Arizona Book Publishing Association

In this issue

• President’s Message: Other People’s Websites / Sam Henrie, ABPA President
• Frank Ideas To Increased Sales / Deborah Hilcove
• May 31st ABPA Dinner Meeting: Planning for Successful Book Printing and Print On Demand
• LA Times Festival of Books / Michael L. Wentz
• The Right Shelf “Stuff”: Why Some Books Don’t Work in Bookstores / Mary Westheimer
• ABPA Annual Elections
• Southern Arizona Chapter / Robert Casler
• It’s Your Newsletter!
• New ABPA Members
• Future ABPA Meetings
• Members in the Spotlight

President’s Message: Other People’s Websites

by Sam Henrie

We’ve all heard of the concept of using OPM (other people’s money) to build one’s assets. At ABPA’s April 2006 meeting, Stephanie Frank, author of The Accidental Millionaire, offered an Internet marketing suggestion that is based on a similar concept—using OPW (Other People’s Websites) to build one’s book sales. Specifically, have your author write an article on a topic related to his or her book, and then submit it for posting on websites that get heavy traffic from the book’s intended audience. At the end of the article, have an author byline with a link to your web page where the reader can get more information about your author and his or her book. This way you can leverage the traffic that other people’s websites (OPW) have to increase YBS (Your Book Sales).

Here’s how to do it:

• Have your author write a relevant article Make sure that your author’s article will be one of great interest to those people who would be most interested in buying his or her book (target audience).

• Submit the article to About.com
  Stephanie Frank’s number one recommendation was to submit articles to http://www.About.com. About.com gets over 29 million visitors per month. (How many visitors does your website get per month?) Go to www.about.com. On the left side of your screen you’ll see a “Browse by Topic” link, which will get you to a list of all of the About.com subject-specific sites. Find the site(s) whose topic fits with your book, and e-mail the site guide to get article submission guidelines and procedures.

• Submit the article to free content websites
  There are quite a number of sites these days that offer free content, especially articles, to webmasters and e-zine editors. The three most popular are:

1. Article Dashboard ArticleDashboard.com
2. Ezine @rticles EzineArticles.com
3. Article City ArticleCity.com

For a comprehensive list of free content websites go to here.

• Submit to the websites that your target audience frequents If you don’t already have a list of sites that your target audience visits, then you’ll want to get one in any case. Use a search engine like Google http://www.google.com, and some choice keywords to track these websites down.

• Write an article byline that sells your book
  A byline is usually placed at the end of an article on the Internet, and is no more than five or six lines long. Your author’s byline should at minimum contain the essential information about your author, the book title, and ISBN. If the website allows it, then also include a live link directly to your web page. Or, if you favor the direct approach, you can also include a live link to a web page on which the book can be ordered, whether it is your website, or an online bookstore like Amazon.com. For example, Stephanie Frank’s The Accidental Millionaire, ISBN 097672280, can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097672280.

• Be Promiscuous
  While the best place for your author’s articles is on OPW, you should also put your author’s article on your website. Again take a hint from Stephanie Frank, who starts the article page of www.stephaniefrank.com with “Feel free to use these articles by Stephanie Frank in your own e-zine or newsletter” in a large bolded font.

Maybe Larry the Liquidator (Other People’s Money by Jerry Sterner, 1988) had it wrong, and there are actually four things in this life that offer unconditional acceptance—dogs, doughnuts, money … and … websites.

Sam Henrie is president and founder of Wheatmark (www.wheatmark.com), a self-publishing service focused on helping authors maximize their book sales. A frequent speaker on the subjects of special market sales and self-publishing, Sam’s expertise includes new directions in production, distribution, publicity, and marketing in the world of book publishing. Sam is president of the Arizona Book Publishing Association. Sam can be contacted at Wheatmark, 610 E. Delano St., Ste. 104, Tucson, AZ 85705-5210; phone: 520-798-0888 x105; fax: 520-798-3394; email: shenrie@wheatmark.com.

