Claim your own Success

"You don’t need mass appeal or millions of customers to be a success. But your definition of success needs to be a keystone of your brand. You decide what success is, then show the world how magnificently successful you are by that light... You’ve got to create the fame and fortune in your own outlook first. Claim your position."

Sonia Simone

I read this quote in Robin Good's Newsletter several times because this is exactly what I've been feeling and trying to explain in the business book I've been writing, but I struggled with the words to express that feeling. What is success, or more importantly, what is success to me? Is being a publishing success really selling a million copies of my books? Is it having one of my authors discuss her book on Oprah? Or is success simply transforming a manuscript into a book so that the author gets her moment in the sun and I earn enough to pay the print bill? Right now, my success is closer to the latter than to Oprah, but do I really need Oprah to call Medusa's Muse a successful publishing company?

Success is a tricky thing. Too often we allow others to define what success is for us, from our parents to our spouses, our boss and our friends. Everyone seems to agree success is related to cash: the more you make, the more successful you are. I keep seeing new self-publishers and authors beating themselves to death with the wish for fame and fortune, spending more money on their books with the belief that one more advertising campaign will snare that longed for recognition. Too quickly, they give up in disgust, convinced they were failures because they could only sell one hundred copies of their book.

By whose definition are they failures? Is success entirely about money? What else defines success?

I think that success is linked to your long term goals rather than to your bank account. If you dream of getting rich on your books and retiring from your boring day job, then yeah, you need to sell a million copies to create that type of success, and unfortunately the odds of that happening aren't good. But why not try?

My long term dream is to be a Muse for future generations. I want a big house or a plot of land where artists of all types can come and stay and be fed and nurtured while they create their art. Seeing as I can't afford a house right now, I started a publishing company so that a few writers will get singular attention and share their words with the world. In the short term, I need Medusa's Muse to break even and pay for itself, otherwise I'll never get to that big house with all those writers and musicians. I don't expect the press to pay for my house, so I'm back in school to be an Orientation and Mobility Instructor like Laura Fogg. Success for me right now means being able to create art which I am passionate about and that pays for itself. Oprah Winfrey is welcome to visit if she'd like, but it isn't a requirement.

Before you head out into the world of publishing with your trunk full of books, write down what success means to you; not what it means to your mother or best friend, but what it means to YOU. Keep that piece of paper with you to help you stay on track. Are you following your own dreams of success or straying into what your grandparents expect?

And head over to Sonia's blog for more excellent advice about Marketing, Small Business, and making your dreams come true.

Article in Business Week About On Line Survival

While on my quasi hiatus over the Summer, I collected several interesting articles about publishing, book marketing, and social networking. Here's one of the more interesting ones:

From Business Week - Book Publishers: Learn From Digg, Yelp—Even Gawker
Book publishing could keep itself vital by taking a page from Web 2.0 technologies, but it has a long way to go. Here are some lessons.

This article intrigued me because I am interested in the way the Internet and other forms of technology are changing business, especially the book business. Look at the Music Industry. For the last fifteen years Music Companies have struggled to retain control over their property, the bands they produce and the music those bands create. Anyone can download music for free with ease and share it with all of their friends, on-line and off. Plus, a band doesn't have to be "signed" anymore to find exposure and listeners. Thanks to I Tunes and My Space, your weekend garage band can be listened to by a world wide audience. However, with so many bands competing on line for your attention, how do they stand out from the white noise of the Internet?

Now it's the book industry's turn to figure out how to survive in a digital age. Some publishers are wondering if books are dead. If so, what's next? Many smaller publishers are only creating e-books because they believe e-book readers and on-line zines are the future. In ten years, paper books will be obsolete. The article implies everyone will be reading on a Kindle.

Rather than be afraid of all these technological changes and the impact they are having in the book industry, I want to learn and strategize so Medusa's Muse will survive into the future. So should every publisher.

Just like the music industry, the book market is flooded with books from small presses and self-publishers, all competing for the attention of a decreasing reading market. How can we find our audience? This article discusses that.

From the article:

Reading a book is an incredibly solitary experience. That's both a blessing and a curse. Like most busy professionals, I don't have a lot of downtime. What little free time I have could easily be filled by other pursuits—chiefly, time with a husband I rarely see. When I do commit to a book I love, I want to talk about it. This impulse explains why book clubs were all the rage in the 1990s.

There has to be a way for Web 2.0—a movement whose raison d'etre is to connect people—to meet the ongoing need for building community around books.

What's your online strategy?

My Daughter Went Back To School Today, Do dah, Do dah!

Forget Christmas, THIS is the best time of year. Back to school! No more, "I'm bored," every fifteen minutes. I try to focus on my child and enjoy each moment with her, especially now that she seems to grow even faster, but by the beginning of August we're both tired of each other. She thinks I'm dull (don't all thirteen year olds feel that way?) and I think she's whiny. No matter how many times we play Uno or go for walks or do an art project together, there's still this level of weariness neither of us are any good at covering up.

I think the fact that my daughter gets tired of me is a good thing, actually. She is growing up and eager to explore her own life with her own friends. No tween wants to spend months with their Mom, even a tween with disabilities. The fact she is ready to go back to school with hardly a glance back at me when I dropped her at her classroom is a good thing (regardless of how teary eyed I got while walking away from Jr. High. Jr. High! Not Elementary... Jr. High! sob).

So today she went back to school and I can get back to work. I have a stack of Medusa mail and tasks that have been waiting for two weeks as well as a desk so disorganized I doubt I could find any of those tasks to begin with. My hands still hurt, so I'll have to pace myself (a quick thank you to Maggie for her advice about managing Repetitive Stress Disorder). It will take me a few days to get back in the zone of managing Medusa's Muse, editing the Business Book and the Punk Book, and bugging Tama again for a draft of her novel. Plus there's more Marketing for "Traveling Blind" as well as a couple of invoices to follow up on. Also the website needs updating. And if my Muse decides to get out of bed any time this week, I have a play to finish writing.

I have two weeks before I start Graduate School, time I'd better use getting my files in order, my desk cleared, my to-do list whittled down and my schedule organized.

Ooh, one bit of dorky, exciting news: "Traveling Blind; Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers" has been teamed up with "Crashing Through: The Extraordinary True Story of the Man Who Dared to See" by Robert Kurson in an Amazon.com's Better Together package. For some reason this makes me super happy (proof that I'm a dork!).

Enough blogging for now. Time to get working.

Emergency! My Hands Hurt!

You'd think I wouldn't have any trouble with my hands right now since I've been on a hiatus from daily typing and Internet use (and I haven't even had time to play too many hours of The Sims). Instead, my fingers, right thumb, both wrists, right arm and both shoulders hurt so bad I'm popping tylenol while trying not to panic. I'm a writer, for heaven's sake! What am I supposed to do if I can't type? Or even hold a pen for thirty minutes?

There has been more than the normal amount of stress in my life right now, so I suspect some of the pain I feel, especially in my shoulders, is due to that. My husband had surgery, the dog had surgery, and Queen Teen had surgery, all within a week of each other, so I've been a nursemaid to all three since August 1. At the same time, I was putting the finishing touches on The Business Book I've been writing, getting it ready for feedback from experts. So it's not completely inconceivable that I would have some pain in my arms and hands right now.

I bought a new keyboard yesterday, a Microsoft "Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000." The key pad is split and raised in the middle to create a more "natural" curve for the hands. Typing feels really weird, but if it will save my hands, I'll give it a shot. I'll probably have to stop writing for long periods on my I-book at the cafe. But that's the weirdest part. I HAVEN'T been writing at the cafe, or anywhere, for long periods in a month. So why am I having trouble now, and what will that mean when my daughter goes back to school next week and I can once again write?

If anyone reading this has experienced something similar and has ideas about what to do, please send me a comment. I could use the advice.

"She's 13"

I managed to write an original post at my other blog, Gravity Check, about the meaning of "She's 13." If you'd like a glimpse of what I do when I'm not running Medusa's Muse, check out the post.

One More Week Until School Starts! Yeehaw!

Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks

It's still Summer break and I'm still juggling Mommy time and Work time, so my posts will be infrequent for at least another week. This morning Jane, my friend and the Medusa's Muse copy-editor, sent me a link to a hysterical blog, called The Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks. If you're anything close to a word nerd like me, you'll love these posts.

So instead of getting any actual work done, I've been reading about the ridiculous use of Quotation Marks. Yep, a good use of my time! Maybe not... but at least it was fun.

Okay, back to work. My daughter and I are working on her scrap-book today.

Update on Amazon vs. Booklocker Anti-Trust Lawsuit

Here is the latest on the anti-trust lawsuit against Amazon.com.

From Publisher's Weekly:

The legal skirmishing between Booklocker.com and Amazon in Booklocker’s antitrust lawsuit filed against the giant e-tailer got a bit heated last month as Amazon filed a motion to dismiss the case and Booklocker filed its response to keep the lawsuit alive. The case stems from Amazon’s decision to make print-on-demand publishers use its BookSurge subsidiary to manufacture POD titles if they want to sell their titles on Amazon directly (publishers that don’t use BookSurge will have their buy button removed). In May, Booklocker filed suit, charging that Amazon’s action was in violation of antitrust laws.

