Bowker, Booksurge
Team Up to Deliver
Print-on-Demand Services
New Providence, N.J./6/8/02—R.R. Bowker, the leading provider of bibliographic information in North America, has partnered with Booksurge, LLC, to make available Booksurge’s on-demand book printing service to publishers of all sizes.
Booksurge digitizes and produces print-on-demand books for publishers one book at a time. This allows publishers to test demand for a new title, or to determine whether an Out-of-Print or Going Out-of-Print book still has a shelf life, before committing to a major print run. In addition, publishers are not forced to digitize a number of titles at once, which is required by most book printers but is cost-prohibitive for many publishers. Booksurge is the only printer that guarantees 48-hour turnaround on books ordered through their service and will drop-ship orders at no additional cost, according to company spokesmen.
Bowker is partnering with Booksurge by creating a convenient direct ordering option for users of Bowker’s booksinprint.com, e-booksinprint.com, globalbooksinprint.com, bookwire.com, and publishershomepages.com. This instantly gives Booksurge a sales distribution channel through the most widely used bibliographic databases in the publishing industry.
“This is a remarkable service that is made possible by the emergence of new digital technologies which enable low-volume, low-cost book printing,” said Michael Cairns, president of New Providence, N.J.-based R.R. Bowker. “By eliminating the need for publishers to carry excess inventory, Booksurge’s on-demand printing capability creates a valuable strategy for monetizing backlist, out-of-print or going-out-of-print titles. Moreover, it provides the unprecedented flexibility for publishers to test the market response to a new title without making a major financial commitment to a large print run,” Cairns said.
According to Cairns, the new offering also allows Bowker to better serve its customers in the library and bookselling communities by delivering another medium through which they can purchase hard-to-find books in a convenient, one-click fashion. “This is a unique opportunity for us to provide a service with significant benefits for both the buyers and publishers of books,” said Cairns.
“Bowker should be applauded for taking the industry’s first progressive step toward helping publishers manage a transition to on-demand book distribution,” said Mitchell Davis, vice president of marketing for Charleston, S.C.-based Booksurge. ‘This system has a revenue model that addresses the efficiencies inherent in a bookselling and distribution system with no inventory. Publishers both large and small will benefit greatly from Bowker’s market reach with this service.”
About R.R. Bowker
Founded in 1872, R.R. Bowker is North America’s leading provider of bibliographic information, and is also the official agency for assigning ISBNs in the United States. Summary statistics for U.S. Book Production is available on Bookwire, Bowker’s portal to the book trade, at www.bookwire.com. The company’s flagship product, Books In Print, is available on the Internet at www.booksinprint.com, on CD-ROM and in hardbound print format. For more information, please visit www.bowker.com or call 1-888-BOWKER2 (1-888-269-5372).
About Booksurge
BookSurge is a digital publishing, printing and bookselling operation based in Charleston, S.C. Launched in May 2000, BookSurge currently publishes over 1,500 titles through their own publishing imprints and distributes over 5,000 titles from over 250 publishers. BookSurge fulfills orders utilizing an inventory free, proprietary BAT (book-at-a-time) book printing system and software that allows for on-demand, profitable fulfillment of any size book order in two days. The system addresses the need for publishers to fulfill all sales channels and more efficiently monetize their entire list, including backlist/OSI/OP titles, with no printing or inventory costs.
Vivendi Names
New Chief Executive
at Houghton Mifflin
PARIS/6/13/02—Hans Gieskes has been named new chief executive of Houghton Mifflin, a publishing unit of Vivendi Universal Publishing. He succeeds Nader Darehshori, who is retiring.
Houghton Mifflin is the U.S. education publisher bought by Vivendi in June 2001. Gieskes previously served as chairman of the online recruitment company Monster.com.
News Corp Stocks
Lag After Purchase
of Vivendi’s Telepiu
MELBOURNE/6/9/02—News Corp shares declined on the Australian stock market in early June after the media giant confirmed plans to win a bigger slice of the Italian pay TV market. Investors have reacted to the unpopular move by selling down their shares.
A consortium headed by News Corp will purchase Telepiu, the Italian pay TV unit of French media conglomerate Vivendi Universal, for 1.5 billion euros ($A2.47 billion).
Telepiu was set to buy News Corp’s existing Italian pay TV venture Stream last year, but cash-poor Vivendi backed out after Italian regulators set new conditions for the deal.
Nielsen BookScan
Signs Warner
and Holtzbrinck
White Plains, NY/6/10/02—Nielsen BookScan, a VNU Retail Entertainment Information Group (REI) company, has announced agreements with two of America’s largest publishers: the AOL Time Warner Book Group (which includes Little, Brown & Company, Warner Books, Little, Brown Children’s Publishers, Bulfinch Press, Warner Faith, and Time Warner AudioBooks), and Holtzbrinck Publishers in U.S.A. (which includes St. Martin’s Press, Farrar Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt, Faber & Faber, Picador, Tor, Forge, and Palgrave).
These agreements represent major additions to Nielsen BookScan’s list of subscriber publishers in the U.S., which already includes Simon & Schuster, Inc., Scholastic, Inc., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Houghton Mifflin & Co., Hyperion Books, W.W. Norton & Co., Chronicle Books, Thomas Nelson, Inc and over thirty others.
“AOL Time Warner Book Group looks forward to having access to more data to enhance it’s marketing efforts and assist in other business decisions,” says Laurence J. Kirshbaum, chairman and CEO of the AOL Time Warner Book Group.
“The data from Nielsen BookScan will benefit all the U.S. trade divisions of Holtzbrinck Publishers,” says Alison Lazarus, president of sales for Holtzbrinck Publishers in U.S.A. “This data will help make the retail market more visible to us, which should enable us to plan more effective marketing, reduce returns, and sell more knowledgeably to our customers.”
“Our new agreements with the AOL Time Warner Book Group and Holtzbrinck Publishers represent a major step forward for Nielsen BookScan,” says Jim King, vice president, sales and service for Nielsen BookScan U. S.
Nielsen BookScan’s agreements with these partners offer publishers a first-of-its-kind source of aggregated POS data from the retail sales of books. Through their online sales and marketing information system, Nielsen BookScan provides publishers with a detailed analysis of sales information on specific titles by genre, geographic region, market, and other data configurations that can be customized for publishers’ individual needs. With this data, subscriber publishers have an instrumental tool for reducing book returns, making better acquisition decisions, identifying emerging marketing opportunities, and even assisting in long-range planning. By helping publishers improve marketing, retailers benefit with more effectively stocked shelves and closer relationships with publishers based on shared accurate information.
Nielsen BookScan provides publishers with data from 65% of the U.S. retail book market. Their data providers include Barnes and Noble, Inc., Barnesandnoble.com, Borders Books & Music, Ingram Book Company, Costco Wholesale, Target, Hastings Entertainment, Musicland, Fatbrain.com and a growing list of leading independent booksellers.
According to the company, Nielsen BookScan is the only comprehensive book tracking service for the publishing industry, tracking retail book sales via point-of-sale data. In addition to BookScan, VNU Retail Entertainment Information Group (REI) is home to Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen VideoScan, which have transformed the music and home video industries respectively by providing them with relevant and actionable point-of-sale information. VNU is a leading international media and information company that includes Nielsen Media Research, and A.C. Nielsen. Its core activities are marketing and media information, business information and directories.
Amazon.com Resolves
Accounting Inquiries
With Exchange Commission
SEATTLE, WA/6/10/02—The Securities and Exchange Commission has notified Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN) that it has concluded its informal inquiry of Amazon.com’s accounting treatment and disclosures for some of its strategic alliances, and that no enforcement proceeding will be recommended.
The SEC unedertook the informal inquiry in October 2000, to study Amazon’s reporting of revenue recognition, equity investments, and other accounting and disclosure matters involving Amazon.com’s commercial and stock purchase agreements with partners in the Amazon Commerce Network.
About Amazon.com:
Amazon.com, a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, Wash., opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com seeks to be the world’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online. Amazon.com and sellers list millions of unique new and used items in categories such as electronics, computers, kitchen products and housewares, books, music, DVDs, videos, camera and photo items, toys, baby and baby registry, software, computer and video games, cell phones and service, tools and hardware, travel services, magazine subscriptions and outdoor living items. Through Amazon Marketplace, zShops and Auctions, any business or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com’s millions of customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, sellers can accept credit card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments.
Amazon.com operates four international Web sites: http://www.amazon.co.uk/, http://www.amazon.de/, http://www.amazon.fr/ and http://www.amazon.co.jp/. It also operates the Internet Movie Database ( http://www.imdb.com/).
Lending Program
for Libraries Signals
Strong Demand
WAYNE, NJ/6/7/02—Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBL) has reported that more than twenty-five public library systems have joined Audible’s audiobook lending program since January 1, 2002. Audible’s program allows libraries to distribute audiobooks by downloading titles from audible.com® and circulating them to patrons on portable digital audio players, such as the Audible.com.
Audible is a leading provider of downloadable spoken audio that informs and entertains anywhere and at anytime with audio editions of books, newspapers, magazines, radio programs and original shows.
Patrons of participating public libraries enjoy immediate access to thousands of audiobooks and related titles via Audible’s Internet audio service. In a matter of minutes a librarian can purchase, download and copy an audiobook onto a portable audio player. In related news, participating libraries Kalamazoo Public Library (MI) and King County Library System (WA) have issued reports on the success of their digital audiobook lending programs. Kalamazoo Public Library’s report may be viewed at www.kpl.gov/av/audible4.pdf. King County Public is available online at www.kcls.org/eaudio/eaudiofaqs.html.
Audible offers a low-risk trial contract that makes it easy for a library to investigate Audible’s program. Librarians may become acquainted with Audible’s Internet audio service as well as download a free audiobook by logging on to www.audible.com/ala2002.
“Patron response has been enthusiastic, regional and trade media interest very high, and we continue to reign in replacement material costs and shelf space allocation. Best of all, patrons regard our libraries as willing to try new technologies that best serve their needs,” said Saul Amdursky, director, Kalamazoo Public Library.
“Audible has shown flexibility in working with libraries on a business model that works for everyone–the library, the patron, the copyright holder and Audible itself,” added Bruce Schauer, associate director, Collection Management Services, King County Library System. “We are circulating hundreds of digital audio players to patrons and still have a significant reserve list. We believe that public libraries will want Audible to provide a patron-direct access method in the near term because eAudio is proving to be such a great incremental way for us to serve our patrons.”
About Audible, Inc.
Audible® ( http://www.audible.com/®;) is the Internet’s largest, most diverse provider of premium spoken audio services for content download or playback on personal computers or AudibleReady? PC-based mobile devices. Audible has more than 34,000 hours of audio programs and 150 content partners that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers and business information providers. Audible.com is Amazon.com’s ( http://www.amazon.com/) exclusive provider of spoken word products for downloading or streaming via the Web. Additionally, the Company is strategically aligned with Random House, Inc., to pioneer the first-ever imprint to produce spoken word content specifically suited for digital distribution, Random House Audible. Among the Company’s key business partners are Card Access Inc., Casio Inc., Compaq Computer Corporation, Handspring, Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft Corporation, Royal Philips Electronics, RealNetworks, Inc., SONICblue Incorporated’s Rio Audio Group, Sony Electronics, Texas Instruments and VoiceAge Corp.
Barnes & Noble.com
Launches “Meet
the Writers”
NEW YORK/6/5/02—Barnes & Noble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN) ( http://www.bn.com/) has announced the introduction of “Meet the Writers,” a new feature on its Web site that is devoted to writers and contains biographical information, book recommendations, interviews, lists of current and forthcoming publications, and much more.
Currently, Meet the Writers includes home pages for more than 60 fiction, nonfiction and children’s authors, including many of today’s bestselling writers and some of the most popular classic authors. Isabel Allende, James Baldwin, Robert A. Caro, Jonathan Franzen, Sebastian Junger, Stephen King, Larry McMurtry, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien and Richard A. Wright are among the featured writers. The company plans to add several thousand home pages for contemporary and classic writers.
“Our customers asked for more information about their favorite authors, and Meet the Writers was developed to provide them with the most comprehensive online source of information about writers spanning all genres,” said Marie J. Toulantis, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble.com. “Authors have enthusiastically embraced our newest feature, and contributed personal information about their experiences and achievements. The addition of this unique information source to Barnes & Noble.com demonstrates our commitment to supporting writers, which Barnes & Noble stores have been doing for years through the hosting of thousands of author events annually.”
Meet the Writers will be a permanent feature on Barnes & Noble.com, and will be integrated into many other areas of the Web site to make browsing and shopping by author easier. Each writer’s home page has a variety of information for readers to learn about their favorite authors, including an author photo, a brief fact file, the author’s favorite books, a chronological listing of his or her works, interviews, essays, bibliographies, even suggestions about the best book to read first. The author pages also include links to signed, first editions of the writers’ books, and to their work found in the Barnes & Noble.com DVD & Video Store. For currently touring authors, a schedule of their appearances at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide will also be included.
“As publishers, we’re always trying to get authors out from behind their books,” said Bob Miller, President of Hyperion Books. “The Meet the Writers service is the perfect way for readers to meet new authors and to explore the previous work of authors they have just met.”
Some of the information about authors found on their home pages include:
Isabel Allende. Isabel Allende begins all of her books on January 8, which she considers lucky because it was the day she began writing a letter to her dying grandfather that later became The House of the Spirits. Jean M. Auel. Before she began her successful Earth’s Children series, Jean Auel was a professional circuit board designer, and once wrote a pamphlet called “So You Want to Design Circuit Boards.” Stephen L. Carter. Stephen Carter’s favorite books range from Plato’s The Republic and James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain to Stephen King’s Christine. Janet Evanovich. Janet Evanovich, the writer behind the blockbuster Stephanie Plum series, stuffs herself with Cheez Doodles while she writes, and says the books that most influenced her life were the “Uncle Scrooge McDuck” comics. Carson McCullers. The great Carson McCullers gave up her dream of being a concert pianist after she lost her handbag, which had her Julliard tuition money in it, on the subway.
Lisa Scottoline. Lisa Scottoline, the author of Courting Trouble and other legal thrillers, says her favorite all-time reads include Mark Helprin’s A Soldier of the Great War, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, and Philip Roth’s Portnoy’s Complaint. Maurice Sendak. Renowned children’s author and illustrator Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) got his start designing window displays for FAO Schwartz. E.B. White. The publication of E.B. White’s Stuart Little was opposed by the head of children’s books at the New York Public Library. She felt it was unfit for children.
About Barnes & Noble.com
Barnes & Noble.com is a leading online retailer of books, music, DVD/video and magazine subscriptions. Since opening its online store ( http://www.bn.com/) in March 1997, Barnes & Noble.com has attracted more than 12 million customers in 228 countries. Barnes & Noble.com’s online bookstore includes the largest in-stock selection of in-print book titles with access to 1 million titles for immediate delivery, supplemented by more than 20 million listings from its nationwide network of out-of-print, rare and used book dealers. Barnes & Noble.com offers its customers fast delivery, easy and secure ordering, and rich editorial content.
Knight Ridder
in the Market to Buy
Smaller Newspapers
NEW YORK/6/3/02—Knight Ridder Inc. the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, may be in the market to buy small daily newspapers, Chairman and Chief Executive Tony Ridder said in a speech at a Deutsche Bank Securities conference in San Jose, CA.
Ridder said that while the company has no immediate plans to make large acquisitions, it would consider buying small dailies in larger markets if presented with the right opportunity. Such a purchase might give the publisher greater control over certain geographical areas.
In larger cities, Knight Ridder owns the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the San Jose Mercury-News the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Court Rejects
Children’s Net
Protection Law
5/31/02—A three-judge federal panel in Philadelphia has rejected the Children’s Internet Protection Act, which would have required libraries receiving federal funds to install Internet filtering software to block pornographic content.
The act, which became law in 2000, would have forced libraries to install the filtering software by this July. The American Library Association and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit to overturn the law last year. The Justice Department reportedly is studying the opinion, but an appeal is almost assured. The Act went into effect under “fast track” provisions that automatically send any appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Philadelphia judges were told in earlier testimony that currently no software exists that can block hardcore pornography without blocking sites offering legitimate medical or social content. Thus, the judges ruled that filtering software may block access to Web sites that contain protected speech.
In a 195-page decision, the judges wrote that “any library that adheres to CIPA’s conditions will necessarily restrict patrons’s access to a substantial amount of protected speech in violation of the First Amendment.”
In 1996, the Supreme Court ruled the Communications Decency Act was unconstitutional. In 1998 the Court partially upheld the Child Online Protection Act, but said that serious First Amendment questions remained, so the act was barred from enforcement, and the case was remanded to the district court.
GENERAL NEWS Audio Book Club
Posts Record Member
Acquisition Growth
CEDAR KNOLLS, NJ/6/3/02— MediaBay, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBAY), a leading spoken audio content, marketing and publishing company, has announced that its Audio Book Club subsidiary has acquired 58% more members in the five month period ending May 31, 2002, as compared to the five month period ended May 31, 2001. The Company’s previous guidance had indicated that the Company was expecting an increase in new member acquisitions of 30% in 2002 as compared to 2001. The Company also announced that the average cost to acquire a new member dropped 11% compared to the average cost to acquire a new member for the same period in 2001.
The Company has acquired 150,515 members during the five months ended May 31, 2002, as compared to 95,104 during the same period in 2001. The average cost to acquire a new member dropped to $22.11 as compared to $24.82 during the five months ended May 31, 2001. The Company is on pace to acquire at least 295,000 new members in 2002 as compared to the 210,250 members it acquired in 2001.
Michael Herrick, CEO of MediaBay, commented, “We are obviously very pleased with our new member recruitment efforts so far in 2002. Both our direct mail campaigns and our Internet recruitment activities are exceeding our expectations. Just as important as the number of new members and the cost of acquisition, is the quality of our member file. The members we are acquiring today are spending more, paying better and returning less than ever before in our history. While much of our success in recruitment will lead to increased sales and better performance in 2002, we can also expect better results in 2003 and beyond as a result of these stellar acquisition activities.”
About MediaBay, Inc.
MediaBay, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBAY) is the leading spoken audio content, marketing and publishing company, whose industry-leading businesses include direct response and interactive marketing, retail product distribution, media publishing and broadcasting. MediaBay’s content libraries include over 60,000 classic radio programs, 3,500 film and television programs and thousands of audiobooks, much of which is proprietary. MediaBay distributes its products to its own customer database of approximately 2.8 million names and 2.2 million e-mail addresses, in over 7,000 retail outlets and on the Internet through streaming and downloadable audio. MediaBay is comprised of four subsidiaries — Audio Book Club, the leading club for audiobooks, Radio Spirits, the leading seller of classic radio programs, MediaBay.com, the Company’s digital audio download service and RadioClassics, the leading distributor of classic radio content across multiple broadcast platforms including satellite and traditional radio. For more information on MediaBay’s brands, products and financial information, please visit http://www.mediabay.com/
Lee Enterprises
to Acquire
Sioux City Journal
DAVENPORT,IA/6/6/02—Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE:LEE), will purchase the remaining 50 percent interest in the Sioux City Journal in Sioux City, Iowa, from the operating partner, a subsidiary of The Hagadone Corporation.
The transaction, which is expected to be completed within 30 days, is valued at $60.3 million. Lee has agreed to pay $59.3 million in cash and give Hagadone ownership of a group of weekly publications in northwestern Montana.
The Sioux City Journal has 165 employees and daily circulation of 42,800. Lee acquired its current 50 percent interest through the purchase of Howard Publications in April.
Mary Junck, Lee’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the Sioux City acquisition follows Lee’s core strategy of focusing on daily newspapers in midsize markets. We’re fortunate that Hagadone, in deciding to sell, has given us the opportunity to operate another outstanding community newspaper serving a healthy, local market, she said. We look forward to applying the same revenue and readership initiatives that have worked well for the rest of our 45 daily newspapers. We also look forward to working with the talented people on the Sioux City Journal staff.
She said revenue and readership initiatives will include aggressive advertising sales, circulation growth and expansion of online services.
Junck said the acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2002. The transaction values the Sioux City Journal at about 11.5 times anticipated annual incremental EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for calendar year 2002. Junck said Lee will recognize a loss of approximately $5.2 million on the disposition of the weekly publications.
Duane B. Hagadone, president of The Hagadone Corporation, said the decision to sell was difficult but timely. We’ve been exceptionally proud of the Sioux City Journal and its people, and we’ve enjoyed making a meaningful contribution to the community, he said. At the same time, we can think of no better successor than Lee Enterprises, so we know we’re leaving the newspaper in the best hands possible. It’s an exciting, growing newspaper company with a great future.
He said addition of Lee’s weeklies in the Flathead Lake region of northwest Montana will complement Hagadone’s newspaper in Kalispell, the Daily Inter Lake.
Those weekly publications include six newspapers – the Hungry Horse News in Columbia Falls (6,500 circulation), Lake County Leader (5,600) in Polson, Whitefish Pilot (4,000), Bigfork Eagle (1,600), Clark Fork Valley Press (1,500) in Plains, and the Mineral County Independent (1,100) in St. Regis. The group also includes a shopper in Polson and a non-paid weekly newspaper in Lakeside.
With the addition of these publications, Duane Hagadone said, we’ll be able to extend our reach in the region, provide more advertising options for our customers and create growth opportunities for our new employees. It’s a win-win for everyone.
The Hagadone Corporation is based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and operates daily newspapers in Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Washington and Wisconsin. More information about its publications and other businesses is available at http://www.hagadone.com/.
Lee Enterprises is based in Davenport, Iowa. Lee’s purchase of Howard Publications in April included 15 daily newspapers, as well as Howard’s 50 percent interest in the Sioux City Journal. Lee currently owns 38 daily newspapers and a joint interest in seven others. Lee also owns nearly 200 weekly newspapers, shoppers and classified and specialty publications, along with associated online services. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEE. More information about Lee Enterprises is available at http://www.lee.net/.
NYTimes.com
Introduces
“Site Sessions”
NEW YORK/6/3/02—New York Times Digital, the digital business unit of The New York Times Company, is launching New York Times Site Sessions, an online advertising model that provides a single advertiser with exclusive placement across all major ad positions on the Web site, for a specific period of time.
Site Sessions launched on NYTimes.com June 3, showcasing American Airlines from 9 to 10 A.M. each day through Wednesday, June 5th.
This ad model signifies a new way of buying online media that is comparable to the “daypart” model of broadcast and radio advertising. The ability to purchase specific, desirable times during the workday allows advertisers to reach their target audiences online when they may be making purchase decisions.
According to a recent study undertaken by the Online Publishing Association and Millward Brown IntelliQuest, the Internet dominates daytime media use in the same way that television dominates evenings, and daytime is “prime time” on the Internet. By advertising on NYTimes.com during peak at-work hours, advertisers can leverage this shift in media consumption to reach hundreds of thousands of high-quality users.
“We were very pleased with the results from our Surround Sessions campaign, and are excited about being the first advertiser to adopt Site Sessions,” said James Hering, director of interactive marketing for Temerlin McClain. “The ability to reach the high-quality audience of NYTimes.com as they begin their workday by checking the top news is an excellent opportunity for American Airlines.”
“More than the last year, innovations in online advertising have helped establish the effectiveness of the medium,” said Martin Nisenholtz, CEO of New York Times Digital. “Surround Sessions moved the industry from impression to session, and made frequency, duration and reach possible online. Dayparts, through Site Sessions, are the logical next step.”
Site Sessions are an extension of Surround Sessions, a concept pioneered by New York Times Digital in late 2001, that allows a single advertiser to control every major ad position and maintain total share of voice across successive Web pages.
More than 15 top-tier advertisers from the automotive, travel, financial services, technology and entertainment industries have run Surround Sessions on NYTimes.com and Boston.com.
About New York Times Digital
New York Times Digital is the digital business unit of The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT) and includes market leaders NYTimes.com and Boston.com, and an archive distribution business. NYTD’s mission is to provide a high-quality, worldwide online audience with trusted editorial content from The New York Times and The Boston Globe.
Fund to Receive
$300,000 Donation
From World Journal
MINNEAPOLIS & WHITESTONE, NY/6/4/02—Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America(SM) (CSFA) will receive a $300,000 donation from World Journal, the largest Chinese-language newspaper in North America. The donation to benefit the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund(TM) will be presented by World Journal President Howard Lee to CSFA President William C. Nelsen at World Journal’s headquarters in Whitestone, NY.
Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, World Journal established the World Journal 9/11 Fund with an initial donation of $100,000 from affiliates in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In total, nearly $800,000 in donations flooded in as donors, including many new immigrants, expressed their support for our nation in its time of crisis and the desire to give back to America for welcoming them and providing them the chance to lead better lives.
“It has always been our purpose to serve the community,” said World Journal President Howard Lee. “We are proud to be the channel through which the Chinese-American community can support such a worthy cause. It is our intention that educational assistance to families of victims will help them over the long-term.”
CSFA President Nelsen said: “We are extremely grateful to all the employees and readers of World Journal for their generosity. We pledge that 100 percent of all contributions to the Fund will go directly to aid students, and years from now, these children will know that someone cared enough to help them realize their dreams.”
The Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund was created by CSFA and the Lumina Foundation for Education to provide educational assistance for postsecondary study to financially needy dependents of those killed or permanently disabled as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The Fund will benefit dependents of victims including airplane crew and passengers, World Trade Center and Pentagon workers and visitors, and relief workers including firefighters, emergency medical personnel and law enforcement personnel. Family members wishing to obtain further information can register or apply at http://www.scholarships911.org/ or call toll-free 1-877-862-0136.
