Yaldah Publishing

Yaldah Publishing is now Yotzeret Publishing

2011-06-21T22:17:00.002-04:00

As of June 10, 2011, Yaldah Publishing is now Yotzeret Publishing, Inc.

Please come visit our new blog and website at http://yotzeretpublishing.com!

Twin Cities Jewish Publisher Announces Name Change

2011-05-03T12:27:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ST. PAUL, Minnesota -- May 3, 2011 -- After nine years, seven books, six authors, and three awards, St. Paul-based Yaldah Publishing will become Yotzeret Publishing, Inc. Yotzeret is a Hebrew word that means "creator" in the feminine form. "I wanted to keep with the idea that the process of writing and publishing a book is a kind of labor and birth," says company founder and Yotzeret president Sheyna Galyan. "Yaldah as a verb means 'gave birth' in Hebrew, but it also means 'girl,' and we've grown beyond that. We've grown up."

The name change comes right after the release of two tween books by local authors: Sliding Into the New Year (YaYa & YoYo, Book 1) by Minneapolis author Dori Weinstein, and Friends Forever, a St. Paul historical novel by author Amy Ariel. Also among the books that will be acquired by Yotzeret Publishing are Like a Maccabee by Barbara Bietz and Mitzvah the Mutt by Sylvia Rouss, author of the popular Sammy Spider series. Both of those books are award-winners.

"We have several titles coming up soon," Galyan said, "including adult books by Israeli authors Janice Weizman and Yael Unterman, and the company name Yotzeret will play very well in Israel. This is an exciting time for us."

Yotzeret Publishing will continue Yaldah Publishing's mission to publish "books written from a Jewish perspective," according to Galyan, and to encourage books that reflect the diversity of Jews and Jewish practice. Yotzeret will publish both adult and children's fiction and non-fiction.

Yaldah Publishing is not affiliated with or connected in any way to the more recent YALDAH Magazine or YM Books, and Galyan anticipates that the new company Yotzeret Publishing will eliminate any future confusion between these two unrelated companies.

The expected date for the formal name change is June 10, 2011, the day after the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

-- END --

PayPal and the Local Pickup Glitch

2011-03-08T18:55:00.002-05:00

If you live in or near the Twin Cities (St. Paul / Minneapolis for those of you in other twin cities), and you want to purchase either Sliding Into the New Year (YaYa & YoYo, Book 1) or Friends Forever, and you want to pick it up rather than paying for shipping, you'll need to send an email to our orders department. From there, we can send you a PayPal invoice for book(s) without shipping costs. You'll also need to arrange to pick up your book in St. Paul.

It seems PayPal is having a difficult time managing multiple shipping options (such as having an item shipped versus a local pickup) and it defaults to whichever one is less expensive, not giving the customer the option to choose. And we love choice!

Hopefully this will become a moot point when our new website is up and running and we have a different shopping cart system. Until then, thanks for your patience.

New Awards, New Books, New Distribution, and an Important Note on the Yaldah Name

2011-01-12T13:57:00.003-05:00

Mitzvah the Mutt named 2011 Sydney Taylor Notable Book

Mitzvah the Mutt, the first chapter book by popular Sammy Spider author Sylvia Rouss and illustrated by Martha Rast, has just been named a 2011 Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Older Readers. Presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries, the Sydney Taylor Book Award "honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience." Mitzvah the Mutt also recently received a Bronze Medal in the 2010 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards, an award that honors exemplary children's books and promotes childhood literacy.

Complete title and ordering information, including a PDF of the first chapter, are available on the Mitzvah page at the Yaldah Publishing website.

Two new releases for tween readers

March 1, 2011 is the release date for Sliding Into the New Year, Book One of the YaYa & YoYo Series by educator Dori Weinstein. It has already received outstanding reviews from some of the most well-known leaders in American Judaism, including several rabbis from Newsweek's 2010 list of "The 50 Most Influential Rabbis in Ameria." What's it about? Thrill-loving fifth grader Ellie “YaYa” Silver has been waiting all summer to visit the brand new indoor water park in town. She is ecstatic when her best friend, Megan, invites her to go—that is until her twin brother, Joel (YoYo), points out that Megan is going on Rosh Hashanah. Sure, Rosh Hashanah is a big deal, but so is Splash World! What will Ellie do?

Complete title information and reviews can be found on the book's page at the Yaldah Publishing website.

Also expected in March 2011 is Friends Forever by debut author Amy Ariel. Two Jewish girls become friends across time when a modern-day St. Paul girl suddenly finds herself in her own yard...in 1912. Racial equality, worker’s rights and women’s right to vote create the backdrop in this coming-of-age novel that brings history alive. Rebecca Davis, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Delaware has this to say: "In Friends Forever Amy Ariel demonstrates a keen sense of how a midwestern Jewish girl might have experienced the social, cultural, and political transformations of the early twentieth century. Ariel does a commendable job of animating her story with historical details."

Complete title information and reviews are forthcoming.

New distribution to the retail trade

As of December 2010, Yaldah Publishing books are now distributed to the retail trade by Partners Publishers Group (PPG). You can still order directly from Yaldah Publishing and get great service and quick turnaround, as well as industry-standard discounts for resellers. (If you're in the Twin Cities, MN, we'll even deliver books, saving you shipping costs.) Or you can order through your favorite wholesaler, including Baker & Taylor and Ingram.

An important note on the Yaldah name

Yaldah Publishing was launched in July 2002 with the goal of publishing adult and children's books written from a Jewish perspective for all audiences. We published our first book in 2003. As a verb, yaldah means "gave birth." Many authors will tell you that writing and publishing a book is much like giving birth to a child, and it is those labor pains for which Yaldah Publishing is named.

In Fall 2004, a teenage girl from Massachusetts began a Jewish girl's magazine called YALDAH aimed primarily at the Orthodox community. United States trademark law sees book publishing and magazine publishing as different types of businesses, and therefore no trademark violation. At the end of 2008, the YALDAH Magazine folks created Yaldah Media, Inc. to oversee their activities, which now included a girls' retreat. In 2009 they announced plans to start publishing books under the Yaldah Media name. After legal intervention, they changed their book publishing name to YM Books, but continue to add the line "an imprint of Yaldah Media, Inc."

Yaldah Publishing is not affiliated in any way with Yaldah Media, Inc. or YALDAH Magazine. Yaldah Publishing is committed to giving voice to work that reflects the diversity of Jews and Jewish practice. Our books are accessible to readers of all backgrounds and beliefs.

Thank you for your continued support of independent Jewish publishing!

YaYa & YoYo: Sliding Into the New Year by Dori Weinstein

2010-10-26T00:40:00.003-04:00

The files for the Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of Dori Weinstein's YaYa & YoYo: Sliding Into the New Year are done! Off to the printer tomorrow. Here's a peek at the cover:

Sorry for the temporary website outage

2010-10-25T12:19:00.003-04:00

We're in the process of building a bigger, better, faster Yaldah Publishing website for you, and in the process, one mis-named directory took the existing site down for a few hours. We apologize for the error and any inconvenience that may have caused. It's back up and fully functional now.

The new site will be built while this one is still running, until we're ready to roll it out and make the new one live. It should be a relatively seamless process.

