Print On Demand

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly Feb 3, 2010

Do you have a book in you? Dumb question. Who doesn’t? Ron Williamson wants to help get it out of your head and onto the page. He is teaching a new class for the first time - How to Publish Your First Book: The Print on Demand Revolution.

“This is a type of new technology that allows literally one book to be printed at a time,” the writer and Hill Country resident explained. “You can print small runs of books and get them in a rapid fashion.”

Williamson has had success doing this with his most recent and best-selling work - “The Texas Pistoleers.” The book on Wild West history was published completely using print-on-demand (POD) technology and is now available online around the world.

“If someone in Arkansas, London, New York, or Winnipeg wants a copy, they can buy it through Amazon. This has been a terrific boon to online book sales.”

The key difference with this technology is that an aspiring author can print as few as one book at a time. Gone are the days when a new author had to buy a thousand books that ended up sitting in the garage. Williamson calls POD technology one of the greatest boons to publishing since the Gutenberg press.

In addition to saving large print runs, POD saves time.

“Using traditional publishing, the time from submitting a manuscript until the book comes out in print can be one to three years. With POD you can be up and running in two to three months. I know, because I’ve done it.”

Another advantage is that your work can become an “ebook” giving you instant online access to the growing market on personal reader devices like the Kindle (Club Ed also has a class on that!). Williamson cited the example of a woman who wrote a book on Alzheimer’s. No publisher wanted it, so she got it printed-on-demand, then picked up so many online sales the publishers came to her.

Of course, no matter how you publish it, you must still write your book. Williamson notes that his is not a “how to write” class (Club Ed offers that, too). This class is more about “how to format.”

“You have to have it in a format ready for online printers,” he said. “That is quite different than formatting for traditional publishers.”

Another advantage - or disadvantage - with POD is it allows the writer to bypass that bane of the creative - the editor.

“The way you print it is the way you wrote it,” Williamson said. “That could be good or bad, but either way, editing slows the process of taking the book from your pen to the reader.”

Williamson notes that POD is a good way to get information out there, even if you don’t plan to write the Great American Novel. It might be your personal memoirs, a family history, your own cookbook. Those topics have an audience that doesn’t require printing thousands of copies.

So no matter where you are in the writing process - a seasoned pro, working on your first book, or a dreamer with an idea in your head - Williamson estimates this 3-hour class will save attendees 30-40 man hours in the process.

Best of all, with print-on-demand, every book is a first edition!

xxx

Print On Demand is offered on Feb 13 and Feb 27. Information on other writing classes and Kindle is available at www.clubed.net or 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

First Impressions

by Phil Houseal
October 7, 2009
As published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal & Boerne TX Hill Country Weekly

Ever wonder why your painfully written article about your organization's event didn't make it into the newspaper? You can find out why, and how to get it into print, at the new Club Ed class "Impressions."

Bonnie and Larry Arnold have worked for many newspapers in the Hill Country for three decades, and they have plenty of advice for people when it comes to submitting material for their clubs, businesses and organizations.

"This may be a new class for here, but it's not a new concept," said Larry Arnold, noting they have taught it several times in the past 25 years. "But when Bonnie notices the quality of press releases she receives at her newspaper job starts to slip, she knows it is time to teach the class again."

The Arnolds plan to hit the basics of what it takes to get your news in front of readers. Points covered will include:

- how to submit news

- how to work with the press

- electronic submissions

- what needs to go in to a press release

- what to leave out

- the importance of deadlines

- how to get better publicity

- ways to avoid the "grip and grin" photo

The Arnolds will point out the differences between writing for dailies, weeklies, radio, and television. They also will have advice on how to handle bad publicity - or, as Larry puts it, "What to do when your secretary goes to Acapulco with the funds."

They promise lots of practice, and all students will write a press release as part of the class.

Everyone is aware how news distribution has changed over the last 25 years, or even the past five years. Even though news now goes out through the web, blogs, and "tweeting," the rules of the road are timeless.

"All media still use the 5 Ws, you still need to put a date on your submission, and always include your contact info."

On the other hand, the most common errors editors encounter are also timeless:

- submitting too late

- failure to plan ahead

- sending the wrong stuff to wrong media

The very best thing you can do is to "make contact" with your local media. According to the Arnolds, that works both ways.

"You know who to take stuff to, and if you are the expert on widgets, every time that reporter thinks about widgets, he ought to think about you."

Bonnie sees this class as essential for the volunteer in a nonprofit organization who ends up being named the public relations person.

"PR is a specific job, it's not something you just know how to do."

But this class will teach you how to make a better "Impression."

XXX

"Impressions" meets Saturday, Oct 10. For information or to sign up, click www.clubed.net, or call 830-895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com, or follow us on Twitter @clubedtx.

Writing a Romance

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal
Jan 7, 2009

Did you ever yearn to write your own romance novel? Students in a recent Club Ed class learned what it really takes to top the bestseller list from successful novelist Mara Fox.

The Harlequin Romance writer lives in Fredericksburg, and spent a few sessions unveiling the secrets behind her first novel I Shocked The Sheriff.

Unlike the faces of many romance heroines, Fox's basic message was unvarnished and stark.

"If you are writing for yourself, self publishing is fairly easy and inexpensive, and you can have a stack of beautiful books for family and friends," Fox said. "But if you want your book in bookshops, you have to do what the publisher wants."

In other words, you have to compromise the "book of your heart" so it "their book."

Fox has had students disagree strongly with that advice, but she points out that her message has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. It is all about creating a saleable product, and to achieve that you must follow certain guidelines.

"The publishers have to be as happy with your product as you are," she said.

At the same time, Fox counsels that authors stand up for their beliefs when dealing with the book market. In her first novel, her heroine was a recovering alcoholic. The editor questioned having that character trait in the main character, but Fox convinced her that the entire book was based on it. There were other details she ended up changing, but she held firm on what became the key to the novel.

Over the years at Club Ed we have noticed a passionate interest in writing among students. Fox believes that is because writing is "closer to thought" than music or art.

"Writing is so personal," she said. "Everything I write involve issues I am dealing with. I think writers are the most vulnerable people in the world, because they want people to know them but don't know how to let people know them."

As a result, she believes the most successful authors are those unafraid to reveal the truth about themselves.

"A great author's book is so gripping because she puts so much of herself in it," she said. "That what makes it fabulous, but it also makes it so risky for the writer."

I have heard the quote that writing is easy - you just sit down and open a vein. Fox would agree.

"Writing," said Fox, "is one of most personal things we do as human beings."


XXX

Club Ed is offering a series of courses on How to Write, Market, and Publish your book in Boerne and Fredericksburg in April. Our Spring 2009 catalog is now online! Visit www.clubed.net to sign up, or call 830-895-4386. Catalogs will be mailed by January 1.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com.