Working Titlez

Betty Auchard, author of The Home for the Friendless and Dancing in my Nightgown, returns to Iowa this month to speak at Prairie Lights Books, one of the premiere independent bookstores in the country. If you happen to be in Iowa City on June 14, come listen to Betty read and share stories from her newest book. If you aren’t in Iowa City, you still have time to get there – an evening you won’t want to miss!

With the season of graduations, weddings, and high school reunions upon us, we find ourselves reminiscing about days gone by – both good and bad. Some might even be inspired to write about the past … to preserve those wonderful memories … to purge those horrible times … to inspire others.

Whatever the motivation, the Stephens Press imprint, LifeStories, is dedicated to the art of memoir and biography writing, providing an opportunity for those who might not otherwise find a publisher for their work. For a peek at LifeStories titles that have been published, or for guidelines to submit a manuscript, click here:

As we gather with friends this Memorial Day, it is important to remember those who gave their lives for us. A beautiful mini-documentary recently posted on YouTube tells a story based on the book Silent Heroes of the Cold War: Declassified, by one of our Stephens Press authors, Kyril Plaskon. Soon, too, will begin efforts for a memorial at Mount Charleston to these silent heroes.

Wendy Mazaros, author of Vegas Rag Doll,shares details of her former life as the wife of a Mob hitman in an interview with KSNV – Las Vegas, Channel 3 News. Wendy, a one-time murder suspect herself,  shares her stories and recollections of the Mob world in the 1970s with Las Vegas Sun reporter Joe Schoenmann.

Former CityLife Editor and R-J staffer Geoff Schumacher recently posted a past interview with Vu Tran, one of our Restless City authors. Though Geoff and Vu have both since left Sin City for broader horizons and greater challenges, their conversation about writing, and the authors who have influenced Tran in his relatively young, but remarkable career, is well worth reading. It is obvious that we will be hearing much more about this Whiting Writers’ Award winner! For the complete interview, click here.

If you are part of the writing community (or working on it) please accept our invitation to attend the kick-off reception hosted by Stephens Press at the annual Las Vegas Writers Conference. We hope you’ll be attending the conference, but even if you can’t, you’re cordially invited to the reception.

There will be a surprise guest!

Come network with others in the biz — writers, freelancers, authors, journalists, editors, agents, publishers — this is the place to be.

Would love to see you!

Carolyn and the Stephens Press Team

By Stacey Fott

Stephens Press donates books to a variety of charities throughout the year. However our largest yearly donation in terms of books, advertising, and author involvement is Library Tree Lane which benefits the Friends of the Henderson Libraries. Stephens Press has been a partner since the event began in 2005. Held each December at the Paseo Verde Library, guests mix, mingle, bid on auction items and meet SP authors. Over the years, many authors from our own R-J family have participated, including Jorge Betancourt, Norm Clarke, Heidi Knapp Rinella, Geoff Schumacher, and Joan Whitley. We just learned that the 2009 event raised a total of $21,000. Funds will go towards the purchase of books for the early-reader collection of the Henderson Libraries. Thirty-five of the books purchased will have a special label recognizing Stephens Press, LLC. I have had the honor of working with the event committee for the past five years and it is really a wonderful event for a very worthwhile cause.

Information “wants” to be free — but reporters want to be paid. This is a hotly debated topic these days, especially in the journalistic halls where Stephens Press makes its home. “Free” is spilling over into books. Stephens Press, and many other publishers, have long provided a “free” chapter from our books online, so prospective buyers can sample the wares (we can’t offer taste, touch, smell online). Chris Anderson’s (of The Long Tail fame) newest book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, will supposedly be free in certain formats with the “premium” edition being a printed book. How this will sort itself out is anyone’s guess. An author with a huge mega-seller under his belt is in a better position to bet the farm that enough people will pay actual dollars to buy a book when the content is free in other forms. Debut authors and writers of more esoteric or limited-audiences tomes probably can’t make that model work under any circumstances. I can assure you that most book authors do not make their living from their books. Most have day jobs or supplement their income with freelance writing. But certainly they expect some compensation for the year(s) of their life that disappeared into the writing of their book. Here’s an intro to the Publishers Weekly article — click below to read it all and let us know what you think of this approach to “selling” books.

Free-For-All: Anderson, “Free” Book, Sparks a Backlash Online and Among Battered Media Industry

By Andrew Albanese — Publishers Weekly — 7/9/2009

Under normal circumstances, that Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson’s latest book, Free: The Future of a Radical Price, logged over 17,000 free views in one day on upstart “social publisher” Scribd would be the story. The story, however, might lurk in the comments left on the Scribd web site.

“Well it’s not really “FREE” at all, is it?” groused one unsatisfied customer, complaining the book couldn’t be downloaded, but read only in the browser on Scribd. “False advertising!” screeched another assessment. When Anderson weighed in to tell Scribd readers that there would be free downloads available next week, “why not make an e-book available already?” came the response, which derisively labeled publisher Hyperion as “old school.”

