ESPRESSO (Book Machine), ANYONE?

A while back, I read an article in my local newspaper that talked about a printing press for the digital age. There, in black and white, was a photo of an independent bookstore in our nation’s capital where a store employee was using a new-fangled, self-contained printer called the Espresso Book Machine.

It really isn’t a simple copier. The Espresso Book Machine will print paperback books of various sizes, thickness, in color or black and white. The best part? It does it while you watch.

To say I was intrigued is an understatement. I immediately wondered how this would help me sell more books. I just proofed the first print copy of my Scottish Time Travel, My Honorable Highlander, so I soaked up every word in the article. I was more than eager to locate the machine and watch it in action.

Guess what? N.C.State has one! Nestled beneath the library on Hillsborough Street is the copy center called Wolf Xpress Print and Copy Service. Better yet, they planned to host a group of local writers with a demonstration. I snuck in and was welcomed by Teri Hellmann, the manager of Wolf Xpress, and her associate, Anthony. (I was actually invited by a member of the group)

The machine is no bigger than a good-sized office copier, but the sides are clear! You can watch the pages as they are printed. You can smell the glue as the cover is attached. Terri printed a approximately 9 by 7” book, of about 300 pages, in less than 5 minutes. When all was said and done, and they answered all the questions I could think of, they printed several copies of the Wolf Xpress Espresso Book Machine Manual and passed them out. Free!

The booklet states that N.C. State (my sister Kim Beegle’s Alma Mater) plans to produce:

·         Custom Textbooks

·         Course packs, lab manuals, & study guides

·         Student thesis & research projects

·         Novels and poetry collections

·         University or corporate reports

·         Comic Books & Graphic Novels

·         And more

Wow! Here is an opportunity for me to print my own books. It looks similar to the on-line publishing I am currently trying at Amazon’s Createspace. You choose the size you want the book, then download the template. Terri and her staff will even sell you an ISBN. They also have designers on staff who can create a book cover for you.

The demonstration was awesome, and I can see why colleges and independent bookstores might want these Espresso Book Machines. I paid a fee to Createspace to make my book available for sale to libraries and colleges, so I should be able to see more sales as these machines pop up. The newspaper article mentioned that this machine turns independent bookstores into places to get books published. It can potentially allow them to have as many books as Amazon, available within minutes to their in-store customer.

For the voracious reader (like me) NOT having to wait for the book to get shipped, is great. Also, for self-published authors whose books are not available at bookstores, hurray!

Nancy Lee Badger

I'm From ANOTHER WORLD (the soap opera)

Nancy & Joe Rothenberger with an EMMY

I have been traveling back and forth from my home in North Carolina to help out with family in Florida, and I recently made a side trip to visit an old friend. Not that he is any older than me, of course, but he did live two doors down from me back in Huntington, NY and we graduated elementary, junior high, and high school together.

Joseph Rothenberger had a special man for a dad...Joe Senior...and the older Mr. Rothenberger took pity on an eighteen-year-old neighbor. I hadn't yet found a summer job, that summer after my freshman year of college. He said he could get me a day's work at NBC, where he was a producer.

Now I had not, until that point, been much of a soap opera watcher (if you don't count Dark Shadows) but even I had heard of Another World. So, off we went in his chauffer-driven car toward New York City. Don't ask me where the studio was, but I enjoyed the lovely neighborhood since I walked around it with other actors during our lunch break.

Other actors? Yes, I was hired to work as an on-air actor in a non-speaking role! I played a hospital Candystriper, and pushed open the double doors in a fake hospital corridor. Two 'real' actors followed right behind me.

It took all day to record the one-hour show. I received a check for $50, which was a fortune (later that summer I earned $25/week as a camp counselor) I could work no more than one day since I did not have an actor's card, but that was okay.

I still have the script for the show with various hash-marks and I amazed other dorm mates when I sat and read along with the script when the show aired in early 1972. (Yeah, I'm an oldie but goodie)

What has any of this to do with my life? I never wanted to act, but found that a one day stint on a popular television show helped me when I worked in retail, served in a restaurant, or fielded emergency calls as a 9-1-1 operator. Each job, over the years, went smoother because I became what they wanted of me. Today, I am who I want to be, which is why I write books.

Kathleen & Nancy

Getting back to Joe... I drove the 80 or so miles across Florida to his home in Ocala and finally met his lovely wife, Kathleen. She has helped edit several of my books, and it was great to put a face to the voice. When she and Joe gave me a tour of their studio (they create advertising videos and the like) I spotted from the corner of my eye something large and gold.

A close up of the EMMY

"Is that...an Emmy?" I asked.

When he brought it closer, my eyes widened. I held an Emmy his dad had been awarded for...GET THIS...

Another World!

Eerie considering all the shows the man produced. I got Kathleen and Joe to let me take photos to remember a small, ancient part of my life that made me the bullsh*tter I am today...no offense.

Cats, Dogs, & Veterans...Oh MY!

