Letter from the President
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes…
Once again, lots has gone on since our last newsletter and member meeting:
- eBooks surpassed print books in sales on Amazon for the first time.
- Borders gave up the ghost and admitted it won't be finding a buyer, sending 11,000 employees into the bread lines and leaving many small communities with no bookstore (personally, I see this as a HUGE opportunity for savvy indy bookstores to start up, since many have weathered the Big Box invasion and lived to tell the tale, but that's for another article).
- J.K. Rowling went rogue, bringing out the eBook versions of her bazillion-selling Harry Potter series as an independent publisher (and wiping out the indy pub stigma in one fell swoop -- Thanks, J.K.!).
Losing our treasurer
But the biggest change -- closest to home for us -- is that we lost our hardworking and much-appreciated board member and treasurer, Peg Silloway (
The Silloway Press), to Washington State. Yep, Peg succumbed to the siren call of the cool Northwestern rainforest, mild climate and gorgeous vistas of the
Evergreen State, and retirement. Well, not really. She's still gonna be publishing, but more for enjoyment of the game than anything else.
We wish Peg and her husband, Phil, all the best in their new home, but we'll miss her dedicated service to our group. I'm not sure everyone realizes how lucky we were to have a real CPA on our board of directors, who could not only do the monthly bookkeeping and records, but also file all our financials and taxes while processing payments for everything from events and festivals to meeting registrations. She served us well and with commitment and reliability, and she will be greatly missed in service and in spirit, as she was generous with both. Please
let her know how much you appreciate her service, and wish her good luck in her new home, won't you?
Still, while we are sad to bid farewell to Peg, we're also lucky and grateful to have a capable
replacement in the person of member Mike Lovell (
Life ReLoaded). Mike came on board early this year as a member, and quickly became active in the organization. He did a fantastic presentation on Best Practices in Indy Publishing for our spring members meeting, sharing a lot of great information that will help us build our own best practices manual that will eventually become a valuable member benefit and that we'll be able to sell outside our group as a fundraiser. But for now, Mike's going to be taking over for Peg as both a board member and our treasurer. It's a lot of work, and I know I speak for our entire board in welcoming him and being grateful for his willingness to serve. I'm sure he'd appreciate
hearing from you to also extend your own welcome and thanks.
Two New Board Members
It was changing of the guard time on the board of directors, and not just with Peg's departure. We also had two other seat changes recently. After decades of educational nonfiction publishing, Eileen Haavik-McIntire (
Summit Crossroads Press) just published her first novel, and decided that she was overcommitted and needed time to promote her new book. Though we're sorry to lose Eileen as a board member, we're grateful for the fact that she stepped up at a time when our group was regaining its equilibrium, never an easy time to be in the driver's seat in any organization. She assures us she'll remain active as always in helping staff our show exhibits and staying tuned in to what we're doing. But she felt it was time to hand over the reins to her board seat and her office of Secretary. Please take a moment to
thank Eileen for her service (this is her second stint as a board member), and to wish her good luck with her new book.
Lanita (LM) Preston (
Phenomenal One Press) is a relative newcomer to MBPA, but she sure didn't wait long to make an impression! Ever since she joined our ranks, she's been an
active and involved member, attending regular meetings, participating in the online discussion forums and helping staff festivals. As LM Preston, she writes novels that depict children who overcome the seemingly impossible. An educator, engineer and mother, she finds satisfaction as the author of Young Adult and Middle Grade science fiction.
Lanita is a moderator on the popular Young Adult Writers community,
Yalitchat.org and coordinates internships and agent recruitment for the
Maryland Writer's Association (MWA). She's active in promoting her own writing career, her books and the publishing company she owns with husband Frank. And now she's sitting on our board and taking our meeting minutes and handling correspondence for our group. So if you get the chance,
let her know you appreciate the service she's putting forth on all our behalf, and watch for great things to come out of this bundle of energy, enthusiasm and wonderful ideas!
Last, but certainly not least, Steve Feuer (
Gihon River Press) joined the board in November to help us round out our required 5-member status, and contributed a lot of time in service and professional advice to our work since then. However, he's realizing that launching a small press and its first several titles takes a lot more time than he expected, and he needs to turn his attention toward those efforts. So, we bid him adieu from the board and
thank him for helping us through our transitional period. Steve assures us he'll continue to take an active interest in MBPA, and will continue participating as an events and programs volunteer. Thanks, Steve!
