Writing

Liza Elliott of Red Camel Press

Sponsor Spotlight: Red Camel Press

Liza Elliott 1
Liza Elliott of Red Camel Press
You could say that author Liza Elliott thinks like a rock star.
“Just like a musician can set up their own production company to write, produce, and sell their music, I thought, why not authors,” Elliott says. And two years ago she started Red Camel Press, a small publishing house based in Birmingham, Ala.
“Movie stars set up their own production companies to write, direct, and star in, too,” Elliot says. “Since the technology has developed where writers can use print-on-demand printing and/or  electronic book formats, it seemed worth a try.”
Elliott says she had already had a positive experience being published by an independent press, HOPE Publishing House, and this further encouraged her to start Red Camel Press.
“Working with a small press means there are less layers of bureaucracy,” Elliott says.  “The writer works with one or two persons at most and all contracts and details are done via email and is very straightforward.”
The first book published by Red Camel Press was Elliott’s mystery novel, 30-A Supper Club.  “This was the book Red Camel Press used to learn the trade,” she says.
The second was a coffee table book by John Lonergan, an artist from Pell City, Ala.  John Lonergan Painter is biographical and features images of Lonergan’s paintings. This fall Red Camel Press will publish a cookbook that coincides with 30-A Supper Club.
Red Camel Press has plans to publish a number of other titles in the future including works of fiction, non-fiction, and more picture books.
Red Camel Press is not a vanity press.  Authors must send queries and Elliott makes it clear that only works with excellent writing, good character development, and interesting plots are considered.
“Because it is so small, very few books are selected because there has to be a ready market for the story,” Elliott explains.  “For a writer whose work is chosen, in addition to publication, they will get a press packet in electronic format they can use for marketing and an initial press release to relevant media.”
Writers working with Red Camel Press will be responsible for doing the bulk of their own marketing, but Elliott says that’s the case with nearly any publishing company.
“Large publishing companies do very little marketing of books of new authors. They concentrate on their big, best selling authors, or celebrity authors,” she says.  “Small presses simply don’t have the budget to do marketing. So authors must engage in this. The only way to sell books is to do marketing.”

Visit RedCamelPress.com to learn more.

Liza Elliott to host mixer for local bloggers, authors, and poets

Birmingham-based author Liza Elliott

If you’re a blogger, author, or poet you need to be at Little Professor Book Center on Sunday at 1:45 p.m. Birmingham-based author Liza Elliott is hosting a B.A.P. (Bloggers Authors and Poets) Mixer for local writers. This event is a great chance to meet other Birmingham-area literary artists. 

Elliott is the author of 30-A Supper Club (Red Camel Press), which follows sociologist Harley McBride on her quest to identify a gold coin she finds on a Florida beach near County Road 30-A. McBride’s search leads her into a murky world where her longtime friends and members of the 30-A Supper Club protect deep family secrets dating back to the Civil War. A complicated pursuit of the true meaning of the coin begins drawing Harley into secrets about illicit affairs, murders, and more.

Read on to get to know Elliott and be sure to come out to Little Professor on Sunday. 






30-A Supper Club seems very different from books you’ve written in the past. What was the inspiration for this novel?


The beach.  On my first trip to Cape Cod when I was a child, I fell in love with the sand and water, the thrill of digging out a partially hidden shell, and the ever-changing sound of the sea, from big waves to gentle slaps on the shore. 

A few years ago, I was strolling along the beach in Seagrove Beach, Fl, and thought, “What if I discovered a gold coin in the sand?  How did it get there?  What if it was old?” Then, I began to imagine the theme of the book. What if identifying the coin led to lost Confederate gold? By the end of my walk, I had the plot.

Tell me about your writing process. Do you write daily? Do you write in a certain place or at a certain time of the day? What do you use to keep yourself inspired?

I write everyday in my home office and prefer the early morning.  In the afternoon, I critique my draft, make notes, and problem solve story dilemmas.  

All my characters have bios, which I hand-write on an index card.  These have details such as hair and eye color, where they went to school or college, their occupations, their hometowns and favorite music, sports teams or movies — in short, a brief back story. I tack them on a bulletin board, which hangs over my desk.