Frank Ideas To Increased Sales

by Deborah Hilcove

After welcoming more than forty members and guests to the April meeting at The Old Spaghetti Factory, ABPA President Sam Henry introduced publisher and marketer Stephanie Frank, author of The Accidental Millionaire. Ms. Frank’s story is compelling—from a college dropout to the founder of a million dollar company by the age of twenty-two, Ms. Frank has become a leading advocate for entrepreneurship, and has shared her expertise on such prestigious broadcast venues as NBC and Fox News.

Ms. Frank grabbed our attention immediately by admitting that when she began in publishing, she didn’t know a thing about book signings, and would leave signed copies of her book on bookstore shelves—reverse shoplifting, she termed it. From those early days, she has learned many tips, tricks, and techniques in the process of creating a successful publishing business. She shared her most lucrative with us—turning one book idea into several marketable products.

To begin this process, she creates a mini-outline of an upcoming book, distinctly defining individual chapters. Each chapter, and sometimes each unique idea, then gets spun off into several “mini-books.” By this method, Ms. Frank increases the number of angles of which to share and, most importantly, the number of books to sell. On average, she is able to take one idea for a book and turn it into three distinct titles.

Now that she has developed three books from the one, Ms. Frank continues to split those titles into individual sales opportunities. She creates three versions of her books—a hard or soft cover, an electronic version (e-book), and an audio version.

Her final step is to take the concepts from the books and turn them into educational courses. She sells the courses in booklets of CDs in addition to fully electronic versions. Ms. Frank has even developed online classes with regular e-mails, keeping her customers engaged throughout the experience.

Stephanie also creates a collection of tools or products based upon her books. These “bounce-backs” relate to the entire book or sometimes even to separate chapters. For example, she markets a calendar, a timer, and a journal drawn from just one of her titles.

Now that the products are assembled, savvy sales techniques are the key to getting them into the hands of consumers. Ms. Frank notes that a book needs to be “sticky,” stating, “You need to make the buyer aware of the book, to remember it, and come back to you to buy it. Something has to stick. You have to have a call-out.” To accomplish this she includes a quiz on the back cover asking, “Do you have what it takes to be an Accidental Millionaire? Go to the website, take the quiz, send your results via e-mail.” This method is not only effective for clearing books off the shelves of retails stores, but also establishes that ever important email list, which is the key to a consistent customer base.

Ms. Frank gave us further tips for bigger sales, which included “one time offers” and the bundling together of two or more products—book plus toolkit, audio book and calendar, workbook / clock, etc. She also recommended looking to “upsales” as a way of increasing profits. MacDonald’s has developed a reputation for upsales with their famous question, “Would you like to Super Size that?”

Small publishers are, in essence, entreprenuers. So, it was fantastic to hear from Stephanie Frank. Her knowledge of publishing, sales, and customer retention was useful for us all, and the prospect of morphing one idea into several is a compelling and feasible path to increased profits for our publishing enterprises.

Deborah Hilcove has just started a new publishing company.

May 31: ABPA Dinner Meeting Planning for Successful Book Printing and Print On Demand

You can register by clicking this link.
http://azbookpub.com/category/meetings-and-events/

Mike Daniels, Sheridan Books
Mike Bercaw, Sir Speedy Scottsdale
Lisa Liddy, The Printed Page

Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Please note our new location!
Arizona Small Business Association
4130 E. Van Buren St., Ste. 140, Phoenix
Please note this change of location!

Program (includes dinner) 5:30 p.m.— 8:00 p.m.
Early registration (by 5/26): $25 members $35 non-members
Late registration: $35 members $45 non-members
Advance payment is required for registration; no refunds after the early registration deadline.

Learn how a book’s specifications influence and impact how to print, and the book’s production cost, function and appeal. Uncover the guidelines to use to determine when you should use offset printing or POD and the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each. Use your production budget to maximize return on investment and learn how current technologies can save you money. Understand how design and scheduling impact your print budget and catch the “gotchas” before transitioning from POD to traditional printing. Three experts take you through the production process and reveal ways to do it smarter.

