Writing and Publishing News from

Did you miss me? I sure hope that some of you noticed my absence yesterday. I hope that you were just a tad disappointed when you went to my blog and discovered that there wasn’t a new post. Perhaps you’ve all become accustomed to finding fresh information, perspective, suggestions and resources every single day of the year at the Matilija Press Publishing Blog. You look forward to reading what Patricia Fry has to share today.

If not—if you don’t visit my blog site, if you don’t find my blog posts informative, interesting, enlightening and useful—I’ll have to wonder why I get up at 4 a.m. every morning in order to try to bring you something of value through my blog.

I know that you’re all in different stages of your projects. Some of you are just thinking about writing a book or you are in the beginning writing stages. I delight in communicating with you in hopes that I can help you to make the right decisions along the way for your particular project.

I heard from a woman recently who wants to develop a book from a journal that she wrote during a particularly vulnerable period in her life. She feels that she has something of value to share with the world. She asked me if I would look at her journal entries and let her know if her book idea is a valid one. Do you know what I told her? I strongly recommended that she sit down and write a book proposal. I said, “A well-researched, well-organized, complete book proposal will help you to determine whether you have a book at all and reveal its chances for success.” And I offered to help with the process. I hope she takes my advice. If she doesn’t, she may well write the wrong book for the wrong audience and fail.

Some of you are currently seeking agent representation or you’re pursuing publishers. You read my blog in order to discover ways to find publishers/agents and to approach them.

Many of you write articles for magazines and you gain from my blog posts related to freelance writing.

But I think that most of you are authors with books to promote and you come here for tips, techniques and leads related to book promotion.

All of you will benefit from reading my books. Most of my books reflect my experience and knowledge after over 30 years as a freelance article writer and author, 20 years as a workshop leader, public speaker and 14 years affiliated with SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). Plus I just completed my 100th issue of the SPAWN Market Update for the member area of the SPAWN website. This meaty newsletter is brimming with industry news, resources, tips and techniques, which means that I am in constant research mode on behalf of our members. Of course, this benefits you—my blog followers, as well.

I write this blog for you. I write my books for you. The articles I submit (I wrote 6 or 8 last week) are written with you in mind. My website is rich with resources you can use as well as articles on the subjects of your interest. You can also order my books.

If you are working on a project and need some additional support, recommendations or advice, contact me and I will point you in the right direction: PLFry620@yahoo.com.
Visit my website: http://www.matilijapress.com
Check out the SPAWN website: http://www.spawn.org
And come back here often. I maintain this blog with you in mind.

When you travel or go off on a well-deserved outing, do you take your writing with you? Unlike electricians, plumbers, welders, store managers, secretaries, etc., a writer is a writer for 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. And if you put away your pencil, turn off your imagination and shut down your sense of awareness and observation, you could be missing out on some of your best writing ideas and prompts.

As a writer, you can go away, relax, enjoy new and different surroundings, have lively conversations with interesting people and still continue to work on your writing. How?

• Listen to your thoughts as you relax. I get some of my best article ideas or chapter enhancements when I take a meditation walk—free my mind of everyday concerns and allow random thoughts to enter.

• Note interesting concepts that come up in conversation and the unique way people present themselves. You might be able to use some of these things in dialogue while fleshing out one of your characters. Sometimes, during conversation, I get questions about something I’m working on—questions that inspire a new chapter for a book I’m working on or a new article.

• Observe others and the way they react to various situations. You can learn volumes about portraying people through your writing by paying attention to real people.

• Be prepared with a pad and paper (or a laptop) in case the mood and the opportunity to do some fun creative writing presents itself. I’m often inspired to write poetry when I’m in deep relaxation mode in a lovely nature setting.

• Get names and numbers. You’re bound to meet people who would make good interviews for some of the articles (or books) you have in the works. Many of my articles over the years stemmed from fascinating people I met while away from my office.

I’m taking an overnight trip today and I’m not leaving my writing behind. It is impossible for me to do so after a 35 year writing career. Perhaps when I return, I’ll have a new and interesting perspective to share with you through this blog.

In the meantime, be sure to order your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book so you will be absolutely prepared to enter into the daunting world of publishing. Order it before you start writing your book or at least before you send it off to a publisher or printer. This book will help you to make sure you’ve written the right book for the right audience. And if you don’t know how important this is, you really, really need to read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

If you have a book that is not doing well and you don’t know how to breathe new life into it, order my ebook, The Author’s Repair Kit. http://www.matilijapress.com/author_repairkit.html.

