Release: SPAWN Making Changes

Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network Helps Authors and Creative Professionals with New Benefits, New Web Site, and New Vision

The publishing world is changing rapidly and the leaders of Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) have made changes to help their members keep up. For 13 years, the non-profit member organization has offered information, resources and other benefits for authors, freelance writers, artists, and other creative professionals.

To better serve its membership, SPAWN is moving forward with a new leadership team, a Facebook presence, new webmaster, and a brand new Web site (www.spawn.org) brimming with useful articles and resources related to writing, publishing and marketing.

Visitors to the Web site who sign up for SPAWN's free monthly SPAWNews newsletter also receive a new ebook: Promote Yourself! 25 Ways to Promote Your Work Whether You’re an Artist, Author or Small Publisher.

SPAWN dues are $45/year. New and renewing members receive the ebook or print book of their choice; a listing in the SPAWN Member Directory; inclusion in the SPAWNDiscuss email Discussion Group; discounts on publishing-related services and products; an opportunity to be listed in the Catalog of Members’ Books and Services, opportunities to participate in various SPAWN activities at a discount; and access to the meaty, monthly SPAWN Market Update newsletter.

The Market Update is one of SPAWN’s most popular member benefits. This monthly report is bursting with a multitude of opportunities for authors, freelance writers, artists, photographers, screenplay writers, publishers and other creatives. Each issue of the SPAWN Market Update includes dozens (sometimes hundreds) of valuable resources. The searchable Market Update archives, which are available to members, contain literally thousands more opportunities.

Patricia Fry, author, publisher and charter member of SPAWN is the new Executive Director, and Susan Daffron is SPAWN's new President and Webmaster. Daffron was selected for the job because of her depth of experience in both Web design and book publishing.

The goal with the Web site redesign was to bring the site up to date to better reflect new best practices for small publishers in the age of Web 2.0 without sacrificing any of the educational material the site has offered for many years. The new board of directors has also revamped the list of benefits members receive. New benefits include discounts on editorial services, book cover design, interior layout services, consulting, printing, and writing software.

The Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network (SPAWN) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 1996. Visit SPAWN at http://www.spawn.org.

Contact:

Patricia Fry, Executive Director at Patricia@spawn.org

Or Susan Daffron, President/Webmaster at Susan@spawn.org

Are You a Desperate Writer or Author?

Are You a Desperate Writer or Author?
By Patricia Fry

When you approach an editor with a great article idea, is your anxiety level off the charts? When you send your manuscript to a publisher, are you filled with fear and apprehension? Will you grovel in hopes of hearing the “Yes” response? In other words, do you come across as sounding desperate when you present your work for publication?

What about those of you with books to promote? How do you approach reviewers, booksellers and consumers? Does the desperation you feel come out in your spiel?

Promoting a book amidst the hundreds of thousands of others is tough. Getting an article or a book manuscript accepted is really difficult in today’s competitive publishing climate. But you’re not going to make it any easier—in fact, it becomes much less likely that your project will be picked—if you come across as desperate.

If you were a publisher, which author would you rather work with? It would be hard to warm up to one who says, “Please, please publish my book. I’ve worked so hard. It really is good—my friends say so and my mother loves it. I really, really must get this published. If you don’t give me a contract, my life might as well be over.” Yikes! Or would you feel more comfortable and confident in the author who says, “Per your request, I’ve enclosed the book proposal for my book, ‘The Chimney Man.” Please review it and let me know if you need anything additional.”

If you think this is a far-fetched example, you’re wrong. Some hopeful authors are so anxious to get that publishing contract that they will cajole, plead and even threaten in anticipation of landing one.

I’ve watched published authors practically beg people to buy their books and then become almost despondent when they didn’t. At a book festival or book singing, for example, this attitude can kill any potential for sales. Approach a potential customer with a down-trodden attitude and they won’t feel much like buying any book from you.

What does a disappointed writer/author do? Pretend, if you have to. So, book sales are slow, don’t make it the potential customer’s problem. Approach each new customer with the same sense of excitement and pride you felt in your book the first time you saw it—the first time you sold a copy. Forget about your sales figures. If you maintain a positive, confident stance with your customers, booksellers and reviewers, your bottom line will take care of itself.

