Meet Sunbury Press' Owner Lawrence Knorr!

by Tammy Burke

How delightful having you back at the "Write Stuff" conference again! And wow! Is it coming up fast. Anything new and exciting you can share regarding you and/or the Sunbury Press?  

Lawrence Knorr: Yes!  It is an honor to be asked back. It is hard to believe two years have passed since the last time! Sunbury Press just completed its best year ever from a sales perspective. We continue to grow and succeed in a very tough, competitive environment. We are celebrating our tenth year in business in 2014 -- but I can tell you it feels like 100 years! We've transformed ourselves twice in that span -- caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly --- what's next? Most recently, we have seen ebooks peak, their growth rate slowing, while independent bookstore sales have picked up. While our Amazon business has continued to grow, other channels are growing faster. We have dubbed 2014 our "Year of Collaboration" focusing on ways our 120+ authors can experience better results by helping each other and by working together in teams. So far, there has been a lot of positive energy. We also opened, February 1, our first company bookstore in Mechanicsburg, PA, where our headquarters is located. Our goal was to provide a storefront for all of our books -- and a venue for our authors to meet the public. We really want to be an important part of the local community for our local and regional authors -- and provide another option to our more far flung partners. It's a great place to meet prospective authors and to talk about books with the general public.   

Based on your webpage, I understand the your company holds a "Continue the Enlightenment" mentality from the 18th century and the "Age of Reason." Could you expand more what that means to you and to the Sunbury Press?

Lawrence Knorr: "Continue the Enlightenment" is a motto that represents our mission statement. Simply put, we are a publisher of diverse categories, but we are always seeking to bring new perspectives and voices to the marketplace. The Enlightenment was about a new order of things -- not unlike what is happening in publishing today. The old order governed by a strong center of control is being challenged by more democratic ideals. This is what the independent publishing movement is all about -- whether doing it yourself or with an independent publisher. We are experiencing an era of rapid democratization of the publishing industry. If only Hugh Fox had lived a little longer! I'll never forget the day he called me - Hugh Fox - one of the founders of the Pushcart Prize. He revealed he was dying of cancer and offered me the opportunity to publish his remaining works. He said Sunbury Press was exactly the kind of publisher he was looking for. I was very grateful for his offer, and encouraged him to spread the dozen or so works around to other presses, keeping two of them for ourselves. Hugh liked the motto, and we think it is very appropriate at this time.  

What was the motivation to start the Sunbury Press? What makes it different than other publishing companies?

Lawrence Knorr: I started the company in 2004 because I wanted to publish some family histories. I didn't want to pay someone else to do it, so I embarked on figuring out how. While this was only ten years ago, it was when vanity presses were a cottage industry and print on demand and ebooks were in their infancy. I just wanted to sell some books at cost to family members. But, I really enjoyed it and realized I could publish other books -- not just my own. Two hundred and twenty titles and one hundred and twenty authors later, we have really grown thanks to our business model and our philosophy. We are different for several reasons:

1) We are very tech-savvy. My wife and I both have long careers in IT and understand the Age of Content and the importance of search engines, ecommerce and mobile commerce.

2) We do NOT charge for services. Many publishers are experimenting with vanity, hybrid or subsidy models. We refuse to go in this direction, instead making our money by selling books. 

3) We have editors working for us as employees of our company. We take quality very seriously.

4) My wife and I are also photographers and digital artists, able to design book covers, marketing materials, graphic designs, web content, etc.

5) We are "generalist opportunists" -- working in a broad number of categories. We understand the advantages of breadth and scale to the economic sustainability of an enterprise.

6) We love what we do. I really enjoy working with authors to bring their work to the marketplace. It tickles the soul.

I was wondering...Is there anything in particular you are looking for in an author and his or her manuscript?

Lawrence Knorr: Quality Manuscript + Motivated Author + Publisher = Success

We are always looking for high quality manuscripts -- in a variety of fiction and nonfiction categories. Quality is more than just well-written / grammatically correct. Quality is about fresh ideas, new found truths and entertainment. We like material that brings value to our readers.

We like to gauge an author's motivations. Gone are the days of sitting at a typewriter, mailing a box of paper to a publisher and then waiting by the door for the checks to arrive. Authors need to be involved in their success. While we provide editing, design, formatting, ebook creation, printing, distribution, marketing, etc., we do best when authors are out and about advocating their work and promoting themselves. We are an ideal option for authors whose work is good enough not to have to pay to publish -- who want to be writers and not start their own publishing businesses. Most writers are not business savvy. We bring the business expertise to the mix.  

Anything you'd like to see more of? Anything you'd like to see less of?

Lawrence Knorr: Thankfully, the vampire craze has past. There's probably a metaphor somewhere in that regarding the publishing industry! We are always looking for more history and historical fiction -- more clever YA and more entertaining police procedurals and mysteries. We like good literary fiction too! We've had a lot of inquiries about poetry -- something we rarely publish. 

Do you work with authors to help them increase sales? Or do you allow them to do that for themselves?