Prepress Production, Lisa Liddy

• Design considerations before printing
• Timing considerations
• Impact on grayscale images
• Going from POD to Traditional and “gotchas”
• Getting Ebooks in the process (from the same PDF process)

Traditional Book Production, Mike Daniels

• How a book’s specifications influence and impact how to print, and the book’s production cost, function and appeal.
• Guidelines to use when determining if and when you should use offset printing and the inherent advantages and disadvantages.
• How to strategically use your production budget to maximize return on investment.
• Creative approaches to fund your book’s production cost.
• Some printing industry lesser known realities including information on the Green Press Initiative.

POD Book Production, Mike Bercaw

• The what and where and when of POD a. Overview of short run
  b. Where the processes have come from
• Current state of technologically for short run book production. a. Gear, gear who has the gear?
• What is on the horizon for POD?
  a. Market forces on raw materials
  b. Technology forecasts
  c. Distribution options

Lisa Liddy has been the power behind The Printed Page since 1990. Her background in book design is extensive, having worked with large and small publishers alike over the years. Lisa has designed books from 32 pages to 1400 pages, worked with printers at local printshops, POD and traditional book printers across the U.S., as well as several printers in China and Korea. Her clients have printed their books in quantities of 4 million all the way down to 100.

Mike Daniels is the Southwest Sales Representative for Sheridan Books, a full service book manufacturer in Michigan, and has worked with big and small publishers nationwide for more than a decade. To better appreciate the needs of publishers, he authored and self-published Living, Loving and Loathing: Modern Rhymes and Limericks for the Romantically Inclined and Humorously Correct. Mike regularly writes book reviews and articles about authors and publishers for the Mountain Connection newspaper in addition to the “Mikey Likes It!” book manufacturing tips column he’s written for the CIPA newsletter. He is the President of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. In his spare time, he is a major in the Civil Air Patrol, USAF Auxiliary and is currently a candidate for the Colorado legislature. Contact him at 303 838-8990 or mdaniels@sheridanbooks.com.

Mike Bercaw has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from Loyola Marymount University. His marriage to Sheri Statt in 2001, brought him into her family’s then 32-year-old printing business, Sir Speedy Scottsdale. In 2002 all the necessary equipment for producing manuscripts digitally was installed then certified by Dan Poynter to include in his 14th edition of The Self-Publishing Manual. 2004 saw the expansion at Sir Speedy Scottsdale to a separate division within the company for the small press book production into Archangel Press. Today Sir Speedy Scottsdale / Archangel Press has produced 1,000s of manuscripts from hundreds of authors and publishers.

Prepayment is required for registration. By 5/26, please RSVP to the ABPA hotline (602) 274-6264 or info@azbookpub.com or register at http://azbookpub.com/category/meetings-and-events/
For speedy check-in, pay in advance by credit card (Visa/ MC) or check—mail to the ABPA address. Arizona Book Publishing Association, 6340 S. Rural Road #118-152, Tempe, AZ 85283

LA Times Festival of Books

by Michael L. Wentz

A few hours drive west down Interstate 10, in the City of Angels, the Los Angeles Times hosts what is reportedly the largest book fair in the country. Upwards of 150,000 people attend the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books every year hoping to catch their favorite writers, in addition to snatching up deals on books of all types. As small publishers only one state away, many of us have been tempted to participate in the festival. It is an enticing thought, but with the time and cost does it really make sense? Well, I attended this year just to answer that question and share my findings with all the members of ABPA.

Held over two weekend days each April on the UCLA campus, the LA Times Festival of Books brings out some of the top writers of our generation. Panels are held throughout the day where you can hear discussions from such diverse names as Harry Turtledove to Gore Vidal to Giada De Laurentiis. Later, you have the unique opportunity to meet these famous wordsmiths and even get several books personally signed. This book fair is built around the desire for readers to connect with authors, and the chances are many whether at the bookseller and publisher booths, to the panels, and even in line at the taco stand in the food court.

The festival itself is well organized; parking is easy and navigating the massive expanse of the UCLA campus is made trouble-free by large standing maps with the familiar “You Are Here” marked with colorful orange arrows. Plenty of volunteers are available for questions, and the lengthy lines for panels and signings are expertly managed. Free tickets are required for the panels, but this seems a good way to meter the crowd and ensure all attendees are seated on time.