Dad is out of the hospital and back among his veteran buddies at the Daytona Beach VA Home, and we enjoyed several opportunities to visit him. Among the delights of the place, beside the areas available to the residents to play cars, watch TV, or stroll around the grounds are the special guardians of the group home.

Cats, dogs, birds, and fish.

The birds live in a huge birdcage near the main entrance and chirp and sing when you walk by (or, in the case of the majority of the residents, wheel by). The gigantic fishtank is also there in the main drag.

The cats and dogs are another issue. They run free! Well, run is not the term I would normally use. The few dogs we see when we visit are small and have minds of their own. The cats are more friendly. One, in fact, fell in love with my sister's purse! He was happy to sit on it or lie beside it while we played cards with my dad.

Dad is a Navy veteran and the home is a Godsend for Mom. He is cared for and fed VERY well. Love you, Dad!

Nancy

Goodbye Nora Ephron

Today's newspaper sidebar (something I scan quickly...would rather get back to my writing) stopped me, cold. It simply said "Ephron, writer of 'When Harry Met Sally' dies."

I recognized the name. I recalled the 1989 movie. I read the entire article by Adam Berstein.

I had to read more about Nora, who shared a first name with one of my favorite romance writers. Seems she passed away at 71 after three Oscar nominations and a life spent 'in the movies'.

I did not realize she wrote screenplays for some of my favorite movies. Besides WHMS, there was 'Silkwood', You've Got Mail' (though I always hated the title), and 'Julie & Julia'.

She is called a rare combination of writer, director, and producer and her work will be missed.

Cut! That's a wrap, Nora Ephron

Nancy

Brainstorming with author Leanne Banks

One of the best things I learned from Leanne Banks about writing, whether its the first book, or your latest, is that it is "okay to write crap."

Leanne spoke at a recent Heart Of Carolina Romance Writers chapter meeting, here in Raleigh, NC, and I was impressed with her openness, ideas, and bubbly personality.

She forced us into small groups to think up conflicts. She said something like, "Think of what a person would rationally do in a situation, and have the character do it differently."

I think she has the right idea. Every story, especially my 'happy ever after' romances, need conflict...something that keeps my hero and shero apart (yeah, she said shero).

Thanks Leanne!

Nancy Lee Badger

Release Day for MY HONORABLE HIGHLANDER

It's here!
Blurb:

Bumbling present day herbalist, Haven MacKay, gets more than she bargains for when her love spell goes awry, is cast back in time, and meets her true love -- Laird Kirkwall Gunn.

                  

Kirk’s plans go slightly off course when he falls in love with a woman wandering through the Scottish Highlands. After all, he has pledged to marry another, from an enemy clan, in order to end a century-old feud.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Knot6H

NOOK: http://bit.ly/K4TqzH

All Romance EBooks:   http://bit.ly/JmqjXJ

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/KxBBbT

ISBN 9781476417400

Nancy

Interview with Author Joanna Allred McKethan

  

Today I’m interviewing Joanna Allred McKethan. Her book,A Holiday Folly, is a mainstream gothic/romantic suspense and was released on December 17, 2011.

Welcome, Joanna. You and I have met and recently shared lunch at your North Carolina art studio. I cannot believe you teach students to paint and have time to write. Please tell my readers a little bit about your book.  

Holidays are always a bit stressed, but this holiday knocks “stress” off the charts to make it a holiday of dark foreboding. Sinclair, artist and daughter of the Wards with an empire who live in a hidden spot of the Sandhills of North Carolina, is invited back home and brings her current boyfriend with her. Tensions and events escalate in this hilly N.C. setting which brings together a senator, horse people, rich relatives from all over the U.S., and an ex-boyfriend invited by Sinclair’s mother. The holiday is the time for receiving bad news.

Many authors are basing their stories in North Carolina, and I am glad to see it. This state has the ocean beaches and mountains to the west. Describe the genre of this particular title, and is it the only genre you write in?  

A Holiday Folly is written in contemporary gothic genre, and it is, more or less, the home setting to which I return. One book may emphasize one aspect of gothic or another.

I know first hand that getting published can take years. Did you have several manuscripts finished before you sold? If so, did you send them out yourself?

No, but I had one single title finished (also a gothic) and another abandoned (a fantasy). And I made all the mistakes, for example getting people eager to see the novels I was working on before I had finished them, and then not being able to follow through.

Why have you become a published author? Besides the money, of course (LOL!)    

Largely due to the encouragement of my writer peers, and to Wendi Felter of Red Rose Publishing, who called my book “a perfect match for Red Rose Publishing.”

Do you have any rejection stories to share?

No—they’re all the same. Most of my rejections have been kind, however.

The dreaded form letter…been there, done that, but you kept at it (lucky for your readers!) Writing is a profession and my readers are curious to know what your writing routine is like.

I’m an artist, as well, and I have finally bought a downtown storefront for both my writing and my art-based business, and it is my dream come true. It is a haven for me, and the place I write every morning, when I am in the birthing-a-new-novel phase. I do creative writing at the beginning of the day usually. It just depends on where I am in the process. Some days I have to just sit, staring. I’ve even gotten my art students interested in writing or improving their writing.