The same holds true for hopeful authors. Approach publishers with an air of professionalism. Ooze with confidence about your project. But you can do this only if you are confident that you have a viable product. The only way you can be sure is to write a business plan (book proposal) for your book before you make the rounds with it. Make sure you are writing the right book for the right audience and then make a solid case for it BEFORE you start showing it around (and before you self-publish it).

If you are a freelance writer who is trying to land assignments or just sell an article or story, likewise, approach editors with confidence in your idea, your writing abilities, the timeliness of your idea, etc. Take “no” for an answer, if this is the answer you get, and move on. Rejection does not mean you don’t have a good idea or a well-written piece. It could mean one or more of many things.

For example,

• The magazine has covered this subject recently.
• They have a piece like this in the works.
• Your story idea conflicts with an advertiser’s message.
• There were other articles on this subject submitted—yours didn’t make the cut.
• The topic is outside their realm of interest.
• The slant is not right for this magazine.
• Your piece is too biased.
• The editor doesn’t like your stationery.

Fellow freelance writers, rejection happens—and it happens a LOT. Do what those of us who eventually succeed do: get up, dust yourself off, reevaluate your piece, thoroughly research other potential homes for this piece and, if needed, refine your approach. Always come across as confident and professional.

Patricia Fry is a full-time freelance writer and the author of 29 books. Her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Entrepreneur Magazine, Cat Fancy, Your Health, The Toastmaster and many others. View her collection of books at http://www.matilijapress.com. Click here And visit her informative publishing blog often: http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog.
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FREE Article-Writing Course Orientation

FREE Article-Writing Course Orientation

Taught by 35-year veteran writer and author, Patricia Fry. Learn how to establish an article-writing career. Promote your nonfiction book through magazine articles. First lesson of this 6-week online article-writing course FREE—no obligation to sign up. For more information:

http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm
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Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com

Editing is an Imperfect Process

Editing is an Imperfect Process
By Patricia Fry

I hate it when I discover a mistake in my already published book. There’s the book all printed and bound—etched in stone—and, oops a mistake appears. When you spot it, it’s like a big, red zit suddenly appears on the face of the book.

Embarrassing.

I don’t think there is a book of any substance anywhere without a mistake. Not that this is an excuse to go ahead and make them or to avoid all of those final pre-printing edits and proofs. I teach and preach that we must produce the most pristine product possible. But something is going to escape our eyes and those of our editors and proofreaders. It’s pretty much a given that your perfect book will arrive with a few mistakes.

You might find them right away, upon first glance—and it’s a real shame when that happens. Or it might take you days, weeks, months, even years to discover a mistake or two.

When my books arrive from the publisher/printer, I always set aside one copy to mark up. Whenever anyone points out a mistake or I spot one, I highlight it so I can correct it in the next printing.

What are your failsafe procedures for editing your book? I’ve found over the years that editing is a process. When I edit my own work, especially a book manuscript, I go over it many, many times with different things in mind. There’s the initial editing after the book is completed—sometimes involving two, three or more reads. There’s the editing work after making additions or changes. (I want to make sure I haven’t repeated something unnecessarily or that I haven’t, heaven forbid, contradicted myself.) I edit again when something jumps out at me during a random glance. I read my manuscript over and over and over again. And then I get down to the nitty gritty editing work.

I read my manuscripts with content in mind—does it make sense, does it flow, do the transitions work well, are my explanations clear, is the material pertinent, have I left anything out, are there areas where I have over-explained, what about organization?

I strive to edit out extra words—in other words, I tighten and then I tighten it some more.

I read the manuscript for accuracy. I check facts and statistics and make sure the attributions are in place and correct. Do the chapter titles and headings correspond with the table of contents? Do the fonts for chapter titles and headings, etc. conform in size and style throughout? Have I used the right words in the right places? Spell-check will not alert you to wrong words when they are spelled correctly. For example, you might intend using “carp” and it is spelled, “crap,” “have” instead of “has,” “bed” instead of “bad.” It takes an alert mind and a good eye to discover mistakes like these.

I check my manuscripts over for qualifier words such as “very.” And I watch for repeated words.

I read the manuscript from a grammatical and punctuation point of view. Are my sentences varied, are they grammatically correct, have I used one space only after all punctuation, have I caught all of the redundancies and incorrect uses of words?

