"Independence began here..."

This post is a reprint from Parlez-Moi Blog, January 25, 2006.

That’s the second half of the slogan of the Independent Publishers of New England - “New England Publishers Unite – Independence began here!” It is a good reminder for those of us in the arts that the last 80 years or so of corporation-dominated access to art is dying and it is time for artists to take back their power. Technology – that two-headed monster – gives us the power if we choose to take it.

I’m not sure where it began. Back in the Sixties when home movie cameras became affordable, a new breed of independent filmmakers sprang up. When I was at Penn State in the early Seventies aspiring filmmakers, screenwriters and actors banded together in student union study rooms to plan, write, rehearse, and talk. They scrounged dumpsters behind the VAB (Visual Arts Building) for discarded film and washed it in dormitory sinks. Everything was a problem – but only a problem to be overcome. And it worked. Fed-up with the power of the big and controlling studios like Paramount and MGM, these filmmakers bought their own equipment, wrote their own scripts, shot their own films and showed them in neighborhood rec halls and small arts cinemas. Today we have the Sundance Festival. It worked.

Musicians, sick of the controlling power of corporate rock, did the same thing. The creation of cassette recorders and eventually CD burners gave them the power to record and duplicate. They created their own distribution networks and the world of indie music grew and grew and grew. Today businesses like PureVolume.com attract tens of thousands of listeners from all over the world and sell indie CDs like crazy. We can learn a lot from the kids.

Podcasting and streaming video is growing in popularity as the next generation of what we once knew as television. The internet has placed the power of magazines and newspapers in the hands of anyone who wants to have their say.

And then there is publishing. I’ve talked before about the controlling power of the BNYPs (Big New York Publishers). Throughout literary history writers of distinction have published their own books. Thoreau and Walt Whitman would not be known today if they had relied on traditional printers of their era. But for the last five decades or so there has been a stigma attached to self-publishing because of the vanity presses that advertised in the backs of magazines “Become a Published Author Today!” For a set fee they would take your manuscript, whether it was your version of the next Great American Novel or Aunt Myrtle’s favorite pickle recipes, and typeset, print, bind, and deliver crates of books to your doorstep. Now it was up to you.

The problem was, of course, that vanity presses had no standards. Books were typeset exactly as they were written. For a fee you could have yours edited so that the “theirs” and the “theres” and the “they’res” were corrected but as for the quality of content - caveat emptor.

So independent publishing houses began. Small groups of people, with something to say and a desire to say it well with high standards and literary merit, began their own presses using computer technology to design and layout books and improved printing processes to produce them. As with all indie efforts marketing, promotion and distribution is the challenge.

Last night we had the second meeting of our local Cape Ann independent publishers group. We still haven’t settled on a name but when we get together the excitement builds. Ideas fly, possibilities emerge, what one person doesn’t know the other does. All of us left the meeting fired up with plans for the future.

Independence is a wonderful thing but sharing resources is helpful, too. Local groups like ours and regional groups like IPNE can give members a lot of power. This is the era of Art Against the Machine. If you love good books, stay tuned – we’re independent and we’re here.

Thanks for reading.

©2006 Parlez-Moi Press originally published on Parlez-Moi Blog.

How I First Got into Publishing

I got into publishing after decades of working with academic authors who did not have a clue about the publishing industry or what they were getting into when they signed contracts to write textbooks. I wanted to write professional books that would help them and at the same time might improve textbook quality. I had been working on a book manuscript in my spare time over several years and in due course sent out a proposal. Three offers came in, but I was very unimpressed (appalled, actually) by the terms. The royalty rates were too low, under 10 percent, or were ranked so that I earned 10 percent only after the first thousand copies had been sold! One publisher told me outright that authors of academic books cannot expect to make money--they do it just for love! Yeah, right!

I knew that my market was small (professors involved in writing college textbooks), but even so my math showed that in the best case scenario I would make next to nothing. The publishers would make out fine, because the proposed pricing was so high (too high--one company wanted to sell my book as a $73 hardback, which I was sure would make it unattainable to many and likely would reduce sales)! The idea seemed to be to have such a high price point that volume sales wouldn't matter, (a philosophy I heard later from a distributor who insisted I raise my prices, which did in fact put my book in far fewer hands)! I began to understand that my goals and the publishers' goals were largely incompatible, and I began to think about publishing my book on my own.

The turning point came when I could not get a publisher to assist with or even endorse my ambitious marketing plan. If carried out, my plan would ensure success, I thought, but no publisher would so much as send their catalog to my mailing list of prospects or agree to send galleys to reviewers. The publisher who sent its catalog to 4,000 academics in the humanities was not interested in potentially doubling or tripling sales by sending it to 4,000 more in other content areas. The publishers claimed to have no budget for marketing, advertising, publicity, or promotion for individual titles! (Alas, I have since learned how difficult, expensive, and time-consuming marketing really is.)

