2012, Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with children’s author, book coach, and reviewer Virginia S. Grenier. She is the founder & owner of Stories for Children Publishing, LLC, award-winning editor-in-chief of Stories for Children Magazine. In a wide-ranging discussion, we covered many key areas including

What is required for a character to be believable?
What is key in making a book part of a series?
What tips can children’s authors use to relate to their readers?
Are there topics not suitable for children’s or young adult books?
Is there a set guideline in children’s writing to be successful?

V.S. Grenier

V.S. Grenier is managing editor for the Brand Buzz Network and chief editor for Halo Publishing, Int, and also, the host of the blog talk radio shows on The World of Ink Network: Stories for Children, The Writing Mama, What is Success and Families Matter. A California girl at heart and former fashion buyer, Grenier lives in Southern Utah with her supportive husband, their three children and the family’s miniature schnauzer Taz

Babysitting Sugarpaw

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Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres

Victor Volkman — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 13:16:41 +0000

Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the podcast Creating A Local Historical Book, which has become our most popular download in 2012, we were compelled to release an eBook and printed book transcript of this show.

The book that this episode created, Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres can be found on Amazon Kindle, BN Nook, Kobo NOOK, and everywhere else quality eBooks are found. Special thanks to Tyler R. Tichelaar for helping us create such an amazing episode for the ages.

Manish Seghal – The Seven Fundamentals of Digital Publishing

Victor Volkman — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 22:17:53 +0000

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:

Going mobile: how and why
Know your target market: who
Content is king
Start with replicas
Spend 80% of your resources / budget on marketing
Publish thru your own dev accounts
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

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Gretchen Preston – Writing as a Blind Author: Challenges and Opportunities

Victor Volkman — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 17:53:27 +0000

On September 13th, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with self-published author and entrepreneur Gretchen Preston about the challenges and opportunities of living every day as a legally blind, visually-impaired person. Gretchen Preston is a children’s book author who lives near Marquette, Michigan. Legally blind since the fifth grade she writes her books on a laptop computer equipped with talking software. She shared with us some important aspects of her work life and success including:

Educate us about your visual problem and the assistive technology you use to write your books.
Your books are beautifully illustrated; share with us how a blind author produces such a nicely illustrated book.
Writing for vision impaired readers — what should people know?
How do you keep organized at book signings and sales events?
How does your low vision contribute to your books?
You have a totally blind character in your second book, what motivated you to create Winslow the blind professor?

Gretchen Preston

Originally from Portland, Oregon Gretchen Preston is one of five children. She went to college at the University of Oregon and went on to graduate school at Arizona State University. Trained as a medical social worker, Gretchen worked on an organ transplant team in Denver, Colorado.Her interest in writing came early. She wrote her first book when she was seventeen. The Idiot Cookbook: The Complete Cookbook for the Complete Idiot was an unpublished work patterned after Peg Bracken’s I Hate To Cookbook. In her job as a medical social worker she wrote newsletter articles and patient education manuals.Gretchen is married. She lives with her husband Tim, their old dog, Rosie and Buddy Boy the cat. Her Valley Cat series of children’s books are set on their rural dirt road near the south shore of Lake Superior. Currently, she is working on the third book in the Valley Cat series and several adult books.Gretchen Preston is the author of the Valley Cat series of children’s books. Jam-packed with local fun and adventure, Valley Cats: The Adventures of Boonie and River and More Valley Cats: Fun, Games and New Friends can be purchased via her website. For more information including a list of stores carrying her books visit, www.prestonhillpress.com.

Watch for her upcoming book Valley of the Cats: Earth, Wind and sky

More Valley Cats: Fun, Games and New Friends

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Ronnie Boggess – Writing and Publishing Legacy Books

Victor Volkman — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 17:34:19 +0000

On August 25th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publisher and family archiver Ronnie Boggess. After doing extensive research on her own family genealogy, Ronnie had both the vision and the goal to help others research and find facts and stories about their families. Whether writing about one member or several, she has a passion for getting members to record and publish, one of a kind books that can be passed down from generation to generation.

Exactly what are Legacy Books?
How did you get started in publishing Legacy Books?
Who would be interested in Legacy Books?
What if one is not a writer or researcher? How would she/he get started with the family history?
Why would someone be interested in publishing a family history book?
Have you published any interesting Legacy stories?
How would one get started writing or publishing a Legacy book?

Ronnie Boggess

Ronnie Boggess, is the president and CEO of My Vision Works Publishing, an Indie Publisher and author support company that specializes in first time authors, children’s books, poets, educational and the newest…. Legacy Books. Founding the company in 2008, she uses her extensive background in education as well as specific training in process writing, creative writing, editing and literacy consulting to assist authors in developing and publishing books of all genres.

An author in her own right, she has written and published over 12 books including 5 children’s books, 3 fictional, several non-fiction and 2 educational texts. The books have been featured on Fox news, the Detroit Free Press and many other media. Ronnie lives in the metro Detroit area, where she enjoys entertaining, painting, attending cultural events and spending time with family and friends.

Colored Girls Don’t Like the Cold

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Maryann Reid – How to Position Yourself as an Expert to the Media

Victor Volkman — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 14:09:36 +0000

On July 9th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with bestselling author and media guru Maryann Reid about how to go from author to media sensation. Maryann Reid is an Award-winning author and entrepreneur who has been featured by countless media outlets including USA Today, Essence, Glamour, The CBS Early Show, and The Wendy Williams Experience. Maryann’s first book Sex and the Single Sister: 5 Novellas was published by St. Martins Press when she was just 25 years old. At that time, Maryann had no idea that a few stories she wrote in her journal would become characters and later become a book. But she quickly learned the power of the media and pop culture influence on publishers and their decision-making.
What is your most popular book and why?
• Do you have advice for authors who have trouble publicizing or marketing fiction?
• How do you coach clients to increase their visibility and attract opportunities?
• Who is your ideal client?
• What are some things authors are doing wrong?
• What is the difference between a buyer and an audience?
• Why should authors work with a coach and what should they look out for?

Maryann Reid

Because of the popularity of HBO’s Sex and The City, Maryann Reid hit the zeitgeist she sold her first book without it being finished. She signed her first book deal with St. Martins and the strong support of a stellar agent.Several books later, Maryann teaches others how they can sell their own books, attract agents and publicity in half the time they would on their own.When her third novel Marry Your Baby Daddy was published, Maryann was able to address a social issue that she cared deeply about and rally a new movement. As a result, she and her books have been profiled in The New Yorker, Newsweek, Oprah.com, NBC Nightly News, etc. for her innovative approach to life and solving its complex issues.

Marry Your Baby Daddy

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Jason Boog – The First Word on the Book Publishing Industry

Victor Volkman — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 22:48:07 +0000

On July 26th, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with media guru and blogger Jason Boog about current trends in the rapidly changing publishing industry. Jason Boog is the editor of Mediabistro’s publishing blog, GalleyCat. His first book, Will Write for Change: How New York City Writers Survived the Great Depression, is forthcoming from OR Books. His work has been published in Los Angeles Review of Books, The Believer, Poetry Foundation and Salon. In a wide-ranging conversation we covered many technological and media trends including:

Can eGalleys replace printed galleys for all prepublication uses?
What are new tools that authors can use to augment their book and message?
Interactive ebooks vs. websites, what makes sense?
Parallels between the last recession of 2009 and the Great Depression and how one writer survived
What’s going on with Patron Driven Access (PDA) for library eBook sales?
How can I stay up on the trends and ahead of the curve?

Jason Boog

Jason worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 2000-2002. He earned his master’s degree in journalism from New York University two years later. After school, he edited The Publishing Spot blog for the business blog network, KnowMoreMedia.For three years, Jason worked as an investigative reporter for Judicial Reports for three years. Jason joined GalleyCat as a freelance blogger in 2008 and Mediabistro promoted him to publishing editor in 2009. He also taught as an adjunct journalism professor at New York University.

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[Ep #159] Sheila Ruth – Everything You Wanted to Know About Book Expo America (BEA)

Victor Volkman — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 19:50:24 +0000

On July 12th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publisher Sheila Ruth about how to navigate the Book Expo America (BEA) successfully. Sheila Ruth founded Imaginator Press in 2003 and has been addicted to publishing ever since. Imaginator Press publishes middle-grade and YA fantasy and science fiction. She first attended BEA in 2004, and since then has only missed attending one year. Sheila spilled all her secrets with us including:

What is BEA?
what are some ways that an author can have a presence at BEA?
What things can an author attending BEA plan to do?
Are there any things that an author shouldn’t do at BEA?
How should an author prepare for attending the conference?
What are some ways to minimize the cost associated with attending BEA?

Sheila Ruth

Sheila is a list-mom of the self-publishing Yahoo group, and was president of the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association from 2005-2009. In addition to publishing, Sheila is also a book blogger, an organizer of the Children’s and Young Adult Book Bloggers’ Literary Awards (Cybils Awards), a web site developer, and a publishing technology expert. She has a B.S. degree in Liberal Arts and Technology from Stevenson University and has worked as a programmer developing publishing and typesetting software. She is available for ebook conversion and design, web site development projects, and social media strategy consulting.

Imaginator Press

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Robert J. Hughes – Platforms and the Digital Revolution

Victor Volkman — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 22:07:25 +0000

On July 21st, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with journalist and bestselling author Robert J. Hughes about creating your platform and energizing it with social media.Robert J. Hughes is a writer living between New York and Paris. He was a longtime arts reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about theater, classical and popular music, books and television, as well as philanthropy and fine arts, including the auction markets. Robert took us on a back-to-basic tours of the who, what, and why of platforms for authors:

What exactly is a platform?
How do you build a platform?
What is the coming trend in digital publishing?
How easy is it to self-publish, and why should you consider it?
What steps do you need to take to ensure success in self publishing?
What new digital tools are available to you?

Robert J. Hughes

Robert J. Hughes is the author of the novel Late and Soon, which Edmund White praised for its “Jamesian subtlety.” His new novel, “The Rectory,” will be published soon.He is currently at work on a book about his life in France

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Victor R. Volkman – Maximizing eBook Sales on all Platforms: Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook, and library wholesalers

Victor Volkman — Sat, 19 May 2012 22:07:49 +0000

On May 17th, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Susan Violante spoke with editor, publisher, and entrepreneur Victor R. Volkmanabout how to get maximum revenue from your eBook platforms. Victor has made getting total market coverage in ebooks, the fastest growing media market, the centerpiece of his strategy for the past 18 months. In that time period, he has added sales channels on Amazon Kindle, B&N Nook, and Kobo platforms as well as entered agreements with ProQuest eBrary, Content Reserve’s Overdrive, and other library wholesalers to maximize market share. Our talk covered all points of the eBook compass including:

How can a self-publisher compete against big name companies like Random House in the ebook market?
How have ebooks impacted publishers’ sales mix over the last year?
What are the major eReader platforms and how are their market shares?
Are there platform-independent stores?
What’s the deal with Amazon KDP Select?
What are library wholesalers (Content Reserve, Proquest eBrary, EBSCO) and what kind of pricing do they require?
Why would I want my eBook in a library?
Should I use SmashWords?
How can you manage price changes with multiple vendors?’
What is book metadata and how important is it in the big picture?

Victor R. Volkman

Victor R. Volkman published his first book in 2003 and soon discovered many others needed help in producing self-help, personal growth, and trauma recovery books. His company Loving Healing Press and imprints including Modern History Press, Marvelous Spirit Press have since produced more than 150 books in hardcover, paperback, and eBook.He has personally edited more than a dozen anthologies including

Beyond Trauma: Conversations on Traumatic Incident Reduction
More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam
Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers
The Story That Must be Told: True Tales of Transformation
Recovering The Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing

Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers

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eBook Sales by Platform

Cyrus Webb – How to Prepare for an Internet Radio Interview

Victor Volkman — Fri, 04 May 2012 18:47:41 +0000

On May 3rd, 2012 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with veteran radio host and media maven Cyrus Webb, President of Conversations Media Group. Cyrus been active in the arts for over a decade and has used his passion for engaging discussions to build his media brand. Through his radio show he has interviewed Pulitzer-Prize winners, celebrity musicians and actors as well as individuals with a powerful story to tell. Tonight, Cyrus Webb shared his inside information on how you can make yourself into a guest that radio interviewers can’t refuse! We touched on all aspects of guest appearances including:

What are some of the most important things for the author wanting to be interviewed to know about the host and the show?
Do interviewers prefer a hard copy of the book prior to the show or an electronic copy?
Can a book be too old, do you have to pitch it in a special way?
Give us the top 5 mistakes people who are new to the medium will make
Is there a difference in how to approach internet radio vs. AM talk radio or other segments?
What can fiction authors talk about?
How early should I arrive for an interview that is in person or how early should I call if over the phone?
After the interview is over should I contact the host or producer again to say thanks and ask for a review if one hasn’t been written?
What about call-in shows?

Cyrus Webb

Cyrus Webb is the President of Conversations Media Group, the home of Conversations LIVE radio show, Conversations Magazine, Conversation Pieces web show as well as Conversations Book Club. Since he first began Conversations LIVE in July 2003 no guest or story has been too small for him to cover. Through all of his endeavors Webb vows to stay true to his company’s motto of “feeding your love of life.”

Conversations Book Club

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Beth Werner – All About the Association of Independent Authors

Victor Volkman — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 01:35:28 +0000

On April 19th, 2012 Victor R. Volkman and Irene Watson spoke with professional editor and marketing guru Beth Werner about the Association of Independent Authors and what it can do for you. In 2010 Beth left the corporate world to launch Author Connections, LLC, a company created to educate, encourage and empower authors. She currently provides editing and marketing services to an exclusive roster of select clients. Her professional mission is to support high quality, multi-media content for hungry readers. As an AiA board member she was able to educate us on aspects of the association including:

Where can authors participate in forums and discussion groups with other authors?
Is there an online resource guide that authors can reference for service providers?
If an author has a drafted manuscript but doesn’t know what to do next, where can they find help with the publishing process?
If an author has very limited time but wants a regular snapshot of news and tips in the publishing world, is there a source of useful information they can rely on?
When an author is considering an industry service provider, is there a way for them to verify a valid partner from a ripoff or sketchy player?
How does AIA membership compare to other organizations like the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) or Small Publishers of North America (SPAN)

Beth Werner

Beth Werner has been a professional editor and small business developer since the age of 20, having worked 16 years in b2b magazine publishing; gaining practical training and first-hand experience in consultative selling, customer relations, and integrated marketing strategies. Her primary focus was advertising sales – where she learned to design custom brand campaigns in various vertical industries. During this time, Beth worked with and counseled some of the largest companies in the world about integrated marketing for successful business development.Her passions are travel, gourmet cooking and dining, photography, and gardening. Her own book, Travels of an Independent Woman (#readtiw) is coming soon…

Association of Independent Authors

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Yvonne Rose – Writing and Publishing African American Books

Victor Volkman — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:16:27 +0000

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

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

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Ruby Dee – Writing and Self-publishing Cookbooks

Victor Volkman — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:40:38 +0000

On March 14th, 2012 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with singer, songwriter, restaurateur, and entrepreneur Ruby Dee Philippa. She is the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated high-octane roots and rockabilly act Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers. Previously, Ruby owned three successful restaurants in Seattle, Washington, until she finally “settled down” as a musician in Austin, Texas, where she lives today. Her book, Ruby’s Juke Joint Americana Cookbook, is a veritable feast of down-home recipes meant to be enjoyed with family and friends. She shared delicious tidbits of hard-earned wisdom on self-publishing cookbooks from conception to sales and marketing:

How far along was I when I began shopping the book around
Where did I go first- agents? Publishers? What was the trail that I followed
What sort of replies did I get?
What sort of deal did I end up making?
- what was included in the deal (printing, distribution, publicity?)
- who owns the rights to the manuscript
As a self published deal, did the publisher cover anything or was it all out of pocket?
what expenses can one expect to pay for this type of deal?
What are the mechanics of integrating a bound-in music CD with a book?
Am I happy with the outcome?