Thanks in particular to Jeff from Massachusetts for pointing this out so we could fix it!

Mitzvah the Mutt wins Moonbeam Bronze Medal!

2010-10-13T23:41:00.005-04:00

Mitzvah the Mutt by Sylvia Rouss has just been named the Bronze Medalist in the 2010 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards in the Juvenile Fiction - Early Reader/1st Chapter books category!

From the Moonbeam Awards site: “The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading. The Awards recognize and reward the best of these books and bring them to the attention of parents, booksellers, librarians – and to children themselves.”

Congratulations to author Sylvia Rouss and illustrator Martha Rast!

Mitzvah the Mutt order status--update

2010-08-09T16:23:00.002-04:00

The distribution issue with Mitzvah the Mutt has been resolved (yay!) and will propagate out through distribution channels, likely within the next couple of hours, so that books can be ordered right away.

We apologize for the delay, and are happy to have Mitzvah free to play again.

Mitzvah the Mutt order status

2010-08-05T19:17:00.002-04:00

Due to a problem at the distributor, Mitzvah the Mutt is temporarily on backorder. We are working to get this fixed as soon as possible so that it can be ordered through our regular channels at Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and Amazon.com.

We will let you know as soon as the problem is resolved.

Welcome to our newest author!

2010-08-02T18:47:00.000-04:00

A warm welcome to Janice Weizman, the newest member of the Yaldah family, and Yaldah's first Israeli author! Her historical novel, currently titled "The Wayward Moon," follows a young Jewish woman through the Middle East circa 900CE after being orphaned in Babylonia.

Tisha b'Av

2010-07-19T17:31:00.000-04:00

Yaldah Publishing will be closed tomorrow in observance of Tisha b'Av. We will be able to respond to email and such on Wednesday.

New Jewish Book Carnival

2010-07-15T17:53:00.000-04:00

Review Jewish books? Write Jewish books? Love Jewish books? There's a new carnival for you!

The Association of Jewish Libraries has just started a Jewish Book Carnival that will run monthly, building community among blog writers and readers and sharing information on Jewish books.

The inaugural edition can be found at http://jewishlibraries.org/blog/?p=366.

Mitzvah the Mutt on Amazon.com

2010-07-11T23:56:00.003-04:00

It took Amazon.com a little while to update their database, but Mitzvah the Mutt is now listed. And shortly it will feature the Search Inside the Book feature.

Want to read it on your Kindle? Let us know and we can make it happen.

How many 6-9 year-olds are reading on Kindles anyway? Anyone know? Does yours?

"Destined to Choose" Receives Glowing Review

2010-07-07T18:35:00.004-04:00

Ellen at The Preppy Yogini posted a beautiful review of Destined to Choose by Sheyna Galyan. In her review, Ellen compares this debut novel favorably to works by Naomi Ragen and Dara Horn, as well as the "Harmony" series by Phillip Gulley.

Calling the novel "very readable" and "approachable to non-Jews, educational for all readers and feels familiar to Jewish readers," Ellen goes on to say:

"What makes "Destined to Choose" so unique is the fresh voice of Galyan's writing. She has a remarkable talent for weaving together spirituality, character development, educational asides and entertaining prose."

You'll want to read the full review at The Preppy Yogini!

Destined to Choose: A Rabbi David Cohen Novel is available at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, on order from your local bookstore, and from the Yaldah Publishing website.

Sheyna Galyan's second novel in the series, Strength to Stand, is expected to be out later this year.

First "Mitzvah the Mutt" Review is Awesome!

2010-06-29T20:54:00.004-04:00

Sylvia Rouss, award-winning author of the just-released Mitzvah the Mutt, has excerpted part of the review from the Association of Jewish Libraries on her blog. She writes:

In the Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter for May/June 2010, Andrea Davidson, Temple Tifereth Israel, Beachwood, Ohio wrote: “Readers will laugh at Mitzvah’s zany misadventures,…Rouss uses Mitzvah’s humorous interpretations of the celebrations and his reactions to the food, along with short chapters, large print, and lots of white space, to make this appropriate for the intended audience of children 6-9. However, by having Mitzvah use the terms “Mommy” and “Daddy,” she makes her reading audience younger, so that this could be read with children as young as five years of age.”

Progress

2010-06-28T00:23:00.004-04:00

Read two manuscripts over the weekend. One I made an offer on and I hope it ends in a signed contract. The other I'm uncertain about. Great writing, but the story is not what I expected and it feels a little disjointed. I'll have to sit with it a bit and then talk to the author.

Meanwhile, three other manuscripts to read, one of which is a rewritten version I'd turned down previously. Things are coming together for a custom photograph for the cover of Amy Ariel's book, "Friends Forever," ideas are floating about for the cover of "Strength to Stand" and I'm talking to artists about a themed cover series for Dori Weinstein's YaYa/YoYo Jewish tween twin series (try saying that ten times fast!).

Mitzvah is now on Amazon, and I'll be uploading info for their Look Inside the Book feature. Or you can read the first chapter on the Yaldah website at http://yaldahpublishing.com/titles_MTM.html . Copies of Mitzvah are also going out for reviews; if you are interested in reviewing Sylvia Rouss' first chapter book, send me an email and we'll work it out.

Also--we're on Facebook! If you haven't "liked" us on Facebook yet, please do so. It means a lot to us and you can stay in the loop on your favorite authors and independent Jewish publishing! Thanks!

Mitzvah the Mutt is here!

2010-06-15T20:50:00.003-04:00

Mitzvah the Mutt by Sylvia Rouss has been printed and is on its way. You can now purchase copies through the Yaldah Publishing website, and shortly it will be available at online retailers and through your local bookstore. We'll keep you updated on where it's available, and where we know Sylvia will be doing readings.

Stay in touch with Sylvia and all of her books through her blog at sylviarouss.blogspot.com.

Got Mitzvah?

Got Mitzvah?

2010-06-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

We do, and you can too!

The cover's been slightly redesigned, the illustrations are fabulous, and it's all at the printer now. In a week or less, I'll have a bound proof, and if all looks good, it goes into distribution and the first print run!

I'll update again in a day or two with information on how you can pre-order copies.

Got Mitzvah? It's coming!

Mitzvah the Mutt -- update

2010-05-27T19:11:00.004-04:00

Check out the front cover for Mitzvah the Mutt! Then, check out the details and read the first chapter online.

Sylvia Rouss' New Blog

2010-05-27T18:17:00.001-04:00

Mitzvah the Mutt author Sylvia Rouss has a new blog. Please stop by and say hi at sylviarouss.blogspot.com.

Mitzvah, the Mutt

2010-05-07T10:25:00.005-04:00

Many of you are eagerly awaiting the release of Mitzvah, the Mutt by Sylvia Rouss. We are too! Unfortunately, due to an issue with the illustrations, there has been a delay in production. We're working to get Mitzvah out as soon as possible and we'll post updates here and on the Yaldah website.

In addition, stay tuned for the following upcoming releases:

Friends Forever by Amy Gavel. Two Jewish girls become friends across time when a modern-day St. Paul girl suddenly finds herself in her own yard...in 1912. Racial equality, worker’s rights and women’s right to vote create the backdrop in Amy Gavel’s Friends Forever, a coming-of-age YA novel that brings history alive.

