June 2007 Southwest Signature

In this edition:

  • President’s Message: Independent Book Publishers Association (PMA) Affiliate Retreat by Sam Henrie
  • ABPA Program June 27 features Lynn Wiese Sneyd on the Publicity Pitch
  • ABPAs membership drive continues, with Prescott resort stay prize!
  • The Big Picture on Large Print Books by Lisa Liddy
  • ABPA Board Elects Officers
  • ABPA’s Trade Show Committee seeks input on AzLA show
  • Update from Jessica Tribble, ABPA Glyph Committee Chair
  • ABPA Co-op Marketing Committee plans programs for member marketing
  • Good Email Etiquette for Businesspeople
  • ABPA New Members
  • ABPA Member Spotlight: Poisoned Pen Press earns two awards including prestigious Agatha Award
  • Book Industry News: The Death of Book Reviews, Small Press Center Name Change
  • ABPA Future Programs
  • Conferences for Writers and Publishers

President’s Message from Sam Henrie

Independent Book Publishers Association (PMA) Affiliate Retreat

In April, I attended the Independent Book Publishers Association (PMA) Affiliate Retreat in Chicago. PMA has a number of affiliates throughout the country and PMA funds this annual get together so that these affiliates can exchange ideas and determine ways in which PMA can help them do a better job of achieving their missions.

The other PMA affiliates in attendance were:

No one attended from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association (CIPA), http://www.cipabooks.com, perhaps the largest state organization with about 400 members.

It’s definitely worthwhile visiting these websites to see what other book publishing associations are doing, especially if you are an ABPA committee chair, officer, or director.

What I learned at the retreat:

  • ABPA with about 120 members is one of the largest affiliates of PMA. We are also one of the most well-organized and respected. I can’t tell you how many times I heard: “If I have a question about that, I look at ABPA’s website to see what they are doing.” So, “well done” Gwen, committee chairs, committee members, directors, officers, and other volunteers.
  • Most affiliates, unlike ABPA, have printed catalogs of books. Some organizations have an editorial committee that determines which titles get into their catalogs, others charge members a per-title fee for a catalog listing, and yet others let all members who were interested put any titles they want in the catalog for free. Frequently printer-members donate the cost of printing the catalogs. The PMA affiliates use their catalogs as cooperative marketing pieces in two principal ways. First, the affiliates use catalogs as a way of providing those members who have only a handful of titles with a professional marketing piece to mail or hand out. Second, the affiliates use catalogs as a direct mail piece to send to libraries, independent bookstores, and other book buyers in their states or regions.
  • The PMA Mini-University that ABPA plans on hosting in November of 2007 could be a landmark event in the evolution/growth of ABPA. About once per year PMA’s board of directors uses the occasion of one of their quarterly board meetings to hold a one-day PMA Mini-University at the location of one of its affiliates. In November of 2007 it’s ABPA’s turn. When the St. Louis Publishers Association (SPLA) hosted this event in 2006, they had about 125 attendees from 17 states. SLPA was able to find sponsors to help finance the event, and make a profit for the organization, while giving their membership access to the wealth of publishing experience represented by PMA’s board of directors. SPLA’s membership grew by about 10 as a result of the event. SPLA representatives gave me copies of the printed collateral materials they created for this event. I’ll be passing these along to ABPA’s Educational Events Committee.
  • Publishers and Writers of San Diego (PWSD) and the Publishers Association of Los Angeles (PALA) are interested in working with ABPA to bring publishing industry heavy hitters to the Southwest to do programs for each of our organizations. Maybe we can coax great speakers with the idea that they can give their presentations to three large audiences during a three-day tour of the Southwest.
  • Many of the affiliates that serve food at their meetings are struggling with the increasing cost of doing this. Many have opted to have breakfast buffet meetings, instead of lunch or dinner meetings. Hotels tend to charge much less per head for breakfast buffets than they do for lunches or dinners. This is something that ABPA’s Program Committee and board of directors might want to consider over the coming year. A possible downside: We might have to restrict our meetings to Saturdays and Sundays, as weekday brunches are hard for most working folks to attend.
  • Sponsorships can be a major source of funding for educational and peer recognition events, like the Professional Publishing Course, the PMA Mini-University, and the Glyph Awards Ceremony. Book manufacturers, book marketing/publicity firms, book design firms, and editorial service providers are excellent candidates for such sponsorships.
  • Lack of succession planning has been a problem for virtually all of the affiliates. (I suspect that any volunteer organization that doesn’t do good succession planning will have problems.) It’s very difficult to maintain continuity in the programs and activities of a volunteer organization, when key roles within the organization go vacant while replacements are sought. I took this lesson to heart, and have already started working with ABPA’s committee chairs on succession planning.
  • All of the affiliates that rotate their meeting location between different metropolitan areas face major logistical difficulties. ABPA’s board has discussed having some of its meeting in Tucson, Flagstaff, or elsewhere in Arizona. Post-retreat, my belief is that meetings outside of the Phoenix-area should only be in addition to our schedule of Phoenix-area meetings, and should never replace any of them. We should also provide as many online tools as we can so that we can give members who live in places like Page and Yuma as many of the benefits of ABPA membership as possible without requiring them to travel to Phoenix.

