News about the #MainStreetWriters Movement

I must begin this post with a “Prologue” <— something actually hated by some writers…

If you get bored at any point in this prologue, just scroll down to And, Now The News! 

You see, this blog has way more visitors from Google searches than from folks who sign up to Follow it.

And, while I have a natural inclination to “favor” the folks who have opened a space in their digital life that let’s this blog in, I also “favor” folks who just happen to drop by because the words they put in Google search happen to be what I’ve used as Tags in my posts.

So, many days, I sit here and weigh the “relative” “value” of speaking to the “fans” or speaking to the “most-welcome-visitors”…

Yep, I just used a bunch of quoted words and I have to, because I don’t “favor” anyone who might read my blog posts—that would be kind of like favoring your family but telling all others they must obey the family “rules”; or, favoring all visitors at the expense of family…

All these words to say something I’ve said multiple times here with must less fanfare…

I tag my posts with keywords that “describe” the contents (somewhat…).

And, for the sake of “posterity” I have a Top Tags widget down a ways in the left side-bar (hang on dear subscribed family and thank you for your infinite patience...)

That Top Tags widget could also be called a Tag Cloud—basically a place to see keywords that guide you toward groups of posts that have some “similarity”—tags with larger font having more posts in the collection…

Some folks might even call the Top Tags widget a Research Tool—there are now more than 2,300 posts on this blog, all tagged and grouped in that widget…

O.K., almost done with the dreaded Prologue…

This post will be tagged with “Main Street Writers Movement” and this post will now also refer folks to the Tag “Main Street Writers Movement“; plus, this post will be in that archive…

Yes, I know I may have lost some readers over that prologue; but, some of the family may have forgotten the “value” sitting in the Top Tags Widget; and, some visitors from Google search may become members of the family :-)

And, Now The News! 

Main Street Writers Movement, itself, may be news to some of you; so, here’s the elevator description:

“The Main Street Writers Movement urges experienced writers to strengthen the national literary ecosystem through passionate engagement at the local level. Let’s honor and amplify our communities’ underrepresented voices. Let’s buy from local bookstores and small presses. Let’s leave our houses and dance in the streets to the sound of each other’s words.”

And, here’s who should consider aligning with this new Movement:

“Writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, editors, publicists, agents, and anyone who wants to participate in the literary conversation.”

I do hope you’ll explore all the posts about Main Street Writers Movement; but, if you like what this post has to say, you can Sign Up Here (No Cost)…

The enterprising novelist, award-winning journalist, editor, knitter, and Founder of MSWM is, Laura Stanfill, publisher of Forest Avenue Press.

Here are some of Laura’s comments from a recent email conversation… 

On her current schedule:

“I’ve been quiet on Twitter lately, and summers are always a mish-mosh of trying to get things done between kid camp hours. I’m determined to have a summer with my kids this time instead of working through it while they play…. And I’m revising my own novel for an agent—very exciting but I’m doing my best to balance everything…. Main Street is still cooking but I think the next big push will be this fall.”

And, about the monthly MSWM Newsletter:

“A newsletter is coming out this week; it’s written, I just need to click send.”

About a major article that will soon appear:

“The next Main Street article will be in the Independent Book Publishers Association magazine… I’m really excited because it’s the first piece of publicity that came organically from the movement, instead of me sending out information.”

 Then, there’s what she’s going to be doing, In Person, to spread the Movement:

“The next tradeshow I’ll do where I am actively signing people up will be the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association in October—all booksellers and librarians, but they totally fit our mission—and then Wordstock in November. I expect good boosts of numbers and visibility at both of those festivals.”

Finally, there are some details of what’s happening with an upcoming Major Video Interview:

“He has the footage back from the videographers now but wants to add “B roll” of filming here in Portland, with a few other editors and authors, before he turns it into a viewable mini documentary. I think it’s going to be amazing. His questions were great. He’s doing a series of these—one with a bookseller, one with a publisher (me), and one with a reading series/literary magazine collective.”

So…

Stay Tuned for more News about #MainStreetWriters and, in the meantime, Consider Signing Up…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
Read Some Strange Fantasies
Grab A Free Novel…
Visit The Story Bazaar

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

#MainStreetWriters Founded by Persevering Publisher

This is my seventh post about the Main Street Writers Movement <— that link goes to the main post with All the details… 

Click this Image to find out How to Join…

One quick and important quote from the Movement:

It’s for “writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, editors, publicists, agents, and anyone who wants to participate in the literary conversation.”

And, joining gets you the newsletter as well as, “…earning you access to literary community building tools, industry insights, and connections with #mainstreetwriters who are creating new opportunities in their cities.”

