Jim Cox Report: March 2008

Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:40:37 -0600
From: James Cox

Jim wrote:

I've added two new and informative articles to the "Advice for Writers & Publishers" section of the Midwest Book Review website at http://www.midwestbookreview.com. One is called 'Blogs As A Book Marketing Tool' and the other is 'Publishers Judge Books By Their Covers'.

I've written a foreword to a new 'how to' book on the craft of book reviewing. It's to be called "The Slippery Art Of Book Reviewing", favorable cites either myself or the Midwest Book Review four times, and is due out about May from Twilight Times Books. I'll write more extensively about it when its published and available to folks who aspire to do what I do for a living.

I've also completed a rather extensive Q&A on book reviewing in general, and the Midwest Book Review in particular, for Behler Publications to use in one of their upcoming 'how to' titles for writers and authors that is tentatively titled "The Writer's Toolbox" and will be out later in the summer or early fall.

I'm also scheduled as an interview guest on a couple of up-coming Internet podcasts.

The Writing/Publishing Shelf

Writing As A Small Business
Nash Black
Outskirts Press, Inc.
10940 South Parker Road, #515, Parker, CO 80134
9781432716257, $19.95 www.outskirtspress.com 1-888-672-6657

Earning a living as a professional writer is a business. Writing freelance is the equivalent of being a self-employed small business owner and operator. As such, meticulous attention must be made to how that business is structured, operated, and kept track of. Failure to keep aware of the proverbial 'bottom line' can lead to financial and professional disaster. Enter Nash Black's 196-page instructional guide and reference "Writing As A Small Business" covers what every aspiring (and practicing) professional author needs to know about the financial side of their work including whether or not to incorporate or operate as a sole proprietorship, the keeping and storage of financial records, filling out state and federal tax forms, avoiding audits, handling advances with respect to royalties, grants and gratuities; safeguarding the computer from hackers and online viruses, and generally protecting the financial rights and aspects of a written work -- before and after publication. Enhanced with bibliographies of thematically appropriate informational resources on the subject of the economics of professional writing, a glossary of terms, and an index, "Writing As A Small Business" is a critically important, thoroughly 'user friendly', instructional guide that should be on the personal reference shelf of every aspiring writer seeking to financially support themselves and their loved ones through their writing regardless of the genre, category, or discipline they are writing in and for.

Good Writing for Journalists
Angela Phillips
Sage Publications
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-2218
9781412919173, $39.95 www.sagepub.com 1-800-818-7243

Written by journalist and college teacher Angela Phillips, Good Writing for Journalists is a no-nonsense guide to improving the quality of one's nonfiction writing. Chapters cover genres ranging from profile writing and interviews to direct reporting, news analysis, investigation, sports writing, personal and opinion columns, "lifestyle" writing, and more. A large portion of Good Writing for Journalists is devoted to sample journalistic pieces that exemplify positive and memorable qualities, all the better to see Phillips' teachings in use. Enthusiastically recommended especially for journalism students and majors.

ACTS Of Teaching
Joyce Armstrong Carroll & Edward E. Wilson
Teacher Ideas Press
PO Box 6926, Portsmouth, NH 03802-6926
9781591585176, $45.00 www.teacherideaspress.com 1-800-225-5800

The art of writing is a learned skill honed through practice. Now in an extensively updated and significantly expanded second edition, "ACTS Of Teaching: How To Teach Writing" by academicians Joyce Armstrong Carroll and Edward E. Wilson (both of whom are Co-Directors of Abydos Learning International) is a 501-page compendium of instruction on all aspects of the art and craft of teaching aspiring authors how to write effectively regardless of the genre or discipline they are writing in or for. After an informed and informative introduction, "ACTS Of Teaching: How To Teach Writing" is dived into two primary sections dealing with 'Process' and 'The Theory and Pedagogy'. An overview of writing as a process beings with 'Prewriting: More Than the Beginning', continues on with 'Writing and Organizing', 'Writing as a Social Act', 'Grammar and Correcting', 'Grammar through Revision', Grammar through Reformulation', 'Postwriting and Publishing', and 'Assessment'. "ACTS Of Teaching: How To Teach Writing" continues with a major and detailed chapter on the way the brain works in the writing process, before going on to address such issues as 'Learning How to Learn', 'Early Literacy', 'Research', and 'Writing as a Mode of Learning. Enhanced with an extensive and extended bibliography, "ACTS Of Teaching: How To Teach Writing" also features nine highly relevant appendices (note especially the first one offering a List of Genres), and a comprehensive index. "ACTS Of Teaching: How To Teach Writing" is note only very highly recommended as an educational curriculum guide and supplement for the teaching of writing in a college or university level course, it is also invaluable reading for any aspiring writer seeking to become as effective as they can be within the demands of any scientific discipline, literary genre, or commercial enterprise they might find themselves working in.

Off the Page
Carole Burns, editor
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393339885, $14.95 www.wwnorton.com

Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Ending, and Everything in Between is an anthology of interviews with a diversity of authors describing the creation process of a literary work. Joyce Carol Oates begins and ends her writing process creating and reworking the beginning of a book; A.S. Byatt assembles a novel from "blocks of color"; and E.L. Doctorow crafts a story from a specific and compelling image that often springs to mind without context. From the intersection of sex, love, and literature (Martin Amis insists that good sex is impossible to write about!) to the reader's part in the creative process (or at least, the effect that readers' imagined reaction has on the mind of the author), Off the Page runs the gamut of influences and effects upon the evolution of a book. Originally typed directly on interviewer Carole Burns' computer as she listened to the interviewees and posted in real-time on the Web, Off the Page is undeniably authentic in his honest portrayal of the authors' mission to write literature worth reading.

Now for some Q&A from the Midwest Book Review email box:

In a message dated 11/19/2007 2:59:37 P.M. Central Standard Time, admin@readerviews.com writes:

Jim, I'm curious. :-) I note the reviews you post on amazon don't acknowledge the actual reviewer. Is there a reason why not?

You also mention in the guidelines you always give 5 stars. Curious on that one too. I notice some of the reviews we've done, as well as you have, our reviewers give low stars - even as low as 1 or 3. This is usually due to poor editing, grammar issues, no character development, etc. Basically, those books that are self-published and the author just didn't do any more with it than run it through the spell-check.

I'm still in the learning mode on all this.

Irene Watson

Dear Irene:

The reviews we generate 'in-house' with our staff members are only given the citation of Midwest Book Review on Amazon. The tear sheets we furnish the publishers (along with their notification letters) will have a more detailed citation as to which of our nine publications the review appears in.

The freelance and volunteer reviewers (like yourself and those you represent) are responsible for posting their own reviews to Amazon. Including their own judgement as to how many stars to award. This is because some of them don't wish to post on Amazon, while others are quite happy to.

With respect to the 5 Star notation for our in-house reviews for Amazon, it is because any book deemed defective is rejected for review in our initial screening process. Then any book deemed by the reviewer to be too flawed to be recommended to its intended readership is also rejected for inclusion into our publications.

I've always felt that a 5 Star point system is so subjective as to be meaningless. One person's 3 is another person's four, and a third person's 5. If I had my way, there would be no such point system, but the reader would discover in the course of reading the review whether or not the reviewer was recommending the book as worth the prospective reader's time.

However, Amazon requires a rating be assigned to any review posted with them. Therefore any book that makes it through our initial screening process when it is competing with more than 2,000 titles a month being submitted for review consideration by making the final cut and receive a review assignment, and the staff reviewer feels is recommendable to the intended readership for that particular book, is automatically awarded a 5 Star rating when posted on Amazon.

Each review will always have a line or two specifically recommending it to what he or she has deemed to be its intended or desired readership. That's the 'failsafe' against "5-Starring" flawed or substandard books in the Midwest Book Review process.

Because we are content providers for Amazon (as well as several other online book review databases) we are obliged to post all of the in-house generated reviews that make it into the pages of The Bookwatch; The California Bookwatch; The Children's Bookwatch; The Internet Bookwatch; The Library Bookwatch; The Small Press Bookwatch; and The Wisconsin Bookwatch.

The MBR Bookwatch and Reviewer's Bookwatch are the two publications set aside for the volunteers and freelancers. It's up to the individual reviewers (who own all rights to their reviews and for whom we merely serve as a forum) to decide if they will post their reviews on Amazon, and if so, what rating to assign them.

For a select number of our volunteer reviewers (including those that you represent) who want us to (because it will expands the readership for their reviews) we also make their reviews available along with our own in-house reviewers available to such databases as Lexus-Nexus, Book Review Index, Goliath, and others aimed at academic, corporate, governmental, and public libraries and librarians.

Your questions are good ones and come up once or twice every year from either new publishers or visitors to the Amazon website. Therefore I'll be including this little Q&A in one of my "Jim Cox Report" columns for the small press community.