Founded in 1976, World Journal is one of the largest daily newspapers in the United States. The World Journal is published in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Toronto and Vancouver and widely distributed wherever there are Chinese-Americans.
World Journal is a member of the United Daily News Group, one of the leading global media conglomerates. The United Daily News Group’s operations include several daily newspapers in Asia, North America and Europe, an economic news service, a book publishing and distribution company and a leading Chinese news website.
About CSFA(SM) and the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund(TM)
CSFA is the nation’s largest private sector scholarship and educational support organization. It carries out its mission of expanding access to educational opportunities and encouraging academic achievement through its Dollars for Scholars(R), Scholarship Management Services(TM), and ScholarShop(R) programs. Headquartered in Minneapolis and St. Peter, MN, CSFA has distributed over $776.2 million to more than 748,000 students through it scholarship and other support programs since its founding in 1958. For the fifth year in a row, SmartMoney, the Wall Street Journal’s magazine of personal finance, has ranked CSFA as one of the 17 most efficient nonprofits in the country. Worth Magazine has also named CSFA as one of America’s 100 best charities for 2001/2002. WIN partnership with Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education, CSFA founded the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund(TM), which was created to provide educational assistance for postsecondary study to the financially needy dependents of the September 11th terrorist attack victims. For more information, visit http://www.csfa.org/, http://www.familiesoffreedom.org/ or http://www.scholarships911.org/.
BOOKSELLING Palm Digital Media
Releases List of May’s
Top 10 Best-Selling eBooks
SANTA CLARA, CA/6/3/02—Palm Digital Media, the leading publisher and distributor of eBooks for handheld computers, today released its list of May’s top 10 best-selling eBooks.
Palm Digital Media is a business unit of PalmSource, Inc., the Palm OS® subsidiary of Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) and maker of the most successful operating system for handheld computers and smart phones. Palm Digital Media eBooks are available for reading with Palm Reader™, the leading eBook reader application. Palm Reader runs on Palm Powered™ handhelds using Palm OS 3.0 and higher, as well as on Pocket PC handhelds.
Palm Digital Media offers a fast-growing list of more than 5,000 titles from most major U.S. publishing houses. The eBooks are available for purchase and download 24 hours a day at http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/. Most Palm Reader eBooks take less than two minutes to download and require only a few hundred kilobytes of available memory on the reader’s handheld computer.
Palm Digital Media Top 10 Best-selling Fiction Books
May 2002
“Antares Dawn” by Michael McCollum, Jabberwocky Literary “Robert Ludlum’s The Hades Factor” by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds, St. Martin’s Press “Spider-Man” by Peter David, Ballantine Books “Shanghai Baby” by Wei Hui, Pocket Books “Murder Is Easy” by Agatha Christie, RosettaBooks “Everything’s Eventual” by Stephen King, Scribner “The Sins of the Fathers” by Lawrence Block, HarperCollins PerfectBound “Digital Fortress” by Dan Brown, St. Martin’s Press “Three Days of the Condor” by James Grady, RosettaBooks “Star Trek, The Next Generation: Stargazer: Gauntlet” by Michael Jan Friedman, Pocket Books
Palm Digital Media Top 10 Best-selling Non-fiction Books
May 2002
“God’s Debris” by Scott Adams, Scott Adams, Inc. “The Procrastinator’s Handbook” by Rita Emmett, Walker & Co. The Holy Bible, New International Version from Zondervan Publishing “The Agile Manager’s Guide to Getting Organized” by Jeff Olsen, Velocity Business Publishing Webster’s New World College Dictionary from Hungry Minds “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey, FranklinCovey, Inc. Webster’s New World Compact School and Office Dictionary from Hungry Minds Random House Roget’s Thesaurus from Random House Reference “What Would Machiavelli Do?/Throwing the Elephant” by Stanley Bing, HarperCollins PerfectBound “The Multi-Orgasmic Couple” by Chia and Abrams, HarperCollins PerfectBound
More information about Palm Digital Media is available at http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/.
About PalmSource, Inc. and Palm, Inc.
Information about PalmSource, Inc., the Palm OS® subsidiary of Palm, Inc., is available at http://www.palmsource.com/ . Information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com/aboutpalm .
Barnes & Noble Signs
Lease for Las Cruces,
New Mexico Store
NEW YORK, NY/6/6/02—Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, announced it has signed a lease agreement to open a new Barnes & Noble bookstore in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The 26,000 square-foot store, expected to open in May 2003, will be located at the Mesilla Valley Mall at 700 South Telshor Boulevard. The store will stock close to 200,000 book, music, DVD and magazine titles and include a cafe serving Starbucks coffee.
“We are delighted to bring Barnes & Noble to Las Cruces,” said Mitchell Klipper, chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “We will offer readers young and old unparalleled selection, service, and convenience. We will also strive to make the store an integral part of the community by hosting an ongoing series of author signings, book discussion groups, and children’s events.”
Barnes & Noble’s bookselling innovations include:
The Readers Advantage membership program. Designed for Barnes & Noble’s best customers, this program gives members an additional 10 percent off everything they buy. The annual fee is $25. Rapid special-order service. Special orders have been commonplace in bookselling, but Barnes & Noble’s new service takes it to new heights in terms of selection and speed of delivery. It’s booksellers are able to instantly access the real-time inventory of every title in the company’s distribution network, enabling its booksellers to order and confirm the availability of virtually any book in print at the click of a button. With more than one million titles available, Barnes & Noble stocks more books than any competing retail or online bookseller, and substantially more titles than even the largest book wholesalers. Large-scale children’s departments that are bigger than most typical bookstores. Stocking over 15,000 titles in an easy-to-browse environment, Barnes & Noble Junior departments are designed to appeal to children, parents, teachers and librarians. Children’s story hours will be held twice a week. Every CD listening stations. The store’s music department features the most advanced listening technology, enabling customers to listen to any CD in the store by simply passing it under a scanner. Connected to the company’s online electronic music catalog, the store’s listening stations make “browsing with your ears” a reality.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is the world’s largest bookseller, operating 599 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 49 states. It also operates 298 B. Dalton Bookseller stores, primarily in regional shopping malls. The company offers titles from more than 50,000 publisher imprints, including thousands of small, independent publishers and university presses. It conducts its e-commerce business through Barnes &Noble.comm ( http://www.bn.com/ ) in which it owns a 36% interest.
Barnes & Noble also has approximately a 60% interest in GameStop (NYSE: GME), the nation’s largest video-game and entertainment-software specialty retailer with 1,068 stores.
General financial information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate Web site: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/financials
Lease Execution
to Open a New Borders
Books and Music
ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA/6/3/02—Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ), a diversified real estate investment trust, and Borders Group, Inc., a global retailer of books, music, and videos, jointly announced Borders’ lease execution for the summer 2002 opening of a new 15,000 square-foot superstore at The Avenue(R) of the Peninsula. Cousins developed, owns and manages the open-air, specialty retail center in Los Angeles’ South Bay. Joel Murphy, President of Cousins’ Retail Division and Alex Lelli, Vice President of Real Estate Development for Borders, jointly announced the lease execution.
The new Borders superstore will be located on the second level of The Avenue of the Peninsula, next to Saks Fifth Avenue and adjacent to Pottery Barn and Regal Cinemas’ Avenue 13, and will feature books, music, periodicals, video/DVD titles and a cafe.
“We are extremely pleased to have this prestigious national retailer join The Avenue of the Peninsula,” said Joel Murphy. “The combination of Borders and our other highly popular merchants, such as the recently opened Marmalade Cafe and Bright Child, will continue to establish The Avenue as the preferred shopping, dining and entertainment destination in the South Bay.”
Alex Lelli added, “We look forward to the summer opening of a new Borders superstore at The Avenue of the Peninsula, one of Southern California’s premier lifestyle centers, so that we can serve the many shoppers in the South Bay community who have expressed their wish to have a quality book and music store at this location. The center provides the ideal atmosphere for a Borders brand extension, and we are pleased to partner with another outstanding Cousins’ Avenue project.”
Anchored by Saks Fifth Avenue and a state-of-the-art Regal Cinemas Theater, The Avenue of the Peninsula is a three-level, 371,000 square-foot pedestrian-friendly, open-air specialty center that features a blend of popular national retailers, select local merchants and specialty restaurants, as well as an Ice Chalet. The Avenue of the Peninsula, on Silver Spur Road in Rolling Hills Estates, is accessible from the Crenshaw or Hawthorne Boulevard exits off of the 405 freeway, or from the Pacific Coast Highway exit off of the Harbor 110 freeway.
For more information about The Avenue of the Peninsula, or about the center’s upcoming Borders superstore opening, interested persons are invited to call The Avenue of the Peninsula’s customer service number at (310) 541-0688. The Avenue of the Peninsula is open from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays (select retail, theatre and dining establishment hours vary).
Cousins Properties Incorporated, headquartered in Atlanta, has extensive experience in the real estate industry including the development, acquisition, financing, management and leasing of properties. The property types that Cousins actively invests in include office, retail, medical office and land development projects. The Company’s portfolio consists of interests in 13.3 million square feet of office space, 3.1 million square feet of retail space and .9 million square feet of medical office space, and more than 300 acres of strategically located land for future commercial development. Cousins is a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust (REIT) that has been public since 1962 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CUZ.” For more information on the Company, please visit Cousins’ web site at http://www.cousinsproperties.com/.
Borders Group, Inc., (NYSE: BGP) is a leading global retailer of books, music, video and other information and entertainment items with stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A FORTUNE 500 company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders Group employs 30,000 employees worldwide and operates over 360 Borders domestic superstores, 22 international Borders stores, 36 Books etc. locations and approximately 850 Waldenbooks stores. Teamed with Amazon.com, the company also offers online shopping through http://www.borders.com/.
More detailed information for journalists is available at http://www.bgimediacenter.com/. Financial data is hosted on http://www.bordersgroupinc.com/ and information on Borders stores is available through http://www.bordersstores.com/.
LIBRARIES ebrary Upgrades
Services
for Libraries
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA/6/10/02—ebrary™ ( http://www.ebrary.com/), a leading provider of information distribution and retrieval technology, today announced significant enhancements to its ebrarian™ for Libraries service. Among other developments, the company has increased its online collection of authoritative books and other valuable documents by 50%, has signed new content partnerships with Library of Congress, Bancroft Library, Marriott Library, Getty Images, Octavo and Maps.com, and now offers an all-encompassing pricing model.
ebrarian for Libraries is an affordable web-based service that enables librarians to provide their patrons with unlimited, multi-user access to a growing collection of more than 7,500 high-value books and other documents from more than 115 world-class publishers and academic presses in addition to advanced research capabilities. ebrarian for Libraries integrates with libraries’ existing catalog systems (OPAC) and other digital resources, and ebrary provides MARC records for documents within its repository.
“ebrary is committed to providing libraries with a comprehensive technology solution that meets their individual needs,” said Christopher Warnock, CEO of ebrary. “At the same time, we are dedicated to providing our publishing partners with a secure and efficient way to distribute their valuable content to new online markets in a copyright-protected environment, while providing patrons, students, scholars and Internet users worldwide with access to authoritative information on the Internet.”
In a separate press release issued today, ebrary announced the availability of its technology platform, which enables libraries to publish and distribute their own reserves and special collections online. ebrary’s platform integrates with the ebrarian for Libraries service. The press release is available at http://www.ebrary.com/.
ebrary Increase Its Online Collection by 50%
ebrary continues to expand its online collection of authoritative books and other high-value documents in key subject areas, and libraries receive regular content updates at no additional cost. Over the past several months, the company has added over 2,500 new titles. Overall, more than 40% of ebrary’s titles were published within the past two years.
ebrary’s growing collection is particularly strong in business & economics, with more than 40% of titles in this category published in 2001 and 2002. The depth of ebrary’s collection of approximately 2,000 business & economics titles is led by world-renowned publishers including The McGraw-Hill Companies, John Wiley & Sons, Taylor & Francis, World Bank, Greenwood and Random House.
Additionally, ebrary is focused on delivering quality online collections in computers & technology, including certification & training publications. The company’s expanding collection in this subject area features titles from leading publishers such as Pearson Technology Group, Redmond Press, Coriolis and many others. The majority of ebrary’s computers & technology titles were published within the past two years. For more information about ebrary’s collections visit http://www.ebrary.com/libraries/collections.jsp
ebrary Announces New Content Partnerships
The Library of Congress, The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library, Getty Images, Octavo and Maps.com are distributing their publications, digitized archival works, images and maps to libraries and other online channels. Not only will these content partnerships benefit libraries and researchers worldwide, they offer new distribution and revenue opportunities to the participating publishers.
“The Marriott Library welcomes this opportunity to broaden access to its publications and digitized holdings,” said Margaret Landesman, Collection Development Librarian at the Marriott Library. “And the revenue secured from distribution through ebrary will support further digitization efforts.”
“The Library of Congress has always sought innovative means of providing additional access to the books we publish about our collections,” said Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for Library Services at the Library of Congress. “Our partnership with ebrary will further extend the Library’s reach.”
The Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and preserves a collection of nearly 121 million items, nearly one-third of which are books. In addition to collection guides and other reference publications, the Library of Congress is making The Country Studies series, a collection of more than 100 book-length studies of nations in lesser known areas of the world published by its Federal Research Division, available through ebrary. For more information about The Library of Congress visit http://www.loc.gov/.
The Bancroft Library at the University of California
The Bancroft Library is one of the largest and most heavily used libraries of manuscripts, rare books, and unique materials in the United States. Among other items, Bancroft is providing ebrary selections from The Mark Twain Papers, which contain the private papers of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) that he himself segregated and made available to his official biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine. For more information about The Bancroft Library visit http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library
Among the many strengths of this ARL library, Marriott Library’s Special Collections document the history of Utah, the Mormons, and the West. A valuable series of biographical works on individuals in western American history, often consulted by researchers studying the westward migration, will be made available through ebrary. For more information on the Marriott Library visit http://www.lib.utah.edu/
Getty Images
Getty Images, the world’s leading imagery company, is partnering with ebrary to provide libraries a licensable collection of digitized images drawn from its content assets of over 40 million images. Nearly 1.5 million digitized images, along with a daily feed of new images, will be provided to licensing institutions from Hulton Archive (historical images) and Getty Images News and Sports Services.
Octavo
Octavo, the pioneer in high-quality imaging of rare books, is providing ebrary a number of valuable works including Hooke’s “Micrographia,” which is the first study of microscopy; Franklin’s “Experiments,” including his kite experiment; and Copernicus’ “DeRevolutionibus.” Octavo has also partnered with ebrary to offer libraries an end-to-end solution for digitizing, preserving and distributing their own special collections. For more information visit http://www.octavo.com/.
Maps.com
Established in 1991, Maps.com is a leading supplier of maps and other geographic content to business and education markets. Under terms of the partnership with ebrary, Maps.com is making local, national and international maps available as part of the ebrarian for libraries service and in other distribution channels. For more information about Maps.com visit http://www.maps.com/.
New Pricing Model Offers “All-You-Can-Eat”
ebrary charges an annual license fee for its service based on FTE/population served and library type. In addition, the company now offers two payment models for print/copy transactions: 1) Libraries can choose ebrary’s all-encompassing pricing model, where they pay a flat rate based on FTE and provide patrons with unlimited print/copy transactions or 2) as an alternative, libraries can choose to have patrons set up their own accounts with ebrary and pay for their own print/copy transactions. The average cost per transaction is $.15 to $.50 per page.
Additionally, ebrary will soon be selling individual e-books using technology from Adobe. Details will be announced at a later date.
About ebrary
ebrary is a leading provider of information distribution and retrieval technology. The company has developed a unique, scalable platform that enables organizations to securely and cost-effectively distribute high-value documents over networks. Based on PDF — the printing and publishing industry standard — ebrary’s technology enables documents to be both downloaded and streamed, which greatly reduces download times and bandwidth costs. Additionally, it protects intellectual property and brand integrity, enables word-level interaction and advanced search within and across PDF documents. ebrary’s technology is customizable and integrates with existing databases and website content. More than 115 of the world’s leading publishers use ebrary’s platform to securely distribute books and other high-value documents to online markets. ebrary is privately held and is funded by Random House Ventures LLC, Pearson plc and The McGraw-Hill Companies. For more information visit http://www.ebrary.com/.
About ebrarian
ebrary’s customizable ebrarian service for libraries and other institutions combines technology with copyright-protected books, periodicals, reports, images, maps, and other online documents provided by more than 115 of the world’s leading publishers. The ebrarian solution enables libraries, institutions and other organizations to give their users access to authoritative materials and customizable research tools that allow them to automatically access additional materials, biographical information, maps, translations, definitions and more when words or phrases are selected. ebrarian integrates with existing catalog systems and digital resources. ebrary’s publishing partners benefit from new sales and marketing opportunities on the Internet. For more information visit http://www.ebrary.com/.
WEB NEWS Online Publishers
Association Releases
New White Paper
NEW YORK, NY/6/4/02—The Online Publishers Association (OPA) has released a new White Paper entitled Internet Metrics: The Loyal Audience, the first in a series of OPA White Papers intended to provide marketers with a better understanding of audience measurement and the role of various metrics in evaluating a site’s advertising potential.
“Despite a growing body of research proving the efficacy of the online medium for marketers, the metrics to support buying decisions are still not firmly in place,” said Michael Zimbalist, executive director of the Online Publishers Association. “The purpose of this White Paper is to help advertisers make better use of existing audience measurement data to help guide planning and buying decisions.”
The paper begins by exploring Total Reach (“unique visitors per month”), the dominant comparison metric to date, and explains why, despite its widespread adoption, it is not the most useful measure of a site’s advertising value. Using custom analysis of data from Media Metrix and comScore, the paper goes on to show how alternative statistics calculated from existing audience measurement data can offer a more appropriate understanding of the relative strengths of competing media packages.
Based on this analysis, the paper concludes that online media with loyal audiences provide rich advertising opportunities by both delivering reach and driving exposure frequency among desirable demographic targets. Since advertisers typically buy only a portion of a site’s available inventory and the majority of a site’s inventory is generated by Loyal Users, it is important to take frequency of site visits and demographics of Loyal Users into consideration when evaluating a site’s advertising opportunity.
The paper was authored by Steve Coffey, an industry research veteran who co-founded Media Metrix in 1995 and was responsible for the first ratings release. Mr. Coffey is currently serving as a research consultant to OPA on its 2002 research initiatives.
Internet Metrics: The Loyal Audience is currently available at http://www.online-publishers.org/. The next OPA White Paper, The Value of Media Audience Loyalty for Brand Advertisers, will be published later this month.
About the Online Publishers Association
Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the highest standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 61.5 million visitors, or 55.2% of the total Web audience. (Source: Jupiter Media Metrix, March 2002). For more information about the Online Publishers Association, visit http://www.online-publishers.org/.
AWARDS Ann Patchett
Wins UK’s
Orange Prize
London, England/6/13/02—Ann Patchett, American author of Bel Canto, was named winner of the 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction in a ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House. The prize, sponsored by a group of writers and publishing professionals in the United Kingdom, celebrates excellence among women writers and selects only females as winners. .
Patchett’s book is about Latin terrorists who storm an international gathering hosted by an underprivileged country to promote foreign interest, only to find their intended target, the President, has stayed home to watch his favourite soap opera. The takeover brings together an unlikely assortment of hostages, among them Roxanne Coss, an American Opera diva; Mr Hosokawa, a Japanese CEO and her biggest fan; and his translator. Gen. Forced to reach out across the chasms of language, politics and culture, the hostages and their captors must change their established beliefs – if they are to survive.
Ann Patchett was born in Los Angeles in 1963. She is the author of The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft and The Magician’s Assistant (shortlisted for the Orange Prize), and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Nashville Banner Tennessee Writer of the Year Award in 1994. She has also written for numerous publications including, the New York Times Sunday Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, Vogue, GQ, Elle, and Gourmet. Ann Patchett lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
FILM/TV Media Industry
Surpasses $1
Trillion Spending
LOS ANGELES,CA/6/4/02—Global entertainment and media (E&M) industry spending, despite dot-com failure and a weak economy, kept growing in 2001 and exceeded the mark of 1 trillion U.S. dollars, according to a report released on Tuesday by a leading U.S. professional services organization.
Forecasting continued growth, PricewaterhouseCoopers anticipates that global E&M spending will reach 1.4 trillion dollars in 2006, for a 5.2 percent compound annual growth rate over the next five years. In fact, faster growth will resume in 2004 through 2006.
Digital distribution, piracy and rebounding global advertising market will be the main factors impacting the industry’s growth over the next five years, according the report.
Digital distribution of content, aided by rising broadband penetration, will be the greatest driver of new entertainment and media spending between 2005 and 2006. For example, broadband connections in the U.S. , driven by music and video-on-demand content that require high-speed connectivity, will surge from 9.4 million households in 2001 to 35.3 million in 2006 — nearly equaling the narrowband sector at 38.2 million households.
But piracy and unauthorized use of copyrighted material will continue to limit growth, especially in recorded music, the report said.
The report forecasts a gradual rebound with the advertising market, gaining strength in 2003 and turning out strong single digit growth from 2004 to 2006. Global advertising spending is predicted to reach 405 billion dollars in 2006, compared to 321 billion dollars in 2001.
The whole industry is divided into several segments in the report, including educational and professional books and training, filmed entertainment, broadcast and cable television networks, TV distribution (station, cable and satellite), recorded music, Internet advertising and access spending, magazine, newspaper and consumer book publishing, radio and out-of-home advertising, sports, theme and amusement parks, and business information.
“Harry Potter” Video
Charts Highest-Ever
Rental Debut
SANTA ANA, CA/6/4/02—Sales numbers haven’t yet been reported, but exclusive Video Store Magazine market research indicates “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” generated more money its first five days in rental stores than any other video in history.
Warner Home Video’s top-grossing fantasy film generated an estimated $19.1 million in combined DVD and VHS consumer rental spending, Video Store Magazine market research shows.
The previous out-of-the-gate champ, “The Fast and the Furious,” was released in January 2002 and generated $18.65 million its first five days in video rental stores.
Warner has not yet released official sales numbers, but the unprecedented rental demand indicates exceptionally high consumer interest in the film, which opened theatrically in November 2001 and grossed $317.6 million.
“The astounding success of this title at rental is testimony to its broad demographic appeal to audiences of all ages,” said Judith McCourt, Video Store Magazine’s director of market research. “It crosses traditional boundaries.”
For the week ending June 2, “Potter” earned 53.5 percent more money in rental stores than its nearest competitor, Paramount Home Entertainment’s “Vanilla Sky” ($12.46 million).
Consumers spent a total of $145.5 million at the rental counter for the week ending June 2. So far this year consumers have spent $3.87 billion, compared with $3.84 billion spent at this time last year.
Video Store Magazine is a home entertainment newsweekly published by Advanstar Communications and is part of Advanstar’s Entertainment Group, which includes Home Entertainment Events and Hive4media.com.
PEOPLE Yuen Opens Own Agency
6/10/02—New York agent Sue Yuen, who has been with the Susan Herner Rights Agency for 12 years, has left to open her own agency, inko, Inc. Literary Agency in Brooklyn. Sue specializes in commercial adult fiction.
Harry Abrams Names Senior Editor
6/1/02—Christopher Sweet has been named senior editor of Harry Abrams. He comes to his new post from Viking Studio where he served as editor-in-chief.
Random House Taps New Senior Acqusitions Editor
6/1/02—Amy Metsch, formerly a business devlopment manager for Questia Media, has been named senior acquisitions editor for Random House Audio, Random House Audible, and Random House Large Print. FINANCIALS Books-A-Million, Inc.
Announces Engagement
of Deloitte & Touche LLP
BIRMINGHAM, AL/6/3/02—Books-A-Million, Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:BAMM) has engaged Deloitte & Touche LLP to serve as its independent accountants for fiscal 2003, effective immediately. The selection of Deloitte & Touche LLP has been approved by the Board of Directors. The Company previously announced the dismissal of Arthur Andersen LLP as its independent public accountants.
Books-A-Million is one of the nation’s leading book retailers and sells on the Internet at http://www.booksamillion.com/. The Company presently operates 204 stores in 18 states and the District of Columbia. The Company operates four distinct store formats, including large superstores operating under the names Books-A-Million and Books & Co., traditional bookstores and combination book and greeting card stores, both operating under the name Bookland, and Joe Muggs Newsstands. The Company’s wholesale operations include American Wholesale Book Company and Book$mart, both based in Florence, Alabama. NetCentral, Inc., an Internet development and service Company is located in Nashville, Tennessee.
Book/Movie Deals Scribner to Publish
Toni Morrison
and Slade Morrison
NEW YORK, NY/6/6/02—Toni Morrison, the 1993 Nobel Laureate in Literature and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, and her son, Slade Morrison, will publish with Scribner, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, a series of illustrated books inspired by select Aesop’s fables. The books will be illustrated by the Belgian artist Pascal Lemaitre. The agreement was announced today by Carolyn K. Reidy, President of the Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.
Initial plans call for six books. The series title is Who’s Got Game? The first book The Ant or the Grasshopper? is scheduled for publication in the Spring of 2003 under the Scribner imprint.
“I’ve always had a twinge of envy for novelists who write for all ages,” said Ms. Morrison. “It was when my son, Slade, provided the Aesop slant, that I became fascinated by the idea. We peeped between the lines of these beloved (but often depressing) Aesop tales with their ‘dead end’ morals. In each retelling, the point is to give fresh meaning to the tales, to suggest that everything isn’t a done deal: the victim can strike back; the fool can become smart; the frightened can become courageous; the weak can get strong.”
