Acknowledge Your Help

When writing his Haiku for Coffee Lovers (and other Haiku for… books), David Ash said he asks several guest editors to give feedback on his books, then includes their names on the acknowledgments page. They turn out to be his best customers. So you may want to lengthen your acknowledgments page to accommodate those who helped on your book.

This is part of a series of articles provided by Nancy Burkhalter and Jack McKee following the February meeting on ways publishers can work together. Click on member suggestions in labels to see these articles and any follow-up.

Working With Printing Companies

There are sales reps from printing companies that will help. People mentioned those from Malloy (http://www.malloy.com), Thompson Shore (http://www.tshore.com), United Graphics (http://www.unitedgraphicsinc.com), and Friesens in Canada (http://www.friesens.com), all of whom are quite helpful. Don’t feel shy about calling them.

Be sure to go shopping and quote exactly the same thing to each one. If you go with a print broker, get 30 quotes.

Printing a book with a CD in the back is more difficult to publish because you have to coordinate the production of the CDs as well as their delivery to the publisher on time and with sufficient numbers of them. If there aren’t enough CDs to accommodate the print run, the printer may not alert you and print several copies without the CD.

Get sample sheets to see what the book will look like on that paper

This is part of a series of articles provided by Nancy Burkhalter and Jack McKee following the February meeting on ways publishers can work together. Click on member suggestions in labels to see these articles and any follow-up.

Print Brokers

Print brokers are a clearinghouse to help decide which printer to use. You can find a printer on your own, but it’s time consuming. If you do it on your own, you have to make a lot of decisions, such as whether it’s a hard back or a case book, what paper and finish and weight to use, whether it’s color or b/w, etc. You need to know about all these options to do it on your own.

The broker pays the printer and takes cut. A sales rep gets a fee too but it’s built into the salary, which ends up being comparable to a print broker. Brokers will find the most low-cost company, but the choices are not as broad as you can find on your own.

PMA has a list of printers to choose from that are not necessarily good – just choices. Dan Poynter, How to Self Publish, has lots of information. Also see John Kramer’s 1001 Ways to Market Your Book.

This is part of a series of articles provided by Nancy Burkhalter and Jack McKee following the February meeting on ways publishers can work together. Click on member suggestions in labels to see these articles and any follow-up.

Article Directories by Jack McKee

Article Directories are internet sites where there are 1000's of articles that can be republished (with proper credit given) or just read by anyone for pleasure. There are lots of them and some are interconnected, I think. Articledashboard.com, artipot.com, goarticles.com, isnare.com, articleally.com, and articlecentral.com are a few. There are specialty sites like edarticles.com and probably sites for dog articles or airplane articles. Some have a stats page so you can see how many times your article has been read or downloaded.

I've used them for no cost nonfiction book promotion. It only has been a month, so it is a bit early to tell but here is what I did and what seems to be happening: I wrote several one page articles, taken from my books, added a couple more articles that were loosely related, and a couple more that didn't make the cut for the book. Six or seven one-page articles all totaled and submitted them to six or eight directories.

Here is one reference. I shortened up the introduction from my book: Woodworking at Articledashboard.com

This article is about how I stumbled across the idea for Builder Boards (the title to my first book): Builder Boards at Articledashboard.com

At the end of each article you get to put an about the article and, of course, I mentioned the two books I wrote.

There has been no incredible spike in sales or website hits. Maybe a slight increase in sales of one book. But when I google my titles those articles are popping up so there are many more references to my books. We'll see if there will be a more long term effect.

If anyone else has anything to add, or more long term experience, I would like to hear about it.

This is part of a series of articles provided by Nancy Burkhalter and Jack McKee following the February meeting on ways publishers can work together. Click on member suggestions in labels to see these articles and any follow-up.

NWABP Posts Newsletter Online

Book Publishers Northwest's sister organization, NWABP, now has a complete archive of newsletters on the web. Focused on the needs of Oregon publishers, this group also is an affiliate of PMA.

BPNW and NWABP have partnered on various projects and trade shows in the past and plan to bring back our joint catalog in 2008. Keep an eye on our websites for more information.

February Meeting: Pool Your Talents!

"What I Do, What You Do, What We Can Do Together"
Bring your questions about a project, your search for some help, and/or your considerable talents to the next meeting of Book Publishers Northwest. This is a chance for the publishing community to show off latest projects, ask questions, and make a few contacts.

BPNW's February meeting will take place at Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford on Feb. 21, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The February meeting is free and open to the public.