Raised in both the Northern California foothill ranches and the cotton and oil fields of the Texas panhandle, Ruby has worked on fishing boats in Alaska, lived in South America, and toured most of the United States as well as Europe. Her travels have inspired her devotion to Americana culture, which celebrates the melting pot heritage of the United States.

Ruby Dee Philippa

Ruby's Juke Joint Americana Cookbook

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Sabrina K. Carpenter – Selling Books at Fairs, Festivals, and School Events

Victor Volkman — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:27:19 +0000

On March 1st, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author, motivational speaker, and publisher Sabrina K. Carpenter. In 2006, Sabrina founded her professional writing firm, Perfected Pen, Inc., which specializes in business writing services ranging from editing, website content, business plans, motivational speaking, press releases, social media management and beyond. She founded her children’s literacy program, Eager Readers, Brighter Writers in 2011. Traveling across the country, Carpenter encourages the natural quest for knowledge within children, through fun and interactive reading groups and writing workshops. We had wide-ranging discussion including these points:

Determining Which Event is Right for You
How much to pay?
How important is the venue?
The Face of Marketing
Why Time is Always Money
Avoid Toxic People
Branding – You or the Book

Sabrina K. Carpenter

As a cancer survivor, professional writer, motivational speaker, author, literacy coach, entrepreneur, mother, radio show host, spoken word poet, publisher and philanthropist, Sabrina Carpenter. has inspired and motivated thousands of people with her ability to evoke heartfelt emotion through stories of growth and perseverance.In 2010, her publishing division, Perfected Pen Publishing was born, fulfilling an obvious gap in the land of books. Perfected Pen Publishing specializes in manuscript consultations, editing and complete book publishing and design.Carpenter has authored two books of her own thus far; a collection of poetry entitled, ‘Betting on One Percent’ and a dynamic children’s book, The Adventures of Isaiah James: Beach Boy. Her latest book of poetry and CD, ‘Pain-ted Faces’ will be debuting in 2012. All are available on Amazon.com.

The Adventures of Isaiah James: Beach Boy

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Cathy Stucker – Author Blogging – Tips on Why and How

Victor Volkman — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:16:48 +0000

On February 16th, 2012 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author and marketing guru Cathy Stuckeron the basics of effective blogging AND promoting your blog. Best known as the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker helps authors, entrepreneurs and professionals attract customers and make themselves famous with techniques that make marketing easy, inexpensive and even fun. We covered a myriad of topics, including:

Does blogging really sell books?
What is the best way to set up a blog?
What should authors blog about?
What about fiction authors?
How do you find the time to write for a blog without neglecting your “real” writing?
How personal should a blog be?
How do you handle blogging if you write in multiple genres or under more than one name?
How can authors attract readers to their blogs?

Cathy Stucker

Cathy is the author of several books, and she has appeared on television and radio programs from coast to coast. Cathy has been featured in articles in Woman’s Day, Black Enterprise, the New York Times and the Associated Press, among others.Cathy is also the founder of SellingBooks.com, a site about all aspects of writing, publishing and marketing books. You will get free tips and advice about publishing, as well as an audio program about building your author platform, when you sign up for Cathy’s free newsletter at SellingBooks.com

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Arianne McHugh – Writing and Publishing Educational Books

Victor Volkman — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:42:26 +0000

On February 2nd, 2012 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with educational publisher and marketing guru Arianne McHugh. She is the President and Co-Owner of Saddleback Educational Publishing. She has revamped Saddleback into the country’s largest publisher of high-interest, low readability material. Saddleback kicks off its 30th anniversary with thirteen Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (2012) for its series, Urban Underground. She took the time to educate on several important aspects of the industry including:

What is educational publishing exactly?
What is a high-interest, low readability book and who is the market?
How does an author write for educational publishers (versus the trade)?
What are the relationships you use to sell books and keep customers?
How does an author market themselves to educational publishers?
As an author, how do you stay relevant in this industry?
What is one thing you get asked all the time?

Arianne McHugh

Arianne McHugh earned her bachelors at San Diego State University. Previous to publishing, Arianne was the Director of Clientele Development for Bloomingdales – assisting in the planning, training and complete operations for the opening of the California Flagship Store. She also created a mom’s blog that received national attention from General Motors as well as TV Dr. Phil, to name a few. Saddleback publishes over a thousand titles including Urban Fiction, Hi-Lo Chapter Books, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Interactive Smartboard Lessons, Low Level Supplemental Curriculum and more.

Don't Think About Tomorrow

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Ellen Feld – Niche Marketing Your Children’s Book

Victor Volkman — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:48:39 +0000

On January 19th, 2012 Susan Violante and Victor R. Volkman spoke with award-winning children’s author, marketing expert, and entrepreneur Ellen Feld about how to target-market your children”s books. Her first book, Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse, went on to win a coveted “Children’s Choices” award, co-sponsored by The International Reading Association and The Children’s Book Council. The book was then picked up by an international toy company and packaged with a toy horse made to resemble Blackjack, the star of the series. Blackjack continues to sell well and to date has sold over 30,000 copies. Ellen shared her lessons learned and hard won experience with us on a variety of topics including:

on-line advertising: where/when it works/doesn’t work
Selling at regional events, shows, and other public venues outside the bookstore
Why you need to think in terms of a series
Importance of author selling/marketing, the personal touch
Book signings – what works, what to have at your booth
Finding and keeping an illustrator
Cultivating your reputation as an expert
The importance of professional help with your project.

Ellen Feld with Annie

Award-winning author Ellen Feld began writing about horses more than twenty years ago. Her first writing jobs were for horse magazines. At first, she wrote for small, regional publications, but within a few short years her work began to appear regularly in large, national publications. Her articles have appeared in publications such as The Morgan Horse, Stable Management, Equestrian, Young Rider, Just About Horses, Horsemen’s Yankee Pedlar, Tri-State Horse, and The Appaloosa Journal.One day, back in 2001, while waiting for her next assignment to come in, Ellen wrote a short story about a Morgan Horse. Several of her friends encouraged her to expand on the story and try writing a book. That short story became the first chapter of “Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse.”

Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse

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Nancy Barr – Writing Regional Mysteries

Victor Volkman — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:39:25 +0000

On January 4th, 2012 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with regional mystery maven Nancy Barr. Nancy served as news editor at the Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton for three years and now works at Michigan Technological University, where she recently earned a master’s degree in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Her novels include Page One: Hit and Run(July 2006), “Page One: Vanished” (May 2007), and “Page One: Whiteout” (November 2009), all from Arbutus Press. She spoke with us on all the particulars of regional mystery writing including:

Challenges of writing about real locations in rural areas
Character development — deciding who deserves a repeat appearance and who is a one-book wonder
Plotting versus characterization. Each book has been different for me.
Other mysteries worth reading that feature the rural upper Midwest.
The pros and cons of small, regional publishing houses.
Marketing

Nancy Barr

A transplant to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at the age of 9, Nancy Barr grew up in the tiny town of Rapid River nestled at the top of Little Bay de Noc. She earned an associate’s degree with honors from Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba, Mich., and graduated cum laude from Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., with a bachelor’s degree. Her love of reading and writing led her to a career in newspaper journalism where she spent several years covering police, courts, schools and local governments for the Daily Press in Escanaba. An animal aficionado, she lives on the Keweenaw Peninsula with two demanding, but lovable, cats. When not writing, Nancy enjoys hiking and photographing the natural beauty that abounds in the Upper Peninsula.

Page One: Hit and Run

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Donna Winters – Writing Regional Historical Romances

Victor Volkman — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:52:38 +0000

On December 14th, 2011 Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with romance author, publisher, and entrepreneur Donna Winters about writing regional historical romances. Donna Winters and her husband Fred Winters are the owners of Bigwater Publishing. Since 1989 they have released 15 of Donna’s historical romances for ages 12 and up under the Great Lakes Romances imprint. We covered a wide-range of topics from writing to marketing, including:

Historical romances vs. contemporary romances
Research methods
Historical characters
Images
Names
Character development
Historical dialog
Historical costumes
Historical transportation

Donna Winters

Donna adopted Michigan as her home state in 1971 when she moved from a small town outside of Rochester, New York. She began penning novels in 1982 while working full time for an electronics firm in Grand Rapids.She resigned from her job in 1984 following a contract offer for her first book. Since then, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Zondervan Publishing House, Guideposts, and Bigwater Publishing have published her novels. Her husband, Fred, a former American History teacher, shares her enthusiasm for history. Together, they visit historical sites, restored villages, museums, and lake ports, purchasing books and reference materials for use in Donna’s research.

Donna has lived all of her life in states bordering on the Great Lakes. Her familiarity and fascination with these remarkable inland waters and her residence in the heart of Great Lakes Country in Upper Michigan, make her the perfect candidate for writing Great Lakes Romances®.

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JC Simonds – How to Start a Publishing Company

Victor Volkman — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:52:31 +0000

On December 1st, 2011 Susan Violante and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with publisher and marketing guru Jacqueline Church (“JC”) Simonds. She is the co-owner of Beagle Bay, Inc, a book packaging and distribution company. Jacqueline is also the author of the historical novel Captain Mary, Buccaneer. We went back to basics for this episode and touched on all the fundamentals you need, including:

Self-Publishing = Entrepreneurship. Can you handle the business or do you need a partner?
Publishing is a $3 TRILLION a year, global business. Are you ready to compete?
Most new publishers are woefully lacking in knowledge about the book business.
Should you go for a “Doing Business As” (dba) or incorporate?
How many ISBNs should you buy – 1? 10? 1000
Understand the new business models of Print on Demand (POD) + distribution, eBooks, and offset printing.
Marketing = Sales. How do you plan to reach your reader/buyer in the first few months, and from then on?

Jacqueline Church Simonds

Jacqueline is a book shepherd, assisting self-publishers and start-up presses in launching their businesses. Much of her knowledge about publishing can be found at the Creative Minds Press site New Self-Publisher’s FAQIn Captain Mary, Buccaneer, Simonds has crafted an enduring tale that will satisfy readers with its swashbuckling action, dark intrigue, and torrid romance. The book is the result of Simonds’ extensive research into the pirate subculture of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. From the tales of real women pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read who were tried for piracy in Spanishtown, Jamaica in 1721, Simonds has created a character who would be as at home on Wall Street as she is on the heaving deck of an 18th century brigantine. If you enjoy curling up in your favorite chair with a great adventure story, then this book is for you!

Captain Mary, Buccaneer

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Publishing and Marketing Roundtable 2011

Victor Volkman — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:28:47 +0000

On November 3rd, 2011 we held the 2011 Publishing and Marketing Roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar, Irene Watson, and Victor R. Volkman. Tyler R. Tichelaar is the owner of Marquette Fiction and author of The Marquette Trilogy and other books. Irene Watson is the owner of Reader Views, a book review and marketing services company that does everything from author interviews to book videos. Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press and Modern History Press that have produced more than 120 titles in paperback and eBook formats in self-help, personal growth, disabilities, and fiction to name a few categories. The focus of this week’s show is both looking back the past five years since the show started in 2006 as well as projecting the trends ahead up to 2016 to come. Specifically, we touched on these topics and how YOU can take advantage of them:

The rise of eBooks especially in the last 24 months
The decline of generic bookstores and the success of specialty retailers
The appearance of subsidy or vanity imprints from traditional industry leaders such as Harlequin Romances, Hay House, and even Amazon
Globalization of the book industry and the yearly doubling of new titles since 2007

Irene Watson

Authors Access: read the book!

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Karl Beckstrand – Publishing and Selling Activity Books

Victor Volkman — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:12:19 +0000

On October 20th, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with children’s author and publisher Karl Beckstrand. Since 2004 he has run his own publishing company Premio Publishing and a Spanish language imprint Gozo Books—producing captivating stories, ads, and scripts. Beckstrand has experience in high tech, TV/radio broadcasting, film, and public policy. Karl shared with us key points on writing and producing children’s activity books, including:

How do you market activity books?
How do you distribute them?
Do parents/educators prefer physical books for kids?
Why activity books/Why not just picture story books?
What kinds of activities engage children?
Are activities with adults more beneficial?
Bilingual books

Karl Beckstrand

Karl Beckstrand has written 5 books that have versions in English, Spanish, and Bi-lingual for a total of 21 editions. Raised in San Jose, California, USA, he is pursuing an MA in international relations from American Public University. He has lived abroad, been a Spanish/English interpreter, and he enjoys volleyball and kayaking (usually not at the same time). Beckstrand’s activity books, Spanish & bilingual books, ebook mysteries, and nonfiction stories feature minority characters and have been lauded by national reviews. His work has appeared in diverse places such as: Children’s Miracle Network, BioPhotonics Magazine, Papercrafts Magazine, LDS Film Festival and various broadcasts. He hope readers will get from his books–LAUGHS, learning and family fun

Bad Bananas: A Story Cookbook for Kids

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Susan Violante – Writing Your Book with Oral History Techniques

Victor Volkman — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:04:59 +0000

On October 5th, 2011 Victor R. Volkman and Donna Winters spoke with writer, broadcaster, and historical fiction writer Susan Violante about incorporating research from oral history into fiction and non-fiction contexts. In 2010, she published her Young Adult novel Innocent War: Behind and Immigrant’s Past — Book One. She currently works as the Editorial Assistant for Reader Views and First Chapter Plus. During the course of her writing she used tapes her father recorded as well as one-on-one interviews to flesh out the events, characters, and emotions that she hoped to capture in her book. In this wide-ranging discussion, we covered those issues and much more:

Researching for your book
Benefits of Interviewing as a research tool when writing any story
Different Interviewing tools and techniques.
Quick tips to interview like a professional.
How to use your story’s research to Market your book.
Creating Podcasts using recorded interviews done during story research.
Using your contacts generated through story research to promote your book.

Susan Violante

Born and raised in Venezuela from Italian immigrants, author Susan Violante completed a BA degree in Political and Administrative Cs. and worked as Founding General Director of a Environmental Foundation before moving to the US. Although she built a career as a Business Analyst/Accountant since 1987, she also kept herself active as a Freelance writer. In 2010 Violante finally retired from Accounting and leaped to the publishing industry. She is also finishing her first picture book titled Tuma: The Little Indian Princess while working on Book 2 of her Series. Susan is also the host of I Have Something to Say LIVE, and soon to be Managing Editor of her newest project: I Have Something To Say Press. Her new radio show: Italian Austinite will go on the air through Blogtalk radio at the end of October.