In its motion to dismiss, Amazon says that Booklocker is unhappy because it wants to use Amazon’s services “but doesn’t want to agree to the purchase terms announced by Amazon.” The company further argues that “there is no federal antitrust claim here. It has been well established for nearly a century that a retailer such as Amazon is free to decide unilaterally which suppliers’ products it will purchase, stock or resell, and the terms on which it will do so.” Amazon contends that its changes to its POD policy are aimed at improving the efficiency of its supply chain as part of its vertically integrated business, and that “antitrust laws simply do not prevent Amazon.com from making unilateral changes to its supply chain.”

Go to the article at Publisher's Weekly to read Booklocker's response. Very interesting.

The judge is supposed to make a ruling on Amazon's request to dismiss the lawsuit after Labor Day.

Summertime Slow Down

It's that wonderful time of year when school is officially out and your children are once again firmly under foot, tripping you at every turn, demanding food, attention, and entertainment. Yes, Summer... when I have zero time to write or be creative. I manage Medusa's Muse five minutes at a time, in between the cries of "I'm bored" and "I'm hungry" from Queen Teen. It makes creating new and interesting posts for my blog a little difficult.

Quick updates: Had a wonderful time visiting my author Tama in her "Den of Chaos" with Queen Teen (and for those who are wondering when her book will be ready, I'm happy to report she is working on it and so far it's fabulous!). I was a little worried the noise and travel would be too much for my daughter, but she jumped right into the din and had a blast. It helps that the Denizens are friendly, outgoing, and patient, giving Queen Teen the time she needed to join in the fun. Eldest even said she was "cool." High praise from regal Eldest.

Laura Fogg will be at the Mendocino Coast Writer's Conference next weekend, taking a memoir workshop and chatting with fellow writers. She's not scheduled to read or speak, but if you run into her, say hello. I'm sure she'd love to talk to you about writing.

The first draft of the Business Book is complete and I'm now revising it, making sure my resources and facts are indeed correct. Next, one of my business teachers from Mendocino College has volunteered to read it and make sure I haven't missed anything important. The book should launch as scheduled this fall (as long as I can stay awake past my daughter's bedtime to get the work done!).

One more University Special Education Program has added "Traveling Blind; Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers," to their curriculum this Fall. We're all doing the happy dance.

And the Punk book is almost ready as well. I have enough stories collected and can start boasting about the excellent writing and suprising tales. I could use more artwork, so if anyone reading this would like to submit a Punk image (photo, drawing, tattoo, etc), send it to medusasubmits@gmail.com in the body of the email. The book is on schedule and final edits should be complete by this October.

That's the quick version. My posts will be sporadic for the next few weeks, but if you have a question about publishing or Medusa's Muse specifically, please send it to me and I'll do my best to answer.

I'm off to draw an Arthur story with Queen Teen. Although keeping up with my girl full time makes it hard to get work done, I'm having fun hanging out with her. Besides, now that she's thirteen, I count myself lucky she even wants me in the same room.

Happy Summer everyone.

Have you paid your Sales Tax yet?

Yep, it's that time of year again, the end of the fiscal year and the beginning of a new one, the time when all businesses, large and small, write a big-fat check to their State's Board of Equalization for all the sales tax they've collected on the States behalf.

Since my local tax board seems to understand that start-up micro presses won't have very many sales in their first year, which means there will be very little tax to actually collect, they sent me the Short Form: BOE 401-EZ. Happily this form was easy to fill out and the entire process took about an hour to complete. The form even had my local sales tax printed on it so I didn't have to hunt for that number to do the math. 7.75% x taxable amount = tax owed.

The only tricky part was figuring out exactly what the taxable amount was. Not every sale is taxable. Some of my sales went to bookstores who have their own resale license and collect their own sales tax. A few more were via the website to other States. I did some research and discovered that you only pay sales tax to the State where you have an actual, physical office or distribution center. That could change though because as States are struggling with budget deficits, they are eyeing internet commerce as a source for new tax revenue. Amazon.com is battling New York State right now over that issue. But for now, interstate sales through my website are not taxable (but don't take my word as gospel. Double check for yourself and let me know if I'm wrong).

Sales tax must be paid by July 31st or you can get hit hard with penalties and late fees. Don't fool around with your taxes: pay them! You can even pay electronically with a credit card. I know people who got behind and lost their business because they never paid sales tax, and another person who is still paying tax from 2006. If you're having trouble, talk to your local office of the State Board of Equalization.

The links I've posted here are for the State of California. Be sure to find the appropriate websites for your own State if your business is not in California because every State creates their own Sales tax rules, and some States, like Oregon, don't collect Sales tax at all.

Don't be alarmed by the sudden drop in Book Sales

This quarter saw a BIG drop in overall sales, which isn't surprising,actually. Laura's book launched on Nov. 1, 7 months ago, and it's had a long run of steady sales, mostly to other Orientation and Mobility and Special Education instructors. Most books sell their copies in the first 3-4 months and then those sales drop precipitously. "Traveling Blind" continues to sell well, but the average sales per month have slowly declined through May and June.

Since I don't have the total number of books sold in the second quarter from Lightning Source yet, I can't say exactly by how much book sales have declined. Lightning Source reports and pays 90 days after the end of that month, so I received my last Quarter One report for the month of March in June. I won't know the exact sales numbers for this Second Quarter until September. My author also doesn't get paid her royalties until 90 days after the close of the quarter, so she receives her royalty check for Quarter One now.

I know our sales have dropped overall though because our direct sales have declined. We sell the most books through events and to our local bookstore. We tapped out our local market by April and Laura hasn't had the time to do many more events. The initial marketing efforts to University Instructors and other Professionals in Laura's field was very helpful, but again, that market has been saturated.

Now it's time to think about who else might benefit from her book and how we let them know it exists.

The biggest problem right now is cash flow, which is seriously hampering my ability to do that second wave of marketing. Between Book Expo expenses, low book sales, and Sales Tax time (I'll write about that in my next post) I don't have any cash to pay for marketing materials. Plus, I have a new book to launch this fall. That means Laura will either need to do more marketing on her own, or I'm going to have to get extremely creative.

Don't be alarmed if your book sales decline. Book sales rise and fall, depending on the market, season, and efforts of the author. Everyone who would want the book has probably bought a copy already, so it's natural to see a decline. The goal is to get those sales back up by finding potential readers who will enjoy the book, but that fact hadn't occurred to them. Yet.

Hunter S Thompson Documentary - "Gonzo"

I found my Muse in San Francisco sitting in the movie theatre with a big bag of over-buttered popcorn. I sat beside her and said, "I thought you were in the Caribbean."

"Not this time of year. Too hot." She shook the popcorn. "Want some?"

"Thanks." I took a big hand full because I knew once the bag was half eaten she wouldn't offer me any more. We watched the documentary "Gonzo - The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S Thompson" together with Jane, the Medusa's Muse copy-editor who is also my dear friend. It felt like a sort of pilgrimage because Jane and I had driven to San Francisco, two hours from home, to sit in that theatre and pay homage to the genius that is Hunter.

I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when I was a freshman in college. My first taste of Hunter. The wildness of the story held together with precise prose and blunt truths made an impact on my own writing and life. This was also the time I had discovered Dead Kennedies and was exploring punk. I was shaking off my small town immaturity and ideals, expanding my world view, and embracing that part of me that howled at the moon. My inner need for chaos was strummed by the writing of Hunter.

Since then, I've read most of his books and much of his writing, and his energy has stayed with me, imprinting on my concepts of art and politics. However, I have no illusions about him. My admiration is not romantic; he was a drug-addict, alcoholic, manic-depressive prone to violent outbursts and when he killed himself I was angry. It felt like a betrayal of everything he wrote. If only he'd had the courage to face the era of George Bush! What wondrous words he would have thrown at the White House!

The movie helped me understand a little better why he felt like he had to die. I saw the human behind the art, the troubled boy behind the angry man. I saw his goodness and compassion and I understood what drove him to ride that edge for so long. He lived his life peering over it until he finally lost the energy to hang on. Over he went, leaving behind his words and his ideas which will resonate forever.

The State of Small Presses

While browsing blogs about book publishing, I discovered this very interesting article written by Seth Abramson on his blog "The Suburban Ecstasies." The article is called 2008 State of Small Presses. In his post, he mathematically breaks down the submission requirements of 100 poetry presses to determine if it really is as impossible for a poet to be published as believed. Here is an excerpt from that post:

Recently I've been thinking about how best to help a colleague of mine whose first manuscript is probably the best first collection I've ever read.

As always, my mathematically-inclined way of thinking has been pushing me to determine the best course of action in this situation through research, rather than intuition or rumor. Specifically, I found myself wondering whether, in fact, the old complaints about the book-publishing industry are true: that is, whether or not a young poet in America with no connections amongst the editor set stands a snowball's chance in hell of getting a first book published outside the contest system (taking into account the continued irony that small-press publishers are just as likely as the rest of us to bemoan the shortcomings of that system, particularly the fact that so many young poets lack the financial resources to enter into it).

