My Muse put on a Power Suit and got to work

I was shocked to find my Muse sitting at my desk, a list in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other, and my glasses perched forcefully on the end of her nose. She was dressed in a pale blue wool business jacket and skirt, and her mass of curly snakes was pulled up tightly into a trembling bun.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She continued to stare at the computer screen, reading an article from Publisher's Weekly about the rise of internet book sales. "Catching up."

"Catching up? On what? Reading?"

She shook her head and spun the chair around to face me. "No. I'm helping you catch up on all this work that's been piling up since you became ill. I thought you could use my help today."

"Thanks. I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything. Just get me more coffee." She held out her mug while turning back to the computer screen.

I did as I was told, then returned with two cups of coffee. Handing her one, I sat beside her on the wooden stool. "What are you doing now?"

"Double checking you haven't missed any opportunities for book sales." She sipped her coffee without looking at me, then scowled. "Too much milk."

"Have I?"

"What?"

"Missed any sales opportunities?"

"Not sure yet. I'll let you know." She finished reading the article, then hit the browser back arrow to return to the Galley Cat website.

I said, "Nice outfit."

She smiled and smoothed her skirt. "Never underestimate the power of a costume. If you dress professionally you will be professional. It's very hard not to feel in control in a power suit." She turned to look directly at me while reading from the list. "Let's see... you need to send notes on the Punk submissions to the writers. They're waiting for your direction. It is not good to let them wait too long. You should know that from your own experience of waiting for feedback."

"Of course."

"And then you need to contact someone about that form 571-L." She rummaged around in the pile of papers on the desk until she found the yellow form. "What is this, anyway? Property? You don't have any property?" Tapping the computer she said, "Unless you count this ancient lap top."

"Eight years is not ancient."

"In technological terms, it is. Have you considered buying a new one?"

"Right after I sell the Lamborghini"

My Muse set her cup down and folded her arms. "Very funny. I'm trying to be serious. You could use new equipment."

I nodded. "Yes I can. I could also use health insurance and new shoes, so the lap top will have to wait."

Studying the list again, she said, "Very well. Back to the task at hand. Why haven't you contacted H and R Block?"

"Because every time I tried to talk I would cough."

"You're not any more. Call them. You need to finish those taxes."

"Yes Ma'am."

Her eyes narrowed. I said, "I'm not trying to be funny. I'm simply respecting the power suit."

My Muse continued. "Get the contract in the mail for the new writer, send two books to PMA for the conferences, reserve a hotel room for Expo, call KUGS again, contact the gallery for Laura's exhibit to see if they need books early, oh... and get that Audio book finished." She smiled, set down the list, took a large sip of her coffee, then stood. "There. That should get you started."

"And what will you be doing in that lovely power suit?"

"I'm going to look over that story you've been working on. Hopefully your latest revision has improved it."

I sat in the chair which felt warm from the heat of my Muse. "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."

"Perhaps..." My Muse vanished.

This is the first time my Muse has paid any attention to the business side of publishing. It made me feel that the two sides of my creativity, the artistic and the practical, were melding, which was an excellent sign for the health and viability of Medusa's Muse. If my brooding, hungry, writing side and my optomistic, intuitive business side could work together, then I wouldn't be pulled apart by the dueling parts of my nature. I could approach publishing holistically. My Muse taking an interest in tax forms was a start.

New Rocket Girls Post

Go to Rocket Girls to read a new posting from me about Writing and Aging. Or more specifically, how hard it can be to be published when you're over 50.

Helvetica

If I had any doubt that I am not cut out to be a publisher, that doubt was completely erased last night when I watched with absolute fascination a documentary about Helvetica. You know, Helvetica? The type face/font so popular in graphic design? Yes, I sat for an hour and half and watched interview after interview with designers from all over the world talk about the creation and development of a font. I am a nerd!

The documentary is called Helvetica and is distributed through Netflix. It examines how Helvitica transformed graphic design as part of the Modern arts movement in the 1950's and how it is still the dominant type used in advertising today. Look around. Everywhere you look, you will see Helvetica. Crate and Barrel, Target, JC Penny, Mervyns, the words on your Starbucks take out cup, all use Helvetica. Even IRS forms use Helvetica.

Helvetica is not a good font to use for books, but I still found the documentary riveting. Wow! I didn't know Helvetica was named after the Roman word for Switzerland. Cool! Which is proof positive that I am a font nerd. A book slut. Because to me, a book is more than just the story it contains. It is the font used to tell the tale, the paper it is printed on, the overall weight of the book, how it is bound, what the cover looks like, how the spine crackles when you open it, and what the cover design reveals about the story inside. A book is a work of art in itself, regardless of the story. Not that the story isn't important; of course it is. But everything else that goes into the creation of that book brings the story to life. And that's what I love. The nerdiness of that creation process.

Mom's don't get sick days.

It's been quite a while since I've posted here. Blame it on the flu mainly, but also blame it on creative exhaustion. After my luxurious stay at a friend's house which got me focused into my own writing and creative energy, I'm back to feeling worn out and creatively fizzled. My Muse doesn't even want to be around me much right now. Who can blame her? I spend all my time figuring out how to squeeze a drop of advertising money from a dry well and revising my inventory and sales spread sheet. I stare at my multi-colored post-it-note to do list and feel nothing but questions. And as always happens when I get in this mood I start asking, am I cut out for this publishing life?

Just like a novelist who stares at her half completed manuscript and bemoans that she can't write, I too feel a loss of direction. What am I doing? Why am I doing this? Why don't just I go out and get a job at Starbucks and stop playing with books? Bad enough I try to write my own, now I think I can publish them? I must be insane!

"Yes, you are definitely insane," my Muse says. She snuck up on me while I was writing the above paragraph and rested one long fingered hand on my right shoulder. "But all artists are insane. What makes you think you're any different?"

"I don't feel much like an artist right now."

"I know. You're tired is all. You have a cold and you've been taking care of your sick daughter and haven't had enough sleep. No reason to shut down production."

"Maybe it is. Maybe I can't do it. Taking care of my girl while trying to work and be creative... it's too much."

"And I've never met a mother who didn't feel that way, too." My Muse sits down on the edge of my desk to look at me. "What else would you do?"

"I don't know. Clean the bathroom more often."

She smiles. "You would die of boredom in two days. Maybe less. No, face it my dear, you're an artist, and a mother, and right now you have a cold. Therefore you feel like all you want to do is hide on the couch and watch Northern Exposure reruns with four boxes of tissues."

"Why don't moms get sick days?"

"That's why I'm not a mom. I can't imagine giving up my entire existence to another human being, someone who is needy and whiney and never says thank you for anything you do. And then when they grow up they hate you. Sounds like hell."

I stare at her. "You know exactly what to say to make me feel worse."

"I try." She grins. "Come on. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Turn off this computer and make a cup of tea. Tomorrow you'll feel better and then you can finish up that contract for the new author."

"Oh God. The new author. Can I actually take on another author?"

"This author? Definitely. I have a very good feeling in my bones about her."

"But what if..."

"Enough!" My Muse reaches over and turns off my computer.

Submissions

Medusa's Muse is starting to receive submissions from writers on a regular basis now, which makes me realize I really need to decide EXACTLY how to deal with them. So far, we've received just a few now and then, usually via a polite, but not very professional, email. One has peaked my curiosity, but I'm not sure we can even take on any more projects right now. So, how do I manage a steadily growing slush pile?

It's weird being in this position. I have written two novels and numerous short stories, as well as four plays, and from all that work I've received over seventy rejection letters. I've only been published once. Hip Mama magazine, 2001. I know how much a rejection letter hurts. I've been pummelled to the point I don't want to send out any more work. Ever! Now here I am, looking at a writer's work, trying to decide if I like it or not.

To like or not to like is a completely subjective thing. But I need to set up certain guidelines for myself when reading someone's query so that I can create the rules for how I want submissions sent. What am I looking for in a manuscript? What excites me? What annoys me? It's kind of like asking yourself what you like in a mate. My turn-on's are a well crafted, polished manuscript full of passion and honesty, and a sense of humor. Turn-off's are cleverness for cleverness' sake, poor spelling and grammar, and anything smelling of elitism. Translation: send me something that is beautiful and honest, but save the rhetoric. Write from the heart, not the ego.

Transforming Chaos into Art. That is the Medusa's Muse mission. What that means for a writer is that we like stories about people who have overcome some kind of challenge and have grown from it. If that person can craft a story around that challenge, whether fiction or non-fiction, then we're interested. It doesn't have to be a tragedy or an illness. Write about your love of baseball or dogs, just as long as it inspired a transformation in your, or the character's, life.

Do not send genre fiction such as Sci Fi or Romance, and please no Poetry. I like to read them, in fact I'm a huge Steam Punk fan, but I don't publish those books.

Now, the how to send a query part. I only accept queries via email. That is because the editor lives in Boston and the only way she and I can work together on a project is through email. If you send it to me in the regular mail, I'll just send it back. Send a query letter to medusasubmits@gmail.com, in the body of an email. No attachments. Your email should explain who you are, what your book is about, how long it is, how it fits with the Medusa's Muse mission, and if you've ever been published before. Don't worry if you haven't been, it's just nice to know. I don't care if you have an MFA or not, I only care if you can write. A well crafted query letter will show me that you are professional and know how to write a book. A rambling, disorganized email tells me you're not quite ready to work with a publisher, so really take your time with the letter. Look up examples of query letters. Have a friend help; sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can really help. I'll post a sample query later.

