Mary O’Neill faced that existential moment when her granddaughter questioned the round one’s existence. That night, Santa Claus, the real St. Nick, came to her in a dream and revealed the truth.

Thanks to Mary’s having had a notebook and pen at the side of her bed, she was able to capture Santa’s message as he spoke, in her first book, A Letter from Santa Claus, released last year.

A Letter from Santa Claus is recommended for kids ages 10 to 14 as they begin to question their belief in Santa and his Christmas Eve mission. Can something so wonderful be real? Does growing up mean losing the magic?

Mary will be my guest at the Ann Arbor Community Book Fest, Sunday September 10 at the Ann Arbor District Library Downtown, 353 S. Fifth Avenue.

• Where: Azenphony Press table, Booth 29
• When: 10 to 1

Come and meet her, hear her story, and get yourself as many signed copies as you need.

* * *

Ken Wachsberger is an internationally acclaimed book coach and editor whose Voices from the Underground Series, about the Vietnam era underground press, was called “the most important book on American journalism published in my lifetime.” He speaks on writing for healing and to preserve your legacy.

For book coaching and editing help, email Ken at ken@kenthebookcoach.com.

The post Revealed: The Truth Behind Santa Claus appeared first on .

You can get your copy right here.

Through Draft2Digital’s distribution network, Never Be Afraid will be available for purchase on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Scribd, Apple, Tolino, Overdrive, Bibliotheca, 24Symbols, Baker & Taylor, Hoopla, Vivlio, Palace Marketplace, and Amazon.

The D2D version became necessary last year after Draft2Digital and Smashwords merged. Major portions of You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You became outdated. There was no way around it. I had to write a second edition.

Producing this version of Never Be Afraid using D2D’s automated design process educated me about Draft2Digital. I gained the tools and wisdom to successfully overhaul You’ve Got the Time. In the second edition, I share what I learned. Some chapters were merely tweaked. Others have been totally revised and updated. I’ve added four new chapters. I interviewed key folks at Draft2Digital.

No official launch date has yet been set but the target date is later this year or early 2024. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, this new version of Never Be Afraid has an airier look that will be easier on the eyes.

In addition to being a resistance hero, Bernard was a storyteller supreme, in the best tradition of legendary Yiddish storytellers Chaim Potok, Bernard Malamud, and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

He wrote his story to preserve his legacy for his descendants. Bernard’s subsequent life-transformation shows the power of writing as an instrument of healing.

On a personal note, for those who pay attention, today is the eightieth anniversary of my parents’ wedding!

* * *

Ken Wachsberger is a book coach, editor, and the author of the soon-to-be-released second edition of You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You. Ken’s other books may be found here and here. For book coaching and editing help, or to invite Ken to speak to your group, email Ken at ken@kenthebookcoach.com.

Schedule your complimentary 30-minute coaching and editing session now.

The post Resistance Hero Releases Story on Draft2Digital appeared first on .

I Meet Judy Gumbo; She Has No Idea

I was a second-generation Yippie; I had been too young for Chicago ’68 but I was fully on board with Miami Beach ’72. Both presidential nominating conventions were being held there that summer and the Yippies were planning to make their presence known. Through a short series of karmic connections, I had been brought into their broader inner circle.

I knew Judy only as Stew Albert’s wife. Stew was one of my heroes that summer so I held her in high regard, but from a distance. I never met her personally until Stew died in 2006 and I wrote to her on Facebook to convey my condolences. I told her Stew had given me the quote of the summer and words I still live by when he said to me, “We can’t lose because we’re having too much fun.” She thanked me for my kind words.

Male-Centric Yippie Meets Yippie Girl

Stew, Abbie Hoffman, and Jerry Rubin were the all-male voice of the Yippies to me and to the thousands of young, middle-class, antiwar, countercultural social deviants who considered Abbie and Jerry to be myths and Stew the intellectual force behind Yippie. What the Beatles were to rock music, I believed, the Yippies were to participatory politics.

The Yippie women—Nancy Kurshan, Anita Hoffman, and Judy—were seen as partners to their respective males but never as main players in their own stories.