I recently went up on the Amazon website and found that there are currently more than 34,000 reviews from the Midwest Book Review posted there. That's a rather impressive number when you think that it does not reflect our individual reviewers such as Harriet Klausner who post their reviews on Amazon independently of us, or those Midwest Book Review reviews that were deleted from Amazon when the books went out of print and were otherwise dropped from Amazon.

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review

In a follow-up inquiry, Irene asked a further question about Midwest Book Review operations:

In a message dated 11/20/2007 10:04:52 A.M. Central Standard Time, admin@readerviews.com writes:

Thanks Jim for being so patient with my questions. Now the "big" one....lol. Being you give free reviews, where does the money come from to pay your editorial staff? I want to know the secret!

Irene

Dear Irene:

Here is the closely guarded secret to becoming a financially successful book reviewer.

Marry rich!

Otherwise you'll have to depend on getting foundation grants based on a mission statement mandating the purpose of promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing -- and in the case of the Midwest Book Review -- then getting those grants renewed every year for the past 31 years.

Plus the selling of review books to libraries and bookstores, as well as giving them away to charities.

Owning the building which houses the Midwest Book Review and having staff members who work for minimum wage plus their room & board is also a big help (that's me as editor-in-chief, my daughter Bethany as managing editor and webmaster, my wife Nancy and a young man named Jason as assistant editors). While everyone else on the editorial staff volunteers their time and labor for the sheer love of literature.

Especially those among them who never aspired to writing the great American novel, but modestly enjoy the power of life and death over those who do!

By the way, I've covered this subject of how the Midwest Book Review is funded on a more serious note from time to time in my monthly "Jim Cox Report". They are all archived on the Midwest Book Review website, and subscription to the "Jim Cox Report" is available for free via email upon request. If you don't get them already, you might want to sign up for them because I talk about the inner workings of the Midwest Book Review now and then.

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review

I'd also like to note that Irene Watson now utilizes two of our monthly book review publications for the columns of reviews and reviewers that she edits:

Her 'Reader Views' column is part of our "MBR Bookwatch" and started a couple of months ago.

And debuting in our March 2008 issue of "Reviewer's Bookwatch" will be found her review column 'RebeccasReads'.

Here's another inquiry that comes in every so often.

In a message dated 12/3/2007 4:08:09 P.M. Central Standard Time, RDAVIDH218 writes:

I'm in need of a book distributor, and someone to market the book; the publisher doesn't provide this service

-- David Hughes

Dear David:

Go to the Midwest Book Review website at http://www.midwestbookreview.com

Click on Publisher Resources

You will find a subsection dedicated to distributors and wholesalers. You'll also find a list of freelance book publicists and marketeers. One of them might be appropriate for you.

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review

The Midwest Book Review is designed to be of specific and practical use to writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and the general reading public. If you've got a question or a need concerning writing, publishing, or book marketing, then you'll most likely be able to find the answer and/or a resource to help you out. If not, I'm as near as your computer keyboard -- email me any time and I'll do my best to help.


All of the previous issues of the "Jim Cox Report" are archived on the Midwest Book Review website. If you'd like to receive the "Jim Cox Report" directly (and for free), just send me an email asking to be signed up for it.

So until next time!

Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI, 53575
http://www.midwestbookreview.com

PUBLISHING: Survival of an industry of expression

PUBLISHING: Survival of an industry of expression: "VILNIUS - It was a bad omen. The first material to be printed in a Baltic language was a Lutheran manuscript that appeared in Estonian in 1525. But due to the seething religious hostilities of the day, it never reached the readers and was destroyed immediately after publication.
Ever since this time, published materials in the Baltic region have been abused and censored over the centuries, becoming a front line in the eternal war for the hearts and minds of the masses.
The first printed texts in Latvian also appeared around 1525, then in Lithuanian a little later, but the efforts were scrappy and it was another 10 years before a complete book emerged - the Wanradt-Koell catechism from the year 1535, published in Estonian."


Active registered publishers

Lithuania: 500
Latvia: 400
Estonia: 351

books from major publishing houses—are full of typos and editing gaffes?

Dick Margulis writes on
words / myth / ampers & virgule:

"Have you noticed lately that the books you buy—I mean books from major publishing houses—are full of typos and editing gaffes? I see this complaint often. I make this complaint myself from time to time."

-- snipped --

Mostly, there isn’t much you and I can do about this, other than producing books outside the mainstream publishing industry and building up an appreciation for high-quality books.

There is one category where individuals can make a difference, though. If you teach a course—especially at the college level—and you are unhappy with the quality of the course textbook, say something.

Complaining to a publisher that their wurstmakers fell down on the job isn’t going to change the publisher’s process or business model; it will just lead to hiring different wurstmakers. But suggesting to the buyer that you switch to a different brand of sausage will catch the publisher’s attention. I guarantee it. Write a letter to whoever was responsible for choosing that textbook. Explain the problem with the quality, and suggest that a competing book from a different publisher be selected for the following year’s students. Send a copy of the letter to the president of the publishing company. Hit where it hurts—in the wallet.

--

About Dick Margulis:



Once you’ve finished the champagne, it’s time to switch hats and convert your opus into a product. Don’t know where to start? Freelance editor and typographer Dick Margulis can help.

Dick’s first editing job was chief copy editor for his junior high school newspaper–unpaid, of course–46 years ago. But his interest in typography predates that by a couple of years. He got serious about it in seventh grade.

In the intervening decades, Dick has been a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker–yes, all three–and, along the way, has had paying gigs as an advertising copywriter, a magazine columnist, a book editor, a technical writer, a marketing writer, an herbarist [sic], a Web designer, a compositor, a lithographer, and a few other things he’s already forgotten. But through it all, he has remained true to his passion of clear communication through careful editing and appropriate typographic design.

It’s All Online

"It’s All Online
from The Writing Center by Midge Raymond

When it comes to selling books these days, it’s all about the Internet. Forbes’ Best of the Web features a few literary blogs that have gotten the attention of readers and have had “an impact on the way books are talked about and sold like never before.” Probably among the best features of such sites (like the popular Bookslut) are their informal styles and the fact that they discuss books not reviewed in the New York Times (yes, these books do exist, and are worth reading)."


--

For Internet-addicted writers…
from The Writing Center by Midge Raymond

This Emerging Writers Network blog is, refreshingly, geared specifically toward writers new to the marketplace. The site’s host, Dan Wickett, is out there for the Everywriter, claiming no qualifications other than “a long history of reading literary fiction, in large volumes, and the dedication to passing along my views on such, at as rapid a pace as I can, until the writers of such fiction get more recognition.” It’s well worth a visit, with links to author web sites, literary blogs, and literary magazines — plus news and contests.

Another fun site is 52stories, a site that features a new photo every week to serve as a writing prompt…a great way to overcome writer’s block as well as see your work online — 52stories will publish the stories received by its Friday evening deadline.

And, saving the best for last, San Diego Writers Online is now live! Stop by and join — this new forum will connect writers looking for read-and-critique groups, book clubs, reading and writing events around town, and lively online discussions.

Staples Ends Ties With Asia Pulp & Paper

Green-Minded Staples Ends Ties With Asia Pulp & Paper: "Green-Minded Staples Ends Ties With Asia Pulp & Paper
Source: Copyright 2008, Wall Street Journal
Date: February 7, 2008
Byline: Tom Wright

"Office-supplies giant Staples Inc. has severed all contracts with Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd., one of the world's largest paper companies, in a move that shows concerns over forest destruction and global warming are having an impact on big U.S. paper buyers.

Until recently Staples sourced about 9% of its total paper supply from APP and used the paper for its own Staples-branded stock, mainly photocopy and office paper. Staples had stuck with the company even as other large paper sellers in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Office Depot Inc., stopped buying from APP in recent years because of alleged environmental misdeeds. Staples had hoped that continuing to buy from the company would prompt APP to improve its environmental record."

Jim Cox Report: February 2008

From: James Cox, Midwest Book Review
--

Dear Publisher Folk, Friends & Family:

The mission statement for the Midwest Book Review is quite simple. Promote literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. I review 'how to' books for librarians in a regular monthly book review column called "The Library Science Shelf". This often includes books from the publishing arm of the American Library Association. I've recently received some information from freelance publicist Emily Howe on behalf of the ALA that should be noted not only by librarians, but by authors and publishers who in my opinion should regard libraries as an important part of their market. Here it is:

From: Emily Howe

Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 10:19 AM

To: 'mbr@execpc.com'

Subject: Hey, Jim: Library Information! :)

Hey, Jim (the multi-media library jackpot!),

It was great hearing a little about what you do. Here's the information about the FINRA grants to American libraries to provide unbiased investing information and money management resources to the American public. As you know, savings rates are down and credit card debt is up in many American families. There is a critical need for financial education ­ for the American public.