If your query grabs us, we'll ask for the first chapter and a synopsis. The first chapter shows us your writing ability and tells me if you can write a book that grabs a reader from page one. The synopsis shows us what your book is about and helps us see if it is a good fit for Medusa. Please finish your book before submitting. Half written books are not accepted. And send us your BEST work. Writing is a time consuming art that takes energy and focus. Take that time. It's worth it.

Can I take on any more projects? For now, we'll take query letters any time. There may come a point when we'll have to close the reading period and only accept queries at certain times of the year. We already have two projects (possibly a third) that will take up the next year, so any other book will have to wait until 2010.

I love discovering new, talented writers. It's the judging part I don't like very much.

Correction Regarding Etymologist's Corner

I was just informed by Ray Succre, another contributor to Blood and Ink, that The Etymologist's Corner isn't written by Elijah Brubaker, but is a contribution of newcomer Andrew King.

Thank you Ray for pointing that out, and my apologies to Andrew King.

Etymologists Corner

On the collective literary blog Blood and Ink (I should tell you that I am a contributor) there is a new writer, Elijah Brubaker, who posts a regular piece called "The Etymologists Corner." Etymology is defined by Webster as:

1 : the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language
2 : a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies

Now this might sound like dull reading, but Elijah Brubaker is a very good writer who shares his thoughts and knowledge about words in clear and thought-provoking prose. And as writers and book lovers, isn't it the word that really captures our heart? The right word at the right moment, that's what great literature is.

Is a book-store reading worth the energy?

Laura had her second reading at the bookstore in Cloverdale; a lovely, small store across from the movie theatre called Cover to Cover books. The owner is very friendly and the space lovely. Big comfy chairs, lots of books, plenty of light. I dropped off a box of books for Laura to bring with her (I couldn't go. My family was throwing a birthday party for me that day) and explained that the owner would deal with the sales.

Afterwards, Laura returned the box with a note from the bookstore saying five were sold. I called Laura and asked how it went. She explained it was fun and six people came.

"Five books sold to six people is really good," I said.

"No. Two books sold. The bookstore bought three for the shop."

Laura and I chatted about how helpful the owner of the store was, and how appreciative the people who came to the event were. She had a wonderful time and we sold a few books. It sounded like a standard, normal, kind of book-store reading. And that's the thing... sometimes you start to wonder, is it worth it? Readings take a lot of energy to set up and prepare for, as well as the time it takes the author to come and read and meet people. The gigantic turnout we had for the book launch was a once in a book's life-time event. What normally happens at a store reading is a few people come to meet the author, listen to her read, eat a few cookies while waiting to chat with her, maybe buy a book, and then they leave. Total run time: one hour tops. Preparation time: 5-8. That doesn't take into account the amount of energy spent by the author figuring out what to read, what to wear, and what to eat to help her stomach stay down where it should while her heart starts pounding from nerves. Or how about the night before, when the author lies awake asking, "What if no one comes?"

That does happen sometimes. I have a friend with three succesfull books published by big houses and she had a reading at a store where only the staff attended. She waited around for a while, then signed some books for the store and thanked the staff for setting up the chairs and putting out cookies. This had been her biggest fear, and it came true one day. It will come true at least once for every author. And every author survives.

There is a lot of talk about cutting the traditional bookstore readings by authors all together. Economically, you sell more books on Amazon.com than at a live event, and you don't have to leave your house. Some bookstores have stopped hosting readings and some publishers don't bother setting them up. I think reading at a bookstore is a wonderful event that works in certain areas and at certain times, but shouldn't be the only thing the author does to promote her book. Do readings in your local area because your community will come out to see you and local stores usually like to support its local talent. But don't expect to get a big turnout in Cupertino if you are from Ukiah, not unless Oprah's just talked about your book. And think about other places you could do a reading. What is the topic of your book? Are there any conferences or festivals where your book would be a good fit? If you're book is about home improvment you might have better luck selling your book at a home improvement workshop than a bookstore. Don't forget libraries either. You may not be able to sell books, but you usually have a greatly appreciative audience.

Part of the dream about what being a published author is like includes standing in a beautiful bookstore, surrounded by adoring fans who rapturously devour every word we speak as we read to them from our lovely manuscript. There's nothing wrong with that dream. Even if only one person comes to hear you read, or if only the woman behind the cash register is listening, you are still bringing that dream to life. Whether 5 or 25 come to your book-signing, they are there to discover you and your book, so give them a great show, thank them warmly, and sign their books with a smile.

Later, you can go home and ponder whether bookstore readings are right for you.

Dryer Update

Okay, I promise I will get back to the serious business of running a small press soon. And my Muse is around, she's just been reading a lot (she's hooked on David Sedaris at the moment). But right now, I want to talk about how great my dryer is. It's hooked up (finally!) and I started doing laundry last night and I don't know what it is but I felt so much better about the chaos in my office simply by making progress on that gigantic pile of laundry. I read the manual, transfixed by different heat levels (delicate, normal, jeans...). I giggled over the fact that when I open the front door, there is a lip at the bottom of the opening so the clean clothes don't fall out all over the dirty garage floor. And there is an actual sweater rack. I had no idea what that was, but now I have one!

I seriously need to get out more.

My Muse has looked up from her book and is staring at me while shaking her head. "I wanted Henry Miller, and instead I got Suzy Homemaker."

A New Dryer

Right in front of my bedroom/office door is a gigantic pile of laundry which has been growing since Saturday, the day I went to the laundry mat. My dryer broke, so we bought a brand new one, which Sears promised to deliver on tuesday. It arrived today, thursday. Through several scheduling mishaps and poor communication, it took two days to finally show up.

This morning, I made a cup of coffee and watched the guys haul it through the house to the laundry room, trying not to giggle about finally being able to do laundry. I know I need to get out more if I'm excited about doing laundry. But that pile of laundry has become a mental block to my sense of organization and creativity. Every time I go in and out of my room, I have to climb over dirty towels, jeans, t-shirts and socks while tripping over the idle laundry baskets. This chaos impacts the rest of the chaos in my room: the piles of paperwork. One pile for taxes. One pile for school. One pile related to book promotion. One pile of magazines and stories to read which I will never get to, but I can't throw them away until I do. But somehow, with a new dryer and full bottle of laundry soap, all those piles felt less threatening.

And then the delivery guy said he couldn't hook up the dryer because it isn't attached to the washing machine because the washing machine doesn't have the necessery holes to connect the stacking kit. "You just need to get some self-tacking screws, ma'am, to screw into your washer. I'm not allowed to drill into your exsisting appliance, but it's easy to do. Screw them in, stick the vent hose on and then plug the dryer in. You're good to go." Before I could kick him for calling me ma'am while telling me I couldn't use my dryer, he ran away.

So here I sit. I have a dryer, but I still can't do laundry. Which means I'm still tripping over a pile. Paperwork and dirty socks are intermingling. There are bills hiding under unwashed towels. My brain remains soiled, and not in a fun way.

What is a self-tacking screw, anyway?

Until The Violence Stops

V-Day is here again, a time to focus our energy on stopping violence against women. Across the country, The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler is being performed, including this weekend in Willits (Willits High School Auditorium, Sat. at 7:00, Sun. at 2:00), just north of Ukiah on hwy 101.

There is also a documentary about the worldwide performance of the Vagina Monologues, called "Until the Violence Stops." And I just learned that my author, Laura Fogg, is in it. Ukiah is a featured city in the documentary because of the Vagina quilts (see the movie to understand) and Laura is one of the quilt makers. I hear her interview is beautiful!

Here's a link for more info about the movie:

Happy Birthday

Today is my 41st birthday. When I look at the start of my 40's, I have to say, I'm exactly where I want to be doing exactly what I want to do. More money would be nice (isn't it always?) but really, when I take away the bills and budgets and other concerns, I realize that I am doing my life's work, which is what we all long to do, especially when we hit that big 4-0. Last year, I was daydreaming about "possibly" starting a small press. What would it be like to be a publisher? Then Laura arrived serindipitously, manuscript in hand, and before I could talk myself out of it, I asked her if I could publish it. Thank goodness she said yes. A year later, Medusa's Muse Press has succesfully launched a book with two more in production.

Of course, the money part does need to be attended to, which is why I'm applying to grad school to find fulfilling work that actually pays the bills. And who knows, maybe some day, Medusa's Muse will pay my rent?

What am I planning to study? In another serindipitous turn, I am following in the footsteps of Laura Fogg and applying to my alma mater; San Francisco State's Orientation and Mobility Specialist's Program. Laura will be my master teacher.

Whose my real Muse? My daughter, of course, who is both Laura's student and my child, the person who brought Laura and I together.

Interview in Daily Journal

Dot Brovarney interviewed me about Medusa's Muse Press for the local paper. If you'd like to read that interview, follow this link

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/frontpage

then click on Sunday (or Jan. 27).

scroll down to page two where you'll see the headline, Medusa's Muse.

