DENTON WRITERS
LEAGUE
FIRST
EDITION
AUGUST 2005 VOL. 16 NUMBER 8
DWL Home Page: http://byjoni.com/dwl
If you would like a copy of the
newsletter e-mailed to you instead of through the US post,
please contact
George
Avera or
Joni
Latham-joni1957@verizon.net.
WHERE WE MEET AND WHEN
The second Saturday of every month, at the
Denton Library-North
Branch - click here for map
3020 N. Locust St (corner of Windsor St &
N. Locust St)
Denton, TX
General Meeting 10:30 a.m.
Lunch at Noon at the
Evergreen Super Buffet - click
here for map
1006 W. University Dr
Denton, TX
76201
NEXT MEETING: August 13, 2005
Guest Speakers
August 13 - Cindy Vallar
September 10 - Workshop- George Wilhite
October 8 - Jim H. Ainsworth
November 12 - Barbara Carr
December 10 - General Meeting
GUEST SPEAKER
Cindy Vallar
Born and raised in Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Cindy spent her
formative years reading books and writing poetry. While in college, she saw a
movie based on the life of Jean Laffite, a gentleman pirate who helped Andrew
Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Intrigued by the mysterious, she
started researching and writing a novel about Laffite. Graduation, career, and
marriage put that manuscript on a shelf where it remained until she started
working as a school librarian for seriously emotionally challenged teenagers.
she
returned to writing to relieve the stress inherent in working in special
education facilities. During a boring staff meeting, she wrote about a caped
figure who crossed the Scottish Highlands during a fierce some storm.
After twelve years and numerous revisions, that kernel of an idea blossomed into
her
first published novel, The Scottish Thistle. She is currently working to
complete that pirate novel started many years ago while researching another
novel set in the Dust Bowl of western Kansas during the Great Depression. She
also writes a monthly maritime history column entitled Pirates and
Privateers. She reviews books for Historical Novels Review and
Pirates and Privateers. She teaches online courses and in-person workshops on
maritime piracy and Scottish history and culture. She is also an editor and
copyeditor for Wings Press, as well as a freelance editor. she writes an editing
column for The Historical Novel Society's Solander magazine, of which she
is an associate editor.
Vist her website at
http://www.cindyvallar.com/ JULY MEETING RECAP
Joan Neubauer presented the options available for today's writer. At
one time the only way to have a book published was to be noticed by one of the
large royality publishers. With the advent of the computer, the internet,
and POD (print on demand,) there are new publishing alternatives available to
the new/fledgling author. A royalty publisher is the traditional publisher who
buys your book (no out-of-pocket expense for the author), pays a royalty on
sales, places the book in a distribution network, and controls most of decisions
regarding cover, price, and some content. A vanity publisher will publish
anything for a price. There's usually no manuscript evaluation or
distribution but the author has most of the control on content and price. A
subsidy publisher is somewhere in between royalty and vanity publishing.
The author pays a fee for publishing the manuscript and may receive some editing
and distribution of the book.
WordWright.biz, Joan's publishing company, falls between the royalty and
subsidy publishing. There author pays a publishing cost but there is
extensive manuscript evaluation involved and a worldwide distribution network.
The author also works as a partner with WordWright.biz in the look and feel of
their books. Which ever avenue an author decides to take, they will still be
responsible for most of the marketing. Even the large publishers no longer
have the budget to promote new, unknown authors.
ANNUAL SEPTEMBER WORKSHOP Begin making your plans to attend the Annual DWL Workshop on Saturday,
September 10. This year's workshop will be held in our regular meeting
room at the North Branch of the Denton Library located at 3020 N. Locust St in
Denton, TX. We'll meet from 9 to 4 with an hour for lunch. Lunch
will be not be provided this year, so you will be on your own. George Wilhite will be this year's presenter. He has more than 20 years as a
professional journalist and has many non-fiction stories published. The last two
non-fiction articles he wrote and is the
proudest of were in 1998: "Texas Rangers:175 Years of Lone Star Justice" and
"Rodeo Clowns: Tough Times 10" for Cowboy and Country magazine out of Fort
Worth. His first novel, The Texas Rodeo Murder, has been released by Eakin Press. It was been nominated
for Spur Award and an Edgar Award (Mystery Writers of America). He is currently
working on the second in the Texas Rodeo series and on two other
novels as well. Visit George at his website:
http://texasrodeo.go.to/ Mix and Match Your Promotion A carpenter knows that the right tool applied in the proper situation gets
the job done most effectively. Similarly, you should use the correct marketing
tools when building a successful promotional campaign. The Promotion Mix Promotion is one of the most important functions of marketing. It makes
people aware that your book exists, and makes them understand why they need to
buy it. There are four general promotional tools you can use at different times
to accomplish these goals. Sales promotion uses items such as premiums, giveaways, brochures and
coupons for generating awareness and stimulating demand through short-term
awareness campaigns. They can easily be tied in with other promotional
tools. Conversely, they usually have short-term impact, overuse of
price-related offers may hurt your profits, and competitors easily copy
effective promotions. Publicity, such as press releases and reviews, is perhaps the most
economical element of the promotional mix. It increases awareness and
credibility through a third-party testimonial. On the other had, you have no
control over what is printed in a review or article about your book. Advertising, including direct mail, can reach many consumers
simultaneously with the same message, with a relatively low cost per
exposure. It can increase awareness of your titles and educate people about
the benefits of buying them. However, since your advertisement reaches many
people who are not potential buyers, you could waste a lot of money. In
addition, consumers easily screen out advertising. Personal selling can be the most persuasive selling tool because it
allows two-way communication. It is the best tool for closing the sale. The
major disadvantage is its high cost per contact. Your job is to determine when and how to use each of these tools to optimize
your sales. For example, suppose your author is about to conduct a book signing.
