Sam Henrie

15 March, 2017

The Power of the Reviewer’s Pen

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:07:51-07:00March 15, 2017|Marketing, Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on The Power of the Reviewer’s Pen

MarthersBook Periodically I call one of our authors with a better-selling book and chat with them about their book marketing efforts, and what they believe is responsible for their sales success. I had one such conversation recently with Janet Marthers (janetmarthers. com), the lead author of Follow Your Interests to Find the Right College (ISBN: 9781627872621). The book is different from other college guides in that it uses students’ interests, both academic and non-academics, as the primary tool to help them navigate the college selection process, and discover colleges and opportunities that they might otherwise overlook. If you or someone you know is evaluating colleges, I highly recommend that you check out this unique book.

Follow Your Interests to Find the Right College was published in December of 2015. In March 2016 Forbes interviewed Marthers about the book, and she noticed […]

27 February, 2017

Tucson Festival of Books

By Sam Henrie|2018-03-29T11:09:20-07:00February 27, 2017|News|Comments Off on Tucson Festival of Books

Tucson Happenings

It is that time of year again where authors, readers, and publishers take over the University of Arizona campus to celebrate books and the art of writing. March 11-12, the Tucson Festival of Books will be in full swing, and if you have never attended before then this is your year!

Since its Tucson debut in 2009, the festival has grown to one of the most notable book fairs in the nation boasting over 350 participating authors in presentations and workshops attracting a diverse range of attendees. Whether you are looking for programming for children and teens, panels by best-selling and emerging authors, culturally diverse programs, exhibitor booths or a variety of food options, there is something for everyone at the Tucson Festival of Books.

This year, Wheatmark will be a featured exhibitor with several of our own authors […]

26 January, 2017

Crime: Truth and Fiction

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:08:09-07:00January 26, 2017|News, Publishing|Comments Off on Crime: Truth and Fiction

Fans of crime fiction and true crime: I’d like to draw your attention to two award-winning authors who’ve recently published two exciting new books.

Duke Southard is a First Place winner of the 85th Annual (2016) “Writer’s Digest” Writing Competition, a finalist of the 2016 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, and a finalist of the 2015 Indie Publisher Next Generation Book Awards, to list just some of his accolades.

Southard’s new book Cracks in the Wall (Wheatmark, 2016) is a suspense novel in the Parker Havenot Police Detective Series. The plot centers on the murder of a young mother of three in a quiet suburban town in what appears be an open-and-shut case. Detective Havenot, however, is not so sure, suspecting that the key to the murder lies somewhere in the victim’s past. This book is a fantastic fast-paced read from the first page to the surprising […]

13 December, 2016

New Year, New Digs!

By Sam Henrie|2018-03-29T11:09:20-07:00December 13, 2016|News|Comments Off on New Year, New Digs!

Nothing spells the new year and a bright outlook than a move into newly remodeled offices in the city center. We recently bid farewell to our old corporate center by Tucson’s Rillito River on River Road near Campbell Avenue. While it was a great and easily accessible location for many of our local authors, many of you had found it difficult at first to find our exact suite in a myriad of similar-looking buildings and suites!

Well, we’re in a corporate jungle no longer!

Our publishing company, now in its 17th year, just moved a couple of miles south to Speedway Boulevard near Campbell Avenue by the Aloft Hotel near the University of Arizona.

Our new address is 2030 East Speedway Boulevard, Suite 106, Tucson, Arizona 85719, located in the Sun Building. You will no longer get lost looking for our suite, I can guarantee that!

If you’re local or are visiting Tucson, we […]

1 December, 2016

What Is Hybrid Publishing?

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T10:59:37-07:00December 1, 2016|Authors Academy, Publishing|Comments Off on What Is Hybrid Publishing?

There’s a lot of buzz about hybrid publishing in the writing and publishing communities, coupled with an equal amount of misunderstanding and confusion. Not surprising. As the name suggests, hybrid publishing is a cross between traditional and indie publishing, incorporating some features of each. There are a wide variety of hybrid publishing business models, depending on which features are incorporated. Here are some of the features to watch for when evaluating a hybrid publisher:

Curation

The best hybrid publishers do the high-level editorial work that traditional publishers do: Screening submissions and accepting only those of merit with a reasonably large potential market, and working closely with authors on design and editing to create the best books possible.