Dot did an excellent job. She writes a regular column about local literary people and events called In Our Own Words.

Quality of Print on Demand

I've been asked numerous times about Lightning Source, the POD printer we chose to print Laura's book. How is the quality? Why did I decide to go with a Print-On-Demand printer? Is it really as good as traditional printing? And why specifically did I choose Lightning Source over other, cheaper, POD printers?

First, I decided to go with Print-on-demand (POD) so I could buy only the number of books I needed at a time. I pay a little more per printed page than the traditional printing process, but I avoid having to store 1000 books in my living room while hoping they sell. Also, by printing only the number of books I need at a time, I save trees by saving paper. None of the books I publish will go to pulp.

Then I looked at the different POD businesses out there. I posted a question on the Publish L listserve, asking which POD company other small publishers prefer. Repeatedly I heard about Lightning Source, aka LSI. I read about the company and initially it looked good, but I needed more information to figure out if LSI was the best choice for Medusa's Muse. I ordered a book from a publishing company I knew used LSI.

When the book arrived, I studied it closely, examining the binding, the quality of the color on the cover, the feel of the paper, and the clarity of the printed word. Were there any places where the text faded or looked darker on a different page? Was the book-trim even? Were any of the pages ragged? Was there anything different about the LSI book from a traditionally printed book? The quality of the book was excellent and I was very happy to see that a POD book is just as professionally manufactured as any other book. Plus,the book I had ordered was a great read (Mouth of the Lion, by Lily Richards).

But when I discovered that LSI is an affiliate of Ingram, one of the biggest book wholesale companies in North America, I decided to definately go with LSI. Having access to Ingram can be difficult when you're an unknown book publisher with only one book in your catologue, so paying a little more to circumnavigate that barrier was worth the expense.

I signed the contract with LSI and set up an account. It was $50.00 for a more prominant list in the Ingram catologue for one month, and then $12.00 for the year. The fee to set up the book file in their system for printing was about $70.00. Each book is about $4.00 to print. Yes, I know I can earn more money if I go with someone cheaper, but the savings to my sanity is worth every penny. The book was available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble. com, Borders.com, and Powells.com, on launch date without me having to do any extra work. Book stores are happy to carry the book because it's easy for them to get it from Ingram. LSI customer service has been great and the staff has answered all my questions quickly.

If you want to see for yourself what a POD book looks like, order a copy of Laura's book. You can also go to the Casperian website to see more of their titles.

Any more questions, please send me a comment and I'll do my best to answer.

It's Snowing!

I woke up this morning before the dawn, let the dog outside to pee, and saw the deck covered in snow. This is an exciting event in Ukiah, elevation 650. We get snow maybe once a year, and it will only last the morning. The dog ran back inside, looking cold and puzzled by the "not-rain." My daughter was getting up, so I ran into her room, grabbed her hand and led her to the doorway. She grinned and giggled. "It's snowing!"

Now at 9:00 am, it is still snowing and actually starting to stick to the street. I took a bunch of photos and tomorrow my daughter and Laura will use them to make a snow page in my daughter's scrap-book. My daughter keeps looking out the window and announces every few minutes, "Mom! It's still snowing!"

I know if you live in Montana or Michigan or Massachusetts, an inch of snow in one day is a nice day. But in this part of Northern California, where the temperature rarely dips below 20 F, snow is a major event with road and school closures. It's a winter treat and it cheered up a little girl whose been sick with a bad cold for almost a week and one sleep deprived mother too bleary eyed to do much more than watch the snow fall.

traditional distribution or on-line?

A few days ago I received this comment from Jessica Powers:

Hey, Terena, I'm starting my own press this year--website not up yet but you can read the blog at www.catalystbookpress.wordpress.com--and I was wondering what you are doing for distribution. I've been going back and forth on whether I should even try for distribution since I want to focus my efforts on online sales. Curious about your thoughts.

Distribution is a tricky thing. How best do you maximize your opportunities for sales of your book without breaking the bank? There are so many choices out there for distribution, and each one has its own requirement. But first, you need to understand what distribution is, and is not. A distributor will help you market your book, for a price, if they agree to take it on as part of the catalogue they take to their clients, namely bookstores, to sell books. So having someone out there spreading the word about your book is great. And they want to make a profit, so odds are they'll try very hard to get your book sold. But it can be difficult to get a distributor to take your book, much like it's hard to get an agent. Look for a distributor who matches your niche for the best chance of being accepted. You probably already know this, Jessica, but I want to be sure anyone else reading understands as well.

I am not using a distributor. Instead, I'm using Ingram, which is a wholesaler, meaning they have the book in their catalogue and will fulfill the orders from bookstores, but I have to go out there and knock on the doors to get the orders coming. Ingram is my wholesaler because I decided to use Lightning Source, a print-on-demand printer, as my printer. They are a subsidiary of Ingram. Anyone who uses Lightning (LSI) can list their book in the Ingram catalogue. Most bookstores, including on-line retailers like Amazon and Powells, use Ingram to get their books. I pay a little more per book printed, but it's worth it to me for the ease at making the book available to retailers. You don't have to use Ingram or Baker and Taylor (the other big book wholesaler) to get your book listed on Amazon or the other on-line retailers, but it makes it easier. Amazon has their own program for publishers to get listed on their website. Powells also has a system, but when I read their information about submitting books for inclusion, it stated they prefer books listed with Ingram. I'll bet there is a more cost effective way than using print on demand with LSI and Ingram, but for sanity's sake, I decided to go this route.

I'm marketing Laura's book via the internet. If you are a niche publisher, then it's very easy to market on-line. The internet is full of websites and resources for people who will be interested in your book. I'm talking to everyone I can in the Orientation and Mobility field, as well as family members of blind people, support organizations for the blind, other Special Education and Rehab professionals, and Educators about Laura's book, as well as people who are blind, once the accessible version is available. We started with just O and M specialists and have been increasing the circle to other professionals who might be interested. I think of it as throwing a rock in a pond and watching the circles reverberate outward.

If you're a non-fiction or niche publisher, I don't think you need a distributor. The internet makes direct sales a thousand times easier.

Hope I answered your question. And remember, I'm still new at this too, so if other's have a different opinion, please let me know.

Social Networking

My daughter is home sick from school with a bad cold, so after cancelling a delivery and calling a friend to let her know I couldn't meet her today, I sat down on my computer and started surfing my Social Network sites. My favorite is Inked-In, created by the Burry Man Writer's Center, because it's a site created by writers for writers. Lots of great, creative people and writing. But as I was reading blog posts from other Inked-in subscribers, I wondered... is spending an hour commenting on blog-posts and chatting on-line with people really a good way to spend my time?

I have a site on MySpace, Tribe, and a profile on Metaxu Cafe. I am also a member of the Emerging Writer's Network. And then there is Good Reads, which is based on the books people are reading. A friend sent me a link to Linked In, a network focused on the web-links people have favorited and I keep hearing about how wonderful Facebook is. There are so many social networks out there, not to mention all the great blogs with more links to more sites where more people can share ideas and chat. I could literally spend all day surfing the net, talking to people. And when I'm tired of being myself, I can log onto Second Life and pretend to be someone else and meet other avatars while dancing to someones MP3 collection under a cyber moon.

All of this surfing has not been a complete waste of time. Most of what I've learned about book publishing and operating a small press comes from people I've talked to on list-serves and via blogs. I've read thousands of articles created by people I "met" through social network sites and most of those articles have been extremely helpful. Because I don't have the cash or ability to travel, most of the Medusa's Muse marketing strategy is on-line. But how do you measure the impact of the hours spent on line compared to book sales?

I like meeting people on-line; not for cyber affairs or virtual sex, but for swapping ideas and creative energy. The internet allows me to talk with people from Scotland who love writing as much as I do, East Coast small presses who help me problem solve or "talk shop," and other mom's from all over the world who need to stay creative like I do. Posting the submission call for the Punk Rock anthology on line has helped me find excellent writers who've embraced DIY, even without their mohawk. It is the internet that makes it possible for me to publish books. It is also the internet that gobbles up all my time and keeps me from working on my own novel.

To make Social Networking really work, at least for my purposes (spreading the word about the press), you have to keep your profiles and blogs "fresh," which means writing new content and responding to comments. You also need to read other people's work and leave comments too. It's rude to befriend someone and then never visit their space to see what they've created. Don't be self-centered; support others in cyber-land. Think how much you LOVE it when someone leaves you a comment (and how sad you are when no one does).

There are numerous books available about using Social Networking to inform people of your work and/or business, such as Plug Your Book, by Steve Webber, which is very helpful (how he explains the way Amazon works alone is worth the cost). But here's something you need to remember; you're still networking with PEOPLE. Social Networking sites aren't just for selling more books, they're for connecting with other human beings who share your interests and who just might buy one of your books, if you're polite and aren't using them for internet status.

And I guess as long as I still have time to write and live my life outside of the internet, I can wander around My Space and discover more artists. Maybe I can sign up for one more social networking site (Linked In?)? Which leads me back to my original question: am I spending too much time in cyber land?