And finally, I read my manuscript to make sure it is clear, even to someone from Mars. I try to explain everything from a beginner’s point of view so I’m assured that no one reading this book will be left behind.
Folks, this major editing work is your job. Your next step is to hire an editor to fine tune your manuscript. The more thorough your editing job, the more an editor can do for you. And it may take several go-throughs. While some of my clients have such clean manuscripts that it takes just one session of editing, most require my services twice.

Editing is not a once-over job that you rush through in order to meet a deadline. It is a process that can take time and should. Turn out your best work. Look at it several times with your clearest editorial eye and then hand it over to an editor who is accustomed to editing book manuscripts for a final polishing.

Patricia Fry is a full-time freelance writer and the author of 29 books. Her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Entrepreneur Magazine, Cat Fancy, Your Health, The Toastmaster and many others. View her collection of books at http://www.matilijapress.com. And visit her informative publishing blog often: http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog.

Guarantee Your Publishing Success

Guarantee Your Publishing Success
By Patricia Fry

Do you want to write the next best-selling novel? Maybe you dream of landing a contract with Random House or selling a million copies of your book. Perhaps you simply want to be widely read.

How can you guarantee this kind of publishing success? Let me start by revealing the sure path to failure. It isn’t a matter of holding your mouth wrong while engaged in writing. It has little to do with the distractions in your household or your choice of pen names. The sure way for an author to fail is to Quit!

Quit writing that book of your dreams.
Stop pitching it to publishers.
Stop promoting your book.

Now, turn that message around and you’ll have some of the most well known secrets to publishing success: Persistence, Perseverance and Patience. But wait, I have another P word to add. You must also be well-Prepared.

Study the Publishing Industry

The first step toward any measure of publishing success is to understand something about the publishing industry. It is imperative that you educate yourself. In order to succeed in this field, you really must understand your options and the consequences of your choices.

Think about it, you wouldn’t start an electronics business in your city without knowing something about electronics; the electronics field; your competition; the manufacturers, distributors, suppliers you’ll be working with and the needs and desires of your potential customers.

Well here’s a news flash, while writing may be a craft—a heart thing—publishing is a business and your book is a product.

How do you learn about the publishing industry? One of the reasons I wrote my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, was to help educate hopeful authors about the publishing industry and the business of publishing.

But you can also learn volumes by joining and participating in local and online writers groups and publishing organizations. Join and participate by reading their newsletters, spending time at their Web sites and networking at meetings and in online discussion groups and forums. Attend writers’ conferences. Learn about those in your area through your local writers’ club or arts council. Search for nearby conferences at www.shawguides.com/writing.

Write a Book Proposal

The second most important thing you can do to enhance your chances for publishing success is to write a book proposal.

Book proposals aren’t just for nonfiction books anymore. Write a proposal even if your book is a novel, a book of poems, a young adult fantasy or a children’s book, for example. Of course, a book proposal for a novel or children’s book is not quite as detailed as one for a nonfiction book.

Why write a book proposal?

Because many traditional royalty publishers require one. That’s a good reason, don’t you think? But what if you plan to pay a fee-based, POD “self-publishing” service to produce your book? They don’t need to see a book proposal. They’re going to produce the book for you no matter what. Maybe you will self-publish. It really doesn’t matter which publishing option you choose, you will still need a book proposal. You see, a book proposal is a business plan for your book. It will actually help you to produce a viable product.

I can’t tell you how many authors I meet every year who are promoting the wrong book to the wrong audience. And they wonder why so many publishers rejected them.

When should you write a book proposal?

Many authors wait until they fine-tune their book before writing the proposal. I say, they’re putting the cart before the horse. I recommend writing the book proposal before you even sit down to write the book.

I meet authors of fiction who say, “But the book is just screaming to be written—I don’t want to interrupt my creative flow.” That’s okay. Go ahead and get the story out while your emotions are all juiced up. But, before completing the final edit, sit down and write that book proposal.

Why is this so doggoned important?

A well-developed, well-organized, well-written and complete book proposal will actually help you to write the book. All you have to do is follow your chapter outline. Also, after writing a book proposal, you might decide to change the focus of your book and this can be a good thing.

A student in one of my online book proposal classes, after writing her book proposal, changed the whole focus of her book. As a result, she landed a contract with Houghton Mifflin. If she hadn’t done the work necessary to develop a book proposal, she might still be trying to pitch the book she first envisioned—which, as it turns out, was the wrong book for the wrong audience.