Slade Morrison’s vision is painterly: “I see the stories not just in shapes, line and color, but also in elements of tension that point to questions, uncertainty. What is going on in these fables is the beginning of something, not the end; not the moral,” he said.
The Morrisons fell in love with the work of Pascal Lemaitre, and the illustrations he has created in response to their words are spectacularly vivid and imaginative. “It’s an honor and a challenge to work for such writers as Toni and Slade Morrison,” said Lemaitre. “I tried to serve the text by leaving the questions open. My solution to the dramatic and theatrical content of the text was to create comic strips that give a new contemporariness to Aesop’s fables. My wife, Emmanuele Phuon, helped me select the colors that differentiate the climates of the stories.”
Carolyn Reidy said, “Toni Morrison has been an inspiration to me for twenty-five years, since the year I entered the publishing industry and sat in the hall outside the office in which she worked as an editor. That’s when I first realized how valuable her insights could be. I am thrilled that she and Slade chose Scribner for this project, and that they brought with them the incredibly talented Pascal Lemaitre.”
Susan Moldow, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Scribner, said, “There is no denying the pleasure of adding Toni Morrison’s name to the Scribner list. These re-envisioned tales are particularly attractive because they will inspire adults as well as children to re-evaluate received wisdom for today’s world.”
Toni Morrison, who is best known for her fiction, teaches at Princeton University. Her novels include Song of Solomon (1977), Beloved (1987), Jazz (1992), and Paradise (1998). Slade Morrison has co-authored two previous books with Toni Morrison. A painter by profession, he has a home and studio in Rockland County, New York. Pascal Lemaitre has been a freelance illustrator since 1990. He illustrated Supercat, and worked with the Morrisons on a children’s book, The Book of Mean People.
The books will be edited by Nan Graham, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Scribner. The agreement is for world rights. The books will also be available on Simon and Schuster Audio.
Scribner is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, the publishing operation of Viacom Inc., is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic and multi-media formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Trade Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster New Media, Simon & Schuster Online, Simon & Schuster U.K., and Simon & Schuster Australia. For more information about Simon & Schuster, visit our website at http://www.simonsays.com/
Authorlink News, Success Stories,
And Recognition Authorlink Writer
Hubbard Sells Book
to McGraw Hill Second in One Month to Land Contract
5/1/02—Graydon D. (Dee) Hubbard has sold his book, Slim to None, to McGraw-Hill as a direct result of Authorlink. The poignant story of his daughter’s long (and fatal) journey through the wasteland of anorexia treatment is told mostly through her hospital journals. The title will be released in January 2003, leading into National Eating Disorders Month.
Hubbard is the 76th Authorlink writer to sell his work. The manuscript, originally titled, Why Won’t Jenny Eat? had been listed with Authorlink for about a year. Hubbard’s first agent, signed through Authorlink, terminated for health reasons. His second agent, also found through Authorlink, lost her position when her agency drastically downsized after September 11. Fortunately, a few months later, McGraw Hill editor Michele Pezzuti spotted the work on Authorlink, made a direct request for the materials, and subsequently offered a contract.
Another writer, Ginger Hanson, who won the Best of Show and Historical Romance awards in the 2001 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, has secured a two-book contract with Kensington Publishing Corporation. Her award-winning book, D’ Angelo’s Destiny, will be published as the lead title of two under Kensington’s Ballad imprint next spring.
Ginger is the sixth contest winner to attract a publisher, partly based on having won the Authorlink Award, which turns five years old in July 2002. She’s the 75th writer for whom Authorlink has played a role in helping to become published.
Authorlink, online for more than six years, is the award-winning rights marketplace where editors and agents buy and sell unpublished and published manuscripts and screenplays. The site features publishing industry news and provides serious writers with access and exposure to the broadest range of legitimate publishing professionals.
Authorlink is among the top one percent of most clicked sites on the web, and generates more than 2.5 million page views per year.
A Comprehensive Listing of Sold Titles Hanson Signs Two-Book
Deal With Kensington;
Becomes Authorlink’s
75th Success Story,
and the 6th Authorlink Contest
Winner to Publish
DALLAS, TX/ 04/01/02—Ginger Hanson, who won the Best of Show and Historical Romance awards in the 2001 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, has won a two-book contract with Kensington Publishing Corporation.Her award-winning book, D’ ANGELO’S DESTINY, will be published as the lead title of two under Kensington’s Ballad imprint next spring. Ginger is the sixth author to attract a publisher, partly based on having won the Authorlink Award, which turns five years old in July 2002. She’s the 75th writer for whom Authorlink has played a role in helping to become published.
“I’m still in shock,” said Ginger in notifying Authorlink about the sale. “The editor actually e-mailed me last August, right after I won the contest. But I never received the message. With all the traumatic events in New York last fall, I didn’t contact her until earlier this year, saying that DESTINY had won the Authorlink Best of Show. She’s buying the books from my proposal alone. Nothing but good things have happened to me since first winning Best of Show. I have sold four articles to a regional magazine, and now I have a two book contract with Kensington.”
Other contest winners who have attracted publishing contracts include: June Park, BINGO QUEENS OF PARADISE (Harper Collins); Cynthia G. Alwyn, BEST SERVED COLD (St. Martin’s Press); Michaela August, SWEETER THAN WINE (Neighborhood Press), and Ekaterine Nikas (Katy) Terlinden, DIVIDED CHILD (Avid Press).
Major Publishers
Browse Authorlink
for Manuscripts
Statistical Update
DALLAS, TX/ 06/01/02—Literary agents and editors regularly surf Authorlink in search of good writers. Among major houses making requests and/or visiting the site, are: Random House, Knopf, St. Martin’s Press, Simon & Schuster, Penguin/Putham and many other smaller publishers. More than 700 writers are currently listed with us. Since tracking began, 1651 requests have been processed for requested manuscripts. Of the 348 editor or agent offers we’ve been able to track, 76 have lead to publication as a direct or indirect result of exposure on Authorlink. Additional sales and agent contracts are pending.
On average, about 55-65% of the listed writers have received requests by editors and agents, some receiving multiple requests. Of those who have received interest, about 20- 30% are signed with agents and 15- 20% have directly sold their works to publishers during this time, not including pending sales.
The site, which matches literary agents and editors with writers, has received praise from editors at Penguin UK, Avon, Berkley, Random House, Time-Warner, Bantam Doubleday Dell and other major publishers.
See “What People Are Saying About Authorlink”
Authorlink News Archives Suarez Becomes
74th Authorlink Writer
to Sell Manuscript
Danette Suarez, who has listed her work in the Emerging Writers section of Authorlink since last November, has sold her manuscript, OMEGA, to Brown Bag Books, an imprint of World Holdings Group, Inc. in New York.
World Holdings is a start up publisher with no track record as yet. The company was established in April 2001. The house plans to focus on children’s and ethnic titles.
Suarez’s 85,000 word novel is about a young man who must accept the shameful knowledge of his father’s infidelities and his illegitimate sibling.
Authorlink Writer
Freni Sells Work
to California Press
73rd Authorlink Writer to Land Publisher
MARLBORO, MD/1/1/02—Authorlink writer Pamela S. Freni has become the 73rd author to sell her manuscript as a direct result of the popular online marketing service. Her book, SPACE FOR WOMEN will be released in mid-2002 by Seven Locks Press, Santa Ana, CA (www.sevenlockspress.com) and will be available at major bookstores and online booksellers.
Ms. Freni who lives in Upper Marlboro, MD (twenty miles east of Washington, DC), was listed with Authorlink for about two years and had several queries for the manuscript before Seven Locks offered her a contract. She is represented by the Stefanidis Agency which is active on Authorlink. Seven Locks made the direct request for Freni’s manuscript through the Authorlink service.
In announcing the sale, Freni called Authorlink “a fine and useful service.”
The 25-year-old Seven Locks Press publishes quality books covering a wide variety of contemporary topics that provoke thought, enlighten, and entertain. Its authors include political figures, icons of journalism, and recognized experts including Bill Moyers, Hedrick Smith, Congressman Cecil Heftel, Sir Eldon Griffiths, Jane Glenn Haas, and Alan Bock.
Ms. Freni’s book is about the heated space race between the US and Russia. After Russia sent the first man into space, the US was backed into a public relations corner that could only be answered by sending the first woman into space.
Thirteen enormously talented women tested and trained and were on the verge of being astronauts in 1960 when political pressure forced them off the stage. Even forty-one years later,they are talented and ambitious and some of them are still looking for a ride into space.
Pam began writing the book as a direct result of hearing of the thirteen women discussed in her book. “I was so incensed at how they’d been treated by NASA and others, I decided that the story should be told, so I naively began to write a book,” Pam said. “It’s amazing how much ignorance played a part in the process. I thought if you wrote a book, someone just published it.”
Freni’s favorite authors are Michener and Dava Sobel. They can tell a story that quickly fades from words to mind pictures. You don’t even realize you’re reading, just pictures passing over your mind’s eye.
Does she have any advice for newcomers trying to break into publishing?
“As a newcomer, I have read a thousand documents all reminding writers not to take any rejections personally and to persevere. It’s true. Also, never take ‘No’ for an answer if you believe in your writing.”
Asked why she thinks so many writers get rejected, and so few become published, and what elements of good writing would she guess are missing from an aspiring writer’s work, Pam had this to say:
“It doesn’t seem to be a single element so much as it is the ‘heart’ many of us miss adding into our books. We make word choices that either describe something or that grab the imagination and wrestle it to the ground. We can either say, ‘The fireman raised the flag,’ or we can say, ‘The fireman cradled the scarlet and white banner as he struggled to the top of a small smouldering mountain of debris where he defiantly raised it to the top of the mast of the remains of the World Trade Center.’ I think we have to be honest with our emotions and let them enter into our stories. That gives them heart and catches the eyes of the editors.”
Pam says she has learned her craft from, “Reading, reading, reading. Dissecting word usage from authors I enjoy. Reading every web page targeted at authors such as Authorlink.com. Listening to a really good editor who has worked on two manuscripts for me.
And what’s the funniest thing that ever happened to her on the way to getting published?
“After twenty-three rejections on Space for Women, I mentioned it to a friend from the office. She looked startled and asked if I would like an agent. She then handed me the phone number of an author friend of hers who recommended his agents to me. Thinking that it couldn’t be this easy, I contacted them and they became my agents. See it’s easy! I was so lucky and have felt from that day, that this book was destined to be published.”
Seven Locks Press has won a Benjamin Franklin Award and the Category Bestseller Award from Amazon.com. In the last few years Seven Locks Press selection of books has expanded to include a collection of coffee table books, gift books, celebrity bios, and new age titles. The company has introduced a line of juvenile titles and launching a line of fiction titles. Seven Locks Press is the publishing arm of Chapman University Press and a distributor for other small presses that rely on the marketing and publicity capabilities of Seven Locks Press. This year, Seven Locks Press will be publishing twenty-one new titles and will distribute nine titles for other publishers. In 2001, the publishing program will nearly double to forty new titles. James C. Riordan is publisher.
Joyce Lackey
Sells Book
to Gardenia Press
72nd Authorlink Writer to Land Publisher
A publisher contact made several years ago has finally paid of for Authorlink writer Joyce Lackey. The author who received a request for her novel as a result of her Authorlink listing for, The Ghosts of Buffalo Creek, has at last sold the work to Gardenia Press, a small publisher who plans to release the work in July 2002.
71st Authorlink Writer
to Sell Manuscript
June1, 2001—Michael E. Bemis of Kennebunk, Maine, became the 71st author to sell his work as a direct result of listing his work on Authorlink.com.
His book, Safe & Sound, a nonfiction work about how to buy a safe, private, and quiet home, will be published by Hanrow Press of Rancho Santa Fe, California. The small press, founded in 1982, has specialized in law and safety engineering books until now. The publication date for Safe & Sound has not yet been determined. Michael’s work had been listed with Authorlink for about a year when Hanrow requested a look at the full manuscript. Authorlink interviewed the author about his success:
AUTHORLINK: When did you begin your writing career, and what prompted you to do so? Is there a special story behind your decision to become an author?
BEMIS: I started writing in earnest while serving as Sheriff of York County, Maine. When I left law enforcement full-time I was able to devote more time to my writing.
AUTHORLINK: Who was the greatest influence on your decision to write, and in what ways did they encourage you?
BEMIS: My mother who is a published author.
AUTHORLINK: How important has your agent been in guiding your career?
BEMIS: I briefly had an agent but due to personal hardship they were forced to close. I presently do not have an agent.
AUTHORLINK: How did Authorlink help?
BEMIS: Authorlink’s excellent service and support has consistently exceeded my expectations. Without Authorlink, Safe & Sound would not be poised for publication.
AUTHORLINK: Do you have any advice or insights for newcomers trying to break into publishing?
BEMIS: It sounds monotonous, but they should just keep trying.
AUTHORLINK: Do you perceive New York publishing to be a closed society or an open one?
BEMIS: I think it’s open to good writing and content that’s timely and unique.
AUTHORLINK: What are publishers looking for today?
BEMIS: What will sell and authors with a passion to sell it.
AUTHORLINK: How did you learn your craft? Through reading? Conferences? A university? Mentoring? A combination of these, or other means?
BEMIS: Nothing formal, just a lot of research, reading and writing.
Jan Letoha Becomes
70 th Authorlink Writer
to Land Publisher
April 15, 2001—Jan Letoha this month became the 70 th Authorlink writer to sign a publishing contract as a result of her listing on Authorlink.com. Her first book, Bury The Past , will be published by Port Town Publishing in August, 2002.
Port Town Publishing (PTP) is a small publishing house located in Superior, Wisconsin. The company was founded in 1999 by Jean Hackensmith, a struggling romance author who got tired of getting rejection letters from the New York publishers. PTP publishes about 4-5 novels per year, including original romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror.
Bury The Past was listed on Authorlink for 22 months. During that time, Jan also signed with an agent through Authorlink, but the agent closed her agency due to illness.
Jan has also listed her second book, Fire On The Moon, with Authorlink. It’s another spooky, romantic suspense story.
How did Jan feel when she heard that her book would be published?
“Like a genie popped out of a bottle and granted me three wishes! It’s the best feeling in the world!”
Jan began writing about ten years ago. “I read a time travel/historical romance and thought, ‘If this author can get away with such a fantastic story, maybe my ideas aren’t so crazy after all.’ So I started writing Bury The Past. Writing fiction was a lot harder than I thought it’d be, though. Getting the hang of writing dialogue was really tough.
Before listing her work with Authorlink, Jan had tried the traditional methods of marketing — sending out query letters and sample chapters. “I had another agent a few years back,” Jan said. “A word of advice — if an agent asks for money up front, look out! Maybe I’m just jinxed when it comes to agents. Anyway, I’m convinced that Bury The Past would be sitting in a shoe box on my closet shelf if I hadn’t discovered Authorlink.”
When Jan is working on a book, she’s a person obsessed — or possessed. She’ll write 10 – 12 hours a day, especially during the summer.
In the real world, Jan teaches Psychology and U.S. History at a South Georgia high school.
What advice would she give to writers who want to be published?
“Research the requirements for different types of novels. It seems that publishers want to see key elements in a book that will appeal to their specific type of market. Read a book on editing manuscripts so you can delete what publishers don’t want to see. List your book on Authorlink — it’s the only thing that worked for me! Then develop a huge store of patience and persistence and don’t think you’re home free once you sign a contract. That’s when the real work starts!”
Authorlink Writer
Joy Jasper Sells Work
to St. Martin’s Press
67th Authorlink Sale
2/26/01—Joy Waldron Jasper this month became the 67th Authorlink writer to sell a manuscript as a direct result of contacts made through Authorlink. Jasper found her New York agent— Sam Fleishman of Literary Artists Representatives — via Authorlink, and he subsequently sold one of her works to St. Martin’s Press.
The new book, “The USS Arizona: The Ship, the Men, the Attack!,” will be in bookstores November 1, 2001, in time for Veteran’s Day (November 11) and the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day (December 7, 2001)
“After meeting my agent through Authorlink, we signed a contract in December 2000 to represent my novel. Then we signed a second contract in January to represent my nonfiction book,” Jasper explained. “As is often the case, the nonfiction sold first. St. Martin’s Press bought it in February 2001, and has moved at an impressive speed to release it in less than a year, so as to offer it to readers at the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day — a mere nine months later, which is stunning in the world of publishing! Kudos to my wonderful editor, Mac Talley at St. Martin’s Press, and to my amazing agent, Sam Fleishman.”
Joy became an Authorlink writer in October, 2000. The fictional work that originally attracted her agent is titled “Betrayal at Pearl Harbor.” While that novel hasn’t yet sold (as of press time), the nonfiction book on Pearl Harbor was rapidly sold through the agent who connected with Jasper through Authorlink.
The USS Arizona book is the story of life aboard the USS Arizona in peacetime, and the survival stories of 10 men who lived through the attack. As a journalist and a diver, Joy first visited the USS Arizona underwater in 1983, covering the story of the photo documentation and scientific illustration of the gallant battleship, the greatest casualty of the Pearl Harbor attack. She was so enthralled with the story, she searched out survivors and began interviewing them, crisscrossing the country for several years to hear their stories. Hearing their emotional tales, she was fascinated by the tremendous bond and affection they felt for their ship, and she felt it was a story that needed to be told.
“I’m a writer who prefers to write every day, in the morning when I’m fresh, and for a period of three to four hours,” Jasper said of her working habits. ” If I’m on a splendid roll, I might write for longer, but I like to achieve 10 pages a day that I’ll keep. It never hurts to stop in the middle — of an idea, a sentence, a chapter. I like returning the next day to something unfinished so that I’m inspired to jump in again. I don’t think there’s any one way to write, but I think it’s important to find your own best period of the day and the length of time that makes sense for you. Writing books is my top priority, and I write full time.”
For the record, Joy’s children are grown, and she lives in New England with her husband and a garden full of perennials
“I’ve completed my second novel in a series of underwater thrillers (the first — working title, Betrayal at Pearl Harbor, which is listed on Authorlink — is under review at several major houses at this time),” Joy said.
I’m currently working on another nonfiction book on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and another historical biography is in the outline stage.
“I want to thank Authorlink for providing me a forum for my work, she added. “I was encouraged by having been selected for the Authorlink web site, and once I had a page there (http://www.authorlink.com/001051th.html), I had confidence to approach agents. I sent a number of Authorlink-listed agents an email, condensing my query to three paragraphs and asking them to look for more information on my page. I got positive responses from eight out of ten queries I sent. Of those eight, I was extremely fortunate to find a superb agent to represent me, and who got a sale within a month at a major press.
“Thanks to all at Authorlink. And I want to say to my fellow writers: ‘”Keep writing, and don’t lose heart! If it happened to me, it can happen to you.'”
Authorlink Writer
Chopra Finds
Publisher for Work
68th Authorlink Sale
4/1/01—Dr. Prem Chopra, author of the new age nonfiction book, “If I Had Known,” has sold his work to Hanrow Press in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The small press, founded in 1982, has specialized in law and safety engineering books until now. Chopra’s book is their first venture into trade books.
Dr. Chopra has been listed with Authorlink since October 2000. He signed a contract with Hanrow Press early this year. He became the 68th author to sell his work through Authorlink in the last 36 months.
Jan Wallace Becomes
69thAuthorlink Writer
to Sign With Publisher
69th Authorlink Sale
4/1/01—Jan Wallace became the 69th writer to sign a publishing contract through Authorlink in the past 36 months in late March. Ms. Wallace, a first-time author, signed a deal with PortTown Publishing for her book, Where Roses Grow Wild. The publisher is a small Wisconsin house that releases about four books per year.
Ms. Wallace had two manuscripts listed on Authorlink between 1999 and 2000. In January 2000, Authorlink received a request from WMG Promotions, a literary agency, requesting the manuscript. She signed a contract with WMG the very next month, and shortly thereafter WMG sold the work to PortTown.
Port Town senior editor Jean Hackensmith wrote to Agents Cary and Sherry Wolf that she found the manuscript to be “funny, romantic and tragic.” She said she had tears streaming down her face in the end.
Jan Wallace credits the editor with giving each writer a lot of attention to make sure the manuscript is everything it should be for the reader.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling knowing someone reads your manuscript and it really has an effect on them positive effect at that, that you make them feel for the characters themselves, because that’s what it’s all about-believing in the story.”
“Authorlink has made it possible for writers to link up with the correct agents and publishers, and gives agents a chance to review works by various writers,” Jan explained.
I started along time ago writing, as child I would write stories and put on plays in the basement of my parents’ home. I’ve always told stories, then one day said, lets see if anyone would like to publish any of the stories. Friends have read them and said they were good, but, hey, these are friends after all.
Jan once worked for The University of Georgia Extension Service in the Fort Valley, Georgia office. Today she is a fulltime writer.
“I start a manuscript and work each day 6 to 8 hours,” she said. “It usually takes 3 months to finish a draft, then another three months to get the bugs out. I edit, fix mistakes and read it over and over, proofing each page until it is correct.
“I can see why books cost what they do and why some people just give up, it is not an easy job to do it over and over, no ones manuscript is correct the first go around, you realize when you re-read it the feeling might not be there so you have to correct it put heart where there was none.”
Jan is married to her childhood sweetheart, and they have four children. Twenty-six years ago they bought an old historic house with 17 rooms in Marshallville, Georgia, restored it and live there today with their family and many dogs, cats, doves, ducks, chickens and rabbits.
“My advise to other writers is: don’t quit dreaming about what you believe in, you have to believe in yourself, before anyone else will, and then you go from there, keep writing don’t give up. “Write from your heart, and let it be about something you know. If you venture into another area you don’t know the reader will know it too, and you’ve lost. So stay with what you feel and understand most about life. “It’ll work for you.
“I am especially thankful for my agents,” Jan said. “They have worked late into the mornings trying to find a suitable publisher. They work with writers because they love the written word.”
Davis’ ‘Twin City’
Nominated for Townsend
Prize in FictionATLANTA, GA/3/14/02—Jerry Lee Davis’ novel, TWIN CITY (Authorlink Press), has been nominated for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. This spring, THE CHATTOHOOCHEE REVIEW, a literary journal, again will award the Townsend Prize, Georgia’s most prestigious literary citation, which honors the career and legacy of Jim Townsend, founding editor of ATLANTA magazine and mentor to a generation of Georgia writers. Awarded biennially, the Prize has recognized distinguished fiction by Alice Walker, Celestine Sibley, Ferrol Sams, JoAllen Bradham, Judson Mitcham, and James Kilgo.
The 2000-2001 winner will be announced at a luncheon in honor of nominees on May 9, 2002 at the Wyndham Midtown Atlanta hotel.
Davis is an established Atlanta playwrite. TWIN CITY is his first published novel. about a young boy struggling for acceptance and peace in a dark and chaotic world. Through his relationship with the young daughter of the only Jewish family in town, he confronts the harsh realities of cruelty, hatred, and misery to discover the power of humor and love. Authorlink’s Goldring
Wins Series Contract
With Berkley Publishing
Kat Goldring, among new writers listed on Authorlink, has signed a three-book contract with Berkley Publishing Group for her cozy mystery series, Crow’s Feet and Lemon Drops, to be released in September 2001. Kim Waltemyer is the Berkley editor who made the acquisition, and Carol McCleary of Wilshire Literary Agency, made the sale for four figures.
McCleary had represented the series 5 1/2 years before the first book sold.
“I already had an agent when Authorlink was kind enough to list me in some of their first presentations,” said Kat. “Ours was a mutual endeavor as Authorlink was just starting up and I had just finished a revision with the first novel under the wings of the DFW Writers’ Workshop. Just as an aside, that DFW Writers’ Workshop stands for that and never has meant “Dallas Ft. Worth” as some like to say. In fact one of the founding members with whom I was lucky enough to work with and helped name the group told me it really meant, Damn Fine Writers.
“I believe the fact that AUTHORLINK listed me was one of the reasons my agent did not give up on presenting my work to top notch publishers. I have a few magazine articles and short stories published but my best and most extensive showcase was writing and illustrating with my original drawings a newspaper column for a year titled ‘THE MEDICINE PATH.’
“AUTHORLINK has been wonderful. My agent and I have always been grateful for the professional format available on the site for presenting my work. We came very close to making a sale through the site with China, and may yet sell the foreign rights with help through AUTHORLINK.
Kat Goldring works full time as a high school foreign language department head and Spanish teacher. She spends an hour to hour and a half per day in editing and rewriting the novels and outlines for the first three in the WILLI GALLAGHER MYSTERY SERIES. During holidays and summer time (8 weeks) that time increases to 3-4 hours a day. This doesn’t include the hours for research, marketing, the time to work with other writers on shared projects, and commitments to two writing groups.
“Not only do I work the 40-hour drill and the writing tight-wire,” Kat explains, “but I also sing and play the guitar in two groups: SISTERS OF THE WIND includes a fellow writer, Shirley McKee. We two do mostly classic/golden country western and cowboy/girl programs for local clubs, groups, schools, city gatherings and such. The HIGH MILEAGE country western band, some seven members strong, includes three law officers, performs for trail drives and city functions.
How does it feel to have a published contract?
“I go back and forth between elation of having a fantastic adventure and panic attacks,” says Kat. “I am so thankful for all the wonderful folks, including AUTHORLINK, who have crossed my path at the right time, and have helped me make a lifelong dream come true. WAKAN TANKA (Great Spirit), of course, I thank for all lessons learned and all paths. This is one of those paths strewn with bluebonnets, soft moss and warm cuddly critters. The panic part has to do with getting to those book signings. I’m directional dyslexic and panic when traveling to new places. So . . . maybe that’s the next adventure and lesson!”