Welcome to Chris Anderson’s world. In the weeks leading up to this week’s publication of Free, the author of the bestselling The Long Tail has seen his latest book assailed by traditional journalists, including the New Yorker’s Malcolm Gladwell, characterized by reviewers as simple, even dangerous, and at the same time slammed by others for not being free enough. A controversy over passages lifted from Wikipedia didn’t help.

Read entire article.

P Moss, well-known Las Vegas cultural figure, pens dynamic short story collection.

CityLife Books, the new imprint of Stephens Press, has signed its first author, P Moss, a fiction writer and owner of the famous Double Down Saloon. His short story collection, Blue Vegas, will be released this fall.

PHOTO BY BILL HUGHES P Moss in his office. Okay, it's actually the Double Down bathroom.

“Blue Vegas is the perfect book to launch the CityLife Books imprint,” says Geoff Schumacher, editor of CityLife Books and publisher of the Las Vegas CityLife newspaper. “Moss has produced an incredible collection exploring the dark, human stories lurking in the shadows of the neon sheen of Las Vegas.”

The stories, Schumacher says, represent the work of a writer who knows Las Vegas and is a keen observer of its diverse population.

“Moss’ stories are a visceral exploration of the clash between old and new Las Vegas,” Schumacher says. “They shine a light on the hard luck and lingering anguish faced by Las Vegans who’ve been trampled by this single-minded city.”

After working as a screenwriter in Los Angeles, Moss came to Las Vegas in 1992 and opened the Double Down Saloon on Paradise Road. Dubbed a “clubhouse
for the lunatic fringe,” the Double Down soon became internationally famous, drawing a lively mix of tourists and locals. A second Double Down opened in New York’s East Village in 2006, and Moss recently opened a new Las Vegas establishment, Frankie’s Tiki Room, on West Charleston Boulevard.

Despite his success in the bar business, Moss has always envisioned a second career as a writer. “No quality Las Vegas fiction has ever been written,” Moss says. “The soul of the city has never been captured on the printed page. This can be attributed in large part to the fact that writers try to sensationalize the obvious, rather than focusing on the raw human emotions unique to the people who live and work in this unique place. I believe I have done a good job of reversing this trend.”

CityLife Books plans to publish up to four titles per year in a trade paperback format. The books will be available directly to CityLife newspaper readers and at area bookstores and online retailers.

Stephens Press is a division of Stephens Media LLC, and a sister company to CityLife and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Established in 2003, the press publishes primarily regional nonfiction.

“The imprint provides a vehicle to publish quality Vegas-centric fiction with a unique CityLife vibe,” says Carolyn Hayes Uber, president of Stephens Press, “and we’re especially excited to have P Moss’ stories set a high bar for our fiction offerings.”

CityLife Books accepts nonfiction and fiction proposals and manuscripts that speak to regular readers of the alternative weekly newspaper. For submission guidelines and more information, check out the imprint’s website at www.lvcitylifebooks.com.

By Krissy Hawkins

FiledBy.com is the flagship site of FiledBy, Inc. and one of the most comprehensive online marketing platforms and directory of published author web pages on the Internet.

Company co-founders Peter Clifton, former Ingram executive, and Mike Shatzkin, industry analyst, developed the site to provide authors with an inexpensive way to create a Web presence in an environment where publishers are looking to cut costs.

FiledBy hosts the site for free and member pages feature a brief biography and a list of works. More options such as media postings, event listings and online press kits are available for users willing to pay a fee.

The site was intentionally designed to highlight authors rather than books. “It helps make authors discoverable,” says Clifton. The site provides a medium for authors to connect with fans and peers. But in addition to the social networking aspects the site includes links which enable users to purchase the book.

Just recently FiledBy expanded its online author directory, adding and linking together sites for illustrators, coauthors, editors, photographers, artists, translators and others who contribute to the publication of a book.

Since its launch in March 2009 the site has accumulated 1.8 million author sites in its directory, with this latest expansion it adds more than 1 million contributors. Contributors to published works can now enhance their own profile with photographs, a biography, links and multimedia.

The site is now in Beta so users can manage and enhance their pages, promote their books, check for accuracy, provide corrections, and more.

FiledBy is not preclusive to those who contribute to the production of a book, but also available to those who enjoy the finished product. Readers are free to login and write reviews or make comments about their favorite authors and titles. www.FiledBy.com

Editor’s Note — FiledBy is evidently downloading book data from Bowker as a spot check suggests Stephens Press titles are already in place but missing covers and/or author’s photos and information about the author. Authors are encouraged to add material to their listing. Remember, you can always find emailable and uploadable copies of your book cover and author photo on your book’s web sites. Contact Krissy if you need help. CHU