Strength to Stand by Sheyna Galyan. Jewish mystery/suspense lovers rejoice! The rabbi detective is back in the second book in Sheyna Galyan’s Rabbi David Cohen suspense series. A rabbi stalked, religious intolerance, and good intentions gone all wrong make for
a read you can’t put down.

YaYa & YoYo: Sliding Into the New Year by Dori Weinstein. Thrill-loving fifth grader Ellie “YaYa” Silver has been waiting all summer to visit the new indoor waterpark. But when her best friend invites her to go, her twin brother Joel “YoYo” is quick to note their outing is planned for Rosh Hashanah. What will Ellie do?

Publishing Secrets Revealed!

2009-11-29T21:11:00.003-05:00

I was recently interviewed by Meredith Resnick of The Writer's [Inner] Journey about publishing, working with authors, and picking manuscripts. It's hard sometimes to quantify decisions that percolate over days or weeks, or the thought process that goes on while reading a manuscript submission, but I hope my answers are helpful.

Check it out here: http://bit.ly/83hcfd

What are your thoughts?

Tweaking our image

2009-11-18T22:14:00.002-05:00

We have a new header! Actually we have a lot of new things, but they're stealthy. Our header is also on our customized Twitter page and making a debut in our new email marketing campaign. Before long, our website is going to get some redesign, too, with even easier navigation so you can find what you need right away.

Stay tuned!

Working Lunch

2009-11-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

It's a working lunch with Mitzvah, the Mutt although I'm having Japanese Pan Noodles with tofu and Mitzvah prefers burgers!

Sweet New Year

2009-09-18T18:12:00.003-04:00

שנה טובה ומתוקה

A good and sweet New Year to all from Yaldah Publishing!

By the Numbers

2009-09-01T21:05:00.004-04:00

I want to welcome Yaldah's newest author as of today, Dori Weinstein, who has written the first in a series of Jewish YA novels! Details to come a bit later on her background and her books. Welcome Dori!

Also today, September 1, 2009, is Yaldah Publishing's sixth anniversary. Seven books, six years, five authors, four years of blogging, three children, two states, one award, and counting.

And coming up next, the paperback edition of Like a Maccabee by Barbara Bietz, and the debut of award-winning author Sylvia Rouss' first children's chapter book, Mitzvah the Mutt!

I'm hoping you'll be interested in more of a behind-the-scenes look at publishing (similar to the Birth of a Book series), as I thought I'd use future posts to not only talk about some of the changes going on in the publishing industry (and how it relates to both published and not-yet-published writers) but also a real-time overview of the process as Mitzvah the Mutt gets closer and closer to an on-the-shelf reality.

Stay tuned!

"Like a Maccabee" in paperback

2009-08-30T21:05:00.003-04:00

Fans of "Like a Maccabee" by Barbara Bietz -- get ready for a paperback release in early September!

Stay tuned for the on-sale date. You'll be able to purchase the paperback copy through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble, or ask for it at your favorite bookstore. You can also order copies through the Yaldah Publishing website. More to come in a few days!

Website Updates (long overdue)

2009-08-12T23:29:00.004-04:00

Our website (www.yaldahpublishing.com) is getting some long-needed updates! Of greatest importance is our next release, Mitzvah the Mutt, by award-winning author and Sammy Spider creator Sylvia Rouss!

Mitzvah the Mutt is Sylvia's first children's chapter book and follows this likable dog as he comes to live with a Jewish family and discovers just how meshuge humans are. If you like Amelia Bedelia, and especially if you want Jewish content, you're going to love Mitzvah!

Be looking for more details as it goes through production, and look for an opportunity to pre-order it this winter.

Yaldah mailing address still valid

2009-06-10T23:31:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends,

Due to a clerical error at the post office, Yaldah's PO box was erroneously closed and all mail returned marked "UTF - unable to find." This unfortunately happened while I was out of state with my mother during the last few weeks of her life, so I did not discover the problem until just recently.

If you have sent anything to Yaldah Publishing's PO Box and it has been returned to you, please resend and rest assured the box address is still valid.

Thank you for your understanding in this matter

Update on website/email status

2009-02-23T14:39:00.002-05:00

Okay, we have progress!

Our website has been successfully transferred to a new host. We are just waiting at this point for all of the settings to be verified and the site to go live. Thank goodness for backups!

When we lost our previous host, we also lost our email. If anyone sent email to us in the past week or so, please resend it, as we didn't get it.

Our email should now be up and running. Or at least all tests so far have gone through rather than bouncing back.

Thanks for your patience!

Website temporarily down

2009-02-15T22:38:00.002-05:00

The Yaldah Publishing website is temporarily down due to a faulty power supply. We are working on moving to a new host and should be back up shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

A Shabbos-Related Reading Poll

2008-07-11T00:42:00.006-04:00

In addition to being a publisher, I try my best to fill quite a lot of other roles. At the top of my list is being a mom.

In that role of mom, and with my love of books in general and Jewish books in particular, I have started bringing Jewish kids' books for my children to look at when they need to be with me and there's no childcare in shul. (A big thanks to my friend Rachel for putting together two of my passions and suggesting what should have been obvious to me.)

So for my Jewish readers, that got me thinking: do you or your children read something other than the Torah while in shul? If so, what subjects?

I'll throw out a few possibilities, but feel free to be original with your answers:

Only Torah for me on Shabbos; anything else is narishkeit.
Anything related to the Torah, which would be, really, anything.
Something with a Jewish theme or author, from Colossal Boy to the Myron Bolitar series (Harlan Coben) to The Rabbi's Cat.
Only Jewish non-fiction; I don't want to be entertained.
There are Jewish kids' books out there?
I can't tell you; I'm the rabbi/rabbi's spouse/rabbi's kid.

What are you or your kids going to be reading on Shabbos?

Book Readers by the Numbers

2008-07-11T00:37:00.001-04:00

Zogby.com, a polling company, in conjunction with Random House, recently released an interesting study about American book buyers and readers. Here are a few of the more interesting tidbits grouped by category:

Ebooks
82% preferred printed books to other technology, with women preferring print slightly more than men.

Bookstores
81% go to the bookstore with a specific book in mind, but nearly as many—77%—will make unplanned purchases.

Book Choices
Nearly half, at 48%, choose a book first by its subject.

(Personal note: this is where the "Jewish Fiction" subject comes in. If it gets shelved with Religious Fiction, the vast majority of which is Christian, it gets lost. Same might go for when it's mainstreamed into general fiction. If you're looking for Jewish fiction, where do you go?)

Next up, author (24%), title, and word of mouth.

Influences to Buy
The much-touted word of mouth (WOM) influences 60% of people to buy a book; almost half (49%) base their purchases on reviews.

I find this bit about reviews fascinating, as there are fewer and fewer channels for reviews, especially in print, but more and more online. I just find it interesting that regular folks and not just book buyers and others in the industry are reading those reviews.

Cover Story
More than half (52%) judge a book by its cover, but those 65 and older are less likely to do so (34%) than those under 30 (66%).