Lawrence Knorr: We generate our revenue exclusively from selling books. So, we are ALWAYS looking for ways to sell more books -- whether a new channel to open, a new retailer to call upon, a new country to access, or an author's activities. As I stated in the opening, we have dubbed 2014 the "Year of Collaboration" and are seeking new ways to collectively leverage our scale. There are opportunities for Sunbury Press authors to go beyond our activities and their individual efforts -- to work together within a category or region.

I understand you have authored eight books on regional history. Could you tell us more about them? What were their inspiration.  

Lawrence Knorr: Where did I ever find the time? My early books: "The Descendants of Hans Peter Knorr," "The Relations of Milton Snavely Hershey," "The Relations of Isaac F Stiehly," "General John Fulton Reynolds," "The Relations of Dwight D Eisenhower" and "The Hackman Story" were family history / genealogy focused. I wanted to write about my relations -- a very deep and rich history linked to important people and events in Pennsylvania and the nation. While researching at the Lancaster County Historical Society, I also stumbled upon the journal and letters of my great uncle David Bear Hackman, describing his adventure to California for the Gold Rush. I edited and contextualized this treasure into the book "A Pennsylvania Mennonite and the California Gold Rush." My more recent works have been collaborations:  "Keystone Tombstones Civil War" with Joe Farrell and Joe Farley -- about famous people buried in Pennsylvania who played a part in the Civil War and "There is Something About Rough and Ready" about the village in the heart of the Mahantongo Valley at the center of that region's Pennsylvania Dutch culture. I have several other projects under way for release in the coming years: "The Visiting Physician of Red Cross" - about the career of Dr. Reuben Muth of Red Cross, PA (I have his collection of visiting doctor records from 1850 to 1890), "Palmetto Tombstones" -- about famous people buried in South Carolina, "Scheib of Shibe Park" -- a biography of the former Philadelphia A's pitcher -- and youngest American Leaguer ever -- Carl Scheib of Gratz, PA. 

Being born and raised in the Susquehanna Valley myself I was wondering if you've done anything regarding Sunbury, particularly the Hotel Edison or Lewisburg?

Lawrence Knorr: We borrowed the name Sunbury from the town in Pennsylvania because it was near the Mahantongo Valley -- and I liked the name. But, that's about as far as it goes. We have yet to publish anything about Sunbury, the town in Pennsylvania or nearby Lewisburg. However, our book "Digging Dusky Diamonds" by John Lindermuth is about Shamokin, PA and the nearby coal regions. Our best-selling "Prohibition's Prince" is about the famous moonshiner Prince Farrington from Williamsport, PA.  Our "Keystone Tombstones" series spans the entire state and often touches on historical figures from the Susquehanna Valley.

Do you have favorite time period and place regarding history?

Lawrence Knorr: I teach Comparative Economic and Political Systems at Wilson College once a year. I really enjoy teaching this class because it allows me to span economic history from classical times to present. My favorite time periods / places are the Roman Empire in the first few centuries AD and 19th and early 20th century America. I am intrigued by our industrialization in the early 1800s -- and the entrepreneurship and personal responsibility that was present. Most of the people living today would feel very insecure without their comforts, insurances and government safety nets. I long for that time when individual hard work and creativity could amount to something tangible -- and when we relied on ourselves, our families, our religious institutions and our communities. 

What did you like best about holding the office of president for MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association (MBPA)?

Lawrence Knorr: I was honored to be elected the President of MBPA for one year. I met a lot of great people, including my predecessor Mary Shafer. My goal was to make sure our organization survived the struggles it was going through and could become sustainable. The new team that formed was very motivated to do so, and they continue on without me. Unfortunately, the demands of my growing business prevent me from volunteering at this time.   

Your digital photography is quite beautiful. I particularly enjoy your vibrant use of color. How long have you been practicing this art and I'm curious...how many book covers have you designed?

Lawrence Knorr: Thank you! I've been a photographer since I was 12 years old. I began showing my work in 2006, after a local gallery liked my attempts at "Photo Impressionism." I was one of the pioneer artists who was trying to make photographs look like paintings. My work has been shown around the country and has won awards -- and is in collections and even a museum or two. While I have not been as active at showing my work, I have designed over 100 book covers over the last three years. My wife says they are getting better!  I really enjoy doing it, and most of the authors are very pleased with the results.

What are your thoughts on selling internationally? Do you find that foreign bookstores cater to the same reading choices as here in our area?

Lawrence Knorr: We sell our books in at least a dozen other countries -- UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Australia, India, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Taiwan ... even Lebanon! We're developing expertise in foreign rights as well as foreign distribution. We have found the rest of the world lags the US in eBook adoption -- and still have a very strong book retailers. We've had the most success in the UK, for obvious reasons - but have also broken through where our titles touch on target markets. 

I want to thank you for taking time out for this interview, Lawrence. We look forward to seeing you soon!

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Lawrence Knorr has been involved with book publishing for fourteen years. His  company, Sunbury Press, Inc., headquartered in Mechanicsburg, PA, is a publisher of trade paperback and digital books featuring established and emerging authors  in many fiction and nonfiction categories. Sunbury's books are printed in the USA and sold through leading booksellers worldwide. Sunbury currently has over  120 authors and 200 titles under management.
Lawrence has taught business and project management courses for ten years, and is the author of eight books. He is also an award-winning digital artist, and has designed dozens of book covers . Lawrence is the former President of the MidAtlantic Book Publishers Association (MBPA)
Most interested in U.S. & World history and other nonfiction (sports,
professional, hobbies) -- also historical fiction, mystery/thriller.