People might not immediately think of their local library as the first place to go to receive this financial education, but The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA) recently announced 13 grants, totaling more than $853,000, to public libraries and library networks across the country, giving millions of library patrons and their families, greater access to unbiased investing information and resources.

If you have any questions, you can reach me at 212-245-0510 or at ehowe@pro-mediacommunications.com.

Sincerely,

Emily Howe (On Behalf of the ALA)

------------------------------------------------------

Smart Investing @ your library® to Provide Local Communities with Unbiased Investing Information and Resources

FINRA Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association Announce $853,000 in Grants to Libraries Nationwide

Washington, DC— The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA) today announced 13 grants, totaling more than $853,000, to public libraries and library networks across the country, giving millions of library patrons and their families, greater access to unbiased investing information and resources.

The grants are awarded as part of a new program, Smart Investing @ your library®, which is administered jointly by the Reference and User Services Association, a division of ALA, and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

"Libraries are an ideal conduit for individuals looking for unbiased information on investing," said FINRA Foundation Chairman Mary Schapiro, who also serves as FINRA's CEO. "It is our hope that library patrons from small towns to large cities have access to the resources they need to help them make important financial decisions."

Grants last from one to two years, although the projects are designed to be sustained following the conclusion of grant funding. ALA will provide ongoing assistance to the projects throughout the grant period, with a particular emphasis on helping libraries evaluate their progress and engage target audiences through effective marketing and outreach strategies.

"The ALA believes that libraries are places for self-help and lifelong learning," said ALA President Loriene Roy. "Investor education has an impact on people of all ages and economic circumstances, and the grants will assist libraries with the resources needed to provide unbiased investor education resources and programming in their communities."

Smart Investing @ your library® addresses the growing need for reliable investor education at the grassroots level. Increasingly, individuals are responsible for their own retirement planning and for navigating complex financial decisions virtually every day. Even knowing where to turn for quality information can be a challenge. Participating libraries will use available technology, along with more conventional approaches, to reach patrons at library facilities, at home via the Web, at the workplace, and at myriad community locations. Investor education opportunities and materials will be available to patrons at no cost.

The grantees cover urban, suburban and rural communities in equal measure. They will use grant funds to establish online and in-person programs, partner with community organizations, augment library collections, train staff and engage in promotional efforts so that diverse audiences have access to effective financial education resources. The grant recipients are:

• Alliance Library System, East Peoria, IL, $100,000; to offer onsite and Web-based workshops to provide investor information, establish a Smart Investing presence in the virtual world, and to operate a Smart Investing outreach van that will travel to community events and libraries throughout the Alliance's 14,000 square-mile service area in central Illinois.

• Ames Public Library, Ames, IA, $77,672, to partner with Iowa State University Extension to tailor online and on-site investor education classes for (Generation X, Boomers and the Silent Generation) and to train public service librarians on the use of investing information tools and databases.

• Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, WI, $73,370; to improve personal finance collections available at all library branches and online through the library's Web site, to provide advanced training to library staff in the use of print and electronic investment resources and to establish Smart Investing partnerships with organizations serving women, minorities and senior citizens.

• Naperville Public Library, Naperville, IL, $77,848; to create online video tutorials on the use of financial databases, improve the accessibility of investing research tools on the library's Web site, train adult services librarians in investment research strategies and provide high school and college students with money management skills in preparation for financial independence.

• Natrona County Public Library, Casper, WY, $17,600; to provide a five-part investor education series for young adults, host inter-generational community forums on retirement preparedness and augment the library's collections on personal finance and investing.

• Newton Free Library, Newton, MA, $46,100; to sponsor a sustainable, inter-generational retirement planning club for women in partnership with community organizations and to train reference librarians on financial literacy in partnership with the Boston College Center for Retirement Research.

• Orange County Library District, Orlando, FL, $96,360; to organize an eight-part bilingual series on basic investing themes for Hispanic families, to provide investor education video-on-demand for library patrons and staff and to create a bilingual "eGuide" on personal finance for users of the library's Web site.

• Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, CA, $60,000; to organize an extensive lunchtime lecture series that provide information to investors and moderated book groups (with concurrent youth activities) for professional women ages 20 to 64.

• Schaumburg Township District Library, Schaumburg, IL, $31,000; to produce and market an investor education portal for the library, inclusive of videos introducing teen and adult patrons to investing-related library collections and reference services; and to create a traveling multimedia exhibit (and share it with other Illinois libraries) that will provide a high-impact visual lesson about investing.

• Southeastern Libraries Cooperating, Rochester, MN, $99,830; to partner with public television station KSMQ to broadcast 13, half-hour segments entitled Financial Connections in rural and small-town communities, with corresponding library-based programming and Web-based events and resources.

• Timberland Regional Library, Tumwater, WA, $99,044; to produce, market and distribute a multimedia series of Ten Minute Topics about investing in partnership with community television and the Service Corps of Retired Executives; to train information services librarians from 27 branch facilities throughout a 7,000 square-mile rural region; and to upgrade the investing collections available online and at each branch library.

• Winfield Public Library, Winfield, KS, $16,600; to employ a women-helping-women approach of providing educational and supportive services in a format that will encourage better saving and investing practices; to partner with the Chamber of Commerce in reaching out to women small business owners and respond to their learning needs; and to create a series of reference finding aids on investing topics, allowing library patrons to access quality resources efficiently.

• Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, Youngstown, OH, $57,950; to partner with community agencies in undertaking a coordinated financial literacy initiative for the county's low- and moderate-income families, with a focus on Earned Income Tax Credit preparation assistance and helping parents save and invest for their children's education.

The FINRA Investor Education Foundation supports innovative research and educational projects that give underserved Americans the knowledge, skills and tools necessary for financial success throughout life. To date, the FINRA Foundation has approved $14.7 million in grants and an additional $10.2 million in direct investor education programming. For details about grant programs and other FINRA Foundation initiatives, visit www.finrafoundation.org.

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. Created in 2007 through the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Member Regulation, FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation and complementary compliance and technology-based services. FINRA touches virtually every aspect of the securities business — from registering and educating all industry participants to examining securities firms; writing and enforcing rules and the federal securities laws; informing and educating the investing public; providing trade reporting and other industry utilities, and administering the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and registered firms. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.FINRA.org.

Established in 1876, the American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world. Its mission is "to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." For more information, visit www.ala.org.

Emily Howe

Senior Account Supervisor

ehowe@pro-mediacommunications.com

Pro-Media Communications

244 5th Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10001

(212) 245-0510; (212) 245-1889 Fax; www.pro-mediacommunications.com

Now on to reviews of some new 'how to' titles for authors and publishers.

The Writing/Publishing Shelf

The Art Of The Poetic Line

James Longenbach

Publicity Department

Graywolf Press

2402 University Avenue, Suite 203, Saint Paul, MN 55114

9781555974886, $12.00 www.graywolfpress.org 1-651-641-0077

Poet and literary critic James Longenbach presents The Art Of The Poetic Line, a discussion of the function of the line in metered, rhymed, syllabic, and free-verse poetry. Drawing upon classic examples ranging from Shakespeare and Milton to Ashbery and Gluck, The Art of the Poetic Line demystifies ambiguous elements in creating poetry to evoke mood and experience. "Poems are poems because we want to listen to them. Some poems have a prominent argument; some poems don't. But all poems live or die on their capacity to lure us from their beginning to their ends by a pattern of sounds. This is why a poem we don't understand may seem wonderfully satisfying, and this is why a poem we understand all too well may also seem wonderfully satisfying. A poem may harness the power of meter, rhyme, syntax, and line to establish and disrupt a pattern of sounds, and a poem may with equal integrity reject the power of meter, rhyme, syntax, and line. But the poet needs to understand what she is rejecting as well as what she is harnessing." Highly recommended for poetry connoisseurs, and an absolute must-read for poets and would-be poets of all walks of life.

How To Publish Your Poetry

Helene Ciaravino

SquareOne Publishers

115 Herricks Road, Garden City Park, NY, 11040

0757000010, $15.95 www.squareonepublishers.com

Poetry is an especially difficult field in which to be published. An ideal instruction manual for aspiring poets seeking to have their poetry published, "How To Publish Your Poetry: A Complete Guide To Finding The Right Publishers For Your Work" by book editor, freelance writer, and published poet Helene Ciaravino has compiled a step-by-step 'how to' instruction manual that will materially assist the complete novice to publishing to have their poetry put into print and made available to as large a readership as possible. Writers of poetry seeking publication will be able to maximize their chances for becoming published; will learn how to create an effective submission package; avoid common mistakes in their attempt to become published; learn how to craft a cover letter for their manuscript that will attract the attention of acquisition editors; utilize a simple but practical seven-step system for becoming published; minimize the time, effort, and financial costs of becoming published; take advantage of available resources for the aspiring poet; learn about a diversity of outlets for poetry; and benefit from honing their skills at the craft of writing poetry. Of special note is what Helene Ciarvaino has to say about self-publishing with respect to poetry. Especially recommended for academic and community library Writing & Publishing reference collections, anyone contemplating becoming a published poet should give "How To Publish Your Poetry" a very careful reading. It is a veritable gold mine of practical, useful, time-tested information, ideas, and instructions.

