by Yvonne Perry

In April, my husband and I took a trip to South Carolina where we enjoyed spending time with our kids and grandkids while school was out for spring break. The last day we were there, the children had to go back to school, so we made a visit to the grandkids' classrooms to share The Sid Series. It was Heart Story day in Keilie's class and I was privileged to be interviewed by about twenty second graders, who then drew a picture and wrote a short story about what they thought of my visit. What a blessing it was to receive the book they made for me, and know that I had touched the hearts of such appreciative children! 

I used this time in the classroom to draw upon my teaching skills (I taught preschool and music for many years) to help them define a word that many adults do not fully understand. What does "holistic" mean? I explained the body-mind-spirit concept of healthy living before I read "Old Things New," one of the twelve stories in the book. When I asked the kids to tell me what ways the story showed Sidney using his physical body, thinking brain, and heart of compassion, I was surprised at how well they responded. "Sid used his body to pick up the trash in the neighborhood," one boy said. "He used his brain to sort stuff for the yard sale," another boy said. "He used his spirit to show love to Mrs. Jones and Von-Von," a little girl said. That one nearly brought tears to my eyes!

WITS client Tisha Morris starts her book tour May 11, thanks to our new author's assistant, Vonnie Faroqui, who has arranged more than 30 stops in as many days. Tisha has already had a profound impact upon my life. Before I finished reading her book, 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Home, I embarked upon a cleaning and reorganizing frenzy. My laundry room has beeny freshly painted and reorganized, and my office workspace has been totally rebuilt. I guess I should warn you that her book has this kind of effect so you can prepare to get on your work clothes and bring some new energy into your home or workplace!

My cousin, James Jackson, has more than 20 years experience as a book restorer. He learned the trade from his father and took over the family bindery business, Restor-A-Book, in the early part of this century when James Jackson Sr. died.  Recently, I left a book outside. Of course it rained that night and the book got soaked. It wasn’t an expensive book, just one that I love and use a lot. It has great photos of native flowers and was published by the Audubon Society in 1986. I searched online but didn’t find it available in print. Naturally, I turned to my cousin for advice on the best way to dry out the book so the pages wouldn’t stick together or curl up. I wasn’t sure if I should try to iron it dry. Here is what James advised:

If the pages are enamel paper, they will more than likely stick together regardless of what you do, but to start with, you need to try to get most of the water out of the book. Using a dry towel, pat each page to absorb the excess water. You might even put paper towels between the pages to draw the water out of the paper. However, remove the paper towels as soon as they absorb water or they may stick and cause a worse mess. When you get as much of the water out as you can, put the book in a frost free freezer and leave it for a month or two. The freezer will continue to draw moisture out of the book.

Even if you iron the pages, the spine will still be wet. It’s best to take the book apart and iron each page, but the iron only needs to be lukewarm. If it sizzles, it is too hot and may burn the paper. When the pages are dry, send it to us and we will put it back together (rebind it) for you.  If you have books, Bibles, church hymnals, genealogy papers, newspapers, tabloids, or courthouse record books that you want to preserve, give James a call. See before and after photos of some miraculous transformations at http://www.restor-a-book.com/.

We had more articles submitted this month than I could use in the template. If you contributed an article to this month's issue and do not see it here, please keep a watch on WITS E-zine blog: http://writersinthesky.blogspot.com/.  Barbara, Sarah, and I have been swamped with client editing work lately, so this issue of our e-zine was proofread by my own dear mother. Thanks, Mom!

WITS Web site: http://writersinthesky.com
Podcast Blog: http://yvonneperry.blogspot.com
Phone: (615) 415-9861
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by Yvonne Perry

What do you do with advance copies or books when you are finished reviewing them? Irene Watson, owner of Reader Views, posted an article, “Defacing Books: Why Don't Authors Have Respect for their End Result?” on Blogging Authors. I’ve excerpted portions of her post and gave my own reply below.

