Writers Unbound

Writers write and send me YOUR ideas. Or Tweet me DM. http://twitter.com/makkinart As writers sometimes we get stuck in thinking of our challenges, or in repeating the same avenues of writing we have done before. However we are often multi talented and can put our words on many different pages, publications, and location (online). Writer’s in the SKY newsletter really opens our mind’s eye to the vast horizon waiting for our words.
Vol. 5 Issue 7
Writers in the Sky Newsletter
July 2009

Whether you are a published author or a writer-wanna-be, this e-zine is for you. Here, you will find articles, book reviews, announcements, poetry, and information about the craft and business of writing, publishing, and book marketing written by our readers. Our goal is to connect the writing and publishing community through networking.

In This Issue

Editor’s Corner

A word from WITS owner Yvonne Perry

E-book Karma ~ What Goes Around Comes Around

by Erin Chavez

WITS Podcast Schedule

The Dream of Writing for Children

by Dawn Menge

Network With Us

The Writing Life: Thinking Outside the Box

by JJ Murphy

Book With a View

Read this month’s book reviews

Social Networking Tips for Writers

by L. Drew Gerber

Poetry Corner

Poems from our readers

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Editor’s Corner

by Yvonne Perry

I’m a grandma again! My daughter, Sareya, gave birth to her baby at 12:24 a.m. on June 24, 2009. He weighed in at 9 pounds and 11.8 ounces and measured 21.5 inches long. Baby Liam and his mommy are doing well. Scott Kidd is a very proud father. Here’s a photo of us. Amanda, my son’s wife, is due to give birth to Jonas next week! We are a growing and happy family.

I promised you an update on my research about short discounts for printing color books. Thanks to the information I have gathered from Aaron Shepard, Morris Rosenthal, and Dana Lynn Smith, I have discovered that Ingram will not deal with publishers who have fewer than ten books in print, and even then it may be difficult. So, I have opened an account at Lightning Source to make my book The Sid Series, Holistic Stories for Children available for printing there. They charge about $100 to upload the file and prepare it for printing. The whole process takes several weeks: you upload file, they process it, you approve it, Ingram adds it to their database, and Amazon eventually lists the book. Then, it will automatically become available through B&N.com, libraries, and anyone else who orders through Ingram.

Even though my book will be listed in Ingram’s catalogue, I probably won’t get many sales in bricks and mortar stores because I am not offering the typical “no return” policy and I am only offering a 25% discount to book retailers. Retail bookstores don’t take too kindly to that because they normally ask for publishers to sell a book to them for 55% discount and they want their money back if the book doesn’t sell within a short time period. However, bookstores could place special orders at the request of customers, which is the same deal you get with most POD publishers.

My color-printed, 48-page book will be available on Amazon.com for about 10 percent off the retail price. Since my publicity and 90% of the sales for all my books are transacted online, I will focus on selling the book through my own Web site. I’m still waiting for my illustrators to get finished with the artwork. Once they are done, I’ll compile all twelve stories into one printed book. Target pub date is September 2009.

I hope you enjoy this issue of WITS E-zine. There is a lot of great information from our subscribers. I think you will especially like the writing exercise JJ Murphy contributed.

This e-zine is proofread by Sarah Moore or Barbara Milbourn. I appreciate your contributions and thank Sarah and Barbara for their hard work.

WITS Web site: http://www.writersinthesky.com
WITS Blog: http://www.writersintheskyblog.com/
Phone: (615) 884-1224
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by Erin Chavez

“To write what is worth publishing, to find honest people to publish it, and get sensible people to read it, are the three great difficulties in being an author.” ~ Charles Caleb Colton quotes

That quote sums it all up, doesn’t it? The hope, the fear, the feelings that well up inside of you and if only there was a crystal ball to help us all out–to show us how to obtain what we really want for the life of our books. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. You have to pull up your bootstraps and start shoveling through the piles of information that we, as authors, need to sift through to make our most informed decisions.

I am sure you have at least looked into your publishing options . . . traditional publishing, self-publishing, Amazon.com publishing and maybe you have even thought about starting your own Web site to sell your books on your own. It’s a crazy business, isn’t it? You have so many choices–how do you know what the best choice for you will be? That is a decision that is completely up to you. You have to choose how you are going to get your book out to the world, how you are going to get people to actually purchase your book, and ultimately how you are going to profit from your book–your blood, sweat and tears.

I am here to tell you about one option that you may not have heard of yet. I am owner of a spankin’ new online publishing business called, “ebooKarma”. It is designed to allow writers the chance to get their books out to the world with no cost to them, and earn a 50% royalty. Plain and simple—that is all there is to ebooKarma. The process is quite simple:

•You send in the first five pages of your book for approval.After approved, you will receive an agreement via USPS to sign. (This agreement is much more for the author’s sake than ebooKarma’s sake.)
• Included with the agreement will be a checklist that I use to make sure all steps are completed. You will even see what steps take place “behind the scenes,” including what emails you will receive after publication, and what efforts ebooKarma makes to market your book for you. (This sheet is purely FYI, so you can check off the requirements for which you are responsible.)
• Next, you send a cover in JPEG (if you don’t have one, we have a graphic designer that can create one for you at a discount price), your book in PDF, keywords, a short description, a long description, and a bio of yourself.
•Done. That is all there is to it. Sure, there may be questions and clarifications along the way, but we get those ironed out quickly. When you start selling your books on ebooKarma, you will receive a 50% royalty that is deposited directly into your PayPal account. (You can choose an actual check if you wish.) You can even sign up to be an affiliate with ebooKarma, so if while promoting your own book, somebody goes to the site and buys another book… you earn 20% on that sale.

See, I told you this was simple! You can even still publish your books on other Web sites (including Amazon.com and kindle). All I ask is that you don’t sell your book any cheaper on another site. There are no hidden agendas here. No surprises. It is a straightforward process where everybody wins in the end! The slogan for ebooKarma is, “What goes around comes around.” It is my goal to provide the best service for you and to help you succeed… and in turn, I hope the same will happen for ebooKarma.

Here are some links you might find useful:

•Sell an Ebook
•Agreement
•ebooKarma (where the magic happens…)
•News & Updates
(Check out the stats on ebook sales!)

I truly hope you will find the value that ebooKarma can offer you. You can even call me on my cell at 469-360-6918 if you want. I am an “open book” available to answer any questions and take all comments and suggestions.

Also check out our writing contest with $500 grand prize. Other prizes too! (All entries eligible for publication.)

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