I finally took a break from book-writing and spent it preparing some articles for publication. I sent 5 different articles to 5 different publishing-related publications. Some of the articles have already been accepted. I’m actually between books. We finished my new ebook, The Successful Author’s Handbook. I’ll officially break out the champagne and give you the link to the book at my website once my webmaster gets it posted.

Now I will focus on the new Catscapades book. You probably recall when I came out with Catscapades last year. It was an ebook that we sometimes printed out and produced in comb-binding. Some of you may have a copy of it. Well, I’m revising it, putting a new cover on it and publishing it as a sweet little perfectbound book. I’m excited!

If you have friends who love reading heartwarming, humorous, delightful true stories of cats, you’re going to want to purchase copies as gifts throughout the year.

This is one of the easiest blog posts to write—the one where you just tell what you’ve been doing or you’re just talking about something that’s on your mind. But what does that do for you faithful blog readers? How does this help you other than, maybe, to inspire or motivate you to work on your book or write an article? So, even though I have a busy day planned and little time to spend with this blog post today, I want to offer you something of potential value in your quest for publishing success.

What keeps you from completing (or even starting) your dream projects? Do you wish that you could say, “I’m a published author,” or “My article appears this week in ‘so and so’ magazine?” Do you have ideas and even material related to a book or an article, but you just haven’t pulled it together, yet? What are you waiting for? Here are some prompts that might help you start or complete your project:

• If the idea of writing an entire book or even an article is daunting—overwhelming, view the project in sections. Work on it one chapter or one portion or one task at a time.

• If finding time to write or do the research is a problem, examine your schedule—I mean right down to the minute—and discover where you could make sacrifices. Few authors or freelance writers succeed without having made sacrifices somewhere along their journey.

• If you just don’t know where to start, organize yourself. List the tasks involved with your project—interviews, research, taking photographs, writing. Schedule each task and give yourself deadlines.

When you aren’t accomplishing the things you truly want to accomplish—if you make one excuse after another as to why you haven’t started or completed the project—then it may be necessary to trick yourself. Rather than moving through life on your current, go nowhere path, start veering off in other directions—directions toward your goal. If it is a worthwhile goal, you’ll be glad that you shook up your life enough to finally include the things that will bring you the most joy.

If you need help with your project, remember that I work with clients on their projects. Within the past ten days, I have helped an author write a more powerful query letter, I edited a chapter in a tour guide and I edited a chapter in a nonfiction book. Later this month, I expect the last section of a novel back for editing. Call on me for editing work or a consultation with regard to your project.

You might also find the help you need in one of my books—the newest one, The Successful Author’s Handbook, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, The Author’s Repair Kit or A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles, for example.
http://www.matilijapress.com

Yup, I still have a few left. Remember, yesterday I offered my ebook, The Author’s Repair Kit FREE to the first 10 people who requested it by contacting me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com. Put “Author’s Repair Kit” in the subject line. Read more about this ebook in my January 11, 2010 blog and here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/author-repairkit.html

Do you just LOVE to write? Do you sometimes feel a little thrill deep inside you when you are putting words together—any words? What is it that sparks that sense? Why are some of us so much in love with writing? I tell people that I just can’t not write. That’s why I found a way to establish myself as a writer. How about you?

What do you feel when you’re writing? Do you know why you write?

I guess, for many, it is the creative aspect. Even though I don’t write creative prose, I still derive such joy from much of my writing. Yesterday, I spent most of the day editing a rather dry manuscript—a sort of travel guide. But I enjoyed the process of making it read better so that it would do its job better. Last week, I edited a nonfiction book featuring stories of individuals who all had something in common (related to the theme of the book). I got quite happily involved in making the stories more readable. Another client is sending me the last few chapters of her novel in a few weeks. Can’t wait to work with it and experience the joy I get from helping to make it sing out to its audience rather than just languish there on the pages.

I post to this blog every day. It’s actually rather amazing to me as I sit here every morning that I’m able to come up with something of value day after day after day to share with those who are seeking support and/or assistance with their writing projects.