Financing

Nearly all hybrid publishers require the author to finance all or part of the publishing, editorial, and marketing costs, usually through the payment of upfront fees.

Rights

Some hybrid publishers want an exclusive license to sell your book, […]

6 October, 2016

‘Tis the Season . . . for Author Ordering

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T10:59:57-07:00October 6, 2016|News, Publishing|Comments Off on ‘Tis the Season . . . for Author Ordering

It is hard to believe that another year is already winding down, which means that the holiday season is right around the corner. As the hustle and bustle of life begins to ramp up the closer we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is normal to try and get ahead on our holiday shopping. The quest to find the perfect gifts for the ones we love is often an annual tradition of fighting traffic, battling unending lines and searching for the best deals, while never feeling completely satisfied with your final choice.

For our authors who want to avoid the shopping chaos, what could be better than giving someone the gift of reading? While I may be biased, I believe books can be some of the most cherished presents, particularly when the giver is the writer. Some of the most precious gifts I have received have been personally created or designed by […]

24 August, 2016

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one blog post

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:00:20-07:00August 24, 2016|Resources, Social Media, Writing|Comments Off on The journey of a thousand miles begins with one blog post

I have a friend who is deeply passionate about a certain subject. My friend’s spent years reading every book and article written on, and watching every documentary made about, the subject. He’s studied and thought about it deeply. He feels that he now has something to contribute to the global conversation. But, my friend doesn’t have any academic credentials in the subject. He’s not a member of any online (or offline) interest groups. And, he hasn’t yet written any books or articles on the subject. His study has been done mostly in isolation.

He recently asked me if I thought anyone would read books or articles by him on the subject. I had to answer, “I don’t know.” The question was impossible to answer with a definitive yes or no without some knowledge of his potential readers and without having read his yet unwritten writing.

I did have a recommendation, however, as […]

3 August, 2016

Convergence

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:00:39-07:00August 3, 2016|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Convergence

For years I’ve given a talk called “Three Ways to Publish,” in which I describe the three main paths to publication: selling your book to a rights-buying “traditional” publisher, hiring a publishing services firm like Wheatmark to publish your book, or starting a publishing company of your own (self-publishing). Over the past few years the lines between these paths have become increasingly blurred:

The largest retailer of books in the world, Amazon, carries nearly every traditionally and self-published book equally
Authors with successful self-published books are often picked up by traditional publishing houses
Successful authors often dump their traditional publishing houses in favor of going “indie”
Publicists, editors, agents, and book marketing professionals who used to work exclusively for traditional publishers now routinely offer their services to publishing services firms and indie authors

Another way the lines are blurring is that savvy indie authors and publishing services firms are adopting the […]

10 May, 2016

The Perfect Is the Enemy of the First Draft

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:00:45-07:00May 10, 2016|Resources, Writing|Comments Off on The Perfect Is the Enemy of the First Draft

Many writing coaches recommend writing the first draft of a blog post, chapter, or scene as quickly as possible without stopping to rewrite or edit. The idea is once you’ve got that first draft down, however imperfect, you’ll have broken through your writer’s block and procrastination, and accelerated the entire writing process. That’s not how I do it. I rewrite each sentence several times before moving on to the next. I pause to fact check, to look in the thesaurus for the exact right word, to get more coffee, to watch of few minutes of “Better Call Saul”…

Though I knew it would be difficult for me, I decided to try the technique to create the first draft of this article. I started my timer and set about getting four hundred words down in the shortest time possible, without rewriting or editing. My subject: The First Draft. It took me thirteen […]

5 April, 2016

Price your book to make a profit

By Sam Henrie|2023-06-09T11:00:53-07:00April 5, 2016|Publishing, Resources|Comments Off on Price your book to make a profit

There’s plenty of discussion about the retail pricing of independently published books, most of it centered on self-publishing book companies setting list prices too high. I get frustrated when industry experts write that these higher prices are a problem, without offering any evidence that this is the case. In the absence of price sensitivity studies, or of testing book sales at different price points, the “experts” are simply offering a guess based on their experience. I suspect that their experience comes from pricing books for the brick-and-mortar bookstore market. What a company like Barnes & Noble suggests for list prices for their stores isn’t necessarily right for a self-published books that will primarily be sold through online bookstores.

The online book sales market is, in fact, such a new market that it is unclear what pricing strategies are most advantageous to book sales.

In the absence of hard data, how should you […]

Sam Henrie

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