Writers’ Mill Minutes, September 17, 2017
Minutes taken by Jean Harkin
Self-publishing Nuts and Bolts presented by Beth Jusino
About twenty-three people attended the meeting. Walt Socha opened the meeting and introduced Writers’ Mill to new attendees. Matthew McAyeal announced prize winners for the September “Unattainable” contest: 1st prize to Carolyn Adams for her poem “Moonflower,” 2nd prize to Jessie Collins for her poem “Unattainable?”, and 3rd prize to Sheila Deeth for “Kitkit’s Unattainably Spherical Object.” Next month’s contest, “Hidden Deep Inside” will be hosted by Karen Alexander-Brown. Deadline for entries is Sunday, Oct. 1.
Jim Elstad announced he is collecting contributions in memory of Minnie Stoumbaugh to present to her family. Jean Harkin took Minutes, and refreshments were provided by the Library, Carolyn, and Jean.
Walt introduced Lynne Erlandson, our library partner, who introduced our speaker, Beth Jusino, from Seattle. Lynne gave an impressive resume of Beth’s background of twenty years in publishing as a writer, teacher, editor, and literary agent. Her most recently published book is The Author’s Guide to Marketing.
Beth began her presentation with setting parameters for questions and stating that she would be happy to discuss individual projects in person following the two-hour session. With a slide presentation to highlight her talk, Beth presented “Self Publishing Nuts and Bolts.” She showed us how to build strategies for self-publishing in print or e-books, from DIY to companies that support self-publishing. In between she provided strategies for hiring resources for particular aspects of self-publishing including formatting, interior design, and cover design.
She provided many insightful suggestions for self-publishing, such as using Createspace or Ingram Spark for printing but setting up an author’s own publishing company. To do this one needs to purchase ISBN numbers and register them when used on a self-published book.
Beth advised carefully considering companies that “do it all” for authors. Some have been in business for many years and do it well, others can be transient or even dishonest. Her advice “be selective.” A writer might consider seeking Beth’s advice online. Her e-mail is bethjusino@gmail.com.
The outline of Beth’s presentation and links for resources are provided on Beth’s website: Go to https://www.slideshare.net/BethJusino/self-publishing-nuts-and-bolts-79875284.
Beth ended her program with “When the Book Comes Out. . .” leading in to next month’s Writers’ Mill presentation by Walt on Marketing, Sunday Oct. 15.