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"It's a cold, cruel world out there, and you have to have something
worth all the trouble," said Carol Yoho, who, with her
husband, Max, will be holding a class on self-publishing
at the 16th annual workshop this weekend on the Emporia State University
campus.
The Yohos formed Dancing Goat Press, named
after the Dancing Goat coffee they had at a coffee shop in Lindsborg,
to publish Max's first novel, The Revival, which
Carol calls a coming-of-age story that is full of familiar characters.
"The book was very nearly published by a
company in Salt Lake City six years ago. We had the galley proofs,
a copy of the cover and so on," she said.
The breakthrough came as a result of a broken
bone.
"A woman at the Topeka Public Library broke
her leg. Max dug out a copy of the book for her to read," and
one thing led to another.
The woman at the library liked the book so much
that she told another writer, Don Coldsmith, about it.
Coldsmith not only read and enjoyed the book,
he agreed to write a blurb, and then an introduction, for it, which
made the book more appealing to people who, as Carol Yoho said,
don't know Max Yoho from Adam.
"I can't say enough about Don
Coldsmith," Carol Yoho said.
The barrier to getting published, she said, is
that books offer small profit margins to publishers and bookstores.
"The book has to be good for people to get
involved with it," Carol Yoho said.
The question is how to convince people that the
book is good.
With self-publishing, promotion is entirely in
the hands of the writer and his or her friends or family. They choose
the cover, the look, distribute fliers, organize signings, send
out review copies and do anything else to get the book into the
hands of readers.
"You can't be shy about tooting your own
horn," Carol Yoho said. "And Max is a ham, which helps."
Max Yoho said that he heard conflicting opinions
from publishers, making the experience of trying to get published
especially frustrating.
"One critique was that it wasn't long enough
for publishers to bother with. Then I heard that it's the length
publishers like," he said.
He also was told that the chapters were too short,
that people like chapters they can read in one sitting, that the
subject of a revival wasn't "sexy" enough and that a book
needed alien abductions and incest to be of interest, but he took
these comments in stride.
"I decided I'm going to write what I want
to write," he said, " and if people like it, great."
Self-publishing also means that the writer incurs
the expenses, at least until enough copies are sold to cover them.
"We did break even with the first printing,"
Carol Yoho said.
Now, with the second printing of 500 copies,
the book will start making a little money. But the couple is hoping
that going into a second printing will increase their chances of
getting a national distributor, which larger bookstores prefer to
work with.
The Yohos talked with people who do publishing-on-demand,
an innovative process where a book is kept in electronic form and
then printed out by a bookstore only when it is requested, but part
of the pleasure of seeing your book published is lost.
"There's something very gratifying about
going to the printer and picking up a box of those crisp, clean,
new books," Carol Yoho said.
Some of the topics the Yohos will cover at the
workshop are pricing your book and getting an ISBN code.
Max Yoho is also the author of stories, essays
and poetry. He has recently completed a second novel that he hopes
to have out by Christmas.
Carol Yoho has a bachelor of fine arts degree,
a master's degree in media technology, and is adjunct faculty at
Washburn University, where she teaches Web design.
Other faculty at the Tallgrass Writing Workshop
are Coldsmith, novelist, columnist and author of 150 magazine articles;
Lenore Carroll, author of five novels and numerous short stories;
Robert J. Conley, poet, short story writer and author of
24 novels; and Max McCoy,
award-winning short fiction writer, novelist and journalist.
The two-day event is sanctioned by the Western
Writers of America, and sponsored by the ESU Center for Great Plains
Studies, the department of English and the College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences.
The cost is $50. for both days, with an additional
charge for those who want to receive college credit. Slots are still
open.
For information, contact the ESU Center for
Great Plains Studies, Campus Box 4032, 1200 Commercial St.,
Emporia, KS 66801-5087, by phone at 341-5539 or via e-mail to Ron
McCoy, director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at mccoy-ron@emporia.edu
or Julie Johnson, assistant director, at johnson@emporia.edu.
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