We now
welcome Toni Albert (
Trickle Creek Books) to take Steve's place as At Large director on
the board. This is by far not the first time Toni has served on our board. In fact, she was Founding President of our organization, way back when, and is back to help us shepherd "her baby" into its adolescence. We're so happy that Toni finds us continuing to be worthy of her attention and effort, and she's really looking forward to introducing some new initiatives she didn't have time to do when she was president.
I'm looking forward to working with Toni and all these new folks, as well as my partner-in-crime, Annmarie Kelly, our stalwart Vice President who has been of so much valuable help in moving MBPA forward. Watch for announcements soon of several exciting new initiatives that will add so much value to your membership.
And please consider becoming a volunteer to help make it all happen, won't you? We're an all-volunteer organization, and we depend on your support for our ability to serve the group well.
Enjoy the rest of this hot summer, and stay cool!
Mary
Summer Members Meeting
Hot Times in Carlisle
It's that time again: Time to get together with our fellow MBPA members to share insights, tips, tricks of the trade, to learn some specialized skills and just enjoy the company of other indy publishers in the MidAtlantic region. Our Summer Members Meeting will be held in two weeks, on Saturday, August 13th.
This summer, we're trying to escape the heat by meeting north of the Mason-Dixon Line in beautiful downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania. We're meeting at the Bosler Memorial Library, which sponsors the Carlisle Day of the Book Festival. It's located at
158 W. High Street.
Share some conversation over lunch while we hold a quick member meeting to take care of some business from noon to 12:30 PM. After a quick break, we'll reassemble at 12:45 to catch our featured speaker, Sheila Ruth (publisher at Imaginator Press, MBPA's Immediate Past President, and our delightful Festivals and Events Committee Chair).
Sheila will treat us to her narrated digital slide presentation, Beyond Friends: Advanced Facebook Marketing for Books. This session will provide specific tips and hard information about how to really use Facebook to sell books. Making friends and posting regularly are a good start, but there are more effective ways to use the social advantages of Facebook as a book publisher. The session will cover:
• Facebook fan pages, landing pages and fangating
• Contests and other promotions
• Third-party apps
• Making effective use of Facebook advertising
• Ccommerce on Facebook
• Integrating Facebook with your website
• Evaluating metrics
And start planning now to attend our Fall Members Meeting. It will be held in or near Baltimore, Maryland, and will be about -- you asked for it! -- all things eBook. Now that the various eReaders are sorting themselves out, several main eBook formats are beginning to emerge, and Amazon.com reports that eBooks have captured 70% of all books being sold there, it's time we all learn what we need to do to add eBooks to our product offerings. We'll have a very special featured speaker with the knowledge and background to help us understand the possibilities of merged workflows for print and digital, strategies for new product development and release, and a peek at what the future may bring. We're also talking with an eBook developer about giving us a basic workshop on producing eBooks DIY, without having to rely on outside vendors. So save the date now: Saturday, November 12.
See you in Carlisle!
Referendum Question
Evolving With the Times
It's no secret that book publishing, as an industry, is going through tremendous changes. We've been talking about it for the past several years from any number of angles. And given that some of the most significant changes are occurring on "the low end of the food chain" as publishers go, we're all feeling the movement. Some of it isn't pleasant, but some of these developments offer MBPA the opportunity to grow as an organization, while becoming better able to fulfill our mission of serving the needs of our independent publisher members.
One of the items of business we'll be taking care of at the upcoming Summer Members Meeting is a vote on how MBPA should evolve along with the rest of our industry. Specifically, technology advancements have made it possible for any writer to become an author through self-publication. That means almost any writer is a potential independent publisher; in itself, not necessarily a good or bad thing, but having potential to be both.
Because our mission is helping small publishers be better publishers and more successful businesspeople, MBPA has the opportunity to show leadership in this area. We understand that not everyone has what it takes to be a successful indy publisher, and why. But, as many (if not most) of us remember from our own evolution, authors who are considering becoming self-published may or may not have enough information to make that informed decision, or even where to find that information.