As for what inspires me, it is people, their stories and the contexts of their lives.  How persons individually, in a community, or in a society, interact alone and together under a variety of circumstances presents endless story possibilities.  The true ones are often more fantastic than any made up story. So I listen to or read about people with stories of good times, bad times, heroism, or foolishness.  Mix it all up and voilá — a story.

Why did you decide to publish 30-A Supper Club with a small press?

Small presses take risks.  That is their strength.  They give new writers a chance to showcase works that might be a potential mass audience blockbuster, but more often are smaller niche market books.  In addition to working with the writer to produce the best manuscript possible, a small press will handle the details of the cover, the ISBN, and so forth.
                
What are your thoughts on self-publishing? 
Self-publishing, to me, is no different than a musician setting up his or her own label and producing their own albums, CDs, and singles.  Many A-list actors set up their own production companies to write, star, and direct.  Each succeeds on the basis of the quality of the work and their efforts.  Technology and the Internet has made this possible for writers.  Writers should explore all options and decide what is best for them. 

The B.A.P. Mixer is a great networking opportunity. Why do you think it’s so important for writers to meet and build relationships with other writers?
It is always good to see what is going on in one’s field.  The energy from discussions of all sorts of topics can inspire and motivate those who participate.  Writers can exchange thoughts on new styles of writing, the future of ebooks, and so forth.  Being part of a community of writers reduces the sense of isolation writers sometimes feel.  Writing is solitary work.  Knowing you can call another writer for input, problem solving, or just to vent about something is valuable.
               
Liza Elliott will host a mixer for bloggers, authors, and poets
Sunday at Little Professor Book Centers in Homewood.
Do you think Birmingham is a good city for writers? 

A writer can be anywhere and write about anyone or anything. That said, Birmingham is a good city for writers.  It has a complicated rich history that can be mined for great stories.  

Birmingham still has bookstores, from the big chains to important independent bookstores with loyal customers and supporters. Professional recognition and support between local writers and local bookstores can be a match made in heaven.


Birmingham also has a terrific literary magazine, the Birmingham Arts Journal, edited by author Jim Reed.  He is the godfather of writers around here and is a longtime leader in the Alabama Writers Conclave. 

The Birmingham branch of the National League of American Pen Women, of which I am a member, is a longstanding organization of women writers, artists and musicians where collaboration, exchange and support has existed for many years.  Its national scope and activities helps local writers reach a national audience.

With coffee shops to suit your every mood, universities, sports fields, museums, concert halls, small club venues for music, theatres for plays and dance, there is no shortage of settings, people, and activities, here, that can inspire a writer from non-fiction to fantasy, and everything in between.

Join Liza Elliott for The B.A.P. Mixer Sunday, May 19 from 1:45 to 3 p.m.  at Little Professor Book Center, 2717 18th St. South in Homewood. A light brunch will be served. 

A Recap of Our Latest Event, I Wrote a Book…Now What?

Our Amazing Panelists:
Irene Latham, Kathryn C. Lang and TK Thorne





Another See Jane Write event is in the books! Last night’s panel discussion I Wrote a Book…Now What? was a huge success with more than 50 people in attendance. Irene Latham, Kathryn C. Lang, and Teresa (T.K.) Thorne were amazing panelists and I can’t thank Stephanie Naman enough for being such a great moderator.

Thanks to Christina J. Wade for tweeting this picture.
She was ready to take notes!

 

Things went so smoothly. The hardest part of the night was trying to tweet out and take note of  all the words of wisdom our panelists and moderator were sharing about the publishing industry. I learned so much.

The question that seemed to be on the minds of many attendees was if they should self-publish or go the traditional publishing route. Lang stressed that this was a question you’d really have to answer for yourself based on what you really want out of your writing career.

One of the advantages of going the traditional publishing route is greater distribution and more opportunities to get your book reviewed. Also, with a traditional publishing house you will receive help with marketing. Even if you have a book deal with a major publisher, however, Latham advises doing your own marketing in addition to what your publisher provides for you. For example, when she published her children’s book Leaving Gee’s Bend with Putnam/Penguin in 2010, she took it upon herself to arrange school visits to help market her book.