A Day in the Life of This Publisher

Wake up at 6:30. Get child up and ready for school while at same time trying to get me ready for the day. Take child to school by 8:35, then stop at Cafe nearby.
Take out journal and write for an hour, trying to capture my wild thoughts, plans and ideas into some kind of workable order. Spend a lot of time gazing out window and wishing my Mocha was bigger. Wonder if I've had too much coffee.

Go home and check personal email account. Answer several posts from friends. Switch over to the Medusa email account. Read several emails from Publish L group, spam from a couple of marketers, the Book 2Book post, and Galley-Cat. Find a link to an online Anthology maker. Interesting possibilities. Make note of it, book mark it, and forward to my personal email to send to my writing group. See post from PMA. Follow link to their website. Try to log-in but can't remember my password. Have to set up new one. After sorting that out, I discover my membership information is out of date. Update info with website link and submission info. Hunt down their BEA info and decide to go ahead and pay for a spot on their table at the conference for Laura's book. See the American Library Association will also have a PMA table at their conference, and after checking price decide to do that as well. Deduct $190 bucks from checking account. Make a pink note to send two books to PMA for both conferences and put that note on the task tracker under "Marketing." Sigh over the fact that section is overflowing.

Back to email. Read Laura's response about her upcoming trip to Washington for quilt show. Her friend recommended three bookstores in the area, and her niece sent a link to the University in Seattle for their "speakers and topics" section. Good. Realize I don't know the name of the gallery where her show will be. Look up gallery in LaConnor, Washington and find a quilt museum that does have shows, but no listing yet of upcoming shows. Email Laura to make sure this is the place and make a note to contact gallery owner to send her a book and do some cross-promotion. Wonder if Laura should just do a book reading there? Wonder if gallery would like to sell books at the show? Wonder who the radio stations are and if I can get her on as a guest? Wonder if I have enough time to do this?

Read Jane's email about being too busy with other editing gigs (yay, Jane!) to help me contact the San Francisco State Magazine with info about Laura's book (sad for me). Laura and I are alumni, so this is a good place to promote the press and her book. Make a pink note to contact magazine myself and put it under "Marketing." Sigh that this section is overflowing.

Call the Phoenix in Petaluma. Wonder why no one calls me back? I want to give them money. Why won't they call me back? Think about other places to set up a royalty gift. Wonder about Gilman St? Too bad, I really like the Phoenix.

Call Audio book contact at AFB to ask for help with Audio version of Laura's book. I sent him an email last week. Leave a message. I hope he calls me back.

Dog is whimpering. Let her out to pee. When she comes back she wants to play. I throw her bone for a few minutes, then go back to computer. Check personal email. Plan wine tasting trip with buddies.

Check Google alerts for Orientation and Mobility and Blindness to see if there are any good possibilities to help spread the word about Laura's book. Nothing today.

Send email to Bookshare to ask how upload of Laura's book is going. They are having technical troubles. I offer to send the book as a PDF file, the same one I sent the printer. They say they'll get back to me.

Let reviewer at the Lighthouse know what the hold-up is. He needs a Bookshare version. I think he's blind.

Glance at clock. 11:48. Time to eat. Must remember to eat.

Rick comes home and we chat as we eat lunch, then he dashes back to work.

Check email again. Got message back from Exceptional Parent. They would love to review Laura's book but the person who does the reviews is out. Check back in two weeks. Make note on pink paper to contact them again in two weeks, put it on task board under "Marketing." Sigh there's no room for another note (should make Marketing Section bigger next time.)

Hands are getting numb. Sitting too long. Take dog for long walk, even though it's very cold. Snow is falling on the hills around us. The dog shivers, so we go home.

Work on application for Grad School. I have to write an essay about why I want to be an Orientation and Mobility Specialist. Um....

Check email. Heath Ledger died. That seriously sucks! Feel really sad. So young...

UPS drives up. Four more boxes of books! Yay! Chat with UPS guy while he carries in books. He's the husband of a friend and their expecting their first baby. So happy for them.

Check email. More talk about Heath. Go to MySpace. Update blog.

2:30. Pick up child from school. Give her a snack (banana and juice) then put in Berenstain Bears DVD. She laughs. Check Medusa email again. More updates from Publish L, but nothing I really need. Read an article on SPAN about making your press kit stand out and get noticed by Radio people. Hmmm...

Read more about Heath. That is so awful!

Check personal email. Heard back from Mendocino Coast Writer's Conference. They will keep Medusa in mind for 2009. That's nice.

Really need to get up and move now. Been sitting all day. Do laundry, take out garbage, clean kitchen. Child's movie ends. We chat, color, talk about learning Sign Language. Rick comes home. Dinner needs cooking. Time to shut down Medusa for another day.

Until tomorrow.

Excellent Advice on Finding a Good Publisher

I found this fantastic article on the blog Plot Monkeys, written by guest blogger and author Stacia Kane. She writes...

A lot of writers give writing advice. I personally don’t think I’ve achieved anywhere near the kind of success that would make people yearn for my words on that subject. You won’t see me doing workshops anytime soon, anywhere—if I ever do, which I most likely wouldn’t.

But I do know rather a lot about how to spot a scam publisher or one that won’t necessarily advance your career, and since this is a topic I’ve blogged about off and on since for some time and one I care a lot about, I decided to give it a go.

To read the rest of this very informative and detailed article that breaks down point by point what to look for in a publisher and how to spot scammers, go to the Plot Monkey's website.

Receipts and other Budgetary Items

In preparation for that wonderful time of year known as Tax time, I went through all the Medusa receipts, organized them into their proper piles (start-up costs, supplies, printing, promotion, shipping...)and figured out just how much I spent last year starting the press and creating Laura's book. I was happily surprised. Without really knowing what the costs related to publishing were, I was able to create a realistic budget. And even better, I only went over that budget by $198.00 dollars.

I owe my successful planning to all the incredible resources available to small publishers; books like Dan Poynter's "The Self Publishing Manual," and Thomas Woll's "Publishing for Profit." Help also came from numerous websites, including Publisher's Marketing Association and the Small Publisher's Association. I've spent hours reading blogs from other publishers and editors, joining list serves like Publish L, and asking everyone I could find what I should anticipate when starting a press.

But the biggest reason I was able to stay within budget is because of my incredible partners, Jane and Rick. Rick is an excellent book designer and web master who gave his time to Laura's book and the press. All those hours he spent would have cost thousands.

And I guess that's the big lesson here. Running a press or self publishing all on your own is possible, I suppose, but it will cost you a lot of cash. Ask questions. Look for help. There are enormous resources out there to guide you on the publishing path so you don't make too many costly mistakes. People in the book industry are actually really friendly and approachable, especially small press people. This community I'm now a part of is amazing and I thank all of you for your ongoing support.

In future posts, I will review some of the books and resources I've used that have helped me figure out this often confusing process called Publishing. And please, if you have a favorite link or book that's helped you as a publisher or writer, let me know so I can share the info with others.

Here's to the next successful year at Medusa's Muse. And here's to the next book.

Posting on Rocket Girls

I just added a post to the Rocket Girls blog site about how it feels being a publisher. All four Rocket Girl writers are posting under the theme, "I want to be a Rock Star," about writing and the ellusive desire for fame. Check it out!

I had to run away

My friend Jody went to New York for a week to meet her agent and editors, which left her house unoccupied. So I broke in. Not really, she left a key and needed someone to check on the cat, but I informed her I was spending the night.She has this big old farm house out in the country, surrounded by vineyards, complete with a claw-foot tub. It embodies my idea of heaven; a place to write all day, then take a long hot bath.

I told my husband and child I was running away from home on Saturday and wouldn't be back until Sunday noon. My husband was supportive, but my daughter immediately began whining about my leaving and demanded to know EXACTLY when I'd be back. She's 12 and has become extremely clingy as she starts puberty. I told her I needed to get some writing work done, which was half of the truth. The real reason was that my Muse had abandoned me and I hoped a claw foot tub full of hot water and bubbles would lure her back to my side.

Just after Christmas, she decided she was tired of the rain and ran off to Argentina to take tango lessons, leaving me with a half written play, a short story in need of repair, and a novel floundering on the plot-rocks. I also had a child out of school whining "I'm so bored!" I know it's important not to rely on your Muse to feel inspired. Muses are flaky, flirty things, prone to star gazing and peeking into other people's windows. An artist should never put all her faith in her Muse. One sparkly object and POOF, the Muse is off hunting for the shiny thing, yelling, "Pretty!" A wise artist puts her butt in the chair and keeps working, even when inspiration vanishes. So I took my sorry butt and my lap-top to Jody's farm house and sat down at her dining room table to write. Whether my Muse returned or not, I was going to finish that dang story!

It was so quiet out there. Just me, some good tunes, the slightest hum of my lap-top, and Max, Jody's cat who checked on me now and then by rubbing against my leg and meowing. Getting away from the laundry and dishes and phone calls and the demanding call of "Mommy" for one long day and night snapped me out of my writer's block. Within one hour I was writing, suddenly seeing the problems with my short story and instantly knowing what I needed to do. The time flew, and just when the sun was beginning to hide behind the hills and the house grow a bit chilly, my Muse arrived.

"What are you doing?" she asked, casually flicking her new, black Argentine fan.

"Writing."