Bylines: 2008 Writer's Desk Calendar

Sylvia Forbes

Sylvia Snowflake Press

PO box 522, Fayette, MO 65248

9781933509044, $13.95 www.bylinescalendar.com

I first became aware of Sylvia Forbes desk calendars for writers last year when I reviewed the 2007 edition of "Bylines". Now aspiring and practicing writers and authors have available to them the new "Bylines: 2008 Writer's Desk Calendar" as an indispensable and invaluable work-a-day reference that will provide useful daily structure for achieving their writing goals and ambitions. Enhanced with the inclusion of literary holidays to celebrate, goal planning suggestions, monthly task lists, pages for conference notes, listings of author birthdays, and extra pages for note taking such as marketing tips and email addresses, this new 2008 edition has been expanded to include a reproducible submission tracker form specifically designed for novice authors and professional freelancers seeking to keep track of manuscript and book proposal submissions to publishers; pages for phone numbers and for tracking writing expenses, plus fifty-three new inspirational and thoughtful essays by successful writers. Simply stated, the "Bylines: 2008 Writer's Desk Calendar" is enthusiastically recommended as the single most practical, utilitarian, and motivational resource any aspiring or practicing writer could have.

Webster's Business Writing Basics

Editors of Merriam-Webster

Federal Street Press

25-13 Old Kings Highway North, #277, Darien, CT 06820

1892859270, $9.98 www.federalstreetpress.com 1-877-886-2830

Webster's Business Writing Basics is a no-nonsense, easy-to-use handbook, self-improvement guide, quick reference, and all-around practical resource for business writers of all venues. From fifty different sample professional letters, to a straightforward handbook of grammar, style, and punctuation guidelines, tips on how to effectively use email in business, "netiquette" fundamentals, and much more, Webster's Business Writing Basics is enthusiastically recommended for anyone in or aspiring to join today's modern workforce. An especially invaluable reference for businesspeople who just graduated from college (the scholarly tone of most college writings differs from the brevity necessary to business writing), and businesspeople who may have learned English as a second language.

The Writer's Journey

Christopher Vogler

Michael Wiese Productions

3940 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, #1111, Studio City, CA 91604

9781932907360, $26.95 www.mwp.com 1-800-833-5738

Originally published in October 1998, "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers by Christopher Vogler is now available in an updated and expanded third edition and continues to justifiably lay claim to being one of the most relied upon and influential instructional reference works for aspiring writers -- especially screenwriters. Drawing from the late Joseph Campbell's groundbreaking work, Vogler explores the historic and fundamental relationship between modern storytelling and classical mythology, and in the process reveals a set of useful myth-inspired storytelling paradigms, as well as step-by-step guidelines to plot and character development. This newest edition of a writer's reference classic includes a revised chapter that looks back on the 'Star Wars' phenomenon and an analysis of all six of the feature films as an epic on the theme of father-son relationships. There are new illustrations and diagrams providing additional perspectives to mythic principles. Of special note is the final chapter 'Trust the Path', an inspiring call to adventure for those aspiring writers seeking to discover themselves through their writing. A basic component of any personal, professional, academic, or community library basic writing reference collection, "The Writer's Journey" will now be of benefit to a whole new generation of movie executives, screenwriters, playwrights, literary critics, academic scholars, writers of fiction and non-fiction, students of pop culture, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the adaptation of ancient myth to contemporary storytelling.

The Complete Guide To Writing Science Fiction

Dave A. Law & Darin Park, editors

Dragon Moon Press

c/o Hades Publications Inc.

PO Box 1714, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2P 2L7

www.completeguidetowriting.com

9781896944395, $24.95 www.dragonmoonpress.com

A comprehensive, deftly edited, 311-page 'how to' instruction guide for writing in the science fiction genre and any of its many subgenres, "The Complete Guide To Writing Science Fiction: Volume One" is a collection of superbly presented essays and articles by knowledgeable and successful writers ranging from Piers Anthony, to Orson Scott Card, to Tina Morgan. Beginning with Darin Park's 'Timeline: A History of Science Fiction', there are specific chapters dealing with the science and technology in science fiction, world building, the creating of aliens, the use of humor and drama, writing graphic novels in the genre, and even what to do with your science fiction short story or novel once it is written. Whether an aspiring writer yearning to break into science fiction, or even an experienced author with some publication credits in the genre, "The Complete Guide To Writing Science Fiction" will prove to be invaluable reading and instructive reference.

Beyond The Internet

Barbara A. Chernow

Bernan Press

4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391

9781598881738, $19.95 www.bernanpress.com 1-800-865-3457

"Beyond The Internet: Successful Research Strategies" by Barbara A. Chernow (a career encyclopedist, researcher and reference book editor who founded Chernow Editorial Services, Inc. specializing in producing professional books for a variety of publishers) is a critically important instructional reference book for aspiring authors, as well as anyone else engaged in a research project of any kind. Relying solely on the internet for acquiring information will prove to be inadequate because while the internet is a valuable research tool, the majority of documents and resources in the collections of libraries and archives have not been digitalized and made for internet access. Therefore writers and authors who must research their material need to be able to utilize all available resources at their disposal. "Beyond The Internet" was written for just that purpose and covers all the elements and factors relevant to the research process for best results. Thoroughly 'user friendly' itself, "Beyond The Internet" should be considered essential reading for all aspiring authors and is a core addition to any professional, academic, and community library Research Reference collection.

The Writer Within You

Charles Jacobs

Caros Books

16 Pinecrest Drive, Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677

Atlas Book Distributors

30 Amberwood Parkway, Ashland, OH 44805

9780979363603, $19.95 carosbooks@gmail.com 1-800-537-6727

Specifically written to be of value to retirees and other senior citizens, "The Writer Within You: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing And Publishing In Your Retirement Years" by author, editor, and publishing consultant Charles Jacobs provides the aspiring author with practical, detailed, useful and relevant information and guidance on how to write books and articles in six different genres, select the best publisher for a specific book and market, and how to promote their finished work. All of these principles and procedures are relevant for writers of any age, but are of specific utility to those ages 55 and older who have a wealth of life and career experiences to draw from in what they choose to write. While "The Writer Within You" is a stand-alone, single-volume, comprehensive instruction manual whose chapters cover becoming a writer, writing your book, publishing your book, marketing your book, marketing your book, writing and placing your articles, writing and promoting on the internet, and commercial writing. It should also be noted that Jacobs has created a retirement writing website at http://www.retirement-writing.com; plus a Retirement Writing Blog at http://www.retirement-writing.com/blog. You can even download a free sample chapter from the book at http://www.retirement-writing.com/press_room. If you are a senior who wants to try your hand at writing books and/or articles, the begin with a careful reading of Charles Jacobs' "The Writer Within You".

A Book Is Born

Nancy C. Cleary, et al.

Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Inc.

15115 Highway 36, Deadwood, OR, 97430

97819332279504, $24.00 www.wymacpublishing.com

The collaborative effort of Nancy C. Cleary and twenty-four published authors, "A Book Is Born" reveals what it is really like to earn a living as a writer. A after a brief foreword and introduction, "A Book Is Born" is divided into two main sections: Part One - '24 Mom Authors Tell All' in which the contributing authors provided informative examples of going through pre-publication work, author platform-building, pitching manuscripts and story ideas to prospective publishers, post-publication publicity and marketing demands upon the author, and even the 'post-partum'-like depression that afflicts many authors after their book is finished, in print, and available to the reading public. Part Two - 'The Secret to Publishing' is actually a writing/publishing curriculum of instruction complete with visual examples for every step of the publishing (and getting published) process. Of special note in this do-it-yourself curriculum for aspiring authors are the Four Principles every writer should understand and apply; the Universal Laws which are essential to a book being written; and Insider Secrets on the four publishing options available to writers -- and determining which particular one is best suited for them. "A Book Is Born" is especially 'user friendly' reading and an invaluable addition to every aspiring writer's reference collection and professional reading list.

Now for some Q&A from the Midwest Book Review email box:

In a message dated 10/26/2007 4:41:46 P.M. Central Daylight Time, PrevMeasures writes:

I am writing to you as a PMA member who has sent two novels to Midwest Book Review in the last year, neither of which has been reviewed by MBR so far. I'm wondering whether you can tell me what went wrong. We read carefully all the material on your website about what to send and did our best to comply with the guidelines, sending review copies and complete publicity kits for each book. Allan N. Press, Ph.D. -- PMI Books

Dear Allan:

I'm happy to respond because you did nothing wrong, nothing amiss. Both of your titles arrived with the appropriate accompanying paperwork and passed the initial screening process with no difficulty.

