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© Cynthia Frank, 2013
Literary Review
Submission guidelines are on the Submissions page

Writing Advice

The Mendocino Coast is home to writer and editor phenomenon, Victoria Mixon. Her website is a storehouse of excellent advice: victoriamixon.com

Local Writers And Bookstores 
Working Together

Notes from November 16th, 2011 Writers of the Mendocino Coast Event at Mendocino Hotel - Garden Room. 
A panel of local bookstore owners discussed how local writers and bookstores can work together to increase local writers’ sales.

Chris Lindauer  -  Cheshire Bookshop / cheshirebookshop.com -  Fort Bragg           Unfortunately, Cheshire closed in 2012    
Christie Olson Day  -  Gallery Bookshop / gallerybookshop.com  -  Mendocino
Unable to attend: Loretta Houck  -  Laughing Dog Books / laughingdogbooks.com  -  Boonville

Christie Olson Day gave background information on Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkles Children’s Books
  • Marvel Glynn established Gallery Bookshop in 1962, sold to Betty Goodman, then Tony Miksak purchased it in 1980. In 1988, Tony opened Bookwinkle's Children's Books and moved it in 1993. Christie purchased Gallery Bookshop & Bookwinkle’s Children’s Bookstore in 2006.
  • Sell books and set up readings/signings for all local authors that contact them
  • New local author featured each month
  • Host open houses for groups of local authors   
  • Have an affiliate marketing program                  
Chris Lindauer’s background on Cheshire Bookshop
  • Originally established in 1973 by Howard E. Martin, Linda Rosengarten owned it for seven years prior to Christine & Paul Lindauer’s purchase on October 19th, 2010
  • Concentrate on and provide personal attention to local authors
  • Showcase local authors in a section by the front door and show the covers vs. the spines
  • Carry all local authors, including self published, and those with a north coast focus
  • Set up readings for local authors
  • Market events on their website and via e-mail provided through Constant-Contact.com
  • Their e-mail customer list is confidential and not available to the public
Both bookstores
  • Are members of American Booksellers Association
  • Have access to Google eBooks, although the Amazon Kindle has the limitation that it can only handle books supplied by Amazon

Suggestions for local authors to sell more books:
  • Tailor book to local readers
  • Very important to be open to editorial advice, including title
  • Best to make available to all book stores though distributor Ingram
  • Important to know who retains the rights to publish your book and is especially important to retain the copyright if working with print on demand companies
  • For e-books, important to have it with Google iBooks
  • On promotional website, link to local independent book stores
  • Before publication:
o     Make sure packaging and pricing meet industry standards
o     Examples: Mendocino Mysteries and Touching Wings, Touching Wild, both self published
o     Price like comparable books
o     Bookstores pay no more than 60% of cover price
o     Price paperbacks under $17
o     Price hardbacks under $24
o     At “regular wholesale discount” 60%/40%
o     Packaging
o     ISBN, bar code, consider Cypress House as paid advisor

·   After publication:
o Because local book stores receive hundreds of books each day that compete for shelf space, it is important for local authors to make themselves known to them and take the initiative for setting up readings, et cetera
o Make postcards to announce book’s release and book reading/signing events
o Develop e-mail contact list as inclusive as possible to remind potential book buyers of events, reviews,
o Both bookstores accept consignment
o Gallery will put book face out (vs. spine out) for minimum of two weeks
o Supply book stores at least one advance copy
o Authors keep a stock of books to make immediately available for book stores
o Do a “word of mouth” campaign and consider expanding to social media
o Send potential readers/buyers to independent bookstores
o Keep talking--to everyone; continuous promotion of book and self/author
       Example is Bruce Taylor’s Dilkusha by the Ginko Tree
o Both book stores accept written recommendations from fans of the books of local  authors to use in their promotions
o To stay in stock, a local author’s book must sell at least one copy every 90 days
o A written recommendation card from one of Gallery Bookshop’s staff members keeps the book in a “feature” position for six months
o Chris Lindauer/Cheshire Bookshop said her most successful events (and books) involve something unusual that grabs the public’s attention and interest in attending the event  

Apr 15 [2013]   Does your writing in a newsletter constitute having previously been published?

