Post #10 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Wow! 2010. Doesn’t it seem as though only a year or so ago that we were grappling with how to say 2001? Well it certainly does to me. Okay enough nostalgia; let’s get back to the present. As 2009 begins to wind down, I want to say a couple things. And I picked today to do so because I wanted to share a link to the guest blog I 
wrote for Ginger Collins yesterday. I got to use her blog forum at Off the Top Of My Red Head to write about my two favorite subjects: books and marketing. You can find my blog, called “As An Author You Wear Multiple Hats” here.
This year has been a busy one for Matilda and me. We’ve added to our site weekly Memoir Writing Prompts and monthly guest blogs and interviews with memoir authors. I guess you could say that 2009 has been our year of the author. We’ve received such a positive response from the memoir community that you can be sure we’ll continue the writing prompts, book reviews, guest blogs and interviews in 2010. And we’ll be adding more information about the many aspects of the book business–marketing, publicity, sales techniques, and more. I’ve actually felt guilty for only doing the occasional business piece in 2009; so I’m declaring myself early (putting myself on the hook, so to speak) that the business of publishing will become a regular topic on this blog in 2010.
While Matilda and I didn’t write much about the book business in 2009, we have years of first-hand experience–ranging from writing book proposals and working with publishers to promoting our books online and off. Furthermore, we started our own publishing company this year. In fact, we have two imprints: Knowledge Access Books and Riparian Press. We’re currently marketing our first book–Dr. Greg’s Dog Dish Diet: Sensible Nutrition for Your Dog’s Health by Greg Martinez, DVM. We’ve faced the challenge of book marketing from the perspective of both the author and the publisher, which should give us plenty of fodder for blog posts all next year.
We look forward to a lively discussion. We also encourage you to share your experiences and ask lots of questions.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Kendra & Matilda, I’m looking forward to learning more from you two. What a great team you are! Very much appreciate what you are doing to support women memoirists, and looking forward to your Writing With Heart workshop at the SCN conference. http://www.storycircle.org/Conference/keynote.shtml#preconf
Hi Susan:
Thanks. We also are anticipating your exciting SCN conference Stories from the Heart — February 5-7 in Austin.
Thanks, Susan. I agree with Matilda. We are looking forward to the SCN conference. This is my week to blog on SCN’s Telling HerStories. I’ll be using that forum to talk about the conference in Austin this coming February.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your thoughts on publishing. Although it’s not about memoirs, a great book on a related subject is Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America, by David A. Taylor. There are fascinating stories of writers who developed a wonderful folk history of Americans. It demonstrates how important it is to capture these memories and details.
2010 (is that two thousand ten or twenty-ten?) gives us a lot to look forward to, your blog posts, for sure. I’m anxious to start reading.
See y’all at the SCN conference.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Okay, Ginger, so we haven’t completely settled on the proper way to say 2010…I say two thousand ten. See you in Austin in twenty-ten…oops did I just say that? Tomato, Tomato, Potato, Potato…let’s call the whole thing off!!
Thanks for sharing “Soul of a People,” Beth. And you’re right. It is important to capture all the memories and details we can, which is why the memoir genre is so important. A person can write for her family and friends; she doesn’t have to publish to contribute.
I am really looking forward to more posts on marketing. And I can’t wait to meet the two of you at the conference. Thanks for all you do for memoir writers.
Karen