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Notes by Barbara Beckwith

November 19, 2011

Three NWU-Boston and three Women's National Book Association authors laid out the whys and hows and how much time and money it took to publish their books. The co-sponsored panel at Brookline's Coolidge Branch Library drew a full house. "The speakers were so genuine, forthcoming, open and helpful," said Katherine Jones. "They made sure the next group of self-publishing authors reach their goals."

Jean Alonso pitched The Patriots: An Inside Look at Life in a Defense Plant to publishers known for books on work and unions. The editors liked her account of how workers at the plant where she worked for 15 years were affected by its culture (patriotism, machismo, rote). But Cornell and California university press editors wanted an academic style, not the narrative journalism style she wrote in so that her story would be readable to everybody. Taking the self-publishing route was remarkably inexpensive: her son, whose LeapYear Press offers services for self-publishers, did the formatting and cover art for free. Jean's basic expenses were $39 for Createspace's ProPlan, $28 for 4 proofs ($3.27 each, plus shipping), $35 for a second copyright and $125 for an ISBN for a Kindle edition. For permission to use a Bruce Springsteen song lyric, she was charged just $50; but the "matching fee" clause meant that when Ruben Blades charged $150 for use of his lyrics, she had to pay the equivalent to Bruce. Her total expenditures have been $1,011.07, including $414.91 for 93 copies of the book at the author's price of $3.49 plus shipping, and $168.82 for 250 postcards and mailing. Jean hadn't worked out a good plan for marketing, so two rave reviews in Counterpunch and Znet surprised her, as did a publisher friend who thinks her book deserves a big publisher and is trying to make that happen. If it does, that's gravy although Jean likes promoting her book at the grassroots level. The Patriots is available from Amazon.

Linda Cox's memoir, Lone Holdout, is a rare first-hand account by a lone holdout juror. It was the first time the author, a Boston bookseller, had served on a jury. The case seemed simple at first. A young Hispanic man was accused of cocaine trafficking, and a veteran police officer testified against him. But things are not always what they seem. What happened in the jury room and afterwards transformed several lives. This memoir looks deep into the justice system — and one woman's heart. From the beginning, Cox knew she wanted to write about her experience. She had an agent to send her manuscript to publishers, but they rejected it, calling it "too small a story." Cox put the book aside, but later returned to it, figuring the story to be timeless. She hired a book consultant to help her restructure and revise the manuscript. She tried one Boston agent, but the rejection slip printed on the back of someone else's manuscript was just too much. She created Charles Street Press, paid for a graphic designer, and had the book printed on demand by Lightning Source. As a former bookstore owner, she knew bookstores considered self-published books too much paperwork and too little profit. So Cox sells mostly on Amazon, where she has gotten 24 five-star reviews. She has so far sold 300 copies. Her company just published a second title, by another author.

Anne Ipsen has self-published two memoirs and three historical novels, most recently At the Concord of the Rivers, a novel set in 17th century Concord. Her manuscript preparation, cover art, design and print set-up costs were $1,956, and she spent $369 on marketing (review books, launch parties, postcards, mailing). She figures that she will break even when she sells 189 copies of the $18 book (direct sales). Steve Glines (this event's moderator) designed, formatted, and set up her last two books. She chose Lightning Source to print her most recent book (she'd used Lulu for the previous book but found it uneconomical). She agrees that bookstores, even independents, do not want self-published books: Unless a publisher has edited and fact-checked it, they can't be sure of its quality. She gives talks to targeted markets such as historical societies and libraries. A recent talk in Littleton drew 75 people, 12 of which bought her book. Her books are available through her website as well as on Amazon.

Eve Sullivan, parenting educator, wrote Where the Heart Listens: a handbook for parents and their allies in a global society, and published it independently through Parents Forum, a non-profit she founded. The first edition was printed in 2001 by Bookmaster. Parents Forum paid about $6,000 to print 1000 copies of the book and part of that cost was paid through a grant from Gravestar, a Cambridge (MA) foundation. A second edition appeared online in 2006 and in a very short press run of about 100 copies. The current third edition (2010) is printed by Lightning Source and is available through the usual channels: Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Ingram. Through eBookIt, Parents Forum produced Where the Heart Listens as an e-book. EBookit also distributes the audiobook which was recorded at Perkins School for the Blind. She hired — after the fact, she admits — a PR company, Annie Jennings, to get her radio interviews on parenting issues. Also, through Parent Tested Parent Approved (PTPA) Media she got a "seal of approval" for her book.

Maria Termini's second memoir, The Artist and the Spy, dramatizes her struggle to survive as a mother of twins and an artist during an unsettling six-year relationship with a military officer involved in dangerous covert operations who increasingly suffered from what is now known as PTSD. After many rejections from agents and publishers, Termini decided to self-publish, saying,"If you believe in your story and have worked hard to write it, it deserves to be published." She designed the book and her cover and used Minuteman Press (West Newton) as a printer. She has a new book out, Driving Curiosity: On the Road in Central America, based on her 1986 journal as she drove slowly through Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras to Nicaragua, where she built homes with Habitat for Humanity at the height of the war between the Sandinistas and the contras. She used Cambridge Reprographics as a printer this time, and her book has 73 black and white photographs. Termini has produced a slide show about this book to use when she gives talks, which give her an honorarium and a chance to sell her books.

Carole Copeland Thomas has 24 years experience as a speaker and trainer on empowerment and on multiculturalism, so she started off with a solid "platform" for marketing her books: 25 Ways to Bring Multiculturalism to Your Workplace, Your Home, Your Community, and Personal Empowerment: How to Turbocharge Your Life Both On and Off the Job. She spent $5000 on production and to print several thousand copies, and found a cover artist via elance.com. She contacted her friends around the country to set up talks and bookselling selling events for her, in homes, churches, and schools (for teachers), plus some bookstore signings., She also sells her book at conventions For a printer, she used and recommends King Printing in Lowell, MA.

Steve Glines (Moderator) is owner of ISCSPress, which designs print-on-demand books, performing all the functions of a publisher on an a la carte basis. Click here to see what services he offers. He is also an author, most recently of Seven Days in Fiji.