The last, and most important, thing that I learned is that ABPA is not alone. PMA has a substantial support infrastructure for its affiliates, especially in the areas of cooperative marketing and educational programs; and PMA affiliates throughout the country have web and human resources that we can draw on for help in our endeavors.

Sam Henrie is president and founder of Wheatmark http://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.

Wheatmark

June ABPA Meeting

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Featured Guest Speaker: Lynn Wiese Sneyd

Please note our meeting location!
Hometown Buffet Meeting Facility
1312 N. Scottsdale Rd. (just south of McDowell Rd.)
Scottsdale, AZ (480) 946-7544
For the the exact location, visit http://www.mapquest.com

Program (includes dinner) 5:30 p.m.— 8:00 p.m.
Early Registration (by June 22): $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.

“The Art of the Publicity Pitch”

Lynn will address how authors and publishers can approach TV and radio producers with ideas that producers will love and how a publisher or author can best work with a producer.

  • Learn how to locate producers and get their direct contact information
  • Get tips on producing a professional and enticing press kit
  • Learn how to create pitches that sizzle and sell your interview
  • Learn the art and etiquette of pitching by phone and email
  • Tips for getting the most out of an interview

Lynn Wiese Sneyd is a literary publicist with Russell Public Communications in Tucson, AZ where she conducts national, regional, and local publicity and marketing campaigns for authors. Prior to joining Russell Public, she was a community relations manager for Barnes & Noble. The author of Holistic Parenting and co-author of Healthy Solutions, her essays and poetry have appeared in various newspapers and magazines around the country.

Also plan to join us at the ABPA meeting on July 31.

Voice of Experience: Jim Willinger, Wide World of Maps

At 5:45, Jim Willinger, “Maps Give Direction to Your Book”
Jim will discuss how adding maps to your book makes them more marketable and other ways you can use maps.

Join us for this powerful program!

Prepayment is required for registration.
Please register at http://www.azbookpub.com or
RSVP to the ABPA hotline (602) 274-6264 or
email info@azbookpub.com.

For speedy check-in, pay in advance by credit card (Visa/ MC) or check—mail to ABPA address.
Arizona Book Publishing Association
6340 S. Rural Road #118-152
Tempe, AZ 85283

ABPA’s membership drive continues, with Prescott resort stay prize!

By Gwen Henson, Executive Director

You play an instrumental role in ABPA’s membership drive, and now you can reap your reward. You can win a One-Night Stay for Two in a King Deluxe Room at the beautiful Prescott Resort and Conference Center when you bring a new member to ABPA.

Boosting our membership enables us to build stronger and better educational and marketing programs, it adds talent and knowledge to our association, and it attracts associate members that provide services that publishers need.

