DENTON WRITERS LEAGUE
FIRST EDITION
 January 2007 VOL. 18 NUMBER 1

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-George Avera-georg.819471@verizon.net@verizon.net< or Joni Latham-joni1957@verizon.net.

WHERE WE MEET AND WHEN

The second Saturday of every month, at the

Denton Library-Emily Fowler Branch - click here for map 
502 Oakland 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: January 13, 2007

Beginning January 2007, the Denton Writers League will meet at the Emily Fowler Library located at 502 Oakland St.

Guest Speakers


January 13 - General Planning Meeting
February 10 - Suzanne Frank
March 10 - Rondi Hillstrom Davis
April 14 -
May 12 -
June 9 - Ellen Newton Driscoll
July 14 - Judi McCoy
August 11 - Joan Neubauer
September 8 - L. C. Hayden
October 13 -
November 10 - Donna Lancaster
December 8 - Sharon Elrod

GUEST SPEAKER

There will not be a speaker in January.  We will plan for 2007 and have general discussion.

MEMBER NEWS

My second book, The Spaniel Family's Pen Pal Adventure, will be out in February 2007. This children's book is a continuation of the Spaniel family's adventures.In this book the Spaniel dogs be-friend a Chihuahua named Chico. The Spaniels go on a Texas adventure to see their new friend Chico and Chico goes on his own adventure to see the Spaniels. They all end up at the State Capitol at the same time. This book, like the first one, features a song written by Joe Cocker Spaniel. This is a fully illustrated early chapter book with some bilingual language and is suitable for ages 5-10.  
Covers Sell Books

by Dan Poynter

Packaging is everything. Each year, corporations spend more than $50 billion on product packaging and design. $50 billion, not for the products themselves or for the wrapper but $50 billion just for the design of the wrapper.

Everyone judges a book by its cover. No one reads the book before they make a buying decision. Consumers do not read it in the store. Sales reps only carry book covers and jackets to show bookstore owners/buyers while wholesalers and distributors say "just send us the cover copy." All buying decisions are made on the illustration/design and the ad-sales copy on the outside of the book. Yes, packaging is everything.

The bookstore browser averages less than eight seconds looking at the front cover and fifteen seconds reading the back cover. You must hook them immediately and keep them reading the back cover or they will put the book back on the shelf.

Most of Lightbourne’s cover-design work is done long distance, so when the new client walked in wearing buckskin and natural cotton attire, Gaelyn and Bram Larrick knew that this project would be unique and fun. Matt Richards had written a book on taking raw deerskin and creating beautiful buckskin garments and useful goods, a process that was more of a lifestyle for him.

He had located the cover-design company as a result of reading Dan Poynter's Self-Publishing Manual, but was still nervous about spending his money on a professionally-designed cover.

Matt lived in the wilderness and his way of life didn't require him to earn much money. The cover would cost one-quarter of his entire annual income.

Six months later, Matt wrote that his book was selling so well in both his niche market and bookstores that his annual income had already increased 4-5 times. His professionally-designed cover not only made him prouder of his book, it gave the contents more credibility and helped the book to sell. http://www.lightbourne.com

"Anyone who says ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’ has never met the category buyer from Barnes & Noble." — Terri Lonier, author, Working Solo.

Good packaging sells soap, breakfast food and pantyhose. It can also be used to sell books. Put your imagination into your title and your advertising money into your cover. Since everyone from the distributor, to wholesalers, to bookstore buyers, to the ultimate customer judges a book by its cover, give them what they need—a compelling cover with art and a sales message that will encourage a buying decision.

Book Cover Designers

Robert Howard Graphic Design, Robert Howard, 631 Mansfield Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80525. Tel: (970) 225-0083; email: rhoward@frii.com. http://www.BookGraphics.com.

Arrow Graphics, Inc., Alvart Badalian, PO Box 291, Cambridge, MA 02238. Tel: (617) 926-8585; Fax: (617) 926-0982; e-mail: arrow@us1.channel1.com.