Author's Fan Club
A whopping 89% will look for other books from an author they like.

Used Book Sales
57% keep the books they buy. 34% loan or give them away. Only 3% sell their books when done.

Authors and publishers have often lamented how they see no royalties or profits on used book sales, yet no such complaint exists on books loaned or given away, including by libraries. This statistic makes for an interesting counter-argument.

Competition With Books
23% of people are spending more time reading and 30% are reading less. Of those reading less, most are choosing to spend their time online (65%), watching TV (35%), or playing video games (18%).

You can read the full results at Zogby News.

World Wild Web

2008-07-05T23:45:00.003-04:00

I took a class last year at PMA-U (think college for publishers) on publisher's websites and came home with pages upon pages of notes quickly scribbled with a dying pen while sitting in a cramped conference chair. But ever since then, I've wanted—some might say needed—to redesign and update the Yaldah site.

Now finally I have the time, energy, resources, and drive to get it done. Or in the process of getting done. Some fifteen hours have been put into it so far, though I think it might be completed with only another ten or so. It's too bad I don't get paid by the hour. (Wait, do I get paid at all? Hm...)

I suppose I could have had it done in less time, but the designer in me wants all the various text and images and such to line up just so with a pleasing but not ostentatious amount of white space. Times like this I start to wonder if perhaps I'm in the wrong business, but then I remember how much more excited I am at the prospect of getting the next book in print and I know I'm where I belong.

Weird But Interesting in the Publishing Biz

2008-07-03T17:37:00.008-04:00

The Yaldah blog has been on hiatus for a while but is now back. While I'd like to blame it on the Hollywood writers' strike, the reality is much more mundane.

I had thought that this blog would be a good way to put a human face (eg: mine) on the business of publishing, kind of a behind-the-scenes sneek peek, if you will. I still like that idea, but when not much is happening behind the scenes, what do you put on the blog?

Then it ocurred to me (I'm a little slow sometimes) that all the news and scandals and changes and interesting-but-weird happenings in the publishing biz leave me with some questions and opinions and comments of my own. What better place to give them voice than here? At least all those non-publishing people in my life will maybe stop being so frustrated with my excitement over such scintillating topics as ISBN-13 and running covert reconnaissance at BEA (yes, I did that last year. I'll have to share the story sometime.)

So where are we now?

Much has happened this past year in the publishing industry, even for small indies like Yaldah.

Amazon.com has come under fire from publishers as large as Random House for possibly illegal monopolization of listing eligibility for short-run books. I'll have more on this shortly.
Amazon has also released the Kindle, an ebook reader that could either be the literary version of the iPod or a catastrophic iFlop. Which one it is remains to be seen.
The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) has worked to create EPUB, a "file extension of an XML format designed specifically for reflowing digital books and publications," according to Book Business. This is welcome news to those of us considering offering ebooks but not wanting to have to either choose which format (Adobe, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) or having to offer them all.

I am thinking about offering ebook versions of our print books, but have waited until the industry standardized itself. That time may have now come. What do you think? Are ebooks the wave of the future?
Branding, viral marketing, customer management, and "going green"—all of which sound like they could be uncomfortable, if not painful—are hot topics. I am pleased to learn that I did the branding thing before I even knew that's what it was. In an age where it seems everyone has a blog, a social networking site, a website, or some other avenue into the global digital world, branding is becoming one major way to stand out. But I have to wonder, once we all have . . . branded ourselves? . . . (that really does sound painful) will we really stand out anymore or will we have to look for yet another tool?
More and more publishers, from small to ginormous, are taking a hard look at the traditional large print runs, warehousing, returns, and even advances against royalties to authors. While it never made sense to us indies, it appears that big publishers are questioning the process of giving an author a competetive advance, printing a large print run, watching the book do okay but not great, then taking a hit on returns from retailers and never recouping the initial cost, much less having the author earn their full advance.
HarperCollins is creating a new group that appears to be modeling itself after what the indie presses have been doing for years, according to the New York Times.

It's a strange business we're in, but it's certainly not boring.

A Tired Hello from New York

2007-05-30T23:32:00.000-04:00

As in life, things didn't quite go according to plan. I am blogging about my experiences (briefly for now) here at PMA-U/BEA, but I'm not able to post on both this blog and the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) blog.

So please join me over at the MIPA blog for now, and I'll have more detailed entries here when I get back home to my regular computer.

MIPA blog:
http://mipa-blog.blogspot.com

See you there!

Taking Yaldah on the Road

2007-05-27T23:02:00.000-04:00

Yaldah and I are going to New York!

I'll be attending PMA University (think college for publishers) this next week, followed by Book Expo America (BEA).

The plan, such as it is, is that I will take a few minutes each evening and post the highlights of the day and what I've learned in the courses for which I've signed up. There's a definite theme in the courses I've chosen, with a lot of focus on publicity and marketing, though I also picked courses that are designed for the smaller publisher, drawing on our passion for contributing good books to the world.

You can follow along here as I navigate my way through the Big Apple, big(ger) publishers, and big dreams.

Next stop: New York!

Musical Blog

2007-02-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

WE'RE BACK!

The old Yaldah Publishing blog HAD moved the Yaldah web site but alas, the poor server is overworked and underpaid, and so to not place a stumbling meg in front of the blind server, it is now back here.

Apologies for any inconvenience. All posts are now republished here, including the full series on Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book.

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 5

2006-12-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 1
Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 2
Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 3
Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 4

***

While I’d received eleven positive responses to my query for blurbs (endorsements), I only received three written endorsements. Of the remaining eight, one said her life has simply become to busy and another said she liked the story but “didn’t love it.” That was hard to hear, but the world is made up of many different people, and it’s unrealistic to expect 100% of readers to love the book.

What frustrated me as a publisher was that six of the eleven never bothered to respond to any of the inquiries I sent them, asking if they’d received the uncorrected proof okay, if they’d had a chance to read it, if they would still be writing a blurb. I made sure not to contact them more than once in a two-week period, but in my opinion, it’s basic professional courtesy to at least acknowledge receipt and indicate if they were going to follow through with their offer or not. It costs money to print uncorrected proofs and mail them - especially to Israel - and if they weren’t serious about their offer, I’d rather have spent that money elsewhere.

Authors beware: if you agree to read a manuscript for a potential blurb, please give the publisher or requesting author the courtesy of a reply, even if it’s to say you can’t write the blurb.

Now April 2006, with ARCs (arks) on their way to me, it was time to kick the pre-publication marketing into high gear. Who was going to receive ARCs? Some were obvious: Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, School Library Journal. But knowing that and having an actual mailing address and possible contact name, not to mention review submission guidelines, was another story.

A spreadsheet can be a publisher’s best friend.

I spent I-don’t-know-how-many hours doing Internet research on reviewers’ sites, examining submission requirements, copying and pasting names, mailing addresses, lead time, notes, and so on into an Excel spreadsheet. I had a section for print media, another for other media, a third for Jewish organizations (schools, JCCs, synagogues), a fourth for resellers, a fifth for awards submissions. Every waking moment that I wasn’t actively involved with my children or attending to other publishing obligations (like requesting printing quotes), I was filling out this spreadsheet.

