LOCAL AUTHORS CONSIDERED FOR GLYPH AWARDS

Town of Paradise Valley Independent
May 7th, 2003

So you want to self-publish your own novel, that amazing story that's bound to attract a lucrative movie deal.

Or maybe you want to pro-duce a cactus flower cookbook, or some kind of "idiot's guide to ..." that'll hit the marketplace with such aplomb that all of those publishing wannabes will only be able to cry out, "Why didn't I think of that kind of idiot?"

A number of self-published authors who live in and around Paradise Valley have their own 1 war stories to tell.

All are nominees for the semi-annual Glyph Awards, which the Arizona Book Publishing Association gives to the v best books published in the t state. The Glyph Awards will be announced May 10 at the Doubletree La Posada Resort in Paradise Valley. The black-tie I optional event sponsored by I the ABPA begins at 5:30 p.m.

Self-publishers and small presses in the state submit their books to the ABPA every two years, and these books are then judged by people from the I academic community, by book store owners, librarians and so on.

With advances in technology everything from desktop publishing to online book marketing - vast numbers of folks have decided to forget about trying to convince someone to pub-lish their books, vying to do it themselves.

Success often depends on pure tenacity.

For example, Scottsdale author Pamela Swartz didn't self-produce a single copy of her book "Arizona Getaways for the Incurably Romantic" until she had researched the marketplace and then wooed a distributor to make sure it would actually end. up getting into the bookstores.

"I made sure I had a viable product with a viable concept," Ms. Swartz said.

In fact, she understood the importance of distribution so well that she took an unfinished manuscript and the artwork - as opposed to the actual book - on tour. She showed it around at Book Expo America, one of the largest publishing trade shows in the country, and later connected with the CEO Independent Publishers Group, who told her how to submit the book for possible distribution.

Only then did she actually sit down and write the book. But first, she did even more research.

As a result of her intensive investigations and pre-publishing marketing efforts, the book is now in bookstores and gift shops across the country and can be regarded as a mega-hit in self-publishing terms.

"I can't complain," she says.

Paradise Valley resident Clare Goldsberry has two books up for Glyph Awards, one that was a labor of love, another that was completely dialed in with her industry expertise.

Guess which one is selling?

Her other book, "A Stranger in Zion," about her personal experience with the Mormon religion, is doing OK, she said, but it can't compare to her trade masterpiece.

"Its much easier when the target market is absolutely defined," she says.

"Great Idea" has sold well with inventor associations and at their trade shows, which she often attends. She is also able to market her book as a con-tributor for such trade maga-zines as "Inventor's Digest” and "Injection Molding Magazine.

Paradise Valley resident J.J. Smith-Moore was able to draw on her past experience' as a book designer to keep the costs down for the production of "From Death Comes a Scribbler," a tribute to renowned illustrator Edward Gorey.

Although it wasn't exactly a mystery novel, Ms. Smith--Moore credits much of the success in her self-publishing ven-ture to Poisoned Pen Press, which helped her with her distribution.

"Its like a bug, this publishing thing," she says. "You have to just love the process.”