When new members join, they often say, “I wish I had known about ABPA sooner. I could have avoided the mistakes I made on my first book.” As members, why not tell your friends and colleagues in the industry about the association?

Invite a friend, business associate or anyone you meet who wants to publish a book to attend ABPA meetings in May and June. When your invited guest attends with you, we’ll have a thank you gift for you at the meeting.

Every new member that joins between April 25 and June 27 will be entered into a drawing to win a One-Night Stay for Two in a King Deluxe Room at the beautiful Prescott Resort and Conference Center. (Donated by the Grace Hospitality Group) Plus, every current ABPA member who brings a guest who joins by June 27 will be entered in a separate drawing for a resort stay.

Help ABPA grow into an even stronger and healthier association by inviting someone you know right now!

The Big Picture on Large Print Books

At the April ABPA meeting, our Voice of Experience, Lisa Liddy of The Printed Page, discussed the option of adding large print books to your product line. Lisa revealed some interesting statistics. Here she shares excerpts from her presentation.

Who Buys Large Print Books?

More people than you might expect beyond the group of traditionally vision-impaired readers. This group of people with “low vision” includes:

  • Many readers over the age of 45 who experience age-related vision loss
  • Avid readers and computer users who want to avoid eye strain
  • Travelers and commuters (think low light and bumpy rides)
  • Multi-takers (those of us who can’t just sit and do one thing…people exercising on treadmills, gardeners, cooks)
  • Beginning readers and “English as Second Language” readers (adults and children)
  • Beach goers (the bright sunlight makes reading difficult without larger type)
  • Libraries

The Business of Large Print

  • 96.9 million people in the U.S are over 45 (by 2010, the number will be 119.3 million)
  • By age 45, nearly everyone experiences some sort of vision changes related to aging.
  • 16.5 million people over the age of 45 report vision loss (by 2010 that number will be 20 million)
  • Americans over the age of 45 account for 50% of all household discretionary income ($756 billion)
  • The fastest growing market segment is Americans age 50+

*adapted from http://www.lighthouse.org/accessibility/top-10

Specifications for Large Print Books

The specifications vary somewhat primarily in type size, depending on the market: 16-18 point for traditionally vision-impaired and 14-16 point for this new market of aging baby boomers.

Some factors that remain the same regardless of the market:

  • Off-white, natural vellum, or matte offset stock to reduce glare (definitely avoid glossy paper)
  • Modified serif fonts (Book Antiqua, Garamond for example) or sans serif (Helvetica, Optimum, Arial)
  • Adequate letter and word spacing as well as leading (the space between lines) to minimize density of type on the page
  • Shorter lines are better
  • Greater contrast is better
  • Avoid italicized text (use underlining) *editorial note…that one makes the designer in me cringe but what can you do…

For more information on creating a large print book, contact Lisa Liddy, The Printed Page, email: printedpage@cox.net or phone: 480-460-1707.

ABPA Board Elects Officers

At the May 22 ABPA board meeting, these officers were elected: President, Sam Henrie
Treasurer, Bill Fessler
Secretary, Mike Bercaw
Many thanks to these members who have agreed to serve the association in this capacity.

1106design

ABPA’s Trade Show Committee Update

Trade Show Committee Chair Karen Gray is soliciting three volunteers to work with her planning ABPA’s participation in the Arizona Library Association convention this fall.

“I’m working on ways to maximize the exposure of our booth and our books to librarians who attend the convention and am open to any suggestions members would like to offer,” Karen said. Reach Karen at kgray@acaciapublishing.com.

Glyph Award Committee Update

The Glyph committee is working hard to create another successful Glyph Award’s ceremony. The committee is currently investigating locations for the awards ceremony and hopes to hold the event in September or early October.

In the meantime, we are still looking for someone willing to organize the judging panel. Preferably this person is not associated with a press that would submit for a Glyph award. If you are interested or you know someone who might be interesterd, please contact jessica@poisonedpenpress.com.