I don’t know how people survive in life without a creative outlet. But then the way one chooses to live life is an expression of creativity, don’t you agree? Some of us are just more creative than others.

Do you know why you write? I think it is important that you know what motivates or inspires you to write. This is especially true of those who write for publication. Yesterday we focused on your purpose. Today let’s think about our motivation/inspiration. Leave your comment here.

Do you sometimes interview people for articles or for a book you’re working on? How is it going? Are you getting the quotes you want? When you put your piece together does the quote make a point, validate your material and/or fit into the flow of your article or chapter?

I see articles and book manuscripts where the author has attempted to use quotes, but some of them just don’t work. They don’t give depth to the concept, they don’t provide credibility to the statement, nor do they add anything profound or even interesting to the chapter or article.

I often suggest that authors go back to the interviewee and ask more questions—form questions that will prompt the exact response you need. Here’s an example:

Betty wrote, “Len lived in Bakersfield, in 1966, when the robbery took place. He recalls the day it happened, ‘Oh yes, I lived there with my wife and 6-year-old daughter. We had gone to the park that day.’ The robbery took place across the street from the park.”

In this case, the author was really stretching to get a quote, any quote. I would advise her not to use a quote at all unless it can add interest or credibility or move the story forward in some way. If this is all she has, Betty really should go back to Len and ask a few more question, such as:

• What else do you remember about that day?
• Did you hear the sirens?
• Did you see the robber run past the park?
• Were you questioned?
• Was anyone you know involved in the robbery?

Betty may actually learn, in her second round of more pointed questions, that Len saw the police pursuit on foot, that the robber ran past him as he pushed his daughter on the swing and Len saw him drop a few bills on the path or that the robber got away and the police questioned Len.

Of course, then, Betty will want to crank up the nature of her questions:

• How close did he come to you?
• Were you frightened?
• Did you see a gun?
• Did the police have their guns pulled?

Len might, then, talk about how unnerved he became after hours of being questioned by police. He might talk about how his daughter began to scream when she saw the police running full force with their guns drawn.

Can you see how much more interesting a story becomes when you get more graphic, emotional and meaningful responses from an interviewee?

Likewise, when you need to make a point in an article, lead your interviewee in a direction so that he or she is likely to help you make that point through an interesting or provocative statement.
Your piece might be on parenting mistakes. Perhaps you are interviewing a few parents and a child behavior expert. You want to report on some of the more common parenting mistakes, why they are considered mistakes—what are the possible dangers/repercussions and how to correct the mistakes—how to change your parenting techniques.

You’ll probably do some research so you know something about parenting mistakes and then you’ll interview your expert. Ask him what he believes are the most common mistakes and why. Find out what kind of behavior is involved in these mistakes. Ask him for anecdotes and examples. And then ask him what he would advise to parents who may be making these mistakes. Then go to parents. Bring up some of the expert’s statements and ask the parents to comment. Find out if they feel they’ve made some of these mistakes and how they feel about having done so (always get an emotional point of view).

Now go home and create an article or chapter around the best quotes that you got, making sure that everything fits tightly and logically together. Use the quotes to make your points, add interest to the information and to give the concepts credibility.

If you feel that something is missing—the piece is heavy with pros and you’d like to balance it with more cons, for example, or you lack good quotes on one aspect of your story, go back to one of your interviewees with questions pointed in the direction you want him or her to go.

Another thing I see authors do is to state what the interviewee said as a way to introduce the quote. Don’t say, “Len says that the day of the robbery was a day he will never forget, ‘I’ll never forget that day.’” Oh no, this will never do. Do not use quotes just for the sake of using them. If Betty questioned Len further, she might be able to say this, “According to Len, the day of the robbery was unforgettable, ‘It’s strange how something like this can shake a town into action. I’ll never forget how the community came together to comfort the poor tellers and customers who were in the bank at the time it was robbed.’”

If you own a copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, read more about interview techniques for authors on pages 169-173. If you don’t have this book yet, order yours at http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Are you alienating your readers? Does your message or your way of presenting it turn off the very people you hope to attract? How do you know and what can you do about it?

What are some of the clues that you are turning readers off?
• You can’t find a publisher.
• Your book sales are down.
• Readers avoid remarking about your book.
• You’re not getting book reviews.
• Your articles are continuously rejected.