I decided, in the spirit of this blog--which has always been highly conversant with numerical analysis, despite the fact that I'm a poet--to do [what I imagine is] the first-ever assessment of the openness of American small presses to unsolicited work. Given the absolute inviolability of the large trade houses to first-book authors, and the admirably democratic--but for too many twenty-somethings, essentially unaffordable--contest system (much of which is connected to an excellent second category of publishing ventures, the university press system), it would seem that the small independent press is one of the last bastions of hope for a young, talented writer like the colleague I mentioned above who's looking to publish a first manuscript.

[NB: And no, this isn't one of those "I have this friend..." gambits; I truly and actually am trying to think about how to help another poet I've recently met, and this has nothing to do with my own work whatsoever. I was lucky enough, myself, to last September find a publisher for my first book that I couldn't possibly be happier with].

What I did was visit the websites of fully one hundred independent presses, drawing their names from the best-seller lists for the past year at the Poetry Foundation and Small Press Distribution websites. Incredibly (and fortuitously, given my limited mathematical skills), adding up the data from every single press listed in a year's worth of SPD best-seller lists, as well as the current Poetry Foundation best-seller list, got me to exactly 100 independent poetry presses.

Here's what I found:

Go to Seth's blog to read the rest. His process of analyzing the statistics and what he concludes is fascinating. Medusa's Muse is not a poetry press, but I wonder how close these statistics are to that of fiction publishers? Even though there are thousands of small, independent publishers in the industry, is it still just as hard to get published as it always has been? I'd love to hear your comments.

We interrupt our smoke reports with this message from John Oat's mustache

from Billboard:

John Oates wants people to know that he is nothing like what he was when he had a mustache. The Hall & Oates principal is firm about the distinction, because if things go as planned, his mustachioed image could appear on TV in cartoon form kicking ass, rocking out and wearing tight pink pants.

Independent publisher Primary Wave Music Publishing, which owns a majority stake in most of the biggest hits in the Hall & Oates catalog, is shopping a cartoon titled "J-Stache" that further illustrates the dichotomy. As laid out in a two-minute trailer, Oates is portrayed as a modern-day family man and finds himself enticed back to the rock star life by his mustache, which is voiced by comedian Dave Attell.

"In a cartoon setting, the mustache has its own personality," Oates says from Aspen, Colo., where he's finishing his latest solo album. "Just as I'm represented as the John Oates of today, the mustache is the John Oates of yesterday. The focus of the music will be on the back catalog, but it's an open-ended situation. There's even talk of the mustache trying to bring new bands into the picture."

When I was a 7th grader, I was a HUGE Hall and Oats fan, with a HUGE crush on John Oats. Those dark eyes and that mustache! Oy! Made my 12 year old bony knees knock.The idea of his mustache having its own show is just hysterical, and I'll have to check this out.

I know, what the heck does this have to do with publishing? Not much directly, but it does show how far a wild idea can go. Don't throw out those crazy story ideas because you think people will laugh or think you're a moron. Sometimes, it's the crazy ideas that make the most sense.

Twenty Four Hour Play Festival

The festival was a blast! Exhausting, but so much incredible, focused, collective energy, not just from our own team, but from all the teams working at the same time, trying to create art, or a semblance of it.

On friday night at 6:30 everyone gathered at the Ukiah Player's Theatre to meet, sign in as a team, make a plan, and find out the theme. We got lucky. "Death" was chosen. My writing partner Natasha Yim had an idea that fit perfectly so that gave us a head start. She and I went to her husband's office, put on the coffee, and started brain storming.

I've never worked with a partner before, so it took me a while to figure out how to proceed. I tend to just write everything down in one expulsion, sort of like vomiting words, not worrying too much about each line of dialogue. Once the structure is there, I go back and fix the words. Natasha sets up an outline first, going line by line, making sure she's staying on track. It took about an hour before we were in the zone, finding that balance point where we were both contributing. We spent as much time laughing as typing. By midnight, we had a play. By 3:00 am, it was a good play. I got to bed at 4:00, then up at 7:30 to meet the actors and director.

8:00 am the whole team got together outside the theatre and did the read through. The actors loved it. It sounded even better when they read it than how I imagined it in my head. Right away, the actors embodied the characters, adding nuances to the dialogue I hadn't foreseen. Natasha and I were exhausted, but happy. We left to get more sleep while the actors got to work.

At 3:00 pm I went back to the theatre to watch them on stage. Incredibly, they knew most of their lines already! I can write a play in one night, but there's no way I can learn lines in 7 hours.

8:00- Showtime! It was a good turn out. All seven plays were about death, but every team had a different idea about it. There was a campy Sci Fi comedy about reigniting the sun, a play written by a group of high school students about Canada nuking Ukiah, a play about ghosts messing with a fake psychic, and one about a mad taxi driver on his last night of work. Our play was about Vampires in a support group to help them fit in with humans. The vampire therapist has a nervous breakdown after listening to them "whine for the last millennia." After all the players took their bows, I found my teammates and we hugged, everyone feeling high on fatigue and excitement. It was an incredible experience.

To celebrate, my hubby and I went to the Ukiah Brewery to dance to The Mad Maggies, an eclectic, polka, ska, celtic, zydeco, rock band; the kind of music you MUST dance to. By the time I made it to bed at 1 am I felt that I'd climbed Half Dome in a day. But what a day!

If you've never done a 24 hour play fest, I highly recommend it. Exhausting, yes, but it's incredible what can be created in a short amount of time. I plan to do it again next year!

Living in a Scene from a Zombie Movie

You know in zombie movies there's that heavy, reddish fog that obscures the visibility of the hero as he runs through a deserted town, right before he gets attacked by zombies? That's how it looks outside right now.I feel like the zombie, not the hero. It's 3:00 in the afternoon in the middle of summer and the smoke from all the fires burning in Mendocino County makes it feel like twilight. Day four of unending, suffocating smoke.

The entire county is under a State of Emergency. The closest fire to us is the Greenfield fire, about ten miles away in the hills, still burning mostly out of control. Happily the calvary arrived yesterday. CalFire has sent help, although since there are so many fires throughout the State, the help is limited. But every little bit helps.

My daughter is going to stay with her dad for a while in Davis. It's smokey everywhere, but the hills surrounding the Ukiah Valley traps smoke inside like a big fish bowl, holding everything tight. She needs to get out of here.

I'm trying to keep working on the business book, edit punk stories, and manage Medusa, but I admit I'm feeling fuzzy headed and fatigued. Someone who lives outside the valley said she was surprised by how thick the smoke is here and how much everyone seems worn out and slow. "Like a bunch of zombies." Yep, I know how they feel. I want a new brain too.

My Muse has vanished. When all of her snakes started coughing, she grabbed her bathing suit and went to the Caribbean again. Can't say I blame her. Although I could really use her tomorrow night when Natasha Yim and I write a play in one night for the 24 hour play festival at Ukiah Player's Theatre. We write for 12 hours, then our team of actors take it and rehearse for 12 hours. At 8:00 Saturday night our play is performed along with the plays of seven other teams. I'm excited to do it, but I'm not feeling at my prime, I have to say. No Muse and no clean air. Maybe the play should be about zombies.

Correction to POD post

This is a correction to my blog post on Monday. Here is a comment from Tracy Cooper-Posey, who is the actual author of the article I linked to.

"I wanted to point out a couple of errors of fact. Charlotte Boyette Compo was indeed a guest blogger on my blog...but she did not write the POD post. I did.

And the blog is called Anchored Authors (plural).

Cheers,
Tracy Cooper-Posey"

My sincere apologies, Tracy, and thank you for contacting me.

Mendocino County is On Fire!

On friday, we had an incredible lightning storm. I was out that night with my writing group and as we left the cafe and walked across the overpass, we watched the flashes of lightning strike through the treacherous black clouds which were smothering the hills. Fascinating and beautiful. And then I thought, Uh Oh. I bet there's a fire burning now.

Not only is there a fire burning, there are over 130 fires burning in Mendocino County, one just ten miles from the city of Ukiah where I live. Every fire is burning out of control because there just isn't enough man power to deal with so many fires at once, especially when you realize that all of Northern California is threatened by fire. Cal Fire is on overload, so Mendo Fire Crews are battling the blazes mostly on their own. There are a lot of Community Volunteer fire crews, inmates from the County Jail, and homeowners out there, battling thousand acre blazes with garden hoses and shovels.

In Ukiah, we are mostly safe, but of course, not completely. Besides the heavy smoke dimming the sun and reducing visibility to less than 1 mile, a fire could reach this town. When I was in the seventh grade I lived in Lakeport in Lake County. That summer, Cow Mountain caught on fire and the fire blazed almost unstoppable toward the town. My family and I stood on a hill in town one night and watched the flames crest the hill and race toward the freeway. We were all praying the flames wouldn't leap the four lanes of asphalt, but the fire was burning so hot and the air was so dry, the town was on high alert. No one slept much that night. We had suitcases packed, waiting for the evacuation order. Somehow, CDF and local fire crews managed to keep the fire from reaching the freeway, saving the little town of Lakeport. A few days later, the fire was out.

I have a list of things to take, just in case. Documents, medications, some clothing, food and water, dog food, both computer towers, my lap top, and Paul's letters. If there's time I'll grab the photos. Both vehicles have full tanks of gas and we have friends in the Bay Area we can go to if need be. Odds are, Ukiah will remain untouched by anything more than dense smoke, but just in case, I'm ready.