While it's hard to know the actual requirements of any particular editor/publisher, I would think the definitive answer to this came from Kendall Jones.
Kendal is a great friend of California Writers Club, and has shared her expertise on more than one occasion. She is an Attorney here in So. Cal. and specializes in Copyright and Trademark law.
(She can be reached at http://www.kendalljoneslaw.com/)
She responded:

Interesting question! Generally it depends on whether the club newsletter is considered public or private. If you put something on a private Web board or forum, for example, looking for feedback from your colleagues and club members, that is still considered unpublished.
However, if you print something in a publication (online or in print) that is publicly available, then generally that would probably be considered "previously published."
If your newsletter is only distributed to your members, you could probably get away with calling it private and the works therefore unpublished. However, you guys make your newsletters publicly available online, don't you? If that's the case, then the entire world can read the items you've printed in there and therefore it's public and "previously published."
Hope this helps.


Here are the other responses:

I think the answer to this question depends on where he is thinking of submitting. Some publications do not count it against you if the previous publication had limited circulation or sales, but others prefer that it not be published anywhere previously. Check their guidelines carefully.

I used to hold that [...] publication in the newsletter wouldn't count as real publication. But recently some of the folks have been telling me that publication in the newsletter rules out some submissions, pubs. contest entries, etc. I think it's too bad, since it scarcely seems realistic to consider a "publication" with such small circulation to be a true publication. Of course, in today's environment, where more and more of our authors are self-publishers, the question may be becoming less important.
These don't seem like very informed comments, so I hope you get some better ones from other people. I'll be most interested in the answers you get and would love to publish the results in Purple Sage whenever you conclude your findings.
Thanks for posing this perplexing question.

It's an interesting question that I'd not been asked before. Recently when I was submitting something myself, I was listing my (sparse) publishing history and I didn't even consider the many pieces that have been published in our newsletter. Of course, being the newsletter editor, I suppose it could be a form of favoritism if it weren't so much work to elicit submissions from others...
I think if one were to ask me that question—and I suppose you have—I'd say that it always looks good to have something to list as a publication, but not to count on it swaying an editor's opinion of your writing. And it is less likely to impress an editor of a different genre. I mean would my articles in [deleted] make a publishing house more likely to consider my middle-grade novel? I think not.
I look forward to hearing what others have to say on the subject.

My understanding, based on general discussion with others in publishing, is that if a poem, article, letter or short story appears in a newsletter, it is pubished! That is true online as well as in hard copy.
In [deleted] I advise those who ask this question about their poems that they can change the title, add or change a first or second line, or in general create a slightly revised edition that has never before been published. All it takes is changing a word, such as the becomes a, and the new edition  is different than its predecessor. 
Walt Whitman did it all the time. He rewrote Leaves of Grass his whole adult lifetime. We can do it, too.

Here's they way I've heard it--If a writer has published anywhere, even a newsletter, it is considered published. But I guess it all depends on the 2nd publisher.

My two centavos:
The P&P rule used to be that "general circulation" was 1000 copies.  Purpose was to exclude church bulletins, etc.!
Since CWC has 1600 members, give or take, the Lit Review qualifies as "general circulation."

Thanks for the question. Our general  meeting is Saturday. I will as our board member to answer that. I thought since it was not for general publication, It is not really considered a professional publication. I am the new editor and that is my first newsletter  with CWC and don't have a "qualified" answer.

My opinion is informal. 
I believe content in the [deleted] newsletter is published because we strive to make the newsletter available to members and non-members alike. We also have past issues available at our website, which puts it out there for anyone to read. Whenever another newsletter want to publish one of our articles, they are reprinting the article.
I think as long as the author tells the future publisher that they’ve been published in a California Writers Club (branch) newsletter, it is then up to the author and the writer to decide whether the article has been published or not.  

I agree the real answer lies with the specific publisher, but, for what it may be worth, my take is newsletter submissions would not be previously published. No rights conveyed are conveyed thus full rights remain with the author; the material is available only to the membership, not the general public, and lastly, no commercial use of the material occurs.
On line forums or other platforms generally available to anyone who logs on might be considered published.
 

In my opinion, it should not affect submissions to other publications. It's only a newsletter, with small distribution. If you made copies for your writing class or for your critique group, would  that mean it's published? I think not; it's only for your writing club.
I would like to know the answer to this question--please keep me in the loop. I think it's like deductions for your income taxes. "Is that deductible?" "It depends" is always the answer from the IRS.