The children’s area is of special note. Nestled in a distinct section, several stages are held within that host varied programs, including readings from celebrities, musical performances, and enough action to keep even the most distracted youngster engaged. This section is the liveliest of the festival, and if you are a publisher of children’s books, it may be in your interest to consider attending and investing in a small booth, but heed my cautions to follow.

Even with the excellent children’s section, it may not make sense for a small publisher to lease space at the LA Times Festival of Books. The booth rental fees are prohibitively high, and coupled with travel costs, your bill can easily soar into the thousands. Recouping that type of money at any book festival, even with the huge crowds, can be next to near impossible.

My best advice is to get one or more of your authors invited as a guest of the festival. This is prestigious, and thus, difficult to say the least. Yet, having your writers participate in the numerous panels, or provide a demonstration at one of the stages, can be a step to a dramatic increase in sales. The festival organizers have a great system to allow for book purchases that follow panels / demos, making it possibly one of the most lucrative author appearance venues in the country. Make no mistake—getting invited is a game within itself, but if you have authors who you believe would be a good fit for the festival, begin your plan to get them invited today.

The second option is to consider working with Borders or one of the local California booksellers who regularly attend the LA Times Festival of Books. Author appearances here are still fantastic ways to get your writers, and your imprint, in front of gobs of consumers, all the while saving you the expense and logistics of renting a publisher booth.

If you do decide in the end to rent a booth, talk with others who have attended and gather all the best practices you can before signing up. The expense of exhibiting can be extreme, so it is important to have a business plan completely mapped out before slapping down a deposit; not performing a comprehensive cost / benefit analysis before attending would be a pricey mistake. Also, keep in mind that with an event as large as the LA Times Festival of Books, the vast crowds can in fact hinder sales; it is important to have an effective plan.

As I walked around the festival I caught a glimpse of those things that worked, and those that fell flat. Here are some of my observations:

• Booth Placement – The festival is spread out all over the UCLA campus. It is absolutely imperative to get a booth along the main corridor, near the large booksellers like Borders. Getting shoved off to the side, or in a remote area of the festival, makes attending almost worthless, as crowds thin out dramatically away from the main action.

• Bring Lots of Visuals – Like I keep stating, the crowds are thick and can easily obscure a booth. Visual draws need to be up high, colorful, and be able to be seen from far enough away to draw people in. Expect to have browsers four or five deep winding their way past the booth.

• Schedule Author Signings / Appearances – It is common practice to have several authors huddled at small tables at each booth. Unless a reader muscles himself in, it is difficult to have a meaningful encounter. Borders also follows suit, but since their booth is usually enormous, they literally have thirty plus authors signing at a time. Yet, Borders does have several helpful young folks handing out schedules of author appearances, which makes sense, and in some way choreographs the chaos. I see it to be imperative for all exhibitors to schedule their signings and communicate the schedule with flyers, because to get close to the booths to see who is signing is sometimes impossible.

• Proper Booth Setup for Large Crowds – Booths must be engineered in order that customers can easily stream by. If you are lucky enough to afford one of the large booths, then allowing for inside displays and flow may be appropriate, but for the smaller booths, having folks cram inside will keep many others away.

In the end I would not necessarily recommend spending the thousands of dollars it would take to set up your own booth at the LA Times Festival of Books. Having your authors invited to the festival solves many problems, is prestigious for them and for your company, and the festival does all the hard work. Again, partnering with a California bookseller should be your strong number two, but if you’re brave, ambitious, and have a budget the size of Texas, a booth may be in your future. Just please, heed my cautions—put a plan together, and talk with longtime participants. The LA Times Festival of Books can be a powerful addition to your publishing company’s yearly marketing plan, but headstrong action instead of prudent planning could in the end hurt your enterprise rather than help.