This is California. We all need to be ready. If it's not catching fire it's falling down in an earthquake. I've lived here my entire life, so droughts, wildfires and earthquakes are nothing new to me, but the loss of life and property is tragic. You can't take anything for granted, not even in California where the weather is gorgeous 80% of the time and the views rival the French Riviera. Enjoy the beauty, but watch for smoke.

Excellent Information about Types of Publishing and The "Amazon Situation"

While continuing my research about Amazon's new POD policy, I found this blog post which includes an overview of that policy as well as an explanation of what POD actually is. Written by Charlotte Boyett-Compo, guest blogger on Anchored Author.

From the post:

It’s clear that because of the new publishing models available now, even we authors are tripping over definitions and labels. Some aren’t even aware of the range of possibilities to pick from. And if authors aren’t straight on it, they can’t help educate readers on the huge variety of books available to them these days.

It doesn’t help make discussions about strategies for authors any easier when “POD”, for instance, means something different to everyone in the room.

Go to the blog to read the rest.

The term "POD" is very confusing, even for people in the industry, because it is used by different people to mean different things. When I use it, POD means Print-on-Demand, which is digitally printing a book an order at a time, rather than printing hundred or thousands of copies at a time using an "off-set press," which is the traditional model. I prefer to use POD because it allows me to print only the number of books I need at a time, keeps my inventory manageable, and uses less paper. I pay more per book than I would if I printed a thousand at a time, but the cost isn't prohibitive and I don't have to store a thousand books in my garage.

POD can also mean "Publish-On-Demand" which is completely different from Printing on Demand. Publish on demand is used by such companies as IUniverse, XLibros, and Booklocker wherein they take your manuscript and turn it into a book for you. Then they use Print on Demand to print as many copies as needed.

When I say POD, I'm talking about Printing. I call Publish on Demand presses Subsidy Presses, which means you pay them for their help creating your book. I think the term Subsidy Publishing became a stigma over the years, so those publishers now use the term Publish On Demand. There is nothing wrong with Subsidy Publishing. I know many people who have used IUniverse and are very happy with the service and quality of their book. An author just needs to be careful and understand exactly what they're getting before paying anyone to help them with their book. Not all subsidy presses are ethical.

Now I need to get back to work on the business book. I have a deadline looming. Remember to send me your questions if you'd like me to consider them for the book, or answer them here.

Ted Turner, Larry King, Secret Parties, and more Writing about Book Expo

Just when you thought I'd covered Book Expo, I found this excellent article written by journalist Paul Constant for The Stranger. I kept hearing about those upscale industry parties and here is proof they actually existed. Mr. Constant attended Larry King's party for the launch of Ted Turner's book, "Call Me Ted." (I saw Mr. Turner at Expo, walking slowly with two very young women on either side. And yes, he is much smaller than I expected).

Paul Constant definitely captured the surreal quality of Book Expo as he writes about Jeff Bezos' of Amazon.com speech about the Kindle, the teeth whitening booth, and publishers dressed up like teddy bears. I tell you, that event is more bizarre than a trip to Oz! He also writes about excellent books coming from small presses such as Soft Skull and McSweeney's.

From the article:

Larry King's backyard in Beverly Hills, with its high hedges, glittering pool, and verdant lawn, is full of Industry People. Besides Larry King, there aren't any movie or television stars here, but you get the sense that these are the people who hire the stars. There is a giant portrait of Larry King made entirely out of Jelly Bellies in the room overlooking the lawn. On the buffet table in the dining room is a mountainous spread of medium-rare bison, a layer-cake-like dip composed of seven varieties of goat cheese, dishes of duck pâté, and platters of other things so bizarre they almost seem like they were ordered off a menu from a myth.

Follow the above link for the rest. Excellent story!

The Combination of Business Savy and Artistic Passion

My Muse refuses to take off her power suit. She's even wearing a tie; a 1940's era silk tie with a brass tie-tac to be exact. She looks stunning in the gray slacks and matching jacket, lounging on the couch while reading the first draft of the business book I'm writing. Although she doesn't need glasses, she started wearing a pair of granny cat-eyed "cheaters" I found in a thrift shop. She says they help her think.

I've been cranking out the pages on this book as fast as possible, which this time of year is pretty dang slow. My daughter is out of school for the summer, so there goes my time to write. I grab an hour here, a half hour there, running away to the cafe as soon as Rick gets home from work so I can concentrate. My daughter is a good sport, giving me an hour while she plays or watches a movie. But only one hour; any longer and she succumbs to BOREDOM and swears she will swoon away from misery if I do not stop immediately and play with her. Thirteen is so dramatic.

But despite my lack of time, my Muse seems pleased. The heart of the book is there, with a few details to be flushed out. Plus, writing non-fiction doesn't seem to take as much concentration as fiction, at least for me. I jot down notes and look up resources around coloring with my daughter and doing the laundry. Then when I have time to write, I compile all those doodles into a cohesive paragraph. Also, writing this book is helping me fill in the gaps of my own knowledge about running a small business. What is the best way to write a business plan? How do you fill out form BEA-401-EZ? Is there a better way to track royalties? Writing a book like this combines my creativity and my business acumen, which is why my Muse has pledged to keep her suit on until the book is complete.

If you are a publisher, send me a question in the comment section and I'll answer it here, plus I'll add it to the book. The book will debute this Fall. Um... that's like, what... four months away? I'd better get crackin!

The Book Expo Experience I Wish I Had

I know, you're probably over my BEA fascination, but I'm still digesting the experience, analyzing what I did wrong (like falling into a speechless shell-shocked trance) and what I should do next time. Here is a link to an excellent blog post about BEA, written by Jacqueline Church(JC)Simonds of Creative Minds Press. She had the Book Expo experience I wish I had.

The next time I go (and I've decided I will go again when it returns to the West Coast) I'll do what this woman did; be SOCIAL!

There are great photos and she's a very good writer. Check it out.

Top Ten Publishers

I found this very interesting article called Top Ten Publishers in America, by Michael Hyatt, who writes the blog "From Where I Sit." Michael Hyatt is the President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, the leading Christian Publisher in the US.

I found this interesting because it is based on market share: who is getting the most books into the hands of the most readers. Market Share is one gage of a successful company and many would argue it is the best gage, more than earnings or revenue.

No real suprises. Random House is still the king of the publishing hill, despite Scholastic's incredible earnings from Harry Potter and the fact that both Micheal Moore and Ted Turner are being published by Hatchett. I don't know what their profits are, but more people are reading Random House Books than any other.

Book Expo is still very much on my mind right now, so this article made me think about the myriad of presses and authors I saw while wandering through the booths and aisles. Publishing is a gigantic industry, and Random House appears to be "the winner." Why them and not Simon and Schuster? What makes Random House so strong? Maybe it's like asking why Coca-Cola has a greater market share over Pepsi? I mean, they're basically the same drink, so what makes Coke stand out? Longevity? Better marketing? What is it about Random House that gives it the greater market share? From what I saw at Expo, no press really stood out over another. The "big houses" were all publishing pretty much the same type of book. The people were equally as pleasant to talk to. I saw nothing about Random House to distinguish them from Harpor Collins.

I find this subject just another facinating piece of the mysterious book industry which I am now a part of. A tiny part, but a part none the less.

Other Comments About Book Expo

Before I end this section on BEA, I'd like to include some comments from other Independent Publishers who attended Book Expo. I apologize for not posting sooner, everyone. I've had some family emergencies pop up (nothing serious, thank goodness, just time consuming).

"As this was my third Expo, I've gotten better at the networking. The first time you walk around in a haze because there is so much to see. The second time, I was a little more of an expert, but still shy with introductions and speaking to people. This time, I made some good connections."

-Judine Slaughter

"Once a month I travel from DC to NYC for meetings. Some of these meetings cover details for an upcoming publicity campaign. Other meetings are to get new business. There is something about book people in that they love placing a face to the name. Especially with the larger publishers where your firm won't be thought of when the next contract comes through without that personal contact. So, to me, that's what most people get from BEA. A super-sized, speedy, way to make a lot of introductions. My fav BEA story: I had been trying to work with a small HarperCollins imprint for a while. At BEA, I "ran into" Jane Friedman, made some small talk, introduced my firm, and that was it. Of course, my next pitch to this HC's imprint mentioned Friedman's comment about something our firm did, and well, sometimes that's enough.I saw the commentary from Chelsea Green's office disparaging the worth of trade shows in general; their thought was that you could go with trained sales reps, online marketing and do OK. Perhaps. But there is an undefinable quality to these trade shows that moves books, starts creative partnerships, and stirs ideas. But one day is probably enough. Count ourselves lucky, us independent publishers, that most of us have freedom to roam about the BEA!"

-Kelly Powers
Obie Joe Media

"This was our first year exhibiting at BEA, but not my first exhibiting at shows of this size in other industries. All in all I believe is was a valuable show for us. However, here's what I felt to be the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Good:
* Contacts. This show gives growing publishers an unprecedented opportunity to make contacts with a variety of people and services. I spoke with distributors, sales reps, associations, printers, illustrators, the media, and lots of other publishers. Our goals for making contacts and opening discussions were well met at the show.
* Information. I found a lot of people who were happy to talk about their companies, their products, and how they were achieving their goals.