Until now.

Judy’s long-overdue Yippie Girl finally brings the female perspective to Yippie. What an inspiring story she tells, from her childhood as a red diaper daughter of an unrepentant Stalinist father and alcoholic mother in Canada; through her twenties, when she and Stew were wrongly suspected of bombing the Capitol and targeted by the FBI at the height of the antiwar movement; into the present where she reveals which main characters in her story are and are no longer still with us on this plane.

Ah ha!

I had one ah-ha moment after another as she filled in the gaps and tied together loose ends of stories I knew only from the annals of Yippie lore: the founding of Yippie; the Abbie-Jerry feud; Stew and his best friend, Eldridge Cleaver; the Chicago trial; Jerry’s transition to becoming a stockbroker.

She can be angry, intellectual, intensely personal. She is always passionate, as when she shares the evolution of her feminist awareness and how it impacted her complex relationship with Stew, as well as, perhaps, her motivation to write this book: “Why can’t you take me seriously, Mr. High and Mighty friend of Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman? Who’s going to show up when the history is written—you, Abbie, and Jerry, that’s who! What about us women? What about me? Who do you think I am, a nobody? I’m a political person too!”

An Emerging Classic

Yippie Girl opened my eyes to the long-missing female side of a legendary movement that I knew only from the male perspective. It filled in gaps and tied together loose ends of stories I read about in underground newspapers and accepted on faith.

It is destined and deserves to be seen as a classic of the period.

Today, as a book coach and editor, I speak about writing for healing and to preserve your legacy. When you don’t tell your own story, I say, someone else will tell it for you. But it won’t be as you remembered it. Only you can tell your own story.

I’m so happy and grateful that Judy shared her story. What a loss it would have been to our understanding of the era if she had not.

* * *

Ken Wachsberger is a book coach, editor, and the author of You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You. Ken’s other books may be found here and here. For book coaching and editing help, or to invite Ken to speak to your group, email Ken at ken@kenthebookcoach.com.

Schedule your complimentary 30-minute coaching and editing session now.

The post “Yippie Girl” Presents Female Side of Yippie appeared first on .

Transitions to the new platform will be gradual but, in the end, members of both current companies will share a common dashboard, common distribution outlets, and new, cutting-edge tools for book publishing, distribution, and marketing.

Kris Austin, co-founder and CEO of Draft2Digital, will lead the combined company as CEO. Mark Coker, founder and CEO of Smashwords, will join the management team as chief strategy officer and board member.

The name of the combined company will be Draft2Digital. The Smashwords name will live on through the Smashwords Store. The new Draft2Digital will represent a combined 250,000 authors and publishers of over 880,000 ebooks and 11,000 print books.

As tech journalist Dave Chesson noted in Kindlepreneur, the industry “has now been turned on its head.”

Mark Is Thrilled

Upon hearing the news of the merger, I felt both excitement and misgivings.

I’ve been a fan of Smashwords and Mark Coker since I discovered them about four books ago. I interviewed Mark for my latest book and repurposed that chapter as a blog interview.

I was excited about the deal because Mark was “thrilled” about it. He admired their “team, technology, and commitment to authors.” He applauded their business model that put authors first: “By design, we only make money when our authors make money. This aligns our interests with the interests of our authors. Together we will lead the next chapter of the indie author revolution.”

So Why Was I Dubious?

What I liked most about Smashwords, what first attracted me to them, was their policy of paying royalties to authors even if the payment was $.01. Yes, one penny.

In the world of author-publisher relations, this is historic. Smashwords and Draft2Digital should never be confused with the publisher—they are distributors. But their relationship with authors is similar in one major way: They both pay royalties.

As a book contract adviser with the National Writers Union for over thirty years, I’m familiar with the clause that allows publishers to withhold all royalty payments until the total royalty due equals some arbitrary minimum payment that the publisher’s lawyers made up. I’ve seen boilerplate contracts with minimum amounts as high as $100!

This means that all money due the author until the total equals $100 remains in the publisher’s bank account drawing interest for the publisher. With academic publishers, this could take years.