---------------------------------------------------- From Dave LaRoche ---
Ambiguity reigns. While we take credit, when needed, for publication in newsletters, we denied when submissions elsewhere suggest they want fresh. Ha!
But on another note, some have requested a pdf of the Lit-Review and I have denied for several reasons.
  • Authors have grated a ONE time publication.
  • Electronic copies circulating around will undercut any commercial goals (subscription, books sellers, etc)  we may have in the future (and we have some)
  • A republishing by anyone is an infringement of our CWC copyright claim
  • e-publishing chips away at the prestige we are hoping to gain.

When you circulate your findings, you may also want to include this message.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Use social media to create a platform for selling books, and give publishers proof of marketability

Basic requirements are broadband Internet access, the ability to use a browser and to manipulate pictures. A free online photo editor can be found at http://pixlr.com/.

Know your target audience. Think deeply about the narrow niche interested in your writing.  The unique keywords your audience uses to search for their favorite things become tools to direct them to you and for you to interact with them.
      Are you in this niche?
  • If you are, you probably already use those unique keywords in your Internet searches. You have an added advantage when you’ve been researching this niche because the things that pique your interest are what will draw your target audience to your website and blog.
  • If you’re not, you’ll have to work a little harder and think a little deeper.
  • In either case, there is a tool to test search words in use and find new keyword suggestions. It will show how many searches are conducted using those keywords. It can be found at KeywordPlanner with an AdWords account (worth the trouble.)

Get your presence out there, with a website and a blog, minimum. Get both for free at http://www.weebly.com along with Weebly’s online editor. Most people can learn to use it in half an hour. The ideas that power the content are what piques the interest of the target audience.
  • Consider your “presence” as your brand, a particular identity. It starts with an e-mail address, and continues with a web address (a domain name, e.g. www.yourbrand.com,) and a blog title.
  • An e-mail address for the only book you'll write could be something like, MalcolmMacdonaldOutlawFord@gmail.com, where the author’s name is followed by a book title. Otherwise, for multiple books, use your name and a designator, MalcolmMacdonald-Author@ etc.
  • Add an automatic “signature” to your e-mail messages that identifies your book title, a website address, a blog address, and any other information you use to promote yourself and your book.
  • A Twitter handle, @something (up to 15 characters)​
  • A LinkedIn address, found in your profile. Mine is www.linkedin.com/pub/doug-fortier/42/87a/b71
  • Use this social media sizing cheat sheet to provide the right size images, et cetera.
  • A website must be dynamic--most websites aren’t. Once a visitor’s been there, it’s important to give them a reason to come back.
    • Keep your book prominent, and frequently change links to external references like reviews, and websites where it is mentioned.
    • Feature a highly visible area where you link to the latest, greatest piece of new information.
    • It could be a phrase that introduces a link to another page on your website.
    • It could be an introduction and link to your latest blog post.
    • Use pictures that match topics introduced. Search on keywords and use the Images option to find them on a site with "free images,"   A right click, or a control click, on the image will set up a “Save image as” action to store it until it’s inserted.

Get them to come back. THIS IS A MUST. Whether selling books or services, the process is the same. Fewer first time visitors will buy a book than a seven-time visitor who’s wowed by the content and ultimately returns to buy the book.
  • Restate something interesting you’ve found, and link to other sources.
  • On the website and blog, give the potential buyer information on how to buy your book. Present that information prominently.
    • If your book is available from publishers, give a link to each one.
    • If you sell them yourself, give your e-mail address, plus information on cost, delivery, and whatever else is important.
    • Get permission to send them e-mail updates, et cetera.

Do outreach to blogs and websites found by using the unique keywords of your target audience. Make brilliant comments and include a link back to your website.
  • Get an e-mail from Google when a web page is added to the Internet that uses those unique keywords or phrases. See www.google.com/alerts.
  • The best outreach is a dialogue with your target, a dazzling interaction that gives them what they want.

    CONTENT IS KING - ABOVE ALL ELSE

For non-fiction books, one marketing strategy is to position yourself as an expert in a particular area. The key is to be seen as a trusted resource for information relevant to your target reader. In your webpages and blog posts, match the contents of your book with the keywords your audience searches for.

As a novel writer, the genres, themes, and subjects of your book become the content of dynamic web pages and frequent blog posts that contain the unique keywords of your audience.

The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott


See these concepts restated by Kimberley Grabas in her post "10 Ways to Defeat Obscurity: Tips for Authors Who Want to Get Noticed" of August 29, 2013