Maryville Public Library Director Presents Information to Group

Last night, August 27, the Maryville Chapter of the Missouri Writer's Guild met for its regular meeting. The presenter was Stephanie Patterson, Director, of the Maryville Public Library.

Stephanie provided a wealth of information related to the library's role in the community, as well as its local goals and objectives for the 2019-2020 period, and provided information related to the NWMO regional goals for 2019-2023, in which the library plays a large part.

In addition, Stephanie answered many questions related to how the library makes its decisions regarding book purchases and retention, as well as how it addresses updating of the library's many other resources. She also discussed the issues that librarians face today as they are being called upon to do much more than their predecessors decades ago as technology has grown, and larger social issues and expectations for services change.

Included in her presentation was information related to local authors, briefly discussing the expansion of self-publishing and how that is affecting decision making. What are the trends in various genres? What materials are used to determine how purchases and resources are acquired? What is the process of deciding what books are retained? Do book reviews make a difference in the decision to purchase? Issues such as cover art, internal art, audience, and subject matter that all authors need to keep in mind. She provided some insights into e-books and some of the changes that are taking place that affect pricing and access.

As the meeting came to a close, Stephanie answered questions. Her expertise and education in these matters made the meeting a very productive one and gave attendees a lot to think about as they move forward with their individual projects, hopefully with some insight on how to partner with the local Maryville Public Library, and other libraries. Based on her presentation and information provided the Maryville Public Library appears to be on track with respect to their mission, which is to "help the citizens of Maryville (ages birth to death) succeed and enjoy life through reading, learning, creating, and connecting."

We thank Stephanie Patterson for taking the time to speak to our group and for providing so much useful information and insight.

Webinar - Writing For The Christian Market

I invite you to check out this upcoming webinar. Writing For The Christian Market. June 6, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. CST. Details may be found on the SCBWI website.

Blogger Issues

If you have been using Blogger as your blogging platform, or Picassa albums to store your images for posts on your blog, you need to check them. I have found that over a year's worth of images on my blogs, including the one for our group, have gone missing. It's not just us. It has happened on a lot of blogs. I'm not sure if this has something to do with Google shutting down Google+, but that's a suspect. Most of them are posts and images after I began putting up after associating my Google+ profile with my blogs rather than the old blogger profile.

As for the author pages on our groups blog - yup. A lot of them are missing too. I will try to get some of them uploaded again so the blog doesn't look like it has some kind of weird virtual image mange, if I can. It will take a while, so please be patient.

Check your blogs. You may be missing more than a few images you had hanging on those virtual walls. You may only need to refresh your blog pages a couple of times to get them to reappear.

UPDATE: The images on this blog seem to have reappeared.

A Blog Worth Knowing

In my recent blog travels I came across Sidebar Saturdays, which seems to provide writers a wealth of information, from the legal perspective, on how to protect yourself from the many issues that can arise with respect to crafting novels, nonfiction, and other types of books. I would encourage the group, and anyone traveling through on their own blog scouting adventure, to take some time to read the posts.

Critique Night - Redux

At the January meeting of the Maryville Chapter, many writers brought portions of their works in progress to share. In fact, due to time constraints, we were unable to critique all of the submissions. Therefore, we will be holding a second critique session at March, and we hope that those authors whose work wasn't reviewed at the January meeting will submit it again at that time. And any new writer's wishing to participate will bring submissions as well. We will get to as many people at time allows.

There were many new writers in attendance and we're so pleased to have been able to welcome them and to learn something about them and about their work. We certainly hope they will decide to return and to become regular members. 

It has been a while since we posted information about the Maryville Chapter's purpose and about annual membership dues.

The group's purpose, put simply, is to inspire writers in all genres; to provide information, through speakers, about writing as both an art and a skill; to provide information about the business aspects related to writing and publishing; to share and provide positive feedback to help group members hone their skill; and to encourage those who have stories to tell, memories or poetry to share, and knowledge to impart to get it down on paper and to make it available through publication. 

The Maryville Chapter members are actively writing and publishing and have a wealth of information and insight that may be helpful to published and unpublished writers alike. 

We hope that local writers, whether previously published or not, will consider joining the group, in person or online, and contribute their knowledge, their skill, their insights, and their suggestions or  questions. 

