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January 2012 NABP News

Details: Published on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 13:36

January 2012 NABP News

Greetings, once again, from the NW Association of Book Publishers. And welcome to 2012, a year when we expect to grow, change, and get even better and educating and supporting small and independent publishers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

Please connect with us at our website, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

So, on to the news:

Meetings and Memberships

Our monthly meeting is this Thursday! Linda Kuhlmann will tell us how using media tools such as blogs, Facebook, and Youtube can help in marketing books. As always, that's 11 a.m. at the Fairfield Inn, Lake Oswego. Details here.

Please take a moment to renew your membership, if you haven't already. You can do it online here, or you can bring a check for $75 to the meeting on Friday. If you haven't done it, your grace period ends this month!

One great reason to be a member: You can apply for a scholarship to Publishing University. "Pub U" is put on annually by the Independent Book Publishers Association, and this year's meeting is in San Francisco March 9-12. Every year, NABP gets to send one member for free (though you still have to get yourself to the show). To find out more about how to apply, visit this page. Applications must reach us by February 10.

Two of our recent speakers, John Ellis of Portland Internet Design and attorney Kohel Haver, have offered to make their presentation slides available to our members. If you want John's slides about SEO and internet marketing, click here and enter the password "nabp." For Kohel's on copyright, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and he'll send it right out.

Member News

Have news to share? Please send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Susan Rich of Rich Writing has started a new show on the All Women's Radio Network. "Susan Rich Talks" airs at 8 a.m. Pacific Time weekdays, and on a couple of those days the topic is writing and/or marketing. She's looking for guests, too! More info here.

F.I. Goldhaber of Publish Your Words donated cover and interior design work for Green is the Color of Winter, a collection of poetry, prose and photography that's a fundraiser for the SMART program. And this week it was announced that the photographs in the book were voted best published artwork for 2011 in the annual Preditors and Editors Readers Poll. Congrats!

Peg Silloway is excited to attend a signing of Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning, written by her step-son Gary Marcus. It's Thursday January 26th, 7:30 p.m., and the downtown Powell's.

Industry News

The big news recently was Apple's update of its iBooks app and the release of an iPad authoring tool for ebooks. Here's the press release, which mostly stresses textbooks. But down towards the bottom you'll see the info on iBooks Author, which Apple says "lets anyone with a Mac create stunning textbooks, cookbooks, history books, pictures books and more, and publish them to Apple's iBookstore."

Sounds exciting, but many details are not yet clear. One thing we do know, thanks to Digital Book World, is that the contract says ebooks created using iBooks Author can only be sold in the iBookstore. DBW says this "sets the stage for a showdown with Amazon."

Still, Digital Book World was amazed as Apple execs dropped photos into a template and text wrapped seamlessly around them. They said "the new software will revolutionize both the textbook industry and ebook creation."

Still on ebooks, three questions have often come up around them: How to price ebooks, and what they mean for libraries and print books. In a post on Book Marketing Maven, the CEO of Smashwords offers Pricing Strategies for Ebooks. As for libraries, the New York Times reports that many publishers are fighting back against libraries lending ebooks. They argue, in essence, that it's too easy to borrow an ebook, so patrons won't buy the digital or print version. And finally on ebooks, the Times also has a story on ebook and print book hybrids. Basically, you buy a book, and that gets you access to web-based digital content.

But we're still producing actual books, right? The Times, again, says that Christmas 2011 saw an increase of 10-30% in store visits over 2010, driven mainly by big-ticket items like the Steve Jobs biography. And if you have a bookstore event coming up, IBPA offers some tips on how to have a successful bookstore event.

And finally, thanks to member Charlie Clark for letting us know about PubWest's 2012 Awards program. Among the many categories are three new ones for digital products: standard ebooks, enhanced ebooks, and apps.

January 2012 Meeting

Details: Published on Wednesday, 11 January 2012 09:48

NABP General Meeting:

Thursday, January 26, 2012, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Linda Kuhlmann

Author of Koenig's Wonder and The Red Boots.

Topic: "Marketing Tools in Media"

Learn how using media tools, such as creating a blog, Facebook page, or YouTube Video can help in book marketing.

Linda Kuhlmann grew up in Illinois and moved to Oregon thirty years ago. She has been writing most of her life, but her fiction always had to take a back seat for her job as a Systems Analyst. During her work, she wrote training curriculums and materials for the computer software classes that she taught.

Early in 2004, she retired the technical field to begin her new career as an author. Her first novel, Koenig's Wonder, was published that year. Since then, Linda was busy marketing her novel, as well as writing a screen play, which she has adapted to a novel, The Red Boots, which was published in July, 2011. It is an International murder mystery that takes place in Ireland and Oregon.

In marketing both of her novels, Linda has enjoyed speaking to groups of writers about her experience in writing and publishing. She has also held readings and signings in Oregon, the Mid-West, and the East Coast. She also assisted in creating a Book Trailer Video that is now on YouTube.

For more about Linda, see www.lindakuhlmann.com.

Meeting Location and Cost:

Fairfield Inn, 6100 Meadows Road, Lake Oswego (Near I-5 at Kruse Way)

Meetings are free of charge for members. Fee for nonmembers is $10.