It will be more successful if you precede the event with an awareness campaign.
This might include an enlargement of the book's cover featured in the store
(sales promotion), press releases sent to the local media (publicity); post
cards mailed to prospective customers (advertising) or media appearances
promoting the signing (personal selling). Match your promotional mix to the circumstances Creating and implementing a successful promotional mix will be more likely if
you match your promotional mix to: Your overall marketing objectives. If your title is in its
introductory stage, mass communication techniques should be emphasized.
Initially, people need to understand why it is in their best interest to
purchase your book. Later, they need to be reminded to buy it. The people
you are trying to influence may be acquisitions people at distributors,
libraries, bookstores, or the consumers themselves. If your objective is to
market nonfiction to specific niches, then direct mail might lead your
attack. If you plan a heavy trade-show schedule, then personal selling may
prevail. The personality of your authors. Authors who loathe media appearances
might be better suited to a promotional mix heavy in direct mail, publicity
and advertising. Others may thrive on national exposure and excel in
performing on the air and in personal performances. The nature of your product line. A list heavy in fiction lends itself
to a mix weighted toward sales promotion, publicity and advertising where
mass communication's low cost per exposure stimulates demand most
efficiently. Of course, personal selling in the form of a national media
blitz is also suited to stimulating broad awareness and demand. The nature of your markets. A nonfiction title destined for a tightly
defined market niche dictates personal communication, perhaps implemented
through a targeted campaign of direct mail, publicity and advertising. When building a promotional campaign for a new or existing title, look at all
the items in your toolbox before deciding which to use. Stimulating awareness of
a new fiction title from an introverted author requires a different mix of tools
than you would use for a nonfiction title written by an author who is a veteran
media performer. Use the right tool and hit the nail on the head. Brian Jud is a book-marketing consultant and host of the book-marketing
seminars jointly hosted with Publishers Weekly, Writer's Digest, and PMA, and
featuring presentations by John Kremer, Dan Poynter, Mary Westheimer and Jan
Nathan. Contact Brian at P. O. Box 715, Avon, CT 06001; 800-562-4357; fax
860-276-2453;
By Brian Jud
Reprinted from BookZone Pro, http://www.bookzonepro.com
On-Line Writers resources
Author's
Network-for writers about writing based in Europe, but
interesting-
http://www.author-network.com/
Copyright Forms-
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/
Dallas Sceen Writers- http://www.dallasscreenwriters.com/
Denton Public Library -
http://www.cityofdenton.com/pages/library.cfm
National Association of Women Writers -
http://www.naww.org
National Writers Union - http://www.nwu.org/
New Writer's Market
http://hge.members.atlantic.net/
Para
Publishing Website - a good writing, publishing, and promotion source -
http://parapub.com/getpage.cfm?file=/homepage.html&user=#user
Preditors
and Editors-a resources to check out agents and publishers
http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/
Ralan's Webstravaganza-speculative fiction resource
http://ralan.com/
Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators - http://www.scbwi.org/
Texas Coalition of Authors, Inc. -
http://www.texasauthors.org/
Texas Writers League -
http://www.writersleague.org/
The Market List-the online resource for genre fiction writers
http://www.marketlist.com/
The Novelist's
Workshop-essays and advice on how to publish your book-
http://www.monash.com/writers.html
Writer's Exchange -
http://www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/
Writer's Market -
http://www.writersmarket.com/index_ns.asp
Writers Net-source
for information for writers, editors, agents, and publishers -
http://www.writers.net
Writing-World.Com
- http://www.writing-world.com
The Zuzu's Petals
Literary Resource Homepage-for both writers and poets-
http://www.zuzu.com/
There are multitudes of writing resources available
on the Internet. Go to any search engine and ask for writer's resources,
writer's markets, writer's contests, writer's conferences, etc
DWL OFFICERS:
President Joni Latham
(
joni1957@verizon.net) - 940/243-5200
Vice President
June Powell - 940/565-1013
Treasurer Joseph Marino
Newsletter George Avera
( georgeavera@copper.net) - 940/382-8161