It was too much for one person, especially when I was trying to get the rest of this book together, so I was pleased and relieved when serendipity struck. A friend needed a job to make up for a temporary and very serious income shortfall; I needed someone to do a lot of tedious copy-and-paste work. While I normally don’t advocate hiring friends unless there’s a really good reason (sometimes it can lead to the end of a friendship), I considered this a form of tzedakah - enabling her to become more self-reliant, or at least enabling her to buy food for her family without sacrificing her dignity. She did a wonderful job, and the resulting spreadsheet not only made the marketing process much easier, it will help the marketing of future books for a long time to come.

Finally the ARCs arrived and I did a happy dance around the dining room with a book in my hand. I took a photograph of a box of ARCs and e-mailed it to Barbara. It was very cool. But it wasn’t finished. I quickly produced labels from my growing spreadsheet and mailed ARCs off for pre-publication reviews. The clerks at the local post office got to know my children and me by name. They were nearly as excited as I about this book; they’d never been this close to the process of creating a new book.

I took advantage of some of the offers through PMA - the Independent Publishers Association, and started receiving e-mail requests from booksellers for ARCs so they could see if they wanted to carry it in their store when it was released. It was good exposure. It was a lot of money. In retrospect, I’m not sure I’d do it again, but that’s only because I’ve been amassing bookseller information through inquiries and the American Booksellers Association (ABA). I think that PMA provides a very valuable service, and booksellers respect mailings from PMA. I also think that for those of us operating on a tiny budget with not a lot of wiggle room, a very serious cost-benefit analysis is crucial.

I was receiving print quotations from printers and having to make some final decisions. One biggie: how much to charge for the retail price? This is a huge decision. Charge too little and people will wonder about the quality. Charge too much and people won’t buy it. The retail price must be in line with other books of similar form (hardcover w/dust jacket, stamped hardcover, paperback, etc.) and length and category.

I took my kids to the local children’s bookstore and spent two hours browsing hardcover, dust jacketed, middle-grade children’s chapter books between 100-150 pages long, looking at everything from cover design to interior design to whether the book was printed domestically or abroad, and finally the price.

A pattern emerged: the larger the publishing house, the lower the price. Books published by the “Big 6″ were at the low end of the range because they can afford to print huge print runs and get a very low unit (per book) price. This allows them to charge a lower price, give a generous discount to booksellers and wholesalers, and not sacrifice profit. Even if the book flops. But most small publishers can’t operate this way. We don’t have the capital to print tens of thousands of books and just absorb the cost if the book fails. We do our best to find the lowest unit cost but especially with a new author and a niche market, a smaller print run is often necessary, which drives up production prices and eats into profit and sometimes the depth of discounts we can offer to resellers and wholesalers.

I’ll probably be blogging on the whole matter of discounts another time, but suffice it to say, the large publishing houses have set an industry “standard” to which many booksellers and wholesalers have become accustomed. It involves deep discounts and the freedom to return unsold books even if they’re damaged in the store. It’s essentially sales by consignment and everyone wins except the publisher and author! And publishing is the only business I’m aware of where this is a standard business model. Booksellers can operate quite efficiently and profitably without needing such a large discount and without needing to return so many books - if any at all. I’m convinced that the driving force here is greed, and if independent bookstores want the support of independent publishers (who, after all, provide them with many of the books from which they make their living), they’re going to have to be willing to accept a new “standard.”

The big publishers are publishing fewer books by fewer authors (and far fewer unknown authors) - sources for this data to be cited in a future discount-related post - and the future of the book publishing industry may well fall to the independent publishers. I only hope that independent publishers don’t take on the greed as well. More on this later.

I finally chose a retail price that would put Like a Maccabee squarely in the middle of the price range and still allow me to make a small (very small) “profit” after paying production costs and royalties. I use quotation marks around profit because this little bit per book all goes toward recouping the money I initially invested in this book: paying illustrator and editor, printing uncorrected proofs and ARCs, mailing costs, marketing costs, catalog inclusions, not to mention the cost of stamps, paper, ink, depreciation of computer equipment and software, awards submissions, professional fees, merchant account fees, ISP/web hosting fees, and my time! It may take years of sales before I recoup all of the money I invested in this book, though I hope it will be sooner.

Price chosen, I entered the final listing in Books in Print and turned my attention to choosing a printer. If I thought choosing a price was hard, choosing a printer was a nightmare! Of all the time I spent getting this book ready for publication, it was this time - choosing the retail price and then the printer for the final hardcover/dustjacket book - that resulted in the most number of nights in a row of lost sleep.

That big decision, and the whirlwind of activity as Pub Date approached, in Part 6!

HADASSAH MAGAZINE REVIEW!

2006-12-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Like a Maccabee has just been given a very positive review in Hadassah Magazine!

WOO HOO!

Insert happy publisher dance here.

This is awesome! Wonderful! This could be the first big national break for my fledgling company and the wonderful Jewish books that are lined up for the next few years.

I’m thrilled especially for all the others who worked so hard to get this book to publication, as you may have read in Birth of a Book, parts 1-4. (Part 5 is coming right after Shabbat.)

Kol hakavod to Barbara Bietz, Anita White, Leslie Martin, and all those both in and out of the publishing industry who’ve been so supportive! And I’m pretty happy with it, myself.

Shabbat shalom!

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 4

2006-11-20T22:06:00.000-05:00

***

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 1
Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 2
Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 3

***

I tried to remain professional, but there was a part of me that took this setback very personally. I felt that I should have known about this much sooner, probably even before negotiating the contract. I could feel the stress oozing through my body as I waited for Barbara’s response.

Fortunately, Barbara was checking her e-mail frequently and I received her reply only a half hour later. I half-expected to be fired, or to hear that she was experiencing regrets about taking her chances with a small independent publisher. (The big publishers aren’t immune to problems either, and theirs sometimes result in recalls, and lawsuits.) Setbacks like these are hard when you’re still establishing a solid reputation.

Barely able to breathe, I opened the e-mail message and nearly cried with relief. Her opening words were, “First, let me say this - I feel like we are in this together, and together we will find solutions to make this work.” I could have hugged her, half a continent away.

And then I realized that this is one of the perks of a small independent publisher. Not the setbacks, of course, but the fact that since we are small, we really do work as partners with our authors. Too many big publishers care only about the bottom line. I’d like Yaldah to come out ahead on this (as it is good for business, after all), but I refuse to do that at the expense of an author. I want books to sell well, and I want all of our authors to be happy. I don’t believe that’s unrealistic.

When I’d written to Barbara about the text setback, I’d sent some brainstormed ideas – questions mostly – that might help her lengthen the manuscript. “To that end,” I’d written, “I offer my completely unsolicited questions from rereading the manuscript. (Consider this a good thing: I feel like I really want to know the answers, which means I was really into the story.)”

I reviewed the timeline, including when we needed to send uncorrected galleys out for peer reviews, deadlines for prepublication reviews (book review journals that require books submitted 4-6 months prior to their publication date), time for final layout, cover art, printing, and so forth, and determined that if we could get the text completed by the end of March, we’d be okay. While Barbara said this was more “panic mode” than “relief mode,” she revisited Ben and Grandpa and got back to work.

