The Mysterious Pseudonymous Bosch – Teller of Secrets

The guest author at the most recent Writer2Writer meeting was Pseudonymous Bosch, author of the best selling “Secret” series. His talk was fun, entertaining and enlightening. His appearance as himself was a special honor to us, as fellow writers, as he usually wears disguises with his fans (who are delighted by the mysterious persona which goes with his ‘secret’ books).

Books with mysteries lend themselves to anonymous writers. He told us that for the first three years after the series began he was Google-proof—now he’s on Wikipedia. In the spirit of anonymity, however, those who photographed him at our event decided to continue the mystery—as you see in the accompanying photo.

The story of how the former screenwriter came to write his first children’s book was particularly interesting. He had volunteered to be a writing partner to a 4th grader in a Santa Monica school. The project was meant to stimulate and encourage kids to be creative. His young writing partner was very creative and sent him stories, poems and cartoons. Bosch sent his partner a series of installments which would become the first in his series of five books: The Name of this Book is Secret.

Though his publisher gave him the star treatment from the start --a website and a book tour—(book tours really do exist?) he said word of mouth is what made the books so successful. It’s important to Bosch that his books not be categorized as a ‘boy book’ or a ‘girl book’. As a child he secretly enjoyed Louisa May Alcott books and Nancy Drew as well as so-called boy books, and he didn’t want the marketing of his books to be limiting. Most of his fan mail comes from girls, but that also reflects the reading public percentages. Girls are more likely to be readers and to write to authors, but he has devoted boy fans, as well. His favorite emails are along the lines of “I didn’t like to read until I read your books.”

Bosch is very conscious of making books as much fun as possible. He also has to be careful to get the details correct as ‘kids catch discrepancies.’ They consider that he’s writing for them, and nag him to write faster.
Bosch admits he has ‘the writing habits of a neurotic poet’ and would happily spend a week worrying over a simple sentence!

Luckily for his many fans, his fifth book You Have to Stop This will be out in the fall.

Espresso Book Machine Now at Flintridge Bookstore

In a series of lectures a decade ago editor Jason Epstein predicted a future where out-of-print books could be printed on a machine small enough to fit in a retail store. He soon found out that there was a new prototype for such a machine already in existence, and he and partners founded On Demand Books and set about developing the machine. Today there are 21 Espresso Book Machines in the United States and 25 abroad. And one of them is now at Flintridge Bookstore.

Grant and The Espresso Machine's inner workings...

For this month’s Writer2Writer meeting we had a special speaker - Grant Paules, the technical manager for the Flintridge Bookstore. (They moved in February to their own newly-constructed building, just up the block from their former site.) Grant has been with the bookstore since it opened in 2007. He’s a computer expert and consultant as well as manager of the coffee house part of the book store and general all round tech person.







....and the control panel



Grant treated us to a talk and demonstration of the bookstore’s new Espresso Book Machine. It’s an amazing machine, printing and binding a finished book in approximately five minutes from loading paper to finished book, complete with shiny color cover—virtually identical to a paperback book from Random House or HarperCollins. Grant had to learn the ins and outs of the book machine with only eight hours of instruction, and now is able to both operate and repair it. There is very little room for error, but he now feels comfortable with its intricate and precise workings. His talk was very interesting and informative.


The book machine can print books from the bookstore database, offering millions of in-copyright and public-domain titles.  For self published books, the bookstore offers a range of development prices and options, from formatting content to obtaining an ISBN and copyright. Pricing per book (beyond the initial printed proof) depends on the page count and choice of paper—cream is heavier, and more expensive. Book dimensions (which range from minimum 4.5” x 5” to 8.125” x 11”) are dependent on page count also, as more pages make a thicker spine which takes up more of the cover. And they’ll print one book, or hundreds.

The finished product!

For a self published book you can supply your own cover art, blurbs and your choice of font by sending all the information in a Word file. Grant will supply formatting guidelines. The cover can be in color but the bookstore’s machine at present cannot print the interior in color, though hopefully that will be an added feature next year. Grant can work locally or even long distance to complete custom projects. My fellow blogger Lupe, on Pen and Ink, has also written about Grant’s presentation and more information is available from the bookstore. Grant can be reached there at grantp@flintridgebooks.com.





Watching the book machine at work was fascinating, and I’m happy that one is located in the Flintridge area of Los Angeles. And even though I have no plans to self-publish at present, I’ve found myself toying with the idea of other personal printed projects—family genealogy, my European diaries, the text blocks for my sister’s hand bound books. There are lots of fun ideas floating around!

Ideally, now (according to On Demand Books’ Dane Neller) ‘no book need ever go out of print and books in any language can be available anywhere in the world.’

Dreams, Obstacles and Goals – Continued

Since the beginning of the new year I have attended four meeting of writers and illustrators where the topic of conversation was our new year’s 'resolutions'—our mission statements. There was a repetition of advice at each meeting which was good, because apparently we humans often don’t do very well in keeping our new year’s promises to ourselves.

