Wanderlust Featured in Times of India

BPNW member Beth Whitman continues to see coverage of her latest Wanderlust and Lipstick title about traveling solo in India. Check her blog for links to a Times of India article and other recent interviews.

Two Meetings in November

November 11
Making Book Trailers for the Web

November 20
Marketing Small Press Fiction

Each meeting takes place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside N., Room 221, Seattle, Washington.

Free for members

October 16: Print Production

Planning to produce a book in the next year? Short runs vs. long runs, new technology, and more.

Book Publishers Northwest's next meeting will be October 16 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside N., Room 221, Seattle, Washington.


Speakers include:

Victor Judd, Americas Press
www.americas-press.com
Americas Press is high-quality, short-run digital paperback book printer. The printing plant is located in Houston, Texas, and company began doing short-run printing for NASA in the 1960s.

More recently, Americas press has evolved into short run book printing. “We have been very successful in the Southwest and began expanding nationally last year. It is still a small family run company that focuses on quality printing and customer service,” said Judd.

“I have been a printer since I studied it in high school in the late 60's,” he added. “Over the years I have worked in every department in a print shop. I became the West Coast rep for Americas Press in early 2007.”

Craig Pearson
Global Fulfillment
www.gloful.com

On-demand digital printing, variable data and off-set printing are services offered to compliment both projects and long term fulfillment programs.

Two Pacific Northwest based companies, Karla’s Hand Bindery and Fulfillment Solutions, joined together in 1997 under the combined name of Global Fulfillment. The company currently operates in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle.

ASL Tales of Portland

New BPNW member ASL Tales of Portland, OR (www.ASLTales.net) publishes a line of children's picture books told in American Sign Language and English. The richly illustrated books are shipped with DVDs providing voice translation in 8 languages and interactive web tools. The books, performed by ASL storytellers, introduce ASL structure, vocabulary and Deaf Culture to hearing children, Deaf children, reluctant readers, children with language development challenges and children learning English as a second language.

The company, founded in 2008, has produced three titles so far. ASL Tales: The Princess and the Pea is available now. ASL Tales: Rapunzel and ASL Tales for Tots: Annie's Tails will be available for distribution December 2008.

Epicenter's Kent Sturgis on NPR

Local publisher Kent Sturgis started off this fall with the only biography in print of Sarah Palin. 500,000 copies sold later, he calls this unexpected windfall the publishing equivalent of a gold rush. Oh, and he's still voting for Obama.

Catch the latest on Epicenter's rollercoaster ride at NPR.

Layoffs Hit Lulu

Lulu.com, the website that allows anyone to publish easily, has been hit by the credit crunch. The company just announced layoffs based on the "frozen" credit market.

Recap of September Meeting on Pub U

Gail Sexton of Raston Publishing spoke to the members about her experience at Independent Book Publisher Association’s Publishing University. As the 2008 IBPA Scholarship winner from Book Publishers Northwest, Gail had her tuition waived and received a $500 stipend from IBPA.

Each year, IBPA provides one scholarship for a member of each affiliate association. Competition for the 2008 scholarship was fierce with numerous strong applications from BPNW members. Sexton's application was selected from the finalist by the IPBA Board.

At the Pub U, more than 100 industry professionals were instructors for the classes.

Some things Gail found particularly interesting and useful included:

1. Tips from the editors of Foreword magazine for getting your book reviewed in a major publication. (Gail distributed copies of the tip sheet; talk to her for more copies.)
2. When discussing your title, remember: It’s not about the boo – it’s about the benefits to the reader.
3. Offer yourself for free – e.g. teach a free seminar as a way to promote / sell your books.
4. Create cross buzz. That is, have multiple, self-reinforcing marketing efforts going on at the same time.
5. Speak! You are your book’s best advertisement.

Gail also had an opportunity to work the IBPA booth at BookExpo. When an Indian gentleman came by perusing the hundreds of books on the shelves there, Gail engaged him in a conversation and asked what he was interested in. He related that he was a buyer for one of the largest Indian book catalogs and showed her a sample catalog. She was able to talk to him about her title.

She also was able to talk to several experts about her book’s cover and got excellent and really focused feedback on how the cover could better convey what her book is about.

At the end of the meeting, Gail offered the following tips for attending Pub U or BookExpo:

·Go with a list of problems you want to solve and attend the classes, talks, etc. that will help you solve those specific problems.
·Tap the experts. Don’t be shy!
·Take comprehensive notes – especially for those “genius” ideas.
·Be really clear about who you want to talk to – both at BEA and Pub U.

This report submitted by Tom Masters

Constant Contact Local Seminars

Some people may have remembered anearlier free seminar about using Constant Contact for e-newsletters that BPNW hosted. This is the web-based program that Book Publishers Northwest uses for our e-newsletter and reminders.

If you're interested in learning more about Constant Contact, there are a number of free events in the area about this program. Check the Constant Contact web calendar for times and locations.

Checking E-mail, Pricing Books

A BPNW member recently e-mailed and asked about pricing books. We answered the question via e-mail -- only to keep getting the same query sent by the member. By the third time that we received this e-mail, we began to suspect that our original answers were going into a spam folder. Sad, as this is the member's business e-mail as well.

If you send a query and don't get an answer in two to three working days, search your spam folder. You might be surprised at what you find.

In hopes that this will help, here's the original query and answer.

How should I price my book for a bookstore?

The normal discount off the cover price to a bookstore is 40%.

You can set a lower discount, like 20%, if you want. It's not unusual for small press to do that.

A distributor like Ingram usually asks for a 50 to 60% discount, so they can in turn offer a 40% discount to bookstores.