As a testament to Barbara’s talent, by the very next day she had outlined several new chapters. I created a certificate good for a published copy of Like a Maccabee when it was released and donated the certificate to a local synagogue’s spring auction. Anita was making some minor changes to the illustrations based on Barbara’s and my input. Leslie was going to sit tight until the new chapters were written and then add her previous edits to the new ones.

We were back in business.

On March 3rd, less than a week after my somber news on the book’s length, Barbara e-mailed me the revised version. It was almost twice as long as the original! I read it and loved what she’d done with it. The length really added more depth and dimension to the characters and their lives. I had a few questions and suggestions for minor changes and sent those to her. Meanwhile, Anita had delivered the illustrations and a beautifully painted picture to be used for the wrap-around cover. I got to work scanning those in and creating a proposed front cover for use in prepublication promotional materials.

Exactly one week later, Barbara sent the “revised revision.” For those keeping count, and for those writers who sneer at revisions and rewrites, we’re now on Rewrite #4. And this is the fourth rewrite since the initial query. I imagine there were countless other rewrites as Barbara received input from her SCBWI writing group. Little did we know the manuscript would pass Rewrite #7 before we were through.

I forwarded Rewrite #4 on to Leslie for her perusal and meanwhile contacted every middle-grade children’s book author I could reach and asked if they’d be willing to read the uncorrected proof of Like a Maccabee and write a short blurb, in exchange for having their blurb, name, and title of their book(s) in our promotional material, on our web site, in the Advance Reading Copy (ARC – pronounced “ark”) that went to reviewers, and in the final book itself. I received eleven positive responses out of that inquiry. Pleased with the response, I sent hard copies where requested and PDFs of the manuscript as it was, with a copyright and under-contract notice, to all eleven.

Our paper child had made its first foray into the world, and did so in a big way: uncorrected proofs went all over the U.S. and also to Europe and Israel. It was very exciting for me, and I couldn’t wait to hear their responses.

And then disaster struck again on April 3rd. “I can’t find my earlier editing, comments, questions,” Leslie wrote. “You’re under a deadline. I’m horrified. Proceed without me or should I start over?”

Have you ever received bad news and felt strangely distant, surreal? My brain did not want to believe it, and I went from satisfied with the book’s progress to sheer panic. I wanted to get ARCs out to prepublication reviewers by May at the latest, giving them their 4-6 month leeway before the book was released in October. That meant getting the cover and interior to the printer in two weeks, which was plenty of time if the text was near completion. But if we had to start from scratch with the editing process? I wasn’t sure.

On the other hand, I felt very strongly that Leslie was the right editor for this book. I work with several book editors and I suppose I could have called one of them and asked if they could do a rush job. But whatever it was – intuition, gut-feeling, guidance from the Great Beyond – compelled me to send Leslie my reply: “Take a deep breath. It will all be okay! I do value your editorial instincts and I believe the book will be a better one for having gone through your scrutiny, so I would very much like not to proceed without you.”

Leslie, as a testament to her talent, finished editing the book in less than three weeks. While she and Barbara and I would all continue to work together making small changes, the majority of the editing was complete.

I imported the text into my book layout software and spent a few too many hours making the full-color cover near perfect. Several of those hours were during one crazy afternoon at the local print shop, adjusting the cover file’s color settings so that the laser printer’s printout matched Anita’s original painting as closely as possible. I was on a deadline to take advantage of a price break offered by the book printer, and I had to get the book uploaded to them by 11:59pm that night. It wouldn’t have been possible without a good friend watching my children while I tore my hair out (mostly figuratively) at the print shop.

I met my deadline and placed the order for the first Advance Reading Copies of Like a Maccabee to make their way into the world.

It may sound like we could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but the truth is, the hard work was just beginning.

***

Part 5 now up!

"Special Edition" of Like a Maccabee

2006-11-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

From time to time, publishers encounter printer errors and as much as we strive for excellence, it’s a part of the business. Sometimes these books are sold as “hurt” copies. What is a “hurt” copy? In many cases, “hurt” books are ones with scratched covers or small tears on the pages. They’re perfectly good books, but can’t be sold as new due to cosmetic damage.

However, we have a few copies of Like a Maccabee with the printer error issue. These copies are brand-new and in excellent condition inside and out except for one thing: the last line of text didn’t print on the bottom of page 67. That line has been fixed and added to the bottom of the page so the text is now complete, but we can’t sell it as new. Our error is your gain!

We’ve offered a few copies on eBay here and here and here and we’ll look at adding a separate “hurt” book page on our web site.

If you’d like to own a copy of Like a Maccabee but don’t want to pay full price, this is an excellent option - a brand new book for a fraction of the cost!

And if you’re looking at books from other independent publishers, ask them about “hurt” copies either sold directly or through eBay or another outlet. It can be an economical choice for your personal library.

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 3

2006-11-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 1
Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 2

***

The first two illustrators I talked to were busy with other projects and couldn’t take on a book. Also, due to the nature of the book, its target age, and my financial limitations, I wasn’t looking for picturebook-style illustrations. I wanted something that would look good in black and white, something to which kids could relate, and an artist who could also do a full color wrap-around style illustration for the dust jacket.

I also wanted someone who understood kids, who could share the vision of this book. Immediately, I thought of an artist with whom I’d worked peripherally on some children’s programs through our synagogue.

I called Anita White and to my delight, she was available and interested. I’d already talked with Barbara about how many illustrations we wanted (within the parameters of what I could afford) and for which scenes. We also talked about the cover and whether it should highlight the Hanukkah aspect of the story or the soccer aspect. With that list, I gave Anita a copy of the manuscript and she produced some sketches. I scanned in the sketches and e-mailed them to Barbara, feeling a little nervous.

The reason for my anxiety was timing. It was now November 2005 and part of my standard book contract was that the author (Barbara) and I had to mutually agree on an illustrator. In other words, if she disliked Anita’s illustrations, she had the right to reject that choice of illustrator and I’d need to find someone else. There are some other protections built into the contract so the author and I wouldn’t spend forever choosing an illustrator, and after a set time limit without an agreement, the decision would be solely mine. But fortunately, that was unnecessary.

Anita was very taken with the story and wrote, “I see that the feelings between the characters is what matters most… because of the relational nature of the story… and I trust that my drawings will convey that…”

There was some hesitation at first. Would this style of illustration be too sophisticated for the target age? Would the fact that it was less traditional “photographic” pencil drawings and more Chagall-like be an asset or a liability?

Then this from Barbara: “…my first thought was that Anita’s work was very Chagall-like, and he is one of my favorites. I loved her work right away [and] it would be great to inspire our readers with lovely illustrations! I am also thrilled that Anita is so passionate about the story. I did show Anita’s samples to some artist friends and they thought her work was fabulous, which added to my enthusiasm.”

On December 11, I sent Anita a publisher/illustrator contract to review.

Meanwhile, I had contacted an editor with whom I’d worked before on another book project and asked about her availability and interest. I really wanted Leslie Martin to do the editing in part because I trusted her instincts, but also because she has a daughter who - at the same age as Ben in the book - played soccer. As a “Jewish soccer mom” and professional editor, I thought Leslie would make the perfect choice. Leslie accepted in early November and on November 7th, I sent her a copy of the manuscript.