Bad:
* Insofar as I could tell, the West Hall (children's books, cook books, indie publishers, writers, etc) received about 1/3 the attention the South Hall did.
* We met with very few librarians. PW reported that their attendance was very low and suspected it was due to an ALA meeting in LA later this month.

Ugly:
* Apparently "Independent Publisher" has become an acronym for "Self-Published Author." We'll never exhibit in the Indie Publisher section again.
* In the West Hall we easily saw more yellow exhibitor badges than we did blue retailer/bookseller badges.
* One of our authors, who attended BEA last year in NY, told us the LA show was vacant by comparison. My seat-of-the-pants guess is that only 15,000 attended.
* When the door man stopping you from taking your boxes out at 3:50pm on Sunday tells you that the FedEx shipping counter will be open at 4:05pm, don't believe him. We had to beg to get them to ship our stuff home.

Conclusion:
Would I exhibit again? yes, eventually."

-E. Keith (JB) Howick, Jr.
Wind River Publishing


"BEA is the proverbial elephant, and we're the blind people, each describing the whole based on the part(s) we touch. For me, BEA is mostly a matter of face time, making and building relationships that either are useful, or may someday become useful. So, for me, it fits into "vital confab." As an exhibitor, my BEA was seen primarily from my fixed position in my booth in the Publishers Group West (PGW) area. Why exhibit? Because people (and opportunity) can find you. When you're walking the floor, you can find other exhibitors, but finding anyone else who walks the floor is a matter of chance. I once walked the floor, essentially hat in hand, and was essentially another face in the crowd. I saw much, but accomplished very little. With a booth near the front-center of the main exhibit hall thanks to PGW, traffic is very, very good. Traffic is much slower in the small press exhibit area (hint: don't let the lower price of a small press booth seduce you. If you're going to exhibit, spend the extra money for a booth in the main exhibit area). Again, it's a matter of face time. Since much of my business does go through traditional trade channels, the show's emphasis on the traditional book trade speaks very much to my needs. I had meetings with my domestic and international distribution partners, discussed international rights with a very enthusiastic overseas publisher, was introduced to various booksellers as they were escorted around the PGW area by PGW reps, and had lots of interaction time with the staff and executives at PGW and its parent, Perseus. That kind of familiarity pays dividends all year long. All my time was not spent in-booth. I ventured out several times to touch base with various suppliers and friends around the show floor. Again, face time has its long-term benefits I'm certain I moved my business forward on a variety of fronts. Had I tried to do the same without BEA, I'd probably have paid far more on airfare and hotels, spent far more time away from the office, and still not have accomplished as much."

-Dave Marx
PassPorter Travel Press

To read another perspective, read the Catalyst Press Blog. J.L. Powers is the publisher and has become a friend thanks to BEA. We'd chatted several times but finally got to meet face to face at BEA.

What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew

The one workshop I attended at BEA was called "What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew." The panel included Librarians from Brooklyn, Chicago, Seattle and the University of California, Irvine, and was led by Nora Rawlinson, former editor-in-chief of Library Journal.

The most important thing I learned was just how important sales to Libraries in context of overall book sales are. According to the Book Industry Study Group, 10% of all book sales are to Libraries. 40% of Mid-List titles are sold to Libraries. Plus, Libraries really promote their books. They are as interested in attracting readers as you are and put a lot of energy into their websites and other promotional materials. If your book is chosen to be part of one of those promotional campaigns ("1 book, 1 community" for example) all that promotion can help you sell more copies in stores.

Think about it. If every Library system bought just one copy of your book, that's about 5000 copies sold. So don't disparage library sales as lost revenue.

Ms. Rawlinson provided a handout with information about a new, Library related information site called Early Word which publishers can access.

Overall, demand for audio-books at Libraries has increased greatly while e-books are not as popular. However this may also be related to location because the Librarian from Brooklyn stated audio-books are not as popular in New York. Libraries are not buying many print reference books anymore. Instead they are buying licenses for access to electronic materials which are updated regularly. More readers are using Library websites to look for books than ever before, and Libraries are changing their sites to keep up with that demand, making them more interactive and easier to use. Libraries use all Wholesale catalogues to find books, including Ingram, and it is very important to make sure your book's information is up-to-date and thorough. Libraries also use Library Thing and Good Reads to discover hot books readers will want.

Also, the rumor that Libraries don't like to buy paperbacks is false. Libraries buy what their customers request and most readers like to read paperbacks.

How to contact a Librarian to pitch your book depends on the Librarian, but the ones on this panel all prefer email. Also, most Libraries are part of a system with different "branches," so pitch to the Acquisitions Librarian. That person decides what books will be available for ALL branches. If you go to your local library branch and ask them to stock your book, they will send you to the Acquisitions Librarian.

When the talk ended, I jumped up and joined the crush of people pitching their books to the panel. At last, we had found the elusive Librarians! They were all generous with their time and answering questions. I gave a copy of Traveling Blind to a Librarian from San Francisco who had been sitting behind me, and another copy to the Librarian from University of California. My goal is to have Traveling Blind; Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers in every University in the country. Wish me luck.

Recovering from Book Expo America

Obviously I didn't do my BEA homework well enough, because despite my plans and goals for the event, I spent most of the time wandering around the LA Convention Center, hopelessly lost. Spending time at BEA is a lot like spending time on the internet. You intend to do research on a particular topic, say Beverly Hills shoes, but you start clicking on other links and exploring more sites and before you know it two hours have passed and you now know everything there is to know about South-East LA weather patterns. I missed all but one of the workshops I'd signed up for and missed every author signing I was interested in. Attending BEA became a test of Zen.

However, I don't think it was a complete waste of time. I did get a glimpse of the bizarre and somewhat elusive book industry, and I was pleasantly surprised by how polite everyone was. Not once did I get mowed over or ignored. Even rep's at the Simon and Schuster pavilion were cheerful and chatted about books with me. They graciously accepted a flier about Laura's book while offering me a pre-release book of their own, some of which I accepted. That's one thing about BEA I learned very quickly: say no to an offered book or you'll quickly spend the day hauling around 30 pounds in your bag. But behind the smiling reps at Simon and Schuster and Random House is where the real purpose of BEA is. At numerous tables in each pavilion sat well dressed men and women making deals and taking book orders. Their heads were bowed close together as they looked over contracts and papers, speaking in quiet voices, and finishing their discussion with a firm handshake. I heard snippets of conversations: "that's not very many units..." "he doesn't know what he's talking about..." "I'm not sure about these numbers..." "this display alone cost one thousand dollars." I felt that I had wandered into a secret society's secret convention and the secret members were speaking in a secret code. They even had secret handshakes.

I also learned that I was under-dressed. Despite the fact BEA is a convention, people were dressed in black suits and sleek dresses, and most wore impractical, high-heeled shoes. Because I'd been warned over and over to wear good shoes, I noticed people's feet. 60% chose style over comfort. In my jeans, Medusa's Muse t-shirt, and red Keens, it was obvious I wasn't an "insider." Several times I was asked if I was a librarian. I guess librarians like to be comfortable.

Speaking of librarians, I couldn't find any. The American Library Association booth was abandoned and there was no "library section." I spent all Saturday morning hunting for them, eager to hand out free copies of Traveling Blind. No luck. That was the same time I lost my cell phone, so by lunchtime on day two of BEA I was ready to sit on the floor and cry. Happily, an exhibitor found my cell phone and when I called my number I found them. Thank you so much, Interlink Publishing! After the cell phone fiasco I found librarians in a workshop called "What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew." An interesting talk, and I'll go into more detail in my next post. I gave free copies to two of them and handed fliers to the rest.

I did manage to find the Independent Publishers Section and Writer's Row, both located in the very back of the West Hall, about as far from the Main-South Hall as you can get. All I can say is these people are brave. While walking up and down the two aisles, I got very depressed. There were table after table of writers and publishers, practically leaping into the aisle and thrusting a book into my hand, as if begging me to take one. I took too many, and while a few were poorly produced in my opinion, I did find some treasures, especially a book by Simhananda published by Orange Palm and Magnificent Magus Publications. I will write about more Indy publishers I met at BEA in a later post.


The highlight of the event for me was the 20 minutes I chatted with Gordon Burgett while drinking champagne during the PMA Fortieth Birthday bash at their booth. He wrote one of the books that helped start Medusa's Muse: Publishing To Niche Markets. That's he and I in the above photo.

The other wonderful, as well as humbling moment, was when I found Laura's book on the PMA shelves. At first, I couldn't find it, but then, hidden amongst the other biography/autobiography books, was Traveling Blind. Can you find it in the photo at the top of this post? (sorry, it's a little blurry).


Overall, I'm glad I went, but I'm not sure I'll go again. Or if I do go when it returns to California, I'll just buy a day pass. And I definitely won't go alone! Jane was planning to come with me, but circumstances kept her away, so I had to go solo. I'm not a naturally outgoing, gregarious person and a shy person at BEA doesn't stand a chance. I'm sure I would have had more fun if I'd been there with a pack of friends and we schmoozed our way into some of those after-hours parties. Also, I would dress better. Nicer outfits, skirts with stockings, but I'd still wear my comfy shoes.