The problem lay solely in the dilemma facing all of the small presses that submit their books to the Midwest Book Review. That problem is that, because we are so well established and known throughout the publishing community as being particularly friendly to self-published authors, POD published authors, and small press publishers, we are inundated every month with more than 2,000 titles -- and have a roster of 76 reviewers to try to cope with those kinds of numbers.

Even so, we are able to collectively generate roughly 600 to 700 reviews a month. That's with our reviewers averaging about 9 or 10 book reviews each. Some only come in with one or two, a few come in with 20 or 30 or more, but the collective average for book reviews each month ranges somewhere between that 600 to 700 figure.

Even so, that also means that an average of 1300 to 1400 books never make the final cut and obtain review assignments. Not because they were flawed or inferior, but because there were simply too many of them for our available resources to handle.

So why, when the odds are stacked so highly against them, do so many folks try their luck and submit their books to the Midwest Book Review?

1. Because the odds against them getting reviewed elsewhere are even higher.

2. Because we have a reputation of trying our best to accommodate "the little guy".

3. Because we do succeed about one-third of the time.

And for those one-third who make it and get reviewed, that review hits what amounts to a multimedia book review jackpot.

In addition to the review appearing in one or more of our nine monthly book review publications, it is also tagged to Amazon and other online databases, archived on the Midwest Book Review website for five years, posted to thematically appropriate Internet discussion groups and websites, and is faithfully forwarded to the publisher for use in their own promotion and marketing efforts.

There are three or four categories of books that have a particularly tough time because of the sheer numbers of competing titles in their particular areas. They are (in no particular order):

1. Poetry

2. Fiction

3. Biography/Memoir

4. Self-Help

Still, just look at the review columns devoted to these particular subjects and you'll find that every month some dozen or more such titles in each of these categories do make it through and get reviewed.

Because yours is not an uncommon experience, I will be sharing this correspondence in an upcoming "Jim Cox Report" for the benefit of other publishers who might have the same questions you did.

Jim Cox

Midwest Book Review

I'm now going to conclude this issue of the "Jim Cox Report" with "The Midwest Book Review Postage Stamp Hall Of Fame & Appreciation" roster of well-wishers and supporters. These generous folk decided to say thank you and 'support the cause' that is the Midwest Book Review by donating postage stamps this past month:

Maly M. Kiendl

Robert J. Noonan

Morrie Warshawski

Lisa Earle McLeod

Megusta Publishing

Gerard L. Cullen -- "Areozoo"

Peter F. Crowley -- "Outdoor Follies"

Shelley Parsons -- "Quieting the Storm"

Phyllis Collmann -- "Rose's Triumphant Return"

Donald P. Meyer -- "Jennifer's Plan"

Kelly Lyons -- "One Million Men"

Vivek -- "Lies, Lies and More Lies"

Jeanie Okimoto -- "Winston of Churchill"

Tim Bramlett -- "Sharkey Explores the Unknown"

Ok Soon Schroeder -- "Journey from the Han River"

Bob Gebelein -- Omdega Press

Larry Uri -- Storywright Books

Beth Boyrs -- StarMist Books

E. Andrew Martonyi -- Schoolside Press

Deltina Hay -- Dalton Publishing

Deana Riddle -- Community Press

Lee Hall -- Babbling Books

Ron Kaplan -- Kapland Records

Cathy Feldman -- Blue Point Books

Jocelyn Munroe -- Big Tomato Press

Sylvia Forbes -- Snowflake Press

Linda Austin -- Moonbridge Publications

Wright Giles -- RiverHouse Books

Tolya L. Thompson -- Savor Publishing House

Stacy Kannenberg -- Cedar Valley Publishing

Chris Davis -- Lighthearted Press

Yossi Leverton -- Hachai Publishing

Pat mcDonough -- Terra Sancta Press

Elizabeth Waldman Frazier -- Waldmania!

If you have postage to donate, or if you have a book you'd like considered for review, then send those stamps (always appreciated, never required), or a published copy of that book (no galleys or uncorrected proofs), accompanied by a cover letter and some form of publicity release to my attention at the address below.

All of the previous issues of the "Jim Cox Report" are archived on the Midwest Book Review website. If you'd like to receive the "Jim Cox Report" directly (and for free), just send me an email asking to be signed up for it.

So until next time!

Jim Cox

Midwest Book Review

278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI, 53575

http://www.midwestbookreview.com

Author Rights: Using the SPARC Author Addendum to secure your rights as the author of a journal article (SPARC)

"KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AS THE AUTHOR

* The author is the copyright holder.
As the author of a work you are the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement.

* Assigning your rights matters.
Normally, the copyright holder possesses the exclusive rights of reproduction,
distribution, public performance, public display, and modification of the
original work. An author who has transferred copyright without retaining these
rights must ask permission unless the use is one of the statutory exemptions in
copyright law."
--
What is SPARC? http://www.arl.org/sparc/about/index.html

"SPARC ®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Developed by the Association of Research Libraries, SPARC has become a catalyst for change. Its pragmatic focus is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on libraries. Action by SPARC in collaboration with stakeholders – including authors, publishers, and libraries – builds on the unprecedented opportunities created by the networked digital environment to advance the conduct of scholarship. Leading academic organizations have endorsed SPARC."

Print Me Something Yummy!

from: Gail http://www.business-strategies-etc.com/2008/print-me-something-yummy/

Print Me Something Yummy!
Monday, January 14, 2008 | Posted to New/Unusual Technology

Sugar SculptureAdd one more to the category of "New or Unusual
Printing Technology" with CandyFab! Using a type of 3-D prototyping -
printing in three dimensions with inkjet deposition technology - you
can print any thing from candy treats to sophisticated sculptures out
of sugar. The image at the left uses a design from a sculptor named
Bathsheba Grossman; see her work at www.bathsheba.com.

Simple Sugar SculptureSo how does it work? Rapid prototyping machines
(3-D printers) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds
objects in three dimensions by carefully depositing materials drop by
drop, layer by layer using a form of inkjet deposition. With the right
set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex
objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills
if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.

To read all about it go to CandyFab.org.

The Kailing Name in History

Data-driven Publishing - Amazon offers “The Kailing Name in History” | Gail Nickel-Kailing | Business Strategies Etc. | Marketing, Analysis, Consulting | Seattle, WA: "Data-driven Publishing - Amazon offers “The Kailing Name in History”
Monday, January 28, 2008 |

Gail wrote: The Kailing Name in HistoryLast night, Amazon offered me a book I was sure to find interesting: “The Kailing Name in History.” For only $29.95!

OK, you say, so why were you searching for your own name on Amazon? Gosh, don’t we all Google our own name or search other online databases?

By combining variable imaging, a dynamic web page, variable data printing, and print-on-demand, Amazon is demonstrating the power of “cross-media” in merchandising customized books."

The Kailing Name in History is a customized book offering a unique blend of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary about the Kailing name. The book is just one of an entire series of family name books in the Our Name in History collection. Each book in the collection is printed on demand and is compiled from hundreds of millions of records from the world’s largest online resource of family history, Ancestry.com. This particular book follows the Kailing family name through history and makes the perfect gift for your family members and anyone interested in the Kailing name. In the book you’ll find out about where people with the Kailing last name originated. You may discover the countries and ports they left behind, the ships they sailed and more. You’ll get a better idea of where people sharing the Kailing name settled and where they may reside today in the United States, Canada, England and other countries. You’ll get all this information and much more in your Kailing family name book. If your last name is not Kailing, then check out our collection of nearly 300,000 family name books to find other available names in the series.

Actually, they could have used at least 3 or 4 fewer insertions of my name and still have been as effective. It starts to look like mail merge gone bad!

Dave's Digital Scrapbooking Discussion Group

Hello Dave Mainwaring

Congratulations: you've successfully created your Google Group, Dave's Digital
Scrapbooking Discussion Group.

Here are the essentials:

* Group name: Dave's Digital Scrapbooking Discussion Group
* Group home page: http://groups.google.com/group/daves-digital-scrapbooking?hl=en
--

Scrapbooking got a shot in the arm more than thirty years ago when Marielen Christensen of Spanish Fork scrapbooked her family's memories. She co-authored and published a how-to book, "Keeping Memories Alive". Now in the 21st century Journal writing and digital-scrapbooking are in vogue for preserving memories.

During the past decade the printing industry has seen light speed changes in publishing technologies. Inexpensive high quality digital scanners, home PC's, and remote publishing over the Internet make it easy for scrapbookers with no graphic arts or printing experience to produce very high quality bound alblums and scrapbooks.