The suggestions of all four of these creative meetings are very do-able. I believe that if I don’t understand the process after discussing it four times in two weeks there’s no hope for me! I’ll address this subject in future posts to see if I am putting any of these good ideas into practice!

Below is a collection of good ideas and quotes gleaned from my marathon of resolution meetings.

Writer to Writer—Catherine Linka’s monthly writer’s group at the Flintridge Bookstore.

• “If you know your dreams you know your direction.”

• Verbalize your dreams so you know what you’re aiming for. Recognizing your obstacles and look for solutions, changing what you can and naming your goals, making sure they are realistic and measureable by setting a deadline.

LA FAN (Los Angeles Fine Arts Network)—my fine arts painting group, founded by Belgin Kaya Wedman.

• Dream, recognize obstacles and make achievable goals. (Yes, it’s the same message)!

• Re: Obstacles: If I am sabotaging myself or resisting success, why? How am I doing that?

• Be specific about goals and what’s stopping us from achieving them.

• Cut out distractions. Narrow the focus. Do the work

Westside SCBWI Writer’s Schmooze—Coordinators Lee Wind and Rita Crayon Huang

• “Hope is not a plan” was the well named topic of the discussion. We used writer Holly Black’s exercises for our discussion of “dreams, internal opposition and internal resources to overcome that opposition” and named short term and long term goals—(keeping them realistic). Yes, different words, but same message!

• “You want something, you go for it despite opposition and you win, lose or draw… but really you win no matter what because you’re changed by the journey!“ Because you’ve done the work and have something to improve upon….

Westside Illustrator’s Schmooze—Coordinator Suzy Engleman Block

• Set SMART goals—which means goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Based

• Baby steps are a good idea. ”Success is a result of achievements in small increments.”

• “At the moment of commitment the universe conspires to help you.” Goethe

So the consensus is:

Dream. “Begin with the end in mind” but also set realistic goals, SMART ones. “Let go of the outcome and work with energy to attain our goals!”

Yes, it’s the same message! And a good one.

Dreams, Obstacles and Goals

On the second day of the New Year Catherine Linka, the founder of Writer2Writer, met with fellow writers (including me!) to discuss the way forward in 2011. The over-used phrase ‘new year’s resolution’ did not come into our conversation, but our discussion was definitely about resolve, about what we want as writers, and what is realistic to try to achieve as goals this next year. Catherine stressed the importance of actually verbalizing what we want to have happen: “If you know your dreams, you know your direction”. We each wrote down a dream we have involving our writing, and read each others’ aloud (anonymously) so that our individual dreams were actually verbalized.

Next we discussed the obstacles we face, writing them down, sharing them (anonymously again) and discussing possible solutions. It wasn’t a surprise that there was quite a similarity of difficulties in all our lives. It was helpful to be able to discuss them and to try to think of useful advice for such issues as too many claims on our time, dealing with discouragement, our own perfectionism, and achieving self-discipline. When we discussed our third topic -- goals for the new year -- we agreed it’s very important to set goals we can achieve, goals that are measurable. Finishing that novel by a certain date and submitting our work to an agent or editor are examples of realistic goals. Our own hard work, innovation and dedication are what we can control. Worthy goals for 2011.

I believe it was a very helpful, encouraging and positive meeting, and a great way to start the New Year!

Writer to Writer -- Michele Dominguez Greene

The November Writer to Writer speaker was Michele Dominguez Greene, actress and author of the YA novel Keep Sweet. Her book is the story of a young woman in the controlling, confining religious community Pineridge, where she lives with her father, his seven wives and her 28 siblings.

Michele has had a long successful career in TV, film and theater. She also teaches writing workshops and she gave us some great tips to help us make our characters come to life. Michele has learned to create 'triggers' to make her acting believable, and has found this skill useful in her writing as well.

Some writing tips from Michele:

About sensory detail:  think about establishing an atmosphere in the setting of your story. Describe a room – the lighting, the warm wood, the hum of white noise for instance. Visuals, sounds, the feel of your surroundings can set a tone in your writing. What’s the physical environment for your characters? Create an evocative world to suit their wants and needs. This will make their world real.

About description:  don’t over-describe. The old ‘show, don’t tell’ is still true. One example of tying into a particular dramatic scene is to use the description of the familiar to evoke emotion, to contrast with a sudden shock, for instance. Describe familiar surroundings, then pare them down to the essentials for maximum impact in setting a powerful emotional moment. Little details can add depth to a story.

About triggers:  Use smells to trigger reactions in the characters. What smells would make your characters anxious, relaxed, or sad? What could evoke memories, and why? Plan triggers for sight, smell and taste as well as certain trigger phrases for each of your characters. Develop a handful of key things that carry through the story. It’s important that your character not do something 'out of character' without having established a reason.