Michael L. Wentz, an author/publisher and founder of Novalibre Publishing, LLC, is the managing editor for Southwest Signature. His debut novel Resurrection of Liberty has been nominated for several awards, including the 2006 Prometheus Award for Best Novel. Visit his website at http://www.MichaelLWentz.com.

ABPA Annual Meeting and Elections

On April 27 at the annual meeting of the Arizona Book Publishing Association, and by absentee ballot, the new board of directors was elected by the membership. At the first meeting of the board, the officers were elected.

Your 2006-2007 board of directors:
Sam Henrie, BookPublisher.com, President
Sharon Tully, Book Producer, Internal VP
Bill Fessler, Primer Publishers, Treasurer
Bob Albano, Arizona Highways Books
Mike Bercaw, Archangel Press
Mike Cox, Sr., M & J Southwest
Pam Swartz, Cloud Nine Press
Robert Rosenwald, Poisoned Pen Press
Sherry Randell, Golden West Publishers
Susan Hughes, McFadden & Associates
Tobias Lofstrand, ArTemenos Publishing

Congratulations to these ABPA members. In the coming year, please support their efforts to strengthen our association by volunteering for service on a committee.

The Right Shelf “Stuff”: Why Some Books Don’t Work in Bookstores

by Mary Westheimer

When most people think of buying books, they think of bookstores. Bookstores are wonderful places to buy–and therefore sell–books, but they aren’t the only places. What is known in the book industry as “special sales” refers to selling books outside of the traditional bookstore channel, whether it’s in a retail location (like placing books about Labrador retrievers in pet stores) or selling in bulk to organizations that then resell or give those books away to others (such as selling to Amway or other multilevel marketing channels).

Some books simply aren’t going to do well in bookstores because they don’t fit the profile of a “bookstore book.” Store buyers and consumers have expectations, and even good books that go against the grain can suffer in that channel.

Why aren’t some books “bookstore compatible”?

The Price Is Too High
Any book that is on the shelf beside other books on the same subject needs to have a price comparable to those other books. If the book’s price is higher than its competing companions, it better have significantly more value, whether it’s a better binding, more content, more color, newer material or a better authority. Even then, those enhancements must mean increased value for consumers–if a larger format isn’t perceived as better, the additional cost isn’t justified in potential buyers’ minds. To avoid this pitfall, publishers can visit bookstores to see what else is on the shelf where their books will appear.

The Market Is Too Narrow
There are plenty of books out there that have audiences, but those people may not expect such a book to be in a bookstore. For instance, if a publisher produces a book on the history of aluminum toys, it is probably more appropriate to market it in catalogs or magazines for toy collectors, not in a bookstore. Publishers who pinpoint their audiences can plan other ways to market their titles.

The Material Is Too Regional for National Distribution
Some titles can sell steadily in one region but will fizzle nationally because there just isn’t enough interest outside of that locale. Books about tourist destinations and relocation information can be exceptions, but a local subject sometimes just isn’t appropriate for national distribution. Such books certainly can be sold in local bookstores, by direct mail, through joint marketing efforts with local merchants, and on the Internet.

DESIGN

Unprofessional Cover Design
Contrary to the cliché, people do judge books by their covers. An ugly or unprofessional cover can ruin the reputation of an otherwise fine book–fewer people will open it to find out that it is worthwhile. Just as publishers should use professional editors, professional cover designers are a requirement of the business. Professionals know the accepted standards for covers (for instance, a cover should be recognizable even when its image is no larger than a postage stamp. Booksellers use these small graphics in catalogs and on the Internet). They know how to place text on a spine and where to get an appropriate UPC code. They know how to convey a subject visually as well as how to make a book “comfortable” but distinct in its niche. For instance, a business book shouldn’t look like a novel, and vice versa.

The Package Doesn’t Match the Audience
When is a paperback original appropriate or a case binding necessary? Should a book’s interior be in full color, or is black and white accepted and expected? A book’s packaging should match its audience’s expectations. “Delivering the goods” inappropriately sends a subconscious message that a publisher really doesn’t know its subject or its readers. Research into current books in a niche helps publishers sidestep such pitfalls.