David Lewis offers state of the art online Digital Scrapbooking

Top 10 Blogs for Writers

The Writing Center » Blog Archive » Top 10 Blogs for Writers: "Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers has just listed his picks for 2007’s top ten blogs for writers — a great resource for copywriters and bloggers, and particularly for freelance writers (including beginners)."

Bar Screen | Publishing | BarCasting

Cambridge firms drawing on digital graffiti - The Boston Globe: "Making the leap to the big screen
2 Cambridge companies let cellphones go public with messages, photos

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | January 1, 2008

Flat-screen digital graffiti boards displaying text messages and photos sent from cellphones are beginning to give the virtual world a foothold in pubs, clubs, and beyond."

"... new technologies allow screens to connect to the Internet, the power for advertisers and content makers expands - content can become local, user-generated, or even tailored to the crowd watching a given screen."

"3D Printing Methods and Applications" internet discussion group on Google Groups™

3D inkjet printers build physical models from computer-aided design (CAD) data. Multiple parts can be printed (manufactured) simultaneously 3D printers operate like a classics desktop inkjet printers. Some systems offer 24-bit color capabilities just like a document printer. 3D printer systems revolutionized the production of pieces having complex geometries and small, detailed features.
You can buy 3D printers that operate in any standard office environment with no need for a dedicated operator.

Depending on the materials deposited through the inkjet(s) you can manufacture production parts for low volume production runs, test CAD designs, make one-of-a-kind parts, build all sorts of architectural models and related components without having to first create molds and then casting parts.

When the printing industry was transitioning from shooting film and burning printing plates the Internet provided the Computer To Plate Pressroom for printers and manufacturers to share new methods, workflows and made the inkjet printer acceptable as a method to proof high quality color images prior to going to press. The 3D printer will be a desk-top model shop replacing the shop model makers.

We have launched the "3D Printing Methods and Applications" internet discussion group on Google Groups™. Join today, share your ideas, projects, ask questions 24x7, meet your peers. Membership is FREE,

Matt Beals launches Premedia Forum

"Matt Beals Consultant Enfocus Certified Trainer Markzware Recognized Trainer (206) 201-2320 - Main (720) 367-3869 - eFax mailto:matt@mattbeals.com

Matt wrote:

Friends don't let friends write HTML email

Come visit http://www.premediaworld.com where I am forming a new online forum with three partners. We're tailoring it to the premedia professionals to exchange tips, trick, how-to's and other relevant information. Not just for print/prepress but other forms of premedia as well.

You've pretty much got everything you need right there!!

Fabbers (a.k.a 3D Printers)

"Fab@Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides an open source kit that lets you make your own simple fabber, and use it to print three dimensional objects. You can download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself. Fabbers (a.k.a 3D Printers or rapid prototyping machines) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefuly depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer. Slowly but surely, with the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques. A fabber can allow you to explore new designs, email physical objects to other fabber owners, and most importantly - set your ideas free. Just as MP3s, iPods and the Internet have freed musical talent, we hope that blueprints and fabbers will democratize innovation."

Print Custom Artifical Bones - 3D Printer Recreates Skeletons

"Researchers at the Tissue Engineering Department at the University of Tokyo Hospital and venture capitalist, Next 21, use specialized 3D inkjet printers to print custom artificial bones for implantation. Here's the process used to make an artificial bone. First, the patient's actual bone structure is scanned with X-ray and CT scanners. The resulting data is combined to make a three-dimensional computer model of the bone; a set of cross-sections is sent to the special 3D inkjet printer."

ptonline.com - 3D Printers - Rapid Prototyping - 08/04

Close-Up On Technology - 3D Printers Lead Growth of Rapid Prototyping - 08/04: "The five 3D printer makers include Z Corp., which now offers three models of 3D printers, including its flagship ZPrinter 310; and Stratasys, which offers two versions of its Dimension 3D printer. 3D Systems, which sells both the widely known high-end SLA (stereolithography) and SLS (selective laser sintering) RP systems, launched its first “true 3D” printer, called InVision, in late 2003. Objet Geometries in Israel supplies the higher-end Eden 333 PolyJet 3D printer in North America through Stratasys."

TribalSketch for online scrapbook design and layout

The online Scrapbooking site http://www.photoalbum.com/ is using TribalSketch for their online scrapbook design and layout. Users can upload images of all types and create beautiful multi-page scrapbooks right in their browser.

Continuous learning is key

Continuous learning is key
--
Bob Dale wrote: I am sad to announce that this will be my last estimating column for Graphic Monthly. I am proud to have been associated with this fine publication since I started writing this column 10 years ago.

The key message that I have tried to convey is the need for continuous learning. If you arrive at work, keep your head down and work hard without learning something every day, you will find in a few years that you have been left behind. I once did a study of a conventional prepress department with 16 professionals who did great work. But it quickly became clear that their knowledge level was at 30% of where it needed to be to stay current in today’s world of electronic prepress.
Continuous learning does not always mean that you have to attend night school for 13 weeks for years to get a certificate, although that is an excellent way of learning. Continuous learning comes from reading magazines like Graphic Monthly, and participating in trade associations like the Craftsmen Club, which is open to all, regardless of whether there is an active club in your community. Visit IAPHC.org for details.
Attending trade shows should be more than getting posters and free samples. Seminars, demonstrations and meetings are all great ways of learning. Attending seminars, and participating in online forums are great ways of keeping current without investing a significant amount of time. Formal designation and training records are important and should be tracked and kept in your employee file and included on your resume.
Thank you, Graphic Monthly readers for allowing me the wonderful opportunity to stay current on technology, process and management issues and to share these experiences and thoughts with you.
I leave you with a quote from Dave Mainwaring, who leads excellent forums on PrintPlanet.com:

“To succeed, stay focused.
Do what you do best,
up-skill, prepare for
new challenges,
make time for learning”

Bob Dale is president of Pilot Graphic Management Services Inc., a management-consulting and custom-training company. He is also on the executive of the Toronto Club of Printing House Craftsmen. Bob can be reached at (416) 410-4096, or via e-mail at pilotmanagement@rogers.com

Printable Technologies to Demonstrate Integrated Marketing ... - Direct_Mail, Direct_Marketing, Marketing

Printable Technologies to Demonstrate Integrated Marketing ... - Direct_Mail, Direct_Marketing, Marketing: "


Google will demonstrate Integrated Marketing Solutions including Personalized Cross-Media Direct Marketing and Collateral Management Solutions, at NCDM 2007, Las Vegas, from December 10 through December 12. Printable Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of Integrated Marketing, Web to Print, and Personalized Direct Marketing Solutions. To align with these consumers, marketers are rapidly adopting new online marketing channels and integrating them into their campaigns. The cross-media solutions powered by Printable Technologies take advantage of the vast amount of data available to present personalized messages that make marketing more effective. Printable Technologies is a world leader providing Integrated Marketing Solutions including Cross Media Variable Data Publishing (VDP), One to One Marketing Campaigns, and Web to Print solutions, to corporate enterprises, creative agencies, and the graphic arts industry. The complete marketing campaign execution and tracking solution from Printable Technologies"

MGI Digital Graphic Technology, marketing agreement with Xerox Corporation

IVRY/SEINE, France (Dec. 3, 2007) -- MGI Digital Graphic Technology, the

multi-substrate (paper and plastic) digital press manufacturer, announced

today that they have reached a marketing agreement with Xerox Corporation

(Europe). Under the terms of this agreement, MGI will provide the UVarnish*

off-line infrared and UV coater as a complement to Xerox's finishing product

portfolio.

MGI, based in Paris, has 25 years of experience in designing, manufacturing,

marketing and supporting the worldwide digital market segment.

Launched in 2007, the popular and successful UVarnish is the first and only

"push-button" UV coater available in the digital graphics market. Easy to

use and with the smallest footprint in the industry, the UVarnish is

designed to complement both digital and offset printed paper or plastic

substrates (paper coated and sealed plastic surfaces such as PVC or PET),

accommodating up to 2400 sheets per hour and sizes up to 36 x 52 cm (14 x 20

inches).

Other unique features of the UVarnish include an ultrasonic sensor to detect

and prevent double feeding, designed to protect personalized VDP sheets. The

UVarnish is also environmentally friendly, utilizing an ozone-free UV curing

technology. Depending on the type of substrate and intended application,

various varnish finishes are available, including matte, glossy and

pre-lamination varnish for plastic hot platen lamination. Optional

accessories for the UVarnish include a high capacity feeder and a high

capacity stacker.

This agreement is valid immediately in Europe and will allow the Xerox sales

force to offer the UVarnish in synergy with Xerox's state of the art color

For more information, please contact:

Michael Abergel

Executive Vice President, MGI USA

Phone: (321) 751-6755

Books don't just appear on the bookshelves by themselves.