A Plan of Attack for Book Expo.

Early morning tomorrow I leave for LA and my first Book Expo (BEA), which according to the program is the "largest publishing event in the United States."

"With more than 2,000 exhibits, 1,000 authors, over 150 conference sessions as well as a special area for rights business, you'll see all the latest titles across genres, uncover hidden gems, network, and meet the industry contacts to put you instantly on top of what you need to know for your business."

With so much offered, how do I find all those "industry contacts," "hidden gems," and "what I need to know?" A friend told me that BEA is more than simply gigantic, it is several football fields in size and packed with information, booths, exhibits, workshops, readings, lectures, and of course, the all important swag. Another prior attendee warned me to pack snacks because food there is overpriced and limited, so I stocked up on trail mix, tiger-milk bars, and bananas. I've also been warned to wear good, comfortable shoes, so a couple of weeks ago I blew a bunch of cash on a new pair of Keens. My feet are now happy and my tummy feels secure, but my head is swimming. Time to make a plan.

My Muse and I spent the morning scanning the BEA website and the program they sent me in the mail. After reading about several hundred exhibitors, talks, and events, we realized we needed a better plan than just meandering. What did I hope to learn in three days?

First, I'm going to Book Expo to just see the sheer magnitude of it. Book Expo IS the Book Industry, and my little press and temperamental Muse are a part of it. Wandering around soaking up the energy will fulfill that want.

Second, I want to network with other small presses and "talk shop." Being a publisher can be just as lonely as being a writer; we both spend too much time alone tied to our laptops. My Muse found the Small Press Section on the Conference map and we're making that our first stop when we arrive.

Third, I'd like to learn more about the business of running a press, and marketing the books. I signed up for a presentation from Google about their Google Books program since I've recently added Laura's book to their list. I also plan to listen to Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com talk about their plans. Perhaps some of the issues around Create Space will be addressed. And then I'm attending the Book Industry Trends 2008 talk, presented by the Book Industry Study Group (BISG). There's a talk called "What Librarians Wish Publishers Knew" which looks good, and one called "The Changing Landscape of Book Distribution."

Fourth, I want to have fun. I'm meeting a fellow publisher Friday night for dinner and I may go ahead and splurge on Lewis Black tickets Saturday night. This is my vacation this year and a time to devote ALL my energy to Medusa's Muse. No child, no hubby, no dog. I might even get a full nights sleep for a change! Heaven!

My Muse is now packing. We're driving down with Jane to LA, then flying home because Jane is heading off for a Grand Canyon Adventure. Keeping in mind we have to carry everything home on a plane, and future swag, we'd better pack light.

"Do you think wearing the Medusa's Muse t-shirt is over the top?" I ask her.

"Not at all. And bring the Medusa's Muse bag. Don't be shy! That's me on your shirt, remember?"

Now I have a plan, new shoes, hearty snacks, a digital camera, a bag for swag, eight books to give away and fifty fliers to hand out, 100 business cards, and three days of clothing. I think I'm ready.

My Daughter Turned Thirteen Yesturday

You don't have to suffer to be a poet. Adolescence is enough suffering for anyone. ~John Ciardi, Simmons Review, Fall 1962

On a personal note, my daughter just turned thirteen. I know some of you aren't reading my blog to learn about my personal life, but this is a momentous occasion and I really need to take a moment to let the fact sink in. My daughter, my little girl, my once-upon-a-time infant, is now a teenager. A TEENAGER.

The Teenager is a Uniquely Human Phenomenon. (from The New Scientist, written by John Pickrell)

Adolescents are known to be moody, insecure, argumentative, angst-ridden, impulsive, impressionable, reckless and rebellious. Teenagers are also characterised by odd sleeping patterns, awkward growth spurts, bullying, acne and slobbish behaviour. So what could be the possible benefit of the teenage phase?

Most other animals - apes and human ancestors included - skip that stage altogether, developing rapidly from infancy to full adulthood. Humans, in contrast, have a very puzzling four-year gap between sexual maturity and prime reproductive age. Anthropologists disagree on when the teenage phase first evolved, but pinpointing that date could help define its purpose.

Indeed, why do we human beings have to go through this drawn out process of differentiation from our parents? Why do we suddenly go from adorable, happy child, to angry, bitter teen?

My own daughter is still kind, cheerful and friendly, but her mood swings are a bit hard to manage sometimes. She'll be laughing and joking one moment and then throw herself to the floor in tears. I ask, "What's wrong?" She wails, "I don't know!" Then, just as suddenly as the tsunami struck, the tears vanish and she cracks a joke about how the floor smells like farts.

Add to the normal chaos of adolescence, my daughter copes with a disability. As fast as she grows up, she's losing her hearing. She is now labeled "Deaf-Blind." Her peers still like her and call her a friend, but she can't keep up with them anymore. While they are chasing boys and playing sports, my daughter spends recess sitting on the bench, waiting for someone to notice she's alone. It breaks my heart and I have no idea how to solve that problem. I'm afraid I can't do anything at all. This is her challenge, her path, and all I can do is love her and support her while she figures out how to cope with a new, changing body and the same old disability.

Laura Fogg, who is my daughter's teacher as well as a Medusa's Muse author, gave my daughter a beautiful butterfly quilt, complete with red and purple flowers and a large Monarch Butterfly. My daughter spent several minutes exploring the quilt with her fingers, touching the wings of the butterfly and the crinkly petals of the flowers. The quilt reminded me that my daughter has many people who love her and maybe together we can help her get through this tricky time called adolescence.

Can Google Replace the Need for Amazon?

While thinking about the ways Amazon.com helps small publishers sell books and compete with the "big guys," I started to wonder about Google. Who else has a search engine that will efficiently allow customers to find books from small presses and other niche markets? Google is the King of search engines, in my opinion, and I realized they have a Book Search option. I decided to give their program a try.

I went to Google Books and signed up, then uploaded Traveling Blind: Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers to their server via their own Google Book Uploader. Quick and easy to use.

One of the big concerns about Google Books is how easily people may be able to steal your book's contents off the net. This is what Google says:

Keep Your Content Protected

Users get a taste of your book—but only a taste. We scan the full text of your book because we want people to be able to search all its content. But users can only access a limited number of pages to determine whether they've found what they're looking for.

We understand that your books are valuable, so we treat them with special care. All the books you send us will be hosted on Google servers and protected by the same security as Google.com’s search data.

To further protect your book content, printing and image copying functions are disabled on all Google Book Search pages.

It may take a few days for Laura's book to appear through the Google book site, but once it does I'll post the link and update you on anything I learn from using Google. The book is already listed in the Google books catalogue, but there is no cover image or excerpt yet. However, I can already see how many retailers carry the book and at what price, as well as which libraries have a copy. I wonder what more information will be provided once the Medusa's Muse account is activated. Another interesting thing about Google Books is that you can earn revenue from the ads they post along with your book. That's something Amazon doesn't do.

But will Google replace consumer's Amazon habit? How many people know they can find books via Google? I think in time the Google Book Search will become a viable alternative to Amazon.com, but that may take several years.

Book Locker is suing Amazon

This was in the Seattle Times:

Maine publisher sues Amazon.com
BANGOR, Maine —
The operator of a print-on-demand publishing business is suing online giant Amazon.com over its decision to limit business to only one on-demand publisher.

Angela Hoy contends in U.S. District Court that Amazon's decision to exclusively use one on-demand publisher runs afoul of antitrust law.

About half of her Bangor-based BookLocker.com's sales are through Amazon and there are about 4,300 potential print-on-demand class members, she said. The lawsuit seeks class-action status, an injunction preventing Amazon from implementing the new policy and monetary damages.

Follow the Above Link for the rest of the story.

There has been a great deal of talk in the industry about whether or not a class action lawsuit against Amazon.com would surface. After the Washington State Attorney General declined to investigate allegations of an Amazon Monopoly, publishers were watching to see who would make the first legal move against Amazon. Book Locker has taken the first step.

My Muse is pleased. "Really, all your investigating into the costs of using Amazon and your conclusion that it isn't cost prohibitive is annoying! It sounds like your planning to just give in!"

"I'm not planning to give in. I'm simply learning everything I can now so that if the time comes for me to make a decision about Amazon, I can make the best one."

"What's to decide? Why would you even consider working with those Amazon pirates?"

"Remember when we talked about the legal ramifications of using Laura's student's real names in her book?"

"Yes."

"And I explained that I'm not giving in to legal intimidation, I'm simply learning the rules of publishing and doing what I can to protect Medusa's Muse and my authors?"

"Yes. I remember."

"The same principle applies here. If I need to work with Amazon to help my authors, then I will. The most important thing is the books we create, not my own feelings."

She looks at me with one raised eyebrow and taps a finger against her chin. "Makes sense." Then she moves so close to me I can feel the breath of her snakes on my cheek. "But do you remember what I said?"

"If you thought I was giving in due to fear you'd leave me."

She smiles and narrows her eyes. "I'm just making sure you remember."

What does Amazon.com Provide Independent Publishers?