The Binding Is Inappropriate
A common error of rookie publishers is using an inappropriate binding because it’s easier (or cheaper) to produce. Most bookstores reject spiral, comb and saddle stitch bindings for good reasons: Such bindings don’t hold up well and sometimes mean no text can be printed on the spine, which is important because most books on a shelf are “spine out” (and no, having a binding that can’t show a title is not going to encourage bookstore employees to put a book face out). Most important, though, is that such bindings are generally not professional, which turns off buyers. You never want to give buyers a reason to say no. If the package isn’t professional, questions arise about the content, too. Once again, market research can provide information about what is appropriate in various niches.

The Format Is Unusual
If every other paperback is mass-market size and a publisher produces an edition in a trade format, what are the odds that a buyer will take a chance on it? What format is used for other books in that niche? A variation can make a book stand out, or it can kill it before it takes its first bookstore breath. Once again, a little research can go a long way. Publishers can consult with employees who stock and select books to get even more insights about what is appropriate.

CONTENT

There Are Too Many Other Titles on This Subject
Even a mediocre book can be successful if there are no other books on a popular subject. Conversely, if there are too many other titles on a specific subject, a book has to be extraordinary to catch buyers’ eyes. Publishers need to research their market using Literary Market Place, Forthcoming Books In Print and bookstore and library shelves. If there are already a number of books on the same subject, that’s a red warning light to any wise publisher.

The Title is Inappropriate
A serious book with a humorous title, or one that doesn’t relate to the subject or the readers, can face an uphill battle. Consumers may not consciously know why they steer away from such inappropriate titles, but bookstore buyers know to look for this sort of “disconnect.” Sometimes a title is too cryptic. While there are always exceptions to this rule–who can forget What Color Is Your Parachute? as one of the classic Titles That Breaks All the Rules–they are few and far between. A straightforward title that begins with a keyword can also help when people are checking Books In Print for a subject. For instance, if someone is looking for job information, titling a book The Job Seekers Guide to Career Success improves the chances a potential purchaser will see, understand and therefore buy it when looking under the word “job.”

The Editorial Matter is Unprofessional
No matter how beautiful a book’s cover may be, poor editorial material can scuttle selection by a bookstore or library buyer or a consumer. Typographical errors, incomplete information and lack of indices in books that really need them are the sorts of editorial gaffes that can kill a book in any market. Professional editorial assistance is not optional, yet bypassing this important step is a shortcut some smaller publishers take. A professional editor knows how to make certain a book is complete, focused, accurate, appropriately paced and grammatically correct.

The Scope of Material is Inappropriate
Knowing the market and having an author who knows the subject helps publishers avoid focusing too closely or too broadly on a subject. While some of this decision-making usually comes down to “trusting the gut,” research helps make such judgments on a “well-fed belly.”

The Topic Is Too Personal
Not every book is appropriate for general release. Although certainly important in their own right, personal journeys are of great interest to family and friends, which makes them appropriate for private printing. That doesn’t mean, though, that the public will be interested enough to buy. Unless a personal experience or life story has global impact or insights, it usually is best printed in small numbers and shared with its true audience.

The Book Is Hard to Shelve
Any publisher who understands how books are shelved can help buyers (and bookstore employees) by making it clear where a book belongs in a store. Is a book an autobiography, self-help or New Age? If a title can fall into one of a number of categories, a publisher might let the bookseller know what’s selling best right now or offer more than one option. If the subject isn’t clear or there isn’t a bookstore section for that focus, a buyer might turn down a title rather than guess. Publishers who designate categories in the upper left-hand corner of a book’s back cover help buyers and shelvers–and their own companies.

If a publisher wants to tap into national markets, the “hot spots” mentioned here are worth extra attention, but being turned down for bookstore distribution is not necessarily bad. Publishers can successfully market by direct mail, in local markets, or through specialty catalogs and channels. The key is to know the product, the competition, the audience and the market, and to plan accordingly. If publishers do their homework, a book’s success is significantly more likely.

Mary Westheimer is former CEO of BookZone and a publishing industry professional of 30 years. A former freelance writer, Mary has written for Publishers Weekly, USA Today and Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications. This article was provided by Wheatmark, Inc.

