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What DimeStories Can Do For You

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Article was published in the Orange Ink June, 2009 issue of the Orange County Branch of the California Writers Club, by Sonia Marsh.

Standing in front of a mic is not what writers do best, but it can make you a better writer.

I first heard about DimeStories during a luncheon at the Literary Orange conference in April 2009. Michele McCormick, writer, and clinical psychologist by day, just happened to join our table and encouraged all writers to attend a DimeStories event at Laguna Beach Books.

Preparing a three-minute “dime story” forces you to write a short story from beginning to end, using what Michele calls the “slash and burn” editing technique. When I heard that selected “showcase” stories might be aired on NPR- National Public Radio, my ego kicked in, and I had visions of instant fame. During the next week, I read about the concept of DimeStories on http://DimeStories.org and prepared a three-minute excerpt from my memoir to share in front of an audience.

Easter Sunday, I attended my first DimeStories event. I arrived at 4:30 p.m., half an hour early to make sure I got my name in the “bucket.” The system is based on drawing names at random, so you really have no idea when you’re called up to the podium. I’d rehearsed several times in front of my bathroom mirror, reading my story aloud and timing it with a buzzer to stay within the strict three-minute time limit.

Laguna Beach Books is an inviting and friendly meeting place. After signing in, you can offer a $5.00 donation towards supporting the DimeStories events. Pink frosted cookies, cheese and crackers and wine are served to help you numb your nerves prior to reading. You can also browse the bookshelves or chat with other writers.

“Are you reading tonight?” an attractive woman asked me as I checked out the podium area. I told her this was my first time and found out she was Amy Wallen, the founder of DimeStories, in San Diego. She introduced me to Meredith Resnick, who started and hosts the Orange County branch of DimeStories.

After a few announcements, Amy Wallen placed her hand in the bucket. “Our first reader tonight is Sonia Marsh,” she said.

I sprang off my chair, like a jack-in-the-box, not quite sure where I was, nor what I was doing. Heading to the mic with confidence, I extended my arms holding onto my papers, and noticed they weren’t staying straight. My legs wobbled. Was there an earthquake? After the first paragraph, I took charge and finished my story on time.

It was over. I could relax and listen to others read. It was during the listening phase that I discovered how much I could learn from other writers and apply it to my own writing.

I also found that DimeStories can help:

• Get immediate reactions on what works and what might not work in your story
• Improve your writing skills
• Overcome shyness
• Offer media training
• Get exposure in the local press
• Showcase stories
• Chance to get on NPR

Hope to see you at a DimeStories event on the 2nd Sunday of each month at Laguna Beach Books at 5 p.m.

Who needs a vacation when you work in the U.S.?

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I’m off to romantic Sedona, Arizona, on Friday for three days with my German friend, Inge. You may be asking, “Why not with your husband?” The answer is simple. I live in the United States where work comes first and relaxation is a four letter word.

My husband is longing for a vacation. The last one he had was in August 2007, and I can tell he really needs one. There are however three problems. First of all, his boss doesn’t want him to take more than one week off at a time, even though he’s been a pillar of strength at the same law firm for ten years, (minus the one year we lived in Belize.) Secondly, he’s supposed to bill the same number of hours whether or not he takes a vacation. This obviously means working twice as many hours when he returns from his vacation. How can you relax when you have to do that? Third, we shall soon have two sons attending University in the U.S. Our 18-year-old is starting UCSB, University of California Santa Barbara, this August, and our oldest is in his 3rd year of engineering, at the University of Michigan.

For those of you who live abroad, California is considered in-state for us which means the fees are around $22,000 per year, including the dorm, food and books. When your son/daughter studies out of state, which is the case of our oldest, tuition and books amount to $40,000, not including room and board. Multiply both those fees by 4, for a University degree. No wonder people have the work ethic here. Many young students start a new career with loans of $160,000. Some people say, “Get a scholarship, but what if your kid is one of the 99% who does not excel at baseball, football, etc? My Danish friend’s son is also in college, and he gets a set amount per month for lodging from the government, and tuition is covered. He will be able to start a career debt-free.