Maybe it’s time to review your writing techniques, skill, topic and presentation.
• Are you writing with clarity?
• Is your topic popular with any group of people?
• Are you promoting to the right audience?
• Are you coming on too strong with your opinions?
• Does your material come across as weak/unconvincing?

If you are not getting the response you desire or expect, maybe it is time to reevaluate your writing, your style, even your mindset. A good tool for helping with this process is my ebook The Author’s Repair Kit, Heal Your Publishing Mistakes and Breathe New Life Into Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/author_repairkit.html

Among other things, this book will help you to determine your true audience, where to locate them and how to approach them. If you don’t think this is an important aspect to the success of your book, you need a reality check.

I think that many of us produce books primarily to help others—to teach, to share, to make a difference. And for some, it becomes a crusade to change minds. I mean, how else are we going to help the uninspired, overeater, alcoholic, grieving, hate-filled, abused, abusing or ill reader? How else can we change people and change the world?

What we sometimes forget or don’t comprehend is that many of these people do not want to change, won’t go in search of help, don’t trust unknown authors, aren’t ready to accept assistance, don’t want to do what it takes to change or can’t or won’t read. Sometimes it isn’t the message itself, but the way it is presented that turns off readers. Everyone has his comfort zone and most people are content to stay within it rather than venture out into unknown territory on an off chance that their life will actually change.

Sure books that promise wealth, health and a great figure/physique, are popular. Can you guess which ones are read? Not the book by an unknown author designed to transform the hardcore junk food junkie into a lean vegetarian. Probably not the one that teaches good eating habits for the anorexic. Probably not the one about money-saving techniques by the author who collects state aid/welfare.

If you are writing on behalf of a cause—you’ve launched a personal crusade through your writing—stop to think about your audience.

• Who are they?
• Where are they?
• What do they want—not what do they need—what do they want?
• How do they want to see it presented?

How can you best accommodate this audience? This is the attitude that will sell your articles and your books.

But you might say, “I have a meaningful message—something of value to teach and to share. If I give them what they want, they won’t learn anything new—they won’t improve and or grow.”

My entire career has been devoted to nonfiction writing. This includes informational articles and books, self-help, how-tos, reference books, etc. I, too, have what I believe are important messages to share and valid perspectives to teach. How do I make these points with an audience who may not be ready to hear them? I embed them in the stuff they can accept and that they want to know about. Sneaky, huh? And you might be surprised at the number of readers who come back to me months or years after reading one of my books and say, “I just re-read your book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book, and notice that you recommend writing a book proposal as a first step to writing a book. I never thought of doing that. What a good idea. I wish I’d done that with my first book. I would have saved a lot of time and steps in getting it published.”

Sometimes a long-time client will come to me with a question, “How can I get my book reviewed?” I will refer them to the section in my book on getting book reviews—something they paid no attention to the first time they read it.

These people may have purchased the book primarily for the information about book promotion or to use the section on how to self-publish your book (establish your own publishing company) and they completely disregarded or overlooked the parts of the book that rested outside their self-imposed, current comfort zone.

So my message to you today is, if you are writing articles or you are working on a book, make sure that you are writing the right piece/book for the right audience. If you have a published book that isn’t doing well, maybe it’s time to rethink your marketing campaign. I recommend my book, The Author’s Repair Kit in your process of refocusing. It features a handy, step-by-step program for breathing new life into a faltering book.

See all of Patricia Fry’s books here: http://www.matilijapress.com

Do those who reside under the sign of Gemini all do things in pairs? Gemini is the twins, you know. I was born a Gemini and, while I’m not a twin and I’m not even all that conflicted as far as my moods and personality, I tend to do everything in multiples.

I have more than one cat. I went to New York for the first time this year—not once, but twice! I have several “twin” friends. By this, I mean that I can see similarities between many of my friends—pairs of friends who don’t know one another, but who have very similar traits and personalities. Sometimes I even call one friend by her “twin” friend’s name.

When I shop, I often buy two of the same item. I even have pairs of clothing items. If I really like a shirt, pair of slacks, or whatever, I’ll buy a second one. This is true of plants, too. I cannot go to the nursery and pick out just one rose bush or just one lavender plant. If I’m going to make a batch of cookies, I bake two different kinds. I have multiple calendars, bird houses and photos of our kitten.