Jessica Tribble, Glyph Award Committee Chair

ABPA Co-op Marketing Committee plans programs for member marketing

The ABPA Co-op Marketing Committee continues online discussions about cooperative marketing opportunities that will help members to sell more books.

You are invited to participate online and at the committee meetings with any ideas or suggestions you may have. Contact Tobias Lofstrand at 888-270-2833 or Tobias@ArTemenos.com for more details or visit the Yahoo! Group http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ABPAmarketingcommittee/

The on-line group is available for all ABPA members who would like to participate in discussions and planning of cooperative marketing activities.

ATGProductions

Good Email Etiquette for Businesspeople

We’re inundated with spam. How can so many people have your email address? Here’s how you can help minimize the number of times your address is “out there.”

  1. When you forward an email message, click the “Forward” button then DELETE all of the other email addresses that appear in the body of the message or at the top. In this way, you protect the email addresses of others and prevent someone down the line from using those email addresses to send spam. You may prefer to use the “Send Again” option, as this prevents those annoying lines of >>>.
  2. Whenever you send an email to more than one person, don’t use the To or Cc fields for adding email addresses, which enables others to obtain those addresses. Instead, use the Bcc (blind carbon copy) field to add the email addresses. The people you send to will see only their own email address.
  3. Remove any Fwd: in the subject line. You can re-name the subject to be more logical if you wish and even correct any misspelled words.
  4. Before you forward a warning, an alert or a call to action for a “good” cause, it’s a smart idea to check out the message before forwarding it. Unfortunately, many such messages are junk email, Internet hoaxes or urban legends. Some of these stories have been circling the Internet for years. Before you forward that next email, first check out the story at one of these online sites: http://www.snopes.com/, http://urbanlegends.com/ or http://www.scambusters.org/legends.html

Thanks to Kitty Wiemelt, who contributed to the material in this article.

Need Help?

Acacia Publishing’s most recent intern, Tiffany Hammill, is finishing up her time with us and looking for a job in the publishing arena. She’s a talented cum laude ASU graduate, very conscientious and has done a great job for us. She can be reached at 623 – 386 – 5086 or via email at tahinaz@gmail.com and would appreciate any interviews or consideration.

ABPA New Members

Adler Publishing
Jeanne Massey
303 660-2158 fax: 303 688-4388
jmassey@AdlerPublishing.com
http://www.AdlerPublishing.com

Patricia L. Lucas
Spider Woman Press
520-399-9277
frenchie@theriver.com

Literary Partners Group LLC
Andrew Greeley
520-296-2442 fax:520-296-9488
andrew@literarypartnersgroup.com
http://www.literarypartnersgroup.com

Love of Elie Publishing
Bill Arbanas
480-816-0304

Net Publications
Mary K. Dougherty
480-560-4933
mdougherty@netpub.net
http://www.netpub.net

Allison Books LLC
Bernadette Buddington
623-308-6726 fax: 623-386-2750
bernieb@allisonbooks.com
http://www.allisonbooks.com

Paxon Consulting
Jim Paxon
928-205-5200 fax: 928-532-5907
jimpaxon@frontiernet.net
http://www.paxonthefireguy.com

The Whole Story LLC
Sandy Holloway
719-351-7306
sandyholloway@cox.net

La Mariposa Press
Nancy O’Connor
520-615-1244 fax: 520-299-4840
docnano@aol.com
http://www.lamariposapress.com

ABPA Member Spotlight

Poisoned Pen Press earns two awards including prestigious Agatha Award

Congratulations to Poisoned Pen Press! The press won the 2007 PMA Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Mystery/Suspense of 2006 for John McEvoy’s Riders Down.

Last month The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall won the prestigious Agatha Award for Best First Mystery at Malice Domestic.

Foreword Book of the Year Award Finalists

Congratulations to ABPA members who are Foreword Book of the Year Award Finalists. For a complete list see the May newsletter at http://azbookpub.com/news/may-southwest-signature/. Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners, as well as Editor’s Choice Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction were announced at a special program at BookExpo America at the Javits Center in New York City. The winners of the two Editor’s Choice Prizes were awarded $1,500 each.