I felt I’d had a helpful mini writing course in this short Writer to Writer meeting and am looking forward to reading Keep Sweet. If Michele writes as she speaks, it will be a great book.

Writer to Writer -- It's All for the Book

Sunday’s session at Writer to Writer was an enlightening look at the inner workings of children’s publishers’ sales staffs.  Catherine Linka of Flintridge Book Store invited Lise Friedman, formerly of Macmillan, and Nicole White of Penguin to speak.  They presented a point of view writers rarely hear, and shared a glimpse of what it is to be a field sales rep.

The number of lines they represent and the volume of books and tip sheets they read to prep for a sales meeting are amazing.  Publishers and editors might also provide audio tapes, describing their books and pitching their strong points.  At the meetings the rep acts as the author’s – no, the book’s – advocate in such things as how to position the book in the market (indies buy differently from big chains, etc.).  It was interesting to learn that when reps are involved in such issues as book jackets and the editor hears the dreaded phrase “Is that cover final?” it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Reps watch covers for – and point out – inappropriate things (pink on a boy’s book) and contradictions (the straight-haired heroine shouldn’t be pictured with curls).

After a sales meeting the reps review their notes, read more books, study catalogs and head out to stores.  They prep heavily so they can discuss and recommend books to help the buyer find the best match for their store.  They might not personally like a particular book, but don’t convey that unless they’re asked.  They also provide feedback to the publisher as to the response to books out in the world, and share with indie store buyers the experiences and reactions of their indie peers.

An interesting question asked was whether the size of an author’s advance has any relation to the amount of money spent promoting the book.  The response was ‘not directly’, because the belief in a book’s likelihood to sell big was the determining factor.  Unknowns as well as the well-knowns could prove to be a big sales opportunity.

Because of the economy, sales reps are being downsized and it’s frightening to think how large an area is sometimes being covered by only one person.  Some publishers are now going with phone reps!  Some indie stores no longer have any reps at all – not good news.  Print catalogs are endangered, too.  Many of those are going on line.

Lise and Nicole gave us some good links to industry resources for what’s hot with book sellers.  As an author you can get involved with your regional Independent Booksellers Association.  Find out what matters to them, show them you care!  Go to events and meet reps.  When you join the Southern California chapter (SCIBA) you can access a directory of reps.  There’s also Indie Bound and the Association of Booksellers for Children.  And, for industry news there's American Booksellers Association and Shelf Awareness.

I came away feeling more ‘in the loop’ about what’s happening with Abiah.  And with the feeling that sales reps aren’t just sales reps – they’re advocates.  It’s All for the Book.

Writer to Writer Rocks!

I love independent book stores, and one of my most favorites is the Flintridge Book Store.  Catherine Linka, the children/young adult book buyer (a writer herself), hosts Writer to Writer as an ongoing store event. She has invited writers (picture book to young adult) and illustrators and agents, too, to speak at monthly meetings. I try never to miss this – it’s always enlightening, and fun. Paula Yoo, Alexis O’Neill, Marla Frazee and Dawn Knobbe are just some of the talented speakers.

Michael

I don’t write boys’ books, but last month I was glad to hear a couple of experts on boys’ thinking, likes and dislikes. Michael Reisman (the middle grade Simon Bloom series) and Ben Esch (YA Sophomore Undercover) were both instructive and very funny!

Ben

Ben, for instance, has an amazing memory for his own childhood experiences, including actual conversations he had and memorable moments in school. For more information, D.M. Cunningham (who takes better notes than I do) has a great entry on his blog.

Women’s History Month -- WWII Fliers and a Timely YA Book

As a child, watching TV and going to Saturday matinees, I saw lots of old WWII movies. Some of them touched on the work of women in the airplane factories and various other war work. I had no idea, however, (as most people didn’t) that the WASPS – Women’s Airforce Service Pilots – didn’t receive the same recognition or awards as their male counterparts. They were considered civilians, though they had been sworn in the same as the male pilots, and if they were killed a collection had to be taken to pay for shipping them home. No flags draped their coffins. In 1944 when they were disbanded they paid their own way home with no honors and no benefits. They were not considered veterans. The approximately 300 survivors out of 1000 are now in their ‘80s and ‘90s. But finally this March 10, when most of the WASPS are long dead, Congressional Gold Medals (the highest congressional honor) were finally awarded to them: long overdue.

A few months ago I attended a very enjoyable talk by writer Sherri Smith at the Flintridge Book Store in LaCanada-Flintridge. Sherri had written a YA novel, Fly Girl, which is about a young black girl who passed for white in the 1940’s so she could join the WASPs. Sherri was inspired to write Fly Girl by a story about the women pilots on NPR. Her fascinating book, which rings true for the period, is about what it took to be a WASP. Even more, it’s about denying one’s true identity and all that means, and deciding who you really want to be. This is a perfect book to read for Women’s History Month, about what a strong and determined young woman can achieve.