Mordy Golding wrote:

Books don't just appear on the bookshelves by themselves. Thanks to all the folks at Sams Publishing, and to Betsy Brown, Jon Steever, Krista Hansing, and Seth Kerney for their professional and untiring help in publishing this book. Special thanks to Kate Binder, who not only helped make sure this book was technically accurate, but offered valuable advice as well.

This book is a work that finds its words shaped from years of experience and friendship. Thanks to Sharon Steuer, Sandee Cohen, David Blatner, and Bert Monroy for your continued support.

There's no way that I could have possibly completed a project of this magnitude without the support from my friends at Adobe. While it's impossible to list everyone, there are some folks for which a blanket "thanks to everyone at Adobe" statement simply won't do. Thank you to Lydia Varmazis, Leon Brown, Will Eisley, Bob Schaffel, John Nack (congrats, Tiny Elvis!), Addy Roff, Kevin Connor, George Arriola, Ted Alspach, Paul Kim, Ron DiTorro, Lynn Grillo, Joe Smith, and Julieanne Kost.

I can't offer enough thanks to Dave Mainwaring and the entire membership of the Print Planet forums. It's a fun place to be, and I guarantee that I learn more from you guys than what you learn from me.

To the Wrotslavsky family, who welcomed me as one of their own over 12 years ago (and who still willingly admit to that fact today).

For all the times I asked him silly questions, like why the sky is blue, my father has forever earned the right to ask me how to create a mask in Photoshop (and other assorted technical support questions). My mother continues to serve as my role model for everything I do.

Of course, this book would not have been possible without the love and support of my wife, Batsheva, and my children, Chayala, Simcha Bunim, and Chavi. I'm one lucky man.

Mordy :)

The Truth About Bar Codes — Size Matters

BOOK COVER DESIGN:
From: BookCoverDesigner: bookcoverdesigner@yahoo.ca
Posted to Publish-l forum 10/26/2007
http://bookcoverdesigner.typepad.com/

"Bar codes seem to be a never-ending point of contention. I frequently get eMails from clients about bar codes saying things like, 'it's too big. It's much bigger than the ones on the books I have here.' That's quite possible. Here's why: People often confuse UPC bar codes with Bookland EAN bar codes; since going to the 13-digit ISBN (Jan. 2007), bar codes have to be longer just to incorporate the extra numbers; most authors will now need to have the price embedded into the bar code, whereas this wasn't always necessary in the past. The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has conveniently published the guidelines for bar codes on their site, and here's what they say: The Bookland EAN symbol, which always includes the 5-digit add-on, is 1' high x 2-3/16' wide at 100% magnification. At 80% magnification the overall size is approximately 13/16' high x 1-3/4' wide. Magnification may be any size between 80% and 200%. For offset printing it should not be necessary to print larger than 100%. (NOTE: Width is measured with a 3/32 inch 'quiet zone' on either side of bars. Height is measured from the top of the bars to the bottom of the numbers below the bars.)”"

"There is a crisis in print buying By Frank Romano October 26, 2007

WhatTheyThink.com - Print's Home Page: "There is a crisis in print buying By Frank Romano October 26, 2007 -- This week Margie Dana asked the question 'Is there is a crisis in print buying?' and I am here to say there is. In less than a decade we have gone from print buying professionals fully supported by their organizations to production and design professionals who, by the way, also buy print. Printing buying is now ancillary to other jobs. There are 23,000 full-timers who buy print in the United States and they purchase about 70 percent of all print and packaging. Less than 10 percent have print buying in heir titles. Another 92,000 buyers are involved in varying degrees, but virtually everyone else in the nation buys print at some time—from imprinted holiday cards to posters seeking a lost pet."

Information about print buying is scant. The reason is that print buyers, like designers, do not congregate. It is hard to find them because there is no common communication medium. Those that can be found tend to be the really larger print buyers and their data may not be representative of the entire market. But there is hope.

On November 7 and 8 in Westford, MA, the 2nd annual Boston Print Buyers Conference will take place. It brings together print buyers from New England, across the U.S., and even a few international buyers. What is most interesting is that over one hundred buyers signed up for the Print Buyers Boot Camp on November 6th, a basic course in printing and print buying. This is now the must-attend conference for anyone who buys print. Go to www.bostonprintbuyers.com and check it out.

E-commerce is said to be re-inventing the printing business. But it is not as easy as it sounds. E-commerce companies want to automate the process of originating, specifying, estimating, bidding, scheduling, tracking, and managing print. Some of the sources of print welcome this. Some will continue to rely on the primary interface between buyer and seller: the sales representative. But, with the Internet, the customer is evolving into the sales person and the service person.

Complex and very complex jobs account for 60 percent of the revenue of the printing industry. An oversimplified workflow: one third prep and program, one third print, and one third finish. In other words, most printed products are complex because they use multiple steps in the printing process, and the more complex the product the more it needs a godfather (or godmother). What is scary is that many complex print jobs are often initiated without any consultation with the printer.

Thus, I contend that there is a crisis in print buying and the need to educate the latest generation of buyers is critical. Good buyers make good customers—and they also help to make printers better as well.

MegaSpirea's MailLiner

"People were calling colleagues from the booth saying, 'You gotta see this!' Truth be told, I didn't make it back for a closer look, but after I opened the samples I'd been handed, the marvel of video on the web showed me this is definitely something you have to see. MegaSpirea's MailLiner 100 was one of the Must See 'ems, and Scott Gerschwer, VP of Marketing (the guy who stopped me on the floor) told me last Friday, people were calling colleagues from the booth saying, 'You gotta see this!' The MailLiner 100 addresses the need of service bureaus and data centers to combine envelopes and their contents with 100% accuracy. Instead of printing a document and putting it into an envelope, the system creates the envelope in-line and wraps it around the document. Using a continuous-feed printer (think InfoPrint, Kodak, Nipson, Océ, or Xerox) a document is printed and is immediately followed by an envelope, bearing address, postal indicia and relevant messaging. The MailLiner 100 does the slitting and trimming needed to separate the envelope and its contents, does the requisite scoring, folding, gluing, and marries the pieces back together, ready to mail. Cameras and bar codes further ensure accurate matching of mail piece and envelope. The machine runs at about 300 pages per minute and can put up to 5 pages in each envelope."

Graphic Arts in 2017...event featuring Dr. Joe Webb

Hi - If you are going to Graph Expo or live in the Chicago area, I hope you will register to attend a special event featuring Dr. Joe Webb next week.


Last year, nearly 200 executives attended and the reviews were excellent. This year, Dr. Joe's presentation is entitled "Graphic Arts 2017: A Speculative Look at the Graphic Arts a Decade from Today". He will offer printing and publishing executives direction and insights relative to the future of print in a multichannel world.


Dr. Webb will also provide a 2008 economic outlook, both in terms of the printing industry and the general economy. A continental breakfast will be provided.


The event is Tuesday, (September 11) from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. in Room S106B, McCormick Place in Chicago in conjunction with Graph Expo. The event is free, thanks to the support of MAN Roland.


Seating is limited so please sign up today. Other WhatTheyThink.com editors and commentators will be in attendance as well. We hope to see you there.


More info - or register
http://members.whattheythink.com/home/ge07event.cfm


Kind Regards,
Randy Davidson, President
WhatTheyThink.com

World Digital Pub | Editor -Marketeer Conf. Oct 10-19

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) is planning to bring print and digital newspapers together with back-to-back conferences this October 17-19.

This October Digital will meetup with Print at back to back at conference put on by World Association of Newspapers. Attendees will discover array of strategies for digital content, advertising, digital rights management at The World Digital Publishing Conference along side The 10th Editor and Marketeer Conference which will be focusing on print, free newspapers, marketing, and circulation. There will be a keynote speech on the latest world press trends.

Details at http://www.wan-press.org/

"A VOCATION OF UNHAPPINESS [Courtesy Georges Simenon (1903-1985)]

BookAngst 101:


Advancing the Notion of (...ahem...) Realistic Advances: "A VOCATION OF UNHAPPINESS [Courtesy Georges Simenon (1903-1985)] 'Writing is considered a profession, and I don't think it is a profession. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else. Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don't think an artist can ever be happy.'"

Trade schools on the border

http://www.mpcny.com/printblogger/

Trade schools on the border. My solution to needed skilled workers

John M. Henry
July 27th, 2007

The printer industry in the USA needs trained press operators and bindery workers. Many other trades are having the same issues. The government so far has been only been in a political fight, not solving this issue. Forget training more designers, you can find one working at every coffee shop, they are like actors.

I have one solution that will take the whole issue one step forward. It is time to start building trade schools on the southern border. Fill them up, document them and send them to us…These trade schools would be like a dorm or as my college was a like, a low security jail Workers would stay and train in for 3-9 months as they are processed through and learn skills. If they do not have the IQ, fail out, criminal records, drug issues or cannot find and hold a job ship them back. After 3 years with a good work history and clean records, put them on the path to citizenship. I believe people who have the drive to walk and risk their life to get here, would have the drive to be good press or bindery worker.