Will consider YA fiction, contemporary and historical romance, horror (no
vampires), literary fiction.

Not looking for children's picture books and poetry at this time.

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Tammy Burke, GLVWG member, 2011 conference chair and past president, has published around 400 newspaper and regional magazine articles. She has interviewed state and local government officials, business and community leaders, everyday folk and celebrities, in addition to helping write scripts for over a dozen television commercials and writing various business communications. Currently, she is in the revision stage for her first YA fantasy adventure book, the first in an intended series. When not writing, she works in the social service field and is a fencing marshal in the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA).

Meet Mary Shafer the Indie Navigator, Indie Publisher, Award-WinningAuthor, and More!

by Tammy Burke

Hi Mary,

Can I just say wow! How impressive the number of "hats you've worn!" From award-winning author to marketing consultant to indie publisher and professional speaker (and illustrator, freelance graphic designer, art director, etc.) ...everything in the publishing industry from what I understand except distribution. I'm so glad you are taking part in this year's conference!

Mary Shafer: Wow, thank you! I  think in another point of view, the only thing impressive about my background is apparent. ADD. Truth is, I'm a true Gemini and I get bored very easily. Also always afraid of missing out on something if I don't learn and try everything that catches my interest. Up till now, that has always kind of hurt me in a world where specialization is most rewarded, at least financially. But with the weird turn the publishing industry has taken in the past decade, having this diverse skill set has actually helped, and that's one reason I launched Indie Navigator -- because I remember what it feels like to be in that place where you know what you want to do, but have no idea where to start or how to get there.

I would imagine those taking your pre-conference workshop Indie Publishing Intensive better bring a notebook so they can capture all this excellent information you have listed. I was wondering if we could get a bit of a teaser on some of the things you're covering? 

Mary Shafer: Sure. Actually, I do encourage those who learn better by writing things down (as I do) to take notes. But for others, it's not necessary. I always prepare very thorough handouts for each of my presentations, as well as making my Powerpoint decks available as PDF downloads for all attendees. I just post the download URL at the bottom of each slide so people can copy that down and that's about all they really need, because I put any handouts, examples, etc. in the same folder they access for the slide deck download.

That said, here's a bit of what they can look forward to in my Indie Publishing Intensive, which I'm really excited about. I've presented all the elements before, but never all together in one time and place. So this will truly be intensive -- I'm thinking of it as more of an Indie Publishing Bootcamp, with the exception that we're not actually going to go through any hands-on workshops. It's just going to be an insane amount of real-world information -- not hype or vaguely disguised wishfulness -- shared in a four-hour afternoon. But I guarantee that anyone who's been on the fence about whether or not to become an indie publisher won't feel that way when it's over. They will know what to truly expect as an indie/self-publisher, and will either feel energized and excited by the challenge, or will save themselves a lot of time, effort, money and heartache by resolving to seek a traditional publishing deal because they realize they're just not cut out to be a publisher themselves.

What I'm going to cover includes content from several of my more popular narrated slide presentations. I've broken out the process into three steps: Possibilities, Publishing and Promotion.

Possibilities will explore in detail what to expect if you decide to take the traditional publishing route and, alternatively, if you decide to self-publish. This is the amalgamation of these presentations I currently give to writing and indie publishing groups:

• I Finally Finished My Book…Now What? – Options for modern authors
• 21st Century Books: What Is A Publisher, and Should I Become One? – Telling it like it is; the good, the bad and the ugly

Publishing will outline the very real considerations of what it means to actually be a publisher: setting up your business structure; choosing whether to publish only your own work or that of others, as well; apps and other technology that can help you manage day-to-day operations; sourcing vendors, etc. It encompasses some of the content of my presentation.

• Digility: Digital Agility in Publishing – bit technical, laying out important considerations for someone building a modern publishing house from scratch

Promotion offers guidance in the nitty-gritty of publicizing and marketing your publication products and authors – arguably as important as offering a quality product in potential for success. It includes content from these presentations I often give at writer's conferences:

• Getting Published Ain’t For Sissies – Marketing for Nonfiction Authors: Finding your niche, building your author’s platform, effectively employing guerilla promotion tactics, creating a killer press kit, mastering modern technology to serve as your 24/7 personal publicity agent, and anticipating, identifying and leveraging trends.    
• Takin’ It to the Tweeps: Twitter for Authors and Independent Publishers
• Your Book’s Website: Separate or Connected – Explores the advantages and disadvantages of single author/book sites and separate sites for each title inside a whole publishing web presence strategy
• Online Newsrooms: What You Need and How To Build It – A step-by-step tutorial on this most important yet often neglected element of any successful author and publisher website

As you can see, it's truly an exhaustive amount of material, but that's what an intensive is about. Attendees may leave feeling a bit overwhelmed, but they will no longer face the dizzying confusion of wondering what they should be paying attention to and what lies ahead of them depending on the route they choose. Plus, they'll be able to refer back to my handouts and slide downloads again and again. I tried hard to formulate a way to share the hard-won knowledge I wish I'd had when I faced the need to become an indie publisher. I don't want anyone to have to struggle that way.