I took about a year to research what I would have to do to publish my own works (but there's no end to the learning curve when it comes to being a publisher). I decided to establish my own imprint to avoid the innumerable barriers to commercial success that are thrown into the path of self-publishers. I also thought I would like to have titles by others in my list in addition to my own. I bought a block of 10 ISBNs and set the goal of publishing one book a year. I have three in print and two in the works. I've had a lot of fun but I've made a lot of mistakes. I think I've earned more on my own than I would have with other publishers, but I would not call myself a success. Yet.

Mary Ellen Lepionka, Atlantic Path Publishing

Why Parlez-Moi?

This post is a reprint from Parlez-Moi Blog, July 23, 2005.

So I decided to call my on-line press “Parlez-Moi” and I’m glad that I did. It has proven to be a good name - “talk to me” - communicate. Communication is vital. Now that I am undertaking this blog it seems particularly apt.

I chose the words from a scene in my first novel, The Old Mermaid’s Tale. In it, the central character, Clair, has a nearly obsessive fascination with a tavern called The Old Mermaid Inn in a waterfront neighborhood in a city on the Great Lakes. One night as she and her boyfriend are walking past the Inn she hears a man singing inside. The song is the old Edith Piaf standard "Parlez-Moi d’Amour". Her boyfriend translates the words for her as they stand outside listening. The song, and the voice of the singer, haunt her and, months later she meets and falls in love with him. His name is Baptiste and he is a Breton mariner who lost a leg in a shipwreck and now earns a living singing in taverns. He becomes the great love of her life.

Hearing his voice for the first time is a turning point in her life and so I chose the words “Parlez-Moi” to be the name of my press and blog. Simple as that. You never know when a brief moment will change the course of your life.

When I was a girl in the 50s and 60s, I used to spend vacations with my godparents who lived in Erie, Pennsylvania. My godfather, my wonderful Uncle Buddy (left), used to take me down to the docks to watch the big ships come in and I became mesmerized by the neighborhoods that we drove through on our way down State Street to the public pier. My uncle told me that those places were dangerous and it was not safe to be there alone but, to a romantically inclined kid like me, that was just an added incentive.

Later, as a college student in Erie in the late 60s, I used to do exactly what the novel describes Clair doing - riding the bus through those neighborhoods just to peer out the window on the off-chance I might see something “dangerous”. During one of those rides I noticed a bar called the “Mermaid Tavern” and my imagination went wild. Much of what Clair describes in the novel comes from that moment.

Years went by. I went on to another college and then moved to another state but in the back of my mind that fascination lingered. Finally, somewhere around 1985, I was in Pennsylvania and drove to Erie to visit my grandmother who was living with my godmother by then. My godfather had died some years earlier. By this time I was living on my own in Houston and was quite experienced at going into bars (ahem). I decided that I was going to visit my grandmother and aunt and then take a drive down State Street and stop at the Mermaid Tavern for a beer. I was really excited at the idea.

That drive down State Street proved to be a pivotal moment in my life. When I crossed Sixth Street and entered the rough and tumble neighborhood that had once fed my wild imagination I was shocked to discover how it had changed. All the old bars and flophouses were gone and in its place were smart little shops and restaurants. Where the Mermaid Tavern had been there was now a chain family restaurant. I was devastated.

For a year the disappointment I felt festered and then one day I decided to write about it and, thus, The Old Mermaid’s Tale was born. You never know where inspiration can come from. You never know when your life might change.

So, I decided to name my press and my blog after the fateful moment when Clair’s life changed and the title of the song seemed the best place to do that. Thus Parlez-Moi Press was born.

You never know when the world will take an extra turn.

Thanks for reading.
©2005 Parlez-Moi Press originally published on Parlez-Moi Blog.

IPNE

This is the Official Site of IPNE. This new site is currently under revision. Some links may not be live but please check back.

IPNE is an organization of and for independent book publishers in the six-state New England region. Join us!

IPNE is dedicated to open networking, education, and problem solving; cooperative marketing, exhibiting, and representation; and mutual self-help for small publishers.

MEMBER BENEFITS

• List your company in the online MEMBER DIRECTORY on this web site (searchable both alphabetically and by genre and linked to your homepage).
• Post your press releases to PRESS ROOM.
•· Post your sales flyers to NEW RELEASES.
•· Feature your company in FEATURED PUBLISHER of the month.
• For an additional fee of $36, participate in PUBLISHER PAGES (where you can post five pages of your product and marketing information on this web site).
•· Join us in cooperative exhibiting opportunities at regional and local book shows.
• Attend regional publisher workshops and presentations and other IPNE-sponsored meetings and events.
• Network online with other small and independent publishers and self-published authors in your state and region through the IPNE DISCUSSION LIST.
• Learn about IPNE events and book industry announcements through the IPNE ANNOUNCEMENT LIST.
• Participate in cooperative catalogs and direct mail marketing by genre.
• Contribute to an online IPNE Newsletter and publisher blog column, now under development.
• Enjoy representation and advantages through IPNE’s official affiliations with Publishers Marketing Association, the Independent Book Publishers Association, and with SPAN, Small Publishers Association of North America, including discounted memberships.