All meetings scheduled for third Thursday of the month, 4 pm to 6 pm, at Good Shepherd Center. Meeting topics subject to change, please check this website frequently for more information.

Update on Rosetta

BPNW member Ted Treanor just sent in the following report on his company's netGalley project:

We’ve been busy building netGalley and growing Rosetta Solutions. Thought you would like an update. Publishers Weekly published PW-netGalley deal as the lead article with PW Tries New Galley Service as the subject of the email for the online publication. New netGalley registrations and email inquiries have been flowing steadily. Sweet!

Also below are some blog responses to the announcement. There is very interesting excitement about netGalley from Oxford in reviewing the first day of O’Reilly’s Tools of Change conference announcements. I also like the fact that many of the bloggers see netGalley as supporting ‘Green’ initiatives.

Publisher’s Weekly

Oxford University Press
Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists
Book Promotion Blog & Book Promotion by S.J. Miller
PersonaNonData

M Coy Closes

M Coy Books, a small and always interesting independent, is hanging the final "closed" sign on the doors in downtown Seattle. Increasingly high rents was the reason given for the closure. Local media have mourned the loss of yet another singular business in the downtown core but owner Michael Coy states clearly in interviews like the one published in the P.I. that independents only survive in the neighborhoods that protect and nurture them.

The bookstore is currently selling off its fixtures. Bookcases, display tables, and more are now available. Call 206.623.5354 for more information. Items are available for pick-up after Feb. 17.

Printing with a Steamroller

For the fourth year, King's Books in Tacoma presents Wayzgoose, a gathering of local letterpress printers and book artists celebrating Small Press Month.

These artists will be on hand to demonstrate how books and other fine printing was made before computers.

The organizers also promise Steamroller Printing with a real steamroller! Visit King's Books on March 2 from noon to 4:00 p.m. to find out how you print with a really big industrial truck.

Got a Penny for the Postman?

Start saving your pennies now. Or buy a FOREVER stamps. Because the cost of a first-class stamp increases to 42 cents in May.

The US Post Office announced this week that prices for Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Special Services will increase on May 12.

Eaglemont Distributed by Scholastic

Bellevue-based Eaglemont Press's Adventures of Riley series have been picked up by Scholastic. The giant publisher Scholastic will license world English rights to publish and distribute the books by Amanda Lumry and Laura Hurwitz. Eaglemont was founded in 1997 to produce books focusing on conservation and the preservation of wildlife, habitats, and cultures.

E-Book Conference in Portland

EPIC (Electronically Published Internet Connection) national conference will be held in Portland, Oregon, at the Lloyd Center Doubletree Hotel and Executive Meeting Center, March 6 through March 9, 2008.

“It’s Not Easy Being E” conference’s keynote address will be given by Michael Powell, owner of Portland's really big bookstore. Other conference highlights include the annual awards banquet where the EPPIES (for excellence in electronic publishing) are handed out.

Fees for the three-day conference are $155 for EPIC members and $185 for non-members. A single day rate of $75 is also available. These rates are good until Feb. 10, 2008.

For more information contact Judith B. Glad, the conference coordinator, at EPICon2008@gmail, or visit the EPICon websites, www.epic-conference.com/ and http://www.hevanet.com/gladhaus/EPICon/unoffmain.html .

Write in a Cottage, Live in Belltown

Richard Hugo House is offering two cottages near the Belltown P-Patch for writers. The "Hugo Huts" will be rented to two writers at a "below market" rate in return for the writers' participation in Hugo House programs.

The writers will begin their residency on September 1, 2008, with a term of 12 months, subject to a month-to-month approval by the Parks Department. The residency is renewable, with a two-term limit. The below-market rent does not include utilities. Applications are due by April 11

The Belltown Cottage Park Project is a collaboration between “Friends of Belltown P-Patch,” Seattle Parks, and Recreation and Richard Hugo House. The housing is in two refurbished cannery cottages at Elliott and Vine Streets in Belltown neighborhood, north of downtown Seattle. A third cottage at the site is available as a community venue for neighborhood meetings and events. Each cottage is 440 square feet, with a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living room.

The selection process will be complete by the first two weeks in June. For more information about Richard Hugo House and the "Hugo Huts," please see www.hugohouse.org.

Facebook Marketing

Everyone is talking about how touring your book through various websites can be a great way to cut down your promotional expenses. Hard on the heels of our successful January meeting on "Blog Tours," industry bible PW discusses social networking on Facebook.

PW's "Are You on Facebook?" chronicles a weeklong search of the 125 book-related tools on Facebook—and why publishers and authors should be using them.