I love asking people I know at my local gym if they have any plans for the summer. 99% of the time, they say, “I have to work, so we’ll probably take a couple of 3-day weekends to Santa Barbara or Las Vegas.” I’ve never heard anyone say, “We’re off to Brazil, or Australia.” I envy Europeans for the amount of holidays they have and the amount of traveling they do. It doesn’t necessarily seem to be related to a highly paid job either.

When Duke and I visited the tiny island of Nana-Nu-Ira in Fiji, for our 50th birthdays, a lifetime dream of mine, we met a couple from England. Both husband and wife were school teachers in their 50’s, and every year, they take the whole summer and fly around the world on a special ticket where they can stop when they chose to. They also take a holiday in the fall which is usually to Greece or the Canary Islands. I’ve never met a husband and wife who are both school teachers in the U.S., ever taking a round the world trip, EVER.
I know the economy affects all of us, and times may be different now.

So what are your plans for holidays this year?
What is it like for you when you take time off work? Do you have to make up the extra hours when you return?
What about University costs where you live?

I’m in the Laguna Beach Independent newspaper today.

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Today, I know what a birthday feels like to a five-year-old. I woke up earlier than usual to check the online edition of the Laguna Beach Independent newspaper.

I was crushed. Nothing. I looked for the article everywhere. For those of you who didn’t see it, I blogged about Dimestories on Easter Sunday. After reviewing my e-mail exchange with Jennifer Erickson, the journalist who interviewed me, I remembered what she said. “Things can always change in the newspaper world, but if all goes according to plan the article will appear in the May 1 edition of the Laguna Beach Independent.”

A couple of hours later, I re-checked, and found the article. If you click on the photo, you’ll see me reading. As Erickson wrote, this was my first DimeStories event, and my name happened to be pulled out of the red tin, first. Unfortunately, they wrote my last name as March instead of Marsh, but I’m excited about the paragraph on my memoir, half way down.

Names are chosen randomly out of a container to determine the order of readers. First-timer Sonia March of Lake Forest started things off at the April event, reading a short selection from a memoir she is writing about moving her family to Belize as a means of dealing with a defiant teenager. A little nervous at first, March gained poise as she read and finished before the timer. She hadn’t planned to be a writer, but kept a journal of her experiences and sent descriptive e-mails to friends who encouraged her to write a book. She’s been taking writing classes, and then learned about the open mic nights through McCormick. “I think this group is amazing, and I’m going to keep coming back because you can learn so much from listening to the other writers,” she said.

This Saturday, May 3rd, at 5 p.m., Laguna Beach Books is hosting the first DimeStories Orange County Showcase, where preselected stories will be read by their authors. I can’t wait to hear them.

What a great present I received today, and good luck to all other aspiring writers.

I know many of you have already published several articles, books, etc. Please share if you’ve been interviewed about your writing in a local, or national newspaper. What about television? I’d love to hear.

Self-Publishing, Vanity Publishing, Print on Demand (POD)

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My last post in this series on publishing is to give you information about self-publishing, vanity publishing and print on demand (POD) as outlined by Jared Kuritz, Co-President of Strategies, presented on March 21st, 2009 at the Southern California Writers’ Association.

Self-publishing allows the author to have 100% control over every aspect of the book. That includes design and production decisions. The bad part is that you are responsible for all production and publishing costs too. A rough estimate on cost of 1,000 copies, is $9,000. Fortunately a second print run of 1,000 books will cost you around $1,500, since you’ve already dealt with cover design, interior design, etc. Unlike traditional publishing, and cooperative publishing where the author nets ($1.36-$2.04) and ($1.80-$5.70) respectively, with self-publishing, the author nets ($6-$11.40) on a cover price of $20.

As with any other form of publishing, PR & Marketing, are key to successful sales. Kuritz pointed out that if you decide to self-publish, you are strapped down to the U.S. Cooperative and traditional publishing give you more flexibility, in terms of traveling. As I mentioned in a previous post,
W.C. Jameson, mentioned self-publishing being more suited for poets and experts on a specific subject as they sell most of their own books through speaking engagements and therefore back of room (BOR) sales.