She lightly tapped the table with her fan. "Without me?"

"You were busy."

"No I wasn't. Not really. If you needed me, you could've called."

I kept typing.

"What are you working on?" she asked.

"The Gift."

"The Gift? I don't know that one."

"It used to be House of Tolerance, but I've changed the name."

"Oh..." She sat at the table across from me. "Do you need any help?"

I looked up at her and smiled. "No. I'm good for now. Maybe in a little while."

I continued typing while she watched. Max came into the room, stared at her, then flicked her tale sharply as she turned her back and left the room.

"There," I said, and hit the save button.

"Done?" My Muse's eyebrows shot up so fast I thought one of her own snakes had bit her.

"Yep. For now. I need to look up some info about heating systems in the 1880's, but otherwise, it feels about done." I smiled as I stood. "I'm going to take a bath. See ya."

Lounging in the tub, covered with lavender scented water, I understood what my Muse meant when she said she felt fecund. I guess my Muse cuts through the static of my life to help me stay creative. But in those moments of solitude and peace, I can cut through the static on my own.

My Muse popped her head into the bathroom a couple of times. I think she was a little worried I might not be giving her so much chocolate in the future.

Congratulations Contest Winner!

Rose is our big WINNER (insert applause, falling balloons, and confetti). She receives a copy of Laura Fogg's memoir, "Traveling Blind: Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers," for naming correctly three of the five highest risk factors for developing Glaucoma.

The answer to the question is: The people at highest risk for developing glaucoma are African-American decent, people over 60, diabetics, people with a family history of glaucoma, and those who are severely nearsighted.

For more info about Glaucoma, go to the Glaucoma Research Foundation Web-site.

If you'd like a copy of Laura's book, you don't have to wait for another contest from Medusa's Muse. Just go to Powells.com, or directly to Medusa's Muse.

advice for keeping on track

While spending far too much time reading on-line zines (research. really!), I found this excellent article about how to avoid the road blocks to your writing. Here's the beginning. Follow the link for the rest. I promise, it will make you feel a little bit better about making more cookies rather than getting back to your writing.

How to write a novel
Tim Dowling's tips on resisting the allure of banjos, toast and YouTube

Writing a novel must be one of the easiest things to avoid doing in the world - chances are no one has asked you to do it, and no one will care if you don't. As soon as you start, almost every other activity in the world seems preferable. Distractions come in every shape, but these are, to my mind, the top five.

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month

Maybe this will help knock some of the post-holiday cobwebs out of our brains...

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month, and to help promote the understanding of the causes of Glaucoma, I will give a free copy of Traveling Blind; Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers," by Laura Fogg, to the first person who can tell me three of the top five risk factors for developing Glaucoma (in the US).

Send your answer as a comment.

Now, back to dusting off my desk.

The Kids are Back in School!!!

All across the country, work-at-home parents are doing the happy dance called, "The Kids are Back in School!" I woke up extra early this morning and in the pre-dawn darkness began to dance around the house in my pj's, humming "I want to fly away..." by Lenny Kravitz while laying out my daughter's school clothes, checking her back-pack, washing her glasses, and boiling the water for her oatmeal. I got her up and ready for school in record time. She was actually glad to go back too, having suffered long enough with the boredom of a rainy vacation, so she didn't dawdle while dressing like she usually does. Traffic was light as we drove to school and even the dog was cheerful, especially when the usual crossing guard gave her a doggy-treat when I stopped at the stop sign.

At last my daughter was back in school! I rushed home eagerly, longing to get into the swing of work; the stacks of pages needing editing, the submissions I needed to read and the few of my own to send out, the two review copies of Laura's book needing to be mailed, and fifty emails in need of answering. I sat at my computer with a fresh cup of coffee and... stared at the computer-screen. I couldn't figure out where to start. So much had piled up since before the holiday vacation and Christmas celebrations. I looked at my new organization chart for a direction, but it all needed to be done NOW. Which one first?

I tried editing one of my interviews for the Punk book, but I'd lost the thread of the story. I spent two hopeless hours trying to keep the subject's authentic voice while cutting and pasting the story into something that made logical sense. I got more coffee, took the dog for a walk, went to the chiropractor, but nothing could shake the cobwebs from my creative brain. It's like my mind is still stuck in Mommy-gear and nothing related to Publishing can un-glue it.

Can you hear the cry of work-at-home parents as they shout, "Why can't I concentrate?" Finally peace and quiet after two weeks of non-stop noise and childcare and then we discover that we are incapable of functioning as productive, non-care taking, adults. And all the Christmas cookies are gone, too.

I give up. I'll put away the last bits of Christmas decorations and lug everything into the attic, then attack the laundry. Perhaps in a few days I'll transition out of Mommy-mode back into a more balanced, creative-mode. Medusa's Muse can wait one more day.

New Year, New Way to get Organized!

Every Jan. 2nd, I spend time in an office supply store examining day-planners, filing systems, dry-erase boards, and colored post-it notes, thinking this will be the year I finally get my life organized! If I only had the right tool, everything would fall into place. Now, more than ever, I need to organize all the pieces of my life into a nice, easy to use, system, because writing things down on a note-pad which always disappears as soon as I set it on my desk just isn't working.

This year, I think I've found the best system for keeping Medusa's Muse Press organized. I bought a poster board, a black marker, and a large box of multi-colored post-its. Then I went home and created this,



I've created 5 columns: Editing, Design, Marketing/PR, Business, and Internet/Technology. Each book is color coded. Green is the Punk book, Pink is Laura's book. And then Yellow is business stuff; things I have to do to run the press. I can watch each book move through it's different phases of development. Right now, Punk is in the editing and design phase, plus there are some marketing/pr duties I need to start now. Laura is all marketing with a few business, and one technological step, namely, the Audio book which is in constant tech-trouble hell.

I got the idea from a professional organizer. Once I re-find her article, I'll post the link. Speaking of technology, Rick just told me Microsoft has a program which does something similar and you can save it to a web-site. But I really like the poster board near my desk because I can see how things are flowing through Medusa's Muse Press without having to turn on my computer. It's comforting in a way. Look, there's the Punk book just beginning its journey, and there's Traveling Blind, sailing through the Marketing process. How lovely.

Don't give anything to your Muse for Christmas

In answer to "What do you give your Muse for Christmas?," I received this from Jacob Russell of Barking Dog, a blog about writing and books.

Like your dog… never give anything, without demanding some sign of submission first.

Who’s the Alpha?

The Muse(s) is(are) NOT YOUR FRIEND(s).If you don’t get that, you’ve lost it.
It’s all about, who’s gonna be in charge. You show them you’re gonna be their patsy… too bad for you. The Muses want ENGAGEMENT, not surrender.

Of course, you can never be the Boss, absolutely… but to keep the tension, like Jacob wrestling with the Malach...no other way to get their blessing.

Trust them, the way you trust Death. Death will win. You don’t have to make concessions. You can fight with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength… and death will still win. That is, will not be defeated. But if you give in… then Death wins. If you give in to the Muses--you lose. The only “victory” is together. That means resisting them with all your mind and all your heart and all your might.

Trust them. Trust them, like Death, that they are stronger than you.
Do that, and they’ll find a way to bless your work.

(What I get from Blake--the muse as a challenging Nemesis, to be transformed, not meekly followed and obeyed)
by Jacob Russell

My Muse reads this silently. "Hmmm..." She stands and taps my laptop. "Interesting idea. Although I think you'd better keep giving me chocolate." Looking at me, she gives me one of her slow, rapacious smiles, the snakes mimicking her gaze. "Okay?"

I nod.

Medusa's Hairdresser

A while back, I mentioned I was worried about Medusa's Hairdresser (Another Gravity Check, July 07.) It appears I shouldn't have, because one day while cruising around My Space, I mean, while researching important information for the press, I stumbled on the band Medusa's Hairdresser

It appears my Muse didn't eat them after all.

The FCC lifts bans on Media Consolidation

The following is a transcricpt from Democracy Now. Please contact your Senator and let him/her know that conglomerating control of the media is a threat to free speech and access to information and is not acceptable!

“Today’s Decision Would Make George Orwell Proud”—FCC Commissioner Michael Copps on the FCC’s Vote to Rewrite the Nation’s Media Ownership Rules.

The Federal Communications Commission voted three-to-two on party lines last week (Dec. 18th) to approve a measure that would increase media consolidation. The new rule pushed through by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin lifts a thirty-year old ban on companies seeking to own both a newspaper and television or radio station in the same city. Michael Copps was one of two FCC Commissioners to vote against the rule.


AMY GOODMAN: The Federal Communications Commission last week voted three-to-two on party lines to approve a measure that would increase media consolidation. The new rule pushed through by FCC Chair Kevin Martin lifts a thirty-year-old ban on companies seeking to own both a newspaper and television or radio station in the same city.


But the reaction against the vote has been swift. Close to 200,000 people have signed an open letter urging Congress to overturn the December 18th vote. Less than twenty-four hours after the vote, Democratic Congressmember Jay Inslee and Republican Congressmember Dave Reichert introduced the Media Ownership Act of 2007, that would overturn the new rules by the FCC.