One the things you mentioned in your bio is that you share what you know so other authors and indie publishers don't have to learn the hard way too. (And thank you for that, by the way) I am curious...what do you typically find as the top three most common mistakes? 

Mary Shafer: Among authors and would-be authors seeking publishing deals, the top three mistakes I see are:

1. Failing to invest themselves and perhaps a bit of money in making their manuscript as polished and fully edited as possible before turning it in to the publisher or publishing it themselves. (I consider this a cardinal sin, frankly. There's no excuse for turning in or publishing shoddy work other than laziness or lack of caring, both of which reflect not just on that author but on all authors and indie publishers.)
2. Failing to build a promotional platform for themselves as an author "brand" before ever approaching a publisher.
3. Not understanding the publishing process, resulting in their having unrealistic expectations of the experience.

For indie publishers, I think the top three errors I see would be:

1. The same as #3 above: lacking an understanding of what to realistically expect from being a publisher because they don't really comprehend the entirety of what's entailed in present-day book publishing. Far too many would-be publishers are still stuck in the last century when it comes to grasping how drastically this industry has changed in the past 10-20 years.
2. Overestimating their own knowledge, skill sets and capacity to get the work done. There are few fields in which it's so critical to know what you can do well on your own, and what parts of each project you'd be better off delegating to someone with the right mix of skill and experience.
3. Underestimating the start-up costs in money, time and energy it takes to become a truly successful publisher.

I'm certainly not pointing any fingers—I'm as guilty as the next person in not having really known what I was doing when I first got started as an indie publisher almost 10 years ago. But I have a rather unique background that provided me with the exact mix of diverse skills that allowed me to survive all my dumb decisions.

It is both fascinating and inspiring to hear tales of the "blissfully unaware" overcoming the odds -- like the success you had marketing your first book when, at the time, it wasn't expected to earn out. What did you do that perhaps others haven't or didn't do?

Mary Shafer: In addition to the relatively unusual skill set I just referenced, I'm also lucky to be a quick study. When I'm in focused mode, I can take in a great deal of information at once, process it quickly and almost immediately integrate it into current projects and apply it in place of less-than-effective activities I would previously have used to get a job done. Not unsurprisingly, this typifies why indie publishers are able to be successful in today's ever-evolving book industry: we're small, and so much more agile. Our lack of overhead and the structural inflexibility that plagues larger organizations allows us to adapt quickly to the rapid changes that have characterized book publishing for decades now. Other advantages I had were that I am a proactive seeker of new information, and I have the courage of my convictions. If I know I am capable of doing something, I just don't listen to the naysayers. 

In the case of my first book, though, I must admit that I wasn't up against that -- I simply didn't know the prevailing conventional wisdom was (and still is) that first-time authors are pretty much expected to fail. This isn't nastiness on anyone's part, it's simply an acknowledgment of how much work it is to create, publish and market a book. Happily, there are many first-time authors not just succeeding, but doing so at a level unprecedented before the rise of digital technology. My entire reason for doing the presentations I do is to dispel that myth. Yes, odds are against the first-time author, but that's mostly because the majority of them are woefully ignorant, unprepared, arrogant, lazy or all of the above. Anyone who doesn't fit that stereotype in fact has a good chance of succeeding not only with their first book, but also in the long term!

You mentioned a new "Wild West" of publishing. I like that term. Could you tell us some of the opportunity that's available?

Mary Shafer: I call it that because, just as on America's frontier in the mid-1800s through the turn of the 20th century, the industry is without most of the "laws" that governed it for centuries. There are no longer any hard-and-fast gatekeepers and exclusionary forces that served for so long to keep people out of publishing. The Internet has largely democratized access with a still-proliferating array of publication/distribution platforms, marketing and promotion services and tools, and apps to handle almost any business operations function. Provided people are willing to self-police against inadvisable business practices, poor production values and bad customer service, there's no reason they can't create and sell books very successfully to an international audience of repeat buyers.

Is it easy to determine if someone should consider self or indie publishing? 

Mary Shafer: If it were, GLVWG would not have had to hire me to give this intensive. :)

I understand being in a Category 3 storm as a child along with having two tornadoes (yikes!) pass by either side of your house during the early 1990s left you with a bit of a weather obsession. How much do you think these experiences led you to the writing and publishing of your award-winning "Devastation on the Delaware: Stories and Images of the Deadly Flood of 1955?" Also, I'm curious, what does a Skywarn Weather Spotter do?

Mary Shafer: Just to be clear, I was not in the main circulation of Hurricane Alma as a child, only in the outer bands -- so I never experienced true Cat 3 storm conditions. But what I did was certainly bad enough to have made a lifelong impression. And yes, I do absolutely believe these brushes with Nature's most violent forces played a large part in forming my weather obsession. SkyWarn is a program of the National Weather Service that trains volunteers from age 14-100 to recognize conditions amendable to severe weather and to use established criteria to spot and report actual severe weather conditions to local NWS offices. This is far easier and more immediate to do today, with smartphones that allow us to call in our observations or to report via a mobile Internet interface. You can learn more at SkyWarn.org.