Vanity Publishing is generally expensive, around $20,000, and often, there are many problems, according to Kuritz. For example, Vanity Press, promise you distribution, but they generally just mean contacting the “.com” like amazon.com, etc. Anyone can do that. Often things are done incorrectly, the title is not on the spine of the book, or the ISBN # is in the wrong place, so you have to pay to get it re-edited and a new layout, after you’ve already spent $20,000.

Print on Demand (POD) should be used sparingly, according to Kuritz. It will cost you between $9 to $12 per copy to get 100 copies out. Distributors won’t accept (POD) books. Kuritz mentioned an example of where (POD) books can be useful. If you want to send your book to reviewers 5 months prior to it being published, then you can get (POD) copies. Also if you have speaking engagements prior to your book being published, then (POD) is useful.

I asked you for a 25 word synopsis of your book to share, and so far I have seven, including my own. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ON THESE SYNOPSIS AND ADD YOUR OWN IF YOU WISH.

Thanks for submitting them, and good luck with publication.

Rob-bear: Many people live with chronic pain which is “poorly managed” — that’s an ethical problem. How do we come to a better ethical solution?

Kelli-Norgaard: “Most foreigners move to a new place, expecting adventures, but what they find is a place totally different from home. Then they get upset.Why?”

Shirley H.S.: As a Mennonite, I grew up with my nose pressed against the window of the world. From birth to college, 1948-1966, I became a conservative-rebel, proud-humble, deep-wide bundle of opposites ready to pioneer a new path.

Lady Glamis: Synopsis For Monarch:
Fighting for his life from terrorists in the South American jungle, a double-crossed CIA officer heads to the mountains of West Virginia, prey to an even larger battle: the one for his heart.

Jungle Mom: Synopsis: Jungle Mom invites you along as she experiences adventure in the Amazon jungle living among a primitive tribe. It’s a wild ride!

Cindy: A terrible loss and heartbreaking prophecy lead Shannon on a challenging course to return home and battle with the trials of her waning faith.

Gutsy Writer That’s me: Parents chuck the good life and move their defiant teenager and entitled siblings to a Caribbean island where they all learn about real life and gratitude.

Publishing with a Purpose – Part II Cooperative Publishing

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My first post was about traditional publishing. This post will outline what Jared Kuritz, Co-President of Strategies, presented on March 21st, 2009 at the Southern California Writers’ Association about a new trend in publishing: Cooperative publishing. Since traditional publishers have a 96-97% failure rate, Jared mentioned the need for publishers to increase the effort invested in each writer, and decrease the number of books they publish.

Many traditional publishers and distributors are now opening coops. Basically cooperative publishing is where both the author and the publisher share the costs and the profits. Mid-size publishers can’t carry the same risks as large publishers so many are now offering quality cooperative publishing.

The benefits of cooperative publishing are numerous. The publisher shares in the costs of production but this gives the author more flexibility in publishing and production decisions. The publisher is responsible for all publishing duties as well as participating in PR activities. The biggest advantage is the sales profit to the author which can range from 30-50%. The author also gets free books for PR and a huge discount for BOR (back of room) sales.

The main disadvantage of cooperative publishing is that the author shares in the production costs.
In general, the author pays for the design of the book, and the cooperative publisher pays for the printing, editing and distribution.

So if the book cover is $20, after the bookstore and distributor get their share, the author can expect to net between $1.80-$5.70 depending on whether the cooperative publisher has a 50/50 split or a 70/30 split with the author.

Jared Kuritz mentions that PR and Marketing are crucial whether you use a traditional publisher, a cooperative publisher or you self-publish. Jared also warns writers to be careful who they pick as a cooperative publisher. Chose a reputable publisher and ask if they also offer cooperative publishing.

Since this is a long post, and if you haven’t already done so, please share with us, your book synopsis in 25 words. I shall post it with a link to your blog at the end of this 3 part series on publishing.

Next post, I shall talk about Self-publishing, vanity publishing and Print on demand (POD.)

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