It was Bush-appointed FCC Chair Kevin Martin, now just forty-one years old, who rammed through the rule changes. He’s served President Bush well. As deputy general counsel for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000, he was active during the Florida recount. Before that, he worked for Kenneth Starr at the Office of Independent Counsel during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Rumor has it he may run for governor of his native North Carolina. His wife, Cathie Martin, was a spokeswoman for Vice President Dick Cheney in the midst of the scandal around the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. She now works on Bush’s communications staff.


Today, we’ll play the speech of one of the two dissident FCC commissioners, Michael Copps. Copps has been fighting media consolidation since he was appointed to the FCC in 2001. He is a former history professor. He called the vote a Christmas gift to corporations.


MICHAEL COPPS: I had an opportunity to read a little bit of George Orwell the other day, and it was good preparation for getting ready to deal with this particular item. I think it would do him proud.


We claim to be giving the news industry a shot in the arm, but the real effect is going to be to reduce total newsgathering. We shed big crocodile tears for the financial plight of newspapers, yet the truth is that newspaper profits are about double the S&P 500 average. We pat ourselves on the back for holding six field hearings across the United States, yet today’s decision cites not a single word from the thousands of Americans who waited in long lines for an open mike to testify before us. We say we have closed loopholes, yet we are introducing new ones. We say we’re guided by public comment, yet the majority’s decision is overwhelmingly opposed by the public, as demonstrated in our record and in public opinion surveys. We claim the mantle of scientific research, even as the experts say we’ve asked the wrong questions, used the wrong data, and reached the wrong conclusions.


I am not the only one disturbed by this illogical scenario. Congress and the American people have done everything but march down here to storm to Southwest D.C. and physically shake some sense into us. Everywhere we go, the questions are the same: Why are we rushing to encourage more media merger frenzy, when we haven’t addressed the demonstrated harms caused by previous media merger frenzy? Women and minorities own low single-digit percentages of America’s broadcast outlets, and big consolidated media continues to slam the door in their faces. It’s going to take some major policy changes and a coordinated strategy to fix that. Don’t look for that from this Commission.


Instead, we are told to be content with baby steps to help women and minorities, but the fine print shows that the real beneficiaries will be small businesses owned by white men. So even as it becomes abundantly clear that the real cause of the disenfranchisement of women and minorities is media consolidation, we give the green light to a new round of—yes, you guessed it—media consolidation.


Local news, local music and local groups so often get shunted aside when big media comes to town. Commissioner Adelstein and I have heard the plaintive voices of thousands of citizens all across this land of ours in dozens of town meetings and public forums, from newscasters fired by chain owners with corporate headquarters thousands of miles away to local musicians and artists denied airtime because of big media’s homogenization of our music and our culture, from minorities reeling from the way big media ignores their issues and caricatures them as people to women saying the only way to redress their grievances is to give them a shot to compete for use of the people’s airwaves, from public interest advocates fighting valiantly for a return of localism and diversity to small independent broadcasters who fight an uphill battle to preserve their independence.


It will require tough rules of the road to redress our localism and diversity gaps, too. Do you see any such rules like that being passed today? To the idea that license holders should give the American people high quality programming in return for free use of the public airwaves, the majority answers that we need more study of problems that have been documented and studied to death for a decade and more. Today’s outcome is the same old same old: one more time, we’re running the fast-break for our big media friends and the four corner stall for the public interest.


It’s time for the American people to understand the game that is being played here. Big media doesn’t want to tell the full story, of course, but I have heard first-hand from editorial page editors who have told me they can cover any story, save one—media consolidation—and that they have been instructed to stay away from that one. That’s a story for another day, perhaps.


Today’s story is a decision by the majority unconnected to good policy and not even incidentally concerned with encouraging media to make our democracy stronger. We’re not concerned with gathering valid data, conducting good research or following the facts where they lead us.


Our motivations are less Olympian and our methodology far simpler: We generously ask big media to sit on Santa’s knee, tell us what it wants for Christmas, and then push through whatever of those wishes are politically and practically feasible. No test to see if anyone’s been naughty or nice. Just another big shiny present for the favored few who already own an FCC license—and a lump of coal for the rest of us. Happy holidays!


If you need convincing of just how non-expertly this expert agency has been acting lately, you could not have a better example than the formulation of the cross-ownership rule that the majority will adopt today. I know it’s a little detailed to see how the sausage is made, but it’s worth a look.


On November 2, 2007, with just a week’s notice, the FCC announced that it would hold its final media ownership hearing in Seattle. Despite the minimal warning, 1,100 citizens turned out to give intelligent and impassioned testimony on how they believed the agency should write its media ownership rules. Little did they know that the fix was already in, and that the now infamous New York Times op-ed was in the works announcing a highly detailed cross-ownership proposal.


Put bluntly, those Commissioners and staff who flew out to Seattle, sixteen witnesses, the Governor, the State Attorney General and all the other public officials who came, plus the 1,100 Seattle residents who had chosen to spend their Friday night waiting in line to testify were, as Representative Jay Inslee put it, treated like “chumps.” Their comments were not going to be part of the agency’s formulation of a draft rule; it was just for show, to claim that the public had been given a chance to participate. The agency has treated the public like children allowed to visit the cockpit in an airliner—you know, when you go up there with your little kid, and you’re not actually allowed to fly the plane, but they’re permitted for a brief, false moment to imagine that they are.


The New York Times op-ed appeared on November 13, the next business day after the Seattle meeting. That same day, a unilateral public notice was issued, providing just twenty-eight days for people to comment on the specific proposal, with no opportunity for replies. The agency received over 300 comments from scholars, concerned citizens, public interest advocates, and industry associations, the overwhelming majority of which condemned the plan. But little did these commenters know that on November 28, two weeks before their comments were even due, the draft order on newspaper-broadcast cross ownership had already been circulated. Once again, public commenters were treated as unwitting and unwilling participants in a Kabuki theater.


Then, last night at 9:44 p.m., just a little more than twelve hours before the vote was scheduled to be held and long after the sunshine period had begun, a significantly revised version of the order was circulated. Among other changes, the item now granted all sorts of permanent new waivers and provided a significantly altered new justification for the twenty-market limit. But the revised draft mysteriously deleted the existing discussion of the “four factors” to be considered by the FCC this morning in examining whether a proposed combination was in the public interest. And in its place, the new draft simply contained the cryptic words “[Revised discussion to come].” That’s what we got last night at 9:44. And although my colleagues and I were not apprised of the revisions, USA Today fared better, because it apparently got an interview that enabled it to present the Chairman’s latest thinking. Maybe we really are the Federal Newspaper Commission.


Finally, at 1:57 this morning, we received a new version of the proposed test for allowing more newspaper-broadcast combinations. I cannot claim that I fully appreciate the test’s finer points, given the lateness of the hour and the fact that there was no time afforded to parse the finer points of the new rule. But this much is clear: the new version keeps the old loopholes and includes two new ones. Finally, finally, as I walked out of the office at 11:15 this morning, we received a revised paragraph on the details of the “four factors.” And forgive me if I am unable to speak expertly about what they mean to the substance of this decision.


This is not the way to do rational, fact-based, and public interest-minded policymaking. It’s actually a great illustration of why administrative agencies are required to operate under the constraints of administrative process, and the problems that occur when they ignore that duty. At the end of the day, process matters. Public comment matters. Taking the time to do things right matters. A rule reached through a slipshod process and capped by a mad rush to the finish line will, purely on the merits, simply not pass the red face test. Not with Congress. Not with the courts. Not with the American people.


It’s worth stepping back for a moment from all the detail here to look at the fundamental rationale behind today’s terrible decision. Newspapers need all the help they can get, we are told. A merger with a broadcast station in the same city will give them access to a revenue stream that will let them better fulfill their newsgathering mission. At the same time, we’re also assured, our rules will require “independent news judgment” (at least among consolidators outside the top twenty markets). In other words, we can have our cake and eat it, too: the economic benefits of consolidation without the reduction of voices that one would ordinarily expect when two news entities combine.


But how on earth can this be? To begin with, to the extent that the two merged entities are truly “independent,” then there won’t be the cost savings that were supposed to justify the merger in the first place. On the other hand, if independence merely means maintaining two organizational charts for the same newsroom, then we won’t have any more reporters on the ground keeping an eye on government. Either way, we can’t have our cake and eat it, too.


In the final analysis, the real winners today are businesses that are in many cases quite healthy, and the real losers are going to be all of us who depend on the news media to learn what’s happening in our communities and keeping an eye on local government. Despite all the talk you may hear today about the threat to newspapers from the internet and new technologies, today’s order actually deals with something quite old-fashioned. Powerful companies are using political muscle to sneak through rule changes that let them profit at the expense of the public interest. They are seeking to improve their economic prospects by capturing a larger percentage of the news business in communities across the United States.


Let’s get beyond the weeds of corporate jockeying and inking up our rubber stamps for a new round of media consolidation to look for a moment at what we’re not doing today. That’s the real story, I think, that the important issues of minority and female ownership and broadcast localism and how they are being short-changed by today’s rush to judgment.