Southern Arizona Chapter

by Robert Casler, Correspondent for the Southern Arizona Chapter

The Southern Arizona Chapter of ABPA is holding monthly meetings again in 2006. These meetings are scheduled for the third Thursday of each month from 5:30 to 7:00. Join us if you can.

Robert Casler is Publications Coordinator, Educational Communications and Technologies, College of Agriculture, University of Arizona. Reach him at rcasler@ag.arizona.edu.

It’s Your Newsletter

Remember that Southwest Signature is your newsletter, and we want to hear from you! Did you land a big name author, a major distribution deal, or win an award? Do you have an idea for an article? Please let us know. Send an e-mail to Mike Wentz, Managing Editor, at Mike@NovalibrePublishing.com.

New ABPA Members

Please welcome these new ABPA members:

Friesens Corporation
Cameron Fay
720-872-3058
cameronf@friesens.com
http://www.friesens.com

Red Road Productions
Jessica McGrady
480-994-0013
jmcgrady2@cox.net

Moonlight Mesa Associates
Becky Coffield and Tom Coffield
928-684-5231
BLCoffield@hughes.net
http://www.moonlightmesaassociates.com

Tickled Pink Press
Kathy Warfel
602-524-5780
kathyw@tickledpinkpress.com
http://www.tickledpinkpress.com

Future ABPA Meetings

June 28 11:30 a.m.
The Best of Publishing University including current trends, what’s hot and more, Bette Dowdell, Confident Faith Institute

July—No program

August 30 11:30 a.m.
Field trip to printer Courier Graphics

September 28 5:30 p.m.
Publicity, speaker to be confirmed

October 30 5:30 p.m.
Website Optimization; Kathy Heasley founder of IMS Breakthrough, will discuss how publishers and authors can use their website, with the latest technologies to promote and build their brand and increase sales; blogs, podcasting, video casting, etc.; http://www.imsbreakthrough.com

December 9—Holiday Event

Members in the Spotlight

Arizona Publishers are Foreword Book of the Year Winners

Foreword Magazine has announced the winners for its 2005 Book of the Year Awards. Winners for Gold, Silver and Bronze were announced at a special event at BookExpo America at the Washington Convention Center in Washington DC Friday, May 19th, 2006. A complete list appears at http://www.forewordmagazine.com/botya/
Congratulations to these Arizona publishers who were winners!

PSYCHOLOGY
Gold
Misdiagnosis And Dual Diagnoses Of Gifted Children And Adults: ADHD, Bipolar, OCD, Asperger’s, Depression, And Other Disorders
James T. Webb / Great Potential Press

FICTION-GENERAL
Bronze
Snake Walkers
J. Everett Prewitt / Northland Publishing Company

MYSTERY
Bronze
Cold Burn
Kit Ehrman / Poisoned Pen Press

1106 Design books earn awards

Two books designed by 1106 Design were recognized in the IPPY Awards this year:
Under a Stand Still Moon, by Ann Howard Creel, winner in the Multicultural Fiction–Children’s category, and What If You Can Change The World by Linda Iribarren, runner up in the Inspiration/Spiritual category. Congratulations to Michele DeFilippo!

Purple Puppy earns Parenting Seal of Approval

Purple Puppy by Susan Faith, published by ABPA member Purple People, is the Winner of The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval for 2006. “The National Parenting Center is the lead advocacy group for children’s products. The Seal is awarded to products that undergo strict testing. The criteria includes the parents and children determining that this is a product they would buy, that they would want to receive, and that they would give as a gift. Quality, stimulation, interactivity, pricing and packaging are key elements required for a product to receive the Seal. No specific number of Seals is awarded, therefore only the absolute best products receive The National Parenting Center Seal of Approval,” according to David Gaynes, Product Testing Manager for TNPC.

About This Newsletter

Email your Southwest Signature announcements to editor Michael Wentz at mike@novalibrepublishing.com

To view back issues of the newsletter, click on Newsletters in the menu at the right.