The Maryville Chapter of the Missouri Writer's Guild meets every two months, on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Membership dues are $5.00 per year and are payable in January. 

An Interesting Article on Book Awards for Self-Published Authors

This is an interesting article and the comments from Tara Johnson at Writer's Digest are thought-provoking.

"“Fifteen years ago we got books that weren’t much more than copies from Kinkos,” said Tara Johnson, who manages the self-pub awards program at Writer’s Digest. “Now I would say that 95% of the books that come in look basically the same as the books you might see coming from a major publisher.”

This is an interesting article and the comments from Tara Johnson at Writer's Digest are thought-provoking.

"“Fifteen years ago we got books that weren’t much more than copies from Kinkos,” said Tara Johnson, who manages the self-pub awards program at Writer’s Digest. “Now I would say that 95% of the books that come in look basically the same as the books you might see coming from a major publisher.”

According to Johnson, the number of submissions has grown in step with the level of quality. Nearly 2,900 submissions poured into the Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards in 2014. Writer’s Digest also received about 700 submissions this year for its Self-Published E-Books Awards, which was founded two years ago for self-published authors who choose not to go down the printed path." From the site - [Note: this article was originally published in February 2015 and was updated on April 10, 2017.]

My only question is, why is there still a distinction made between "traditionally published" and "self-published" when it comes to the contests? A good or bad piece of work, regardless of the publishing mechanism utilized by the author of the work, should be granted the same consideration when being evaluated.

Just my opinion. What are your thoughts on this, members? Many of you are both traditionally published and self-published. Does it concern you or bother you to know that your self-published works may be considered less credible or of lower quality, without closer scrutiny, merely because they weren't "traditionally published"?

DIY: Book Awards for Self-Published Authors

With hundreds of thousands of self-published books hitting the shelves every year, indie authors need to find a way to stand out. Book awards for self-published writers are one way to do that.

PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM

Doug Meyer to Speak at Next Meeting

The Maryville Chapter of the Missouri Writer's Guild will next meet on the Third Floor of the United Methodist Church  in Maryville, on June 27, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.

The featured speaker for that evening will be Doug Meyer, the owner of Meyer Auto Center in Maryville. Mr. Meyer is the author of "Selling in Your Town," published by Archway Publishers, a division of Simon & Schuster, in August of 2016. He will be speaking about his book and about his experiences of publishing through Archway.  

Mr. Meyer owns and operates several small businesses located in rural communities across three states and has a breadth of knowledge related to the art of selling in those communities, as well as the importance of community involvement and networking. Mr. Meyer contends that it is possible for small businesses in rural communities to compete in the larger marketplace.

These are all issues that translate into the book industry, whether operating a brick-and-mortar shop or a virtual online sales venue. We hope that you will join us for this next meeting.

You can read more about his book on Amazon.com. Mr. Meyer's book is available for $3.99 Kindle and $8.99 in paperback through the site. 

Kelsey Noble is Blooming With Books!

We are pleased to announce Kelsey Noble is the final winner of the Blooming With Books basket donated by the Maryville Chapter of the Missouri Writer's Guild. Enjoy the basket of books and goodies Kelsey. We're sure you'll find hours of entertainment inside. Congratulations!

Amy Houts Featured on KQ2

Author Amy Houts was recently interviewed by KQ2 television of St. Joseph. In her interview, Amy talks about what encouraged her toward a life of writing, and now publishing. She released her first cooperative board game titled Find My Heart, in May of 2016. She has her own publishing imprint, Houts & Home Publications, LLC., and her own website, Houts & Home. Take a moment to watch her interview and read the article. You can find her books available on her website and on Amazon.

Don't Forget the Marketing

There are many ways that indie authors can market their books today, reaching out to hundreds of millions of potential readers with a small investment of cash, as little as $10 in some cases, and some requiring $100 minimum or more. It depends on how prominent you want your ad to be and how long you want it to run. Per-click ads on sites like those noted below are the best marketing friend an indie author can have.

If you've been wondering what options are available to you, in addition to those trusted standards like magazines and newspapers, you may want to consider online ad campaigns on sites like Goodreads, and on social media sites like Facebook. There are also high-impact options like Google Ad Words that can get your books in front of hundreds of millions of people. And don't forget to talk to your local newspaper about an online ad for their website. They may cost a bit more, but they are key to reaching local as well as more distant readers.