Your MBPA board of directors has been having on-again, off-again discussions about whether or not we should begin allowing authors and writers who are not yet self-publishers to join our group. At one time, the answer was an unequivocal "No!" After all, publishers and authors, by their very nature, often have competing goals and don't necessarily wish to engage each other in trade knowledge discussions. But that has largely changed for all but the Big Six: Indy publishers of any size now share the same challenges and advantages in the new world of publishing.
Whether it's a good thing or not, all authors are one step away from joining our ranks as indy publishers. It's in the interest of MBPA to help those just entering the publishing field to make sure they do it right, with quality and integrity, because either way, they WILL reflect on indy publishers as a whole.
So, your board is wondering, why not invite writers and authors who are considering becoming publishers to become MBPA members? We can save them all the missteps we took while educating them about what it means to be a PROFESSIONAL publisher. Some of our other IBPA affiliate "cousins" have already taken this step, and as a result, have swelled their ranks with eager new members who are bringing something of their own to the table.
Of course, we are sensitive to your concerns that we don't have to put up with being approached by authors and writers using their MBPA memberships to gain access to publishers to review their manuscripts. If we offer this kind of trial membership, it would be limited to a year, during which they would be prohibited from hawking their manuscripts to other members under penalty of immediate expulsion from our group. If, after a year, they haven't decided to become publishers, their membership will be suspended until such time as they do enter the fray in that capacity.
We feel this would be adequate protection of publisher members from annoying encounters, while providing a reasonable period of time in which potential full members could learn enough to decide whether or not to take the publishing leap. And of course, during that time, their dues and potential volunteerism would bolster MBPA's ability to serve our members and fulfill our mission. It would also provide a great deal more exposure for our group to those who might become full members in the near future -- always a boon to a member-driven organization dependent on dues for its existence.
Though our bylaws would technically allow your board to make this decision alone, we feel it's important to put such a significant structural change to a vote by the entire membership. So, at the upcoming members meeting on August 13, we will ask for an up-or-down vote, as follows:
YES - I see the advantage to MBPA, potential new members and the industry as a whole for us to create a new Trial Membership level, allowing authors and writers considering self-publishing to join MBPA for a year. During this year, they may not solicit other members for manuscript submission or review. If they haven't taken steps to become an independent publisher by the end of their trial membership, said membership will be suspended until such time as they can prove they have become publishers in print or digital format. Trial members will enjoy full member benefits with the exception that they may not hold positions as Officers, Board of Directors seats or Committee Chairs.
NO - I don't think MBPA should allow anyone to join who isn't already a publisher in some form.
Please give it serious thought and be ready to vote on this important issue in our group's evolution as a professional trade organization devoted to helping indy publishers be more successful and raising the professional standards of our industry.
Member News
MBPA Member Books In The News
Gihon River Press has released Ursula's Prism, a memoir from Anna Block. Block tells her mother’s powerful story of how a group of six children escapees from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp struggled to survive winter in the forests of Germany as they worked their way toward the Dutch border and safety. The story is told from the point of view of Ursula Swartz, a six-year-old who describes how she and her five siblings were taken with their parents from their privileged home in Glasshutte, near Dresden, to Bergen-Belsen. Her mother and baby brother were murdered soon after their arrival. One sister disappeared, and another chose to collaborate with the Nazis. The book explores the choices we all must make to survive in this world, and recounts the compelling story of how six young children managed to do what many adults could not.
- spread the message they were passionate enough to write about in the first place
- get recognized as an expert speaker
- book speaking gigs and personal appearances
- and ultimately, sell more books
Barb was the featured speaker on this topic for our Winter Members Meeting this past March. Class Act is available now in
paperback or e-book.
Seven titles from
Modern English Tanka Press were displayed at the
2011 Poets House Showcaseat the end of June in New York City. The Showcase is an annual exhibition of all of the year's new poetry books and a festival of events presented during National Poetry Month. Last year's Showcase included more than 2,100 books of poetry, representing the work of more than 600 publishers. MET Press titles displayed this year include:
- Ambrosia: Journal of Fine Haiku, No. 5, Summer 2010.
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- First Winter Rain: Selected Tanka from 2006–2010, by Denis M. Garrison.
- The Maternal Line: The 13th Tanka Collection by Kawano Yûko, translated by Amelia Fielden and Saeko Ogi.