I understand there is a story behind how "Word Forge Books" came into existence. Could you tell us a little bit about when, and maybe more importantly, how you decided to create it?

Mary Shafer: I had begun writing my book under contract with a new indie publisher in Doylestown in 2003, with guidance from a trusted colleague and friend who was, at the time, affiliated with the non-profit organization. Two years later, as I was in the final revisions of the manuscript, I was informed that the publisher had been forced to go out of business, leaving me with no publisher and no rights to my own work, since I'd already been paid a partial advance. Two wonderful friends/business clients of mine who supported my project graciously donated the $2,500 for me to buy back my rights, for which I'll be eternally grateful. However, by that time it was far too late to find another publisher if I were to make my goal of publishing in time for the mid-August, 2005, anniversary of the flood, which I was going to use as the publicity "hook" on which to hang the launch of the book. Realizing that I had most of the experience and know-how I needed to get the book published, I decided that rather than throw away the three years I'd invested in the project, I'd just publish it myself. And so Word Forge Books was born. I named it as a division of The Word Forge, my freelance copywriting and marketing consultancy business.

It's worth noting that in 2005, Facebook was just being born, most folks didn't yet even have a website or know what a blog was, many weren't yet even fluent on email, and Amazon.com was just getting on its feet. There was no Kobo, Smashwords, GoodReads or any of the other online tools that now make getting a book into the hands of readers such a relatively easy process. As has happened more than once in my career, my needs were ahead of the market, so I plowed ahead using the tools I had at hand. I try not to think now of all the money I poured into that pioneering effort and just try to be happy for my colleagues who won't have to go through that now, when they try to do the same.

Less than a year ago, you started "The Indie Navigator" so you could focus on the consulting work on publishing...presumably one of your favorite parts. Could you tell us about that deciding moment and what you envision for its future? 

Mary Shafer: It wasn't any earth-shaking thing, really. I just finally realized that the majority of my new consulting clients in 2011-12 were authors and indie publishers, and that it would be far easier for me to brand myself that way. After all, one must take one's own advice, no? So I found my market niche and am now working on building the Indie Navigator brand among those professionals. As for the future, I'm trying more to envision simply success, without too much detail around what that means. I'm learning, albeit slowly, that even though creative visualization (my way of manifesting what I want from my life) usually works best when it's very detailed, sometimes those details can be limiting when they're taking place in an industry changing as rapidly as publishing is. SO I'm just remaining open to following the needs of my market right now. I don't need to lead the market -- that's an expensive and exhausting place to be, I've discovered. I'm happy simply helping people not make the same mistakes I did, and hopefully making their publishing experiences as rewarding and enjoyable as possible.

Last question, with as many "hats on your head" do you still have time to write? And if yes, what are you currently working on?

Mary Shafer: Sadly, I don't have much time to write anymore, and that's one thing with which I struggle these days. Still, I have had some success the last two years using NaNoWriMo as the disciplined framework upon which to work up to nearly 26,000 words on my novel-in-progress, "Lonely Cottage Road." It's a Civil War-era historical romance with a slight paranormal twist, whose theme is the importance of honoring the creative urge. How's that for vague? It's my first novel, and I'm looking forward to having more time to work on it as I consolidate some of my other obligations in the near future. I've recently finished some rather large volunteer commitments that had become tremendously time- and energy-consuming, and I'm also re-tooling how I make my living to produce more income in less time. We'll see how that goes. 

Meanwhile, as I do all that, I'm also laying the groundwork for a novel series called "The Storm Diaries." It features the adventures of forensic meteorologist Stephanie "Stormy" McLeod, her special needs dog Oogie, and her best pal, metal detectorist T.J. Tanner in solving cold-case mysteries around severe weather events. This series will allow me to combine my three great passions -- severe weather, treasure hunting and animal rescue -- into what I hope will be a long-running novel series that will allow me to make a living while writing off as a business expense my research trips to the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, and my own storm chasing tours. You can learn more at StormDiaries.com, and follow me on Twitter at @stormdiaries, where I often live-tweet severe weather events all over the US. You might wonder why I'm doing all that so long before the first novel even comes out. I'm taking my own advice and building my author platform ahead of time so that when it's time for the book to come out, not only will I have a ready-made market to promote to, I'll even be able to fund the first printing with pre-orders!

Thank you again, Mary, for taking the time for this interview! I look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Mary Shafer: Tammy, thank YOU for the good questions and your willingness to write up the interview. I hope I've been helpful and not too overwhelming. Also looking forward to meeting you at The Write Stuff!

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Mary Shafer. The Indie Navigator, is an award-winning author, indie publisher, marketing consultant and professional speaker.  She shares what she learned the hard way with other authors and indie publishers, so they don’t have to make the same mistakes.

Entering book publishing in 1990 as an art director, Mary developed experience in most facets of the industry, including editing and marketing. By 1993, her first book was published by a mid-sized indie publisher. As a first-time author, her book wasn't even expected to earn out. Blissfully unaware the odds were stacked against her, she used what she knew about marketing to tirelessly promote her book. It eventually went into three printings, selling 15,000 hardcover and earning her some attractive royalties. Her second hardcover came out in 1995, and her first self-published book sold out its entire first run of 2,500 copies in 42 days. Now in its second, updated edition and sixth printing, it has sold more than 6,000 print copies to date and is about to come out as an eBook.

