3 Links of The Week: Eat, Laugh, Read

1. Writing Time is a cool site for writers with all kinds of tips and inspiration. One of the cool posts this site featured this week was a talk from Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert on the subject of "A different way to think about creative genius."

2. This site features FREE cartoons by Dave Walker that are very often spot-on about society.

3. And finally, I want to link to the Reading Comfort site because a very sweet person named Mandy offered to let me try out a product called the Book Buddy and I just love it. It holds your book in place so you can have hands free reading. Although, I most often use mine as a laptop buddy because of the wonderful lucite desktop that converts the book pillow to a comfy writing desk. Mandy, I'm sure that it will be because of this little tool that I will rite gewd.

---
He was trying to develop his creative genius, writing furiously atop his BookBuddy, adding more virtual friends on Facebook, ignoring the actual friends at the door. In later years, he would name said BookBuddy ...Wilson."

--

Brought to you by Karen Harrington
author, Janeology
http://www.karenharringtonbooks.com/
What did Jane do and why?

Are You Interested in Putting Your Books in a Bricks and Mortar Store?

Second Wind Publishing is trying to open an independent bookstore in Winston-Salem, one geared primarily toward small publishers who publish books by a variety of authors. They would have a "best seller" rack for folks who just have to gratify the need of reading an homogenized book, but most of the offerings would be from indie publishers. Every few weeks they would feature a book signing with an indie author. This bookstore will be a triple business: a working art studio and gallery (with featured local artists and regular receptions), and a wineshop (North Carolina has 77 independent vineyards and most do not sell their wine offsite; these vintners are pretty much in the same shape as we independent publishers: a great quality product and not much serious consideration).

So, here's the question: would you be interested in selling your publications on consignment basis? Second Wind would pay for shipping and return all unsold books.

Second Wind is also considering a nook for self-published books, which would also be sold on consignment, though the author would be responsible for shipping costs.

Sink O De Mayo

My friend Walter sent this to me and I just can't resist sharing it even though it has nothing to do with writing. (However, several of my characters DO enjoy mayonnaise, so....)




K. Harrington
author, JANEOLOGY
Visit me at http://www.scobberlotch.blogspot.com

The Hardest Thing to Write

Yesterday evening, I attended a Chinese banquet in memory of my brother-in-law who passed away on April 18th. Ronnie had some serious health problems, including cancer. His prognosis wasn’t great, but the doctors gave him anywhere from a few months to two years. At Ronnie's request, my husband helped him put his affairs in order, as they say. Three days after completion, he died from a heart attack in the hospital.

As the oldest brother, my husband was asked to write the eulogy which was an enormous challenge. Of course, there was the emotional component, but the challenge of writing something from the heart when he’s only written business reports was daunting. It took several drafts before he felt he’d adequately captured the spirit of Ronnie in a clear and meaningful way. He did a beautiful job. But he also admitted that this was one of the hardest thing he’s ever had to write. I can relate.

When my grandfather passed a few years ago, I flew to Toronto for the funeral, only to learn that I’d be writing the eulogy for the funeral in two days. My grandfather had four daughters and part of my job was to ask them to provide a memory which I would incorporate into the tribute.

It’s ironic how a lifetime of memories refuses to surface when one’s grieving and under pressure. It took several hours to get something I could use, and even then not every daughter could provide one. But slowly, after several drafts and repeated editorial input from the family, I managed to compose his eulogy. It was the most difficult page of writing I've ever completed. It was also the most emotional and perhaps the most satisfying based on the lovely comments I received. That day, I realized that perhaps many writers never publish their most important and heartfelt work. They don’t need to.

As writers, sometimes our skills our called upon in stressful situations. We rise to the challenge, give it our best, and use words to connect with those around us in a way we’ve never done before. Blessed be the written word and those we are privileged to share it with.