Laura Stanfill – Forest Avenue Press

I’m going to share a bit from the second newsletter (yes, the Movement is new…); but, I thought a quote about the Founder, publisher Laura Stanfill, would let you know more about the impetus behind this phenomenon:

“…Laura Stanfill, defies natural law with her energy and presence at literary events, and seems able to balance (and savor) the beauties of business, motherhood and art…I’ve watched her take the women-powered Portland press to national distribution, each act of business done with sterling quality and panache.”

—Leigh Anne Kranz

 

So, the second newsletter for MSWM had some sharing from this powerhouse publisher under the title, Who Recharges You? Who Catches You?:

“Main Street Writers Movement launched last month in Washington, D.C., during the annual Association of Writers & Writing Programs conference. When I returned to Portland, I crashed. Really hard….My freakout wasn’t much different than those really tough writing days when putting a few words together feels futile, when a project feels too complicated, too big, too risky.”

Then, after she talks about her friend who helped her recover, she says this:

“If I’m exhausted or doubtful or on deadline, and if I can’t mentor everyone who asks, it’s okay, because when Main Street Writers Movement launched last month, it stopped being exclusively mine. You’re here too. Lots of us are here. We have members in Michigan, Colorado, California, New York, North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, Utah, Missouri, Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, and London, and new members keep joining each week.”

She also says:

“I’m on the faculty of the Independent Book Publishers Association’s Publishing University, April 7-8, in Portland, Oregon, so come say hello if you’re in attendance!”

And, if you can’t go, you can still join Main Street Writers Movement :-)

~~~~~~~~~
Read more posts about Main Street Writers…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
Read Some Strange Fantasies
Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Google Author Page
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

In Honor of #InternationalWomensDay, I’m promoting Independent Publishing

International Women’s Day‘s theme for 2017 is #BeBoldForChange… 

 And, since this blog is about Reading, Writing, and Publishing, I firmly encourage any woman reading this post to find Empowering Literature to read, to find a place to write your most vital thoughts and feeling (privately or publicly), and to consider, if you’re already a writer; or, if you intend to be one; and/or, if you can tell a writer friend, to consider this organization: Independent Book Publishers Association (#IBPA).

The first thing of note about IBPA is the categories of membership:

Future Publisher

Author Publisher

Independent Publisher

Publisher Partner

I’m a poor man; but, I’m considering joining—the benefits are certainly copious!

And, the way I found out about this organization was because Laura Stanfill, of Forest Avenue Press (and, the founder of the Main Street Writers Movement) will be speaking at the IBPA’s Publishing University.

So, back to International Women’s Day…

There’s a book I want to recommend—The Woman Who Read Too Much—here’s a review of the book in The Guardian.

Oh, and here’s IBPA’s YouTube channel.

And, IBPA’s TwitterFeed…

And, to give you an audio/visual eperience of IBPA, here’s a video about some of what they do for members, from last year:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
Read Some Strange Fantasies
Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Google Author Page
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

Little Books Might Be the Best Solution for Promotion

When I used the word “Promotion” in the title of this post, I was thinking broadly—more in a minute… 

Click Image to Visit Scout Books

A little over a week ago, I published a post about the Main Street Writers Movement.

Back in January, the Independent Book Publishers Association published the article, Portland-Based Independent Press Launches a National Community-Building Writers’ Movement.

In that article, this is said:

“Forest Avenue [Press] will give away a thousand notebooks created in partnership with Portland’s Scout Books and featuring a pledge for writers to sign, an action-item list, and quotes about why such a movement is necessary in these times.”

As you might have noticed, the “notebooks” mentioned are Scout Books; and, Forest Avenue Press is backing the Main Street Writers Movement…

Scout Books can be 3.5 X 5 inches (each starting at about $2 {more with fancier printing options}) or 5 X 7 inches (each starting at about $3 {more with fancier printing options}); and, of course, the cost is less in quantities greater than 250 books; plus, all of them have 32 pages.

You can take the Scout Books link and explore the full potential of these little books for various promotional efforts or you can dive right into the Shop and Blog pages for idea-prompts to get you thinking about how you might use these books, like:

“…a series of nine custom notebooks to use as backer rewards for their record-breaking Kickstarter campaign….”

“…Let’s Do This! goal notebooks, filled with prompts to help you capture and achieve your goals.”

“…charming series of custom notebooks as a giveaway for their members and team….”

“Custom Scout Books make a fantastic and unique holiday gift.”

“Scout Books teamed up with Jolby & Friends to create a limited edition notebook called DRAW MORE, PLANT MORE! Best of all, we’re planting a tree for each notebook made. …”

“We Choose Hope Notebook”

“Night Writer Gift Set”

“Big Ideas Start Here Notebook”

That Shop page up there might be for you if you only want to buy some already designed books…

And, if you have any interest, at all, in these Little Promotional Books, do visit Scout Books’ page of their own favorite designs…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you don’t see a way to comment (or, “reply”) after this post, try up there at the top right…
Read Some Strange Fantasies
Grab A Free Novel…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Google Author Page
For Private Comments or Questions, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com