Innocent War

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Barbara Techel – Selling Books Through School and Library Author Appearances

Victor Volkman — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 21:51:57 +0000

On September 15th, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with children’s author, publisher, and marketing guru Barbara Techel. She is the award-winning author of the Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog book series. She has shared her story of hope and inspiration about her dachshund, Frankie, who is in a wheelchair, with thousands of children and adults since 2007. To date they have made over 300 appearances in Wisconsin and many more via Skype to classrooms across the US and Canada. Barbara is also a speaker and publisher. She appeared on our show to help all authors who may be having trouble getting started in speaking at schools and libraries some ideas and inspiration. A few topics we covered include:

What to include in your presentation.
Types of presentations
Ideas for what fiction authors can speak about
Pitfalls to avoid in pitching classroom appearances
Appropriate length for various ages
Managing the sales appropriately
Where to speak: In-person and via Skype
What to charge for classroom appearances
Marketing your message and appearances to schools

Barbara Techel (and Frankie)

Barbara and Frankie are avid volunteers as a therapy dog team. They routinely visit a local hospice community, hospital and senior assisted living facility, where they “walk their talk” about the inspirational nature of perseverance in the face of challenge.Since before her first book was published, Barbara has worked tirelessly to promote her books and the positive message they embody. She has garnered coverage for her story from local, regional and national media through these efforts, and continues to develop and refine her marketing message and approach. Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances is her first book about what she’s learned, but not likely her last.

Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances

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Irene Watson – Creating Your Marketing Platform

Victor Volkman — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:22:47 +0000

On September 1, 2011 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author and marketing guru Irene Watsonon how authors can generate their marketing platform with a minimum of effort. Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books. She spoke with us and addressed the following points:

What is an author platform?
Why does an author need a platform?
What’s the first thing to do to create a platform? (Define Audience)
What is the next step after I define my audience?
Basics of the platform (Brand, Reputation, Connections)
What is the foundation of a platform?
7 steps in creating an author platform.

Irene Watson

Among the many destinations Irene Watson runs includes ReaderViews, First Chapter Plus, Inside Scoop Live, and Review The book Dot Com. Her team produces press releases, media interviews, and book videos just to name a few.
Irene is also author of The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference , co-author of Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts, and co-author of Authors Access: 36 Secrets for Authors and Publishers.

The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference

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Paul McNeese – Differentiating Your Book From Run-of-the-Mill Genres

Victor Volkman — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:00:44 +0000

On August 19th, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publishing and marketing guru Paul McNeese. Paul spent 27 years writing for radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and in corporate America before retiring to create his own organization. Paul’s new company, OPA Author Services, helps both first-time authors and seasoned professionals to self-publish their materials—in other words, to become their own publishers. In this session of Authors Access, Paul McNeese is with us to offer some thoughts – and perhaps a little advice – on a vital aspect of “branding” for writers and authors

Paul McNeese

In 2008 Paul McNeese re-focused his work and began guiding authors only through the development and production of books and E-books — and then turning his clients over to a consortium of trusted experts he gathered over the years specifically to handle marketing, promotion, publicity and distribution. Even though he limits his personal work to operations that end with the printing or electronic publication of a book, Paul knows that the marketing plan is a vital component of the consultant/client relationship and essential to the success of both books and authors, so he keeps up with all of the new approaches to book marketing and starts every new project by building a plan with each client that will make the transformation from concept to cash register a seamless one.

OPA Author Services

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Joel Friedlander – Going Past Traditional Publishing & Self-Publishing Instead

Victor Volkman — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:12:52 +0000

On August 3rd, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book designer, blogger and publisher Joel Friedlander, proprietor of Marin Bookworks in San Rafael, California. Joel is the author of A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish and came to share his wisdom from decades of involvement at every level of book production.He has owned businesses in graphic arts, design and book publishing. He was Production Director of Aperture Books, where he produced award-winning photography books. He founded Renaissance Press in northern California, a private publisher of hand-typeset and hand printed books. As the owner of Globe Press Books in Yorktown Heights, New York, he published books of memoirs and east-west spirituality.

Joel Friedlander

A self-published author himself, he now helps authors who decide to publish navigate the often confusing world of self-publishing. He is known for his carefully produced books, beautiful typography, and an ethical and personal approach to his work and his clients. His blog has become a popular gathering spot for authors, publishers and designers. You can find out more and read over 500 articles on book design, publishing, ebooks, book marketing and the life of the indie author by visiting his blog at www.theBookDesigner.com

A Self-Publisher’s Companion: Expert Advice for Authors Who Want to Publish

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Tom Cornett – Writing Humor and Satire

Victor Volkman — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:51:19 +0000

On July 21, 2011 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with humorist and songwriter Tom Cornett. He is a Midwestern writer who has collaborated with country singers in Nashville as well as writing and co-writing novelty (comedy) songs and parodies. Tom is a student of the observational school of comedy and enjoys putting a twist on reality. He releases his comedy music under the pseudonym “Twisted Tom“. He spoke with us on a variety of humor writing points including:

Basics of comedy songwriting
Observing human nature as the source of the absurd
The importance of collaboration
Humor vs. satire
Parodies
Point-of-view in comedy
Handling rejection effectively

Tom Cornett

Tom also writes a blog in addition to his music sites on ReverbNation and MySpace

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Copyright Camp 2011 in Ann Arbor, MI

Victor Volkman — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 22:13:26 +0000

Are you interested in how copyright affects your professional life? Do you miss the fun and welcoming atmosphere of summer camp? Then join us at Copyright Camp, where we’ll provide a forum to discuss copyright and how it affects you on a daily basis. Copyright Camp will be an unconference-style event with an introductory plenary by Deborah Wythe, Director of the Brooklyn Museum’s Digital Collections and open access pioneer. After the opening plenary there will be a large board with open time slots for any attendee to add any topic they want to facilitate, or submit your suggestions in advance on our website. An Antiques Roadshow style “Open Content Roadshow” is also planned, where you can bring an “item” (like a presentation, publication, photo or other copyrightable material) for our panel of experts to review and make recommendations for making this item open and adaptable. Copyright Camp is sponsored by the U-M Library’ MPublishing office and the Open.Michigan Initiative, and is free and open to the public.
Date: July 29th, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM 5:00 PM
Location: Hatcher Graduate Library, Library Gallery (Room 100)
For more Info and to Register (no charge): http://copyrightcamp.org/

Susan Topol
OER Publication Manager
Office of Enabling Technologies

University of Michigan Medical School
stopol@umich.edu
(734) 998-0218

Dion McInnis – Turning Memories into Memoirs, Autobiographies, Short Stories and Nonfiction

Victor Volkman — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:49:24 +0000

On July 7th, 2011 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with writing coach and author Dion McInnis about how anyone can learn to write an engaging memoir. He teaches Memories to Memoirsworkshops at a variety of outlets, as well as teaching photography. He fell in love with writing by the time he was 12 and photography at 6. During the day, he is a university administrator, and every moment of every day he is a writer/photographer/speaker/poet. We covered a range of topics on memoir including

Using writing cues to jog your memory
The Horizontal Timelines and how they can co-ordinate the story of your life
The importance of preserving your point-of-view while recovering memories
Choosing fiction or non-fiction as your final product
Using old photos to stimulate memories and discover context
Non-verbal methods of bringing yourself back in time
And much more!

Dion McInnis

Dion McInnis has always loved the stories of his life and the lives of those he encountered. He believes in the richness, wisdom and humanity of stories. Over time, he realized that it is harder to rekindle memories and find the ways to turn them into stories, whether for memoirs, autobiographies, short stories and so on. So, he developed a way to find the memories and turn them into words. His most recent book is entitled Daddin’: The Verb of Being a Dad.

Daddin': The Verb of Being a Dad

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Bill See – From Indie Musician to Indie Author: Every you need to know to DIY

Victor Volkman — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:08:04 +0000

On June 16th, Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with legendary punk rocker Bill See about publishing and marketing his own memoir. Bill See was the lead singer for critically acclaimed Los Angeles indie rock band Divine Weeks before continuing on as a solo artist.He shared his D.I.Y. know-how from his band days now to promote and market his own book and covered several topics:

How the music industry was revolutionized and is still trying to adjust to the changes and speak to the theories and similarities to the literary world.
The pros and cons of self publishing vs. traditional publishing.
Marketing/promoting: Traditional media vs. underground, blogging and social media, etc.
Pros and cons of hiring a publicist as a self published author. What is money well spent in promotion.
Most important aspects of promotion before actually starting the campaign (i.e. title, keywords, metadata, keywords, social media, book trailers)

Bill See, from the band Divine Weeks

Bill See has just released his first book “33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream,” a memoir about breaking away from a turbulent upbringing and going on tour in a tiny van across the U.S. and Canada in the summer of 1987. Bill has a unique perspective having watched the music industry revolutionized by the internet, and with the advent of self publishing hitting the literary world, he sees a lot of similarities.

33 Days: Touring In A Van. Sleeping On Floors. Chasing A Dream

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Patrika Vaughn – The Right Mentor for Your Book?

Victor Volkman — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:35:29 +0000

On June 1st, 2011 Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar interviewed writer, publisher, and marketing guru Patrika Vaughn on how to choose the right mentor. Patrika Vaughn has 25 years of experience include every aspect of writing, publishing, and marketing. She is a columnist with articles published in more than 100 national journals and magazines. She spoke with us today on these key points:

Know your audience and what potential mentors know about that audience
Interview them: find one who is ‘on your wavelength’
Know what type of help you need
Be able to take criticism
Don’t choose a dictator!

Patrika Vaughn

Patrika Vaughn’s books have appeared in print, audio books, and eBook formats. As a ghostwriter she has written books of both fact and fiction for industrialists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, world travelers and international executives. As a Literary Agent, Patrika has placed writers with Prentice-Hall, McGraw Hill Publications, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, and other top tier publishers. She is currently publisher and President of Acappela Publishing

Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish and Market Your Book

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Carolyn Scarborough – The Book Whisperer

Victor Volkman — Sat, 21 May 2011 13:24:13 +0000

On May 19th, 2011 Susan Violante and Alan E. Smith spoke with writing coach Carolyn Scarborough on the “Book Whisperer” — what one is and why you need one! Carolyn is a writing coach, who works with people to turn their “whispering” to write into a reality. Her most recent book is Backyard Pearls: Cultivating Wisdom and Joy in Everyday Life. She is an award-winning magazine writer, editor and newspaper columnist and has published more than 500 articles in magazines around the world. We touched on many aspects of the writing process, including

What is writer’s block and how can we dissolve it?
How do we stay motivated to write?
Why do we tend to get so sidetracked with distractions instead of writing?
How do we get in touch with our “writer’ voice.”
What can we do to make writing easier and more joyful?

Carolyn Scarborough - The Book Whisperer

Carolyn Scarborough’s passion is inspiring people to tap into their inner wisdom, then share their message with the world through books, blogs or articles. She coaches people privately, as well in telecourse and live retreat formats. In addition, she serves as Program Director for the Austin chapter of the International Coach Federation, and is a member of the Writers League of Texas, Story Circle Network and The Association for Women in Communications. For more information, go to www.backyardpearls.com

Backyard Pearls: Cultivating Wisdom and Joy in Everyday Life

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Kate Harper – How to Publish and Sell Articles for the Amazon Kindle e-Reader

Victor Volkman — Sat, 07 May 2011 19:33:09 +0000

Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with e-book author and product designer Kate Harper about how to re-purpose existing articles and even blog posts as Amazon Kindle e-books. Kate is inspired by the current blending of arts with technology. A former adult education teacher, Kate Harper has a special skill of knowing how to assist the creative, non-tech person, deal with new and fast changing technologies that affect their careers, such as how to format books for e-reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. We covered a range of e-book production details including:

How e-book publishing world has changed (and how selling on Amazon is like having a free marketing department).
How anyone can publish on Amazon quickly and easily (there’s no excuse anymore for not finishing that book!)
Why publishing articles are better than publishing books
The advantages of selling an article on Amazon, rather than selling it to a magazine or newspaper.
Rules of thumb for formatting and selling articles for the Kindle (and how it is different than a book)
Watch out for the fear mongers who say you need to pay experts (and how can do this for free)
Other places to publish and sell your e-article (since you retain full rights to your work)
Why this is the best time in history to make a living being by being a writer (and how I accidentally started selling an article on Amazon)

Kate Harper

Kate has published several ebooks and her most recent one is “How to Publish and Sell Your Article on the Kindle” which explains how to prepare and sell articles in the ebook marketplace so they can be read on multiple devices. Kate lives in Berkeley, California and works as indie designer for several manufacturing companies who produce gifts, stationery and housewares. She has licensed over 700 designs throughout her career and specializes in mixing words with art to create humorous and playful pieces. Samples of her work can be seen at www.kateharperdesigns.com

How to Publish and Sell Your Article on the Kindle

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Brian Jud – Selling Outside the Bookstore to Increase Your Profits

Victor Volkman — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 23:29:28 +0000

On April 21, 2011 Susan Violante and Alan E. Smith spoke with author, entrepreneur, and marketing guru Brian Jud. He is the author of How to Make Real Money Selling Books and Beyond the Bookstore describing new ways to sell more books profitably to special-sales buyers. Susan Violante is an Assistant Editor at Reader Views and Alan E. Smith is host of the popular Unbreak Your Health podcast series. Our hosts and guest covered a variety of topics related to breaking out of the bookstore and employing non-traditional sales areans to tap enormous potential markets:

What is the definition of special sales?
What are examples of non-traditional sales?
What are the benefits of selling to these segments?
How big is the market for non – bookstore sales?
Should publishers sell to non-bookstore markets instead of bookstores?
Can fiction be sold to non-bookstore markets, or are these only for non-fiction?

Brian Jud

Brian Jud is a partner in Premium Book Company, selling books on a commission-only basis to buyers in non-bookstore markets. He also conducts the series of Masters of Book Marketing™ seminars and Book Marketing Monthly™ teleseminars. Brian is the author of the series of printed booklets with Proven Tips for Publishing Success. He is editor of the Book Marketing Matters special-sales newsletter, and creator of the Special-Sales Profit Center. He is the host of the television show, The Book Authority and author and narrator of the media training video, You’re On The Air.

How To Make Real Money Selling Books

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Brent Sampson – Dispelling the Myths of Subsidy Presses

Victor Volkman — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 14:30:19 +0000

Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Brent Sampson., president and CEO of OutskirtsPress.com, on subsidy press, vanity press, and what authors can expect from them. Brent is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist. Through Outskirts Press, Brent has helped thousands of authors successfully publish thousands of books. He speaks nationwide on the topics of writing, publishing, and marketing. You can follow Brent on his blog Our discussion ranged over a variety of topics including:

A question of semantics – “subsidy” vs “vanity”
What is the difference between a “subsidy press” and a “vanity press” and a “self-publishing company?”
Different types of “self-publishing” (DIY vs full service)
Why does the stigma of self-publishing continue?

Brent Sampson, CEO of Outskirts Press

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Stephen E. Gillen – Book Titles and Trademarks: Know Your Rights

Victor Volkman — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:01:09 +0000

Irene Watson and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with publishing expert and lawyer Stephen E. Gillen about book titles, trademarks, and your rights as an author. Steve is an attorney with 30 years of experience in publishing, media, and copyright matters. He has been in private practice for 15 years, currently as a partner with 140-year-old intellectual property boutique firm, Wood, Herron & Evans in Cincinnati. We covered a broad spectrum of rights issues including:

Is the title of your book protected by the copyrights in the book.
What does the copyright in a book cover?
Is there no protection for your book title?
How and when can a title be protected?
What are the advantages of trademark protection and registration?
Is there a downside to the intersection of trademark law and book titles ?