In 2013, she launched The Indie Navigator brand to allow her to concentrate her consulting work on the market she knows best, publishing. She doesn't want other authors to have to make all the painful mistakes she’s made, but believes that despite all the upheaval, this is the most exciting time to be a small, independent publisher and self-published author. In addition to her consulting work, she presents at writers conferences, to writers groups, publishing organizations and online to help authors and small publishers recognize the great potential for success in the new “wild west” of publishing brought on by technological innovation and the resulting changes in the marketplace.

Mary brings her knowledge and experience to every project she works on with her Indie Navigator clients (IndieNavigator.com).


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Tammy Burke, GLVWG member, 2011 conference chair and past president, has published around 400 newspaper and regional magazine articles. She has interviewed state and local government officials, business and community leaders, everyday folk and celebrities, in addition to helping write scripts for over a dozen television commercials and writing various business communications. Currently, she is in the revision stage for her first YA fantasy adventure book, the first in an intended series. When not writing, she works in the social service field and is a fencing marshal in the Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA).

Interview with Randall Brown

by Tori Bond


Do you want to make your fiction pop and sizzle? Would you like to see your work published? Then don’t miss Randall Brown’s workshops Flash Fiction and Submitting Your Short Fiction and Creative Nonfiction at the conference. Randall Brown is a fearless writer, teacher, editor, and publisher of flash fiction. Tori Bond caught up with him for a short interview about writing and publishing short fiction.

Tori Bond: There are many labels for short short fiction: microfiction, sudden fiction, instant fiction, nanofiction, and many more. Do these labels all fall under the category of flash fiction, or do they all have specific story lengths that delineate these categories? Is there a broader description of flash fiction beyond a word count? What distinguishes flash fiction from prose poetry?

Randall Brown: Editors of anthologies and journals often create names to define the kind of very short fiction they are seeking, and these names are often connected to a specific word count. However, most editors also have an aesthetic (for example, a desire for a narrative) that is also part of that definition. Beyond a word count, there are many broader descriptions of flash fiction, with each writer, reader, editor, and publisher bringing to the compressed world of flash fiction their own ideas of what needs to be accomplished within that (small) space. In short, flash is usually under 1000 words, sometimes compressing a narrative within that space and other times finding other ways beyond narrative to make that space mean something to a reader. As to when that "thing" becomes prose poem, I'd say that no one quite knows what distinguishes flash fiction from prose poetry. If it is formatted as one paragraph, justified, then it's probably a prose proem. It also might rely less on narrative prose strategies and more on poetic devices. Literally, I guess it's a poem built with prose (the sentence) rather than with poetry (the line break).

T: You write, read, publish and teach flash fiction. What is it that you love about this form and why do you think it is becoming so popular?

R: I often bore myself after awhile, so flash fiction is perfect for someone who can only tolerate his own writing for a page or so. I think it's popular because it doesn't take (too) long to write and doesn't take very long at all to read. I also think it's a great space to write fearlessly and take risks.

T: As founder and managing editor of Matter Press, and former editor of Smokelong Quarterly, what do you think is the biggest mistake writers make when submitting their work to journals and magazines?

R: Oh, I think that maybe they aren't sure what they're submitting to.

T: Since submitting work for publication seems to be a numbers game, do you have one or two shortcuts to share?

R: I think becoming a submissions reader helps you grasp exactly what the "slush pile" looks like. And I think finding a place that you love makes it more likely that you'll find a "match."

T: I have heard you speak about the importance of writers supporting writers. Can you expand on this?

R: I think that most readers of flash fiction are writers of flash fiction, and I think the best way to be part of that community is to find ways that you can help other writers. Too often, I think writers new to the community think first what this community can do for them, rather than thinking of ways that they can help the community.

T: What is one of your favorite flash fiction writing prompts?

R: I like taking five to ten words from a poem I like and using them in a flash fiction piece.

Randall Brown is the author of the award-winning flash fiction collection Mad to Live (Flume Press 2008), a collection recently reprinted as deluxe version by PS Press, 2011. He teaches at and directs the MFA in Writing Program at Rosemont College. He is founder and editor of Matter Press and its literary magazine, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. He holds an MFA from Vermont College and a BA from Tufts University—along with an M.Ed. and a B.S. in Education. His essay on (very) short fiction appears in The Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field (Rose Metal Press 2009), a Book of the Year finalist. His blog FlashFiction.Net is one of the foremost resources for fans, editors, writers, and teachers of flash fiction. His work has been published and anthologized widely, both online and in print.

David Wilk on publishing, continued

This post concludes Conference Chair Kathryn Craft’s interview (click here for Part One) with publishing guru David Wilk, who owns and operates Creative Management Partners, a business providing authors a full suite of publishing services. Note: David's individual appointments for The Write Stuff conference are now full.

Kathryn: What kind of author is the most successful at self-publishing? Is self-publishing a viable option for fiction authors? What services do you provide to authors choosing to self-publish?