Did you just hear someone scream? Yes, that was me! Why? Because I'm looking at a stack of books that just came into this office for potential review and some of them have been defaced. By defaced I mean:

• "Review Copy" stamped or written on the cover, inside the book, and/or on the ends
  

• "Not for Sale" written across the front cover or inside the book

Why would a proud author, who just published his or her book, deface their pride-and-joy? Is it because:

• They have a fear someone (reviewer) will sell their book?
  

• They feel if they deface it, then the person may actually buy a copy?
  

• An expert in the industry told them to put "review copy" on the book?

Why would anyone, who spent hundreds of hours and finally getting to the stage of opening up that first case of books, smelling the newly printed ink, running their hand over the smooth and shiny cover, immediately take a book out and deface it? This is the birth of a baby, and what do we do with a new born baby? We nurture it. We are proud of it. We handle it with care. Would these same people, when the new (human) baby arrives, take a thick sharpie and make a big "x" on the forehead so that no one will steal the baby? Doubtful. So, why do these same people, after birthing their book, deface it?

We, as reviewers, feel if the author has no respect for their own book, then why should we give it any consideration either. They want a free review, no, some actually some demand a free review, yet, they send us a product that has been defaced.

Yes, it is known in the industry that some reviewers do sell the books. In our case, most of the reviewers keep the books in their personal library.