How nice to get them involved! I have several family members I use as sounding boards. Now to the nitty-gritty after the sale question. What sort of promo do you do? Do you have help?

You, Nancy Lee Badger, are a fellow author I met at my local RWA chapter meeting. Also You and Betty Ann Harris are Red Rose Publishing’s published authors. I was plunged headlong into promoting before I was ready, and Nancy helps me sort out the different avenues, helped me set up twitter, etc.

Betty Ann has been a great help, I hear. Getting the word out is tough, but having you here today is just one step. On the plus side, having achieved your goal to be a published author, what is the most rewarding thing?    

Seeing my title and a beautiful cover with my name under it!

Your cover is lovely. My three covers created by the artists on staff at Red Rose Publishing were also spot-on. You and I met at the local Romance Writers of America chapter, the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. We are nearly 130 strong. I had no idea there were so many authors in our area. Are you a member of any other writing organizations and, if so, have they helped?

The Heart of Carolina Romance Writers is a wonderful group of local authors with large
Readerships. Romance Writers of America is one of the most super organizations in the world
for its unselfish fostering of new talent by mingling us beginners in and fostering the feeling of a humongous sisterhood. The North Carolina Writers Network have given me countless courses, all helpful. The Poetry Society of North Carolina and the Poetry Society of America are two wonderful groups.

My readers and fellow authors know I am a big advocate of the term pay it forward. Will you share some encouraging words for authors still struggling for that first contract? 

You know, it’s hard for me to know how to encourage, but I know I wouldn’t ever give up. Maybe I should have long ago, but I didn’t. And I’m just dogged enough, and just ornery enough to ignore the nay-sayer’s and keep right on at it, so of course, that’s how I would encourage would-be authors. It’s not over until it’s entirely over and what else will you do with your time? Somebody else’s club duties? Busy work? Nah. Keep at it.

Wow! A woman after my own heart! What’s next for you?

1. I’m taking a break from marketing my first manuscript. It earned me my PRO status in RWA. It is titled A Deadly Provenance, and I am about to take everybody’s advice and do a little up-front renovation on the book.

2. I’m finishing my first Scottish Gothic, set in Scotland and N.C., Stone of Her Destiny. It has my family’s lineage in it and a preposterous scenario which come together in what I think is a really exciting entity.

As a reader of and writer of Scottish romance I am looking forward to your next book. Thanks for stopping by today. Here is more information about Joanna’s latest release A Holiday Folly, a gothic mainstream romance about a Southern gal, Sinclair. 

BOOK BLURB

Used to a rich life style amongst the powerful, Sinclair has chosen the creative (and not-so-privileged) life of an artist and chosen a red-headed geologist as the love of her life. Invited to the 20,000 sq. foot family house in the heart of the Sandhills in North Carolina for Christmas, the lovebirds have no idea of the evil that awaits them and others in the upscale Ward family.

Sinclair, the youngest daughter to four older brothers, finds she must navigate tricky personal waters when she returns. Her love, Allan, is more than she bargained for, and a commitment begins that she might not be ready for in this Gothic-tinged suspense.

EXCERPT  link

How can readers buy your book?

ISBN 978-1-4513-0130-1

Red RosePublishing    

Amazon  

All Romance E-Books  

Fictionwise  

A little more about the author

Joanna McKethan is a Southerner with a foot in the Old South and the New, a wife, mother, and grandmother who lived for nine years in Europe and returned from abroad to her country home in the south. She is an artist, a poet, a teacher, as well as an arts business owner. She has always wanted to paint and write, and has hidden her love for novels behind her paintings until recently. She has worked as an assistant editor, written feature stories, and published her poetry. Now her lifelong dream of publishing novels has begun. Her grown children visit her and one of her grandchildren blow bubbles with her on the lawn. Her "grand-cat," Buddy Number Two joins her and her husband on the deck which faces the woods. From there they see all manner of wildlife, including 8-10 deer at a time. You can sample her creativity at www.joriginals.net

Website:  http://joriginals.net
Twitter:   @JoMcKethan

Lady in White is another romance by Joanna A. McKethan.

It is a mainstream romance with gothic suspense. The heroine, Michaela paints a new life for herself when she eagerly accepts an offer of art exchange student in what was a Communist country only a few years before. An artist by craft and by nature, she wants to prove her talent in foreign waters. Her love of truth requires her to question everything and dig for answers.

In Estonia she meets and falls in love with Peeter, an art professor, government contractor, and a royal. He loves her desperately, admiring her staunch separations of black and white. She loves Peeter wholly, not realizing a secret shame drives him. How he deals with life is challenged by his new wife and her unwitting exposing of the past so that he must finally confront his and his father’s unpardonable sin. Michaela plows through danger, even her own. Any single move might redeem her—or kill her.

Lady in White Buy Link