Janet Grace Riehl – Do-it-Yourself Audiobook Production

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Victor Volkman
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

  1. Creative;
  2. technical (editing, mastering, disc numbering);
  3. legal (licenses and copyrights);
  4. production;
  5. distribution and marketing; and,
  6. Big Celebration.

Resources mentioned on this podcast
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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Posted in audiobooks, Memoir, Poetry | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Marie Davis – Your Career as a Cartoonist!

Posted on April 3, 2010 by Victor Volkman
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

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Victor Volkman
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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Posted in Book Development, eBooks, Self-Publishing | Leave a comment

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

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Victor Volkman
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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Posted in Events, Tyler Tichelaar, Victor Volkman | Leave a comment

Spring 2010 Podcast Lineup announced

Posted on February 24, 2010 by Victor Volkman
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  
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment