FEBRUARY 2011
FEBRUARY 2011
Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers (SASP) began in 1998 when Chuck O’Conner, Elmer Freeman, Joe Meiners,
and Dan Vollmer, Spokane area authors
formed a club in order to share their knowledge and experience with those
interested in writing and alternative ways of publishing. Today, SASP is a large non-profit
organization dedicated to anyone with interests in any aspect of writing and
art. Members now include aspiring (and
successful) authors, poets, journalists, illustrators, editors, publishers,
printers, writing instructors, and many others.
Monthly luncheon meetings provide inspiration and education by way of
knowledgeable and entertaining guest speakers, and the cheerful camaraderie of
people sharing common interests and goals.
Membership is open to all who love writing, art, and interesting people.
Spokane
Authors and Self-Publishers meets
the first Thursday of each month, September through May, in the banquet (back)
room of the Old Country Buffet
(509) 484-5026
Speakers’
presentations begin at NOON. The room opens at 11:00 AM to allow members and guests to dine, converse, join, pay
dues, browse, and perhaps buy other member’s books that are on display. Generally a short business meeting is held,
either before or after the formal presentation.
New members and guests are introduced, members relate their accomplishments,
and various door prizes are awarded.
All
members and guests are requested to buy lunch upon entering the establishment,
and to leave an appropriate tip for the waiter/waitress.
Members
need to be present to win door prizes.
Current
membership benefits include a
listing on the SASP website, www.spokaneauthors.org. Many
members provide short biographies and links to external personal websites,
creating more marketing exposure.
Current members may list and describe their published works on the SASP
website and offer their work for sale at meetings.
Guest speakers at our monthly meetings
inform, inspire, and entertain members and guests with a variety of topics, all
designed to provide knowledge pertinent to writing and publishing.
SASP
members are encouraged to purchase or trade completed works of and with fellow
members. They are also encouraged to
donate examples of their work for use as door prizes. Those who win other members’ works are
expected to provide a review of that work.
Dues for SASP
membership are $15.00 per calendar year.
Dues may be paid directly to
our Treasurer at our monthly meetings.
Alternatively, you may remit your dues to:
2011 Officers
President: Dave McChesney
(509) 325-2072
Vice-President: Bob Weldin
(509) 327-2897
Secretary: Robert Pillsbury
(509) 842-6803
rvpsasp07@comcast.net
Treasurer: Bonnie
Stichart
(509) 684-0424
Public-Relations: Russ Davis
(509) 768-6206
Newsletter
Editor: Jim Parry
(509)
325-9922
parry9922@q.com
Web Master: Dave McChesney
(509) 325-2072
Advisory
Board:
Jolene Feher
(509) 489-0544
fehersong@yahoo.com
Gail Mangano
(509) 535-1434
mamamia3224@comcast.net
Bob Manion
(509) 448-2901
gunnerbob@comcast.net
OUR
NEXT MEETING!
Please join us on Thursday,
Feb 3 at 12 noon. We’ll be at our
usual location, Old Country Buffet,
We
are honored to have as our guest speaker this month, Andrew Corder, who is currently
Senior Editor at Gray Dog Press. Mr.
Corder has worked for two other presses, has been an editor at three literary
journals, and has seven years of experience as a freelance editor. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from EWU
and a BA in English from
Andrew
will compare large traditional publishing, small press and independent
publishing, and self-publishing. He will
also contrast actually being published with simply having a book printed.
The
President’s Page
January 2011
OUR LAST MEETING
Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers kicked off the New Year with a January 6th meeting at Old Country Buffet. Fellow member Paul Lecoq presented a software program he had developed to help keep track of characters, locations, and other story line situations when writing a novel. The presentation was not without problems as the projector, brought to ensure all could see the presentation, would not work. Nevertheless, Paul made an interesting presentation, and several members are interested in obtaining and using his programs. Of note is the fact that the software is not limited to fiction writing, but may be adapted to various non-fiction efforts.
Paul’s
presentation and the resulting question-and-answer session took more time than
planned, so we did not have the scheduled open forum on novel writing. We will schedule that at a later date.
Past
member Cheryl Starr returned as a guest for the day, bringing with her a
potential new member. Bobbie Ochse did
indeed join our organization, as did William Hendershott and Wally Parker. Welcome to all of you. Founder Dan Vollmer also returned and renewed
his membership. Welcome back!
We
rang the bell for several of our member’s accomplishments. Newcomer Bobbie Ochse mentioned a signing for
her children’s book, Nana’s Magic Closet,
on February 5th. Soul Karriem
told us he would be signing his book at
Door
prizes included a copy of Robert Pillsbury’s I Walk Faster When I’ve Nowhere To Go, and Nana’s Magic Closet by Bobbie Colliton Ochse. Both were donated by their respective
authors. Due to a note-taking lapse,
names of individuals winning these books were not recorded and thus lost to
posterity.
MORE STUFF
As
always we are looking for member biographies to post on the web-site, as well
as reviews of member’s books. A couple
of bios have been received recently and will be posted soon.
We
are now in a new membership year; meaning dues for 2011 are due. Thanks to all who have already paid. We look forward to all of you renewing your
membership in the near future. If you
can’t attend a meeting in order to pay in person, simply send your check to
SASP’s mailing address:
Currently
we have programs lined up for our next two meetings. On February 3rd, Andrew Corder,
senior editor at Gray Dog Press will compare and contrast traditional,
independent, and self-publishing options.
He will also denote the differences in actually being published with
merely having a book printed. On March 3rd,
local writer and Gray Dog Press author Dawn Nelson will speak on marketing.
Speaking
of Gray Dog Press, they have a totally new web-site. In fact, it is so new that any short cuts or
book marks you may have established on your computer to reach it may not
work. You may wish to clear out older
book marks or “favorite” listings and re-enter the URL, (www.graydogpress.com). Having made a quick scan of the new site, it
appears that Spoke Write will make a
return in the next year. That is good
news for those who have written or plan to write articles, poetry or stories
for that venue.
Those
attending our last meeting no doubt noticed that we are being charged differently
(and more) than the standard Old Country Buffet customer. We are now being charged for a business group
lunch as opposed to a regular lunch, drinks included. The price isn’t that unreasonable, but those
having Senior Discount Cards find them to be of no use, while a fifty cent tip
is added to everyone’s up front cost.
Shouldn’t Senior Discounts be honored?
Shouldn’t tips be a matter or individual generosity, based on service
received, rather than a charge added to our initial payment? This situation caused a lot of comment and
discussion, with most members being mildly to wildly upset about it. Our secretary has come up with a
questionnaire regarding this. Once it
has passed through the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board, the poll will
be passed along to the membership in general.
If it is not sent to you via e-mail, it will be available at the next
meeting. We should all give this matter
serious thought and be most conscientious when responding to the
questions. Our ultimate decision could
lead to dramatic changes for SASP.
Finally,
I have recently posted the final
remarks concerning Jim Parry’s For
What It’s Worth column, published in the December Newsletter. These comments are additional ones from Russ
Davis. You can also view his earlier ones as well
as Michael’s and Jim’s
original piece by
following the links. I currently allow
anonymous commenting, so you may do so if you wish. You do not need to have a LiveJournal, other
blogging, or social network account. I
would prefer comments be signed, either with an actual name or an online
identity of some sort.
Write
on,
For What It’s Worth
Recently, our organization has run into a couple of small, controversial issues: One regarding the pricing of food at OCB; the other was over a column that I wrote in our December newsletter. I’m not going to weigh in on those at this time. (What? He’s not? Thank God!) I’d rather say simply that no matter the problem, let’s all continue supporting each other.
This can be done in a variety of ways (and I think most of us are already doing most of these things, but let’s redouble our efforts): The simplest, yet most effective method is to speak to each other with words of encouragement. Let us congratulate each and every member about each and every accomplishment.
Another way is to attend each others’ releases, signings, and readings. I’ve really fallen down in this area. All events get written on the calendar, but then something comes up or I just plain forget. If memory serves, the only signing I’ve attended is one of Robert Pillsbury’s. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to do better in this department. (I certainly appreciate all who have attended my events. Thank you.)
And if you can afford to buy books from local authors, especially SASP authors, BUY THEM. (Most are quite good.) I’m not the world’s most avid reader, but I’ve recently purchased two of Robert Pillsbury’s works and Stillpoint by Pat Kowal. I’ve also bought books from other local authors in 2010, including Sherrida Woodley’s Quick Fall of Light , Holly and Bruce Holbert’s Signed, Your Student, Bill Elston’s 120 Years of Inland Northwest Sports, Pat McManus’ The Deer on a Bicycle, and Jess Walter’s The Financial Lives of the Poets.
Last, but not least: Post reviews of others’ works on the SASP website. I’ve written only one thus far, but another of my resolutions is telling me to post more. GO SASP!
Jim
News
Listed below are acknowledgments of our member's accomplishments,
book signing dates, locations, and other items of note:
Web-site Improvements
Those web pages that had been saved in mht
format have been converted to htm. This should make it easier for all to link to
and open up these pages.
