Thursday, February 26, 2015

An Amazing Meeting by the Amazing Things Press

On February 24th, the Maryville chapter of MWG held an informative session conducted by Julie L. Casey of Amazing Things Press. As president of the St. Joseph Chapter of the Missouri Writers Guild, Julie brought all her expertise to bear concerning traditional publishing.

Julie actively began writing about five years ago, starting a journey from which she’d never recover. Learning the ropes—from query letters to agents, requests for manuscripts, walking the path of Rejection and beginning again—led her to submit to small presses instead. Her manuscript was quickly accepted and the roller coaster ride began. How I Began a Teenage Survivalist was her ticket to published author.  But she soon decided self-publishing was the way to go.

She released her next book in the series, Time Lost, under her own small press name, Amazing Things Press. Due to a change in her original publisher’s business practices, her rights of the first book in the series are reverting to her.

But a strange thing happened. Friends were interested in selling their books also. They told other friends and soon Julie had a new career, as publisher and creator of a small press.

At the meeting, Julie explained the differences between traditional publishing, self-pub, and vanity press and the merits and pitfalls of each. Her analysis of Amazon gave the members an idea of publishing venues and the seller's return on investment. Discussion turned to the importance of marketing and—no matter how distasteful—its necessity.

The meeting ended with refreshments and many happy writers. 

St. Joseph News-Press

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