First, on minority and female ownership, racial and ethnic minorities make up 33% of America’s population. They own a scant 3% of all full-power commercial television stations. And that number is plummeting. Free Press recently released a study showing that during just the past year the number of minority-owned full-power commercial TV stations declined by eight-and-a-half percent, and the number of African American-owned stations—get this—decreased by nearly 60%. It’s almost inconceivable that this shameful state of affairs could be getting worse, yet here we are.


In most places there is something approaching unanimity that this has to change. Broadcasters, citizens and members of Congress, and every leading civil rights organization agree that the status quo is not acceptable. Each of my colleagues has recognized, I think, that paltry levels of minority and female ownership are a reality, which makes today’s decision all the more disappointing. There was a real opportunity here to do something meaningful today after years of neglect, and we blew it.


It didn’t have to be this way. I proposed both a process and a solution. We should have started by getting an accurate account of minority and female ownership. That’s the one that the Congressional Research Service and the Government Accountability Office both just found that we do not have at the FCC. The fact that we don’t even know how many minority and female owners there are is indicative of how low this issue is on the FCC’s list of priorities. We also should have convened an independent panel, like proposed by Commissioner Adelstein, and endorsed by many, that would have reviewed all of the proposals before us, prioritized them and made recommendations for implementation. We could have completed this process in ninety days or less and then would have been ready to act.


Today’s item ignores the pleas of the minority community to adopt a definition of “Eligible Entity” that could actually help their plight. Instead, the majority directs their policies at general “small businesses,” a decision that groups like Rainbow/PUSH and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters assert will do little or nothing for minority owners. Similarly, MMTC and the Diversity and Competition Supporters conclude that they would rather have no package at all than one that includes this definition. Lack of a viable definition poisons the headwaters. So should we wonder why the fish are dying downstream?


So while I can certainly support the few positive changes in this item that do not depend on the definitional issue, such as the adoption of a clear non-discrimination rule, these are overshadowed by the truly wasted opportunity to give potential minority and female owners a seat at the table they have been waiting for and have deserved for so very long. My fear now is that with cross-ownership done, the attentions of this Commission will turn elsewhere.


On localism, at the same time that we have shamefully ignored the need to encourage media ownership by women and minorities, we have witnessed a dramatic deterioration of the public interest performance of many of our licensees. We have witnessed the number of statehouse and city hall reporters declining decade after decade, despite an explosion in state and local lobbying. The number of channels have indeed multiplied, but there is far less local programming and reporting being produced.


Are you interested in hearing about local politics from the evening news? About 8% of such broadcasts contain any local political coverage at all, including races for the House of Representatives, and that was during the thirty days before the last presidential election. Interested in how TV reinforces stereotypes? Consider that the local news is four times more likely to show a mug shot during a crime story if the suspect is black rather than white.


The loss of localism impacts our music and entertainment, too. Just this morning, I had an email from a musician who took a trip of several hundred miles and heard the same songs played on the car radio everywhere he traveled. Local artists, independent creative artists and small businesses are paying a frightful price in lost opportunity. Big consolidated media dampens local and regional creativity, and that begins, my friends, to mess around pretty seriously with the genius that is America.


It’s a travesty. We allow the nation’s broadcasters to use half a trillion dollars of the people’s spectrum—for free. In return, we require that they serve the public interest: devoting at least some airtime for worthy programs that inform viewers, support local arts and culture, and educate our children—in other words, that aspire to something beyond just minimizing costs and maximizing revenue.


Once upon a time, the FCC actually enforced this bargain by requiring a thorough review of a licensee’s performance every three years before renewing the license. But during decades of market absolutism, we pared that down to “postcard renewal,” a rubber stamp every eight years with no substantive review.


So, to begin with, the FCC needs to reinvigorate the license-renewal process. We need to look at a station’s record every three or four years. I’m disappointed that the majority has so cavalierly dismissed this idea. And we should be actually looking at the record. Did the station show original programs on local civic affairs? Did it broadcast political meetings? In an era where too many owners live thousands of miles away from the communities that they allegedly serve, do these owners meet regularly with local leaders and the public to receive feedback? Why don’t we make sure that’s done before we vote to allow more media consolidation?


In 2004, the Commission opened up a notice of inquiry to consider ways to improve localism by better enforcing the quid pro quo between the nation’s broadcasters and the public. The notice addressed many of the questions raised by earlier dormant proceedings dating from years before. Today’s localism notice asks more questions and tees up some very meritorious ideas, but again my question: why the rush to vote more consolidation now, consolidation that has been the bane of localism, and why put off systematic actions to redress the harms consolidation has inflicted?


Our FCC cart is ahead of our horse. Before allowing Big Media to get even bigger—and to start the predictable cycle of layoffs and downsizing that is the inevitable result of, indeed the economic rationale for, many types of mergers—we should be enforcing clear obligations for each and every FCC licensee.


Those who look for substantive action on these important issues concerning localism and minorities will look in vain. Once the majority works its way on cross-ownership, I’m not optimistic about prospects for future action on these fronts. We’re told that we cannot deal with localism and minority ownership because that would require delay. But these questions have been before the Commission for a decade, and they have been ignored year after year. These issues could have been—should have been—teed up ten years ago. We begged for that in 2003, when we sailed off on the calamitous rules proposed by Chairman Powell and pushed through in another mad rush to judgment. Don’t tell me it can’t be done. It should have been done years ago. And we had the chance again this time around. Now, because of a situation not of Commissioner Adelstein’s or my making, we are accused of delaying just because we want to make things better before the majority makes them worse.


When I think about where the FCC has been and where it is today, two final conclusions:


First, the consolidation we have seen so far and the decision to treat broadcasting as just another business has not produced a media system that does a better job of serving most Americans. Quite the opposite is true. Rather than reviving the news business, it has led to less localism, less diversity of opinion, less serious political coverage, fewer jobs for journalists, and the list goes on.


Second, I think we have learned that the purest form of commercialism and high-quality news make very uneasy bedfellows. As my own hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, put it in a letter to Joseph Pulitzer, “I have always been firmly persuaded that our newspapers cannot be edited in the interests of the general public from the counting room.” And I think that applies to broadcast journalism, too. This is not to say that good journalism is incompatible with making a profit. I believe that both interests can be balanced. I believe both interests must be balanced. But when TV and radio stations are no longer required by law to serve their local communities and are owned by huge national corporations dedicated to cutting costs through economies of scale, it should come as no surprise that, in essence, viewers and listeners have become the products that broadcasters sell to advertisers. And that’s you and me I’m talking about.


We could have been—should have been—here today lauding the best efforts of government to reverse these trends and to promote a media environment that actually strengthens American democracy rather than weakens it. Instead, we are marking not just a lost opportunity but the allowance of new rules that head media democracy in exactly the wrong direction.


I take great comfort from the conclusion of another critic of the current media system, Walter Cronkite, who said, “America is a powerful and prosperous nation. We certainly should insist upon, and can afford to sustain, a media system of which we can be proud.”


So now it’s up to the rest of us. The situation isn’t going to repair itself. Big media is not going to repair it. This Commission is apparently not going to repair it. But the people and their elected representatives and attentive courts can repair it. Last time the Commission went down this road, the majority heard and felt the outrage of millions of citizens and Congress and then the court. Today’s decision is just as dismissive of good process as that earlier one, just as unconcerned with what people have said, just as heedless of the advice of our oversight committees and many other members of Congress, and just as stubborn—perhaps more stubborn—because this time it knows, or should know, what’s coming. Last time a lot of insiders were surprised by the country’s reaction. This time they should be forewarned. I hope, I really hope, that today’s majority decision will be consigned to the fate it deserves and that one day in the not-too-distant future we can look back upon it as an aberration from which we eventually recovered. We have had a dangerous, decades-long flirtation with media consolidation. I would welcome a little romance with the public interest for a change. Thank you.



AMY GOODMAN: Michael Copps, dissident Federal Communications Commissioner, speaking just before the vote to ax the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership that took place on December 18.


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What do you give your Muse for Christmas?

Mine requires a great deal of chocolate, preferably Alter Eco, but she'll take Hershey's in a pinch. So this year I gave my Muse Alter Eco Dark Chocolate with Almonds, as well as Dagoba Xocolatl. It's wonderful to watch her stand completely still, every snake frozen in delight, transfixed by the luscious, lingering, delights of the taste and smell of creamy, dark chocolate. When she gets too belligerent or stays away too long, I crack the paper covering of a dark chocolate bar and suddenly my Muse appears, all smiles, every snake drooling over the smell of that candy.

I wrapped the bars of chocolate in gold colored tissue paper and handed them to her, saying, "Thank you."

She smiled. "Shouldn't I be saying thank you for the package?"

"No. I've been thinking about it a lot, and although you can be a serious bitch when you want to be, you do know how to push me in the right direction, regardless of whether or not I want to go there."

"Security is over-rated. Creative people need risks to stay productive."

"You're right. So thank you for pushing me into starting a publishing company. And thank you for forcing me to keep working on my novel. And thank you for dressing up like Eddie."

She took the package of chocolate and sniffed it, then grinned even bigger. "You're welcome." Then she ripped the paper into shreds and devoured the chocolate like a vampire feeding on fresh blood.

Muses are a gift, and a curse. They drive us, empower us, force us to create and then demand we take the applause and criticism. They build our obsessions and feed our desires, sometimes keeping us up at night with fevers and delusions. They make us hungry for things we've never imagined and will never find. Maybe that's why so many writes like to drink?