Do you have a book at all?

How many books are there on your topic? Is there room for another diet or fitness book, for example? If there are numbers of books on your topic, how can you make yours different so it will stand out?

What happens if you just jammed on through and wrote your book without doing a comparative study of books similar to yours? You might just end up writing another run-of-the-mill diet or fitness book and get nowhere when it’s time to pitch it or promote it because you simply don’t have an audience.

If you had studied the diet book market before writing yours, for example, you might discover that, while there are numerous books on the subject, there are few or none focusing on dieting for the diabetic or how to maintain a healthy weight. Or how about one on how to keep from gaining weight after you quit smoking? Has anyone written a book telling how to romance your pounds away?

What if you discover that there are no books on your topic? Wow, this sounds like an opportunity, right? Maybe not. Further research might show that there are no books on that topic because there is no market for this book.

Will you succeed as a published author? You have a definite advantage over Gerald. He didn’t bother to study the publishing industry or write a book proposal. He paid to have his book published and found that he couldn’t sell it. I met Gerald in St. Louis at a writers’ conference. He attended my book promotion workshop and then he came to me later with some questions. He said, “I have this book and I need help promoting it. Bookstores won’t carry it. I can’t seem to sell it at all.”

I asked him to tell me about his book and he said, “It’s scientific proof that there is no God.” Wow.

Setting my prejudices aside, I asked, “Gerald, who is your audience for this book?”

He said, “Well, everyone.”

I said, “Do you mean that you believe everyone would be interested in reading this book?”

He quickly responded, “Well, everyone should!” Yes, isn’t this how we all feel about our lovely prose?

I hope that I convinced Gerald that his audience was not the general public, but people just like him—scientists with the same philosophy, atheists, agnostics and people who were still on the fence about this issue. I told him that he would find his audience in the same places where he goes—the same lecture halls and Web sites. They read the same magazines and newsletters, belong to the same organizations.

Now, if Gerald had written a book proposal before he wrote this book, he may have realized that he was writing the wrong book for the wrong audience. He may have decided to sugar coat his message—imbed it in a fiction story, for example, or take a very different path with the material he wanted to share.

And so you can see that another important aspect of a book proposal is, it will reveal your target audience and tell you where to find them.

Build Promotion into Your Book

A book proposal will tell you how to market to this audience. But, if you write the book proposal first, you can do a lot toward building promotion into your book—making it more salable.

For Nonfiction:

Involve a lot of people in your book. Your experts and other contributors and their friends and families will certainly want to purchase copies of the book if it mentions them or someone they know by name. Quote experts, list agencies in your resource list, include a bibliography, offer recommended books at the end of each chapter. List the names of everyone who helped you with any little detail of your book. In my Ojai Valley, An Illustrated History, I list over 100 people who contributed in some way to this five-year project and most of them purchased several copies.

For Fiction:

Give your story dimensions that will compute into promotional opportunities. How? Connect a character to a popular resort, health agency or hobby, for example. Give a character diabetes. If it’s presented in a positive way, the American Diabetes Association might agree to become involved in the promotion of your book.

Maybe they’ll purchase 10,000 copies to use as a fund-raiser, recommend it in their newsletter or pay to publish the book.

Give a character a motorcycle, a horse, triplets or a brain injury. Come up with ideas, twists and turns that could, perhaps, give you more marketing options. Discuss a popular issue in your novel—autism, for example, or the new look everyone’s taking on abortion after baby Amelia’s birth and survival, an avalanche, people surviving snowstorms while mountain climbing…

Choose your setting carefully—always with promotion in mind. If you are using a real city, make sure it is one that hasn’t been over-used—a kind of happening place where the residents have a sense of community pride. Don’t you know that they’d be more apt to welcome you with open arms to promote your book in say Santa Barbara or Durango, Colorado than Coalinga or Taft, California (where little is happening) or even New York city (where everything is happening at once).

Your Platform

Your platform is your reach, your following, and your ability to attract readers. Hillary Clinton has a platform for her memoir. She has quite a large following of admirers, supporters and curiosity seekers. Britney Spears does, as well. These two women could probably successfully sell any book they write. Dr. Phil’s expertise is relationships. He has a solid platform for his books on this topic. And Rachel Ray’s platform revolves around her reputation in the kitchen.