They take pride in the book they reviewed, especially if the book is autographed. As well, we donate books to local libraries, charities, and Books For Soldiers. Defaced books cannot be used and are thrown away. What a shame. A soldier in Afghanistan would have appreciated some reading material after a long day in the desert, or, an abused wife in the local women's shelter could have used the book as an escape from her battered reality. Instead, the defaced book gets recycled and either hits the landfill or, hopefully, is used to make another book.

~~~~~~~~~~ My reply ~~~~~~~~~~

There are advance copies of my book circulating that I really didn't want resold because they are unedited. These advance copies are not defaced, but they do have a clear message on the copyright page that the unedited book is not for resale. These 100 copies were printed for the reviewers so I could get books into their hands with plenty of lead time (it takes months to get some reviews back) while I was improving the work.

Many of the advance copies of my book on stem cell research were sent to experts in the field to get their feedback, make sure I had quoted them correctly, and that my information was factual. Not only did the publisher leave out 25 pages of my bibliography in the advance copy, the tone of the final book was softened quite a bit. One passionate expert committed to the cause and volunteered to edit the entire book, so I’d say probably 15 percent of the text in the final version is different from the advance copy.

That’s why it’s hard for me to refer to my advance copies as babies—especially since I produce (either through editing or ghosting for clients, or writing my own material) about eight or more books per year.

I hope reviewers will honor my request that these copies not be resold, but I have no control over what happens to them once they leave my hands. If donated to a local library, there's a good chance the books would never see any shelf time because of the scrutiny and evaluation process donated books go through. An advance copy would probably be trashed or re-donated.

I don't have a problem with other titles of my books being donated to charity. It's better for a person having suicidal tendencies to read an unedited copy of MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE, True Stories About Death, Dying, and Afterlife than to not be helped by the information it contains. My first book, EMAIL EPISODES, A Hilariously Honest Look at Life was written before I had experience as an editor, but the book is so freaking funny it still cracks me up to this day even though it is full of typos. Regardless, I would prefer the advance copies of RIGHT TO RECOVER, Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America be trashed.

Books are not babies; they are stacks of paper bound together with glue for ease of reading and transportation. To me, they are the output of doing business. Even so, they are an emblem of the hard work, time, energy, and love that created them.

Am I being too hard-nosed about this? What are your thoughts? Chime in at http://tinyurl.com/2f369n6

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by Dr. Maxine Thompson

“The principle mark of genius is not perfection but originality, the opening of new frontiers.” – Arthur Koestler

A couple of years ago, someone called me and asked if I thought we had launched my radio show too soon, because I stepped back and slowed up for a moment (the year I had three grandbabies born within eight months.) No, I told her all major companies roll their products out, (take action), then go back and do corrections.

How many glitches did Microsoft have in all its products when they rolled out Windows 98, XP, then even Vista? To get the lead on your competition, you have to leap and rest assured, that the net will appear.

You can’t wait for perfection. Don’t wait for the perfect time to start a business or take an action step towards an idea. Just like there is never a perfect time to have a baby, given our present economy, there is never a perfect time to make a change that could transform your life.

In the case of the Internet radio shows I’ve done, I think they have helped up the standards of the publishing industry for both self-published and African American writers.

Many things I’ve tried to do failed, but it didn’t mean it was over. For instance, I’ve tried to sell e-books back in 2000, when they were fairly new. But now I’m going to step out there and try again. This time we have Kindle, and other devices to assist with the sales.

As a literary agent, it took two years for me to get my first book deal, but once they started, I obtained eight book deals for four authors within a two-week period.

So now I know there’s a thing as try, and if it doesn’t succeed, try again, until you get it right. They say Edison had numerous tries before he developed the light bulb.

In the end, when you take a chance, you become stronger, whether you succeed or fail. It is in the process that you become a thought leader, one who encourages others to take chances.

Become a thought leader! Push your given industry to the next level. Affirm: “I am willing to take risks and do what I need to do NOW.”

What’s your next step?

Dr. Maxine Thompson
http://www.maxinethompsonbooks.com 
http://www.maxinethompson.com

8 Ways to Use Blogging as an Interactive Marketing Tool by Dana Lynn Smith

Here are some ideas for using blogging in social and interactive ways:

1. Encourage your readers to share your content with others.
Make it easy for readers to share your content by adding "share" buttons from Share This or Add This. Then ask readers to share by including text at the end of your best posts such as: "Do you know someone who might benefit from these tips? Just click the Share This button below to send a link by email or recommend this post on your favorite social site."

2. Actively solicit comments.
Get readers engaged by including a sentence at the end of some posts inviting comments. You can even write a post designed to elicit comments. Thank each commenter and make a further comment based on what they said.

3. Make comments on other blogs.
Making insightful comments on related blogs is a terrific way to boost your visibility and create links and traffic to your site. Subscribe to the top blogs related to your book's topic or audience and watch for posts that you can comment on. Comments should be helpful and relevant, not self-promotional.

4. Write guest posts for other blogs.
Contact other bloggers that cater to your audience and offer to write a guest article. Include a brief bio and a low-resolution photo. Google Blog Search is a good place to search for relevant blogs.

5. Create a feed for your blog.
RSS feeds allow your blog posts to be automatically delivered to your subscribers by email or through a feed reader. Receiving your blog posts regularly engages readers more. To create a feed for your blog, go to Feedburner.

