Deltina Hay – Using Social Media to Promote Your Book

On September 27th, 2007 Victor R. Volkman and Irene Watson spoke with social media developer and expert Deltina Hay. She is the owner of Dalton Publishing, an up-and-coming literary press out of Austin, Texas. Deltina shared with us the new elements that make up Web 2.0 and how to use them: RSS feeds, blog aggregators, Wikis, and social media press rooms just to name a few. We also talked about which technology is most appropriate to your target audience and the strengths and weaknesses of major social media sites, including book/author themed sites such as Shelfari and Book Movement
Deltina Hay has also been programming and doing Web development in one form or another for over 25 years. Her love of publishing and media, coupled with her passion for open source programming led her naturally to Web 2.0 and social media consulting. She is the founder of SocialMediaPower.com, a social media and Web 2.0 consulting firm, specializing in helping authors and small publishers succeed in the new, “live” Web.

Listen to the PodCast! Click here for RSS feed!

PupuPlayer PRO

Sign up for our Email Newsletter




Posted in Guests, Marketing | Leave a comment

Anya Achtenberg – Writing for Social change

On Thursday, Sept 20th, 2007 Tyler Tichelaar spoke with writer and advocate Anya Achtenberg about how to write with an eye for expressing the need for social change. Anya teaches Writing for Social Change: Re-Dream a Just World, a workshop for both new and experienced writers of poetry and prose, fiction and nonfiction to learn effective techniques for presenting social and political viewpoints. She shared with us her philosophy and practice of how to reframe our ideas about writing. Specifically how to write about what moves us from a standpoint that educates and argues for justice without becoming a screed or manifesto. Recognizing who you are and how what you have to say makes a difference in the world
Anya Achtenberg, an award-winning fiction writer as well as poet, has seen her recently completed novel, More Than the Wind, excerpted in Harvard Review, and her novella The Stories of Devil-Girl released on CD. Her second book of poetry, The Stone of Language, was published in 2004 by West End Press (Albuquerque) after being finalist in 5 poetry competitions. Her stories have received awards from Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope: All-Story, New Letters, the Asheville Fiction Writers Workshop, the Raymond Carver Story Contest, and others. Her first book of poetry, I Know What the Small Girl Knew, was published by Holy Cow! Press (MN). She is at work on a novel centering in the experience of a Cambodian woman born of an African American father at the moment the bombing of Cambodia by U.S. forces began.

She has taught creative writing widely, including at New York University, School of Visual Arts in NY, Springfield College Boston, Hamline University, the University of Minnesota’s Split Rock Arts Program, the University of New Mexico’s Honors Program, and their summer conference in Taos; for organizations such as The International Women’s Writing Guild—at their yearly conference at Skidmore, at Scandinavia House in Manhattan, at Eleanor Roosevelt’s Cottage in Hyde Park, NY, and at the Santa Fe Women’s Club; at the Center for Contemporary Arts and for Word Harvest in Santa Fe; The Leaven Center—for the bringing together of the political and the spiritual, in Michigan; The Loft in Minnesota; and with drop-out youth, working adults, and through residencies in Minnesota and New York City public schools. She spent years writing curriculum for young people in and out of the public schools.

Listen to the PodCast! Click here for RSS feed!

PupuPlayer PRO

Sign up for our Email Newsletter




Posted in Book Development | Leave a comment

Bob Rich – Working with an Editor

On Thursday, Sept 13th, 2007 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar spoke with Bob Rich, a writer, editor, and psychologist living in Wombat Hollow, Australia. In addition to writing, He has been a professional editor since 1999, working his way through two books in a typical week. He has worked on everything from abstruse Ph.D. theses and graduate textbooks to children’s picture books, and all genres of fiction. Bob spoke to several key issues of editing including:

  • Why use an editor? Can’t I get my own work right?
  • Surely, if the content is good enough, it doesn’t matter if it is a bit rough in presentation?
  • Won’t the publisher have my book edited after acceptance? So why should I bother with all that grammar and spelling stuff?
  • Are there different kinds of editing? What are they?
  • Do you need specialized knowledge to be able to edit a non-fiction work?
  • Do you need to like a book in order to do a good job editing it?
  • How does editing differ from criticism?
  • What are the kinds of things you look for in a book?
  • How may my book be improved by having it edited by someone like you?
  • Bob’s services are used by several independent publishers, including Loving Healing Press. However, most of his work is from writers wanting to polish their work before submitting to an agent or publisher (or self-publishing), and comes to him through recommendation from happy clients. He does both line editing and content editing. What I like best is how he applies his deep knowledge and study of human psychology to each editing project.

    Bob is the author of more than a dozen books on a wide range of topics including the “Earth Garden Building Book: Design and build your own house”, now in its 4th edition, “Woodworking for Idiots Like Me”, Cancer: A Personal Challenge, and many others. Four of them have won international awards.

    Listen to the PodCast! Click here for RSS feed!

    PupuPlayer PRO

    Sign up for our Email Newsletter




    Posted in Book Development, Guests | Leave a comment

    Sylvia Hubbard – Romancing the Book: writing and marketing the Romance Genre

    On Thursday, September 6th, 2007 Victor R. Volkman and Tyler Tichelaar spoke with Syvia Hubbard. She has independently published 4 paperback books and over 10 e-books. Her foundation genre has always been romance, but she has ventured into suspense, erotic, mystery, paranormal and inter-racial. Sylvia shared with us essential aspects of the romance genre, marketing techniques for romance writers, and how to build a following of readers outside the bookstore. Sylvia Hubbard
    Always urban and contemporary styled, her writing is enjoyed all over the world by all nationalities. In the upcoming year, she will be featured in several anthologies & will be publishing another paperback and 4 more e-books. She has a degree in Marketing/Management and minored in journalism, broadcasting (Specs Howard), drama, html programming, teaching assistant, customer service specialist, and commercial art.

    Listen to the PodCast! Click here for RSS feed!

    PupuPlayer PRO

    Sign up for our Email Newsletter

    Posted in Genres, Guests, Marketing, Romance | 1 Comment

    Greg Daniel – How to Get Noticed by an Agent or Publisher

    On August 30th, 2007 Irene Watson and Victor R. Volkman spoke with publishing agent Greg Daniel. Greg formed his own company this year after more than ten years in publishing, six of which were at the executive level at Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publisher in the world. Most recently Greg was Vice President and Associate Publisher for W Publishing Group (formerly Word Publishing), a trade book division of Thomas Nelson. He shared with us key questions a new author has to answer:

  • When do you need an agent and when can you go-it-alone?
  • how do you narrow the field of agents and/or publishers?
  • how can you approach an agent in the way that will produce the best results?
  • How can I come up with a sellable book idea?
  • What is a platform and is it really all that important?
  • Greg Daniel
    Throughout his publishing career, Greg has had the honor of working with in the past such critically acclaimed authors as Brian McLaren, Max Lukado, Phyllis Tickle, Mark Buchanan, Oz Guinness, and Ken Gire. Greg has also been involved with publishing books by a number of celebrity personalities, including Bono, George Foreman, syndicated radio hosts Rick and Bubba, and “Black Hawk Down” hero Captain Jeff Struecker.Greg has been responsible for such notable books as the ECPA Gold Medallion Award-winning books A Table in the Presence and Extreme Devotion. He teaches writing workshops at a handful of conferences each year . Daniel Literary Group

    Listen to the PodCast! Click here for RSS feed!

    Posted in Agents, Book Development, Getting Published, Guests | Leave a comment