Then Smashwords came along and declared they would pay royalties as low as a penny, and monthly, not the traditional one or two times a year. As Mark told me, “It isn’t our money.” I asked him how they could do that. He said they simply created the software.

So, I had immediate misgivings when I learned of the merger. Would the new arrangement retain the penny royalty?

I reviewed D2D’s website. It said Draft2Digital delivers payments “once the threshold for payment has been met.”

What! A threshold? Had the penny royalty been sacrificed to seal the deal? I couldn’t believe it.

I No Longer Am

Fortunately, I didn’t have to. Upon further reading, I learned that the lowest royalty paid through Paypal remains a penny.

But it gets better. Direct deposit, formerly not available to Smashwords members, is available and also with a minimum payment of a penny.

Three other new payment methods do have minimum payments: International Direct Deposit ($20), Payoneer ($20), and Check ($100). Clearly, they are discouraging paper payment, a policy I support.

These payments, by the way, may be split for co-authors and collaborations, not an option with Smashwords.

D2D continues the monthly royalty payments.

One Link Does It All

D2D brings services to Smashwords members that enable us to produce books faster, at less cost, and that are more findable. For example, D2D’s Universal Book Link is a single URL that leads to a list of every online retailer that sells your book. You post this one link and your readers can choose from among retailers.

This idea is brilliant. I attempted to resolve the problem myself when I published You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You. On the book page, I displayed, along with the table of contents and a selection of testimonial quotes, the main places where my book was available for purchase: Kindle, Smashwords, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo.

But I know I left out some. Others have been added since. I can’t keep track of them all. Now I don’t have to.

I can’t imagine this service was difficult to implement but no one else was doing it.

CEO Kris Austin agrees. “Generally speaking, the UBL is a simple concept,” he told me.

The first major goal was to make sure authors were sending their readers to all retailers and not just the biggest retailer. However, we wanted a solution that didn’t require authors to spend hours building them. 

This meant we had to build a system that could scan dozens of websites to find where books might be listed. This scanning system greatly reduced the barrier to create a UBL, but it added significantly to the amount of development and continued maintenance of the system.

Automated End-matter

Another welcome convenience that I look forward to using is automated end-matter.

End-matter are the pages that appear before and after the main text. They include, for instance, the copyright, dedication, acknowledgments, and table of contents pages in the front; and the About the Author, About the Publisher, and Also by pages in the back.

Much of this information is repeated from book to book. With D2D’s opt-in automated end-matter, you enter the information once and it will be automatically retained or updated from book to book.

“For example,” Austin elaborates, “if you release a new book, we will automatically update the Also By page in all your previous books so that new readers of those books will know about your new one.”

Free Production Service, Including PODs

But the new service that I’m pretty confident will generate the most buzz among Smashwords members is D2D’s free production service for both ebook and—available for the first time for Smashwords members as soon as it gets out of beta testing—print on demand (POD). Just send them your Word file and they’ll do the formatting for free in all formats.

“Our experience has shown that a brand-new author, uploading their first book, will make it through in about ten minutes. Once you are a pro with the system, a full start-to-finish time is just a few minutes.”

Compare this to the Smashwords ebook style guide, a 30k-word ebook that mostly convinces technophobes that they need help—but, to its credit, also provides a list of techies who have mastered the coding process and now offer their services to others at reasonable prices.

After D2D creates your files, they tweak them so they fit onto every platform where D2D authors sell books. Why is this an issue? Two examples:

• Cal Sharp, typesetter and graphic designer from Caligraphics, warns why you can’t use the Smashwords file on Kindle: “If you format your paragraphs flush left, with no first line indent, Kindle will sometimes indent the first line anyway. The workaround is to set the first line indent to 0.01” in the paragraph style, which Kindle will do, and it’ll look flush to the reader.”

• Dave Bass, self-taught computer design and formatting expert, notes that IngramSpark uses a cover template that varies slightly from KDP’s. “I’ll obtain the IS cover template. Then, in Photoshop, I place the cover over the IS template layer by layer, adjusting elements like images or text (title, author name, etc.) as needed.”