Do you have a platform for your nonfiction book? If you are an accountant promoting a book on personal finance, your platform includes your experience and expertise in your field. If you produce a highly popular newsletter that goes out to thousands of people who are interested in budgeting and so forth, this is also part of your platform. If you haven’t developed a platform for your nonfiction or fiction book, you may want to do so before you publish it.

If your book is conducive to presentations or workshops, start presenting some NOW. This is an excellent way to start building your platform.

Whether you are a novelist or the author of nonfiction, there are three things that you can do now toward building your platform.

1: Hone your public speaking skills. Whether you will be promoting a nonfiction book or reading your novel before groups, be the best that you can be by learning and practicing good speaking habits. For speaking opportunities and constructive feedback, join a Toastmasters club near you.

2: Establish and keep adding to your mailing/emailing list. A mailing list is pure gold. Collect business cards everywhere you go. Log contact information for everyone you meet, particularly customers and those who attend your presentations and readings. Send notices to your list when your book is published, when you are scheduled to speak, etc.

3: Start NOW submitting your articles or stories to appropriate magazines, e-zines, Web sites and newsletters. Get published and you will become known—you’ll start establishing a following. Nonfiction authors will also gain credibility in their field.

Tip: Keep a running list of every magazine, ezine, newsletter and Web site that uses articles or stories in your category, subject or genre. Note contact information and submission guidelines. Place this list in a binder or create a database. Submit often.

So now you know how to guarantee relative success as a published author. It all boils down to producing a more salable book and preparing yourself to appropriately and properly promote it.

Patricia Fry is a full-time freelance writer and the author of 29 books. Her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Entrepreneur Magazine, Cat Fancy, Your Health, The Toastmaster and many others. View her collection of books at http://www.matilijapress.com. And visit her informative publishing blog often: http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog.

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How to Finally Build a Freelance Career

How to Finally Build a Freelance Career
Or Finish That Writing Project
By Patricia Fry

A new year is looming large. Are you ready to take your writing business to the next level? Will you finally complete that novel in 2009? Despite years of putting off your dream, you can succeed. You can earn a living as a freelance writer. You can experience the joy of authorship. Here are some suggestions to help you move closer to your writing goals.

1: Schedule time each day to write. Make writing a priority just like you do feeding the dog, working out and going grocery shopping. You might be surprised at how much you can accomplish in smaller pockets of time. I once wrote a 200-page book in eight months while writing for only two hours per day.

2: Do five things every day toward your writing goal.
Examples:
Write five paragraphs or five pages of your novel.
Come up with five article ideas (or send out five reprints).
Make five book promotion contacts (book reviewers, booksellers, book festivals, etc).

3: Spend time at least once a month promoting your writing business. Develop a marketing letter and send it to potential clients or introduce yourself and your expertise to new editors, for example.

Last year, when my business slowed down, I sent letters to half dozen local businessmen and women reminding them of my editorial services. I promptly landed two good assignments.

4: Get creative when it comes to your writing business, article work or book promotion.

Find new ways to work with clients: writing resumes, creating brochures or rewriting employee manuals for corporations, for example.

Expand your article base. Tweak old articles to fit very different kinds of magazines, seek out new magazines and come up with new article topics for familiar editors.

Seek book reviews. Visit bookstores personally with your book. Schedule speeches to promote your book. Send press releases to libraries.

5: Stay positive. As a writer, you are constantly setting yourself up for rejection. Your articles are rejected. Your writers group is critical of your work. You criticize your writing. It’s hard to come by positive feedback.

Here’s how I conquer this writer’s curse.

I display things in my office that make me feel accomplished and loved. My books, of course and then there are family photos, treasured gifts from friends, certificates and ribbons I’ve won and some of my best photography.

I connect often with my most positive and supportive friends and family via brief emails or a quick phone call.

I take mini-vacations almost every day. I spend an hour walking amidst stands of oaks, along a nearby river, around a lake or at the beach.

I frequently engage in something creative outside of writing. I spend time in my garden or working on a needlework project.

If you’d like to establish yourself as a freelance writer or if you’re tired of looking at that unfinished manuscript, make this your year of achievement. Incorporate these ideas into your lifestyle now and you, too, will do yourself proud.

