Hi back to Carolyn from Meredith-not-Marilyn

The LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books is great to attend, even if you don't exhibit. So many events, lectures, readings etc. going on over two days. My critique group's parent organization, California Writers' Club, has a booth there every year.

Meredith--sorry for the mistake. It may not be one, though. The Marilyn who said she was lurking is from Fresno--or Sacramento, I think. But then I really could be confused. Maybe California does that to us. Ha!

Thank you for the good word on the LA Fair. I belong to the the San Gabriel CWC and think they're a great group. Authors could easily sign with the CWC and still utilize the assoiciated programs that Authors' Coalition offers. We're not at all propietary. Rule #1 in PR. There is enough in this big, wonderful universe to go around.

Will I see you at the fair?

Best,
Carolyn

Hotel California, version 2

Carolyn, when I emailed you and requested your free handout, I mentioned that I had been lurking in this author forum but hadn't posted anything yet. You wrote back and said, Marilyn, why don't you stop by the forum and say hello?

So you have two lurkers? Better than stalkers, at least

I belong to the Orange County chapter of CWC. Whether I go to this year's UCLA Book Fair depends on whether it's the same dates as the annual convention for California Federation of Chaparral Poets, held this year in Ontario. Unfortunately, CFCP's website hasn't been updated in 8 months so it's hard to say.

Who's on first?

Carolyn, I would like for you to address the issue of people who self-publish and then want a traditional publisher to pick the book up, AFTERWARDS.

I think everyone knows the pros and cons of traditional vs self-publishing, but what I'm referring to is the difficulty in getting this to happen, AND how MOST traditional publishers expect before they would even consider this...can do?

Maybe I don't have two lurkers. But I hardly consider you a lurker. I appreciate your participation. (-: Maybe that's what confused me.

I hope to hear from you if you decide to do the LA Times Fair. Please feel free to contact me at hojonews@aol.com. Anytime at all. (-:

Best,
Carolyn

Yes, people always hear the wonderful tales abot how someone self-publishes and their book does so well that a traditional, big and sought-after publisher decides to take it on. This is very rare for many reasons. Not the least of which is that, if a self-pubbed book has been that successful, a good chunk of sales have already been made and the new publisher would lose that potential. It is more likely an author's next book would be picked up after a hugely successful self-pubbed or subsidy-pubbed effort. Heck, it's even hard to get a distributor to take on a book after another distributor has had it.

In one of my chapters in The Frugal Editor I quote an agent who says he just hates it when an author queires him saying something like "I self-pubbed xxxxtitle, but I didn't promote it. I'm now looking for a publisher." His comment was something like, "Oh, great. You didn't think enough of the book you self-pubbed to promote it so now you want someone else to do it for you."

After all, agents want to sell authors who will be active in their own success (meaning they know or are willing to learn to promote!). And so do publishers!

That's one of the major reasons I wrote The Frugal Book Promoter. It is self-published. Trust me, I'm not going to get rich on it. It's for my fellow authors. And that's the truth.

Good question my Mis JJ.

Love,
C.

Dear Boomer Women Writers:
Our month has come to an end. That does not mean that our relationship must do so. I shall pop in occasionally and I want you to feel free to contact me. You can always reach me at hojonews@aol.com. Be aware, though, that I get a huge number of e-mails each day so put something like "BOOMER" in the subject line. Avoid using subject that a spammer might use to catch one's attentions. Of course, that is advice that will work well for you across the board.

You'll also find me at my website, www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

And, I've become a huge blogger. LOVE it.
Find me at:

www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com, a general blog on all things writing

www.thefrugaleditor.blogspot.com, a blog that generally will use a question and answer format for editing and formatting questions

www.authorscoaltion.blogspot.com, a blog that will help you get the most out of book fairs

www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com, a brand new blog on subjects that I explore in my writing. It also will include support for our troops. My grandson just left for his second sting in Iraq!!!

www.thenewbookreview.blogspot.com, a blog where you can extend the life of your favorite review. The guidelines for submitting are in the column on the left.

So, call on me for consulting, editing, to sign up for my newsletter or just to chat. Feel free to contribute your resources to my newsletter, too. We're all in this together. Gotta keep learning from one another. (-:

Best,
Carolyn

Thank you Carolyn for joining us this month, and for the loads of information. I'm thoroughly enjoying your new book as well. You're a jewel!

Thanks, JJ.
Just couldn't stay away. Do you all know about John Kremer's new networking site. Bookmarket.ning. I think you can find it with just that. Love it!!

Carolyn

Carolyn, I've been trying to click your website link here http://www.howtodoitfrugally.com./ for several days but have gotten a mostly white page that says "This website is temporarily unavailable, please try again later."