I almost always have more than one project going on in my office. Currently, I am finishing up a book for authors AND I am revising Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats and plan to bring it out in print—as a perfect-bound book.

Along with this, I have client work scheduled and I am involved every day with SPAWN work. SPAWN is Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network.

Are there advantages to working on more than one project at once? Maybe for some of us. Maybe not for others. I guess it depends on how a person is wired. If you need variety in your life, you may do your best work when you are not stuck working on just one story—when you have a couple of interesting things going. If you are easily confused or distracted, you may do better when sticking to one project—one topic.

How do you know what are your best working conditions? I guess this has to be figured out by trial and error. But I can tell you that if you are easily rattled by the infinite details of your nonfiction book or novel project, you probably had better stick to one project (even one chapter) at a time. Not all authors can manage the research for the chapter on green travel and the interviews for the section on building green homes while also writing a piece on shopping green for an ecology magazine. You know who you are.

If you need lots of quiet space in which to write your essay for a regional magazine, if you freak out when you have two articles scheduled to write, if you are overwhelmed by the very thought of pulling together all of the facts and ideas necessary to complete a book, you probably aren’t a natural multitasker.

But if you want to develop your writing abilities and, perhaps, establish yourself within the writing profession in some way, you cannot stay completely within your comfort zone forever.

Maybe this is the year that you will venture out a little, take on a new writing project, decide to submit articles to magazines or start the book of your dreams.

If you need help with this, contact me at PLFry620@yahoo.com.

If you plan to enter into the vast and competitive field of publishing, be sure to arm yourself with knowledge. The best and most reader-friendly book I can recommend is The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book by me (Patricia Fry).
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html.

This book is in the library system. I’d like to hear from those of you who have borrowed it from your public or university library.

My Book Promotion Workshop begins January 5.
http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

The celebrating is over. Now what are you going to do? Do you have your 2010 goals set? Will you finally start that novel, write that business book or pen your memoir?

Are you ready to move forward or is your dream still in a cloud without any real form or substance? Do you feel as removed from your ultimate goal as you have for the last one, two, ten or twenty years? Maybe it is time to finally act on it. Here are some ideas that may help:

• Determine your first step. Is it to outline a story for your novel, write a book proposal for your business book or dig out the notes and mementos representing your life story? Once you know what your first step should be, you have something concrete to do and you may actually follow through.

• Set a date. When will you take this first step? Get out your calendar and circle the date. How’s January 15, 2010?

• Determine your next step. It might be to write the first paragraph of your novel or the first chapter of your business book or to outline your memoir. What date will you start or complete this phase of your project? February 1?

• Step three might be completing a chapter or writing the introduction to your memoir. Make this a Valentine’s Day gift to yourself.

Wow! Look at you! You have a great start on your project. Just imagine what you could accomplish by this time next year if you stay on this schedule. Can you see your goal more clearly now? If not, maybe you need to make some changes in your life. I like to call them “changes,” you might consider them “sacrifices.” I don’t think there is a successful man or woman anywhere who did not sacrifice something in order to meet his or her most important goals.

You probably know some of the most common obstacles to success. What are they? For most people it is time, energy and establishing the right environment—one that is conducive to writing. I know how to overcome these obstacles. I’ve made my share of sacrifices (and still do) in order to continue my writing career and to complete the projects that are dear to me. I’m even learning how to work with a 3-year-old in the house one day a week. Most of my friends are retired now, so I’m often tempted to go play when I should be working. So how does one overcome these obstacles? Let’s consider the major, major problem for most—time. How can you make more time to write? By using it differently.

• Go to bed an hour later or get up an hour earlier and use that time to write.
• Turn down some of your invitations to go clubbing, etc. Write instead.
• Watch less TV.
• Stop working so much overtime at your job.
• Let your gardening, hobbies, etc. go for now. Use that time to write.
• Back away from club and association involvement for now.
• Curb your volunteering practices.
• Organize your time more effectively.

Some of us have time to write, we just don’t recognize it. We’ve developed habits that we don’t know how to break. That’s why I suggest making lists. Start by writing down what you do with your time day in and day out. Do this for a few days or even a week. Exactly how do you spend your time? What time do you get up in the morning? What is your routine? What are you doing at 9:a.m., during your lunch hour, at 5, 7, 8 in the evening? Once you see your time-use pattern, you may discover time slots when you could be writing instead of chatting with neighbors, for example, sending jokes to your email list, scouring the Internet for car parts, sitting at Starbucks with strangers, shopping, watching TV and so forth.