Check into advertising on sites and in groups that are focused on your target audience. Most sites offering advertising options will permit you to select your daily budget amount, the price to be deducted from your prepaid advertising budget amount, and the duration you want your ad to run. And, most sites providing paid advertising options also provide data that can help you target your future ads more effectively. And, you may want to approach other indie authors and consider swapping linked ads on their space for placing an ad for their book(s) on yours.

And, most importantly, don't forget to put ads for your books on your own website and link those book covers back to where those books can be purchased, i.e., your Createspace e-store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, etc.


Here are a few articles that will provide some insights into online advertising. Remember, producing the book is only one part of a successful outcome in the whole writing + publishing equation.


Publishers Weekly Articles
Google Ads 101: A Guide for Indie Authors
Facebook Ads: A Guide for Indie Authors
Goodreads Ads for Indie Authors

Bookworks.com
Targeted Book Advertising Strategies for Indie Authors

Regardless of what means you choose for advertising your books, it's important to do your homework, and don't feel locked in to just one site. Spread the word about your book by doing ad campaigns on a variety of sites. You'll be surprised what increased sales you may see from a very small initial investment.


Happy advertising - Susan.

Literary Speaking

There are a great number of notable literary journals out there where authors can submit their work for consideration. Many also have award contests that unpublished and emerging writers can enter to gain exposure. Many of the journals have somewhat longer lead times for publication than monthly magazines, usually several months, and like those they have something that is of supreme benefit for writers . . . loyal subscribers that devour every issue. 

In my online journeys in search of reputable publications here are just a few that I have gleaned from the cyber fields. Most of them have been around for quite a while. That fact alone means they must be doing something right. 

Ploughshares  A publication of Emerson College. View their submission guidelines. Share information about their Emerging Writer's Contest with an aspiring writer. 

All Aboard for the Glimmer Train! This is a creative literary journal with a longstanding readership. Polish up that short story you've been meaning to send in and submit it. You can view their guidelines for submissions here and find out more about their Family Matters contest, and how they help new writers get off to a good start. 

The Missouri Review is another publication where new and previously published story writers may get heard. Info about submitting to regular issues and contests can be found here. All those poets and writers out there should give it careful consideration. 

For a more comprehensive list of publications you may want to check, and even subscribe, to the publication titled Poets & Writers and check out their online database of publications. This database lets you search by genre and subgenre so you can more effectively focus on publication best suited to your particular writing or poetry. There are so many to choose from. 

Hope these little tidbits help. Have a terrific day. 

Susan

Melinda Cordell -- Speaker -- November 29, 2016

The Maryville Chapter of the Missouri Writer's Guild will meet at 7 p.m. at the Alumni House on the south side of the Northwest Missouri State University campus. Our guest speaker for the meeting will be Melinda Cordell.

Melinda's first book, Courageous Women of the Civil War: Soldiers, Spies, Medics, and More, ($19.99 MG/YA nonfiction, was released by Chicago Review Press in 2016.

Since that time, Ms. Cordell has published two additional books. The first is titled

Angel in the Whirlwind, released on Amazon on September 2, 2016. It is a YA/NA short story collection about loneliness and change, and the angel in the middle of it all, waiting to guide you to a better life. 

Ms. Cordell's third book is titled Don't Throw in the Trowel! A Month-by-Month Guide to Vegetable Gardening. It was released in October of 2016. 

(From the author) This is the first book in my Easygrowing Garden Series. I used to be the gardening columnist for the St. Joseph News-Press, and the municipal horticulturist for the St. Joseph Parks and Rec department, so I might know a thing or two about gardening. The next books will be about roses, annuals and perennials, trees and shrubs, houseplants, soil building, and maybe growing with native species.We are pleased to have Melinda Cordell joining us for the November meeting. We hope you will come out and hear what she has to say.

Maryville Authors Sign Copies at Hy-Vee Store

Maryville area authors were graciously hosted at the Maryville Hy-Vee store on Saturday, April 25, 2015. Everyone had a great time. Here are just a few pictures from the store's Facebook page.

Author Nancy Lantz signing a book. 

Author Carol Coffelt

Author/Publisher Lee Jackson

Author Bob Bohlken and wife, Mary.