Stephen E. Gillen

Steve represents book and magazine publishers, media companies, corporations, authors and creatives across the country. Prior to establishing his private practice, Steve spent 17 years in the educational publishing business with South-Western Publishing Company, now a division of Cengage Learning. While with South-Western, Steve worked as a copy editor, editor, executive editor, and for the last 8 of his years there as corporate secretary and vice president of legal affairs. You can contact Stephen through Wood, Herron & Evans.

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Tyler R. Tichelaar – Creating a Local Historical Book

Victor Volkman — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:33:21 +0000

UPDATE: due to the overwhelming popularity of this podcast, which has become our most popular download in 2012, we have released an eBook and printed book transcript of this show. The book that this episode created, Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres can be found on Amazon Kindle, BN Nook, Kobo NOOK, and everywhere else quality eBooks are found. Special thanks to Tyler for helping us create such an amazing episode for the ages.

Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with local historian, professional editor, and entrepreneur Tyler R. Tichelaar about the ins and outs of producing books on local history, from research to marketing and distribution. Tyler R. Tichelaar,a 7th generation Marquette resident, has written five novels with more to come, all set in Upper Michigan including The Marquette Trilogy, the award winning Narrow Lives, and the recently published history of Marquette, My Marquette: Explore the Queen City of the North, Its History, People, and Places. We covered a wide range of issues, including:

What made you decide to write a local history book?
What makes your book stand out from other local history books?
How did you arrange the book and decide what to leave out and what to include?
What was the most difficult part of the research and writing process?
Beyond the writing, what other decisions had to be made, such as in acquiring photographs or the layout of the book?
What have you done to market the book?
What kind of response have you received so far

Tyler R. Tichelaar

Tyler has a Ph.D. in Literature from Western Michigan University, and Bachelor and Master’s Degrees from Northern Michigan University. He has lectured on writing and literature at Clemson University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of London.Tyler is the regular guest host of Authors Access Internet Radio and the President of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association. He is the owner of Marquette Fiction and Superior Book Promotions, a professional book review, editing, and proofreading service. Besides writing about Upper Michigan, he is interested in the Arthurian legend and recently published King Arthur’s Children, a study of treatments of King Arthur’s children in literature from medieval times to twenty-first century novels. Tyler lives in Marquette, Michigan where the roar of Lake Superior, mountains of snow, and sandstone architecture inspire his writing.

Creating a Local Historical Book: Fiction and Non-Fiction Genres

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Victoria Strauss – Writers Beware: Warnings About the Schemes, Scams, and Pitfalls That Threaten Writers

Victor Volkman — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 16:01:04 +0000

Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with fantasy genres author Victoria Strauss about her research and reports on businesses that defraud writers. Victoria is an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Victoria is Vice-Chair of the Committee on Writing Scams, and co-founder, with Ann Crispin, of Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group that provides information and warnings about the many scams and schemes that threaten writers. She maintains the popular Writer Beware website). She received the Service to SFWA Award in 2009 for her work with Writer Beware. Among the topics we ranged:

Alerts for Writers (misinformation, urban legends, bogus rumors)

Contests and Awards

Electronic Publishing

Independent Editors and Manuscript Assessment Services

Literary Agents

Print-on-Demand Self-Publishing Services

Small Presses

Vanity and Subsidy Publishers

Vanity Anthologies

Writers’ Services

Victoria Strauss

Victoria Strauss is the author of seven fantasy novels for adults and young adults, including the Stone books (The Arm of the Stone and The Garden of the Stone) and the Way of Arata books (The Burning Land and The Awakened City). She has written hundreds of book reviews for magazines and ezines, including SF Site, and her articles on writing have appeared in Writer’s Digest and elsewhere. In 2006, she served as a judge for the World Fantasy Awards

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Alan Smith – Getting Interviews on AM/FM/Satellite Radio and BlogTalk Radio

Victor Volkman — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:51:09 +0000

Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author, entrepreneur, and marketing guru Alan E. Smith on how to line up and successfully execute media interviews on AM, FM, Satellite, and BlogTalk Radio stations. Alan is the author of How To UnBreak Your Health. Since the first edition of his book was published in late 2007 he’s been interviewed on more than 70 radio programs. He’s been on AM, FM, Internet and even satellite radio shows talking about his book about complementary and alternative medicine. Topics covered:

Why should authors use radio to promote their book?

Is one type of radio (AM, FM, Internet) better than another for generating book sales and visibility?

How do you find a radio show that might want to have you on?

How do you get on a radio show?

What’s the best way to prepare for a radio interview?

What do you do during an interview?

Is there anything you suggest doing after an interview?

How do you capitalize on an interview after it’s over?

We’ve even had Alan Guest Host a couple of Authors Access shows and I highly highly recommend you listen to our roundtable episode called “Podcasting For Authors” which has all the resources you need to start your very own podcast. Since his college education was in broadcast journalism he chose to make radio his primary marketing tool for his book, also because it was free.

Resources mentioned in this episode

Francine Silverman

Alex Carroll

Talkers magazine

Radio-TV Interview Report (RTIR)

Help-A-Reporter Out (HARO)

Reporter Connection

PitchRate

Book Marketing Network

UnBreak Your Health(TM) offers proven healing techniques from the most modern innovations to ancient healing therapies. With 339 new and updated listings in 150 different categories this is the most complete book ever published on complementary and alternative therapies (no diets or supplements). This updated edition again focuses on therapies, systems and devices in the field of complementary, alternative and integrative medicine. Many topics also have accompanying podcast interviews with leaders and innovators in the field

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Valerie Coleman – Organizing a Successful Book Fair

Victor Volkman — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:38:33 +0000

Victor R. Volkman and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with best-selling author, award winning publisher, and entrepreneur Valerie Coleman about secrets of making a great book festival event. In 2010, Coleman joined forces with LaTonya Branham and Charlotte Brown to launch the Dayton Book Expo. The first event drew over fifty authors from across the nation and almost five hundred book lovers. We ranged over a wide variety of aspects of exhibition planning and execution including:

What was the catalyst for creating the Dayton Book Expo (DBE)?
Where did the authors come from
What elements are essential for a successful book fair?
How did you recruit the volunteers?
What unique things did you do for the DBE authors?
What things did you do for the DBE book lovers?
how far in advance do you have to plan an expo?
what should the well-prepared author bring with them
How did you divvy the work load?
How did you market the event?
When is the next DBE?
Are you doing anything differently for the 2011 event?
How can authors, book lovers and sponsors learn more about this event?

Valerie Coleman

Valerie Coleman is on a mission to be a voice for self-published authors. She has coached thousands of aspiring authors through the publishing process and conducts workshops that provide step-by-step instructions on prepping, printing and pricing literary works. She founded the Pen to Paper Literary Symposium in 2004. This annual conference draws participants from Washington to Florida. Past presenters include national best-selling authors Dan Poynter, Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, Vickie Stringer, Parry “EbonySatin” Brown and Kendra Norman-Bellamy. In 2005, Coleman co-founded Write On! Workshop which is geared towards the novice writer

Dayton Book Expo

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Dan Poynter – Book writing, Publicity and Promotion

Victor Volkman — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 21:26:34 +0000

Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with entrepreneur, publishing, and marketing guru Dan Poynter about a wide variety of related topics. Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book has had more than 15 editions and is the most often referenced book on the subject by far. Dan has produced more than 76 books and revisions so far, of which some have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, Russian, British-English and German. Here’s just a few of the things we talked about:

eBooks and the future of publishing
Importance of a good book title
Pre-pub reviews — do they still matter?
Marketing on a budget
Self-publishing without the “Vanity” tax
Proofing and editing
Basics of good book cover design

Dan Poynter

Dan Poynter literally fell into publishing. He spent eight years researching a labor of love. Realizing no publisher would be interested in a technical treatise on the parachute, he went directly to a printer and “self- published.” The orders poured in and he suddenly found he was a publisher himself.

In 1973, he became interested in a new aviation sport, couldn’t find a book on the subject so he sat down and wrote one. After four months of writing and intense research that took him from coast to coast, he delivered the manuscript to the printer. One of his books Hang Gliding has sold over 130,000 copies — a “best seller”!

Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual, 16th Edition: How to Write, Print and Sell Your Own Book

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The (inevitable?) negative book review and what to do

Victor Volkman — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 21:20:17 +0000

Everyone (me included) will gets negative book reviews. All books get them, what you do is up to you. I defy you to find a bestseller without a negative review: J.K. Rowling, John Grisham, Dean R. Koontz. Congratulations you have joined the fraternity of abused authors. John Grisham just got 66 “one-star” reviews for his last book. Maybe he deserved it, I don’t know, that’s not the point.

A book with nothing but 5-star reviews is suspicious in a different way, it looks like the jury might have been bought. It might be fun to try to keep your “straight ‘A’” grade point average but you do not actually have any control here. I do know some people who head straight for the low-starred reviews to see if the reviewer is just a crank and then go back to the high-starred reviews and decide for themselves on that basis.

After some 5 or 6 years of dealing with this, my best strategy to is to “bury ‘em” with positive reviews. Find five other reviewers to review your book. How in the world would you do this? Find competing books in your niche, locate their reviews on Amazon, and contact the reviewers and ask them if they would like a review copy of your book. Many of them will have blogs or be relatively easy to find on Google. Sometimes they copy their reviews verbatim from their blogs into Amazon so you can just google a phrase from the review.

Retaliation is off-the-table, it never works. If you feel you must, you can “vote down” the review as unhelpful. That is anonymous, so it can be done. Resist the temptation to comment (“reply”) to the review unless it addresses an issue which was fixed in a later printing or edition. In that case, you can offer them a free review copy if you like. What you should NOT do is try to refute the review point-by-point, even if you know there are mistakes in the review. Remember what Mom said, “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all”.

Here’s some followup advice from Tyler Tichelaar, an article featured in “Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors”.

What If I Still Get A Negative Review?
If you have followed all this advice and you still get a negative book review, all is not lost.

Most importantly, don’t lose your temper. A negative review may point out weak aspects of your writing that will help you become a more effective writer of your next book or even the second edition of your current work.
Don’t hide from the world. The review is just one person’s opinion. It’s highly possible good reviews will still come.
Learn from your mistakes. If you get several negative reviews, you have work to do. You can republish the book with revisions.
Find something good in the review. You may still find a quotable passage to promote your book. The reviewer might not like your characters, but he might remark that the book is well researched. He may complain about the proofreading, but he may still like the story concept.
Build a relationship with the reviewer. Send a thank you note and tell the reviewer you appreciate his honesty. The reviewer will be impressed by your professionalism, and this will leave open a line of communication and a possible good review for your next book.
Remember, even a negative review is better than no book review. In the long run, you will become a better writer and hopefully sell more books.

Elaine Wilkes – Getting Your Book into Bookstores

Victor Volkman — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 20:54:05 +0000

Drew Gerber of PitchRate interviewed Elaine Wilkes, author of Nature’s Secret Miracles about how she got her book into bookstores with NO support from her publisher and NO interest from corporate buyers at Barnes & Noble and Borders. It’s a simple one-on-one technique guaranteed to get you results, all you have to do is be willing to pick up the phone with someone and have a 2 minute conversation about your book. There’s no tricks, no smoke and mirrors, just good old fashioned saying “Hi, I’m an author and I’d love it if your store could have a copy of my book for sale”.

Elaine Wilkes

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Kristi Floyd & Rhonda Kuiper – Getting Your Book into Libraries

Victor Volkman — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:34:49 +0000

On December 2nd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Austin area librarians Kristi Floyd and Rhonda Kuiper about how librarians pick their books for the patrons at general (“district”) and school libraries. Kristi and Rhonda have experience in working with requirements and procurement for Young Adult and Juvenile audiences including teens and tweens. We had a wide ranging discussion including:

From what sources do librarians buy the books exactly?
What is the importance of book covers to library patrons?
How can local authors get involved in speaking at libraries and schools?
What review sources do librarians consult?
Under what circumstances do libraries accept books donated by authors?
How does patron input work into book purchasing?
How can inter-library loans trigger a book purchase?
Are bibliographies and indexes really that important to non-fiction?

Kristi Floyd

Rhonda is a Part-time Reference Librarians who also has worked in the library at Round Rock High School in Austin Texas for the past five years. Rhonda is currently in charge of our Tween and Teen Programming at Westbank, and next month she will add Reference Manager to her bag of tricks! She brings significant school library experience to our author conversation.

Kristi Floyd, is a librarian at the Westbank Community Library District in Austin Texas for the past five years–including 1 year as a sub and four years as the Programs and Children’s Librarian. She coordinates and organizes all of their Programming, as well as selects all Juvenile material for their collection–from Picture Books to items for Teens. Both librarians have input into the Teen selection.

Rhonda Kuiper

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Tyler R. Tichelaar – Getting Successful Book Reviews

Victor Volkman — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:43:40 +0000

The following episode of Author’s Access was recorded live at the 7th Motown Writers Conference in Detroit Michigan. Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke about how to be successful at getting book reviews.

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Jim Bouchard – Promoting Your Book by Being a Media Personality

Victor Volkman — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:42:30 +0000

On November 4th, 2010 Alan E. Smith and Tyler R. Tichelaar spoke with author, blackbelt, and media access guru Jim Bouchard, about how to develop yourself into a successful personality sought by the media. Jim Bouchard has spoken to numerous companies and organizations including the CEO Club of Boston, the University of New England, , the Association for Consulting Expertise, , and the Boy Scouts of America, to name but a few. He appears regularly on radio, TV and in person sharing his message of excellence, discipline, focus and opportunity. He spoke on a wide range of aspects including:

What does it mean to Think Like a Black Belt?]
What are some of the key characteristics of Black Belt Mindset?
Why is Black Belt Mindset so important in today’s world?
How do you apply Black Belt Mindset to business or personal life?
What exactly is success? Can anyone become successful?
Is this just another “positive thinking” philosophy or “secret?”
What’s wrong with positive thinking?
Do you need to be a martial artist to Think Like a Black Belt?

Jim Bouchard

Martial arts transformed Jim Bouchard’s self-perception from that of drug abuser, college drop-out and failure to success as a professional martial artist and Black Belt. Today Jim tours nationally to teach his Black Belt Mindset philosophy. His second book, Think Like a Black Belt was released in May, 2010. This first book is Dynamic Components of Personal Power.

Think Like a Black Belt

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Julie Ann Stricklin – Things You Need to Know Before You Hire a Graphic Artist

Victor Volkman — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 23:37:50 +0000

On October 20 Irene Watson and Brad Grochowski spoke with Julie Ann Stricklin about what every author must know before buying and/or commissioning artwork. Julie is an author, independent Illustrator, graphic designer, and fine artist working in the field since 1985. She constantly alternates her passion for design work, illustration and fine art. These passions have created a body of work that includes the illustration of six children’s books. We spoke with her about several key concepts of collaborating with an illustrator:

What do I need to know about a potential artist?
What is Work for hire?
What are traditional media versus computer-generated media?
What do I need to know about deadlines?
How do I negotiate payment and delivery?
What should I not ask the artist to do?
What do I need to know about royalty free images and clip art vs. a commissioned work?