Kat Goldring currently is working on the next two novels in the WILLI GALLAGHER SERIES: SNOW SNAKE and SWEET CHARIOT. She also have a second series, the DELTA PAIGE SERIES, and has finished the first book in that series, COOPER STREET GIRLS.
Authorlink asked the author: How helpful was DFW Writers’ Workshop?
“I would not have cleared out the flaws in my manuscript. The members helped me to develop a selling novel. I would not have met my agent, Carol McCleary, if DFW Writers’ Workshop had not had her as a guest. I would not have had the opportunity to meet my editor, KIM WALTEMYER with BERKLEY PUBLISHING. I interviewed with her during her visit with DFWWW. Although I’ve served as an officer and hosted many dinners as well as parties at my own country home for the members, editors and agents, I still owe DFWWW a great deal.”
Two Authorlink Press
Writers Earn
Top Recognition
Dallas and Atlanta/2/15/01— Jerry Lee Davis, author of Twin City (AUTHORLINK PRESS), and Ginnie Bivona, author of Ida Mae Tutweiler and the Traveling Tea Party (AUTHORLINK PRESS), have recently earned top recognition in two different markets.
Jerry Lee Davis of Atlanta has been nominated for the First Novel Award in the 37th annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards, sponsored by the Georgia Writers’ Association. Ginnie Bivona’s Ida Mae Tutweiler recently climbed to number one on the Dallas Morning News Bestseller List for paperback fiction. Ginnie lives in Dallas.
The Georgia Awards ceremony, hosted by Mercer University Press, will be held at a dinner March 17 at Mercer University in Macon,Georgia.
Among a number of recent review of Ginnie Bivona’s book was an article by Don Johnson on Read-a-Bargain.com.Johnson called Bivona’s Ida Mae “A wonderful,character-driven story that produces open memories we thought we’d forgotten. . . . I expected a typical ‘woman’s’ book but found a story of human beings for human beings. Man or woman your time won’t be wasted on this one.”
66th Authorlink
Writer Signs
Publishing Contract
Charlene Tess has become the 66th author to find a publisher as a direct result of Authorlink. Port Town Publishing, a small Wisconsin publisher, will release Ms. Tess’s THE VAN WINKLE BRIDE as a trade paperback romance in June 2001. The book, originally listed on Authorlink as THE VAN WINKLE CONNECTION, is Ms. Tess’s first published work.
“The senior romance editor of Port Town Publishing saw my posting on the Authorlink website and thought my novel sounded intriguing and suitable for her list for 2001,” Charlene explained. “She contacted Authorlink Editor Doris Booth, who contacted me. Doris Booth forwarded an e- mail to me from Port Town Publishing. I sent the publisher a copy of my manuscript by snail mail. The editor read it and said she could not put it down. She offered me a contract by e-mail and then sent me a written contract by snail mail.”
Charlene listed her novel on Authorlink on April 10, 2000, and sold it on November 25.
“My husband and I met Doris Booth at a SouthWest Writers Conference and decided to advertise our editing business on Authorlink. Two of my novels had won first place at Southwest Writers Conference Contests, and I had been trying to get them published by the old-fashioned way: query, partial, full manuscript, SASE, wait, wait, wait method. Authorlink sounded like an attractive, modern way to market my novels. And it worked! I am delighted with the results,” Charlene said.
“I have been writing as long as I can remember and have published essays, feature articles, short stories, and a nonfiction book, but this will be my first published novel.
“Presently, I am working on a rewrite of a romance novel that my sister and I co-wrote, and I am about one-third of the way through a mainstream novel entitled The Greatest Gift. It is the story of the unshakable bond between a mother and daughter in spite of tragic circumstances that shatter their lives.”
Charlene says her best advice when it comes to becoming published is “to be like the old Timex watch slogan: ‘Take a licking, but keep on ticking.’ In other words, keep trying. And don’t forget to try new ideas if the old ones aren’t working for you.”
Authorlink’s Goldring
Wins Series Contract
With Berkley Publishing
Kat Goldring, among new writers listed on Authorlink, has signed a three-book contract with Berkley Publishing Group for her cozy mystery series, Crow’s Feet and Lemon Drops, to be released in September 2001. Kim Waltemyer is the Berkley editor who made the acquisition, and Carol McCleary of Wilshire Literary Agency, made the sale for four figures.
McCleary had represented the series 5 1/2 years before the first book sold.
“I already had an agent when Authorlink was kind enough to list me in some of their first presentations,” said Kat. “Ours was a mutual endeavor as Authorlink was just starting up and I had just finished a revision with the first novel under the wings of the DFW Writers’ Workshop. Just as an aside, that DFW Writers’ Workshop stands for that and never has meant “Dallas Ft. Worth” as some like to say. In fact one of the founding members with whom I was lucky enough to work with and helped name the group told me it really meant, Damn Fine Writers.
“I believe the fact that AUTHORLINK listed me was one of the reasons my agent did not give up on presenting my work to top notch publishers. I have a few magazine articles and short stories published but my best and most extensive showcase was writing and illustrating with my original drawings a newspaper column for a year titled ‘THE MEDICINE PATH.’
“AUTHORLINK has been wonderful. My agent and I have always been grateful for the professional format available on the site for presenting my work. We came very close to making a sale through the site with China, and may yet sell the foreign rights with help through AUTHORLINK.
Kat Goldring works full time as a high school foreign language department head and Spanish teacher. She spends an hour to hour and a half per day in editing and rewriting the novels and outlines for the first three in the WILLI GALLAGHER MYSTERY SERIES. During holidays and summer time (8 weeks) that time increases to 3-4 hours a day. This doesn’t include the hours for research, marketing, the time to work with other writers on shared projects, and commitments to two writing groups.
“Not only do I work the 40-hour drill and the writing tight-wire,” Kat explains, “but I also sing and play the guitar in two groups: SISTERS OF THE WIND includes a fellow writer, Shirley McKee. We two do mostly classic/golden country western and cowboy/girl programs for local clubs, groups, schools, city gatherings and such. The HIGH MILEAGE country western band, some seven members strong, includes three law officers, performs for trail drives and city functions.
How does it feel to have a published contract?
“I go back and forth between elation of having a fantastic adventure and panic attacks,” says Kat. “I am so thankful for all the wonderful folks, including AUTHORLINK, who have crossed my path at the right time, and have helped me make a lifelong dream come true. WAKAN TANKA (Great Spirit), of course, I thank for all lessons learned and all paths. This is one of those paths strewn with bluebonnets, soft moss and warm cuddly critters. The panic part has to do with getting to those book signings. I’m directional dyslexic and panic when traveling to new places. So . . . maybe that’s the next adventure and lesson!”
Kat Goldring currently is working on the next two novels in the WILLI GALLAGHER SERIES: SNOW SNAKE and SWEET CHARIOT. She also have a second series, the DELTA PAIGE SERIES, and has finished the first book in that series, COOPER STREET GIRLS.
Authorlink asked the author: How helpful was DFW Writers’ Workshop?
“I would not have cleared out the flaws in my manuscript. The members helped me to develop a selling novel. I would not have met my agent, Carol McCleary, if DFW Writers’ Workshop had not had her as a guest. I would not have had the opportunity to meet my editor, KIM WALTEMYER with BERKLEY PUBLISHING. I interviewed with her during her visit with DFWWW. Although I’ve served as an officer and hosted many dinners as well as parties at my own country home for the members, editors and agents, I still owe DFWWW a great deal.”
Former LA Times Reporter
to Contribute Kids’ Book
Column to Authorlink
Laguna Beach, CA/12/15/00—Barbara J. Odanaka, former LA Times sports reporter and columnist, will join Authorlink on January 1 2001 as a regular columnist. Her articles will provide writers with in-depth insights on writing and publishing children’s books, and will include interviews with children’s editors at major publishing houses.
Among upcoming topics for her column will be:
January 1: Rejection 101 February 1: A Crime to Rhyme? March 1: Every Story Tells A Picture April 1: Successful School Visits May 1: Beautiful Noise—Why “Quiet” Picture Books No Longer Make the Grade June 1: Five to Watch: A look at Upcoming Children’s Authors
From time to time, she will provide special reports on major children’s book conferences.
Ms. Odanaka left her career at the Times to write books for children. She is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.
Barb earned a BA in English from the University of Southern California. She lives with her husband and son in a California beach town, and is a founding member of the Skateboarding Moms Society. She can be reached at bodanaka@aol.com
Authorlink Writer
Lands First Book
Deal With Scribner
NEW YORK,NY/10/1/00—Jimmy Gleacher, who has been listed as an Authorlink writer since October, 1999, has sold his first novel to prestigious Scribner, an imprint of Rawson Associates and part of Simon & Schuster.
Meredith Phelan of Linda Chester and Associates in New York found Jimmy’s novel, “Roll Again,” on one of her frequent searches of Authorlink, signed him on, and subsequently sold the work for five figures. The mainstream fictional work, to be released in 2002, is the 64th title to be sold either as a direct or indirect result of Authorlink.
Agent Wray
Signs Fifteen
Authorlink Writers
9/00—Pamela Wray, owner of the new and growing Pamela Wray Literary Agency, has agreed to represent 15 writers found over the last several months as a direct result of Authorlink.
Among the works now represented by Wray are several thrillers and young adult works. Ms Wray, an aggressive agent, already has sent works by the newest Authorlink ensigns out to key publishers.
In another case, Ms. Wray signed a children’s author who, while not officially listed on Authorlink, connected with Wray through the service. The work is a moral folk tale, similar to Uncle Remus.
“I was so excited about this book that he expressed it to me over night, and I have already spoken with numerous publishers, special merchandising and TV producers, ” said Wray. “I am going to put this book up for auction because there is so much interest.”
“The Authorlink website is the ultimate place for any editor, literary agent or publisher, and I am so thankful the staff’s hard work and diligence,” Ms. Wray said in a note to Authorlink.
Ms. Wray is among a number of agents who regularly surf the Authorlink site in search of good manuscripts.
Clemente Becomes
61st Authorlink Writer
to Sell To Manuscript
New York House Pays Handsome Advance
New York, NY/5/26/00 —Authorlink writer Gary Clemente became the 61 st author to sell his work to a key New York publisher.
Lebhar-Friedman, New York has slated a 2002 publication date for ” Confessions of a G-Man: Inside the FBI, originally listed on Authorlink as The Marking of a Hoover. Clemente will be paid a $5,000 advance plus royalties for the work, half up front and half on delivery of the finished manuscript. Sale of the book is the direct result of Clemente’s listing on Authorlink.
“Confessions” will be an inside look at the FBI through the eyes of Clemente’s father, who was a career agent for 26 years. The book will deal with anecdotal stories and inside information about the Bureau, the war on Communism in the Fifties, the mob, and J. Edgar Hoover among other things.
How did he find Authorlink? A writer friend told him about it and spoke highly of the service.
Authorlink seemed to be up front about everything and didn’t present itself as a scheme to make money off of writers,” Gary said. “Doris Booth answered all of my questions promptly and professionally while the book was made available for review. I was pleased with how some of the particulars of the book was presented and listed on-line.”
How long were you listed on Authorlink before the sale Gary’s book was listed on Authorlink for about five months before Lebhar-Friedman Editor Frank Scatoni (formerly with Simon & Schuster) spotted the title and requested a proposal. This was all done through e-mail.
Gary, 48, has been writing full time and semi-professionally since he got out of college. He’s written in a number of different mediums along the way. He has several other projects in the working stage, including a collection of short stories; a humor book based on the newspaper column he writes weekly; and a suspense book in the same vein as Michael Creiton.
How does it feel to be a published author?
“My first and only published book was a children’s piece that came out in 1995, called ‘Cosmo Gets An Ear,’ about a little boy who gets his first hearing aid. Being published in book form is a wonderful feeling. It’s an achievement I’m the most proud of in my writing career.
And does he have any advice for new writers?
“Take it from somebody who has written all of his adult life and even some before as a kid — it’s got to be in your blood, because getting published is not the easiest thing to do. You write because you have to — it’s who you are and nobody’s going to make you stop. One thing that can be valuable is to learn how to distill and recognize exactly what it is on a gut level that attracts people to certain stories and why. There are usually one or two elements working that can make a successful story or book. Examine a well-made movie or book and practice how to recognize the “concept” that made it work. Other than that, as Winston Churchill said, ‘Never, never, never give up.'”
Pamela Wray
Literary Agency Signs
Four Authorlink Writers
5/00—Pamela Wray Literary Agency based in Alabama, has signed four Authorlink writers for representation.
They are Steven Rudd, Midnight Run; Jan Letoha, Bury the Past; J.E. Deegan, In Dark Covenant; Norman Davis, Stonecypher’s Gold.
Authorlink Author
Carolee Joy Takes
Rising Star Award
6/15/00—Carolee Joy, author of Wild Angel (Authorlink Press) won second place in the prestigious short contemporary category of the Rising Star 2000 Awards, a division of the Romance Writers of America.
The winners, including the Grand Prize winner, were offered free registration at the RWA national conference or equivalent cash. Winners were presented at the Sooner Area Romance Authors in Tulsa, Oklahoma May 20.
Fifth Authorlink
Contest Winner Earns
Publishing Contract
Los Angeles, CA/ 5/15/00 —Ekaterine Nikas (Katy) Terlinden, the 1998 Best of Show and mystery winner of the Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, has landed a publishing contract with Avid Press
( www.avidpress.com Her winning novel, Divided Child, will be released by Avid in Winter 2000 under her pen name, Ekaterine Nikas. It is the fifth time in two years an Authorlink contest winner has won a substantial publishing contract.
“Authorlink.com offered a wonderful contest that gave me an important boost to my career, got me access to editors and agents, and provided a very impressive reference for query letters,” said Terlinden.
Katy had been writing for about ten years before she heard about Authorlink on one of her writer lists. She advises new writers to “be persistent, be part of a network, enter contests (they are a great way to get agents and editors to look at your work), and keep your mind open to the possibilities offered by small presses and e-book publishers, especially if your book does not fit easily into the New York mold.”
Katy also says, “utilize the Internet to the fullest. I probably would not have made my sale without it. I think Authorlink is a great resource for writers and an excellent example of how new writers can use the Internet to break through the barriers to publication.
Authorlink Writer’s
New Book Released
by Marlowe, New York
NEW YORK, NY/5/1/00—Beyond Anger: A Guide for Men, by Thomas J. Harbin, Ph.D, has just been released by New York Publisher Marlowe & Company’s Avalon imprint. Author Tom Harbin directly attributes the sale of his book to his listing on Authorlink.
Forensic Psychologist Harbin sold his nonfiction manuscript, originally titled STANCE OF ANGER, to established publisher, John Muir Publications as the result of a direct inquiry by the publisher in May, 1998. Muir was bought by Marlowe Books, a division of Avalon last year.
In his new book, Dr. Harbin helps men understand their anger by explaining what the specific symptoms of chronic anger are and by showing angry men how their actions negatively affect family, friends and co-workers.
Tom is one of nearly 60 Authorlink writers to sign a contract with a publisher since sales tracking began in early 1997.
Tom had been listed on the site for eight or nine months before receiving the request. Generously sharing the sales figures with other Authorlink writers, Tom said he was paid a $1,000 advance upon signing a contract, another $1500 upon delivery of the revised manuscript, and the final $1000 was paid when the book was released.
Tom began writing the manuscript about seven years ago, for use with angry men in his clinical practice. “The book sort of grew over the next couple of years and I guess I have been actively trying to sell it for about three years,” he said.
“At first, I naively sent it to editors who had done similar work. Then, I engaged a New York agent who had promoted books for a friend of mine. Honestly, I was about to put the manuscript away and forget about it or start the self-publishing journey. Then I became aware of Authorlink while absently surfing the net for agents.”
While not officially working on any new titles, he has started writing some short stories about the goings on in his rural North Carolina county, and he’s been keeping copious notes for a possible book about his role as a forensic psychologist.
When asked what he would advise first-time writers, he said I would not presume to offer anyone advice. I think that lucked out so far.
And how important was Authorlink to his begin published? My book would still be sitting on a dusty disk somewhere, without Authorlink, he concluded.
In little more than three years, nearly 300 writers have reported signing with agents as a direct result of Authorlink, and more than 1500 requests from editors and agents have been processed.
The author lives and practices in North Carolina.
Authorlink
Correspondent
Joins LA Times
Authorlink writer, Michelle Lovato, has been hired by the Los Angeles Times to cover special sections issues.
Regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious news organizations, the Los Angeles Times has a full circulation of 1.4 million copies per Sunday issue.
Lovato’s work will premier March 13.
With more than two years experience as an Authorlink California publishing correspondent, Lovato has covered several events, and can be found by searching archives.
Lovato is the owner/publisher of The Silver Lakes Gazzette, a weekly newspaper, and a columnist and reporter for The Inland Empire Business Journal, a Southern California regional business magazine.
Accompanying Lovato in her new post will be her husband, Vince, a 20- year veteran of journalism. Among Vince’s credits are previous LA Times bylines,
the sales of two short stories to Stephen Speilberg, two nominations for California Newspaper Publisher’s Association awards and was the recipient of a fellowship to Rice University in Houston Texas.
Lovato has 10 years experience as a political and business reporter
and specializes in feature stories. She writes a newspaper column entitled, Thank You, Lord and has won several awards for her short fiction.
Both Lovatos are pursuing careers in the publishing industry. Ms.Lovato will continue contributing articles to Authorlink.
Authorlink Author
Carolee Joy Ranks
as RWA Finalist
DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TX/ 3/13/000—WILD ANGEL (Authorlink Press, April 2000) by Carolee Joy has been named a finalist in the Golden Quill contest sponsored by the Desert Rose Chapter of Romance Writers of America. Other finalists include multi-published authors such as Vicki Lewis Thompson, one of Harlequin TemptationsTemptation’s biggest sellers.
In addition to WILD ANGEL, SECRET LEGACY, another novel by Ms. Joy, is also a finalist in the Golden Quill competition for Best Romantic Suspense and Best First Book.
New Author
Ranks #12
on Amazon
ATLANTA,GA/3/10/00—A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DAY TRADING ONLINE (Adams Media) by first-time author, has risen to #12 on Amazon.com’s top 100.
The book, agented by Deidre Knight of the Knight Agency (listed on Authorlink), was released only a week ago, and began its quick rise after the author appeared on CNBC Today.
American Self
Publishers’ Group
Honors Mitchell
SAN FRANCISCO, CA/ 3/1/00—Ed Mitchell, whose manuscript had been listed with Authorlink before he decided to self publish, has been awarded the National Publishers Freedom Award for Best new Fiction. The honor will be bestowed by the year-old American Self Publishers Association (ASPA) for Mitchell’s novel, GOLD RUSH 2000. Resource Library. The ASPA award will be given in a formal ceremony May 13 in San Francisco. In addition, the work was accepted by the National Steinbeck Center Resource Library.
Mitchell attributes part of his success to Authorlink for having seen “the quality in my book, and having had the courage to publicly declare that assessment.” Authorlink, while not a self publisher, helps writers market their work through promotion to editors and agents, and through listings of their work on its award-winning site, authorlink.com
Third Authorlink Contest
Winner Signs Contract
With Major Publisher
Dallas, TX/1/1/00—Three winners of the Authorlink New Author Awards competition have landed major publishing contracts within the past 18 months. The latest Authorlink contestant to become published is Cynthia G. Alwyn (pen name), who placed among the top three in the 1999 Authorlink awards competition.
Carol Berg of Ft. Collins, CO, the 1999 Authorlink first-place, science fiction/fantasy winner for Song of the Beast, won a three-book contract with Roc (an imprint of Penguin Putnam). And June London, 1998 Authorlink mainstream winner signed a six-figure contract with Harper Collins for her novel, Bingo Queens and a second work-in-progress, tentatively titled Stray Bullets.
Ms. Alwyn won the 1999 competition for a book titled, Tail of the Serpent, but it was her newest work, Best Served Cold, that convinced New York Agent Anne Hawkins of John Hawkins & Associates, to become her agent. Hawkins subsequently sold the work to St. Martins Press for an undisclosed amount. The title will be released in the Winter of 2001.
“I have been surprised how fast things can happen,” said Cynthia. “I met Anne Hawkins, who is now my agent, at a conference in 1998. We kept in contact, and when I visited with her at the 1999 Authorlink Awards presentation in Georgia, we finalized our business partnership with my new book BEST SERVED COLD. A short time later, St. Martin’s bought the project. I’m thrilled and stunned at the same time. It didn’t feel real to me until I started getting mail from them.”
BEST SERVED COLD features protagonist Brenna Scott and her search dog, Feather, a black Bouvier Des Flandres. Together, they search for lost or missing people. In this book, Brenna and Feather race the clock to locate a child before the kidnapper makes good his threat to take the little girl’s life.
“I wasn’t sure the book would sell, but Anne believed in it and in me. Since I’d worked with a canine search and rescue team for nine years, I do have first-hand knowledge of how dogs and handlers work. Although the story is fiction, I believe my experience in this area helped sell the book,” said Cynthia.
Due to the commitment of her day job, Cynthia’s writing time is limited. “I usually write Thursday through Sunday and a solid eight hours a day while on vacation. I frequently work out plot points and tidbits about characters driving to and from work. Most days, I’ll sit in my car during lunch break (it’s the only quiet place at work) and make notes. Although I’ve started writing the next Brenna Scott book, it doesn’t yet have a title.”
The 2000 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition is now accepting entries for this year’s contest through March, 2000. Awards again will be presented at the annual Harriette Austin Writers Conference, University of Georgia, in July, 2000. Top prize is $500.
For details see: http://www.authorlink.com/contest_00.html
Three More
Authorlink Writers
Sign Publishing Deals
8/15/99—Three more writers have won publishing contracts as a direct result of their listings with Authorlink. All three are clients of Elisabet McHugh, McHugh Literary Agency, who discovered them on Authorlink several months ago. This brings to a total of 49 the number of books that have been sold through Authorlink during the past 2 1/2 years.
Chris Spicer has accepted an offer form McFarland & Co. for Frankly, My Dear. . .:The Life of Clark Gable.
Publication will be in 1001, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Gable’s birth.
Neva Hacker, author of Missing Candy, and Charles Crone, author of The Palestinian Solution, have sold their work as e-books to Fictionworks, through Ms. McHugh.
E.A. Blair Becomes
43 rd Author to Find
Publisher Via Authorlink
7/1/99—Scrivenery Press will publish Authorlink writer E. A. Blair’s A Journey to the Interior, in November, 1999, making Blair the 43 rd author to find a publisher via Authorlink since sales tracking began in 1997. Thirty-one writers have been published as a result of Authorlink, with houses such as Berkley, Tor, John Wiley & Sons, Carol Publishing Group and others. Twelve more titles will be released in August, 1999 by Authorlink’s own imprint—Authorlink Press, bringing the total of successfully published authors to forty-three.
“I had tried sending material to about 50 agents, and though many were favorably impressed, all rejected the work, probably because their slice of an author’s first book might not have seemed profitable enough,” said E.A.
Blair, who holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts has been writing since 1951. His day job for the past 30 years has been in publications for the aerospace industry. Some time back, he wrote and published a professional book, but turned to serious fiction only about ten years ago.
E.A. had been trying to sell his work through agents for five years, when he discovered Authorlink in May, 1998. He had been listed on the site for ten months when Scrivenery Press Publisher Ed Williams spotted his work on the web site. Scrdivenery, whose titles are distributed by Ingram Book Group, is actively building both its fiction and non-fiction lines.
Asked how it feels to be a published author, Blair said, “Vindicated. The related adjectives will come later.”
Blair’s contract did not include an advance, but does pay standard royalties.
“My impression of Scrivenery is that they are professional, intelligent and use advanced publishing technologies—as witnessed by the use of Authorlink and Ingram Book.
“Finding Authorlink was like a door to opportunity suddenly opening,” said Blair.
He advises the unpublished writer to “Write patiently, critically.”
He has a second title underway.
Authorlink Writer’s
Novel Released
by Berkley Publishing
NEW YORK,NY/6/10/99— LOST RIVER, a novel by Authorlink writer, Pax Riddle, is now on bookstore shelves. Pax made the deal with Berkley Publishing Group (division of Penguin/Putnam) as part of the connections he made through Authorlink. The book is available via: http://www.lostriver.org/, barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com
Authorlink Named
Among Best Education
Resources on the Web
6/10/99—Authorlink has been selected as a featured site in StudyWeb
( http://www.studyweb.com/) as one of the best educational resources on the web.
StudyWeb is one of the Internet’s premier sites for educational resources for students and teachers. Since 1996 professional reviewers have scoured the Internet to select only the finest sites to be included in StudyWeb’s reviews. Each site in StudyWeb includes a detailed review describing it’s merits.
Authorlink Teams
With Lightning to Offer
On-Demand Book Imprint
DALLAS, TX /5/1/99—Authorlink, the award-winning news/information and marketing site for the publishing industry, will launch its own book imprint, Authorlink Press, this summer. The move results in part from a new publishing partnership between Authorlink and Lightning Print, Inc, the print on demand subsidiary of Ingram Book, worlds largest book distributor.
Authorlink Press will carry the fine tradition of New York-style publishing into the digital age, said Authorlink President Doris Booth. We will serve as a market proving ground for the titles that truly deserve to be published and read—titles that eventually may find their way to larger houses, after we establish a solid track for them, said Ms. Booth.