All was going well. Leslie was reading the manuscript. Anita was reading the manuscript and doing research to draw the soccer game illustrations and she and I were in the process of negotiating contract terms. It appeared that by the end of the calendar year, the manuscript would be undergoing editing and being illustrated and I could focus on choosing and purchasing licenses for fonts and deciding on an interior design.

And then I was rear-ended by a large pickup truck and suffered injuries to my neck, back, and shoulder.

I was determined not to have this slow down production. That was a bit of a challenge while on some serious pain medication, and working around physical therapy appointments proved to be a bit stressful, but work continued, albeit often with an ice pack and sometimes one-handed.
Anita delivered the illustrations on February 16, 2006 and I e-mailed scans of them to Barbara for her input. Even if there were a few minor changes needed in the illustrations, I figured the editing was nearly (or completely) done and we could get advance reader copies (ARCs) printed as soon as April. With an October release, this would give me plenty of time to get ARCs to prepublication review journals a good 4-5 months before the pub date.

One thing I’ve learned in publishing: consider nothing a done deal until the customer walks away with a published book and their check clears the bank. And even then there are occasional issues that have to be addressed in the next printing.

On February 21, Leslie said the editing on Like a Maccabee was done and she wanted to touch base with me before talking with Barbara. Since most of the editing changes were copyediting types of things and not major changes, I set up the layout, created the front matter (title pages, copyright page, dedication, etc.) and used the most recent version of the manuscript to see where I’d place illustrations.

And that’s when I realized to my horror that we had a problem. A big problem. The manuscript, as it stood, was only about half as long as other comparable books. I hadn’t done the number-crunching (total # words in manuscript / average number of words per page = number of pages) until then and a 70+ page manuscript does NOT translate into a 70+ page book once in layout. Even with big type.

My heart was in my stomach when I e-mailed Barbara to tell her the news. At best, we could squeeze out about 65 pages in layout. We needed closer to 100, and preferably more, to compete with similar books in this age range.

It was the first time in this process that I thought seriously about changing careers.

***

Read Part 4!

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 2

2006-10-29T21:07:00.000-05:00

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 1

***

“You did what?”

This from my publishing partner. So I explained.

I thought Barbara’s manuscript was an excellent fit for Yaldah. But I wasn’t sure Yaldah was a good fit for her. Most authors know - or ought to know - that they’re probably not going to get rich or solve their financial problems by writing a book. We can’t all be JK Rowling. But most anticipate a nice advance from a larger publisher and look forward to print runs in the thousands and regular royalty paychecks.

This is the goal to which we aspire in independent publishing, but it’s not always the reality. In my e-mail back to Barbara, I expressed concern that Yaldah might not be able to offer what another larger publisher might. I wanted to sign her up, but I wanted her coming into this with her eyes wide open. Or offer us both a way to back out and keep our dignity.

She answered back with the following: “I do understand the concerns of a small house, but I am so drawn to the concept of promoting Jewish literature, that this does not discourage me.”

We talked some more; I explained what she could expect from Yaldah and she explained that she had confidence in me - in us.

Perhaps part intuition, perhaps part analysis, we negotiated a contract and played the You Sign and Mail it Back to Me game.

I will note here that I took a pretty standard boilerplate book contract (all 14 pages of it) and tweaked it. As an author too, I wanted to offer the sort of contract that I would be happy to sign. So I made sure the author would keep the rights to characters and settings in case she wanted to write a sequel and - gasp! - publish it with another house. I gave the author the right to approve or disapprove the book title and choice of illustrator, within certain parameters set by the publisher. In other words, I would look at illustrators (whose services I could afford) for cover and interior art and the author could pick amongst them.

I’ve heard so many horror stories about authors who hate the title of their book, or can’t stand the cover art. This doesn’t make sense to me. The author’s enthusiasm and energy around the book is one of the best marketing tools a publisher has. I can pave the way for the book’s success, but whether it sells or not is also contingent upon what the author puts into marketing and publicity. So I wanted her to be just absolutely thrilled with every part of the book.

We executed the contract right around Yom Kippur. I signed it on October 11, 2005, about two and a half months after receiving Barbara’s query.

Now it was time for me to do my networking thing and find an illustrator for cover and interior art and an editor who would not only help us find the best way to tell the story but who would also help uncover the soul of the book.

Things were moving along smoothly. I had no idea how rough things would get once the illustrator and editor got involved with their parts.

***
Part 3 now up!

Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 1

2006-10-28T21:05:00.000-04:00

It all started on Thursday, July 28, 2005.

I received an e-mail with the subject “submission/query.” It wasn’t the first query I’d received, but it was the first one that caught my attention. Why?

Unlike all the previous queries, this one began “Dear Friends.” I liked that. I suppose one could argue that it might be presumptuous, but I did prefer it much more than the “Dear Sir” ones I’d received. In my opinion, when writing a query, the writer should at least address it to “Dear Sir or Madam” in the off chance (or in the case of a Jewish publisher that specializes – though not exclusively – in women authors, the likelihood) that the publisher or editor who answers e-mail is a woman.

Additionally, unlike the other queries I’d received, this one had no spelling errors. It was friendly and confident. And it was informative. The writer told me: 1) why she specifically chose Yaldah Publishing to query; 2) what the book was about; 3) what she perceived the target audience to be; 4) her experience and qualifications as a writer, her knowledge of Judaism, and her knowledge of the subject matter (soccer, in this story).

I could tell she was enthusiastic about this manuscript, and it piqued my curiosity. It also piqued my anxiety. Let me explain.

Barbara’s book, Like a Maccabee, is only the second book project I’d taken on, and the first in which I would only wear my publisher hat (leaving my author hat to sit alone and accumulate dust). It would mean finding and contracting with an illustrator – a first for me. It would mean coordinating with an author half a continent away, and sticking to a schedule once I’d set it. It meant being responsible to others both in production and royalty payments in a different way than when publishing one’s own work and a change in production schedule means a quick chat in my own head.

But on the positive side, it would mean I could apply all those lessons I’d learned with the first book, Destined to Choose. I could really do it right this time.

I talked it over with my publishing partner (yes, there really is a “we” in Yaldah Publishing administration) and we agreed that this would be a really good fit for Yaldah, and a good business investment.

So I wrote back to Barbara.

And I told her to reconsider.
***
More to come in “Like a Maccabee: The Birth of a Book, Part 2”!

IT'S HERE! LIKE A MACCABEE IS OUT!

2006-10-22T23:01:00.000-04:00

In 59 minutes (local time), LIKE A MACCABEE will be released for sale!

This has been a year-long journey with truly wonderful results and an awesome group of people with whom I’ve been working. Everyone who has read the book loves it and some GREAT reviews are expected, especially as we get toward the Chanukah season (some reviewers are holding off on publishing their reviews until December issues of their magazines and journals).

Check it out on the Yaldah web site, where you can read the first chapter, download some free bookmarks, see when the author will be speaking and where, visit the author’s web site, and much more!

Still want to hear the story of how this all happened, from the perspective of a small independent publisher? That starts this week (I promise)!

