Category Archives: Genres

Every genre has its stated and unstated rules whether it is a Mystery, Romance, Western, Sci-Fi, or Techno-thriller. Learn the mastery of the rules and marketing to people who want to read what you write in this ongoing series of guest experts.

Kevin Collier – Illustrating and Designing Children’s Books

On October 16th, 2008 Tyler Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman spoke with award-winning children’s book illustrator and author Kevin Colllier. He educated us on key areas of unique factors in designing and illustrating children’s books, including: how do authors and illustrators find eachother, avoiding a creative tug-of-war with your artist, the importance of chemistry between author and illustrator, project management pitfalls, and how to choose the right number of illustrations for your book.
Kevin Collier is the author and/or illustrator of about 100 books to date (some pending publication). A book he illustrated won the New York Book Festival. Another was reviewed favorably by the New York Times, which only reviews a handful of the tens of thousands of books they receive. As a favor for a minister’s wife, Kevin did some quick illustrations for a poem called Topsy Turvy Land. He never imagined that that she would send those sketchy drawings, done in three days, to a publisher. That book was voted one of the top 50 children’s books of all time by World Magazine in 2006. He is also a critically acclaimed author. His first chapter book, barthpenn at heaven.org, was called “a masterpiece of communication,” and received the Craig’s Choice Award for children’s fiction. His second chapter book, Esther’s
Channel
, received 5 stars on Amazon.com. Literary professionals have said that Kevin is the “next C.S. Lewis,” and that his “writing will set the standard for children’s literature for generations to come.”
Kevin also stars in an upcoming show called “Drawing for KICKS,” which will be broadcast nationally, and possibly internationally, on Christian television stations. An offshoot of internationally broadcast show “KICKS Club,” “Drawing for KICKS” features Kevin, his son, Jarod, and some of Jarod’s classmates. Part reality show, part art class, and all fun, “Drawing for KICKS” is shot primarily in Grand Haven, MI.

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Alice B. Acheson – Publicity for Pennies

On September 4th, 2008 Tyler Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman  spoke with publicist and industry veteran Alice B. Acheson about marketing on the cheap. Alice has been an independent marketing and publishing specialist working with large and small publishers since 1981.
Alice answered some tough questions including, Is there really any publicity that costs pennies? How do I get started with publicity plans? What are some publicity ideas that truly cost nothing? How can I find organizations interested in hearing me speak? What about awards, postcards, bookmarks, tradeshows, and mailings?
Alice B. Acheson
Alice has worked as both editor and publicist, negotiating book contracts, and selling subsidiary rights. Four recipients of her publicity prowess have appeared simultaneously on the The New York Times bestseller list.She is particularly proud of her efforts for OLD TURTLE by Doug Wood, the author’s first book from a publisher who had never published a children’s book and never nationally marketed any of their books. It won the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year and sold 800,000 copies prior to its sale to Scholastic. For her efforts Alice was given the Literary Market Place Outside Services Award for Advertising, Promotion, and Publicity.

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Yvonne Perry – How to Become A Freelance Writer

On August 21st, 2008, Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with Yvonne Perry of Writers In The Sky about the subject of freelance writing and how to get started in this rewarding field. She and her team provide ghostwriting and editing companies and individuals. With her wide variety of writing experience that includes résumé writing, personal and professional bios, high-quality press releases and articles, as well as business documents such as case studies. Yvonne shared with us many insights as an entrepreneur and owner of a small
business that does a variety of freelance writing assignments.  Specifically, how to get started as a freelancer, the most common challenges you will face, typical misconceptions about the process, writing successful query letters, and how to be a ghost writer.
Yvonne Perry
Yvonne is also the author of eleven children’s eBooks, a humorous book titled Email Episodes, which is about mid-life crisis, a paperback book titled More Than Meets the Eye: True Stories about Death, Dying and Afterlife, which provides comfort to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one; and Right to Recover Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America.She is the host of the Writers in the Sky Podcast a weekly show about the craft and business of writing in which she interviews guest authors, publishers, and book marketing experts about writing, book publishing, marketing, and a variety of topics to assist freelance writers.  

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Jim and Linda Salisbury – Smart Self-Publishing Ideas

On Thursday, July 17th 2008 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar spoke with Jim and Linda Salisbury of Tabby House press about smart self-publishing ideas: tips and techniques for becoming successful without spending a ton of money. We covered essential knowledge for self-publishers and a lot of specifics about Children’s Books, a particular area of expertise for Tabby House.  Specifically, how to make your book conform to industry standards (and hence be sell-able), how to understand your market, effective no-cost and low-cost marketing and promotion techniques, and making money outside of the bookstore arena.
Jim and Linda are authors of “Smart Self-Publishing: An author’s guide to producing a marketable book” now in its third edition. The book has been mentioned in both Newsweek and BottomLine Personal.  Listen up to this podcast and find out how to get a FREE copy of this $16.95 book for just the nominal charge of $6.00.Jim is the publisher at Tabby House now based in Central Virginia, and was president of the Florida Publishers Association for many years. He and Linda offer self-publishing seminars in libraries, bookstores and for writers’ groups. They are members of FPA, Publishers Association of the South, and Independent Book Publishers Association (formerly Publishers Marketing Association).Linda is the author of the juvenile fiction Bailey Fish Adventure series, which has won four national honors. The sixth book in the series will be out this fall, and she has another environmentally orien
ted children’s book to be released soon. She is a former journalist and a free-lance writer.

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Victor J. Banis – Writing and publishing gay and lesbian themed books

On Thursday, March 6th, 2008 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with pioneering gay author Victor J. Banis. In his 40+ year writing career, he has learned a lot and shared with us writing techniques for audiences and how they differ between gay and straight fiction, how the writing market has changed in the past decades, advice for new writers, and amazing stories from a life in print in every genre imaginable. Victor J. Banis
Victor J. Banis is the critically acclaimed author of more than 150 published books and numerous shorter pieces, both gay and straight oriented, in almost every genre – fiction and non fiction, humor, mystery, romance, fantasy, sci-fi and even, recently, a cookbook. Life & Other Passing Moments

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