David: There are as many different types of self-publishing tools as authors using them so there is no single answer to this question. But one characteristic applies to all, I think, and that is commitment to the process of publishing, which not all authors can achieve. Self publishing is difficult to do successfully for any type of book. It's easier to sell nonfiction, but in the current publishing climate, fiction writers are going to need to self publish, or be willing to participate in the publishing process on a regular basis, as fiction is commercially challenged. Services I offer include advice and consultation on every aspect of the publishing process, guidance in which path to follow, how an author can operate as a business, and if appropriate, I can provide any or all of the actual publishing elements an author will need to be a publisher (developmental editing, copy editing, proofreading, book design, type and composition, distribution, sales and marketing, and business administration).

K: Your bio says you have "been involved with publishing hundreds of books, including a number of best sellers." Pick one or two of the bestsellers, tell us your role in its production, and tell us why you think it sold so well.

D: SECRETS OF THE CODE was a New York Times Bestseller for 16 weeks and in various editions has sold over a million copies worldwide. I was the publisher of the original hardcover edition of the book and later managed the marketing of the paperback. It was a very erudite and intelligent companion to Dan Brown's DaVinci Code. We did a full on best seller marketing program for the original edition, worked hard to get important support from the retailers, and of course it was a great book published at the right time, with sales minded editors and many brilliant contributors who all helped make the book a success (and though we were riding the coattails of the most successful novel of our time, ours was by far the best selling companion guide for all the reasons given here).

For more about David Wilk, check out these links to his ongoing projects:

booktrix.com (book marketing and consulting), livewriters.com (video sharing for authors and books), writerscast.com (author and book industry interview podcast), chptr1.com (book browsing), readiac.com (curating enthusiastic book reviews) and rvive.com (republishing lost American classics). He writes about book industry matters regularly, and is the Director of Marketing for Good Business International (good-b.com).

Write Stuff registration is now open! Days to Early Bird Deadline for extra registration savings: 27!

The Inside Scoop on The Write Stuff: Part I

The 2010 Write Stuff Conference is coming up fast. Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group President Tori Bond caught up with Kathryn Craft, Conference Chair, and Tammy Burke, Conference Co-Chair, for some insider information about what’s new this year, tips about making the most of the conference, and some advice about networking with agents and editors at the conference.

Tori Bond: The Write Stuff conference usually runs Friday and Saturday but this year it starts on Thursday, March 25th and runs through Saturday the 27th. Can you tell us what’s happening on Thursday? What else is new this year?

Kathryn Craft: Expanded pre-conference activities this year required that we tack on Thursday as well. Our keynote, James N. Frey (HOW TO WRITE A DAMN GOOD NOVEL) actually proposed it: we will offer a two-day workshop with James, "How to Plot Like the Pros," in which he will lead us through the collective plotting of a story in two 8 a.m.–5 p.m. sessions. We hear that former participants have loved it. Since the first conference activities on Friday begin at 6:30 p.m., conferees who choose to do so can participate in both without conflict. This will be a rare opportunity for East Coast writers to interact James, who lives in California, and has a reputation as one of the finest creative writing teachers in the country.

On Thursday night, we'll offer a special conference edition of The Writer's Cafe. This informal networking event will encourage conferees to get to know one another while talking about our favorite subject—writing. The 7:30-9:30 p.m. event is free, open to all conferees, and, if we're pitching work to agents or editors at the conference, we can practice our pitches on one another and gain feedback.

T: How many years has The Write Stuff conference been going on? Why do you feel it has been so successful for so many years?

K: This is the 17th year for GLVWG, which has held a conference in one form or another every year but one, I believe. There are so many reasons for its success—the opportunity to gain valuable face time with agents and editors, to learn more about the craft, to gain insight into the world of publishing, to keep up-to-date on new trends, to network, to refuel the muse—that maybe its very diversity of opportunity is the answer. There's something for everyone. We continue to find new ways to reach out to writers and meet their needs.

T: You’ve attended, and helped organize other writers conferences in the area. What do you feel makes The Write Stuff unique?

K: It's size—small enough for good interaction yet large enough to attract good speakers and agents—and the fact that rather than support a set agenda, we actually listen to the evolving needs of the writing community. A GLVWG member once told me that she had been coming to the conference for ten years and that it held nothing new for her (remember, Joan?). She may not realize it, but I took that comment on as a challenge. Yes, there are some topics we always see requested, like the agent panel or how to write a query letter. But in the years I've been involved with programming we've tried to find fresh approaches and new topics so that conferees both old and new will be stimulated. This is now my 10th Write Stuff conference and I have to admit, I'm going to have a devil of a time deciding which sessions to go to, which makes me glad conference recordings are available to our members!

T: I know that you strive to schedule workshops that have appeal for the widest range of writers. For example, can you talk about why a science fiction writer would be interested in attending the session, "How to Seduce Your Reader" given by romance writer Tracy MacNish?

K: GLVWG is made up of all kinds of writers and our presenters know that. Since we have three breakout rooms to play with, my approach has been to create a fiction track, a nonfiction track, and a business of publishing track so that specialists always have a session they might be drawn to. We do have genre writers heading the fiction sessions; you mentioned Tracy, who writes historical romance. Fiction writers who want to sell their books know that including a little sizzle goes a long way toward selling books. Tracy happens to have a specialty at this, and she can share techniques that can work in any kind of fiction. Our YA writer, Jordan Sonnenblick, creates great characters, so why not learn from the best? Bill Kent can break down the basics of writing action in a way someone who’s done it less may never have considered. When you go to a talk by someone who knows what they are talking about, someone who communicates effectively and with passion, you always take away something worthwhile. No matter the genre, good writing is good writing, and good storytelling is good storytelling.