With D2D’s automated vetting, we no longer need to make these adjustments. “D2D automatically customizes the files and metadata we send each retailer and library partner so that they meet their specifications and will display for easy discoverability and consumption by the readers.” 

No Obligation

They produce your book for free so they can make money on sales through distribution once it’s published. They take a 10% royalty. This is all good. Like Smashwords, they profit when the author profits, so it’s in their best interest to make us profitable.

“The most important thing to know is that there is no obligation. You will get to see a preview of the book before ever approving it for distribution. If you don’t like what you see, you can contact our support team for help.”

It gets better. Do you want to buy books to sell out of the trunk of your car or at public events? Once PODs are available, you will be able to order them, according to the D2D website, “at their base unit cost.”

Austin explains, “It is important that authors choose to use Draft2Digital because of the value we provide them. Because of this position, we chose to have no contracts and no up-front costs. If, for whatever reason, someone feels we are no longer providing value. then they should be free to no longer use our service.” 

New Benefits for Draft2Digital Members

As we can see, Smashwords members made out okay by the deal.

So did D2D members, says Austin: “The biggest near-term benefit is that Draft2Digital authors will gain access to the most author-friendly retailer available.”

Specifically, D2D members now have access to the Smashwords Store where they can earn up to 80% of the list price. The store is home to Smashwords’ many marketing tools including Smashwords Coupons, Self-Serve Merchandising, Author Interviews, and their patent-pending Smashwords Presales tool for book launches.

“We plan to grow the Smashwords store and add even more author friendly features.”

In addition, D2D’s mainstream erotica fiction authors can extend their distribution reach thanks to Smashwords’ proprietary erotica certification system, a self-monitoring questionnaire that measures each book’s use of “incest, pseudo-incest, bestiality, rape-for-titillation and sexual slavery.”

Win for Smashwords and Draft2Digital

So, I feel confident in saying that independent writers and publishers from Smashwords and Draft2Digital all will prosper from this landmark new relationship.

On my end, this merger is only one of several reasons why I am now in the process of updating You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You. The second printing will be uploaded on D2D.

Stay tuned.

* * *

Ken Wachsberger is a book coach, editor, and the author of You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You. Ken’s other books may be found here and here. For book coaching and editing help, or to invite Ken to speak at your meeting, email Ken at ken@kenthebookcoach.com.

Schedule your complimentary 30-minute coaching and editing session now.

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Azenphony Press is pleased to announce Ken Wachsberger’s upcoming virtual workshop, “What’s Your I-Factor?: Writing for Self-Discovery and Healing.”

The workshop is sponsored by University of Michigan’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). It is open to members only (but membership is only $25 a year and you become eligible for their other programs).

Register here.

The workshop will offer intimate stories, valuable writing tips, participant discussion, and time to write. Participants will gain a golden opportunity to discover their I-factors and learn ways to deepen their healing through writing.

Ken Wachsberger (who is not a therapist) is the author of the international bestseller, You’ve Got the Time; How to Write and Publish That Book in You, as well as an award-winning author/editor, book coach, and storyteller. He is a long-time active member of the National Writers Union and National Speakers Association; and a leading expert on writing for healing and to keep sane.

• As a writing instructor at Eastern Michigan University, he authored Transforming Lives: A Socially Responsible Guide to the Magic of Writing and Researching, the first textbook to interpret Ken Macrorie’s radical alternative to the traditional research paper.

• Wachsberger’s deft interviewing enabled a Holocaust survivor to recall memories he had blocked for over forty years.

• Through his Your Partner Has Breast Cancer?: 21Ways to Keep Sane as a Support Person on Your Journey from Victim to Survivor, Ken wrote to heal himself, while providing the first path to sanity for breast cancer support persons.