Lower-cost digital and on-demand printing now enable Authorlink Press to publish books once considered economically too risky. The company will aggressively market the titles, establish sales records and then seek to turn them over to larger publishers.
The imprint will use the latest technology to publish digitally-downloadable books and trade paperbacks, printed on demand. Titles will be distributed through multiple on and off-line sales channels, including Ingram, which serves major booksellers such as Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.
Authorlink has also established an alliance with Peanut Press, to help supply electronic books for 2 million Palm Pilot and IBM WorkPad owners. Authorlink marketing ties also include alliances with the book review site, Bookbrowse.com (280, 000 page views annually), larger publishing houses, and other distribution and marketing resources.
Authorlink Press emphasizes aggressive, targeted marketing and distribution for every title it buys-a vital element often missing from tight production and promotional budgets at traditional publishers. The company’s own loyal audience of 170,000 book lovers provides one the ready audiences of book buyers.
Not only do our readers support fellow writers by buying and reading their work. They provide vital marketing feedback. At Authorlink the end consumer will tell us which books they like and why—not marketing reps, nor retail booksellers with special agendas, but the readers themselves, said Ms. Booth.
Admittedly, digital publishing furrows new ground for Authorlink Our imprint is a test of its own-measuring whether consumers will buy truly good titles through Internet sites, hand-held devices and on-demand, with books printed at the time of their order (one- off). Ms. Booth explained.
In 1999 Authorlink Press initially will release 12 fiction and non-fiction titles, both in digital and trade paperback (on demand), with 12 to 24 titles to follow next year. They will be promoted to targeted, vertical markets, and to horizontal mass audiences via the Internet and traditional channels.
The imprints digital books will be available on the Authorlink.com site and through Peanut Press
( http://www.peanutepress.com/) late this summer. Most titles-and all of the initial 12—will also be available in the Ingram title base and may be ordered through all Ingram ordering systems, accessible to Barnes & Noble, Barnesandnoble.com, Amazon.com and, other major booksellers and libraries.
Both first-time and seasoned authors will be included in the list. Categories include suspense/thrillers, mainstream commercial fiction, science fiction/fantasy, romance, and narrative and commercial nonfiction. No anthologies or short stores are considered, and length ranges from 70,000-80,000 words. The new house is not a subsidy or vanity publisher, and will pay standard publishing industry royalties.
Unsolicited manuscripts are NOT accepted at this time and will be automatically recycled. Prospective authors should, instead, consider submitting their work for possible listing in the site’s Author Showcase section.
Authorlink will continue to showcase listings of ready-to-publish manuscripts, and to market them worldwide to editors and agents, as it successfully has done for thee years. Authorlink has been rated among the top 25% of most useful sites on the web by Microsoft’s One Click Away E- zine.
Web site: http://www.authorlink.com/arch4_files/authorlink.htm
Authorlink Named
Among Writer’s Digest
Top 101 Sites For Writers
Writers Digest magazine has selected Authorlink as one of The 101 Best Web Sites for Writers. The 101 were culled from the Digest staffs lists of favorites, as well as from nominations made by about 1,500 visitors to writersdigest.com.
The 101 Best is the cover story of the May 1999 issue of Writers Digest. The list is also published in its entirety on the Writer’s Digest website, at http://www.writersdigest.com/101sites.
The list of recommended websites is just one of several recent additions to writersdigest.com.
Authorlink holds other distinguished industry awards, and including its ranking by Microsoft’s One Click Away E- zine among the top 25% of most useful sites on the web.
Four Authorlink Writers
Sign With WriterBeck
Agency in Two Weeks
5/1/99—Four Authorlink writers will have signed with a single literary agent within the past two-weeks. Beck Roberts, owner of the Writerbeck Agency, has contracted Mackey Murdock and Andrea Giacomuzzi—both listed with Authorlink and found through the site. Two more writers were polishing their manuscripts, but were expected to sign with Ms.Roberts within days.
Beck Roberts represents 70% fiction and 30% nonfiction, and handles most categories except for erotica and cartoons. She has 30 years of experience as a published writer in both fiction and nonfiction and 20 years in related marketing fields. Ms. Roberts has been an agent for a little more than a year, and has already signed seven writers, including the new Authorlink people.
Her agency is based in South Carolina, where she moved with her husband and two children to have a simpler lifestyle than in Atlanta.
“Being a relatively new agent, I am more eager than some to work with the authors and their manuscripts, sending them out with strong cover letters to publishers. I am tireless in my efforts and truly get excited about seeing good works in print,” she said.
The agency has no sales at present but, as Ms. Roberts said, “Good things take time and I am confident in the authors’ work and my ability to promote it successfully.”
Editor’s Note, 5/11/99: This agent has retired due to a severe illness and will not be accepting other clients.
Update: Authorlink Writer
Sells WOLF’S TALE
To TOR Books
Agent Describes Publishing Recipe
By Sam Hughes
The Dickens Group Literary Agency
3/99—David Holland and his upcoming first novel MURCHESTON: THE WOLFS TALE (TOR Books) is a lesson to all who serve as functionaries in today’s literary marketplace. Success may well depend on an old recipe: a good writer, a persistent agent who is willing to nurture true talent, and an editor who takes his or her job to heart and who will fight for a book. In the case of David Holland, whose work has appeared on Authorlink the factors that traditionally made the publishing industry great came together after seven years of productive author/agent interaction.
The heroes of this story are Hollland, one of the finest writers our agency has seen, agent Bob Solinger, who recognized brilliant writing and spent seven years pounding on doors to sell Hollands work, and Karla Zounek, the TOR editor who fell under the spell of Hollands writing and worked one-on-one with him to produce a fine literary horror story with a distinctive Victorian setting and tone.
For agents and editors struggling against adverse forces in the current marketplace, it is important to recognize the Holland phenomenon. Services such as Authorlink — a sterling example of what Internet marketing can and should be are invaluable to everyone, especially to new writers. And the ultimate lesson for writers, agents and editors alike: eventually, good writing sells.
Writer’s Seven Year
Effort Pays Off,
Authorlink Plays Part
Louisville, KY/1/1/99—David Holland, a writer featured on the Authorlink site, since August, 1997, has sold his novel, THE WOLF’S TALE, with The Dickens Group as his agency. David has tried for seven years to become published, and at last found an agency that believed in his work and found the right publisher. More details of his success will be published here soon.
Psychologist Tom Harbin
Becomes 25th Authorlink
Writer to Sell Work
2/15/99—Forensic Psychologist Tom Harbin has sold his nonfiction manuscript, STANCE OF ANGER: RECOGNIZING AND CHANGING THE PATTERNS OF MENS ANGER, to established publisher, John Muir Publications. Tom is the 25th Authorlink writer to sign a contract with a publisher Since sales tracking began in early 1997.
The title will be released in the spring of 2000, according to acquisitions editor Cassandra Conyers, who requested the manuscript directly from Authorlink in May, 1998. Tom had been listed on the site for eight or nine months before receiving the request.
Generously sharing the sales figures with other Authorlink writers, Tom said he was paid a $1,000 advance upon signing a contract, another $1500 upon delivery of the revised manuscript, and the final $1000 will be paid when the book is released. Authorlink assumes a royalty arrangement is also included in the contract.
Tom began writing STANCE about seven years ago, for use with angry men in his clinical practice. The book sort of grew over the next couple of years and I guess I have been actively trying to sell it for about three years.
At first, I naively sent it to editors who had done similar work. Then, I engaged a New York agent who had promoted books for a friend of mine. Honestly, I was about to put the manuscript away and forget about it or start the self-publishing journey. Then I became aware of Authorlink while absently surfing the net for agents.
Tom said having his first work published feels daunting. Muir wants him to increase the book length by about 67% during revision, and he’s not a full-time author. He hopes he can get it done on time, especially since there are substantial penalties for being late.
While not officially working on any new titles, he has started writing some short stories about the goings on in his rural North Carolina county, and he’s been keeping copious notes for a possible book about his role as a forensic psychologist.
When asked what he would advise first-time writers, he said I would not presume to offer anyone advice. I think that lucked out so far.
And how important was Authorlink to his begin published? My book would still be sitting on a dusty disk somewhere, without Authorlink, he concluded.
John Muir Publications, established in 1969, will release 68 titles in 1999, and 75 in 2000. Main interests are in travel and alternative health.
In little more than two years, 215- plus writers have reported signing with agents as a direct result of Authorlink, and more than 960 requests from editors and agents have been processed.
Writer Cindy Appel
Lands Columnist Job
as Result of Authorlink
2/15/99—Cindy Appel, recently named Cyber Columnist of the Quarter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, attributes her job as a Star Telegram Online Columnist directly to Authorlink and the 1998 Authorlink Electrify Your Writing seminar.
I found out how to become a cyber-columnist from the talk given at the Authorlink workshop last May by Star Telegram Online Marketing Director Bonnie Bradshaw. I became a weekly columnist by July of last year, said Cindy.
Her column, titled, Every Day IS Mothers Day can be found at www.star-telegram.com/homes/cappel/columns/momsday.htm. Cindy takes a semi-humorous look at the world through the eyes of being a full-time mom and struggling writer. She has even developed a loyal following of sorts, too, and takes suggestions from readers on future column topics.
I just thought that others who read Authorlink might like to know how helpful it can be to their writing careers, said Cindy.
Agent McHugh Signs
12 Authorlink Writers,
Sells to Key Publishers
12/1/98—Twelve Authorlink writers have signed contracts within the past couple of years with Literary Agent Elisabet Mchugh, all as a direct result of the Authorlink service. And McHugh has sold many of their works to major publishers.
One of these clients, Roland Jansen, whose first book Profits From Natural Resources was just published by John Wiley, is now working on a second investment book. Linda Swink, Eric Winkler, David Whale and Sam Sackett also sold their books through Ms. McHugh.
In recent months, this agent has added a number of other Authorlink writers, including: Steven Levi, David Dial, S.Alan Hepps, Terry Milton, Jim Norton, Rebecca Spalten, and Lewis Tracy. A thirteenth writer is about to be signed with her.
“Authorlink is providing a great service for agents and editors,” says Ms. McHugh, who works exclusively through the Internet and has clients in eight countries. “I’m impressed not only by the quality of the manuscripts that you have listed, but also the prompt service rendered by your staff when I request a manuscript. And I check out the new listings on your website on a regular basis.”
Authorlink Writer
Sells Nonfiction Title
to Lone Wolf Enterprises
12/1/98—Dale C. Maley, author of Road Map to Retirement: How to Quickly and Easily Develop a Financial Plan for Retirement, has sold his work to Roger Wolf’s Lone Wolf Enterprises, Ltd. ( http://www.lonewolfent.net/) as a direct result of Authorlink
The book will be released both in hardcover and online in the first quarter of 1999. Lone Wolf has more than 60 titles in print.
Maley will receive 15% of gross for printed book and 15% of gross for electronic book sales.
Maley discovered Authorlink when he picked up a paper flier at the Harriet Austin Writer’s Conference in Athens, Georgia last July, then followed up by visiting the site at http://www.authorlink.com/arch4_files/authorlink.htm. (Note: The second annual Authorlink New Author Awards Banquet will be held as part of the 1999 Harriet Austin Writer’s Conference in Athens, July 23-25, 1999).
Dale, who has been writing for about two years, said it took him only 15 months to find a publisher through Authorlink He first found an agent through Authorlink who tried, but failed to sell the title to a large publisher.
How does it feel to have his first work published? “Very exciting, it has been a long, arduous, and perilous journey from writing those first few words of the manuscript until getting it published, “ said Dale.
He advises new writers to “Make sure your book is either the best among all the competition or among the first few books published in a new subject area. Be diligent, patient, and believe in your yourself and your work.
Authorlink Helps
Writer Secure
International Agent
12/1/98—J.D. Wetterling, author of SON OF THUNDER, has sold his first work to domestic publisher, Rivilo Books, Felix C. Lowe, publisher. The title was schedule for release in November, 1998. While J.D. located a publisher on his own, it was Authorlink that helped him find his agent. The Stefanidis Agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, discovered J.D.s listing on the Authorlink site and requested a review of the manuscript. The writer agreed to let Stefanidis handle the foreign rights.
Wetterling , who has been writing for nine years, had tried to locate an editor and agent for the last eight years. He found Authorlink while surfing the net. He found the publisher networking through friends.
How does it feel to have his first work published? “Wonderful!” he exclaimed. Wetterling, whose day job is as a Stockbroker with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, has two more novels in progress. He hopes to write all day, every day, for the rest of his days. Books and the Internet helped him more than anything else to improve his craft.
He advised new writers to “never give up.”
Authorlink Writers
Now Able to Track
Their Own Page Hits
12/1/98— Authorlink writers are now able to track the number of hits to their individual pages each month. We’re now adding individual counters to every page, so writers can determine the level of interest in their listed manuscripts. The counter, which resets at the first of each month, does not show who visited the page, but it gives the writer an idea of how interested editors, agents and general readers are in his or her topic and title.
The counter is now being added to every new writer’s page. Writers with existing listings can request an ID and password for the service by emailing: dbooth@authorlink.com
JLA Agency Signs
Four Authorlink Writers
In 60 Days, Praises Site
11/15/98—Jay Lace, owner of JLA Literary, reports that he has signed contracts to represent four Authorlink writers during the past 60 days.
They include: Michael Sedge, Author of the novel, The Oracle, and a nonfiction work, Fettuccini or the Frustrated Soul; Margaret Brennecke, author of the novel, Seeking Refuge; Miles Twaddell, author of the novel, Victory Day, and Charles Carron, author of the non-fiction work, The Suing Game.
JLA, a new agency actively looking to build a small roster of clients, found all four writers listed on Authorlink
“We are looking for original works with commercial appeal,” said Mr. Lace. “We have discovered that using Authorlink helps us separate the chaff from the wheat, and saves us hundreds of hours that would otherwise be wasted on unsuitable manuscripts.”
The agency adheres to the AAR’s guidelines, although it is not yet a registered member.
Wiley Releases
Authorlink Writer’s
First Book in November
11/1/98—Roland Jansen, who found an agent and publisher through Authorlink, has received the first copy of his new book, Profits in Natural Resources, from publisher John Wiley & Sons. The new release shipped to major bookstore chains in early November.
“It all started with Authorlink, ” Jansen said in a message to Authorlink this week. “The Internet works.”
Agent Signs
Three Authorlink
Writers Within Months
AUSTIN, TX/10/98—Brian G. Clark, Esq., owner of BGC Literary Management, has signed contracts to represent three Authorlink writers within less than two months.
BGC is an aggressive and highly professional new agency headquartered in Austin, TX.
Clark said he has signed Eric Scherer, author of THE OLYMPUS PROJECT; Ekaterine (Katy) Terlinden, who wrote THE DIVIDED CHILD, and Pete Murphy, author of SALAMANDERS. Ms. Terlinden was Best of Show (suspense/mystery/thriller) winner in the first annual Authorlink New Author Awards competition. (See the second annual Authorlink competition guidelines at http://www.authorlink.com/contest_99.html).
“The advent of literary agents came as publishing houses cut editorial staff, allowing agents to step in as the front line arbiters of taste and commercial viability,” said Clark. “Authorlink has become the new additional front line for the busy agent, a source for trusted pre-screened material to pursue at their convenience.”
Authorlink Finalists
Sign Publishing Contract
With Neighborhood Press
8/29/98—Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss, finalists in both the Romance and SF/Fantasy/Horror categories in the 1998 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, have signed a publishing contract with Neighborhood Press for their historical romance novel, SWEETER THAN WINE. SWEETER THAN WINE is scheduled to be released in May, 1999, under the pseudonym of Michaela August.
In this novel WWI widow Alice Roye must fight to save her Sonoma winery from the threat of Prohibition. She falls in love with her new vintner, a European refugee, not knowing that he served as an enemy soldier during the war.
“We believe that entering our work in contests such as the one sponsored by Authorlink really opened some doors for us, ” said Karin Welss. “SWEETER THAN WINE is definitely a local history novel, highlighting a little-known aspect of Prohibition,” explains Welss when asked about how she and Gibbons chose the subject for their novel . “A lot of hard-working American winemakers and grape-growers lost their livelihoods when beer and wine were outlawed along with hard liquor, and California’s wine industry languished for the next fifty years.”
Gibbons adds, “It was a very emotional time, so soon after World War I and the deadly influenza epidemic. Although the concept of Prohibition was well-intentioned, its effect was devastating even before gangsters and bathtub gin became the popular symbols of its failure. Grape-growers didn’t know, right up to harvest in 1919, whether or not they could legally pick the best crop they’d ever seen. I found the research fascinating.”
How did they make the sale? After finishing the manuscript, Gibbons and Welss spent a year sending out query letters and partials. They also entered several writing contests, including the Authorlink contest. “The romance writing community is incredibly supportive of new writers,” Welss says, and Gibbons agrees: “We got a lot of help and encouragement from the published authors who judged two of the contests.” A major obstacle to overcome in selling SWEETER THAN WINE was its WWI-era setting. “It’s always difficult for new authors to break in,” remarks Gibbons, “and even more difficult when editors are convinced that no one wants to read historicals set in the early 20th century.” Their finalist status helped generate leads for possible publishers, as did their membership on several writing-related Internet listservs.
Welss remembers: “Someone on RWALINK (the Romance Writers of America members-only listserv) mentioned that Neighborhood Press was a fairly new publishing house open to romance submissions, and they spoke very highly of the Senior Editor, Rhea Griffiths. We queried Rhea via email, got a favorable response, and the rest is history.” Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss are working on separate solo projects at the moment, although they have several more co-authored novels in the planning stages, including a sequel to SWEETER THAN WINE.
Gibbons is currently writing a sequel to In a Mirror, Darkly, set amid the turmoil of Berkeley in the 60’s. Welss has another historical romance in progress, a tale of love and blackmail set in Restoration England.
About Neighborhood Press: Rhea Griffiths founded Neighborhood Press in 1995 with nothing but a desktop computer, an America Online account and the belief that “if she built it, they would come…” Now a rapidly growing small press, Neighborhood Press plans to publish twelve novels in 1999 as well as six issues of The Lovers Knot, a new magazine aimed at readers and writers of romance. Additional information about Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss, writing together as Michaela August, is available at the HREF=”http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/3524/”Michaela August Web Page.
Another Writer Wins
Publishing Contract
Via Authorlink
EquiLibrium Press Signs Mitchell
NEW YORK, NY & CULVER CITY, CA/ 8/98—Joyce Slayton Mitchell, author of more than 32 nonfiction books published by major houses such as Bantam, Dell, Simon & Schuster, and others, has sold another nonfiction work as a direct result of Authorlink
Ms. Mitchell’s newest manuscript, Pregnant in New Zealand: Mother and Daughter Letters from Afar, will be published in May, 1999 by EquiLibrium Press, Inc. of Culver City, California.
EquiLibrium Press Publisher Susan Goland requested the manuscript several months ago after seeing Mitchell’s listing on Authorlink This will be EquiLibrium’s first title as a new publisher, specializing in all aspects of health and wellness for women.
Pregnant in New Zealand is the story of a courageous and adventuresome young woman who finds an exotic life in the Pacific. This collection of New Zealand-to-Vermont letters is written in the first hours of pregnancy, leads to a dramatic 45-hour labor, and reveals the tensions of midwifery, and differences in generations, race and hemisphere.
Ms. Mitchell, who lives in New York, has successfully listed several works with Authorlink since late 1997. The newest book had been listed on the site for about 45 days or less, when Publisher Goland spotted it. The entire process, from listing to sale, took place within about three months.
Authorlink Winner
Signs Six-Figure
Deal at Harper Collins
7/98—June London, mainstream winner of the 1998 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, has signed a six-figure contract with Harper Collins for her novel, Bingo Queens and a second work-in-progress, tentatively titled Stray Bullets.
The first title will be released in April, 1999, and the second manuscript will be completed in August, 1999. Both will be released under Harper Collins’ Cliff Street imprint.
Ms. London, whose real name is June Park, lives with her husband in a small Oklahoma town, similar to the setting for Bingo Queens, her first novel.
She met her agent, Robert Tabian of Robert Tabian Literary Agency , four years ago at an Oklahoma writers’ conference. He showed considerable interest in her story at the time, though only a few chapters had been completed.
June sent an earlier novel out to 20 agents, all of whom rejected her. In 1988, early in her career, she took lessons from well-known writing coach, Jack Bickam at the University of Oklahoma in 1988. “He was my mentor, one on one,” June said. She began winning various contests and published a few shorts stories. She also began teaching creative writing at local colleges. “The more I taught, the more I learned,” June told Authorlink.
When she finished Bingo Queens in February last year, she suddenly remembered the meeting with Tabian. A few weeks earlier, she had entered the Authorlink contest. On April 13, 1998 Authorlink notified her that she had won first place in the mainstream nonfiction category. About two weeks later, Tabian notified her that Harper Collins wanted to buy the work.
“While we weren’t responsible for making the direct connection with HarperCollins, “said Authorlink Editor Doris Booth. “we sure know how to spot the winners.”
Tabian is a former editor at Putnam and was with International Creative Management before opening his own agency. Among Tabin’s clients is 1993 Pulitzer Prize Winner Robert Olan Butler.
How does it feel to have her first two novels sold? “I don’t know,” says June. I suppose reality has yet to sink in.”
Asked when she first became interested in writing, Ms. Park, a native of London, England, said that as a child during World War II, she read books while sequestered in bomb shelters to calm her fears and remove her from reality.
For the past ten years she has devoted herself exclusively to her writing career.
Authorlink Author
Tim McGuire Tops
Ingram’s Hot List
DALLAS/FT. WORTH, TX/ 6/30/98—Tim McGuire’s newly-released Western, Danger Ridge (DORCHESTER/LEISURE BOOKS) has been listed by Ingram Book Company among the top ten most requested western fiction titles in the mass market/paperback category for several consecutive weeks in June. The excellent showing was posted even before the title was scheduled to reach bookstores by the end of that month.
Tim McGuire is among writers whose ready-to-publish and newly-released works are listed on Authorlink Danger Ridge is his first novel. Another western, titled, “Nobility,” , is due for release by LEISURE next year. Ingram is the world’s largest trade book distributor.
Authorlink Writer
Pax Riddle Sells
Book to Berkley
6/20/98—Authorlink writer, Pax Riddle, has sold his first novel “Lost River” to Berkley Publishing Group for the mid four figures. Pax joined the Authorlink site in early 1997. Some months later he signed with a top New York agent, whom he found through the Authorlink private agency directory. Berkley Editor Kim Waltemeyer bought the manuscript in June, 1998.
Lost River is the story of a young Modoc woman married to a white man, who struggles to balance her Indian heritage and her family in the face of looming war between her people and the US Army. The book will be released in Summer, 1999.
Pax Riddle writes full time, and lives with his wife and teenage daughter in Connecticut. He is working on a second novel, The Education of Ruby Loonfoot, and recently sold a nonfiction article to Wild West magazine.
Pax advises new writers to join a good work-oriented critique group, and consider their comments closely, while maintaining your style and integrity. “If you wish to sell your work, versus merely write it for artistic, self satisfaction, find out about the marketplace. See where you can find a niche,” he says.
New Author Finds
Agent on Internet,
Sells Six-figure Deal
7/98—First-time novelist William Kowalski of Erie PA. has sold his manuscript, Eddie’s Bastard, to Harper Collins. After receiving offers from several houses, agent Anne Hawkins of John Hawkins & Associates Inc., New York accepted a two book deal totalling in the mid six figures. Marjorie Braman, Senior Vice President for Harper Collins Adult Trade Books made the successful offer. Irv Schwartz of The Renaissance Agency, Los Angeles, CA, will handle film and television rights.
Kowalski first contacted Hawkins with an unsolicited E-mail query. He found her E-mail address via a search of AOL user profiles for literary agents.
In the fictional autobiography, William Kowalski explores the importance of family and the place of the individual in the continuum of history and time.
Living alone in a decaying mansion, Grandpa Mann is the last surviving member of a once-great family. Or so he believes until the day he stumbles drunkenly out the back door and discovers a baby in a picnic basket. A note taped to the handle identifies the occupant as “EDDIE’S BASTARD,” the child of his only
son recently killed in Viet Nam. What follows is the bittersweet story of the old man raising his grandson as the last, proud scion of the Mann family and steeping him in all of its rich and bizarre heritage.
Kowalski braids the story of the boy’s journey to young manhood together with family anecdotes and homespun philosophical excerpts from great-great grandfather Mann’s Civil War diary. The result is a story mixing warm humor with nostalgia and the inevitable sadness common to most American family histories.
Michigan Writer
Sells First Book
Via Authorlink
7/98—David Whale has found an agent and sold his book, HOW SCHOOLS REALLY WORK: AN ACTION GUIDE FOR PARENTS, through Authorlink Before having his work accepted for a listing on Authorlink he had written an agent himself, only to be turned down.
“It seemed like to me there should be a better way to reach potential editors and agents. Authorlink turned out to be the answer,” David said.
He found Authorlink through a search engine while surfing the web. “I liked the way it was laid out and the content,” he said. ” I figured it was worth a try, and the results and support were outstanding all the way.”
Whale said his agent has been great to work with. “We do all of our communicating via email. She is based in Idaho and I am in Michigan. We’ve never met face to face but I feel I know her and we have a very good relationship.”
David waited a number of months before his agent connected with him through Authrolink! But persistence paid off. About nine months after his listing on Authorlink Agent Elisabet McHugh had made a sale for David. That’s less than half the time it usually takes to sell a manuscript.