“I wanted to give my book the best shot it could get,” Latham said.

 

Being the English teacher that I am, as I listened to last night’s panel discussion I found myself searching for a theme and I didn’t have to search for long. The thing that kept coming up was the importance of building relationships.


If you are publishing the traditional way, one important relationship will be that with your literary agent.

To find a good agent the panelists suggested attending genre specific conferences. You should also check websites like QueryTracker.com for reviews on agents. Lang says if a literary agent asks you for payment upfront, run! Typically, the arrangement is the agent receives 15 percent of they sell for you. 

Additionally, if you read a book that’s similar to yours check the acknowledgements as writers often thank their agents. Find the agent and send him or her a query letter.

Speaking of which, Thorne stressed the importance of mastering the query (and gave me an idea for a future See Jane Write workshop) and the importance of having a tough skin in this business. You’re going to get rejected (by agents, publishers, etc.). Accept it. 
Your relationship with your literary agent is a serious one. “It’s like a marriage,” Latham said. An agent, for example, can serve as a mediator between you and your editor.
“And my agent can talk me off the ledge when I’m freaking out,” Latham said.
Nonetheless, it is still a business. Remember you hired your agent.
Moderator Stephanie Naman had plenty of wisdom to share too!

By a show of hands, most of the people in the audience last night were interested in self-publishing. There was a time when self-publishing was looked down upon in the writing world, but Naman said that’s changing. For example, self-publishing is now a huge topic at writing conferences, she added.

Nonetheless, quality is still important. Even if you’re not seeking a traditional publishing deal you still need to present your best work. Attend writing conferences and join a critique group, Thorne recommended. Get an editor and a professional graphic designer to help with your cover, Naman added.

Having a good marketing plan is essential for writers who want to self-publish. And the key to successful marketing is, you guessed it, building relationships. 

Thorne, who has found much success with email distribution lists, said having an online presence is important but reminded us not to be a pest. She said she understands how excited you’ll feel after your book is in print. “I had to resist stopping strangers on the street when Noah’s Wife was published,” she said.  
Of course, you also need a website or blog and using social media is a great idea too but don’t post about your book every three minutes on Facebook, Lang said. 
Naman recommended that authors use methods that work best for them; stick to things you’re good at. For example, Naman is not a fan of book signings. Instead she loves blogging and networking on Twitter and thus has used those platforms instead to promote her book Murder on the First Day of Christmas. 
When marketing remember to focus on how you can help people. This will help you build relationships and make people really care about the success of your projects. So instead of your emails and blog posts simply being about you and your work, use these tools to share valuable information (such as writing, publishing, or networking tips) with your followers. 
Marketing will be a lot of work, but don’t stop writing to focus solely on marketing. The more you write the more connections you’ll make. And the money you make from your first book can help you produce and promote your next one. 
“The key to a successful writing career,” Lang said, “is to keep writing.” 

I Wrote a Book…Now What?

Have you written a novel that you’re just letting collect virtual dust on your computer? Or maybe you have an idea for a book that you haven’t started on because you have no clue how you would ever get your book published once it’s complete.
 
If either of these scenarios sounds familiar, then the next See Jane Write panel discussion is one you don’t want to miss.

I Wrote a Book…Now What? is a panel discussion on the publishing world and is set for Tuesday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. This free event will be held in the Arrington Auditorium of the Central Branch of the Birmingham Public Library. To register visit: http://sjwpublishingpanel.eventbrite.com. 


Whether you have questions about landing a deal with a major publishing house, working with a small press, finding a literary agent or self-publishing, our panelists can help.