Book Industry News

The Death of Book Reviews

Major newspapers have been slashing their space for book reviews. How does that impact publishers and how can we counter this trend? For one take on the situation, listen to “No More Book Reviews?” on NPR’s Talk of the Nation (5/1/2007). John Freeman, president of the National Book Critics Circle explains why some newspapers are eliminating book reviews from their publications. Listen at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9942919

Small Press Center changes name

According to Publishers Weekly, the board of the Small Press Center has approved a name change to the New York Center for Independent Publishing. The new name and new logo was officially unveiled May 31. The new website will be http://www.NYCIP.org.

ABPA Future Programs

Mark your calendar and join us for these ABPA programs.

July 31 Ask the Experts

August 30 Field Trip to Sir Speedy Scottsdale

September 26 Tom McFadden, “How to Sell 5,000 Books in a Weekend and Why You Might Not Want To”–Selling to the Clubs

October 24 Best of Publishing

November No Meeting

December Holiday Party

Conferences for Writers and Publishers

ThrillerFest 2007, July 12-15, 2007, Grand Hyatt Manhattan, New York City. ThrillerMaster 2007: James Patterson. Spotlight guests: Jeffery Deaver, Vince Flynn, Heather Graham, Lisa Gardner. http://www.thrillerfest.org.

Society of Southwestern Authors: Wrangling with Writing, September 15-16, 2007. Holiday Inn Palo Verde, $275 for SSA members and $350 for non-members. Check http://www.ssa-az.org/ for further updates

Bouchercon 2007, Bearly Alive, Sept. 27-30,2007, Anchorage Hilton Hotel, Anchorage, Alaska. American Guest of Honor: Ann Rule. British Guest of Honor: Alexander McCall. Fan Guest of Honor: Barbara Peters, proprietor of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale. Website: http://www.bouchercon2007.com/

ABPA/PMA Mini-Publishing University, November 3, 2007, location TBA. Watch http://www.azbookpub.com for more details.

Desert Rose Chapter, Romance Writers Assn., 2008 Desert Dreams Conference, April 4-6, 2008, Crowne Plaza San Marcos Golf Resort, Chandler, AZ, Keynote Speaker: Sherrilyn Kenyon, http://www.desertroserwa.org/conference.htm

From your editor

After publishing last month’s newsletter, we received compliments from several members saying how much they liked it. Thank you for letting us know! When I examined what was different from previous newsletters, I realized how beefed up the Member Spotlight section was. Our members must enjoy hearing of other members’ successes.

I’m writing to ask for your help in sending me news about something special that’s happened at your company. Have you recently won an award? Did you sell out a print run? Did one of your author’s appear on a national TV show? I only need 2-3 sentences, but I’d love to hear from you about your good news.

Also, I am including member book signings with the encouragement for members to support each other by attending, a program tried successfully at CIPA. If this gets too big, we may not be able to continue doing it, but we’ll try it for a while. Please email your Southwest Signature submissions to gwen@azbookpub.com.

Thanks,
Editor

Advertise in the ABPA Newsletter and Website

Advertising rates have been published for placing ads in both Southwest Signature and on the ABPA website. Associate members, this is a powerful way to reach publishers with advertising about your services for publishers and writers. Publishers, please invite your vendors to visit www.azbookpub.com and click on Advertising Opportunities. They’ll appreciate hearing about this opportunity.

About Southwest Signature

Southwest Signature is the monthly e-newsletter of the Arizona Book Publishing Association, a non-profit professional association. Entire contents copyright 2007 Arizona Book Publishing Association unless otherwise noted. Permission is granted to forward this e-newsletter but only in its entirety. For information, email info@azbookpub.com or call (602) 274-6264.

We welcome submissions and reserve editing rights. Email your Southwest Signature submissions to gwen@azbookpub.com.

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