Part Three of the Amazon Questions.

Last week I broke down the cost of using POD printing through Amazon.com to try and decide if I could afford to use two POD printers. The answer was yes. The overall cost would only go up by $50.00 if I used Amazon and continued using LSI. Now the question is, what does Amazon provide Independent Publishers that makes it worth the extra $50.00?

Amazon.com helped launch the publishing revolution. With their built-in search engine that allows consumers to find any niche book they can dream of easily and quickly, Amazon helped micro and self-publishers directly compete with bigger publishing houses. Combined with Print-On-Demand technology, a revolution in book publishing was born.

Can a small press survive without the Amazon.com marketing muscle?

Shopping on Amazon.com has become a part of our American culture. You can buy everything from clothes, lawn furniture, electronics, and books. I have been asked many times if our book is available from Amazon, and so far I've been able to say yes. Buyers know they can easily get Laura's book for a good price, delivered quickly to their door. What happens if I say no. Will I lose the sale? Where else will they go for Laura's book?

Consumers want to use Amazon much like Bookstores want to use book distributors. A bookstore only wants ONE catalogue to find books for their shop and doesn't want to wade through the thousands of publishers websites and catalogues to order books. A book buyer would rather search one store, Amazon.com, and find books on their chosen topic rather than wander the internet hunting for that one book that will satisfy their need. And even if Google can provide better book search results for their topic, the consumer would rather pay one shipping fee from one source. Publishers can not compete with the convenience of Amazon.com and it just might be worth that extra $50.00 to continue providing that convenience to our customers.

So why bother using Lightning Source/Ingram at all? Is getting into the Ingram catalogue so important? If you want your book in other bookstores and on other websites, such as Powells.com, then you need Ingram. This will also help get your book into libraries. Not every book needs to be in the Ingram catalogue so the choice should be made book by book. If you have a very niche book, for example, a book about the different types of aquarium lights, then you might want to skip Ingram completely and focus all of your energy on Amazon. But if your market is wider than just fish tank aficionados, having a broader base from which to sell those books may be important.

To answer the question: Amazon provides marketing muscle I may not be able to duplicate on my own, as well as customer convenience through its order fulfillment process. I think that is worth $50.00.

Next, I'll do more math and tactical planning to see if I could duplicate Amazon.com's marketing and fulfillment. Will it be as hard as I assume?

Taking the Weekend Off

Yes, I know I've been slacking. I haven't posted in a while. But I've decided to join my Muse for the weekend in the back yard and do nothing but drink wine and watch the day's heat shimmer off the leaves. Every now and then we all need a break from our to-do lists and homework. I have a final in business class on wednesday, a project due in xhtml class on friday, a book to write, a full length play and an essay to revise, more Punk edits, bills, housework and a yard trying desperately to survive this drought. But you know, I'm just going to keep sitting here with my Muse and enjoy the color of the red wine as it reflects sunlight. My daughter is visiting her dad, so I'm off mommy duty and I had a full nights sleep for the first time in weeks. I got out of bed at 9:30 this morning a little disoriented, but feeling good. Calm. I realized I don't have to be productive every second of every day. For one quiet weekend, I can close the Medusa office and go to the movies with my hubby (I saw Iron Man. It was excellent. Go see it). I can stay in my pj's and ignore the phone while reading new blog posts by Elijah Brubaker. I don't have to be responsible.

Tomorrow I'll be Mommy again and will tackle that homework after I drive my daughter to Stanford for a doctor's appointment. That's tomorrow. Today... well... that's for day dreaming.

Amazon questions, part 2

Last week, I asked questions about using Amazon.com's Booksurge/Create Space for my POD printing rather than only using Lightning Source. Here are those questions again:

1)How much will Amazon's new policy of requiring POD printers to use Booksurge cost?

2)How does that affect my book production budget?

3)What exactly am I getting for my money?

4)What are the marketing benefits of continuing to sell books through Amazon that I will lose if I decide not to use Amazon?

5)How much will those lost marketing benefits cost? How does that affect my book marketing budget?

6)What is the advantage of just using Lightning Source, and therefore Ingram?

After crunching the numbers, I can now answer questions 1 and 2.

1) How much will Amazon’s policy cost?

I contacted Amazon and asked customer service about Booksurge and how much their new policy will cost. The email from the representative directed me to Create Space. Booksurge is only for larger publishers. Create Space is geared toward self-publishers and they offer many services, such as editing and design. Since I don’t need any of that, I went directly to their print pricing list.

Create Space charges .85 per book plus .13 cents per page for a book with more than 108 pages. Laura’s book is 209 pages.

209 x .013 = 2.71 + .85 = $3.56

There is no set-up fee, unless I go with their “Pro-plan” which is $50.00 more. The pro-plan allows me to keep more of the royalties on each sale and the cost per book is cheaper.

Lightning Source, who I am currently using for my POD printer, charges $.90 per book plus .13 cents per page.

209 x .013 = 2.71 + .90 = $3.61 Lightning also charges a 1.50 handling fee on fulfillment orders (orders from stores directly through Ingram).

There was no mention of handling fees or shipping costs on the Create Space site.

Lightning charges a $50.00 set up fee, the same price as the Create Space Pro-plan.

Because I don’t know how much shipping and fulfillment are through Create Space, I don’t have all the information needed to determine the exact cost. However, based on the fact that Lightning and Create Space are almost identically priced, I can make a pretty good guess that they will be similarly priced in shipping and fulfillment as well. However, because books printed by Create Space will be sold directly through Amazon, those “handling costs” may be lower. To know for certain, I need more information about how books sold via Amazon will be handled.

2) How does that affect my overall budget?

Basically, I will need to use TWO printers to get my books in Amazon and the Ingram and Baker and Taylor catalogues. That means two set up fees of $50.00. After that, it’s a per book charge. Both printers are similarly priced, so I don’t see too many extra costs. Since I do my own design and editing, I don’t need the other services Create Space offers. I think my book production budget will only go up by $50.00.

Again, I don't have all the information I need, and a fellow publisher mentioned that Create Space is NOT the right Amazon POD service for me. There still seems to be some confusion about who will use BookSurge and who Create Space. Also, I don't know how the Associates Program fits into all this. For the time being, Amazon is still ordering Laura's book from Ingram, so now isn't the time to make changes.

Next, I'll try to answer question 3; What exactly am I getting for my money (besides POD)?

Panic at the Play

Friday was opening night of the New Works Festival of Plays at Mendocino College. I spent most of the day just trying to figure out what to wear (seems like the more nervous I am, the more outfits I try on). Should I dress as the serious writer, complete with black beret, casual writer in jeans and Keen shoes, or whimsical writer in flowy, blue skirt and scarf? Whimsical writer won, and at last it was time to go to the theatre. As my hand grabbed the door knob, I suddenly felt like I didn't want to go. Nope, I think I'll just stay home and hear about it from the director. Way safer! Coward, my Muse declared, and kicked me out the door.

At the theatre, I waited in the auditorium and watched it fill up with people. My brother and nephew were coming, but were unfortunately late. That gave me plenty of time to sit alone and fight the butterflies in my stomach while my palms got sweaty.

My Muse leaned over from the seat behind me and asked, "What are you so worried about?"

"I have no idea. But right now, I really want to leave."

She gripped my shoulder. "You're not going anywhere. Besides, no one came to see you, remember. You're just the play write. They came to see the actors perform the work. No one knows who you are."

"Right." I took a deep breath. Then the director of the festival took the stage and welcomed everyone while the staff closed the theatre doors. Oh just great, I thought. Now my brother can't get in!

The director talked about the festival and the selection of plays, then asked each director and play write to stand as he called our names. What! Ack! Now they'll know who I am. My Muse laughed.

"The writer of Choices, Terena Scott." I slowly stood, holding down my "whimsical" skirt so it wouldn't be lifted by the seat chair flipping up. Then I slowly sat, smoothed my skirt around me, and tried not to pass out.

The house lights dimmed just as my brother and nephew walked in, so they were stuck on the opposite side of the theatre and I was left alone in the dark with my sadistic Muse, surrounded by 100 spectators who I was convinced were all watching me twitch.

After the second play, I got up and dragged my brother and nephew to the seats I'd aggressively saved for them. Now that they were near, I felt a little better. No longer alone. But as soon as the fourth play began, my play, the butterflies in my stomach got so frantic I felt like throwing up. My heart pounded. I clenched my jaw, gripped the arms of the seat, and hyperventilated. I focused on the actors and willed myself not to pass out. I could see the headline in our local paper: Play write collapses at Festival of Plays. Doctor's say it was Stage-Fright.

My play was beautiful. The set was an exterior garden complete with greenery and tivoli lights. The opening music was Time After Time by Cindy Lauper. The actors were strong and their performance riveting. The audience laughed in unexpected spots. I tried to enjoy the moment, but I still had the feeling that they were actually watching me from the invisible eyeballs in the back of their heads. When my play ended, I wanted to cry.

Three more plays followed mine and at last the festival ended. My brother was impressed and even my 15 year old nephew "wasn't too bored." People congratulated my work. Friends gave me hugs and cheered for me.

My Muse asked, "How do you feel now?"

"I want to cry."