Dunn + Associates, Mary Jo Jirik, PO Box 870, Hayward, WI 54843. Tel: (715) 634-4857; Fax: (715) 634-5617. info@Dunn-Design.com, http://www.Dunn-Design.com.

Lightbourne, Gaelyn Larrick & Shannon Bodie, 258 A Street, #5, Ashland, OR 97520. Tel: (800) 697-9833; Tel: 541-488-3060; Fax: (541) 482-1730; Gaelyn@Lightbourne.com ; http://www.Lightbourne.com.

Quest Press, Pamela Terry, 1858 So. Crescent Heights Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: 323-935-6666; Fax: 323-934-2881; pam@atwtraveler.com.

Knockout Design, Peri Poloni, 3784 Archwood Road, Cameron Park, CA 95682. Tel: 530-676-2744; Fax: 530-676-2741; peri@KnockOutBooks.com; http://www.KnockOutBooks.com.

R.J. Communications, Ron Pramschufer, 51 East 42 nd Street, #1202, New York, NY 10017. Tel: 800-621-2556; Fax: 212-681-8002; West Coast Office tel: 800-754-7089; Ron@RJC-LLC.com; http://BooksJustBooks.com.

BookMasters, Inc., Sherry Ringler, 2541 Ashland Road, Mansfield, OH 44905. Tel: (800) 537-6727; tel: (419) 589-5100; fax: (419) 589-4040; info@bookmaster.com; http://www.BookMasters.com.

Be It Now/Karen Ross Design, Karen Ross, 12516 Washington Place, Los Angeles, CA 90066. Tel: 310-915-0920; Fax: 310-390-0419; Karoons@yahoo.com; http://www.beitnow.com/publishingdesign.htm

Dan Poynter does not want you to die with a book still inside you. You have the ingredients and he has your recipe. Dan has written more than 100 books since 1969 including Writing Nonfiction and The Self-Publishing Manual. For more help on book writing, see http://ParaPub.com.

Reprinted from http://www.writerswrite.com/

CONFERENCES, CONVENTIONS, WORKSHOPS, and CONTESTS
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CONVENTIONS

Convention                   Month    Place                    URL             

AggieCon                 March   Bryan, TX        http://aggiecon.tamu.edu/
Dreamin' in Dallas April Dallas, TX               http://www.dallasromanceauthors.com/conferences/
ApolloCon                June    Houston, TX      http://www.apollocon.org/
ConDFW                   June    Dallas, TX       http://www.condfw.org/
ConMisterio              July    Austin, TX       http://www.conmisterio.org/
Conestoga                July    Tulsa, OK        http://www.sftulsa.org/conestoga/
Armadillo Con            August  Austin, TX       http://www.fact.org/dillo/
Mythcon                  August  Norman, OK       http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon37.html
Bubonicon                August  Albuquerque, NM  http://bubonicon.home.att.net/
Fencon                   Sept    Dallas, TX       http://www.fencon.org/
     A comprehensive list of other conventions    http://www.fencon.org/links.html#calendar
World Fantasy Con        Nov     Austin, TX       http://www.fact.org/wfc2006/  

On-Line Writers resources

Author's Network-for writers about writing based in Europe, but interesting- http://www.author-network.com/
AuthorSpeak at the Dallas Library - http://dallaslibrary.org/authorspeak/authorspeak.htm
Copyright Forms- http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/
Dallas Screen Writers- http://www.dallasscreenwriters.com/
Denton Public Library - http://www.cityofdenton.com/pages/library.cfm
Glimmer Train Press, Inc.-A quarterly magazine of about 260 pages of literary fiction - http://www.glimmertrain.com/
Lulu.Com - A Self-Publisher - http://www.lulu.com/
National Association of Women Writers - http://www.naww.org
National Writers Union - http://www.nwu.org/
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 

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) - 940/382-4865
Treasurer       Joseph Marino
Newsletter      George Avera ( georgeavera@verizon.net) - 940/382-8161

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