The hardcover book will be released in September, 1998 by Avisson. While David has published some scholarly papers and continues to do research and writing on the same topic as his book, this is his first full-length published work.
Sam Sackett’s
‘Career Karate’
Finds Publisher
6/98—Sam Sackett expected it would take a long time to find an agent, even with the help of Authorlink His listing first appeared on the site in April, 97, and about six or even months later he signed with agent, Elisabet McHugh, after receiving requests from three different representatives, and subsequently a publishing house.
“Placing the book with a publisher took longer than I thought, “said Sackett. “I think any author feels his work is so good that it will sell immediately, and I am no exception. Reality was, as it usually is, disillusioning.” That process took about four more months.
“Was I skeptical of Authorlink at first? Sure. Anybody who has lived long in this economy has run across enough scams to make him skeptical of anything that sounds like a good deal. It’s a by-product of the free enterprise system that crooks are free to function until they’re caught.
“I found Authorlink very professional and timely. I was particularly impressed with their efforts to make sure that the agents they list operate ethically, ” Sam said. ” I even passed along a couple of names of agents who approached me about whom I was leery, and Authorlink acted appropriately.”
How did Sam Sackett begin his writing career?
“Miss Grassle, my kindergarten teacher, assigned all of us to write a book in imitation of the little reader which was our text. I became hooked on writing and have been writing ever since.”
Right now Sam has obligations that prevent him from the kind of sustained writing effort that he would like to make, so he’s working along at translations of a couple of Flemish novels because he can do them a page at a time in between other chores. When he can free up his time more fully, he plans to finish a book on how to get a job, TWELVE STEPS TO FINDING THE PERFECT CAREER, which his present agent is also interested in representing.
Another agent whom he found through the Authorlink listings, has three of Sam’s novels: ADOLF HITLER IN OZ, AN AMERICAN PRODIGAL, and SWEET BETSY FROM PIKE.
Sam’s book, CAREER KARATE: WINNING STRATEGIES FOR MANAGERS, will be released by The Graduate Group sometime this spring.
“I think Authorlink is a great opportunity for writers. Before I discovered Authorlink, I had used the lists of agents in the Literary Market Place, only to be told by them — at least by those of them that answered at all — that they were not accepting work from new writers. The agents listed by Authorlink are all agents actively seeking new talent. For that reason Authorlink saves writers an enormous amount of time and effort in bringing them together with people who actually are interested in considering their work. So I am really very thankful to Authorlink and will be happy to sing its praises wherever and whenever I have the occasion.”
Eric Winkler Sells
First Work
Within Five Months
6/98—Eric Winkler signed with a literary agent and sold his first manuscript, Partnership Marketing, to Greenwood Publishing, all within only five months. How did he do that? Through Authorlink
“At first, I made the mistake that first-time authors make of trying to pitch my manuscript directly to publishing houses. While searching the Internet for publishers, I ran across Authorlink” Eric explained. “Rather than try and learn the book publishing industry overnight, I thought I’d “borrow some experience” from Authorlink and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.”
Authorlink asked Eric if he were skeptical of the service at first, and why?
“I have to admit I was skeptical at first. There are so many mine fields on the Internet that I worry about paying for any service offered on the ‘net. I was impressed by the list of authors on the site and by the current publishing industry news. It seemed like a gamble worth taking and I’m very pleased with the connections Authorlink made for me.”
Eric had searched for several months and had a number of dead-end conversations with publishers. He made the mistake of thinking he didn’t need an agent. “Looking back, it was a little like thinking I could do my own dental work with a few lessons,” he commented.
Eric said he was surprised how fast Authorlink produced results for him. It took less than a month for him to sign with agent, Elisabet McHugh through Authorlink He agreed to partner with her in October. By December, 97 he had received his first serious offer from a publisher. Then, in February, 98, only five months after Authorlink connected him with an agent, he sold his first book.
Asked if he had any advice for other first-time authors, Eric advised: “Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know. Do you need Authorlink? Yes. You can’t possibly expect to learn the publishing industry overnight, so let Authorlink lend you their contacts and their expertise.
“I don’t know about other writers, but I asked myself over and over whether or not I needed an agent. I did. My agent helped me focus my work and helped crystallize the vision for my project. Unless you are fortunate enough to be a publisher writing about the publishing industry, you need an agent to help you navigate this complicated business.”
Eric Winkler said he had “nothing but praise” for Authorlink “This service sets realistic expectations and then exceeds them. I consider myself fortunate to have found Authorlink and even more fortunate that my agent found me through Authorlink This is a service I’d recommend to any first time author.”
Roland Jansen
Finds Publisher
In Six Months
5/98—Roland Jansen has just sold his first book to John Wiley & Sons as a direct result of having secured agent Elisabet McHugh through Authorlink
Unnatural Profits from Natural Resources: How to Make Big Profits, Globally, From Oil, Gas, Grains and Metals will be released by John Wiley & Sons in August, 1998.
Dutch-born Jansen, director of fund management for the oldest bank in Liechtenstein, wrote the book in German in September 1996 and originally titled it, The Coming Squeeze in Natural Resources. A friend who review it told him his German was “hopeless” and suggested he write it in English. He did. In January, 1997 he began surfing the Internet to find information on publishers and came across Authorlink
“I thought Authorlink was a great idea for an aspiring writer living in a remote area and with no contacts in the publishing world. My book was accepted for listing on the service and after only two months, in March, 1997, Authorlink Editor Doris Booth informed me that literary agent Elisabet McHugh was interested in reading the full manuscript. After receiving valuable background information from Doris about the agent, I signed with Ms. McHugh on April 3.”
In the following six months, Ms. McHugh encouraged Jansen to refocus the book and he completed the new version in August, 1997. Only a month later John Wiley & Sons made the offer to publish the book.
His advice to new writers: “Listen to the feedback you get from publishers who don’t want to buy. Your work must be unique and you must be able to tell a publisher why it is so special. Finally, don’t let anyone take away your dream of being published.”
Joyce Lackey
Sells Book
to Gardenia Press
72nd Authorlink Writer to Land Publisher
A publisher contact made several years ago has finally paid of for Authorlink writer Joyce Lackey. The author who received a request for her novel as a result of her Authorlink listing for, The Ghosts of Buffalo Creek, has at last sold the work to Gardenia Press, a small publisher who plans to release the work in July 2002.
News Archives
Bemis Becomes
71st Authorlink Writer
to Sell Manuscript
June1, 2001—Michael E. Bemis of Kennebunk, Maine, became the 71st author to sell his work as a direct result of listing his work on Authorlink.com.
His book, Safe & Sound, a nonfiction work about how to buy a safe, private, and quiet home, will be published by Hanrow Press of Rancho Santa Fe, California. The small press, founded in 1982, has specialized in law and safety engineering books until now. The publication date for Safe & Sound has not yet been determined. Michael’s work had been listed with Authorlink for about a year when Hanrow requested a look at the full manuscript. Authorlink interviewed the author about his success:
AUTHORLINK: When did you begin your writing career, and what prompted you to do so? Is there a special story behind your decision to become an author?
BEMIS: I started writing in earnest while serving as Sheriff of York County, Maine. When I left law enforcement full-time I was able to devote more time to my writing.
AUTHORLINK: Who was the greatest influence on your decision to write, and in what ways did they encourage you?
BEMIS: My mother who is a published author.
AUTHORLINK: How important has your agent been in guiding your career?
BEMIS: I briefly had an agent but due to personal hardship they were forced to close. I presently do not have an agent.
AUTHORLINK: How did Authorlink help?
BEMIS: Authorlink’s excellent service and support has consistently exceeded my expectations. Without Authorlink, Safe & Sound would not be poised for publication.
AUTHORLINK: Do you have any advice or insights for newcomers trying to break into publishing?
BEMIS: It sounds monotonous, but they should just keep trying.
AUTHORLINK: Do you perceive New York publishing to be a closed society or an open one?
BEMIS: I think it’s open to good writing and content that’s timely and unique.
AUTHORLINK: What are publishers looking for today?
BEMIS: What will sell and authors with a passion to sell it.
AUTHORLINK: How did you learn your craft? Through reading? Conferences? A university? Mentoring? A combination of these, or other means?
BEMIS: Nothing formal, just a lot of research, reading and writing.
Jan Letoha Becomes
70 th Authorlink Writer
to Land Publisher
April 15, 2001—Jan Letoha this month became the 70 th Authorlink writer to sign a publishing contract as a result of her listing on Authorlink.com. Her first book, Bury The Past , will be published by Port Town Publishing in August, 2002.
Port Town Publishing (PTP) is a small publishing house located in Superior, Wisconsin. The company was founded in 1999 by Jean Hackensmith, a struggling romance author who got tired of getting rejection letters from the New York publishers. PTP publishes about 4-5 novels per year, including original romance, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror.
Bury The Past was listed on Authorlink for 22 months. During that time, Jan also signed with an agent through Authorlink, but the agent closed her agency due to illness.
Jan has also listed her second book, Fire On The Moon, with Authorlink. It’s another spooky, romantic suspense story.
How did Jan feel when she heard that her book would be published?
“Like a genie popped out of a bottle and granted me three wishes! It’s the best feeling in the world!”
Jan began writing about ten years ago. “I read a time travel/historical romance and thought, ‘If this author can get away with such a fantastic story, maybe my ideas aren’t so crazy after all.’ So I started writing Bury The Past. Writing fiction was a lot harder than I thought it’d be, though. Getting the hang of writing dialogue was really tough.
Before listing her work with Authorlink, Jan had tried the traditional methods of marketing — sending out query letters and sample chapters. “I had another agent a few years back,” Jan said. “A word of advice — if an agent asks for money up front, look out! Maybe I’m just jinxed when it comes to agents. Anyway, I’m convinced that Bury The Past would be sitting in a shoe box on my closet shelf if I hadn’t discovered Authorlink.”
When Jan is working on a book, she’s a person obsessed — or possessed. She’ll write 10 – 12 hours a day, especially during the summer.
In the real world, Jan teaches Psychology and U.S. History at a South Georgia high school.
What advice would she give to writers who want to be published?
“Research the requirements for different types of novels. It seems that publishers want to see key elements in a book that will appeal to their specific type of market. Read a book on editing manuscripts so you can delete what publishers don’t want to see. List your book on Authorlink — it’s the only thing that worked for me! Then develop a huge store of patience and persistence and don’t think you’re home free once you sign a contract. That’s when the real work starts!”
Authorlink Writer
Joy Jasper Sells Work
to St. Martin’s Press
67th Authorlink Sale
2/26/01—Joy Waldron Jasper this month became the 67th Authorlink writer to sell a manuscript as a direct result of contacts made through Authorlink. Jasper found her New York agent— Sam Fleishman of Literary Artists Representatives — via Authorlink, and he subsequently sold one of her works to St. Martin’s Press.
The new book, “The USS Arizona: The Ship, the Men, the Attack!,” will be in bookstores November 1, 2001, in time for Veteran’s Day (November 11) and the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day (December 7, 2001)
“After meeting my agent through Authorlink, we signed a contract in December 2000 to represent my novel. Then we signed a second contract in January to represent my nonfiction book,” Jasper explained. “As is often the case, the nonfiction sold first. St. Martin’s Press bought it in February 2001, and has moved at an impressive speed to release it in less than a year, so as to offer it to readers at the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day — a mere nine months later, which is stunning in the world of publishing! Kudos to my wonderful editor, Mac Talley at St. Martin’s Press, and to my amazing agent, Sam Fleishman.”
Joy became an Authorlink writer in October, 2000. The fictional work that originally attracted her agent is titled “Betrayal at Pearl Harbor.” While that novel hasn’t yet sold (as of press time), the nonfiction book on Pearl Harbor was rapidly sold through the agent who connected with Jasper through Authorlink.
The USS Arizona book is the story of life aboard the USS Arizona in peacetime, and the survival stories of 10 men who lived through the attack. As a journalist and a diver, Joy first visited the USS Arizona underwater in 1983, covering the story of the photo documentation and scientific illustration of the gallant battleship, the greatest casualty of the Pearl Harbor attack. She was so enthralled with the story, she searched out survivors and began interviewing them, crisscrossing the country for several years to hear their stories. Hearing their emotional tales, she was fascinated by the tremendous bond and affection they felt for their ship, and she felt it was a story that needed to be told.
“I’m a writer who prefers to write every day, in the morning when I’m fresh, and for a period of three to four hours,” Jasper said of her working habits. ” If I’m on a splendid roll, I might write for longer, but I like to achieve 10 pages a day that I’ll keep. It never hurts to stop in the middle — of an idea, a sentence, a chapter. I like returning the next day to something unfinished so that I’m inspired to jump in again. I don’t think there’s any one way to write, but I think it’s important to find your own best period of the day and the length of time that makes sense for you. Writing books is my top priority, and I write full time.”
For the record, Joy’s children are grown, and she lives in New England with her husband and a garden full of perennials
“I’ve completed my second novel in a series of underwater thrillers (the first — working title, Betrayal at Pearl Harbor, which is listed on Authorlink — is under review at several major houses at this time),” Joy said.
I’m currently working on another nonfiction book on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and another historical biography is in the outline stage.
“I want to thank Authorlink for providing me a forum for my work, she added. “I was encouraged by having been selected for the Authorlink web site, and once I had a page there (http://www.authorlink.com/001051th.html), I had confidence to approach agents. I sent a number of Authorlink-listed agents an email, condensing my query to three paragraphs and asking them to look for more information on my page. I got positive responses from eight out of ten queries I sent. Of those eight, I was extremely fortunate to find a superb agent to represent me, and who got a sale within a month at a major press.
“Thanks to all at Authorlink. And I want to say to my fellow writers: ‘”Keep writing, and don’t lose heart! If it happened to me, it can happen to you.'”
Authorlink Writer
Chopra Finds
Publisher for Work
68th Authorlink Sale
4/1/01—Dr. Prem Chopra, author of the new age nonfiction book, “If I Had Known,” has sold his work to Hanrow Press in Rancho Santa Fe, California. The small press, founded in 1982, has specialized in law and safety engineering books until now. Chopra’s book is their first venture into trade books.
Dr. Chopra has been listed with Authorlink since October 2000. He signed a contract with Hanrow Press early this year. He became the 68th author to sell his work through Authorlink in the last 36 months.
Jan Wallace Becomes
69thAuthorlink Writer
to Sign With Publisher
69th Authorlink Sale
4/1/01—Jan Wallace became the 69th writer to sign a publishing contract through Authorlink in the past 36 months in late March. Ms. Wallace, a first-time author, signed a deal with PortTown Publishing for her book, Where Roses Grow Wild. The publisher is a small Wisconsin house that releases about four books per year.
Ms. Wallace had two manuscripts listed on Authorlink between 1999 and 2000. In January 2000, Authorlink received a request from WMG Promotions, a literary agency, requesting the manuscript. She signed a contract with WMG the very next month, and shortly thereafter WMG sold the work to PortTown.
Port Town senior editor Jean Hackensmith wrote to Agents Cary and Sherry Wolf that she found the manuscript to be “funny, romantic and tragic.” She said she had tears streaming down her face in the end.
Jan Wallace credits the editor with giving each writer a lot of attention to make sure the manuscript is everything it should be for the reader.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling knowing someone reads your manuscript and it really has an effect on them positive effect at that, that you make them feel for the characters themselves, because that’s what it’s all about-believing in the story.”
“Authorlink has made it possible for writers to link up with the correct agents and publishers, and gives agents a chance to review works by various writers,” Jan explained.
I started along time ago writing, as child I would write stories and put on plays in the basement of my parents’ home. I’ve always told stories, then one day said, lets see if anyone would like to publish any of the stories. Friends have read them and said they were good, but, hey, these are friends after all.
Jan once worked for The University of Georgia Extension Service in the Fort Valley, Georgia office. Today she is a fulltime writer.
“I start a manuscript and work each day 6 to 8 hours,” she said. “It usually takes 3 months to finish a draft, then another three months to get the bugs out. I edit, fix mistakes and read it over and over, proofing each page until it is correct.
“I can see why books cost what they do and why some people just give up, it is not an easy job to do it over and over, no ones manuscript is correct the first go around, you realize when you re-read it the feeling might not be there so you have to correct it put heart where there was none.”
Jan is married to her childhood sweetheart, and they have four children. Twenty-six years ago they bought an old historic house with 17 rooms in Marshallville, Georgia, restored it and live there today with their family and many dogs, cats, doves, ducks, chickens and rabbits.
“My advise to other writers is: don’t quit dreaming about what you believe in, you have to believe in yourself, before anyone else will, and then you go from there, keep writing don’t give up. “Write from your heart, and let it be about something you know. If you venture into another area you don’t know the reader will know it too, and you’ve lost. So stay with what you feel and understand most about life. “It’ll work for you.
“I am especially thankful for my agents,” Jan said. “They have worked late into the mornings trying to find a suitable publisher. They work with writers because they love the written word.”
Authorlink’s Goldring
Wins Series Contract
With Berkley Publishing
Kat Goldring, among new writers listed on Authorlink, has signed a three-book contract with Berkley Publishing Group for her cozy mystery series, Crow’s Feet and Lemon Drops, to be released in September 2001. Kim Waltemyer is the Berkley editor who made the acquisition, and Carol McCleary of Wilshire Literary Agency, made the sale for four figures.
McCleary had represented the series 5 1/2 years before the first book sold.
“I already had an agent when Authorlink was kind enough to list me in some of their first presentations,” said Kat. “Ours was a mutual endeavor as Authorlink was just starting up and I had just finished a revision with the first novel under the wings of the DFW Writers’ Workshop. Just as an aside, that DFW Writers’ Workshop stands for that and never has meant “Dallas Ft. Worth” as some like to say. In fact one of the founding members with whom I was lucky enough to work with and helped name the group told me it really meant, Damn Fine Writers.
“I believe the fact that AUTHORLINK listed me was one of the reasons my agent did not give up on presenting my work to top notch publishers. I have a few magazine articles and short stories published but my best and most extensive showcase was writing and illustrating with my original drawings a newspaper column for a year titled ‘THE MEDICINE PATH.’
“AUTHORLINK has been wonderful. My agent and I have always been grateful for the professional format available on the site for presenting my work. We came very close to making a sale through the site with China, and may yet sell the foreign rights with help through AUTHORLINK.
Kat Goldring works full time as a high school foreign language department head and Spanish teacher. She spends an hour to hour and a half per day in editing and rewriting the novels and outlines for the first three in the WILLI GALLAGHER MYSTERY SERIES. During holidays and summer time (8 weeks) that time increases to 3-4 hours a day. This doesn’t include the hours for research, marketing, the time to work with other writers on shared projects, and commitments to two writing groups.
“Not only do I work the 40-hour drill and the writing tight-wire,” Kat explains, “but I also sing and play the guitar in two groups: SISTERS OF THE WIND includes a fellow writer, Shirley McKee. We two do mostly classic/golden country western and cowboy/girl programs for local clubs, groups, schools, city gatherings and such. The HIGH MILEAGE country western band, some seven members strong, includes three law officers, performs for trail drives and city functions.
How does it feel to have a published contract?
“I go back and forth between elation of having a fantastic adventure and panic attacks,” says Kat. “I am so thankful for all the wonderful folks, including AUTHORLINK, who have crossed my path at the right time, and have helped me make a lifelong dream come true. WAKAN TANKA (Great Spirit), of course, I thank for all lessons learned and all paths. This is one of those paths strewn with bluebonnets, soft moss and warm cuddly critters. The panic part has to do with getting to those book signings. I’m directional dyslexic and panic when traveling to new places. So . . . maybe that’s the next adventure and lesson!”
Kat Goldring currently is working on the next two novels in the WILLI GALLAGHER SERIES: SNOW SNAKE and SWEET CHARIOT. She also have a second series, the DELTA PAIGE SERIES, and has finished the first book in that series, COOPER STREET GIRLS.
Authorlink asked the author: How helpful was DFW Writers’ Workshop?
“I would not have cleared out the flaws in my manuscript. The members helped me to develop a selling novel. I would not have met my agent, Carol McCleary, if DFW Writers’ Workshop had not had her as a guest. I would not have had the opportunity to meet my editor, KIM WALTEMYER with BERKLEY PUBLISHING. I interviewed with her during her visit with DFWWW. Although I’ve served as an officer and hosted many dinners as well as parties at my own country home for the members, editors and agents, I still owe DFWWW a great deal.”
Two Authorlink Press
Writers Earn
Top Recognition
Dallas and Atlanta/2/15/01— Jerry Lee Davis, author of Twin City (AUTHORLINK PRESS), and Ginnie Bivona, author of Ida Mae Tutweiler and the Traveling Tea Party (AUTHORLINK PRESS), have recently earned top recognition in two different markets.
Jerry Lee Davis of Atlanta has been nominated for the First Novel Award in the 37th annual Georgia Author of the Year Awards, sponsored by the Georgia Writers’ Association. Ginnie Bivona’s Ida Mae Tutweiler recently climbed to number one on the Dallas Morning News Bestseller List for paperback fiction. Ginnie lives in Dallas.
The Georgia Awards ceremony, hosted by Mercer University Press, will be held at a dinner March 17 at Mercer University in Macon,Georgia.
Among a number of recent review of Ginnie Bivona’s book was an article by Don Johnson on Read-a-Bargain.com.Johnson called Bivona’s Ida Mae “A wonderful,character-driven story that produces open memories we thought we’d forgotten. . . . I expected a typical ‘woman’s’ book but found a story of human beings for human beings. Man or woman your time won’t be wasted on this one.”
66th Authorlink
Writer Signs
Publishing Contract
Charlene Tess has become the 66th author to find a publisher as a direct result of Authorlink. Port Town Publishing, a small Wisconsin publisher, will release Ms. Tess’s THE VAN WINKLE BRIDE as a trade paperback romance in June 2001. The book, originally listed on Authorlink as THE VAN WINKLE CONNECTION, is Ms. Tess’s first published work.
“The senior romance editor of Port Town Publishing saw my posting on the Authorlink website and thought my novel sounded intriguing and suitable for her list for 2001,” Charlene explained. “She contacted Authorlink Editor Doris Booth, who contacted me. Doris Booth forwarded an e- mail to me from Port Town Publishing. I sent the publisher a copy of my manuscript by snail mail. The editor read it and said she could not put it down. She offered me a contract by e-mail and then sent me a written contract by snail mail.”
Charlene listed her novel on Authorlink on April 10, 2000, and sold it on November 25.
“My husband and I met Doris Booth at a SouthWest Writers Conference and decided to advertise our editing business on Authorlink. Two of my novels had won first place at Southwest Writers Conference Contests, and I had been trying to get them published by the old-fashioned way: query, partial, full manuscript, SASE, wait, wait, wait method. Authorlink sounded like an attractive, modern way to market my novels. And it worked! I am delighted with the results,” Charlene said.
“I have been writing as long as I can remember and have published essays, feature articles, short stories, and a nonfiction book, but this will be my first published novel.
“Presently, I am working on a rewrite of a romance novel that my sister and I co-wrote, and I am about one-third of the way through a mainstream novel entitled The Greatest Gift. It is the story of the unshakable bond between a mother and daughter in spite of tragic circumstances that shatter their lives.”
Charlene says her best advice when it comes to becoming published is “to be like the old Timex watch slogan: ‘Take a licking, but keep on ticking.’ In other words, keep trying. And don’t forget to try new ideas if the old ones aren’t working for you.”
Authorlink’s Goldring
Wins Series Contract
With Berkley Publishing
Kat Goldring, among new writers listed on Authorlink, has signed a three-book contract with Berkley Publishing Group for her cozy mystery series, Crow’s Feet and Lemon Drops, to be released in September 2001. Kim Waltemyer is the Berkley editor who made the acquisition, and Carol McCleary of Wilshire Literary Agency, made the sale for four figures.
McCleary had represented the series 5 1/2 years before the first book sold.
“I already had an agent when Authorlink was kind enough to list me in some of their first presentations,” said Kat. “Ours was a mutual endeavor as Authorlink was just starting up and I had just finished a revision with the first novel under the wings of the DFW Writers’ Workshop. Just as an aside, that DFW Writers’ Workshop stands for that and never has meant “Dallas Ft. Worth” as some like to say. In fact one of the founding members with whom I was lucky enough to work with and helped name the group told me it really meant, Damn Fine Writers.
“I believe the fact that AUTHORLINK listed me was one of the reasons my agent did not give up on presenting my work to top notch publishers. I have a few magazine articles and short stories published but my best and most extensive showcase was writing and illustrating with my original drawings a newspaper column for a year titled ‘THE MEDICINE PATH.’
“AUTHORLINK has been wonderful. My agent and I have always been grateful for the professional format available on the site for presenting my work. We came very close to making a sale through the site with China, and may yet sell the foreign rights with help through AUTHORLINK.
Kat Goldring works full time as a high school foreign language department head and Spanish teacher. She spends an hour to hour and a half per day in editing and rewriting the novels and outlines for the first three in the WILLI GALLAGHER MYSTERY SERIES. During holidays and summer time (8 weeks) that time increases to 3-4 hours a day. This doesn’t include the hours for research, marketing, the time to work with other writers on shared projects, and commitments to two writing groups.
“Not only do I work the 40-hour drill and the writing tight-wire,” Kat explains, “but I also sing and play the guitar in two groups: SISTERS OF THE WIND includes a fellow writer, Shirley McKee. We two do mostly classic/golden country western and cowboy/girl programs for local clubs, groups, schools, city gatherings and such. The HIGH MILEAGE country western band, some seven members strong, includes three law officers, performs for trail drives and city functions.