This is why margins are very thin in publishing and getting your "per book" cost down is important -- if you plan to distribute through bookstores. If you are planning to have most of your distribution through direct sales, you can have a higher per unit cost because you're keeping more of the retail price for yourself.

BPNW Display at Fall Trade Show

On Sept 16, Book Publishers Northwest joined with Northwest Association of Book Publishers and IBPA to display members books at the PNBA Fall Trade Show for booksellers and librarians.

Celeste Bennett sent us the following photos of the display and trade show floor.



Members at the show reported that traffic appeared to be up from the 2007 show.



BPNW's display included books and sales literature demonstrating the wide range of material published in the Northwest.

Update from Bright Ring

Bright Ring Publishing, Inc. has been selected as one of the best art websites for teaching art by The Link Homeschooling Magazine, 2008.

The company recently published its first full color art education activity book, August 2008, Great American Artists for Kids: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of Great American Masters, with a first print of of 7000 printed in Korea. More than half of the first print run was sold as of September 2008 according to publisher and author MaryAnn Kohl.

Publishing Round Table on Sept 18

Join Gail Sexton, our 2008 Pub U Scholar, for a publishers' roundtable for good advice on starting, growing, or just having fun with your publishing business. Start off the fall season with new ideas!

This meeting is free for members.

Meeting takes place at the Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside N., Room 221, Seattle, Washington, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 18. See you there!

PNBA Display Books Donated to Rural Library

The Darby Community Library in Darby, Montana, were picked to benefit from the PNBA Rural Library Drive. At the end of the PNBA Fall Trade Show, exhibitors like Book Publishers Northwest left their display books with volunteers from the library.

The community recently acquired a new building that will now be stocked with a wide range of wonderful titles donated by BPNW members and others at the PNBA Fall Trade Show.

A plea from your editor at BPNW News

* Keep Your E-mail Up-to-Date
* Check Your Spam Folder
* Use the Blog!

Why is all of the above in bold type? Because your slightly stressed-out BPNW blog lady is moving, remodeling, and finishing up a novel for publication in 2009 (City of the Dead, coming next year from Wizards of the Coast).

This means that I probably won't have time to track down why certain newsletter subscriptions and other e-mails bounce. So if your server goes down and you switch to gmail, use the subscribe tool on this page to get your newsletter. Or e-mail me at bpnwnews at aol.com.

If you don't see the newsletter arriving in your in-box every month, check your spam folder. It might be lurking there.

Dates for meetings are always posted here first. Use this blog for quick information. Use the RSS and you won't miss anything!

Have a great Fall. I'm hoping to see you at the Sept 18 meeting. But bear with me as I make few transitions this season.



Sincerely,

Rosemary Jones
Book Publishers Northwest

Learn About Orphan Works Bill

Seattle Graphic Artists Guild is hosting a special free meeting on the "orphan works" bills currently in Congress. Join them at the Museum of History and Industry, Thursday, September 11, 2008, 6:30:-8:30 pm. MOHAI is located at 2700 24th Avenue E.

Lisa Shaftel, Graphic Artists Guild National Advocacy Committee Chairperson, will lead this informal meeting. Shaftel will share a brief insider background of the crucial orphan works issue and its proponents, and review the up-to-the-minute political status of the two bills now in Congress as well as what's likely to happen next. The Guild recommends this meeting for all visual creators or those likely to be impacted by the designation "orphan work."

Among the topics to be discussed are:

* Learn the many things you can do to prevent your works from becoming orphans.
* Get key instructions on how to protect your work, with easy steps to follow.
* Hear tips on key issues to watch out for.


More information about the orphan works legislation can be found at www.orphanworksnews.com

Pubwest In Portland: SPAN Members Get Discount

PubWest's (the Publishers Association of the West) 2008 National Publishing Conference will take place in Portland in November. The conference topics range from Publishing 101 to advanced viral marketing and digital content.

SPAN is an Industry Partner of PubWest's conference allows SPAN members to sign up at PubWest member's rates. Members of Book Publishers Northwest can join SPAN for a discounted rate.

More information can be found at http://www.spannet.org/pubwest-conf.htm.

Epicenter's Palin Biography A Bestseller

BPNW member Epicenter Press published the first and currently only biography of Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin.

The book turned into a runaway bestseller on Friday, with 40,000 orders pouring in, after Repulican presidential candidate John McCain announced Palin would be his pick for a running mate.

As reported in the Seattle Times, Epicenter has immediately geared up to produce a paperback version of Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down.

No Meeting in August, Preparing for PNBA

Book Publishers Northwest's next meeting will be September 18 at Good Shepherd Center, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Join Gail Sexton, our 2008 Pub U Scholar, for a publisher's roundtable for good advice on starting, growing, or just having fun with your publishing business.


PNBA Fall Trade Show: Free Display for BPNW Members

Book Publishers Northwest will have a joint display with NWABP and IBPA. Every 2008 BPNW member can display one title for free at this regional trade show.

Join Today To Display Your Book At PNBA
Free display of one book at the PNBA Fall Trade Show is restricted to 2008 members who joined before July 30 or 2008/09 members who join by Sept. 1.

Join BPNW today for this and other benefits!

Site seeking articles on publishing

Sellingbooks.com is looking for articles on any aspect of writing, publishing and marketing books, including publicity, speaking, internet marketing, copyright, or design.

Articles should be 300+ words, and informational not promotional. All articles may include a short (2 - 3 sentences) author bio with promotional copy and links.

Articles may be submitted at the site
Sellingbooks.com

Amazon buys Shelfari

Amazon is moving into the reading/social networking field with the acquisition of Shelfari:

Shelfari Joins Amazon.com Family