Jerry D. Simmons, publisher at INDI Publishing Group, discusses publishing options

A NEW OPTION FOR SELF-PUBLISHING
By Jerry D. Simmons

There are few choices when it comes to self-publishing, or what I like to call independent publishing. Unfortunately the terminology for publishing a book by yourself has a negative stigma which resulted from the flood of poorly written, unedited books that are mass produced each year. Any writer who invested in a professional edit for their manuscript typically had few options to publish, until now. With the launch of the INDI Publishing Group, the publishing landscape has changed.

The most common self-publishing companies are large assembly line, cookie cutter producers that are nothing more than printers posing as publishers. They are inexpensive and fast, which supports the business model of “publish anything.” These printer/publishers make money when the author signs their contract, not when books are sold. These people lack publishing experience and aren’t concerned with what happens after the book rolls off the press. The books they publish rarely follow book industry standards and are not allowed access to the shelves of booksellers in the U.S., for good reason. With these printer/publishers the author gets exactly what they pay for, a finished book, produced quickly, cheaply, and unacceptable in the marketplace.

The previously viable option to avoid unscrupulous “publishers” and manage the treacherous waters of independent publishing on your own was to start your own company or work with a variety of freelancers who could turn your manuscript into a finished book. The problem with wanting to self-publish without professional help results in books that are far from market- ready and unacceptable to consumers as well as booksellers. Dealing with people who speak the 'publishing language' is confusing. A writer often ends up with poor results.

Starting your own company or working with freelancers are acceptable forms of publishing your book, as long as you understand the limitations that accompany being published with the printing businesses, or working on your own without professional assistance. I‘m a strong advocate for publishing according to the writer's personal goals. If an author has hopes of selling a few thousand copies and catching the attention of an agent or editor, they will be disappointed with a 300-page trade paperback book that retails for $27.95.

The new INDI Publishing Group takes the combined publishing experience of a group of free- lance professionals and offers the writer a better option than the assembly line, carbon copy printer/publishers of the past, or venturing off on your own without experienced guidance. We offer writers an opportunity to invest in themselves and their manuscript by publishing under the INDI BEST imprint which follows book industry standards and provides access to booksellers around the country.

This group provides the author step-by-step assistance for publishing a professional book that can be sold and distributed through existing channels to booksellers across the country. If your hope is to invest in yourself and your writing to get results in publishing opportunities where anything can happen, then you owe it to yourself to explore the option of the INDI Publishing Group.

For more information, email Jerry D. Simmons jerry@writersreaders.com.

3 Links Of The Week: Editing, Tpyos and Books as accessories

brought to you by Karen Harrington, author Janeology
http://www.scobberlotch.blogspot.com/


1. A wonderful article in the WSJ (which Kate over at The Lovers, The Dreamers & Me discusses artfully) titled Tinkering With The Ideal discusses how, or if, artists ever know when a work is truly finished. Here's an example cited by the article:

"The Portrait of a Lady," published in 1881, Henry James described a kiss in 16 well-chosen words: "His kiss was like a flash of lightning; when it was dark again she was free." When he revised the novel a quarter-century later for the New York Edition of his collected works, he rewrote that sentence extensively, making it more complex and far more sexually explicit: "His kiss was like white lightning, a flash that spread, and spread again, and stayed; and it was extraordinarily as if, while she took it, she felt each thing in his hard manhood that had least pleased her, each aggressive fact of his face, his figure, his presence, justified of its intense identity and made one with this act of possession. So had she heard of those wrecked and under water following a train of images before they sink. But when darkness returned she was free."

We readers are to answer - which is better? Is there an improvement? What do you think?



2. Turns out, Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in Webster, Mass., is spelled incorrectly. What are the chances?



3. This woman creates purses out of books that, wait for it...she CUTS UP! The nerve. She says Pride and Prejudice is her most requested book bag. (But now, of course, I want one, darnit.) Here's the on-line catalogue for her company, ReBound Designs.



--She tinkered late into the night, adjusting the words on the page without pride or prejudice, trying to describe his Jamesian lightning kiss, only stopping once in a while to consult the dictionary in her purse, which had once actually been a dictionary, for the proper spelling of Lake CharraoggoagooaoooRobBlagojevichOoogaChuckaOoogaChuckaMaoMao.