How does it feel to have a published contract?
“I go back and forth between elation of having a fantastic adventure and panic attacks,” says Kat. “I am so thankful for all the wonderful folks, including AUTHORLINK, who have crossed my path at the right time, and have helped me make a lifelong dream come true. WAKAN TANKA (Great Spirit), of course, I thank for all lessons learned and all paths. This is one of those paths strewn with bluebonnets, soft moss and warm cuddly critters. The panic part has to do with getting to those book signings. I’m directional dyslexic and panic when traveling to new places. So . . . maybe that’s the next adventure and lesson!”
Kat Goldring currently is working on the next two novels in the WILLI GALLAGHER SERIES: SNOW SNAKE and SWEET CHARIOT. She also have a second series, the DELTA PAIGE SERIES, and has finished the first book in that series, COOPER STREET GIRLS.
Authorlink asked the author: How helpful was DFW Writers’ Workshop?
“I would not have cleared out the flaws in my manuscript. The members helped me to develop a selling novel. I would not have met my agent, Carol McCleary, if DFW Writers’ Workshop had not had her as a guest. I would not have had the opportunity to meet my editor, KIM WALTEMYER with BERKLEY PUBLISHING. I interviewed with her during her visit with DFWWW. Although I’ve served as an officer and hosted many dinners as well as parties at my own country home for the members, editors and agents, I still owe DFWWW a great deal.”
Former LA Times Reporter
to Contribute Kids’ Book
Column to Authorlink
Laguna Beach, CA/12/15/00—Barbara J. Odanaka, former LA Times sports reporter and columnist, will join Authorlink on January 1 2001 as a regular columnist. Her articles will provide writers with in-depth insights on writing and publishing children’s books, and will include interviews with children’s editors at major publishing houses.
Among upcoming topics for her column will be:
January 1: Rejection 101 February 1: A Crime to Rhyme? March 1: Every Story Tells A Picture April 1: Successful School Visits May 1: Beautiful Noise—Why “Quiet” Picture Books No Longer Make the Grade June 1: Five to Watch: A look at Upcoming Children’s Authors
From time to time, she will provide special reports on major children’s book conferences.
Ms. Odanaka left her career at the Times to write books for children. She is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.
Barb earned a BA in English from the University of Southern California. She lives with her husband and son in a California beach town, and is a founding member of the Skateboarding Moms Society. She can be reached at bodanaka@aol.com
Authorlink Writer
Lands First Book
Deal With Scribner
NEW YORK,NY/10/1/00—Jimmy Gleacher, who has been listed as an Authorlink writer since October, 1999, has sold his first novel to prestigious Scribner, an imprint of Rawson Associates and part of Simon & Schuster.
Meredith Phelan of Linda Chester and Associates in New York found Jimmy’s novel, “Roll Again,” on one of her frequent searches of Authorlink, signed him on, and subsequently sold the work for five figures. The mainstream fictional work, to be released in 2002, is the 64th title to be sold either as a direct or indirect result of Authorlink.
Agent Wray
Signs Fifteen
Authorlink Writers
9/00—Pamela Wray, owner of the new and growing Pamela Wray Literary Agency, has agreed to represent 15 writers found over the last several months as a direct result of Authorlink.
Among the works now represented by Wray are several thrillers and young adult works. Ms Wray, an aggressive agent, already has sent works by the newest Authorlink ensigns out to key publishers.
In another case, Ms. Wray signed a children’s author who, while not officially listed on Authorlink, connected with Wray through the service. The work is a moral folk tale, similar to Uncle Remus.
“I was so excited about this book that he expressed it to me over night, and I have already spoken with numerous publishers, special merchandising and TV producers, ” said Wray. “I am going to put this book up for auction because there is so much interest.”
“The Authorlink website is the ultimate place for any editor, literary agent or publisher, and I am so thankful the staff’s hard work and diligence,” Ms. Wray said in a note to Authorlink.
Ms. Wray is among a number of agents who regularly surf the Authorlink site in search of good manuscripts.
Clemente Becomes
61st Authorlink Writer
to Sell To Manuscript
New York House Pays Handsome Advance
New York, NY/5/26/00 —Authorlink writer Gary Clemente became the 61 st author to sell his work to a key New York publisher.
Lebhar-Friedman, New York has slated a 2002 publication date for ” Confessions of a G-Man: Inside the FBI, originally listed on Authorlink as The Marking of a Hoover. Clemente will be paid a $5,000 advance plus royalties for the work, half up front and half on delivery of the finished manuscript. Sale of the book is the direct result of Clemente’s listing on Authorlink.
“Confessions” will be an inside look at the FBI through the eyes of Clemente’s father, who was a career agent for 26 years. The book will deal with anecdotal stories and inside information about the Bureau, the war on Communism in the Fifties, the mob, and J. Edgar Hoover among other things.
How did he find Authorlink? A writer friend told him about it and spoke highly of the service.
Authorlink seemed to be up front about everything and didn’t present itself as a scheme to make money off of writers,” Gary said. “Doris Booth answered all of my questions promptly and professionally while the book was made available for review. I was pleased with how some of the particulars of the book was presented and listed on-line.”
How long were you listed on Authorlink before the sale Gary’s book was listed on Authorlink for about five months before Lebhar-Friedman Editor Frank Scatoni (formerly with Simon & Schuster) spotted the title and requested a proposal. This was all done through e-mail.
Gary, 48, has been writing full time and semi-professionally since he got out of college. He’s written in a number of different mediums along the way. He has several other projects in the working stage, including a collection of short stories; a humor book based on the newspaper column he writes weekly; and a suspense book in the same vein as Michael Creiton.
How does it feel to be a published author?
“My first and only published book was a children’s piece that came out in 1995, called ‘Cosmo Gets An Ear,’ about a little boy who gets his first hearing aid. Being published in book form is a wonderful feeling. It’s an achievement I’m the most proud of in my writing career.
And does he have any advice for new writers?
“Take it from somebody who has written all of his adult life and even some before as a kid — it’s got to be in your blood, because getting published is not the easiest thing to do. You write because you have to — it’s who you are and nobody’s going to make you stop. One thing that can be valuable is to learn how to distill and recognize exactly what it is on a gut level that attracts people to certain stories and why. There are usually one or two elements working that can make a successful story or book. Examine a well-made movie or book and practice how to recognize the “concept” that made it work. Other than that, as Winston Churchill said, ‘Never, never, never give up.'”
Pamela Wray
Literary Agency Signs
Four Authorlink Writers
5/00—Pamela Wray Literary Agency based in Alabama, has signed four Authorlink writers for representation.
They are Steven Rudd, Midnight Run; Jan Letoha, Bury the Past; J.E. Deegan, In Dark Covenant; Norman Davis, Stonecypher’s Gold.
Authorlink Author
Carolee Joy Takes
Rising Star Award
6/15/00—Carolee Joy, author of Wild Angel (Authorlink Press) won second place in the prestigious short contemporary category of the Rising Star 2000 Awards, a division of the Romance Writers of America.
The winners, including the Grand Prize winner, were offered free registration at the RWA national conference or equivalent cash. Winners were presented at the Sooner Area Romance Authors in Tulsa, Oklahoma May 20.
Fifth Authorlink
Contest Winner Earns
Publishing Contract
Los Angeles, CA/ 5/15/00 —Ekaterine Nikas (Katy) Terlinden, the 1998 Best of Show and mystery winner of the Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, has landed a publishing contract with Avid Press
( www.avidpress.com Her winning novel, Divided Child, will be released by Avid in Winter 2000 under her pen name, Ekaterine Nikas. It is the fifth time in two years an Authorlink contest winner has won a substantial publishing contract.
“Authorlink.com offered a wonderful contest that gave me an important boost to my career, got me access to editors and agents, and provided a very impressive reference for query letters,” said Terlinden.
Katy had been writing for about ten years before she heard about Authorlink on one of her writer lists. She advises new writers to “be persistent, be part of a network, enter contests (they are a great way to get agents and editors to look at your work), and keep your mind open to the possibilities offered by small presses and e-book publishers, especially if your book does not fit easily into the New York mold.”
Katy also says, “utilize the Internet to the fullest. I probably would not have made my sale without it. I think Authorlink is a great resource for writers and an excellent example of how new writers can use the Internet to break through the barriers to publication.
Authorlink Writer’s
New Book Released
by Marlowe, New York
NEW YORK, NY/5/1/00—Beyond Anger: A Guide for Men, by Thomas J. Harbin, Ph.D, has just been released by New York Publisher Marlowe & Company’s Avalon imprint. Author Tom Harbin directly attributes the sale of his book to his listing on Authorlink.
Forensic Psychologist Harbin sold his nonfiction manuscript, originally titled STANCE OF ANGER, to established publisher, John Muir Publications as the result of a direct inquiry by the publisher in May, 1998. Muir was bought by Marlowe Books, a division of Avalon last year.
In his new book, Dr. Harbin helps men understand their anger by explaining what the specific symptoms of chronic anger are and by showing angry men how their actions negatively affect family, friends and co-workers.
Tom is one of nearly 60 Authorlink writers to sign a contract with a publisher since sales tracking began in early 1997.
Tom had been listed on the site for eight or nine months before receiving the request. Generously sharing the sales figures with other Authorlink writers, Tom said he was paid a $1,000 advance upon signing a contract, another $1500 upon delivery of the revised manuscript, and the final $1000 was paid when the book was released.
Tom began writing the manuscript about seven years ago, for use with angry men in his clinical practice. “The book sort of grew over the next couple of years and I guess I have been actively trying to sell it for about three years,” he said.
“At first, I naively sent it to editors who had done similar work. Then, I engaged a New York agent who had promoted books for a friend of mine. Honestly, I was about to put the manuscript away and forget about it or start the self-publishing journey. Then I became aware of Authorlink while absently surfing the net for agents.”
While not officially working on any new titles, he has started writing some short stories about the goings on in his rural North Carolina county, and he’s been keeping copious notes for a possible book about his role as a forensic psychologist.
When asked what he would advise first-time writers, he said I would not presume to offer anyone advice. I think that lucked out so far.
And how important was Authorlink to his begin published? My book would still be sitting on a dusty disk somewhere, without Authorlink, he concluded.
In little more than three years, nearly 300 writers have reported signing with agents as a direct result of Authorlink, and more than 1500 requests from editors and agents have been processed.
The author lives and practices in North Carolina.
Authorlink
Correspondent
Joins LA Times
Authorlink writer, Michelle Lovato, has been hired by the Los Angeles Times to cover special sections issues.
Regarded as one of the world’s most prestigious news organizations, the Los Angeles Times has a full circulation of 1.4 million copies per Sunday issue.
Lovato’s work will premier March 13.
With more than two years experience as an Authorlink California publishing correspondent, Lovato has covered several events, and can be found by searching archives.
Lovato is the owner/publisher of The Silver Lakes Gazzette, a weekly newspaper, and a columnist and reporter for The Inland Empire Business Journal, a Southern California regional business magazine.
Accompanying Lovato in her new post will be her husband, Vince, a 20- year veteran of journalism. Among Vince’s credits are previous LA Times bylines,
the sales of two short stories to Stephen Speilberg, two nominations for California Newspaper Publisher’s Association awards and was the recipient of a fellowship to Rice University in Houston Texas.
Lovato has 10 years experience as a political and business reporter
and specializes in feature stories. She writes a newspaper column entitled, Thank You, Lord and has won several awards for her short fiction.
Both Lovatos are pursuing careers in the publishing industry. Ms.Lovato will continue contributing articles to Authorlink.
Authorlink Author
Carolee Joy Ranks
as RWA Finalist
DALLAS/FORT WORTH, TX/ 3/13/000—WILD ANGEL (Authorlink Press, April 2000) by Carolee Joy has been named a finalist in the Golden Quill contest sponsored by the Desert Rose Chapter of Romance Writers of America. Other finalists include multi-published authors such as Vicki Lewis Thompson, one of Harlequin TemptationsTemptation’s biggest sellers.
In addition to WILD ANGEL, SECRET LEGACY, another novel by Ms. Joy, is also a finalist in the Golden Quill competition for Best Romantic Suspense and Best First Book.
New Author
Ranks #12
on Amazon
ATLANTA,GA/3/10/00—A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO DAY TRADING ONLINE (Adams Media) by first-time author, has risen to #12 on Amazon.com’s top 100.
The book, agented by Deidre Knight of the Knight Agency (listed on Authorlink), was released only a week ago, and began its quick rise after the author appeared on CNBC Today.
American Self
Publishers’ Group
Honors Mitchell
SAN FRANCISCO, CA/ 3/1/00—Ed Mitchell, whose manuscript had been listed with Authorlink before he decided to self publish, has been awarded the National Publishers Freedom Award for Best new Fiction. The honor will be bestowed by the year-old American Self Publishers Association (ASPA) for Mitchell’s novel, GOLD RUSH 2000. Resource Library. The ASPA award will be given in a formal ceremony May 13 in San Francisco. In addition, the work was accepted by the National Steinbeck Center Resource Library.
Mitchell attributes part of his success to Authorlink for having seen “the quality in my book, and having had the courage to publicly declare that assessment.” Authorlink, while not a self publisher, helps writers market their work through promotion to editors and agents, and through listings of their work on its award-winning site, authorlink.com
Third Authorlink Contest
Winner Signs Contract
With Major Publisher
Dallas, TX/1/1/00—Three winners of the Authorlink New Author Awards competition have landed major publishing contracts within the past 18 months. The latest Authorlink contestant to become published is Cynthia G. Alwyn (pen name), who placed among the top three in the 1999 Authorlink awards competition.
Carol Berg of Ft. Collins, CO, the 1999 Authorlink first-place, science fiction/fantasy winner for Song of the Beast, won a three-book contract with Roc (an imprint of Penguin Putnam). And June London, 1998 Authorlink mainstream winner signed a six-figure contract with Harper Collins for her novel, Bingo Queens and a second work-in-progress, tentatively titled Stray Bullets.
Ms. Alwyn won the 1999 competition for a book titled, Tail of the Serpent, but it was her newest work, Best Served Cold, that convinced New York Agent Anne Hawkins of John Hawkins & Associates, to become her agent. Hawkins subsequently sold the work to St. Martins Press for an undisclosed amount. The title will be released in the Winter of 2001.
“I have been surprised how fast things can happen,” said Cynthia. “I met Anne Hawkins, who is now my agent, at a conference in 1998. We kept in contact, and when I visited with her at the 1999 Authorlink Awards presentation in Georgia, we finalized our business partnership with my new book BEST SERVED COLD. A short time later, St. Martin’s bought the project. I’m thrilled and stunned at the same time. It didn’t feel real to me until I started getting mail from them.”
BEST SERVED COLD features protagonist Brenna Scott and her search dog, Feather, a black Bouvier Des Flandres. Together, they search for lost or missing people. In this book, Brenna and Feather race the clock to locate a child before the kidnapper makes good his threat to take the little girl’s life.
“I wasn’t sure the book would sell, but Anne believed in it and in me. Since I’d worked with a canine search and rescue team for nine years, I do have first-hand knowledge of how dogs and handlers work. Although the story is fiction, I believe my experience in this area helped sell the book,” said Cynthia.
Due to the commitment of her day job, Cynthia’s writing time is limited. “I usually write Thursday through Sunday and a solid eight hours a day while on vacation. I frequently work out plot points and tidbits about characters driving to and from work. Most days, I’ll sit in my car during lunch break (it’s the only quiet place at work) and make notes. Although I’ve started writing the next Brenna Scott book, it doesn’t yet have a title.”
The 2000 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition is now accepting entries for this year’s contest through March, 2000. Awards again will be presented at the annual Harriette Austin Writers Conference, University of Georgia, in July, 2000. Top prize is $500.
For details see: http://www.authorlink.com/contest_00.html
Three More
Authorlink Writers
Sign Publishing Deals
8/15/99—Three more writers have won publishing contracts as a direct result of their listings with Authorlink. All three are clients of Elisabet McHugh, McHugh Literary Agency, who discovered them on Authorlink several months ago. This brings to a total of 49 the number of books that have been sold through Authorlink during the past 2 1/2 years.
Chris Spicer has accepted an offer form McFarland & Co. for Frankly, My Dear. . .:The Life of Clark Gable.
Publication will be in 1001, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Gable’s birth.
Neva Hacker, author of Missing Candy, and Charles Crone, author of The Palestinian Solution, have sold their work as e-books to Fictionworks, through Ms. McHugh.
E.A. Blair Becomes
43 rd Author to Find
Publisher Via Authorlink
7/1/99—Scrivenery Press will publish Authorlink writer E. A. Blair’s A Journey to the Interior, in November, 1999, making Blair the 43 rd author to find a publisher via Authorlink since sales tracking began in 1997. Thirty-one writers have been published as a result of Authorlink, with houses such as Berkley, Tor, John Wiley & Sons, Carol Publishing Group and others. Twelve more titles will be released in August, 1999 by Authorlink’s own imprint—Authorlink Press, bringing the total of successfully published authors to forty-three.
“I had tried sending material to about 50 agents, and though many were favorably impressed, all rejected the work, probably because their slice of an author’s first book might not have seemed profitable enough,” said E.A.
Blair, who holds a Masters Degree in Fine Arts has been writing since 1951. His day job for the past 30 years has been in publications for the aerospace industry. Some time back, he wrote and published a professional book, but turned to serious fiction only about ten years ago.
E.A. had been trying to sell his work through agents for five years, when he discovered Authorlink in May, 1998. He had been listed on the site for ten months when Scrivenery Press Publisher Ed Williams spotted his work on the web site. Scrdivenery, whose titles are distributed by Ingram Book Group, is actively building both its fiction and non-fiction lines.
Asked how it feels to be a published author, Blair said, “Vindicated. The related adjectives will come later.”
Blair’s contract did not include an advance, but does pay standard royalties.
“My impression of Scrivenery is that they are professional, intelligent and use advanced publishing technologies—as witnessed by the use of Authorlink and Ingram Book.
“Finding Authorlink was like a door to opportunity suddenly opening,” said Blair.
He advises the unpublished writer to “Write patiently, critically.”
He has a second title underway.
Authorlink Writer’s
Novel Released
by Berkley Publishing
NEW YORK,NY/6/10/99— LOST RIVER, a novel by Authorlink writer, Pax Riddle, is now on bookstore shelves. Pax made the deal with Berkley Publishing Group (division of Penguin/Putnam) as part of the connections he made through Authorlink. The book is available via: http://www.lostriver.org/, barnesandnoble.com or amazon.com
Authorlink Named
Among Best Education
Resources on the Web
6/10/99—Authorlink has been selected as a featured site in StudyWeb
( http://www.studyweb.com/) as one of the best educational resources on the web.
StudyWeb is one of the Internet’s premier sites for educational resources for students and teachers. Since 1996 professional reviewers have scoured the Internet to select only the finest sites to be included in StudyWeb’s reviews. Each site in StudyWeb includes a detailed review describing it’s merits.
Authorlink Teams
With Lightning to Offer
On-Demand Book Imprint
DALLAS, TX /5/1/99—Authorlink, the award-winning news/information and marketing site for the publishing industry, will launch its own book imprint, Authorlink Press, this summer. The move results in part from a new publishing partnership between Authorlink and Lightning Print, Inc, the print on demand subsidiary of Ingram Book, worlds largest book distributor.
Authorlink Press will carry the fine tradition of New York-style publishing into the digital age, said Authorlink President Doris Booth. We will serve as a market proving ground for the titles that truly deserve to be published and read—titles that eventually may find their way to larger houses, after we establish a solid track for them, said Ms. Booth.
Lower-cost digital and on-demand printing now enable Authorlink Press to publish books once considered economically too risky. The company will aggressively market the titles, establish sales records and then seek to turn them over to larger publishers.
The imprint will use the latest technology to publish digitally-downloadable books and trade paperbacks, printed on demand. Titles will be distributed through multiple on and off-line sales channels, including Ingram, which serves major booksellers such as Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.
Authorlink has also established an alliance with Peanut Press, to help supply electronic books for 2 million Palm Pilot and IBM WorkPad owners. Authorlink marketing ties also include alliances with the book review site, Bookbrowse.com (280, 000 page views annually), larger publishing houses, and other distribution and marketing resources.
Authorlink Press emphasizes aggressive, targeted marketing and distribution for every title it buys-a vital element often missing from tight production and promotional budgets at traditional publishers. The company’s own loyal audience of 170,000 book lovers provides one the ready audiences of book buyers.
Not only do our readers support fellow writers by buying and reading their work. They provide vital marketing feedback. At Authorlink the end consumer will tell us which books they like and why—not marketing reps, nor retail booksellers with special agendas, but the readers themselves, said Ms. Booth.
Admittedly, digital publishing furrows new ground for Authorlink Our imprint is a test of its own-measuring whether consumers will buy truly good titles through Internet sites, hand-held devices and on-demand, with books printed at the time of their order (one- off). Ms. Booth explained.
In 1999 Authorlink Press initially will release 12 fiction and non-fiction titles, both in digital and trade paperback (on demand), with 12 to 24 titles to follow next year. They will be promoted to targeted, vertical markets, and to horizontal mass audiences via the Internet and traditional channels.
The imprints digital books will be available on the Authorlink.com site and through Peanut Press
( http://www.peanutepress.com/) late this summer. Most titles-and all of the initial 12—will also be available in the Ingram title base and may be ordered through all Ingram ordering systems, accessible to Barnes & Noble, Barnesandnoble.com, Amazon.com and, other major booksellers and libraries.
Both first-time and seasoned authors will be included in the list. Categories include suspense/thrillers, mainstream commercial fiction, science fiction/fantasy, romance, and narrative and commercial nonfiction. No anthologies or short stores are considered, and length ranges from 70,000-80,000 words. The new house is not a subsidy or vanity publisher, and will pay standard publishing industry royalties.
Unsolicited manuscripts are NOT accepted at this time and will be automatically recycled. Prospective authors should, instead, consider submitting their work for possible listing in the site’s Author Showcase section.
Authorlink will continue to showcase listings of ready-to-publish manuscripts, and to market them worldwide to editors and agents, as it successfully has done for thee years. Authorlink has been rated among the top 25% of most useful sites on the web by Microsoft’s One Click Away E- zine.
Web site: http://www.authorlink.com/arch4_files/authorlink.htm
Authorlink Named
Among Writer’s Digest
Top 101 Sites For Writers
Writers Digest magazine has selected Authorlink as one of The 101 Best Web Sites for Writers. The 101 were culled from the Digest staffs lists of favorites, as well as from nominations made by about 1,500 visitors to writersdigest.com.
The 101 Best is the cover story of the May 1999 issue of Writers Digest. The list is also published in its entirety on the Writer’s Digest website, at http://www.writersdigest.com/101sites.
The list of recommended websites is just one of several recent additions to writersdigest.com.
Authorlink holds other distinguished industry awards, and including its ranking by Microsoft’s One Click Away E- zine among the top 25% of most useful sites on the web.
Four Authorlink Writers
Sign With WriterBeck
Agency in Two Weeks
5/1/99—Four Authorlink writers will have signed with a single literary agent within the past two-weeks. Beck Roberts, owner of the Writerbeck Agency, has contracted Mackey Murdock and Andrea Giacomuzzi—both listed with Authorlink and found through the site. Two more writers were polishing their manuscripts, but were expected to sign with Ms.Roberts within days.
Beck Roberts represents 70% fiction and 30% nonfiction, and handles most categories except for erotica and cartoons. She has 30 years of experience as a published writer in both fiction and nonfiction and 20 years in related marketing fields. Ms. Roberts has been an agent for a little more than a year, and has already signed seven writers, including the new Authorlink people.
Her agency is based in South Carolina, where she moved with her husband and two children to have a simpler lifestyle than in Atlanta.
“Being a relatively new agent, I am more eager than some to work with the authors and their manuscripts, sending them out with strong cover letters to publishers. I am tireless in my efforts and truly get excited about seeing good works in print,” she said.
The agency has no sales at present but, as Ms. Roberts said, “Good things take time and I am confident in the authors’ work and my ability to promote it successfully.”
Editor’s Note, 5/11/99: This agent has retired due to a severe illness and will not be accepting other clients.
Update: Authorlink Writer
Sells WOLF’S TALE
To TOR Books
Agent Describes Publishing Recipe
By Sam Hughes
The Dickens Group Literary Agency
3/99—David Holland and his upcoming first novel MURCHESTON: THE WOLFS TALE (TOR Books) is a lesson to all who serve as functionaries in today’s literary marketplace. Success may well depend on an old recipe: a good writer, a persistent agent who is willing to nurture true talent, and an editor who takes his or her job to heart and who will fight for a book. In the case of David Holland, whose work has appeared on Authorlink the factors that traditionally made the publishing industry great came together after seven years of productive author/agent interaction.
The heroes of this story are Hollland, one of the finest writers our agency has seen, agent Bob Solinger, who recognized brilliant writing and spent seven years pounding on doors to sell Hollands work, and Karla Zounek, the TOR editor who fell under the spell of Hollands writing and worked one-on-one with him to produce a fine literary horror story with a distinctive Victorian setting and tone.
For agents and editors struggling against adverse forces in the current marketplace, it is important to recognize the Holland phenomenon. Services such as Authorlink — a sterling example of what Internet marketing can and should be are invaluable to everyone, especially to new writers. And the ultimate lesson for writers, agents and editors alike: eventually, good writing sells.