I went home and tried to figure out what had happened. I've acted in plays, stage-managed even more, and directed a few, but never have I suffered from such severe stage-fright, and I wasn't even on stage! The one thing all of my prior theatre experience have in common is the barrier of the stage. I was either on it, or behind it. I've never sat in the audience of any production I've been a part of. I could never hear the shuffling, sighing, squeaking of seats, and whispering sounds of an audience so close to me. The lack of the stage barrier was terrifying.

Understanding where my panic came from made the second night better. I was nervous, but not so panicked. Plus, this time my hubby came with me and I didn't spend any time by myself thinking about all those people staring at me. Yes, I know they aren't. As soon as I sat back down people forgot me and turned their attention to the stage. It's much like when I go to an author reading and once I'm introduced they forget I'm the publisher. I realize I like that anonymity.

I hope to write more plays and share them with audiences and actors. One of the directors of a play in the festival asked me if I write full length plays. Why yes, I'm currently revising a full length play now. Good, he said, and encouraged me to submit it to our local theatre company. The only thing I wonder about is how much worse will my vicarious stage fright be when the ENTIRE PRODUCTION is written by ME.

This is another torture my Muse will insist upon!

An interview with me on KMEC about raising a child with a disability.

Last week, Laura was schedule to be interviewed by Jin Gwong, a Buddhist Nun at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas on her KMEC radio program called "Compassion." That morning, Laura called me to ask if I could fill in. Her daughter had just gone into labor with Laura's first grand-child and Laura wanted to be there. Of course, I said, and sent Laura on her way. But then I realized that I had to do a one hour interview in two hours with no idea of what we would talk about!

Well, here's the interview (click on 5/3 show).I'm happy to report I actually sound articulate! A big thank you to Jin Gwong for handling the last minute change so professionally and making me feel comfortable. She's an excellent interviewer.

And a hearty congratulations to Grandma Laura and to her family, who welcomed a daughter into the world!

How much will it cost me to continue working with Amazon?

I'm late posting to my blog because I've been spending time trying to figure out how much extra it will cost my press if I add Booksurge to my printing bill. I'd like to continue working with Amazon, but can I afford it? After several days of hunting, I still don't know.

I'm trying to discover:

1)How much will Amazon's new policy of requiring POD printers to use Booksurge cost?

2)How does that affect my book production budget?

3)What am I getting exactly for my money?

4)What are the marketing benefits of continuing to sell books through Amazon that I will lose if I decide not to use Amazon?

5)How much will those lost marketing benefits cost? How does that affect my book marketing budget?

6)What is the advantage of just using Lightning Source, and therefore Ingram?

I'm trying to look at the Amazon/Booksurge issue with clear, hard, business eyes, setting aside whatever emotional response I have to the perceived strong-armed tactics of Amazon. This isn't easy, because if I feel that I'm being bullied, I get terrifically stubborn and fight back. You think you can push me around? Hah! I'll show you just how tough this short-chick can be!

Not always the right response when you're running a business. Sometimes making decisions for your small business based on emotions, without clear facts to back up those emotions, can get your business into financial trouble. You have to ask yourself, what is the ultimate goal?

So, back to my list of questions. How much will Amazon's new policy cost? This question has been surprisingly difficult to answer.

I went to the Booksurge website and found information for publishers:

Maximize Sales Potential

Titles available as “in stock” on Amazon.com
Extend book lifecycle indefinitely
Publish more books with lower risk

Reduce Costs and Increase Profit

No inventory or small-order risk
No shipping or logistics overhead
Decrease excess costs in your supply chain
Low setup fees and printing rates

However, there was zero information about the ACTUAL cost of printing. For that info, you have to "contact publisher's services for information." That irks me. I had to do that too at Lightning Source, but then they quickly sent me the info I needed regarding pricing and set up costs without being hounded by a sales-rep. Maybe Booksurge will do the same? Usually when I contact a company for more information, they give me the "sales-pitch" rather than answering my questions. Just give me the cost, please, and leave the rap out of it. I can make up my own mind. But this is another one of those moments when I need to hold back my immediate emotional response (just tell me how much it costs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and go through the process to collect the best information I can.

The one thing on that above list that stands out to me is Titles available as “in stock” on Amazon.com . That is disconcerting. I have seen publisher's buy-buttons vanish. So far, my buy button is still there, but for how long?

I also went to the Amazon Advantage website to learn more about that program. It states, "The annual fee for Advantage is $29.95, regardless of the number of titles you enroll." Okay, not bad. $29.95 for your press, not per each book. I read more: "There is an annual fee of $29.95 to be a member of Advantage. Your fee includes unlimited title enrollment. Advantage is a consignment inventory strategy. The standard commission rate is 55% - you keep 45% of the List Price."

"The standard 55% commission rate means that Amazon.com is entitled to 55% of the List Price for each unit that sells. You, the vendor, receive 45% of the List Price. You set the List Price, also known as Suggested Retail Price, of your products, and all payments made to you are calculated based on the List Price. If Amazon.com decides to further reduce the sales price to the customer below the List Price, the customer discount comes out of Amazon.com's percentage. For example, if the List Price is $39.95, you will make $17.98 from each copy sold, even if the Customer Price or Our Price on Amazon.com is discounted from the List Price."

55% is the standard in the industry, meaning Amazon's cut on the sale is the same as Barnes and Noble or any other bookstore. It's the percentage I gave Ingram when I signed my contract with Lightning Source. Lightning Source lets you set the percentage at anything (I know many small publishers who do only 40%) and I decided for the broadest potential sales I should follow the industry standard. Amazon has set the percentage.

Currently, Advantage is for publishers who are not listing their books with Ingram. I couldn't find any specific information about the relationship between the Advantage program and Booksurge. I thought there was one, but maybe I'm wrong?

I will contact Booksurge and request info. Once I have pricing information, I can compare that to what I know Lightning Source charges. Then I can answer the next question, how does that affect my book production budget? Can I afford to use both Booksurge and Lightning Source? Can I afford not to?

Etymologists Corner

There's another Etymologists Corner post at Blood and Ink from Andrew David King (this time I got the name right!).

The word is Tatterdemalion

If you're a word nerd like me, or just need something interesting to read while you wait for your work day to end, head over to Blood and Ink to read about this "tattered" word.

Why Don't I Publish My Own Books?

My Muse is happy right now, a state that is hard to achieve and impossible to maintain. She's pleased with the progress of Medusa's Muse Press, and very excited to be working with a new author. She's also impressed by the growth of Laura's book. And she'll give me points for actually writing a full length play in one month. All bases are covered in my Muse's view. I am being productive AND creative. However...

"Why aren't you publishing you're own work?" she asked, flipping through my play for the hundredth time looking for things to revise.

"Um... I don't have anything ready yet."

"But you have a project in the works, right?"

"Yeah. It's not ready."

"It will be in a few months, IF you get working on it again." She stared at me so hard the end of my nose got cold.

"I will. Don't worry. I haven't dropped the project. If you haven't notice, I've been a little busy lately." I nodded toward the play in her hands. She smiled.

"Yes. I know. And I'm happy you finished something for a change." She set the play aside and leaned toward me. "But I think you're scared to publish you're own book and you'll keep hunting for things to keep you busy so you won't be able to finish it."

"I am not!" I folded my arms and tried to look confident. "Right now I prefer to work with other writers, not just myself."

"Sure you do." She twirled a snake around one finger thoughtfully and waited. I hate it when she does that.

"I like working with other people," I continued. "I'd much rather do that than have to do it ALL. I can't imagine trying to write a book AND make all the desicions about its design and cover AND try to market it. Publishing other people's work helps me gain perspective. I'm not so attached to every word on the page. I can make the tough choices. I'm not so sure I can wear both hats; author and publisher."

"Sounds rational." She kept twirling that snake until I feared its poor little head would pop off.

"The press is very important to me, more important than my own books. I love writing and I'll always do it, but I don't know if I'm ready to publish my own work."

"I think you're scared."

"Of course I am. That's not a surprise."

"I think you're also afraid of the stigma."

"What stigma?"

"That you can only get published by yourself."

There was a long awkward silence while we stared at each other; me trying to think of something intelligent to say and she trying not to grin. She knew she was right but I was darn sure not going to validate that.

I took a deep breath and said, "Don't be ridiculous. I have no bias against self-publishers."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't! I have a bias against bad writing, whether it's self-published or not. If the writing is good, then who cares who published it? In fact, people who can write well and self-publish are brilliant in my book. I sure can't do it."

She let go of the snake which sprung back against her head and gasped for breath, then she pointed her bony finger at me. "Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"You're afraid. You think your writing might be so bad people will scoff and think you're one of the unprofessional publishers, incapable of seeing the problems with your own work."

All I could do was fold my arms around myself tighter and say, "I am not."

She stood and moved closer, resting her hand on my head. "It's okay. You can be afraid. You were afraid to start Medusa's Muse and now look at you. A full fledged publisher with one succesful book and two more on the way. So in time, you'll stop being afraid about publishing your own book."

"I never stopped being afraid you know."

"I know. But you did it anyway. Just like one of these days, you'll publish you're own book."

I knew she'd make me do it one of these days, whether I want to or not. She's that kind of muse.