“If any of you are writing a book, go out and get yourself a Ken right away! He held my hand through the doubts and fears, pulled me out of the stuck places, and turned me into a writing ninja.”– Kristi Lynn Davis, motivational speaker, transformation coach, author, Long Legs and Tall Tales: A Showgirl’s Wacky, Sexy Journey to the Playboy Mansion and the Radio City Rockettes

Azenphony Press has published and promoted a diverse catalog of books since its founding in 1987 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Subject areas include the Vietnam era underground press, censorship, the Holocaust and Jewish resistance, the I-Search paper, writing for self-discovery, how to keep sane as a breast cancer support person, and puns.

Emily Schuster, President, emily@azenphonypress.com, https://kenthebookcoach.com/book/, (734) 635 0577.

Register here. Now.

The post Heal Yourself Through Writing with Ken’s Latest Workshop appeared first on .

Today is Launch Day for my latest book: You’ve Got the Time: How to Write and Publish That Book in You.

February 27, 2020

It’s been years in the making. It has been molded by the honest critiques of early readers. It is a clear path to publication and beyond.

I’d like you to have a copy. So I’m making a special Launch Day offer:

Kindle ebook              $.99 (regular price $3.99)
Kindle softcover         $15 (regular price $20) 

Purchase today! Procrastinate later!

If you’re even thinking about writing a book, know that there has never been a better time to write it. The technology is simple to learn and relatively inexpensive. I talk about it all, as well as

• how to register for copyright
• how to obtain your ISBN and barcode
• what platforms to consider
• whether to publish independently or through an established publisher
• how to negotiate a contract if you ever find yourself looking at one
• how to attract testimonials and forewords from legends in your field

and much more

Special bonus: You’ll learn how I beat the city of Syracuse with a series of angry letters.

You’ve Got the Time has been described as “the perfect book” about how to write a book. And you’ll get a good read.

I promise.

If after reading it you are so inspired, please post an honest review on Amazon.

Thanks in advance. Please spread the word.

I look forward to reading your book and to hearing from you.

Peace,

Ken

The post Ken’s Book on How to Write a Book Launches TODAY: Special Offer appeared first on .

Mark your calendar:

Date:   Tuesday February 27, 2020

Time:   7 p.m.

Location:     Everybody Reads Bookstore
                        2019 E Michigan Ave
                        Lansing, MI 48912

According to Ken, You’ve Got the Time is “the antidote for the oldest excuse for not writing a book in the book. If you’ve got the passion for your idea, you’ve got the time to write your book. You’ve Got the Time shows you where to find it and how to harness its power.”

You’ve Got the Time teaches you how to

• Create order and make sense out of the ideas that are already swirling around in your mind
• Name your files — including chapter and manuscript drafts, web text, freewriting adventures, spreadsheets, and more; as well as correspondence with typesetters, artists, printers, web developers, editors, experts, celebrities, and other industry experts — so you can find them when you need them
• Prepare for and conduct expert interviews so you can sound like an authority even when you know you aren’t one
• Make your prose flow like poetry even if you are weak in mechanics, grammar, and spelling
• Track down and reach out to experts and celebrities whose forewords and testimonials will give your book credibility and marketability
• Negotiate a book contract with knowledge and confidence
• Build your income stream by thinking like a bestseller — whether or not your book makes a list
• Prepare yourself and your loved ones for that time when finishing your book takes over your life, and your precious time with them is threatened

In addition, you learn everything you need to know about designing your cover; obtaining your ISBN, barcode, copyright, and index; coding your files for upload to ebook, POD, and audio; and more.

Award-winning author/editor/book coach Ken Wachsberger began his writing and editing career in East Lansing as a staff member of Joint Issue, the Lansing area’s Vietnam era antiwar, underground newspaper. He has two degrees from Michigan State University and taught writing at MSU and Lansing Community College. He is a lifelong educator, a member of National Speakers Association and National Writers Union, and a renowned expert on helping writers to negotiate book publishing contracts.

For coaching, editing, and speaking, or to set up an interview, Ken may be reached at ken@kenthebookcoach.com; 734 635 0577; https://kenthebookcoach.com/book/, https://azenphonypress.com/, http://www.voicesfromtheunderground.com. Azenphony Press was founded in 1987 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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