Julie Ann Stricklin

Each book Julie Ann Stricklin has worked on has it’s own individual illustrative style. Her books include: The Mysterious Missing Pixie Pond and Down Turtle Trail. Julie’s graphic pieces have been chosen as well as published in hard cover art books, that showcase American designers use of new and unique exploration in visual inventiveness. Julie’s client list for fine art is as eclectic as her styles, ranging from corporate banks, business accounts, publishers, pro athletes, and actors and well as local and international commissions.

The Mysterious Missing Pixie Pond

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Tom Wanek – Currencies that Buy Credibility for Your Book

Victor Volkman — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 14:44:37 +0000

On October 7th, 2010 Irene Watson and Alan E. Smith spoke with marketing guru Tom Wanek about the six essential ingredients (or “currencies”) to successful marketing Tom Wanek. His book, Currencies That Buy Credibility, teaches the foundation that every smart marketer needs to know in order to craft a believable marketing message. Tom shares his views on marketing and advertising on his blog, MarketingBeyondAdvertising.com. In a wide-ranging discussion, we talked about

What is the book’s primary argument? Why is it important now?
Can money categorically buy credibility like buying ad space?
What was the inspiration behind Currencies That Buy Credibility?
How can fiction and non-fiction authors exploit these currencies?
Any surprising applications of your currencies?
What are the most commonly credibility investments in business today?
What are the key factors that will help marketers cut through the social media clutter and communicate with credibility

Tom Wanek

Tom Wanek is busy worldwide speaker and marketing consultant. Businesses as far away as Australia fly Tom in to fix their marketing and hire him to speak. Tom spent eight years growing his successful retail-clothing store. Dealing with his fair share of growing pains, skinned knees and all. Just like you.. This episode was edited by Victor R. Volkman.

Currencies That Buy Credibility

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In the future, everyone will be on Amazon but it’s an expensive hoax

Victor Volkman — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 14:05:54 +0000

Here’s the blog link about this scam from The Washington Post.

There is a “loophole” in the LSI system that allows volume publishers (who publish more than 10 books
a year) to become certified and have setup costs waived. So literally they do cost nothing to print other
than the annual maintenance fee (which I seem to remember is about $12/year). With luck the fees will
bankrupt “Books LLC” because most of their books have fortunately never sold one copy (at least on
Amazon).

I want the hour back that I wasted researching this mess.

Valerie Bradley-Holliday, PhD – Writing as a Working Mom

Victor Volkman — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 00:36:41 +0000

On September 16th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with author, social worker, and busy mom Valerie Bradley-Holliday, PhD. Valerie’s doctorate degree is from The Union Institute and University, a distance-learning program based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her specialization is Social Psychology. She has a Master of Social Work Degree from Wayne State University. Valerie shared with us critical items to success as a writer and working mom:

Time management: keeping it all together
Respect for yourself and your craft as an artist
Professionalism and its importance in producing quality products
Dealing with frustrations and setbacks
Accepting success and being prepared to act on it
Self-publishing perils and benefits of using it.

Valerie Bradley-Holliday

Valerie has a husband, three sons and three adopted dogs. She has two published books (Places to Be Blessed and Northern Roots) and third book (Elmwood) is in progress. Her first love is writing. She writes like some people eat popcorn. Her varying interests include: art, singing, gardening, and reading. After being raised by her grandmother, Valerie put herself through undergraduate school by working as a kitchen helper and a certified nurse’s aide. She has taught several classes in her field at the graduate level, later served as an adjunct professor at Northern Michigan University and currently serves as an adjunct for online universities. As an active member of the National Association of Social Workers, she received credentialing for the Academy of Clinical Social Workers. Her professional experience includes working with domestic violence victims and facilitating related support groups. Valerie has also worked as a career counselor at Soumi College (now known as Finlandia University) in Hancock, Michigan. She counseled abused and neglected children and their families in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Valerie is currently working on a book about Elmwood, an African American Community that was located near Crystal Falls in the Paint River area.

Places To Be Blessed

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Drew Gerber – Catapult Your Book with Media Coverage

Victor Volkman — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:19:28 +0000

On September 2, 2010 Irene Watson and Alan E. Smith spoke with author and media coverage guru Drew Gerber of PitchRate.com. L. Drew Gerber is CEO of Wasabi Publicity, Inc. and creator of www.PitchRate.com, a free media tool that connects journalists, publicists, and experts. Drew informed us on critical aspects of the interface between author and media including:

How to stand out from the crowd and brand what’s unique about your book.
How to make it easy for customers and journalists to find you and your book online.
Who wants your expertise? How to position yourself as an expert.
How to grab the media’s attention by creating the perfect pitch.
How to get to the point and use sound bites.
How to maximize your publicity by leveraging the coverage you’re getting to attract more traffic and leads to your website.

Drew Gerber

Gerber’s business practices and staffing innovations have been revered by PR Week, Good Morning America and the Christian Science Monitor. His companies handle international PR campaigns and his staff develops online press kits for authors, speakers and companies with Online PressKit 24/7, a technology he developed.

www.PitchRate.com

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Fall 2010 Lineup announced!

Victor Volkman — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:26:21 +0000

date	Guest	Topic	Podcast
Sep 2	Drew Gerber	Catapult Your book With Media Coverage	TBA
Sep 16	Valerie Bradley-Holiday, PhD	Writing as a Working Mom	TBA
Oct 7	Tom Wanek	Currencies that Buy Credibility for Your Book	TBA
Oct 21	Julie Ann Stricklin	Things Your Need to Know Before You Hire a Graphic Artist	TBA
Nov 4	Jim Bouchard	Think Like a Blackbelt: Promoting Your Book by Being a Media Personality	TBA
Nov 18	Diana Raab	All About Writing Nonfiction: Getting Your Reader’s Attention	TBA
Dec 2	Kristi Floyd and Lisa Charbonnet	Getting Your Book into Libraries	TBA
Dec 16	Dan Poynter	Book writing, Publicity and Promotion	TBA

James P. Studinger – Using Your Book as an Investment Tool

Victor Volkman — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 18:41:37 +0000

On August 19th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with financial adviser and author James P. Studinger. He is the author of Wealth Is a Choice, and owner of the JPStudinger Group, a wealth-management company. Studinger wrote this book to create a road map for his children to follow should anything happen to him. This passion blossomed into a book to educate readers and help them embrace, not fear, financial decisions. This evening he spoke about the critical role of understanding how an author can exploit their book to best financial advantage, including:

What is the secret to becoming wealthy?
Good assets vs. bad assets
Efficiency
Where is there profit in a book?
- Sales of books
- Ancillary services
What have other authors done in your field
Leverage your credentials
- Where would you like this to take you in the future?
- Keep aligning your efforts with your goals.

James P. Studinger

Studinger’s expertise was called upon by the State of Michigan where he was instrumental in the passing of a new 529 College Savings Plan. For his part, Studinger was happy to participate in a plan that helps Michigan families educate their children. In 2009 he became the Vice Chair for the Michigan JumpStart Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to raising the financial literacy bar for kids. He is frequently a guest on Fox News for their “Money Matter’s” segment.

When not writing and advising, James enjoys the outdoors: hiking, camping, and fishing. He likes being active by running, triathlons, and hockey. He resides in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with his wife and their two sons. To learn more, please go to www.jpstudinger.com

Wealth Is A Choice

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Mark Long – Getting Published by a University Press

Victor Volkman — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:19:40 +0000

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

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

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Shel Horowitz – Green Marketing: Reaching the Environmentally Aware Customers

Victor Volkman — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:24:15 +0000

On July 22nd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Shel Horowitz, author, marketing consultant and copywriter who works with authors and publishers. A veteran of the 1977 Seabrook occupation, his first book, written when he was only 22, was about why nuclear power makes no sense. He visited with us to share some secrets from his 8th book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (John Wiley & Sons, 2010, co-authored with Mr. Guerrilla Marketing himself, Jay Conrad Levinson). Specifically, Shel informed us on:

How does ethical/green marketing differ from ordinary marketing?
How can an author put together a green book event?
What green options are physically available in terms of paper and book production?
Does green marketing cost more, if not, why not?
Where should I start and how can I get my customers to notice and to care?
How can cooperative marketing create green results?
How do I get started going green?

In 1972, at age 15, Shel Horowitz was involved in a community group that opposed a nuclear power plant proposed for two miles north of New York City (a proposal that the utility company quickly withdrew). Shel is also the author of the e-book, Painless Green: 111 Tips to Help the Environment, Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Cut Your Budget, and Improve Your Quality of Life-With No Negative Impact on Your Lifestyle. He is directly responsible for the first nonsmokers’ rights regulations in Northampton, Massachusetts, and for the defeat of a large and inappropriate mountaintop development in his current home town of Hadley, Mass. His Down to Business webzine was one of the first business publications to have a regular section on sustainability.Shel now offers not only copywriting and strategic marketing planning based in Green principles, but also helps unpublished writers become published authors. Five of his eight books have won awards and/or been republished in other countries, including his most recent, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (John Wiley & Sons, 2010, co-authored with Mr. Guerrilla Marketing himself, Jay Conrad Levinson).

This new book states that honesty, integrity, and a commitment to environmental sustainability are important—but market share is often the wrong metric entirely…that long-term relationships are better than a one-time sale…and that competitors can be among your best allies. The book provides dozens of examples of companies large and small that have succeeded by putting people first: familiar names like Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Southwest Airlines as well as numerous entrepreneurs who are successful in their own niches, even if not widely known.

Guerilla Marketing Goes Green

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Jim and Linda O’Connor – Developing Comprehensive Campaigns to Sell Your Books

Victor Volkman — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:28:34 +0000

On July 7th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book marketing and publicity specialists James V. O’Connor and Linda O’Connor about how to develop a marketing campaign tailored to your personal skills and your book’s target market. O’Connor Communications, Inc is a public relations firm that has specialized in book publicity since 2000 when Jim and his wife won three national awards for the successful promotion of his first book, “CUSS CONTROL, The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing.” O’Connor Communications gets people into the news through radio and TV interviews, newspaper and magazine article placement, blog, social media and internet marketing, and media campaigns. In our wide-ranging discussion we covered the following points in detail:

Why do you need to promote your book and yourself?
Why every book is promotable
When and how to get started
Giving traditional media what they want
Mass mailings and target marketing
Social media and Internet Marketing
What a publicist can do for you

Jim and Linda O'Connor

Jim’s first-hand experience includes appearances on more than 312 TV programs (including Oprah), interviews on more than 750 radio stations, and features in over 400 newspapers and magazines. Jim and Lynda represent 23 authors, organizing national and regional book campaigns, book tours, media interviews, speaking engagements, and press materials. Authors Lynda has represented describe her as knowledgeable, professional, tireless, tenacious, creative, enthusiastic and dedicated. She works closely with her clients and makes sure they get the attention that they deserve.

Together they have spoken in Richmond, VA at the James River Writers Conference, Clarksville, TN at the Clarksville Writers Conference, and Chicago at the Lawyers for Creative Arts book conference. 2010 will take them to Seeley Lake, MT to the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association Book Conference, The San Francisco Writers Conference, the University of Wisconsin Writers Conference where they will share their knowledge on how to get into the news

Cuss Control

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Roundtable – Choosing the Right Book Contest

Victor Volkman — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:35:10 +0000

In this special Roundtable episode, Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman discuss book contests and how to make the most of your marketing dollars. Irene Watson is the managing editor of Reader Views, a book review and author publicity service located in Austin, Texas. Irene is well versed in today’s topic Choosing the Right Book Contest as this is her 5th year in running an awards program. Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press, Modern History Press, and the newest imprint Marvelous Spirit Press. Together, these imprints have produced more than 100 titles in five years in paperback, hardcover, and eBook editions of same. This evening we chatted about the how and why of book contests including:

What’s the purpose of entering a contest?
What kinds of contests are out there?
How are contests judged?
How do I enter a contest?
What can I do with the awards?
What about poetry and short-story contests?
How do I choose a category that I can win in?
Local, regional, vs. national contests: is bigger always better?
What’s a reasonable fee for entering my book?
What about contests where “everyone is a winner”?

Irene Watson started Reader Views in 2005 when she published her first book and realized a need wasn’t filled. Listening to authors she continues to create online sites to fulfill their needs. The latest being First Chapter Plus, an e-Catalog of self-published and small publisher books targeted at libraries and independent book stores. Ger first authored book won an IPPY Honorable Mention. She is the author of several books including The Sitting Swing: Finding Wisdom to Know the Difference, Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers, and most recently co-author of Rewriting Life Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts

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Kim McDougall – Creating Sizzling Book Video Trailers

Victor Volkman — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:40:36 +0000

On June 3rd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with artist, author, and book video director/producer Kim McDougall of Blazing Trailers. Kim has produced more than 100 book video trailers and hosts more than a thousand of them on BlazingTrailers. She shared her hard won experience in producing and also critiquing these latest promotional marketing tools. Her laser-sharp focus in marketing really showed us what does and doesn’t work for videos. Some talking points included:

Why make a book video trailer?
What makes a good trailer (good, bad, or ugly)?
How do I use my trailer effectively?
Can I include a Special offer in my video?
Walk us through a typical experience with you working with an author
Should I make my own trailer or have someone make it for me?

Kim McDougall

Kim McDougall is an fantasy author, fiber artist and photographer. She writes children’s and YA fiction under her married name, Kim Chatel. Some of her books include Angel Venom, the Twisted Tails series and Luminari, She has a bachelors degree in English literature from Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. She was born in Montreal and has lived in Nice, France, Toronto, Long Island, New York and now beautiful Pennsylvania.

She is also the founder of Blazing Trailers a site designed to showcase video book previews. After creating 100+ trailers she has picked up some tricks for promoting with this hot multimedia tool.

Blazing Trailers

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Katharine Sands – Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye

Victor Volkman — Fri, 21 May 2010 01:13:23 +0000

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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Jonathan Maxwell – Arranging Public Appearances

Victor Volkman — Fri, 07 May 2010 16:14:08 +0000

On May 6th 2010, Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with successful nonfiction author and speaker Jonathan Maxwell. He is the author of Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS (2009). Jonathan has tirelessly promoted his books at bookstores, libraries, museums, colleges, and K-12 schools. Today, he shared his wisdom about

The Importance of Making Public Appearances (sales, marketing, buzz)
Alternatives to Public Appearances (reviews)
Obtaining Public Appearances (libraries, schools and colleges, museums, bookstores)
Charging Fees (why, when and how much)
Becoming a great speaker(tips and tricks)

Jonathan Maxwell is an Atlanta-based writer, editor, and critic. He holds a BA in English from Berry College in Rome, Ga., as well as a psychology minor. He also holds a paralegal certificate. Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS is his first book. Released in November 2009, the work has since received considerable critical acclaim. Maxwell’s next book- Piltdown Man and Other Hoaxes- will be released late this year. This book is a lighthearted examination of scientific frauds through the centuries. In addition to book-writing, he has composed op/ed pieces in newspapers great and small, penned reviews for literary journals, and has written chapters for history textbooks. As a freelance editor, he was worked for the publishing giants Harcourt and Pearson.