6. Do a virtual book tour.
Make guest appearances on blogs, e-zines, podcasts or other forums to promote your book. Provide unique content to each host on your tour. Content can include interviews, how-to articles, book excerpts, videos, book reviews, or an article about how you developed the plot or characters for a novel.

7. Join a blog carnival.
Blog carnivals are a collection of links pointing to blog posts on a particular topic, or topics of interest to a particular group of people. Learn more and search for relevant carnivals Blog Carnival.

8. Hold a contest or drawing on your blog.
Use the blog comment feature to hold contests. For example, post a question and award a prize to the first person who leaves a comment with the correct answer. Or, write a blog post stating that everyone who leaves a comment on the post by a specific date (allow five to seven days) will be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of your book. Promote the contest on your social networks.

Excerpted from The Savvy Book Marketer's Guide to Successful Social Marketing by book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith. For free book marketing tips, follow @BookMarketer on Twitter.  For book promotion tips, visit The Savvy Book Marketer blog. Get a copy of the Top Book Marketing Tips e-book when you register for her free book marketing newsletter. For more book marketing tips, follow Dana on Twitter or visit TheSavvyBookMarketer.com .

by Scott Lorenz

Effective book marketing begins long before the book is actually written and the more diligence paid to pre-publishing efforts the better the author’s chance of success. Before hiring a book publicist to garner book publicity for you, get a cup of coffee and get ready for a little online research on book marketing.

A key strategy in any marketing program is to know your competition and successful authors will research competitors before investing time in writing, editing, re-writing, and publishing. How many others have written on the same topic? How have those topics sold? What similar books have done the best? And what made these books successful?

This may sound like a daunting task but it is now as easy as sipping iced tea on a hot, humid day, thanks to a new website called TitleZ (www.titlez.com). TitleZ allows users to instantly retrieve historic and current Amazon rankings on competitors’ books and create reports with 7-, 30-,90-day and lifetime averages. More importantly, you can use this tool to research your next book or create a marketing plan using the information furnished.

By visiting TitleZ you can compile a list of related books, comparing and contrasting sales figures and rankings. You will want to hurry and check it out now while it’s free in its beta testing stage. After the beta testing period expires the service will be available by paying a monthly subscription fee.

As a book marketing specialist, I have found TitleZ to be very useful in offering book marketing advice to my clients. Authors will find this tool helpful in coming up with book publicity and book publishing strategies.

Visit www.titlez.com to learn how a specific book or a group of books has performed over time relative to other books on the market. All you have to do is enter a book title, a subject, author or publisher and TitleZ within seconds comes up with a comprehensive list of books from Amazon.com plus historical sales ranking data. This information allows authors to see how topics and specific books perform over time and to appreciate what’s hot and what’s not.

Among the advantages TitleZ cites when using its tool are:

• Identify trends with book-buying consumers beyond the top ten lists to see within a given topic which books are gaining in interest and which are declining.

• Quickly and easily uncover best-selling and up-and-coming authors on a specific topic.

• Review renderings of book covers, along with sales ranking data, to see what design features are working in the current marketplace.

• By examining prices of competitors’ books you can make a better informed decision on what to charge for your book.

• Find out how effective promotional appearances, tours, book signings, and marketing activities are in driving sales.

If you aren’t totally convinced yet that TitleZ is worth a cup of coffee’s time to try out, than just visit the site, point and click two or three times, enter just one subject, and examine the data returned. You’ll then become convinced. For more information about book marketing visit: http://www.book-marketing-expert.com

Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with individuals and entrepreneurs to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz has handled public relations and marketing for numerous authors, doctors, lawyers, inventors and entrepreneurs. As a book marketing expert Lorenz is called upon by top execs and bestselling authors to promote their books. Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at www.westwindcos.com/book  or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com  or by phone at 734-667-2090.

In Memory of Johnny Maestro
(Lead singer of The Crests and The Brooklyn Bridge)

He rose from the streets of The Bronx, New York
to find fortune and fame.
His songs were filled with love and joy
Everyone knew his name.

He gave his life to music
since he was a young boy.
Such beautiful poetic lyrics
for the world to enjoy.

His soul has gone to heaven
to sing for The Lord up above.
A medley of his favorite songs
for the angels to love.

Speak often of Johnny
And his spirit will live in your heart
His music will never die
We will never be apart.

May the Lord bless Johnny's family
May stardust pave their way.
Until that special moment
When they meet again in heaven
someday!

Irene Brodsky, author of Poetry Unplugged (Outskirts Press)

This Old House

This old house could tell
A hundred million stories.
Every corner holds a secret,
There’s a book in every stone.
There are spirits who
Reside in every hallway
Telling tales that reach
Into the great unknown.

But there’s one story
That is still to be told.
It’s a story of you and me,
And it’s yet to unfold.
I’ve been trying to tell the world
How wonderful it can all be.
Ours is the greatest love
This old house will ever see.

All these memories
That we keep adding onto,
All the days of our love and laughter,
All the nights held in your arms.
How I long for this
To go on for forever
Here in this old house
Where we’re both safe and warm.

And we’ll keep singing
Through the joy and the pain.
We’ll fill every empty room
Though the seasons may change.
Our love will still be strong
And continue to grow.
Ours is the greatest love
This old house will ever know.

More lyrics from Rhythmic Notions by Dennis S Martin
Website: www.iwritesome.com 
Blog: www.iwritesome.blogspot.com
Storefront: www.lulu.com/dsmartin