Writer’s Seven Year
Effort Pays Off,
Authorlink Plays Part
Louisville, KY/1/1/99—David Holland, a writer featured on the Authorlink site, since August, 1997, has sold his novel, THE WOLF’S TALE, with The Dickens Group as his agency. David has tried for seven years to become published, and at last found an agency that believed in his work and found the right publisher. More details of his success will be published here soon.
Psychologist Tom Harbin
Becomes 25th Authorlink
Writer to Sell Work
2/15/99—Forensic Psychologist Tom Harbin has sold his nonfiction manuscript, STANCE OF ANGER: RECOGNIZING AND CHANGING THE PATTERNS OF MENS ANGER, to established publisher, John Muir Publications. Tom is the 25th Authorlink writer to sign a contract with a publisher Since sales tracking began in early 1997.
The title will be released in the spring of 2000, according to acquisitions editor Cassandra Conyers, who requested the manuscript directly from Authorlink in May, 1998. Tom had been listed on the site for eight or nine months before receiving the request.
Generously sharing the sales figures with other Authorlink writers, Tom said he was paid a $1,000 advance upon signing a contract, another $1500 upon delivery of the revised manuscript, and the final $1000 will be paid when the book is released. Authorlink assumes a royalty arrangement is also included in the contract.
Tom began writing STANCE about seven years ago, for use with angry men in his clinical practice. The book sort of grew over the next couple of years and I guess I have been actively trying to sell it for about three years.
At first, I naively sent it to editors who had done similar work. Then, I engaged a New York agent who had promoted books for a friend of mine. Honestly, I was about to put the manuscript away and forget about it or start the self-publishing journey. Then I became aware of Authorlink while absently surfing the net for agents.
Tom said having his first work published feels daunting. Muir wants him to increase the book length by about 67% during revision, and he’s not a full-time author. He hopes he can get it done on time, especially since there are substantial penalties for being late.
While not officially working on any new titles, he has started writing some short stories about the goings on in his rural North Carolina county, and he’s been keeping copious notes for a possible book about his role as a forensic psychologist.
When asked what he would advise first-time writers, he said I would not presume to offer anyone advice. I think that lucked out so far.
And how important was Authorlink to his begin published? My book would still be sitting on a dusty disk somewhere, without Authorlink, he concluded.
John Muir Publications, established in 1969, will release 68 titles in 1999, and 75 in 2000. Main interests are in travel and alternative health.
In little more than two years, 215- plus writers have reported signing with agents as a direct result of Authorlink, and more than 960 requests from editors and agents have been processed.
Writer Cindy Appel
Lands Columnist Job
as Result of Authorlink
2/15/99—Cindy Appel, recently named Cyber Columnist of the Quarter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, attributes her job as a Star Telegram Online Columnist directly to Authorlink and the 1998 Authorlink Electrify Your Writing seminar.
I found out how to become a cyber-columnist from the talk given at the Authorlink workshop last May by Star Telegram Online Marketing Director Bonnie Bradshaw. I became a weekly columnist by July of last year, said Cindy.
Her column, titled, Every Day IS Mothers Day can be found at www.star-telegram.com/homes/cappel/columns/momsday.htm. Cindy takes a semi-humorous look at the world through the eyes of being a full-time mom and struggling writer. She has even developed a loyal following of sorts, too, and takes suggestions from readers on future column topics.
I just thought that others who read Authorlink might like to know how helpful it can be to their writing careers, said Cindy.
Agent McHugh Signs
12 Authorlink Writers,
Sells to Key Publishers
12/1/98—Twelve Authorlink writers have signed contracts within the past couple of years with Literary Agent Elisabet Mchugh, all as a direct result of the Authorlink service. And McHugh has sold many of their works to major publishers.
One of these clients, Roland Jansen, whose first book Profits From Natural Resources was just published by John Wiley, is now working on a second investment book. Linda Swink, Eric Winkler, David Whale and Sam Sackett also sold their books through Ms. McHugh.
In recent months, this agent has added a number of other Authorlink writers, including: Steven Levi, David Dial, S.Alan Hepps, Terry Milton, Jim Norton, Rebecca Spalten, and Lewis Tracy. A thirteenth writer is about to be signed with her.
“Authorlink is providing a great service for agents and editors,” says Ms. McHugh, who works exclusively through the Internet and has clients in eight countries. “I’m impressed not only by the quality of the manuscripts that you have listed, but also the prompt service rendered by your staff when I request a manuscript. And I check out the new listings on your website on a regular basis.”
Authorlink Writer
Sells Nonfiction Title
to Lone Wolf Enterprises
12/1/98—Dale C. Maley, author of Road Map to Retirement: How to Quickly and Easily Develop a Financial Plan for Retirement, has sold his work to Roger Wolf’s Lone Wolf Enterprises, Ltd. ( http://www.lonewolfent.net/) as a direct result of Authorlink
The book will be released both in hardcover and online in the first quarter of 1999. Lone Wolf has more than 60 titles in print.
Maley will receive 15% of gross for printed book and 15% of gross for electronic book sales.
Maley discovered Authorlink when he picked up a paper flier at the Harriet Austin Writer’s Conference in Athens, Georgia last July, then followed up by visiting the site at http://www.authorlink.com/arch4_files/authorlink.htm. (Note: The second annual Authorlink New Author Awards Banquet will be held as part of the 1999 Harriet Austin Writer’s Conference in Athens, July 23-25, 1999).
Dale, who has been writing for about two years, said it took him only 15 months to find a publisher through Authorlink He first found an agent through Authorlink who tried, but failed to sell the title to a large publisher.
How does it feel to have his first work published? “Very exciting, it has been a long, arduous, and perilous journey from writing those first few words of the manuscript until getting it published, “ said Dale.
He advises new writers to “Make sure your book is either the best among all the competition or among the first few books published in a new subject area. Be diligent, patient, and believe in your yourself and your work.
Authorlink Helps
Writer Secure
International Agent
12/1/98—J.D. Wetterling, author of SON OF THUNDER, has sold his first work to domestic publisher, Rivilo Books, Felix C. Lowe, publisher. The title was schedule for release in November, 1998. While J.D. located a publisher on his own, it was Authorlink that helped him find his agent. The Stefanidis Agency based in Geneva, Switzerland, discovered J.D.s listing on the Authorlink site and requested a review of the manuscript. The writer agreed to let Stefanidis handle the foreign rights.
Wetterling , who has been writing for nine years, had tried to locate an editor and agent for the last eight years. He found Authorlink while surfing the net. He found the publisher networking through friends.
How does it feel to have his first work published? “Wonderful!” he exclaimed. Wetterling, whose day job is as a Stockbroker with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, has two more novels in progress. He hopes to write all day, every day, for the rest of his days. Books and the Internet helped him more than anything else to improve his craft.
He advised new writers to “never give up.”
Authorlink Writers
Now Able to Track
Their Own Page Hits
12/1/98— Authorlink writers are now able to track the number of hits to their individual pages each month. We’re now adding individual counters to every page, so writers can determine the level of interest in their listed manuscripts. The counter, which resets at the first of each month, does not show who visited the page, but it gives the writer an idea of how interested editors, agents and general readers are in his or her topic and title.
The counter is now being added to every new writer’s page. Writers with existing listings can request an ID and password for the service by emailing: dbooth@authorlink.com
JLA Agency Signs
Four Authorlink Writers
In 60 Days, Praises Site
11/15/98—Jay Lace, owner of JLA Literary, reports that he has signed contracts to represent four Authorlink writers during the past 60 days.
They include: Michael Sedge, Author of the novel, The Oracle, and a nonfiction work, Fettuccini or the Frustrated Soul; Margaret Brennecke, author of the novel, Seeking Refuge; Miles Twaddell, author of the novel, Victory Day, and Charles Carron, author of the non-fiction work, The Suing Game.
JLA, a new agency actively looking to build a small roster of clients, found all four writers listed on Authorlink
“We are looking for original works with commercial appeal,” said Mr. Lace. “We have discovered that using Authorlink helps us separate the chaff from the wheat, and saves us hundreds of hours that would otherwise be wasted on unsuitable manuscripts.”
The agency adheres to the AAR’s guidelines, although it is not yet a registered member.
Wiley Releases
Authorlink Writer’s
First Book in November
11/1/98—Roland Jansen, who found an agent and publisher through Authorlink, has received the first copy of his new book, Profits in Natural Resources, from publisher John Wiley & Sons. The new release shipped to major bookstore chains in early November.
“It all started with Authorlink, ” Jansen said in a message to Authorlink this week. “The Internet works.”
Agent Signs
Three Authorlink
Writers Within Months
AUSTIN, TX/10/98—Brian G. Clark, Esq., owner of BGC Literary Management, has signed contracts to represent three Authorlink writers within less than two months.
BGC is an aggressive and highly professional new agency headquartered in Austin, TX.
Clark said he has signed Eric Scherer, author of THE OLYMPUS PROJECT; Ekaterine (Katy) Terlinden, who wrote THE DIVIDED CHILD, and Pete Murphy, author of SALAMANDERS. Ms. Terlinden was Best of Show (suspense/mystery/thriller) winner in the first annual Authorlink New Author Awards competition. (See the second annual Authorlink competition guidelines at http://www.authorlink.com/contest_99.html).
“The advent of literary agents came as publishing houses cut editorial staff, allowing agents to step in as the front line arbiters of taste and commercial viability,” said Clark. “Authorlink has become the new additional front line for the busy agent, a source for trusted pre-screened material to pursue at their convenience.”
Authorlink Finalists
Sign Publishing Contract
With Neighborhood Press
8/29/98—Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss, finalists in both the Romance and SF/Fantasy/Horror categories in the 1998 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, have signed a publishing contract with Neighborhood Press for their historical romance novel, SWEETER THAN WINE. SWEETER THAN WINE is scheduled to be released in May, 1999, under the pseudonym of Michaela August.
In this novel WWI widow Alice Roye must fight to save her Sonoma winery from the threat of Prohibition. She falls in love with her new vintner, a European refugee, not knowing that he served as an enemy soldier during the war.
“We believe that entering our work in contests such as the one sponsored by Authorlink really opened some doors for us, ” said Karin Welss. “SWEETER THAN WINE is definitely a local history novel, highlighting a little-known aspect of Prohibition,” explains Welss when asked about how she and Gibbons chose the subject for their novel . “A lot of hard-working American winemakers and grape-growers lost their livelihoods when beer and wine were outlawed along with hard liquor, and California’s wine industry languished for the next fifty years.”
Gibbons adds, “It was a very emotional time, so soon after World War I and the deadly influenza epidemic. Although the concept of Prohibition was well-intentioned, its effect was devastating even before gangsters and bathtub gin became the popular symbols of its failure. Grape-growers didn’t know, right up to harvest in 1919, whether or not they could legally pick the best crop they’d ever seen. I found the research fascinating.”
How did they make the sale? After finishing the manuscript, Gibbons and Welss spent a year sending out query letters and partials. They also entered several writing contests, including the Authorlink contest. “The romance writing community is incredibly supportive of new writers,” Welss says, and Gibbons agrees: “We got a lot of help and encouragement from the published authors who judged two of the contests.” A major obstacle to overcome in selling SWEETER THAN WINE was its WWI-era setting. “It’s always difficult for new authors to break in,” remarks Gibbons, “and even more difficult when editors are convinced that no one wants to read historicals set in the early 20th century.” Their finalist status helped generate leads for possible publishers, as did their membership on several writing-related Internet listservs.
Welss remembers: “Someone on RWALINK (the Romance Writers of America members-only listserv) mentioned that Neighborhood Press was a fairly new publishing house open to romance submissions, and they spoke very highly of the Senior Editor, Rhea Griffiths. We queried Rhea via email, got a favorable response, and the rest is history.” Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss are working on separate solo projects at the moment, although they have several more co-authored novels in the planning stages, including a sequel to SWEETER THAN WINE.
Gibbons is currently writing a sequel to In a Mirror, Darkly, set amid the turmoil of Berkeley in the 60’s. Welss has another historical romance in progress, a tale of love and blackmail set in Restoration England.
About Neighborhood Press: Rhea Griffiths founded Neighborhood Press in 1995 with nothing but a desktop computer, an America Online account and the belief that “if she built it, they would come…” Now a rapidly growing small press, Neighborhood Press plans to publish twelve novels in 1999 as well as six issues of The Lovers Knot, a new magazine aimed at readers and writers of romance. Additional information about Marian Gibbons and Karin Welss, writing together as Michaela August, is available at the HREF=”http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/3524/”Michaela August Web Page.
Another Writer Wins
Publishing Contract
Via Authorlink
EquiLibrium Press Signs Mitchell
NEW YORK, NY & CULVER CITY, CA/ 8/98—Joyce Slayton Mitchell, author of more than 32 nonfiction books published by major houses such as Bantam, Dell, Simon & Schuster, and others, has sold another nonfiction work as a direct result of Authorlink
Ms. Mitchell’s newest manuscript, Pregnant in New Zealand: Mother and Daughter Letters from Afar, will be published in May, 1999 by EquiLibrium Press, Inc. of Culver City, California.
EquiLibrium Press Publisher Susan Goland requested the manuscript several months ago after seeing Mitchell’s listing on Authorlink This will be EquiLibrium’s first title as a new publisher, specializing in all aspects of health and wellness for women.
Pregnant in New Zealand is the story of a courageous and adventuresome young woman who finds an exotic life in the Pacific. This collection of New Zealand-to-Vermont letters is written in the first hours of pregnancy, leads to a dramatic 45-hour labor, and reveals the tensions of midwifery, and differences in generations, race and hemisphere.
Ms. Mitchell, who lives in New York, has successfully listed several works with Authorlink since late 1997. The newest book had been listed on the site for about 45 days or less, when Publisher Goland spotted it. The entire process, from listing to sale, took place within about three months.
Authorlink Winner
Signs Six-Figure
Deal at Harper Collins
7/98—June London, mainstream winner of the 1998 Authorlink New Author Awards Competition, has signed a six-figure contract with Harper Collins for her novel, Bingo Queens and a second work-in-progress, tentatively titled Stray Bullets.
The first title will be released in April, 1999, and the second manuscript will be completed in August, 1999. Both will be released under Harper Collins’ Cliff Street imprint.
Ms. London, whose real name is June Park, lives with her husband in a small Oklahoma town, similar to the setting for Bingo Queens, her first novel.
She met her agent, Robert Tabian of Robert Tabian Literary Agency , four years ago at an Oklahoma writers’ conference. He showed considerable interest in her story at the time, though only a few chapters had been completed.
June sent an earlier novel out to 20 agents, all of whom rejected her. In 1988, early in her career, she took lessons from well-known writing coach, Jack Bickam at the University of Oklahoma in 1988. “He was my mentor, one on one,” June said. She began winning various contests and published a few shorts stories. She also began teaching creative writing at local colleges. “The more I taught, the more I learned,” June told Authorlink.
When she finished Bingo Queens in February last year, she suddenly remembered the meeting with Tabian. A few weeks earlier, she had entered the Authorlink contest. On April 13, 1998 Authorlink notified her that she had won first place in the mainstream nonfiction category. About two weeks later, Tabian notified her that Harper Collins wanted to buy the work.
“While we weren’t responsible for making the direct connection with HarperCollins, “said Authorlink Editor Doris Booth. “we sure know how to spot the winners.”
Tabian is a former editor at Putnam and was with International Creative Management before opening his own agency. Among Tabin’s clients is 1993 Pulitzer Prize Winner Robert Olan Butler.
How does it feel to have her first two novels sold? “I don’t know,” says June. I suppose reality has yet to sink in.”
Asked when she first became interested in writing, Ms. Park, a native of London, England, said that as a child during World War II, she read books while sequestered in bomb shelters to calm her fears and remove her from reality.
For the past ten years she has devoted herself exclusively to her writing career.
Authorlink Author
Tim McGuire Tops
Ingram’s Hot List
DALLAS/FT. WORTH, TX/ 6/30/98—Tim McGuire’s newly-released Western, Danger Ridge (DORCHESTER/LEISURE BOOKS) has been listed by Ingram Book Company among the top ten most requested western fiction titles in the mass market/paperback category for several consecutive weeks in June. The excellent showing was posted even before the title was scheduled to reach bookstores by the end of that month.
Tim McGuire is among writers whose ready-to-publish and newly-released works are listed on Authorlink Danger Ridge is his first novel. Another western, titled, “Nobility,” , is due for release by LEISURE next year. Ingram is the world’s largest trade book distributor.
Authorlink Writer
Pax Riddle Sells
Book to Berkley
6/20/98—Authorlink writer, Pax Riddle, has sold his first novel “Lost River” to Berkley Publishing Group for the mid four figures. Pax joined the Authorlink site in early 1997. Some months later he signed with a top New York agent, whom he found through the Authorlink private agency directory. Berkley Editor Kim Waltemeyer bought the manuscript in June, 1998.
Lost River is the story of a young Modoc woman married to a white man, who struggles to balance her Indian heritage and her family in the face of looming war between her people and the US Army. The book will be released in Summer, 1999.
Pax Riddle writes full time, and lives with his wife and teenage daughter in Connecticut. He is working on a second novel, The Education of Ruby Loonfoot, and recently sold a nonfiction article to Wild West magazine.
Pax advises new writers to join a good work-oriented critique group, and consider their comments closely, while maintaining your style and integrity. “If you wish to sell your work, versus merely write it for artistic, self satisfaction, find out about the marketplace. See where you can find a niche,” he says.
New Author Finds
Agent on Internet,
Sells Six-figure Deal
7/98—First-time novelist William Kowalski of Erie PA. has sold his manuscript, Eddie’s Bastard, to Harper Collins. After receiving offers from several houses, agent Anne Hawkins of John Hawkins & Associates Inc., New York accepted a two book deal totalling in the mid six figures. Marjorie Braman, Senior Vice President for Harper Collins Adult Trade Books made the successful offer. Irv Schwartz of The Renaissance Agency, Los Angeles, CA, will handle film and television rights.
Kowalski first contacted Hawkins with an unsolicited E-mail query. He found her E-mail address via a search of AOL user profiles for literary agents.
In the fictional autobiography, William Kowalski explores the importance of family and the place of the individual in the continuum of history and time.
Living alone in a decaying mansion, Grandpa Mann is the last surviving member of a once-great family. Or so he believes until the day he stumbles drunkenly out the back door and discovers a baby in a picnic basket. A note taped to the handle identifies the occupant as “EDDIE’S BASTARD,” the child of his only
son recently killed in Viet Nam. What follows is the bittersweet story of the old man raising his grandson as the last, proud scion of the Mann family and steeping him in all of its rich and bizarre heritage.
Kowalski braids the story of the boy’s journey to young manhood together with family anecdotes and homespun philosophical excerpts from great-great grandfather Mann’s Civil War diary. The result is a story mixing warm humor with nostalgia and the inevitable sadness common to most American family histories.
Michigan Writer
Sells First Book
Via Authorlink
7/98—David Whale has found an agent and sold his book, HOW SCHOOLS REALLY WORK: AN ACTION GUIDE FOR PARENTS, through Authorlink Before having his work accepted for a listing on Authorlink he had written an agent himself, only to be turned down.
“It seemed like to me there should be a better way to reach potential editors and agents. Authorlink turned out to be the answer,” David said.
He found Authorlink through a search engine while surfing the web. “I liked the way it was laid out and the content,” he said. ” I figured it was worth a try, and the results and support were outstanding all the way.”
Whale said his agent has been great to work with. “We do all of our communicating via email. She is based in Idaho and I am in Michigan. We’ve never met face to face but I feel I know her and we have a very good relationship.”
David waited a number of months before his agent connected with him through Authrolink! But persistence paid off. About nine months after his listing on Authorlink Agent Elisabet McHugh had made a sale for David. That’s less than half the time it usually takes to sell a manuscript.
The hardcover book will be released in September, 1998 by Avisson. While David has published some scholarly papers and continues to do research and writing on the same topic as his book, this is his first full-length published work.
Sam Sackett’s
‘Career Karate’
Finds Publisher
6/98—Sam Sackett expected it would take a long time to find an agent, even with the help of Authorlink His listing first appeared on the site in April, 97, and about six or even months later he signed with agent, Elisabet McHugh, after receiving requests from three different representatives, and subsequently a publishing house.
“Placing the book with a publisher took longer than I thought, “said Sackett. “I think any author feels his work is so good that it will sell immediately, and I am no exception. Reality was, as it usually is, disillusioning.” That process took about four more months.
“Was I skeptical of Authorlink at first? Sure. Anybody who has lived long in this economy has run across enough scams to make him skeptical of anything that sounds like a good deal. It’s a by-product of the free enterprise system that crooks are free to function until they’re caught.
“I found Authorlink very professional and timely. I was particularly impressed with their efforts to make sure that the agents they list operate ethically, ” Sam said. ” I even passed along a couple of names of agents who approached me about whom I was leery, and Authorlink acted appropriately.”
How did Sam Sackett begin his writing career?
“Miss Grassle, my kindergarten teacher, assigned all of us to write a book in imitation of the little reader which was our text. I became hooked on writing and have been writing ever since.”
Right now Sam has obligations that prevent him from the kind of sustained writing effort that he would like to make, so he’s working along at translations of a couple of Flemish novels because he can do them a page at a time in between other chores. When he can free up his time more fully, he plans to finish a book on how to get a job, TWELVE STEPS TO FINDING THE PERFECT CAREER, which his present agent is also interested in representing.
Another agent whom he found through the Authorlink listings, has three of Sam’s novels: ADOLF HITLER IN OZ, AN AMERICAN PRODIGAL, and SWEET BETSY FROM PIKE.
Sam’s book, CAREER KARATE: WINNING STRATEGIES FOR MANAGERS, will be released by The Graduate Group sometime this spring.
“I think Authorlink is a great opportunity for writers. Before I discovered Authorlink, I had used the lists of agents in the Literary Market Place, only to be told by them — at least by those of them that answered at all — that they were not accepting work from new writers. The agents listed by Authorlink are all agents actively seeking new talent. For that reason Authorlink saves writers an enormous amount of time and effort in bringing them together with people who actually are interested in considering their work. So I am really very thankful to Authorlink and will be happy to sing its praises wherever and whenever I have the occasion.”
Eric Winkler Sells
First Work
Within Five Months
6/98—Eric Winkler signed with a literary agent and sold his first manuscript, Partnership Marketing, to Greenwood Publishing, all within only five months. How did he do that? Through Authorlink
“At first, I made the mistake that first-time authors make of trying to pitch my manuscript directly to publishing houses. While searching the Internet for publishers, I ran across Authorlink” Eric explained. “Rather than try and learn the book publishing industry overnight, I thought I’d “borrow some experience” from Authorlink and I couldn’t be more pleased with the results.”
Authorlink asked Eric if he were skeptical of the service at first, and why?
“I have to admit I was skeptical at first. There are so many mine fields on the Internet that I worry about paying for any service offered on the ‘net. I was impressed by the list of authors on the site and by the current publishing industry news. It seemed like a gamble worth taking and I’m very pleased with the connections Authorlink made for me.”
Eric had searched for several months and had a number of dead-end conversations with publishers. He made the mistake of thinking he didn’t need an agent. “Looking back, it was a little like thinking I could do my own dental work with a few lessons,” he commented.
Eric said he was surprised how fast Authorlink produced results for him. It took less than a month for him to sign with agent, Elisabet McHugh through Authorlink He agreed to partner with her in October. By December, 97 he had received his first serious offer from a publisher. Then, in February, 98, only five months after Authorlink connected him with an agent, he sold his first book.
Asked if he had any advice for other first-time authors, Eric advised: “Don’t be afraid to admit what you don’t know. Do you need Authorlink? Yes. You can’t possibly expect to learn the publishing industry overnight, so let Authorlink lend you their contacts and their expertise.
“I don’t know about other writers, but I asked myself over and over whether or not I needed an agent. I did. My agent helped me focus my work and helped crystallize the vision for my project. Unless you are fortunate enough to be a publisher writing about the publishing industry, you need an agent to help you navigate this complicated business.”
Eric Winkler said he had “nothing but praise” for Authorlink “This service sets realistic expectations and then exceeds them. I consider myself fortunate to have found Authorlink and even more fortunate that my agent found me through Authorlink This is a service I’d recommend to any first time author.”
Roland Jansen
Finds Publisher
In Six Months
5/98—Roland Jansen has just sold his first book to John Wiley & Sons as a direct result of having secured agent Elisabet McHugh through Authorlink
Unnatural Profits from Natural Resources: How to Make Big Profits, Globally, From Oil, Gas, Grains and Metals will be released by John Wiley & Sons in August, 1998.
Dutch-born Jansen, director of fund management for the oldest bank in Liechtenstein, wrote the book in German in September 1996 and originally titled it, The Coming Squeeze in Natural Resources. A friend who review it told him his German was “hopeless” and suggested he write it in English. He did. In January, 1997 he began surfing the Internet to find information on publishers and came across Authorlink
“I thought Authorlink was a great idea for an aspiring writer living in a remote area and with no contacts in the publishing world. My book was accepted for listing on the service and after only two months, in March, 1997, Authorlink Editor Doris Booth informed me that literary agent Elisabet McHugh was interested in reading the full manuscript. After receiving valuable background information from Doris about the agent, I signed with Ms. McHugh on April 3.”
In the following six months, Ms. McHugh encouraged Jansen to refocus the book and he completed the new version in August, 1997. Only a month later John Wiley & Sons made the offer to publish the book.
His advice to new writers: “Listen to the feedback you get from publishers who don’t want to buy. Your work must be unique and you must be able to tell a publisher why it is so special. Finally, don’t let anyone take away your dream of being published.”