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Awakening The Power Within – May 15th, 2010 in Ann Arbor

Victor Volkman — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:49:44 +0000

Special offer good only for readers of AuthorsAccess.com! Bring a friend and saves $10 on the cost of TWO tickets! HURRY offer ends April 30th at midnite! Click here to take advantage of this special offer or call tollfree 888-761-6268

Come join us for a day of inspiration, education, and renewal at the Awakening the Power Within conference at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 15th 2010 from 9am to 4pm. Conference registration is only $25 and includes Weber’s fabulous sandwich buffet lunch. We’ll have a diverse selection of motivational and spiritual presenters:

Time	Speaker	Topic
9:00	Registration	Coffee and networking
10:00	Robin Marvel	Energize, Revitalize ~ ChakraCize!
10:55	Marian Volkman	Practical Happiness
Noon	– break –	Lunch provided by Weber’s Inn
12:50pm	Rick Ritter	Reorganizing the Self: After it has been shattered
1:45pm	Jane Saylor	The Power of Self-Help: What you accomplish in this lifetime is all up to you
2:40pm	K.J.M. MacLean	Consciousness, Feelings, and Self-Empowerment
3:30pm	Networking	Meet and greet presenters (until 4PM)

Our Amazing Presenters

Kenneth J.M. MacLean advocates applying spirituality in a practical, common sense manner to daily life for success and happiness. He’s the host of the Interview with Spirit Show and the author of eight books including The Vibrational Universe: Harness the power of thought to consciously create your life.

Robin Marvel is an inspirational speaker, spiritual workshop leader, and radio host. She is the Senior Editor of Marvelous Spirit Press and the author of the Awakening Consciousness series books for boys, girls, and women.

Rick Ritter MSW, LCSW is a trauma therapist in a small private practice, disabled vet of 40 years who works at practicing what he “preaches” toward his clients/audience. He is also a father, grandfather, organic gardener (3 acre garden), beekeeper, handcyclist who is extremely blessed. He is the author of Coping With Physical Loss and Disability

Jane Saylor is a Life Coach and Motivational Speaker. She is also the author of “The Road You’ve Traveled, How to Journal Your Life”. Learn more at her new website www.ThePowerOfSelfHelp.com

Marian Volkman has worked in the fields of trauma resolution and personal growth for more than 40 years. She teaches Applied Metapsychology, including Traumatic Incident Reduction in the US, Canada and Europe, and maintains a practice working with individuals. She is passionate about development of human potential, among other things. She is the author of Life Skills: Improve the Quality of Your Life

Share this Flyer with your friends!

PDF Flyer about this event

Register by Phone at 888-761-6268 or visit www.AwakeningThePower.com

Janet Grace Riehl – Do-it-Yourself Audiobook Production

Victor Volkman — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 12:13:47 +0000

On April 15th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman interviewed poet, author, and performance artist Janet Grace Riehl about recording, producing, and marketing audiobook versions of eBooks and print publications. Her book Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary, told in story poems, was recently made into an audio book Sightlines: A Family Love Story in Poetry and Music. Twice selected as finalist for Poet Laureate of Lake County, California and a member of Authors Guild, her poems, stories and essays are published in national literary magazines and several anthologies.

Janet broke it all down for us on audiobooks into easy-to-understand steps

Creative;
technical (editing, mastering, disc numbering);
legal (licenses and copyrights);
production;
distribution and marketing; and,
Big Celebration.

Resources mentioned on this podcast

Janet’s appearance on Blogging Authors which has more detail on the 6 steps
podiobooks.com – where authors can upload self-recorded chapters serially
audible.com – world’s largest seller of audiobooks (follow this link for a FREE audiobook!)

Janet Grace Riehl is an award-winning author, artist, performer, community mentor, and creative collaborator. Her poems, stories, and essays have been widely published in national literary magazines such as “Harvard Review” and the anthologies “Stories to Live By: Wisdom to Help You Make the Most of Every Day” and “Hot Flashes 2″.

Her life moves between the big city in St. Louis in the Central West End to the family home place on the bluffs above the Mississippi River in Southwestern Illinois where she collaborates on creative projects with her 90-something father. Feel free to contact her by email at janet.riehl@gmail.com.

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Marie Davis – Your Career as a Cartoonist!

Victor Volkman — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:50:15 +0000

On April 1, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman interviewed veteran cartoonist and graphic artist Marie Davis on the nuts-and-bolts of this exciting creative visual endeavor. Marie is the creator of three comic strips which have run as long as 14 years in syndication: Kentucky Tales, She said…She said…, and Besos. We covered a wide range of topics in cartooning, including

Cartoons as educational tools
How to get started on cartooning
Building a portfolio and finding your creative voice
Non-traditional outlets for cartoon work: businesses, book illustrations, and more.
Coloring–how it works
Cartoon grammar–the 1 panel, 3 panel, and 6 panel strips
Finding a mentor

For seven consecutive years, Ms. Davis has won First Place in the Louisville Chapter SPJ Awards for her outstanding work in the fields of editorial cartoons and minority/women’s affairs reporting. Her commitment to Women’s History has led her to travel throughout the state of Kentucky uncovering the untold stories of women. These stories prompted her to create a traveling show entitled, Ten Great State Women, which kicked off at the state’s capitol in Frankfort with Governor Paul Patton leading the Opening Day festivities. The show then spent the rest of the year traveling throughout the Commonwealth, inviting all Kentuckians to learn more about the great wealth of women’s stories.

In 1994 her first strip, Kentucky Tales, began its fourteen year run as a newspaper-in-education program. It used humor and history to teach gender equity and multiculturalism to children in middle school. Now in its tenth year, Ms. Davis’ second strip, She said…She said…runs in Today’s Woman magazine. This cartoon’s topic deals with the struggles and accomplishments of women from the Kentucky and Southern Indiana area.

Her most current cartoon work is titled, Besos it is a multilingual lesbian cartoon strip published in five languages: Belarusian, Russian, French, Spanish and English. With her business partner and marketing genius Margaret Hults, her audio book and this cartoon strip are spreading around the world. As of June 2009, they are available in the GBLT communities of Russia, Belarus, France, Mexico, Australia and the United States. Presently, we are engaging the women of India and China and plan to have this cartoon strip translated into Mandarin by the end of this year..

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Walt Shiel – Print Book Design, Typesetting, and eBooks

Victor Volkman — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:10:03 +0000

On March 18th, 2010 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with veteran author and publisher Walt Shiel about some of the most confusing topics for the self-publishing newcomer: print book design, typesetting, indexing, and even eBook production. Walt’s publishing company, Slipdown Mountain, has published three novels, two military history titles, two other nonfiction titles, and one short story collection. It’s subsidiary Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers was spun off to meet the demand for assistance from self-publishers. Walt addressed some of these key points in today’s interview:

Book Design & Typesetting

• Is there any difference between designing a book and typesetting it?
• What are the key decisions a book designer must make?
• Isn’t typesetting just pouring the text into the typesetting software, adding some formatting, and letting the software work its magic?

E-Book Design

• Does design and/or typesetting matter at all in creating an e-book?
• Aren’t there software packages that can create e-books virtually automatically?
• Do readers even care if an e-book is well-designed as long as they get the content one way or another?

Indexing

• What is an index and how is it different from a concordance?
• Doesn’t the author know better than anyone else what should be indexed?
• What do you need to know to create a useful index?

Independent publisher Walt Shiel claims he is now into his fourth career, following career stints as an Air Force pilot, telecommunications engineer, and aerospace engineer on the B-2 bomber program at Northrop and the F-22, F-35, and F-16 pilot training programs at Lockheed Martin.Walt has been a freelance writer since 1992, with magazine articles published in the US, UK, and Australia. Currently, he writes the “Warbirds” column for Cessna Flyer magazine and the View From The Publishing Trenches blog. Walt has served on the Board of Directors of the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association for the past four years.Walt, his wife Kerrie, and his daughter Lisa founded Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC in 2003 in North Texas but relocated to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in 2004.

Since then, they have published three novels, two military history titles, two other nonfiction titles, and one short story collection.In 2007, they formed a subsidiary, Five Rainbows Services for Authors and Publishers to meet the demand for assistance from self-publishers. Converting print books to Kindle and ePub formats has become a major part of this business over the past year.

Walt has written two military history books (Cessna Warbirds and T-41 Mescalero), a Michigan historical novel (Devil in the North Woods), and a short story collection (Pilots and Normal People). He also edited a reprint of Flying for France by James R. McConnell. His new book — Rough War: An American Fighter Pilot’s WW II Journey to Burma and Back — is due out in mid-summer 2010.

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Successfully Sell Your Books at Conferences, Craft Shows, and Fairs

Victor Volkman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:50:37 +0000

On March 4th, 2010 Irene Watson moderated a roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman on how to successfully sell your books at conferences, craft shows, and regional, seasonal, and special interest fairs. Tyler specializes in working regional craft and seasonal fairs and has achieved some remarkably good results. Victor exhibits at professional conferences for social workers, psychologists, and mental health fairs. Together, they addressed the following issues:

Managing bathroom breaks
Dealing with “show management”
Supplies You May Want to Buy as an exhibitor: tables, tablecloths, acrylic book stands and signholders, posters, Director’s Chair, Tschokte items (pens, post-it notes, to give away),
The Fine Print: watch out for proof-of-insurance, mandatory carpet purchase, furniture rental, and more
Indoor vs. outdoor shows: foot traffic, weather, customers, pros and cons
How to lure people to your booth
Being prepared for any situation
Offering exclusive specials
Which shows work and which ones don’t
Determining whether you succeeded

Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press Inc. whose mission is “redefining what is possible for healing mind and spirit” and his press has produced more than 100 titles since its first book rolled off the press in 2004. He also manages the other imprints including Modern History Press which tells “empowering stories of conflict and the struggle for identity in modern times.” MHP features multicultural writers as well as those of veterans, and others who have had difficulty finding their place in the world. His latest venture is Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing which is a quarterly anthology of writings about abuse recovery, addiction, grief, trauma, and personal growth issues.
Tyler R. Tichelaar is the owner of Marquette Fiction which has produced five books of regional fiction spanning 150 years on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He is also the owner of Superior Book Promotions, a full-service editorial shop which provides proofreading, editing, and manuscript evaluation. Tyler has a PhD in literature and has taught at three universities.

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Spring 2010 Podcast Lineup announced

Victor Volkman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:41:40 +0000

Date	guest	Topic
April 1	Marie Davis	Career as a Cartoonist
April 15	Janet Reihl	DIY Audio Books
May 6	Jonathan Maxell	Arranging Public Appearances
May 20	James and Lynda O’Conner	Developing Comprehensive Campaigns to Sell Books
June 3	Kim McDougal	Creating Book Video Trailers

Ernest Dempsey – Earn Extra Income Freelance Writing for the Web

Victor Volkman — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:26:25 +0000

On February 19th, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with fulltime freelance writer, proofreader, and editor Ernest Dempsey. He shared encouraging information on how you can get started in the fun and profitable art of freelance writing. In addition to having written 4 books, he is now the editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing and also works as the country editor for Pakistan on the celebrated Internet news channel Instablogs.com. He shared with us on the following points:

Where are some places that I can go to look for freelance web writing?
Is it “ghost writing” or does sometimes my name get shown?
What about being a Foreign Correspondent for a news organization in another country?
How does getting paid work?
How do you manage personal time, schedules, and deadlines?
What types of writing projects are available: interviews, reviews, tutorials and how well does each pay relative to the others
How have you improved your knowledge of English by writing over time?
How does freelancing compare to a “regular job”? Do you get to travel more?

Ernest Recommends for finding gigs: Writer’s World

Karim Khan, pen named Ernest Dempsey, hails from Hangu, a small town in Pakistan. As a child, he enjoyed two things: The joyful company of his brother and Khan’s best friend, Shais; and making airy castles with lots of characters in his mind. At twelve, he started writing detective stories, horror, thrillers, and humor. He has a Masters degree in Geology and one in English Literature.He has authored four books including his latest The Blue Fairy and other Tales of Transcendence and, in just the last few years, seen the publication of his poems, essays, short stories, and literary reviews worldwide. Khan is now looking forward to completing his first novel.

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Jamie Saloff – Six Rules That Will Kickstart Your Book Website into Full Gear

Victor Volkman — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:03:09 +0000

On Feb 4th 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with web media and book publicist expert Jamie Saloff on common pitfalls of author/book websites and simple, easy, and inexpensive ways to get more conversions from your web hits into book sales. Jamie is the site owner for www.PolkaDotBanner.com – an author-helping-author website designed to help authors gain visibility for their books. She also maintains several other sites she built and designed, including the site for Pennwriters, a regional multi-genre writer’s organization, where she is the Web Committee Chair. In this wide-ranging discussion, some key talking points included:

What are the high real estate values and high productivity areas of your website?
How does art direct the eye and how can I use it to my advantage?
Why are color and “lighting” important?
How is reading a website different from reading a magazine or book?
How does my website reflect who I am and why it is important?
How to use multi-media and flash cost effectively?
What other things can I offer or talk about besides the book, the book, the book…?

On a daily basis, Rev. Jamie L. Sailoff utilizes many facets of creation and design as an: author, web designer, book design and publishing consultant, jewelry designer, and art enthusiast For over a decade, Jamie has been a book designer and DIY publishing consultant (www.PODBookDesigns.com) for countless author-publishers, particularly professionals who are navigating the waters of self-publishing for the first time..Jamie is the author of Transformational Healing: Five Surprisingly Simple Keys Designed to Redirect Your Life Toward Wellness, Purpose, and Prosperity. She has also authored two other books, including The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Cowan Pottery, which she co-authored with her husband, Tim. Her other book, The Publishing Center, was based on her years of work heading an all-volunteer elementary school writing center, which produced on average, 1000 student-written books per year.

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Dana Lynn Smith – Twitter, Tweeting, and Re-tweeting: Twitter Book Marketing

Victor Volkman — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:10:44 +0000

On January 22nd, 2010 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book marketing guru Dana Lynn Smith about exploiting the potential of Twitter for marketing your books. Dana Lynn Smith, owner of Texana Publishing Consultants, LLC, has 15 years of experience in publishing and 25 years of marketing experience. She specializes in developing marketing plans for nonfiction books and teaching authors how to promote their books online. She is the author of The Savvy Book Marketer Guides, a series of ebooks on book marketing topics. Talking points include:

How does Twitter work
Why do you think Twitter is a valuable tool for authors?
What common mistakes do you see authors making on Twitter?
Twitter profile for a minute – what suggestions can you offer?
Can you give us some tips for attracting followers on Twitter?
A lot of people who use Twitter wonder what they should be tweeting about. Can you give us some suggestions?
I know there are several different types of messages that can be sent on Twitter. Can you explain the difference between Replies, Mentions and Direct Messages?
How often should authors tweet?
How can Twitter work with FaceBook or MySpace?
How can I run a contest with Twitter?

Dana ‘s professional background includes:

Overseeing book production, marketing, fulfillment, and bottom-line profitability at Hoover’s Business Press, with distribution channels including direct sales, library sales, online bookstores, and retail bookstores.
Writing search engine optimization content for a group of travel web sites.
Managing and promoting conventions and tradeshows for the Texas Restaurant Association, Texas Hospital Association, and other associations.