I also have no problem saying if you have no needed skills, do not work hard or have a criminal record, you have no place in the USA. Of course political persecution and other aspects will allow you in the USA by other means. My solution is only for filling needed workers with needed skills. The way many illegal workers are taken advantage of by business today is unethical and criminal. We need to provide ways for the workers our industry needs, to come and work here. Away that will also be legal and not allow the workers to be abused. The current methods of doing this are far to limited, costly and time consuming. So we need to build trade schools on the border.

"New Periodicals Rates Go into Effect July 15 – What’s a Printer or Publisher to Do?

WhatTheyThink.com - Print's Home Page:

By Gail Nickel-Kailing, Senior WTT Editor

July 16, 2007 -- The new postage rates are clearly “top of mind” for printers, publishers, and mailers. The WhatTheyThink Postal Rates and Reform Webinar broadcast on May 15 drew more than 506 registrants seeking more information to help them offset or avoid new postage rates"

{excerpts from article} http://members.whattheythink.com/specialreports/070716gail.cfm

{Members get to read the full article, plus a free trial membership is provided so anyone can read the articles.}

Rate and Preparation Changes
The PRC recommendation for Periodicals included many changes that reflect cost-based rating. The biggest change in the rate design is moving from the traditional pound and piece rates to bundle and container rates.

• Pound Advertising and Editorial Rates - The pound rates were reduced for both advertising and editorial rates. Editorial pound rates offer reductions for varying destination entry levels in order to promote drop-shipment of lower advertising content publications.
• Piece Rates - Piece rates include new machineable and non-machineable rates for flats. Also, the basic rate category was replaced with MxADC and ADC rate categories, similar to Standard Mail.
• Piece Discounts - With the exception of the non-advertising piece discount, the piece discounts for destination entry, all pallets and co-palletized products were eliminated.
• Container Rate - Container rates were established to replace flat rate for all pallets and sacks. The rate is based on a combination of the container type (pallet or sack), container sort level and containers point of entry.
• Bundle Rates - Bundle rates are going into effect based on the presort level of each mailing bundle.

Opportunities to Avoid Postal Increases
There are several ways publishers can mitigate – or even avoid completely – the upcoming rate increases. By participating in a number of “work share” programs, publishers can prepare mail to qualify for additional discounts and cost savings. Let’s take a look at a few terms that describe various cost-avoidance programs.

Co-binding or online co-mailing - a printer binds a publication or catalog in the same bindery line at the same time as another company’s and combines their two mailings into one. This process requires that the publications be essentially the same size and have the block for addressing in the same place.

Co-mailing or offline co-mailing - the process of merging finished publications and/or catalogs that have already been bound into one mail stream. The co-mailing process combines address files for all participants into a single mail file that is presorted before the addresses are inkjetted on the covers. Then individual finished pieces are sorted into presorted bundles for which they would not have qualified in the past. Presorted bundles receive greater USPS discounts than unsorted bundles.

Commingling – a term that also refers to the process of merging multiple strings of mail into a single mail stream. Commingling is often used to refer to letter-sized mailings while co-mailing is used for periodical or catalog mailings.

Co-palletization - consolidates the physical bundles of mail, which have already been addressed and presorted, onto pallets. Mail that has been bundled onto pallets prior to its entry into the USPS system is discounted. Mailers qualify for greater postage discounts based on both the number of pieces that previously would NOT have been on pallets and in the number of pieces that move from sacks to pallets.

Drop-shipping - saves money on postal rates by moving the mail closer to its final destination before it is deposited with the USPS. Mailers can save additional postage costs avoiding the USPS zoned structure and taking advantage of destination entry discounts; the savings more than offsets the shipping costs.

Who Can Help?
Major printers such as RR Donnelley, Quad/Graphics, Quebecor World, Banta, Fry Communications, and others offer co-mailing services to their own printing customers and will take finished periodicals from smaller printers to add to their distribution pools.

For the first time, there is now a third-party distribution company serving small to medium printers that produce short run and small circulation magazines and catalogs. This year, Print and Mailing Solutions, LLC, a division of ALG WorldWide Logistics launched an independent co-mailing service.

{content snipped}
Ms. Nickel-Kailing is also an author, journalist, and nationally recognized speaker regarding printing and mailing, including web-to-print, variable data printing, and direct mail. She is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire WI. She can be reached at gail@business-strategies-etc.com.

Welcome to DimBulb!

Welcome to DimBulb!

Blog address:

http://dimbulbs.blogspot.com/

Endless Loop Archival Hardware

Endless Loop Archival Hardware: "With OctaTrak Tape Technology, one tape can last FOREVER!!


Bet you thought you'd heard the last of 8-track tapes when you pulled that 750 feet of Steppenwolf out of your Chevy van in 1970! But now it's back, and it's not just a blast from the past, it's the Wave of the Future!


Just slip in one of our patented OctaTrak tapes, and you're good for all the revision cycles you can stand! And with our optional DualAction AudioGraphics Tape Unit, when you're sick of softening wrinkles around Liz Taylor's eyes or making that sky 'just a little bluer' when it's already 100% cyan, just slip in your old Iron Butterfly tape, and it's In-a-Gadda-da-Vida as loud as you can stand it!"

ThinkPlate Specs

ThinkPlate Specs: "ThinkPlate employs a daring new technology perfected by Russian psionic researchers. A harmonic charge generated by an artist's visual cortex is used to create a matrix capable of exposing any digital-ready plate. Our competitor uses an inferior 'stream-of-consciousness' approach with a narrow serial bandwidth that fails under the load of complex conceptual graphics. And with upcoming improvements like our MindWander Buffer, it's only going to get better!"

words / myth / ampers & virgule: News flash: widows are older than orphans

words / myth / ampers & virgule:

News flash: widows are older than orphans: "But the more interesting question that arose is this: When did the term orphan first enter typsetting argot? A few of us have been looking, and so far, we’ve found widow defined in references from before 1980, but we’ve found no references to orphan that old. In theory, those of us involved in this discussion are old enough to remember when we first heard the term, but we’re also old enough to imagine we heard it many years earlier than we actually heard it.

Further, looking at examples of fine printing from before 1970, pages may be devoid of widows but there seems to have been no effort to eliminate orphans, suggesting that nobody gave the notion much thought before the advent of computerized page makeup.

So here’s your challenge: If you can find a printed definition of or reference to orphans in a typographic context from before 1990, respond in the comments with the citation. There are at least three people who are wasting time on this question, and we’d all like to be doing something more productive. Earliest citation wins a lifetime half-price subscription to this blog. (That’s lifetime of the blog, just to be clear.)"

posted by Dick Margulis at 6:34 PM 2007/07/ to his blog: http://ampersandvirgule.blogspot.com/

Designing an eBook Reader at PrintCEO Blog

Designing an eBook Reader at PrintCEO Blog: "Designing an eBook Reader
Posted by Adam Dewitz on June 18, 2007

A YouTube user has posted a design proposal for an Apple-inspired ebook reader based on the Apple iPod and iTunes. The proposed reader uses dual-screens to mimic a printed book.

Would a design like this, and its incorporation into the successful Apple iPod product line make an eBook reaser more desirable?"

TÜV Product Service Industry News - 'Good progress' made with printed RFID tags

TÜV Product Service Industry News - 'Good progress' made with printed RFID tags:
The radio frequency identification (RFID) industry is making 'good progress' in the field of printed tag development, it has been claimed.

Speaking to delegates at a European conference, Klaus Dimmler - founder of OrganicID and event chairman - said the sector is moving forward with technology able to produce electronic tags using organic inks, reports RFID Journal.

'They're looking better and better,' he maintained, while other industry experts said that although printed tags are improving, there is some way to go before they will be commercially available.

It is hoped a low-cost option will be identified for applying the printed RFID systems directly onto packaging."

From Gutenberg to Google: Media in Transition Conference (SocialComputingMagazine.com)

From Gutenberg to Google: Media in Transition Conference (SocialComputingMagazine.com): "The German organizers take inspiration from Johannes Gutenberg, who as the creator of movable type they view as a 'communication machine' pioneer.

'Gutenberg was the man of his century, igniting an information revolution leading to the Renaissance,' comments Matthias Koehler. 'The printing press business is precisely where Germany’s industrial economy launched. Printing presses required precision machinery, creating Germany’s engineering industry. Research in printing inks conceived the German chemical industry. You could make the case, therefore, that Germany derived its industrial power from an information need.'

According to this line of thinking, the Internet is the new kind of movable type, facilitating a similar information revolution: falling communication costs are changing the game.

'We want to address media pros from all industries concerned with the consequences of the clash between new and old,' Koehler adds."