Now start taking charge of your time. Each evening, make a schedule and include time to write.

That’s enough nagging for today. Let me know if you are having any trouble with this plan and we’ll work together toward your success.

In the meantime, if you are serious about entering into the publishing industry, you MUST read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

Please, don’t make the mistakes that so many others make when they decide to become published. As I told someone yesterday, publishing is a serious and highly competitive business. In order to succeed, you must arm yourself with knowledge. That is the goal of my book.

I’m running two online courses this month. Read my most recent blog posts to learn more about them. These courses fill fast, so act now.

This is the 3rd in a series of articles about maintaining a column or a blog. Read the entries dated December 23 and 24.

How does one actually come up with ideas for an ongoing column or blog? Here are some of my recommendations:

Write About What You Know
What skills do you have? What are your interests and hobbies? What insights have you gained over the years? Presumably, your column or blog has a theme, so you’ll want to focus on what you know about your topic. Let’s say that your column relates to cats and that you have a Maine coon cat, a part Siamese and a tabby and you have traveled with the tabby several times. You can start out writing about your own cats, the breeds of cats that you know, how to handle the litter box situation with multiple cats, how to travel with cats and what denotes a tabby, for example.

Write About Things You Want to Know
A good way to learn about something is to write about it. As an example, I suffered a slight spell of heat fatigue once. Out of curiosity, I researched heat-related illnesses and then wrote a couple of articles on the topic.

Share Your Experiences
We once found ourselves taking care of an older horse. If I was writing a column or a blog on horses, at that time, I could have written about our trials with this aged equine.

Relate the Experiences of Others
Tap into the life adventures of family, friends and acquaintances. For your cat column, you might write about your neighbor’s experience with a cat that was poisoned by nibbling on a lily and how to prevent cat dangers around the home.

Look Everywhere For Article Ideas
While most people complain about standing in line or waiting for the doctor or dentist, I consider these opportunities. My long-distance grandparenting book resulted from a conversation I overheard while standing in line at the grocery store.

Stop, Look and Listen
Pay attention to the world around you. Notice what people are doing and listen to what they’re saying. Other people are excellent resources for a columnist or blogger.

Keep Up With the News
Your newspaper is brimming with column and blog ideas. Read it everyday from cover to cover.

Use the Internet
While surfing the web, you’ll come up with stories for your column or blog, experts you can interview and quote, and good ideas to write about within your theme. I particularly find other blogs and columns useful.

Write From the Heart
What are you passionate about? How would you like to make a difference? Being a columnist or a blogger provides the unique opportunity to teach, help, inform and share what’s in your heart. If you are an advocate for spay/neuter, caring for cat colonies, stricter regulations for cat breeders, etc., here’s your chance to share your thoughts and feelings about these issues.

As you can see, coming up with ideas for your column or blog site is as easy as paying attention to the world around you.

Who Are We?
To remind you: I’m Patricia Fry. I’ve been writing for publication for over 35 years, having contributed hundreds (maybe thousands) of articles to about 300 different national and regional magazines. I have 29 books to my credit (number 30 is in the works). My writing focus for the last ten years is writing and publishing. If you are a new or struggling author, you must read my 5-star book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html

I am the Executive Director of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and I’ve achieved my Advanced Toastmaster Silver. I work with other writers and authors—offering editing and coaching services for their publishing projects. Learn more about Patricia Fry here: http://www.matilijapress.com/consulting.html. Contact me at PLFfry620@yahoo.com.

Patricia Fry to Teach Two Online Courses
January 5, 2010, Successful Book Proposal Course. This course runs 8 weeks (or work through the course faster, if you like). Learn more about what to expect here:
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm
For $200 you get one-on-one guidance through the process of writing a complete book proposal during the 8 weeks, only.

On January 12, 2010, my online Book Promotion Workshop begins. This workshop runs $200 for 6 weeks. Learn more about what it involves at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion

Let me know if you’re interested in my article-writing course, PLFry620@yahoo.com
SPAWN members get $25 off each course.

JOIN SPAWN NOW! Dues go up January 1, 2010. It’s $45 until then. http://www.spawn.org