Without my Muse, I would be calm and safe. I would be empty. So bring on the next obsession and hunger! I can take it! As long as I have enough chocolate to keep her under control.

When My Muse is Eddie Vedder

I know I'm in trouble when my Muse transforms herself into Eddie Vedder. Usually that means she's feeling revolutionary, overly creative, and too much like Joan of Arc. She's been listening to Pearl Jam, especially that song "Indifference," over and over on my MP3 player, pacing around the house, humming along to the words. "How much difference, does it make?" And then this morning she dressed herself in 1992 grunge attire (army jacket, doc-martin boots, knee length shorts) and walked into the kitchen where I was trying to wake up enough to operate the coffee maker.

"Oh no," I moaned when I saw her. "Not Eddie."

"What's wrong with Eddie?"

"I can't handle that much determined, outspoken, dark, political venting this early in the morning."

She grinned and said, "Oh, but you should. You have some serious work to do with Medusa."

I pushed the on button and impatiently listened to the water percolate through the coffee grounds. "I will not save the planet today."

"Not today. But later would be good."

Coffee never brews fast enough, especially when you're standing in the kitchen with your Eddie Vedder-doppelganger-muse watching you. "What's the cause today?"

"AIDS."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Did you hear what Huckabee said about rounding up people with AIDS and putting them into concentration camps?"

"I heard something about it."

"You can't let him get away with that."

I turned around and stared at her. "And just what exactly am I supposed to do about Mike Huckabee?"

"I don't know. Write something brilliant to make him look like a fool."

"He doesn't need my help to look like a fool. He's quite capable of doing that himself." The smell of the coffee began to fill the kitchen. I grabbed my favorite mug from the cubbard.

"It is your duty as an artist to speak out about such things."

I nodded, far too annoyed with how long it was taking to make a cup of coffee to focus on my Muse's diatribe about civic responsibility. "Can I save the planet after I have my coffee?"

She folded her arms and glared at me. "I don't believe you. Fighting bigotry is far more important than your cup of coffee!"

"You're right. But I fight better while caffienated."

She rolled her eyes, put the ear-buds of my MP3 player into her ears and said, "When you're awake, we can discuss strategy." Then she turned on the player and I could hear the faint chords of "Leash" blaring from the buds as she left the room.

Sometimes, this need to fight for justice is exhausting. I cannot ignore the ills of our society nor can I bury my head in the back yard and thank God people are dying "over there." What happens in Afghanistan and Darfur feels very close to me, like it's happening across the street. I cried when I heard they were tearing down housing projects in New Orleans and I was sick with fury for a week when I heard the comments Mr. Huckabee made about people with AIDS. I must fight when I see wrong, regardless of whether or not I have enough caffeine that morning. It's all my Muses fault.

My heroes are Martin Luther King, Janeane Garafello, Ani DiFranco, Henry Rollins, Studs Turkel, and others who fight for social justice and speak out against the wrongs in our world. I sometimes wish I could live quietly, do what Oprah says I should, and worry about Britney Spears, not Bolivia. Life would be so much simpler. Instead, my Muse transforms into Eddie Vedder and hands me a pen.

Oh well... there was finally enough coffee in the pot for one cup. I filled my mug and chased my Muse, wondering what she had in mind to go along with those Peal Jam lyrics.

Book Fair OnLine

While surfing the net looking for publishing news (really. I wasn't just checking bands on My Space), I stumbled upon this, Book Fair Online, an International Book Fair, completely on line, and available to anyone worldwide to peruse books looking for international publication. An interesting idea, especially when you take into account the cost of getting yourself to Frankfurt, Germany, which is where the largest international book fair in the world is located. But will an on line book fair come close to the impact of a "physical" book fair? Right now, there aren't many titles listed, but that could change in time. It's a gamble, spending money for placement on a brand new web site, because people don't really know about it yet. But it has the potential to become a great tool for small publishers like me; people without the budget for a European holiday.

Although I am saving for that trip; a dollar here, another there... because I want to experience the energy and chaos of all those book lovers from all over the world in one place. I plan to hit them all: Wellington, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh, and of course, Frankfurt. But in the mean time, I'll investigate this on-line version of a book fair and see if listing Laura's book is a good idea.

Accessibility

How can I make Laura's book available to people who are visually impaired?

That's the biggest issue I'm pondering these days. There are many options, and trying to figure out which one is best in terms of cost, feasibility, and simplicity for the end user is difficult.

Obvious option: Audio book. However, creating an audio book is a ton of work, or a ton of money. Seeing as I don't have a ton of money, I'm doing it the hard way; reading Laura's book myself into a microphone connected to my computer late at night while my daughter is sound asleep. All 210 pages. I'm up to pg. 40. The delay has come from ridiculous technical problems, like the microphone sometimes doesn't "appear" on the computer and the recording levels we set (we being Rick and I) will not stay set. Then, when we actually get everything working properly, I make mistakes, which must be corrected in the audio file, but every time we stop, the microphone disappears again! Reading a book out loud is extremely difficult. Try it. Pick up your favorite book, one you know almost by heart, and try reading it out loud without stumbling over any of the words. It's impossible.

Why am I the one reading it? Like I said, I'm broke and can't fork out the thousands of dollars to hire a company to transform the book into audio format for me. Luckily I have a drama degree and am a trained actress with good vocal control and excellent articulation. Take advantage of your strengths. Laura isn't reading the book because scheduling recording times around her full time job and my child-care needs was impossible. So I'm "it," every night, 10:00.

But the microphone problems can only be fixed with cash, so I'm forking out my credit card once again and going over budget to buy a good mic and a better audio program. Happily, there are programs out there that are share-ware, one of which has received raves for reliability, called Audacity I'll give that one a try.

To expand accessibility, I've uploaded Laura's book to Book Share.org. This non-profit, on-line company turns books into programs that can be downloaded by people with vision impairments who can then print the book in any format they need, including braille. This process also involved technical difficulties, but the file is now with the Book Share company and hopefully soon it will be available for download. Medusa's Muse doesn't receive any fees or royalties for this, but it is important to me that our books are available to any person who wishes a copy, even if the person can't read print.

That being said, I'd better get back to learning the Audacity program. Our goal was the audio book would be available on Jan. 1, but that date will probably have to be pushed to Feb. 1.

I Hate Writing

I really do. I don't know why I keep doing this; spending hours staring at my lap-top, doodling in my journal, daydreaming about characters, wondering "what if?" All to create one more novel. Does the world really need one more novel?

While running Medusa, I am also working on my own book; a revision of my memoir about Paul. I am transforming it from fact to fiction, while keeping much of the true events intact. This was supposed to give me more freedom to make the story meaningful to readers and not just be a remembrance of my best friend. Easy, right? WRONG. Although I have a road map of events, I find that the road map is... well... boring. There are moments in the book, entire scenes, when the pacing really flows and the characters bounce off the page and excite me. I see the children chasing waves on the beach, daring the ocean to drown them, until one wave almost does. Then comes the scene when they are seventeen, staring at each other, unsure of what to say, until one of the characters will break from the moment, stare out at me from my lap top and ask, "So what?" Too often, I reply, "I don't know."

My Muse won't let me quit writing. She seems to enjoy watching me suffer. No matter that I've already written two novels, four plays, several short stories, a handful of awful poems, and one song. She wants another one! Perhaps I'd feel better about writing if anyone actually read and liked what I wrote! The last rejection letter I received for a short story said they liked it, but it needed more editing. I stared at that damn story for an hour and couldn't see a single thing to edit. What are they talking about? This is perfect? Then the crippling thought entered my brain which asks, "What if I'm a really bad writer?"

"Bull!" My Muse scoffs when I ask that question. "I wouldn't be here if you were a bad writer. You're just suffering from Author Blindness. No writer can see their own work clearly. That's why you need writing groups and editors. They're like giant spectacles to fight near-sightedness."

So I sent the story to a friend for editing and got back to work on my novel, because I don't know what else to do other than write. Not even running my own publishing company will satisfy my need to put words on paper and tell stories. I've tried quitting, but I actually suffer from withdrawal pains, like the ones I got when I gave up smoking. To quit smoking I started to knit. Knitting doesn't kill the need to write, though.

A Chinese curse says, "May you be born during interesting times." A better curse is, "May you be born a writer."

Traveling Blind now Available from Powell's Books

Powell's Books, the Oregon based independent, gigantic bookstore is offering Laura's book via their website, or by prepaid pick-up. Hopefully in time, they'll carry it on their shelves. Selling a book through Powell's is one of my dreams as a publisher. It is my favorite book store on this planet and I've spent far too many hours wandering the aisles of their main, downtown Portland store, breathing in the dust and aging paper of those thousands and thousands of books. To me, it is Mecca.

We Passed the 150 Mark!

Despite my poor math skills (see previous post), Medusa's Muse has sold more than 150 copies of Laura Fogg's book, "Traveling Blind; Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers" since its Nov. 1 launch date. Not bad for a tiny, three person press with an operating budget of last years tax return.

You'll have to excuse me now. My Muse and I are about to do the Happy Dance!