Irene Latham
Birmingham poet and novelist Irene Latham is the author of  Leaving Gee’s Bend, published by Putnam/Penguin in 2010. That book is set in Alabama during the Great Depression and was awarded Alabama Library Association’s 2011 Children’s Book Award. Her latest novel Don’t Feed the Boy (Roaring Brook/Macmillan, 2012) is about a boy who wants to escape his life at the zoo. Irene is also poetry editor for Birmingham Arts Journal and has authored two award-winning poetry collections, What Came Before (Negative Capability Press, 2007) and , The Color of Lost Rooms (Blue Rooster Press, 2010).


 
Kathryn Lang



Self-published author Kathryn C. Lang was presented with the Nation’s first Tourism Fiction Awardfor her short story, “Digging Up Bones.” The short story will be featured in the third novel of her Big Springs novels. Kathryn’s books are published in paperback through CreateSpace (Amazon’s publishing wing) and online through Smashwords and Kindle. 

TK Thorne
Teresa (T.K.) Thorne is the executive director of CAP (City Action Partnership) and a retired captain from the Birmingham Police Department. Active in the community, she also moonlights as an author, and her debut novel, Noah’s Wife won ForeWord Reviews“Book of the Year” award for 2009. Her short stories and screenplays have garnered awards as well. A film from her screenplay, Six Blocks Wide, was based on her experiences in the Birmingham Police Department and has shown at juried film festivals in Alabama and Europe. Her next book, Last Chance for Justice: How Relentless Investigators Uncovered New Evidence Convicting the Birmingham Church Bombers is being published by Chicago Press Review and will be out September 1, 2013.




Our panel discussion will be moderated by Stephanie Naman. Stephanie is an advertising and editorial writer with fifteen years experience. Her first book, BarCode: Your Personal Pocket Decoder to the Modern Dating Scene, was turned into segments for a syndicated dating show called “The Single Life.” In addition to writing for advertising clients like Little Debbie and AT&T, she is working on the Chloe Carstairs mystery novel series written under the pseudonym Billie Thomas. The first novel in the series, Murder on the First Day of Christmas was released in December 2012. Stephanie is also the marketing director for Indie Visible, a collective of writers working to use social media and other resources to promote quality independent work. 


Leave your questions for our panelists in the comments section of this post and don’t forget to spread the word about this event to all your writer pals! 






What If Carrie Bradshaw Wrote a Murder Mystery?

I’m not usually a fan of murder mystery novels. And I hope that doesn’t make me sound like a book snob. I’m certainly not one. You can find The Carrie Diaries series on my bookshelf right now.

But I like reading fluffy fiction about Carrie Bradshaw for the same reason I enjoy heavy classics like Toni Morison’s The Bluest Eye and Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar: I am a sucker for well-developed and relatable characters.  And these are hard to find in most mystery novels.

Nevertheless, over the Christmas holidays I read Billie Thomas’ Murder on the First Day of Christmas and I’m sure glad I did.

Set in Birmingham, Alabama, the novel follows Chloe Carstairs and her mother Amanda, two decorators who find themselves in the middle of a homicide investigation after two of their clients are killed. Chloe and her mom soon become amateur sleuths determined to crack the case and complete hilarity ensues.

You may remember that I interviewed Thomas in December shortly after the book was made available on Kindle. I’m happy to announce that Murder on the First Day of Christmas is now available in paperback.

Whether you like murder mysteries or not, you should give this novel a try largely because of the charismatic main characters.  

You will immediately love Chloe Carstairs because she’ll remind you of your best friend, or yourself, or both. Like many of us, she’s a 30-something gal struggling to navigate her personal and professional lives and having many hilarious and humbling encounters along the way.

But it’s Chloe’s relationship with her mom that really got me hooked. Their mother-daughter banter will have you laughing out loud, while the obvious love they have for each other will have you picking up the phone to call your parents just to say “hi.”

Thomas does a great job of unraveling the mystery as well and soon you will have put on your detective hat too, trying to figure out who done it along with Chloe and Amanda.

Of course, I enjoyed all the references to Birmingham and I hope non-natives will read it and realize there’s more to Birmingham than they once believed.

Overall, I just love how cleverly this story is put together. Even the funny little anecdotes told throughout narrative come to serve a purpose in the end, showing you just how talented Thomas really is.
Cross-posted at The Writeous Babe Project.