T: What is your best tip for getting the most out of The Write Stuff conference?

K: The most obvious one is SIGN UP EARLY. You'll save yourself money through Early Bird discounts (discounts end Feb. 25), including Four Points Sheraton hotel rooms at an all-time low of $85/night, and you'll stand a good chance of getting your first choice for opportunities with limited enrollment.

Once you are on site at the conference, though, my advice is to play to your weaknesses. The conference is about opening yourself to new people and ideas and opportunities, after all. Many writers are introverts, so if talking to other writers scares you, use the conference to practice—again and again. Telling fellow writers about your project this year is great groundwork for pitching it to agents next year. If your specialty is creating an effective sense of time and place you might be drawn to Tracy's session on that topic—but maybe what you really need to hear is what a veteran like Molly Cochran has to say about actually finishing all those projects you've started. If you fear the way the internet is changing the publishing world yet still hope to succeed, make sure to attend David Wilk's session on the new rules and tools for writers. Stretch yourself in this way and you will see how quickly a little discomfort will translate into new inspiration.
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Besides her responsibilities as Conference Chair, Kathryn Craft is also a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, and writes literary women's fiction and memoir.  

Tori Bond is the President of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group and writes humorous women’s fiction.  

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More from Tori's interview, including responses from Co-Chair Tammy Burke, in our next post.

The mysteries of publishing

Here's another excerpt from a recent interview with journalist, author, critic, and Write Stuff 2010 presenter Bill Kent, conducted by conference chair Kathryn Craft.

Kathryn: Many aspiring authors believe that once they've got their foot in the door of the publishing industry that the rest of their career will take care of itself. But is this realistic? Can you comment on some common setbacks?

Bill: We all want just a few things to happen when our books are published: good reviews, strong sales and enough enthusiasm from our publisher to take us to the next book deal. But an inept review, slow sales, and a publisher whose promotion staff fails to read the books the company is printing that season are not career setbacks. These and other publishing pratfalls (such as not finding your book in a store on the publication date, or doing a group signing with a writer whose behavior turns off the book buyers) are certainly frustrating. They are emotionally wounding to those of us who love what we do and think of our books like children, and want others to love them as much as we do. And they can be devastating for those who expect publication to make qualitative changes in their lives--you know, the people who think, "I'll be a real writer when I have a best seller and my book is being made into a movie."

You don't need to be a published author to arrive at the truth about who you are and what really matters to you. The great thing about writing, and the practice of any other art, is that it shows you things about yourself that you wouldn't see any other way. Every poem, every article, every book you write teaches you something, regardless of how eager you might be to learn. This process, by which you deepen your understanding of yourself, your relationship with others, and your values, is part of the larger mystery of why it is you feel compelled to string words together. This mystery cannot be explained or lightly dismissed as a yearning for acceptance or need for money.

Publication may bring some readers to your work, but it has very little to with the qualitative experience a reader has when he or she discovers your work. As much as we would like our writing judged on its merits, a published book is bought and sold in a fashion that is alarmingly similar to canned peas on a supermarket shelf.

Instead of sharing a story about how frustrating publication can be, I'd rather tell you about a moment I had in a library, when I saw a person pick my book off the shelf and check it out. I didn't say or do anything to draw attention to myself as the book's author. Rather, I remembered how I felt, when I was younger, when I went into libraries and bookstores to find writing that really, really pleased me, by people I had never met, but wanted to become.

It was a moment when I reminded myself that some wishes really do come true.

K: If you could give one piece of advice to those who write and want to be published but don't have a clue about how to do so, would it be?

B: It would be to develop a strategy for not going crazy while dealing with agents, editors and publishers. You can find out how to get published: the procedures and formalities are in every "how to get published" book. What isn't mentioned is how easy it is to give up, or assume that you're worthless if [an agent] rejects your work. I've discovered relatively late in life that when I begin to worry about how the publishing industry might respond to my work, I suffer. I become so anxious about rejection and acceptance that the thing that makes writing happen, dies. Or, I start revising before I'm finished, and make so many changes that it takes even longer to finish the book.

What really matters is the act of writing. That is, finding a time (and place of free of distractions) to practice your art regularly. It's so easy to believe that a powerful agent, a perceptive editor, an expensive promotional campaign, a book selected by Oprah’s Book Club, or lucrative movie deal are the measures of success. They're not. Success for a writer is having the opportunity to write, because the act of writing changes everything, or, at least, has the potential to do so. Success for a professional writer is having the guts to stick with it and finishing what you start, even if you can't bear to put "The End" on the last page of the manuscript. The rest, as they say, is history, which, contrary to the cliché, isn't written by the winners, or the losers. History is written by the survivors who, even if they don't live out their natural lives, had the strength and determination to share them with us.

Next post: Bill talks about his passion for mysteries.
Days until Write Stuff 2010 registration opens: 92!