Patricia Fry is a full-time freelance writer and the author of 29 books. Her articles have appeared in Writer’s Digest, Entrepreneur Magazine, Cat Fancy, Your Health, The Toastmaster and many others. View her collection of books at http://www.matilijapress.com. And visit her informative publishing blog often: http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog.

Need Ideas to Write About?

Need Ideas to Write About?
By Patricia Fry

I taught five workshops on article-writing one year at the San Diego State University Writers’ Conference. And I received the same questions that I get from freelance writers everywhere I go: “Where do article ideas come from?” “How do you come up with all of those article ideas?”

Novelists are sometimes stumped when it comes to ideas to incorporate into their stories—you know, those little sidebar events, activities, happenings, comments or a different perspective that can add interest to a story.

Here’s one way to find the ideas you need in order to create more interesting articles and stories:

Start by getting up off the sofa and out into the world. Well, you have my permission to sit on the sofa long enough to look through the calendar section of the newspaper. Or use your computer to locate activities and events near you. Find out what’s going on in your neighborhood, town or county, and then plan an outing for yourself and your dog, a friend or take your hubby and kids to explore some of the happenings happening around you.



So where will you go, what will you see and how could this possibly compute into article ideas or a side story for your stalled novel? Oh, my gosh, the possibilities are endless. There are quilt shows (each quilt has a story and each quilter is eager to tell it), cat shows (if you’ve never been to one, you’re in for a walk through a wonderland of fur) and motorcycle rallies (chat with some of the women riders, you might be surprised at their rather mundane or even high-power day jobs). See plays at your community theater, watch dance recitals for preschoolers, attend tee ball tournaments and talk to some of the world’s future athletic stars. Go to a popular recreation area, amusement park or zoo and just observe with pen and paper handy. If you have a writer’s heart, you will be jotting down ideas. Here are a few:

• Tips for families: play together and stay together.
• Exercise tips for promoting family togetherness.
• How to stay safe on and around the lake or ocean.
• Quick and healthy meals to take along on a family outing.
• How to prevent heat ailments in your pet this summer.
• How to choose the best family dog.
• Traveling with cats.
• Grooming tips for people who like to adventure with their pets.

Write about some of the activities and events themselves:

• What goes on at a quilt show, cat show or cooking competition?

• High dive finals make a splash in Daisyville.

• All ages enjoy glass blowing exhibit.

• Fishing derby separates the anglers from the tanglers.

• The local health fair is not for wimps.

• The Special Olympics brings out the best in everyone.

Let the activities spark some ideas:

• Teaching tee ballers a lesson in sportsmanship.

• How safe is your local amusement park?

• What inspires Special Olympians?

• A day in the life of a show cat.

• What are the fish in your area biting on?

• What percentage of people attending a health fair are diagnosed with an illness?

When you’re looking for a story, don’t miss the county fair, your city’s annual flea market, a book festival or a carnival, where there are hundreds of interesting things going on at once.

Go for the experience. Have you ever been to a marine animal park or oceanarium with a group of therapy animals (cats and dogs used in pet therapy)? What about an air show? Get an assignment beforehand and maybe you’ll land an interview with a pilot or, better yet, a ride in a stunt plane or jet.

What’s going on in your region or those areas you plan to visit this year? There are hot air balloon rides, bungie jumping, parachuting, fly fishing, white water rafting, pet parades, wine festivals, estate sales (just walking through some of these homes will awaken a flood of ideas), animal shelters, book signings and just so many other idea-rich activities and events.

One writer friend used to sit on the local pier watching people, animals, birds, inanimate objects (which sometimes become animated in the ocean breeze) and then she’d go home and incorporate what she saw and experienced into her latest short story. I remember her reading about a “cart-wheeling newspaper” at our writing group once. This idea developed one breezy day while she was sitting on the pier.

This week, shove the cat off of your lap, get out of that computer chair and go where the ideas are. Don’t miss an opportunity to have fun and to get the ideas you need for your story or articles.

Patricia Fry is the author of 25 published books, including, “The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book,” “The Author’s Repair Kit,” and her latest "Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats.”

She is also the president of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network, www.spawn.org).

Visit her publishing blog at:

http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog/
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Ms. Fry’s free guide to writing a Post-Publication Book Proposal can be requested by emailing her at:

PLFry620@yahoo.com