Lending Our Support for Libraries

Details: Published on Monday, 19 December 2011 17:40

NABP is sharing this important announcement because we believe in libraries. Please read the following, which was sent this evening from Friends of the Library.

Help Save our Library!
Voice Your Support on December 22

Help us ensure stable funding for our world-class library by attending the Multnomah County Commissioners meeting:

Thursday, December 22, 2011
9:30am
Public comment expected to start at 10am

Multnomah Building,
501 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, Oregon
Room 100 (just off the lobby)
If you can't make the meeting, please use our email form to send a pre-drafted letter to our County Commissioners asking them to refer to the May ballot a library district at a rate that will maintain our library's current level of service .

The Multnomah County Library is consistently recognized as one of the best libraries in the nation. We need a strong library system now more than ever. The Multnomah County Library helps all of our citizens—young and old, working and unemployed, rich and poor—and solidifies our community.

For years, our library has existed on temporary funding that is renewed by ballot measures every few years. Recently, a plan has emerged to fund the library more efficiently—with the creation of a permanent library district. Last spring, a huge majority of voters endorsed the idea.

But now the Commissioners are seriously considering an alternative proposal: referring another temporary levy that would severely reduce the library’s budget, requiring deep cuts in library hours and staff. Worse, this proposal would lock in the funding cut to the library for years, and put off stable funding and the creation of a library district until at least 2014!

Help us to take a strong stand for our library. Join us on December 22, when the County Commissioners will be accepting public comment on their proposal. Ask the Commissioners to place a library district on the ballot at a rate that will maintain our library at its current service level. Let’s fill the room with supporters so that our Commissioners know that we want them to fund our library!

Use our email form to send a message to our County Commissioners asking them to reconsider the current proposal and refer to the May ballot a library district at a rate that will maintain current service. A page will load showing you a preview of your message and asking you to “sign” your email with your name and address. You will also have the opportunity to add a personalized message to the Commissioners.

Please forward this to your friends, relatives, co-workers, and anyone you know who will join us in supporting our library, and ensuring that the people of Multnomah County are not sold short.

Thank you for your continued support of our outstanding Multnomah County Library.

Craig Cedros
President, Friends of the Library

NABP News, December 2011

Details: Published on Friday, 09 December 2011 17:28

Membership Renewal Time

Please take a moment to renew your membership. The rate remains at $75 per year, for which you get free attendance at our meetings plus discounted or free attendance at many eventswe're planning throughout 2012. And you'll be getting our newsletter again, starting very soon.

You can renew with PayPal at this link or mail a check to NABP, Box 14004, Portland, 97293.

Meet Your New Board of Directors

Many thanks to the folks who have stepped up to guide NABP during this time of exciting change and growth!

President: Cleon Cox, Cox and Associates

Vice President: Al Ainsworth, Chewah Publishing

Secretary: Charlie Clark, Charlie Clark Books, LLC

Treasurer: F.I. Goldhaber, Publish Your Words

Directors:

Gale Frank, Big Mouth Communications

Ed Kamholz, Design by Design

Bob Smith, Book Printers Network

Shanelle Boyd, Attorney

January Meeting

We hope you can join us on Thursday, January 26, 11 a.m., at our usual location, the Fairfield Inn of Lake Oswego. We also have slots available for our five-minute spotlights, so please get in touch if you're interested.

Our speaker is Linda Kuhlmann, author of Koenig’s Wonder and The Red Boots. Her topic will be Marketing Tools in Media: Learn how using media tools, such as creating a blog, Facebook page, or YouTube Video can help in book marketing.

Member News

Our December speaker, John Ellis of Portland Internet Design, was such a hit that many people wanted to get his slides. Well, he has graciously offered it as a PDF, and you can download it right here.

Members! Got news to share? Send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We haven't heard from you lately, but we know you have stuff going on!

In the Industry: Awards and Shows

Seems like end-of-year is all about awards for 2011 and plans for 2012. We get lots of emails along these lines, so here are some links that seem to be of interest.

Book Awards:

Winning Dan Poynter’s Global Ebook Awards gets you media announcements, a gala in Santa Barbara, and a year’s scholarship for his Para Promotion program. Just entering has its benefits. Get more information here.

The JPX Media Group based in Los Angeles is sponsoring the 2012 International Book Awards, with a discount rate of $49 per title this month. Here is their Call for Entries.

2012 Conferences

Digital Book World offers a conference in January in New York City. DBW constantly cranks out helpful links and webinars related to the ever-expanding and changing digital publishing world. Find out more at DigitalBookWorldConference.com.

Being a member of NABP gets you a discount on membership to the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), which in turn gets you discounts to show your titles at such events as the Public Library Association in March, BookExpo America in June, and the American Library Association in June. Details on the IBPA website.

A (Gilded) Ray of Hope?

And finally, since all we hear these days is about the death of the printed book, the New York Times offers a ray of hope, perhaps. Turns out there’s still a market for serious quality in the publishing world.

Connect With Us!

Please connect with NABP on our new Facebook page. “Like” us, and we’ll “like” you. Likewise, please “follow” us on Twitter, and we’ll follow you back.

Happy holidays, everyone, and we'll see you in January!