She has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing, and is a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association and the Writers League of Texas. A fifth-generation Texan, Dana enjoys exploring Texas and the world, and she writes a Texas travel column for Examiner.com. She and her husband live on a small ranch near Austin, Texas, where they raise cattle and goats

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Podcasting for Authors – Roundtable with Alan E. Smith

Victor Volkman — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:49:35 +0000

On January 8th, 2010, we convened a roundtable discussion on Podcasting for Authors with Victor R. Volkman, Irene Watson, and Alan E. Smith. Each of the principals invited has been recording and distributing podcasts for several years through Authors Airwaves, Inside Scoop Live, and UnBreak Your Health, and podcast programs respectively. Our discussion ranged through a wide variety of subjects from production to promotion to book tie-ins and of course, getting started.1. How did you get into podcasting?
2. Is it hard to do, do I have to learn a lot of stuff?
3. Should I use blogtalkradio or do-it-myself?
4. How do I get guests, what do I talk about?
5. How do I promote the podcast?
6. What is RSS.XML and stuff like that
7. How can I tie my book into the podcast without making it an endless infomercial?
8. Can I integrate or interweave my book and podcast content?
9. How do I measure success?
10. What about audio quality? tips

Alan E. Smith

Victor Volkman specializes in the audio engineering aspects and has done audio editing for quality control on more than 200 podcasts, including all 102 podcasts of Authors Access. The chief problems that he works on involve noise reduction, balancing the levels, integrating background music and commercials, fixing speech problems, and maintaining quality and continuity. His audio editing suite is Goldwave Version 5.

Irene Watson is the owner of Reader Views, a full-service book marketing and publicity firm with a wide range of services from reviews to interviews to book editing and agenting. In 2005, she created Inside Scoop Live which has produced nearly 400 shows which is now primarily hosted by Juanita Watson. Inside Scoop Live is a global internet-based broadcast specializing in interviewing published authors about their current books and areas of expertise. Her preferred recording platform is Audio Acrobat dot com” Alan E. Smith is the author of Unbreak Your Health: The complete guide to complementary and alternative therapies. Alan has produced 55 podcasts since 2008 with a variety of guests from bestselling authors such as Bruce Lipton, PhD, who wrote “The Biology of Belief” which was a major influence of the infamous “What the Bleep” movie and also the creators, deans, and master teachers of many techniques such as Naturopathy, Chiropractic, Energy Medicine, Therapeutic Touch, and dozens of others.

Resources we mentioned on this show

Internet Stations to consider broadcasting on

AudioAcrobat.com
Blogtalkradio.com
InsideScoopLive.com
Global Talk Radio
BBS Radio
Achieve Radio
World Talk Radio
VoiceAmerica
HealthyLife.net

For publicizing your podcast show

Francine Silverman’s Talk Radio Wants You
Alex Carroll’s database of talk radio
Podcastdirectory.com
Podcast411.com
Podbean.com
Podseek.net
Dailyslice.com
Google’s podcast directory

Where to get great guests?

PitchRate.com
HARO (www.helpareporter.com)
RadioGuestList.com
www.mymediaconnections.ning.com

Listen to the PodCast!

Top 10 podcasts of 2009

Victor Volkman — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 20:03:27 +0000

Dear listeners, new and old,
As we ring in the New Year, we want to make sure you haven’t missed the best podcasts that Authors Access has presented, as voted by you: the people who listen to the show

Rank	Original Air Date	Guest	Subject
1	08-Aug-08	Jo Virgil	Getting Your Book into a National Book Store
2	21-Aug-08	Yvonne Perry	How to Become a Freelance Writer
3	04-Sep-08	Alice Acheson	Publicity for Pennies
4	15-Nov-07	Carolyn Howard Johnson	Frugal Book Promotion
5	16-Oct-08	Kevin Collier	Kevin Collier – Illustrating and Designing Children’s Books
6	11-Dec-08	Alexis Niki	Screenwriting 101
7	12-Nov-08	Ryan Johnson	POD Printing Books and Games
8	20-Nov-08	Suzanne Lieurance	Developing Your Passion of Writing as a Career
9	12-Nov-08	Edna Washington	Using QuickBooks with Publishers in Mind
10	04-Dec-08	Barbara Hudgins	Crafting Travel Guidebooks

Intensive critique classes online in fiction and memoir

Victor Volkman — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:50:47 +0000

Claiming and Polishing the Power of Our Stories: Intensive critique classes online in fiction and memoir. (10 weeks)

This is an advanced writers’ workshop open both to writers who have studied with me, or those who have not but are invited to participate after sending a 3-page sample of your work in fiction or memoir, and a paragraph describing the project you are working on, or aim to develop. The workshop focuses on your work-in-progress and the questions you pose about craft, which will be addressed specifically in relationship to your work. This intensive critique class will respond to each individual’s needs as they continue to develop and revise their work toward the completion of a memoir, novel, collection of short stories, or collection of memoiristic essays. Many of the fiction writers in the class may have an autobiographical connection to their work; this connection may be direct, or may be subtle, internal, roundabout, and not absolutely necessary or identifiable. This course means hard work, following your own strong impulses and directions, and receiving and giving helpful, extensive feedback. Participants in the group who have studied with me previously have shown themselves to be insightful and constructive in their responses, and I aim in my feedback to you to illuminate in large and in detailed ways the deeper subject matter, language and structure of your project. The course will begin in late January or early February, to be determined.

Fee: 325$ payable in full before the start of class. Please aachtenberg@gmail.com or 651-214-9248 before January 2, or after January 18. Remember, if you have not studied with me before, please email, within the body of your email and NOT as an attachment, a paragraph or one page project description, and a 3-page writing sample from your project.

***If you are looking for another kind of online workshop with regular lectures posted each week, I will continue to teach with writers.com — see http://www.writers.com/achtenberg.html#story for Claiming Our Stories… Parts One and Two.

Winter 2010 podcast lineup posted

Victor Volkman — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:37:48 +0000

The new Show Lineup is now fully scheduled through March 2010! Irene Watson, Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman invite you to join them each week as they explore the myriad issues involved in planning the production of your first book. If you would like to post a question in advance for any of the guest speakers, please contact us at info@authorsaccess.com Authors Access is where authors get published and published authors get successful.

Date	Guest	Topic Summary and Info
07-Jan-10	Alan E. Smith	Podcasting for Authors
21-Jan-10	Dana Smith	Twitter, Tweeting, and Re-tweeting: Twitter Book Marketing
04-Feb-10	Jamie Saloff	Six Rules That Will Kick-Start Your Book Website into Full Gear
18-Feb-10	Ernest Dempsey	Success as a Full-time Paid Blogger
04-Mar-10	Tyler R. Tichelaar Victor R. Volkman	Selling Books as an Exhibitor – Is it Worth It?
18-Mar-10	Walt Shiel	Cataloging, Indexing, Typesetting, and more… what does it mean?

Join us every Thursday night from 8PM to 9PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

For PODCASTS of past shows, please visit the PODCAST Archive

Debbie Herald – Writing & Publishing Erotic Romance Novels

Victor Volkman — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:05:48 +0000

On December 5th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman interviewed author and editor Debbie Herald on writing for the erotic romance marketplace. Debbie Herald is an author and Editor currently working for Lyrical Press. Her two most recent books are Perfect Game and Sweet Dreams, available from BookStrand paperback and on Amazon Kindle formats under the pseudonymn Jordana Ryan. Among questions which Debbie answered for us were

What makes a good erotic romance?

What is the difference between erotic romance and pornography?

pseudonymns

If a writer uses naughty words does that automatically make it erotic romance?

If you write erotic romance can you branch out to difference sub genres with success?

What makes erotic romance so highly successful in epublishing?

Is there a standard for how much sex should go into an erotic romance?

As an editor what do you like to see in a sex scene?

What pushes the boundaries if anything in erotic romance?

Debbie has enjoyed the written word since she was a child and takes a specific liking to Contemporary and Historical romance. Debbie enjoys working with authors to polish their work and see it through to publication. When not writing or editing she can often be found cooking, with her friends, or with her young child doing any number of things.

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Paul Krupin – Press Releases that Get Results

Victor Volkman — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:50:25 +0000

On November 19th, 2009 Victor R. Volkman and Irene Watson interviewed media release guru Paul Krupin about whether Press Releases are still revelant to marketing your books in 2009. Krupin is the author of numerous books about publicity, search engines, and other topics. His latest book Trash Proof News Releases is also available as a free eBook download. We covered a wide-range of talking points, including

So What Exactly Is A News Release?
Why Is This So Hard To Do? What Makes This So Special?
So What Exactly Do Media People Look For When They Receive A News Release?
So What Do You Need To Do To Write A News Release That Really Works & Truly Gets Media Attention?
How do you know when you’re ready?
What Specifically Should Authors Do To Create This Galvanizing Candy – This Magic Script .
What is the Magic Formula (DPAA+H)? (“Dramatic Personal Achievement in the face of Adversity, plus a little Humor”)
Which Are Better For Authors To Aim At – Book Reviews Or Feature Stories & Why?
How do you know when you achieve success with a news release?
So once you have a trash proof news release, what do you do with it

Paul J. Krupin is a former US government scientist and once-upon-a-time lawyer (best kind) would much rather be fishing on the Columbia River, which is less than a mile from where he lives in Eastern Washington State. He’s has hundreds and hundreds of publishing clients who range from NY Times best sellers (like Dan Brown, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Andy Andrews) to first timers and seasoned self publishers and small press publishers we know and talk with on all of the online discussion group lists.Favorite Quote – You reach happiness and success when you help the people you can help the most and get rich at the same time.

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Donna Kakonge – How to Turn Your Writing Career into Journalism

Victor Volkman — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:32:13 +0000

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 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.

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Kate Harper – Getting Into the Greeting Card Market

Victor Volkman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:18:41 +0000

On October 15th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with greeting card and gift industry maven Kate Harper. Kate Harper started her line of humorous greeting card from a hobby of making greeting cards for friends as gifts. Over the next 15 years, Kate’s turned her hobby into a business, manufacturing and shipping cards to over 2,000 stores, including Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods Markets and the Papyrus chain. She informed us on key areas of getting started as a writer or self-publisher of greeting cards, including:

Card terends: research, seasonal cards, occasional cards, and publishers
What subject areas and categories to focus on, how to stay organized
Test marketing your cards and card verse.
Seven most common mistake card writers will make
Why competition in the card business is vastly over-estimated

Two years ago, she transitioned out of manufacturing and into licensing, where she now designs cards for Recycled Paper Greetings (a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation) and gift items for seven other companies.

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Authors Afterburner – New FTC reviewer’s guidelines for bloggers explained

Victor Volkman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:25:52 +0000

Authors Afterburner is the post-game show where we get to talk about whatever’s on our minds. Please note dear listener that this is not the regular Authors Access show and we don’t promise anything much except to present our news and views of interest to authors and publishers. So let’s light the afterburners and see what’s on our minds tonight….

Irene and Victor consider the firestorm surrounding the new FTC guidelines about bloggers and product reviews. Irene cuts through the hype to deliver a thoughtful consideration about what it all means.

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Paul Muckley – Writing and Publishing Christian Based Books

Victor Volkman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:37:50 +0000

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

What exactly is a “Christian audience”? How narrow—or broad—is that category?
What really is a “Christian book”? What does a “Christian book” include, or exclude?
How does Christian fiction differ from secular fiction? What is included or excluded from a specifically “Christian” novel?
How does one’s Christian faith “come through” in a manuscript? What should—and shouldn’t—be done in assembling a manuscript?
How can an author know whether his or her idea fits a particular Christian publisher’s niche?
What does a publisher want to see in a book proposal? What helps—or hurts—a prospective author’s submission?

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.

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Authors Afterburner – Why You Should Never Pitch the Media

Victor Volkman — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:53:20 +0000

Tyler and Victor consider whether the conventional press release is dead in the era of New Media and if so what to do about it. This discussion was inspired by the latest issue of Book Marketing Expert Newsletter.

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Moira Allen – Writing For & Reaching the International Market

Victor Volkman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:31:16 +0000

On September 21st, 2009 Tyler R. Tichelaar and Irene Watson spoke with international freelancer and editor Moira Allen. Allen is the host and editor of Writing-World.com, one of the world’s most popular websites for writers. She helped us understand key points that freelancer must know to enter this lucrative market, including:

Why target international markets?
Where do you locate international markets?
What do you need to consider when targeting an international market?
What about format and language issues?
How do you contact/pitch to an international market?
What are the rights issues you need to keep in mind?
How do you get paid?
What are some pitfalls of the international marketplace?

Moira Allen has been writing professionally for more than 30 years, and is the author of several books on writing, including Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer and The Writer’s Guide to Queries, Pitches and Proposals, both from Allworth Press. Moira has been dealing with international writers and markets for many years, and was the editor of Global Writers Ink, a newsletter geared toward the international writer.

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Meet the new face of publishing!

Victor Volkman — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:59:01 +0000

HarperStudio: First Full Show

They’ve been busy in the atelier on 53rd Street.

HarperStudio has released its initial titles, starting in late April, and is now in its first full season, with 12 books coming out between August and December. The HarperCollins division also has acquired more than 50 books that will appear over the next two to three years.

Most important, the division is conducting business in a way president and publisher Bob Miller envisioned for HarperStudio. It’s offering books nonreturnable, signing up authors for relatively low advances and splitting profits, expanding books technologically (for example, adding sophisticated video segments to e-books), and constantly experimenting with creative ways of marketing and publishing titles, in many cases using online communities, blogs, vlogs and social media like Facebook and Twitter in new ways. (See following story.)

Working with authors has been as Miller hoped, saying, “It’s a collaborative process from the beginning.” Many upcoming titles are by well-known people like Tom Peters, Michael Eisner, Erica Jong and Brad Meltzer who have “pet projects that might not fit their previous titles.” Miller is proud of how these titles developed, saying, “These books are generated from ideas rather than bidding the most at auction.”

On the sales side, most major bookselling accounts are buying nonreturnable, but “only some” independents are on board. Miller said, “I understand it’s a tentative time in the economy to ask people to make changes in how they do business, but because indies historically have lower return rates, they can be rewarded if they buy nonreturnable.” Oddly big box stores, which buy most of their inventory nonreturnable, have not signed up to buy books nonreturnable.

Of the first titles that have appeared, Who Is Mark Twain?, HarperStudio’s debut book that contained unpublished short pieces by Mark Twain, and Emeril at the Grill by chef Emeril Lagasse “did really well,” Miller said. “And we’re really proud of Burn This Book,” the collection of essays about censorship published with the PEN American Center that was edited by Toni Morrison.

Miller continues to see the HarperStudio as an alternative to traditional ways of publishing at the big New York houses. As people debate the publishing model, Miller again said he would propose the HarperStudio approach for consideration: “We contribute everything we can and the authors contribute everything they can, and we split the profits while we at HarperStudio take the risk.”

Get Google Book Search on YOUR website and/or blog

Victor Volkman — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:22:51 +0000

As a Google Print Partner, Loving Healing Press submits all of our books to Google Book Search. This means that keywords in your book itself are searched along with websites as possible search returns from Google. Another benefit is that you can insert a “widget” on to your web page that allows people browsing your site (or blog) to browse your book too. What in the world am I talking about?
Here’s an example http://www.recoveringself.com/journal-info/browse-recovering-the-self-vol-i-no-1-on-google-book-search Easy steps (if you’re already a Google Print Partner or your publisher is a participating Google Print Partner). If not… you need to sign up here.