Recent Newsletters now on Site
All issues of our recently revived SASP Newsletter are now posted
and available on the web-site. Simply go
to the Newsletter Tab on our home page and click on the month you are
interested in. All content of the
e-mailed or “snail-mailed” versions is there, although the format is changed
somewhat.
New “LINKS”
We’ve recently added several “general
interest” links on the web-site page of the same name. (It seems that we are adding new links every
month!)
Tickets On
Festival
passes are still available for the headlining events. By purchasing a pass, you
will save $20-$25 off individual ticket costs and service fees. Passes gain admission
to see Tim O’Brien (with Brian Turner), Sam Kean,
Matthew Dickman and on Friday, either Sena Jeter Naslund (with Nancy Rawles) or Ani DiFranco in concert. The regular festival pass is $45. The
pass that includes the Ani DiFranco
concert ticket is $60.
Additional
authors participating in the festival include poets Brian Turner and Lowell
Jaeger, novelists Nancy Rawles, Julie Otsuka, Benjamin Percy and Jonathan Evison,
nonfiction authors Jack Hamann and Margaret Regan,
graphic novelist Danica Novgorodoff
and many other authors. Visit our website for a full list of participating authors
and join us April 13-17 to explore these writers' American stories.
Another Contest
We will run four short story competitions in 2011. The deadlines
will be the end of February, May, August and November. Our main writing
competitions have an open theme with a 3,000 word limit. There are three prizes
to the top three winning writers of £100, £50 and £25. There will also be the
opportunity for the stories to be published on our website as well as being
recorded for broadcast on Brighton’s Coastway
Hospital Radio, which provides music and entertainment to a network of
The competition is just four pounds to enter, via PayPal or cheque, and the
competition is open to writers worldwide. Stories can be submitted online along
with payment or by post with a cheque. We will notify
all entrants of receipt of their story. Each entry will be judged impartially
and be read at least twice in full before judging decisions are made.
We are planning some fun free
to enter contests too. Our first is a flash fiction- 250 word limit.
Deadline 31st January 2011. Five song titles are on the site as
themes. Three ten pound prizes and publication on site.
Thank you
Andrew Campbell-Kearsey
info@brightoncow.co.uk
(The COW part stands for Community of Writers)
Russ Davis’ First Reply to
Dec For What It’s Worth
Interesting article.... I had skimmed over that but had not digested it before.
Whoever the insinuating "gentleman" is I doubt he knows what is actually involved with publishing anything. A couple of years ago we had indeed published a couple of things that in retrospect we probably should not have. Neither the content nor the writing was what one would call particularly good, but we worked with what we had. Today, those manuscripts probably would not make it past the first reading. While GDP/Ditto's does production work for many self-publishers we are not the publisher of record. Many of those things like that can easily fall into the "anything" category, hopefully he had enough sense to make the distinction.
All businesses go through an evolutionary process and Gray Dog Press is no exception. Part of our growth involved acquiring an degreed, trained and skilled editor. To be honest GDP is not making enough money to afford it. But, if GDP is to rise above comments like the one made it is necessary. We have eliminated the vanity press portion of what we do and now focus entirely on works that pass a very specific criteria. Except for making note that I would like extra attention made to a particular writer or manuscript I no longer have say as to what makes it through the process and what does not. Except for some very specific circumstances I have essentially abdicated my role on selecting what gets published and what does not. After the first of the year I will be primarily focused on marketing the works provided by the editor.
If it is indeed as the gentleman said then we should not see any real recognition for the work done. We have a books that have won multiple awards, one being made into a movie and others in consideration for national attention. While we have found some books sell better than others many languish due to a lack of a targeted marketing effort on our part. Changing that is what we hope to accomplish in 2011.
Many people see publishing a a big business industry, to a certain extent it is. One author I know that has worked with a number of large publishers was turned down on his latest manuscript by his last publisher since they felt it would not net over $100,000.00. They may or may not be correct, but most authors especially those looking for publication for the first time are more likely going to be published via small press or take the route of self publishing. The publishing business has followed the same model for over 100 years and has developed a "good 'ol boy" system that keeps them in business. Considering how poorly the publishing business at the top end is faring I do not doubt that many changes are in store over the next few years.
We at GDP publish what we feel has quality and an appeal to the marketplace. It is after all a business and if it does not provide a desirable product that others are interested in purchasing then it will not last long.
Russ
GrayDogPress
2727 S. Mt. Vernon