(And if you don’t see it as soon as you’d like, send me an e-mail to nudge me!)

More to come shortly!

Speaking of Blogging...

2006-09-13T20:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight I will be speaking about blogging by publishers and authors at the monthly meeting of the Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA) at St. Anthony Park Library.

The biggest question asked is “Is it worth it for an author or publisher to start blogging?”

I think it is, but then that seems rather obvious since I am blogging.

I’ll post a summary of what happens tonight with regards to blogging, plus the next installment of The Birth of a Book.

From Manuscript to Publication: The Birth of a Book (from the publisher's perspective)

2006-09-12T20:55:00.000-04:00

With this new series, I hope to shed some light on what goes on behind the scenes of a small independent publisher.

How exactly does a writer get published?Why do some manuscripts get rejected and others accepted?Why does the process take so darn long?

and most of all…

What’s it like to go through the publishing process with an indy publisher?

My plan is to write in chronological order, what happened and when, and what’s going on now. I won’t be divulging anything proprietary (sorry) but it will give you an idea of all that goes on - big and small - from receipt of a query letter to the final on-sale date when you can find a book in a bookstore near you.

As this series progresses, I welcome questions and comments, but please, no queries about your own manuscript. This is not the forum for that. In fact, while I’m thinking of it, I already have two books (hopefully) slated for 2007, so I won’t be accepting any new manuscripts until late next year at the earliest.

Lastly, this series is written about a real query, a real manuscript, and a real soon-to-be-released published book titled Like a Maccabee by Barbara Bietz and illustrated by Anita White, to be released on October 23, 2006 (though advance sales are going on now).

I have permission from the author to share the ups and downs of what we went through from her first query to our final joy as we celebrate The Birth of a Book.

Enjoy!

LIKE A MACCABEE Advance Orders Accepted Now!

2006-08-27T20:53:00.000-04:00

You can now reserve your copy of Like a Maccabee written by the very talented Barbara Bietz and illustrated by award-winning artist Anita White!

Like a Maccabee is a children’s chapter book geared toward ages 8-12 that’s a little about Hanukkah and a lot about soccer. Children of all backgrounds will identify with issues of competition, sportsmanship, bullying, and knowing that no family could possibly be any more clueless than yours.

You can read a synopsis and what other people are saying about Like a Maccabee at the Yaldah Publishing Web Site.

If you’re still not sure, you can read the first chapter here.

Advance orders will be filled even before bookstore orders, and will be mailed out so that you receive it on or around the publication date of October 23, 2006. And with your pre-paid advance order, you get free shipping via USPS Media Mail.

Just visit the Yaldah Publishing web site for more details.

And starting as soon as possible: the story behind Like a Maccabee - from manuscript to published book from the publisher’s (not the author’s) point of view. Check back shortly for the first installment!

Updated Yaldah Web Site Now Live!

2006-06-13T20:52:00.000-04:00

All I can say is that I love Dreamweaver!

Check out the new site: http://www.yaldahpublishing.com

The Phone Call That Made My Day

2006-05-30T20:50:00.000-04:00

Friday, as I was driving on my way to pick up my son from school, my business phone rang. I’d been expecting some call-backs regarding printing quotes, so I knew I needed to answer this and not let it go to voice mail.

I pulled over and checked the time to avoid those embarrassing greetings when you say “Good afternoon” and it’s really morning and then the caller wonders why you don’t know what time it is. It was still morning. Barely.

Hitting “send” to answer the call, I said in my most professional voice, “Good morning, Yaldah Publishing.”

Long pause. Usually not a good sign.

“Er… yes… Is this the corporate offices for Yaldah Publishing?” asked a male voice with a distinctive Southern accent.

I looked around my van, one toddler keeping himself amused in his carseat behind me. Corporate offices? I guess, technically, this is my satellite office.

“Yes, it is,” I said confidently. “How may I help you?” I hoped my toddler wouldn’t throw his toy on the floor and start a tantrum while I was on the phone or my corporate cover would be blown.

He introduced himself. Turns out he was making inquiries on behalf of PMA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, about how small presses handle delinquent accounts.

I was happy to report that I’ve not (yet) had to deal with delinquent accounts. I told him that Yaldah only extends credit to independent bookstores at this time, and because we make an effort to know bookstore owners personally, if there’s ever a problem, we simply call them up and ask about it. So far, we’ve not had any problems with being paid on time.

He seemed pleased to hear that knowing independent bookstore owners made a difference. In truth, they are one of our biggest assets (aside from our authors, of course).

One bookstore owner in particular not only makes a point of ordering directly through Yaldah so that we don’t have to give up the wholesaler discount, but knows her customers well enough that she will recommend our books to customers she knows will likely enjoy them, as well as to her friends and colleagues.

We ended the conversation and I pulled back out onto the road to continue on to the school, just my toddler, my corporate office, and me.

Publisher (noun): Jack/Jill of All Trades

2006-05-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

Myth: With a manuscript and a boatload of cash, you too can be a publisher.Fact: With a manuscript and a boatload of cash, you can get a badly printed book. But that does not make you a publisher.

The differences between self-publishing and independent publishing aside (that’s for another post), it takes much more than money and words to be a publisher. Graphic design, marketing, editing, typesetting, accounting, networking, advertising, advanced word processing, web design, computer skills… the list goes on. Every publisher needs to either know these or be able to pay someone who does.

Case in point: I had a photograph that I needed to use as part of a book project. It was a beautiful photograph. The one problem was that there was an area of black overlapping brown and when reduced to the standard thumbnail size and printed in grayscale, the black/brown became a giant blob.

Enter Photoshop.

But trust me: extracting black from an adjoining dark brown takes a certain amount of skill. And a lot of time to get it right. This is time you’re investing into the project, not time for which you’re paid. With any luck and excellent marketing, you’ll recoup your expenses with sales and hopefully make a bit on the side. Maybe even enough to cover all those hours, so long as you don’t look at the per-hour rate. Don’t count on minimum wage!

It’s not all about money. We don’t get into independent publishing for the money. We get into it for the love of books, being part of turning a manuscript into a book from which people benefit.
Understand, however, that there is a copious amount of work that goes into that manuscript-book transition. Lots of things you need to know how to do, or need to find people to do (and do WELL), before you ever get a copy of that book in your hands.

Including Photoshopping the occasional photograph so that it meets the level of quality for which you want to stand.

Timely Publishing Article

2006-03-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

The current issue of US News and World Report has a cover story on the publishing industry, including the success of independent publishers.

New blog for authors, publishers, and people who love books!

2006-03-08T20:45:00.000-04:00

B’ruchim Haba’im and welcome to Yaldah Publishing’s blog. Yaldah Publishing is an independent publisher that specializes in women authors who write from a Jewish perspective. You can visit our web site at www.yaldahpublishing.com.

In this blog, we’ll share information of interest to authors, publishers, and people who love books. We’ll share interesting glimpses into the publishing industry, snapshots of what it takes to get a book published by a small press (avoiding vanity presses), and information on how independent publishers are thriving even as the major publishing houses are struggling to reinvent themselves.

We’re also happy to entertain other publishing-related suggestions. Drop us a line in the comments section and let us know what you’d like to see.

Thanks for visiting!