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- Dreams Wander On: Contemporary Poems of Death Awareness, edited by Robert Epstein.
- I’m a Traveler: a collection of tanka, by Kozue Uzawa.
- Haiku Wisdom : Living the Principles and Philosophies of Kung Fu, Haiku and Nature, by Don Baird.
- Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume Three, edited by M. Kei, Patricia Prime, Kala Ramesh, Alex von Vaupel, Aurora Antonovic, Magdalena Dale, Amelia Fielden, Andrew Riutta, and James Tipton.
Patriot Press is pleased to announce that its 2011 release Noble Cause: A Novel of Love and War
by Jessica James has won the coveted John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction. This award is presented annually to the author of the best historical novel dealing with the South. John Esten Cooke was a novelist, playwright and historian who wrote more than thirty volumes of novels, biographies and histories. He was known as a social historian of colonial Virginia and many of his books were based on actual experiences he had during the American Civil War, in which he served under General J.E.B. Stuart. Noble Cause also won the Next Generation Indie Award for Regional Fiction, and was a Finalist in the Romance and Historical Fiction categories. This romantic historical fiction novel takes place during the Civil War.
Phenomenal One Press is proud to announce that its recent title, Bandits, has received a positive review in ForeWord magazine. The Young Adult novel by LM Preston received five out of five stars in the Science Fiction category. The story follows Daniel, his younger brother, Nickel, and their father on Merwin, a planet largely populated by professional thieves called the Zukar. ForeWord reviewer Jeannine Chartier Hanscom says, "Their journey is jam-packed with perilous moments, which serve to propel the plot forward at an exhilarating pace. Preston, whose previous work includes The Pack and Explorer X – Alpha, has a remarkable talent for description and her vivid imagination brings the planet of Merwin to vibrant life. Bandits is an appealing and imaginative take on a futuristic pirate story, complete with thrilling treasure hunt, fantastic creatures and technology, and even a bit of romance. Readers will undoubtedly enjoy the trip to the fascinating planet of Merwin."
MBPA Immediate Past Secretary Eileen Haavik McIntire announces the publication of her historical
novel,
Shadow of the Rock. The book springs from an intriguing incident often cited in Florida history books about the grandmother of Florida’s first senator. She was captured by Barbary pirates and sold to the vizier of Morocco. Her journey is woven into the story of present-day Sara Miller, whose grandmother dies, leaving Sara a bequest that sends her on a search for her great-uncle who disappeared in the Holocaust. Eileen traveled through Florida, Morocco, the Virgin Islands and Gibraltar to research this novel. It’s available in
print and
e-book editions and a discussion guide and more information appear on her
website.
Organization Update
New Members
Since May, when we had our last members meeting, MBPA's rolls have increased by a DOZEN new members! It's a testament to the increasing value we're bringing to our members that we celebrate this growth and welcome our new colleagues. Please reach out to them in welcome, won't you?
Bloomsburg, PA
Specializing in books that merge history with contemporary social issues
Brookville, MD
Helping women experience, understand and enjoy the magic of motherhood
Haymarket, VA
Books and magazines with a community service edge
Washington, DC
Historical Novels
Newtown Square, PA
Washington, DC
The Drew Smith series of legal thrillers
Pittsburgh, PA
Dedicated to communications that make a difference
Edgewater, MD
Remembering that family and friends are forever
Honesdale, PA
Bad Church, Good Church - Exploring what it means to be spiritual
Nottingham, MD
Novels, novellas, graphic novels and short story anthologies
Bethesda, MD
Elkhart Lake, WI
Children's books with positive messaging and trade guides for authors and publishers
Member Article
Publishing University – My Journey Continues
I arrived at The Roosevelt Hotel after twelve days on the road. I was slowly making my way home from Wisconsin to New Jersey after my first ‘real’ road trip with my book. I’d been a keynote speaker in Green Bay, Madison, Verona, Wisconsin Dells and Milwaukee and had been interviewed in bookstores and on radio stations around the state. I was also given the opportunity to finally meet, face-to-face, with some of the caregivers I’d interviewed for my book, as well as other caregivers who were still on a journey with a loved one and Alzheimer’s. Read the rest of this article…
