KD Rouse, Future Librarian..Published Author?

KD Rouse--Inventory 2011



I have stories in files, books in bags, home-made books,
self-published books, loose manuscripts, books with
soundtracks, hundreds of CD's and tapes, in addition to
countless digitized files on the computer.



I am exploring multi-media publishing and promotion via the internet through UNC-Greensboro where I am studying for a Master's degree in Library and Information Studies.

Because I have been writing for years and never been published, I have many choices of my own work to try to publish. As I am curious about the current state of traditional publishing, I would like to provide contrast to my study by interviewing a working book agent to find out what he/she can provide that publishing opportunities on the web cannot.

Are book agents and large publishing companies becoming unnecessary? Once one chooses publishing arenas, what promotion tools are available to the author on the net? Is internet promotion enough or does an effective marketing campaign include a variety of methods?  At my project's end, I would like to have comprehensive knowledge of publishing and promotion via the internet and a clearer understanding of the state of traditional publishing.
I would also like to understand how the explosion of electronic publishing is impacting the library and its future, including the American Library Associations' (ALA) position and response regarding issues related to electronic publishing, and what my local library offers in the way of e-books and e-book readers. Are we transitioning to a paperless society or are we merely incorporating electronic publishing to our traditional system of publishing,  printing, and housing books?

If I choose to use any of the sites in my search to publish my own finished works, it will be a bonus.

 

The American Library Association

http://www.ala.org/

 

KD Rouse/Internet Publishing Exploration Preparation...continued

To review: I am a graduate student of Library and Information Science at University of North Carolina entering my second year. I am preparing to lauch an exploration of internet publishing and promotion opportunities using my collection of original works as potential items to publish. My professor mentor is Dr. Julia Hersberger, LIS UNC-G.

I want to find out what opportunities there are for publishing and promotion on the internet. I want to know if different genres of writing should be placed in subject-specific sites or is using one main site to publish is better. I want to know about e-books and how to promote should I choose to publish through one of these sites.

I am also curious about the current publishing industry. Is it crumbling? I would like to interview a book agent and hear his or her opinion on the future of the book agent and publishing empires. Because I feel that I am a publish-able author, I would like her to explain what she can do that I can't do for myself through the tools available to anyone on the net. Are book agents and publisher middle-men that can be bypassed by an author?

My experience with internet publishing thus far: I have self published two books through Cafe Press and Lulu. I was able to hold my own book in my hand for about $7.00. I never promoted and never sold any except to myself. The first book, in 2005, contains the first nine stories of 'The Saga of Gypsy Nurse.' It merely says 'Printed by Cafe Press,' which indicates to me that I can do with it what I want.

The other book, which I self-published in 2009,  'Hip and Broke: A Songwriter's Journey' is a bit more complicated. It is published by Lulu, who provided me an ISBN# and a bar code for free. That implies rights to Lulu which I need to understand better. Am I free to publish that same work with any other site. If not, how can I promote my existing book that has thus far been isolated in cyber-space?

My previous posts have helped me prepare for an exploration of my options in internet publishing and promotion because:
1) Reviewing the steps preceding my upcoming 'first step' in the exploration of internet publishing has allowed my Inner Librarian to organise, catagorize, and make sense of my journey thus far.
2) For a successful journey,  the traveler is purposeful, knowing where they go and why, taking only what they need with them.

This is important to me, as my biggest wish is to be a successful author who occassionally plays shows in mid-size venues and huge outdoor festivals and I think I can do it.

I have been the tortoise watching the hares run by and by and by.

But...."The time has come, the Walrus said...."
                        Lewis Carroll

This Future Librarian's Not To Miss List

Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, Lewis Carroll. 1872.

The Tortoise and the Hare, one of Aesop's Fables.

One-Legged Larry & Leery of the Library

One-legged Larry loved Leons. He sat at the end of the bar night after night drinking beer after beer, Miller Lites, loving and living the life. So what if he borrowed $40,000. or so for the privelage? He went to the North Carolina School of the Arts for screenwriting, and Hollywood was going to snap up his jewels as soon as he could get over his writer's block.

His bald head shone in the bar light as he shook his head slowly back and forth and told his tales ceaselessly as we scurried elegantly in and out,  fetching fine wine and Dom for our Filet-Mignon-garganzola-dripping, calamrari-eating patrons. We smile and bob and banter with one-legged Larry while we play mental chess and make it look like a dance. We help one-legged Larry to the taxi night after night, clap him on the back, laughing dilagently at his inanities.
Larry loved us. We were the nicest, most beautiful people in the world, so wonderful he wanted to cross the bar and be one of us.
We tried to dissuade him. Larry didn't see the hustle in our bustle. He didn't play chess, mental or otherwise.
It was a disaster that shattered all Larry's illusions of Leons. Behind the scenes he is hurried, and scurried, bossed, scolded, and cussed to keep up as he sweats and crumbles, dragging his fake leg behind him. He was "one of us" for maybe an hour.

One-Legged Larry made me leery of working in the library. It is risky working in your favorite place. The curtain may fall away and your haven be lost. (We never saw Larry again.) 

Maya Angelou Is Another Inspiration. Gracious & Regal. (I used to wait on her at the Downtown Underground Bistro)

Each of us has the right and the responsibility to assess the roads which lie ahead, and those over which we have traveled, and if the future road looms ominous or unpromising, and the roads back uninviting, then we need to gather our resolve and, carrying only the necessary baggage, step off that road into another direction. If the new choice is also unpalatable, without embarrassment, we must be ready to change that one as well.

                                                                         – Maya Angelou
                                                           Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now

This allowed me not to feel like a fool when I made the abrupt changes so characteristic of my life. I call these changes 'The About-Face,' an occurance that no one seems to understand but me. Why would a very educated college graduate wait tables and scrub floors after graduation instead of teach? Why would a mother of three sign over the house to the abusive husband and get an apartment for herself and three children, 2, 6 and 8? Why suddenly move and break all ties, over and over again. I have reasons for each game of About-Face, and Maya made it easier.
Here is a link to Maya Angelou's website.
http://mayaangelou.com/
Love, love, love.

Inspiration from Martha Graham & Max Ehrmann

I come from a long line of published authors.
I thought my Fairy Godmother had forgotten to give me gifts to be one of them, but I wrote in secret the things I could never say.
It used to be I would scold myself if I thought something three times and didn't write it down. I trained myself to write when I first thought of them, because a) you think you will remember but you don't
b) Thinking the same thing over and over requires head space. It drives me mad when my thoughts go round and round like clothes in a dryer. Writing makes it stop, and c) requires a quote from Martha Graham, one that when I read when I worked at Mindy's Music Store, opting to clean the grand piano and dust the bannisters instead of teach songwriting. I wrote songs, but they just come to me. I didn't know what or how to begin to teach it, plus it felt wrong to pressure my musical passion with dissemination. I lost my religion that way.
To get back to the quote that allowed me to create unabashedly, where as before I thought: Who would even care? Wasn't there a frivolity and presumption about writing or performing on stage as if anything I could do or say would make one whit of difference? But Martha set me free.

"There is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost."
— Martha Graham
For more inspirational and quotable quotes by Martha Graham, here is one site to get you started:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martha_graham.html

I was 12 when I stumbled upon Desiderata, the prose poem written by American writer Max Ehrmann (1872-1945) in 1927. Here is an excerpt:

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
                                                         Max Ehrmann
You can find Desiderata in its entirety at this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata
It will calm your soul, and no matter how many times you read it, it still speaks to you.