1. Find your book on http://books.google.com/
2. Click on the “Link” link on the far right (look for the chain icon)”
3. Choose “Embed” from the pulldown menu and copy the text to the windows clipboard () or Mac Clipboard
4. Edit your blog posting or web page (in HTML mode) and paste in the clipboard text
5. You’re done!

Technorati.com: What EVERY blogger must do

Victor Volkman — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:59:43 +0000

www.Technorati.com is the authoritative source of information on Blogs, think of it as the Yahoo or Google of the blog world. Yes, it’s that important. Everyone with a blog should sign up for a free Technorati account and “claim” their blog. This involves simply pasting a cookie in your blog one time to proove that you are indeed the person who is posting the posts. Then you get to add a description of your blog, understanding your rankings, and see what other people are writing about your blog ( example: http://technorati.com/blogs/authorsaccess.com?reactions )

You also get a cool widget you can add to your website or blog showing your most recent posts and demonstrating your “authority”.
You also can add keywords to your blog for your most common themes so new people can find your blog.

1) Technorati State of the Blogosphere Survey

Over the years, Technorati has been tracking the State of the Blogosphere. Our annual study investigates how blogging is growing and changing, as well as its impacts on current events and the bottom lines of businesses and bloggers. Please share your perspective by participating in our survey.

We think you’ll find the survey interesting. It should take just 15 minutes of your time, and of course your answers will be completely confidential. Please feel free to send this link to other bloggers you know. And be sure to check back on Technorati in October for a summary of the results.

2) Become a Technorati Writer

Technorati is entering into the next phase of our evolution: original content. Beginning in October, Technorati will feature original content on the site written by bloggers just like you! This is an amazing opportunity to give your writing vast exposure, become known as an expert in your field/s of interest, and to join a vibrant writer community.

Get in on the ground floor by signing up via the Technorati Contact Page. Select the “New: Technorati Writer Signup” option from the “Message Type” drop-down box. You will receive information and writing instructions as we get closer to launch date. We very much look forward to working with you!

Deborah Reynolds – Creating Great Impressions

Victor Volkman — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:02:40 +0000

On September 3rd, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with image consultant and business coach Deborah Reynolds. She is the author of Getting You Noticed Known and Remembered: Building Your Business Image From the Inside Out, which will be released in 2009. Deborah specializes in working with entrepreneurs and executives, helping to redefine, repair, create and build the image and reputation of individuals and companies, giving them a competitive edge in the marketplace so they will be Noticed, Known, and Remembered. Deborah informed us on key aspects of how your personal integrity and presentation can drive your success in

Stage Presence when an author is speaking
Television appearances
Networking Events
Seminars
Language used when speaking
Connecting with the audience

Deborah Reynolds worked for fifteen years in law enforcement before taking an “about face”. Her service with the Correctional Service of Canada included “life on the installment plan” working in an “all male” federal prison. Her reputation with international law enforcement personnel was gained as a tenacious Immigration Investigator. The highlights of her law enforcement career were the capture of one of “America’s Most Wanted” and the “Second Most Wanted in Germany”. Deborah brings the same passion and drive to her business and is a sought after International Motivational Speaker, Business Consultant and Image Expert on such topics as leadership, change management, values and character, and team communication and performance strategies. She says, “It’s important to create a good first impression, but it’s essential to create a great lasting impression.” www.AboutFaceImage.com

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Irene Watson – Target Marketing for NonFiction Writers: Why Some People Won’t Read Your Book

Victor Volkman — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:43:35 +0000

On August 28th, 2009, Alan E. Smith, author of the award-winning “UnBreak Your Health: The Complete Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine” spoke with book marketing guru Irene Watson on the importance of considering target reader personas in the book writing process. Irene is the owner of Reader Views, a full-service book reviewing and marketing agency in Austin, TX. Irene’s psychology background and constant study gives her the ability to understand people and how they think, live, and for today’s interview, how they read. Some of the things we considered:

Importance of knowing your target market before writing your book
Understanding reading preferences, temperments and personalities of potential readers
Creating a profile of the potential readers/target market
Fully understanding why some readers like your book and others don’t.

Irene’s career took her from career counseling, to business ownership, to working for a police force, to psychosynthesis counseling, to teaching at a college, to retreat/seminar/workshop design and facilitation to her most recent – owning/managing Reader Views and its branches. She obtained her B.S. in psychology at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX and her M. A. in psychology from Regis University in Denver, CO.After retiring in 2003 Irene authored an award winning memoir, The Sitting Swing, which was originally published in 2005. Having a hard time getting reviews for her book, she started Reader Views on a whim. Within a month it exploded to a full time business. So much for retirement! Since then she has pioneered many other innovative marketing sites including Inside Scoop Live, ReviewThe Book, BloggingAuthors, and many other services from press release writing to book videos to an international award contest now entering its 4th year.

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Irene Watson – Target Marketing for Fiction Writers: Why Some People Won’t Read Your Book

Victor Volkman — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:56:41 +0000

On August 20th, 2009, Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book marketing guru Irene Watson on the importance of considering target reader personas in the book writing process. Irene is the owner of Reader Views, a full-service book reviewing and marketing agency in Austin, TX. Irene’s psychology background and constant study gives her the ability to understand people and how they think, live, and for today’s interview, how they read. Some of the things we considered:

Importance of knowing your target market before writing your book
Understanding reading preferences, temperments and personalities of potential readers
Creating a profile of the potential readers/target market
Fully understanding why some readers like your book and others don’t.

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Patricka Vaughn – How to Write Your Own Story

Victor Volkman — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:44:47 +0000

On August 6th, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with writing and publishing guru Patricka Vaughn about how to get started in your memoir/autobiography or biography of a loved one. Patrika Vaughn, world’s leading Author’s Advocate, is the CEO of A Cappela Publishing. She has taught memoir writing from Florida to Finland and is here to tell you how to do it. She addressed many key issues including

Why should you write your life story?
What do you need before you begin?
What are the forms a life story can take?
How do you get started?
How do you make your story interesting to others?
How do you turn your story into a book?

Spanning a 25-year career as a writer, editor, publisher, lecturer, author and literary agent, Patrika Vaughn understands the written word and how to market it. She is also armed with an arsenal of tools to propel the works of aspiring writers quickly through today’s prohibitive publishing arena and into the hands of readers. Her 25 years of experience include every aspect of the trade:

Professional Writer: Columnist and feature writer. Articles published in more than 100 national journals and magazines. Author of books, audio books and ebooks. (see www.acappela.com)
Ghostwriter: Books of both fact and fiction for industrialists, psychiatrists and psychotherapists, world travelers and international executives
Editor: Editor for national trade and consumer publications
Publisher: President of A Cappela Publishing
Literary Agent: Placed writers with Prentice-Hall (Simon & Schuster), McGraw Hill Publications, Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, Cahners Publications, Conover Mast Publications, Advisory Enterprises, Inc., Larkin Publications and others.
Public Relations & Marketing Consultant: To business, industry and non-profit corporations; former media coordinator for Habitat for Humanity in San Diego / Tijuana
Lecturer, Seminar leader, On-line instructor: Adult education plus university and community college level presentations.

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Fall 2009 Podcast Lineup Announced

Victor Volkman — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:08:47 +0000

We are pleased to announce the Fall 2009 Podcast Lineup with an assortment of industry publishing and marketing experts for your delectation! Be sure to subscribe with the iTunes or PODCAST links at the bottom of this post.

03-Sep-09	Deborah Reynolds	Creating First Impressions	TBA
17-Sep-09	Maria Allan	Writing For & Reaching the International Market	TBA
01-Oct-09	Paul Muckley	Writing and Publishing Christian Based Books	TBA
15-Oct-09	Kate Harper	Getting Into the Greeting Card Market	TBA
05-Nov-09	Janet Riehl	DIY Audio Books	TBA
19-Nov-09	Paul Krupin	Are Press Releases an Effective Way to Market?	TBA
03-Dec-09	Deborah Heard	Writing & Publishing Erotic Romance Novels	TBA

Cheryl Pickett – Unlimited Publishing Possibilities

Victor Volkman — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:21:47 +0000

On July 23rd, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with book coach, professional freelancer, and author Cheryl Pickett. Her first book Publishing Possibilities: 8 Steps to Understanding Your Options & Choosing the Best Path for Your Book (2009) is specifically designed to help other writers navigate the publishing industry. She educated us about the three major models in her system: traditional, independent, and fee-based/POD/pay to publish. Her approach is goal-directed in narrowing the possibilities to the solution that best fits your publishing needs. We also covered how and when to use an Agent, the importance of establishing a platform, and how your personal style is reflected in which route to publish.

Cheryl Pickett has been writing professionally for almost a decade. She got her start as a freelance writer in 1999 just before the turn of the new millennium. She has well over 120 articles to her credit which have appeared both on and offline in newspapers, ezines a trade magazine and more.A few years ago, she decided she wanted to take her writing in other directions and ultimately combined her life-long love of books with her research and reporting skills. Her personalized, step-by-step approach is unique and empowers new and would-be authors to make solid decisions throughout their publishing journey. You can find out more about Cheryl and Publishing Possibilities by visiting her site PublishingAnswers.com. or her blog publishinganswers.blogspot.com

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Dan Oja: Digital Publishing / Beyond the Printed Page

Victor Volkman — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:11:04 +0000

On July 9th, 2009 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar spoke with digital book guru Dan Oja on how digital and print media are converging. Dan is owner of Media Technics Corporation and has produced more than 200 college computer textbooks and is the author of a non-fiction World War II book titled Ordinary Heroes: Six Stars in the Window. He has developed a multimedia book authoring system called BookOn which augments PDF documents with video and other interactive hooks. Dan spoke with us about how he developed his proprietary system and what he sees for the future of digital publishing beyond the current PDF and Kindle paradigms.

Dan Oja was born in Ishpeming, Michigan and attended Ishpeming High School and Northern Michigan University. He has been working with computers since the early days of personal computers, back to the days of CP/M and the Apple II. Dan has written numerous computer programs including the BookOn digital publishing system. Dan currently lives in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands with his wife and co-author, June Parsons.

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Tweed Scott – Turn Your Book into a Speaking Career & Sell Your Book at the Back of the Room

Victor Volkman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:42:22 +0000

On June 21st, 2009 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with professional speaker, humorist, and author Tweed Scott about how to profitably combine speaking and sales events. Tweed is an award winning speaker and the author of the 3-time national award-winning book, Texas In Her Own Words. He has sold nearly 5,000 copies of his book almost exclusively by hand selling in the back of the room after one of his presentations. He’s here to share with you how he does it and how you can do it too. Tweed shared about what went into developing his marketing plan that led to the back of the room sales and a speaking career. Key points include

A system for selling in the back of the room
Three ideas that will lead to moving more products in the back of the room
How this approach changes your business model
How to promote and grow your speaking business

Tweed Scott is the owner of Tejas Communications, a writing and public speaking company. His book is sold at some remarkable places including the Alamo, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, both of the State capitol building gift shops, San Jacinto Monument & Battleground, the Sam Houston Statue & Park in Huntsville and even at the general store in Luckenbach.He is also the president of the board of the Writers’ League of Texas. He speaks statewide about Texas and the Texan character. Tweed loves spreading what he calls the ‘Gospel of Texas.’ He speaks nationally on Attitude, Leadership and Change.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson: The First Great Impression (Book Proposals)

Victor Volkman — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:28:23 +0000

On June 4th, 2009, Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman interviewed book development and marketing guru Carolyn Howard-Johnson on the fine art of book proposal writing and why it matters. Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a poet, fiction writer and is author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers as well as The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need to Know About Selling Your Book in Twenty Minutes or Less, an Amazon Short which she calls her “49 cent wonder.” We talked about the “A” to “Z” of book proposals and how to make your unique voice shine through, we also covered other aspects including:

What made you write The Great First Impression Book Proposal
What makes this how to on book proposals different from most–other than it’s being only 49 cents?
What is the most important part of a book proposal?
What about query letters? How are they similar to proposals and different?
Why did you choose to use the Amazon Short format for The Great First Impression Book Proposal

Carolyn Howard-Johnson speaks on Utah’s culture, tolerance and book promotion and editing and has appeared on TV and hundreds of radio stations nationwide. She is an instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program and her how-to book, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won’t was named USA Book News’ “Best Professional Book 2004.” and the Irwin Award. Her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success also won a nod from USA Book News and won Readers’ Views Literary Award. Her marketing campaign for that book won the marketing award from New Generation Indie Book Awards.Carolyn loves to travel and has studied at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Hertzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague. She admits to carrying a pen and journal with her wherever she goes. Her website is: http://www.howtodoitfrugally.comT

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An invaluable guide to the often confusing world of publishing

Victor Volkman — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:48:26 +0000

Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers
Edited By: Irene Watson, Tyler R. Tichelaar, Victor R. Volkman
Publisher: Modern History Press
Publication Date: November 2008
ISBN: 978-1932690989
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: June 2009

Authors Access is an internet radio show that is broadcast live every Thursday on Internet Voices Radio. Begun in 2006, it is the brainchild of publishing entrepreneurs Irene Watson, Tyler R. Tichelaar, and Victor R. Volkman and features industry experts offering advice on all aspects of the publishing world for both first time and seasoned authors and publishers. Now, some of the best of those interviews are available in one easy to read book, Authors Access: 30 Success Secrets for Authors and Publishers.

Authors Access is arranged in nine easy to read chapters, organized to follow a book’s progress from inception to publishing and marketing. Opening with a chapter on “The Craft of Writing,” the book next delves into “Genre Writing,” followed by writing “Children’s Books.” Other chapters cover editing, book design, building buzz, marketing, and using technology to sell books. In essence, Authors Access covers all the areas that need to be addressed to successfully produce and promote a book.

Within each chapter are several articles, extracted from the internet radio show, addressing that chapter’s topic. At the end of each chapter is a brief biography on the author as well as a small chart that lists the original podcast airdate, its URL, as well as the author’s website(s).

There are innumerable books on the market offering advice to authors and publishers. What makes Authors Access rise above the crowd is that instead of giving vague suggestions on what to do, the book presents specific advice and examples. In the writing sections, examples of poor sentence structure are presented, as well as suggestions to fix the problems so that those sentences grab the reader. In the editing section, the author carefully explains the editing process, what an editor will do, how a “dispassionate eye” is needed to pick up mistakes such as “the balance between action, description and dialogue; giving each character a unique voice; and using concrete, vivid, sensory language to show emotion rather than telling the reader from the outside.”

Interested in garnering more reviews for your book? There is an excellent article on “Building Buzz with Book Reviews” that discusses all aspects of the review process. Wonder why your book didn’t get any reviews? This article will tell you what might have been missing from your submission packet. It also discusses how to get a review, recognize scam reviewers, and something many authors forget – what to do after you get a review.

Perhaps one of the most interesting sections of Authors Access is the segment on marketing. With so many books being published each year, you must get your title seen and these articles will tell you how. There’s an article listing 21 mistakes to avoid when promoting your book; an in-depth discussion of selling your book online, as well as how to use social media and Web 2.0 to get your book into the hands of buyers.

Quill says: An invaluable guide to the often confusion world of publishing.