Canadian Authors Association by Leanne Dyck

Canadian Authors Association

On Wednesday, November 13^th I sailed from my island home—Mayne Island—to attend a Canadian Authors Association meeting. As this was my first meeting, I wasn’t sure what to expect. And I was pleasantly surprised. My pen flew across the paper, taking notes, as the panel of executives generously shared their favourite writing tips.

Tips…

'-No matter what your writing style, get a professional editor to review your work to help you say what you mean

-Organize your research and compose an original style of presenting your information

-Observe and analyze daily events that present magical moments

-Use proper grammar and strengthen your verbs

-Be consistent in your writing habits

-Know about the field and offer something that will capture the reader in that particular field. Humour and things that uplift and support the individual industry are welcome.

-Ignore your internal critic, and write anyway, because you have a story to tell.

-Reading your material out loud is the best way to get a feel for your story.

-Belong to a Writing Circle.

-A writer helping other writers—share your wisdom and support other writers

-Make your writing a business.'
quoted from the handout.

I highly recommended that all writers attended these meetings.

'Canadian Authors Vancouver holds monthly meetings on a variety of topics, all to do with aspects of writing. The public is welcome.' -quoted from News You Can Use

And for a slightly different account of the evening, please visit William Hay's blog

Guest Post: Manolis Aligizakis owner and publisher of Libros Libertad

Manolis Aligizakis (owner and publisher) writes...

Libros Libertad is a new independent publisher in Western Canada. Our literary tastes are trans-generic, our cultural concerns are global. At Libros, we believe that as media converge and tongues mingle, so publishing becomes a new entity, omni-national, polyglot, as polymorphous as its potential readers – and writers. You could be writing in Mandarin or German, you could be living in the suburbs of Seoul or the wilds of Alaska. If you feel you have something distinctive to say, then feel free to contact us. We're looking for the gold in the melting-pot. Across the whole Earth.
         Of course, the diverse roots of Canadians are a rich resource of creative energy and renewal. So we're also interested in discovering new talents who explore the cultural complexity and linguistic diversity of the twenty-first century Canadian experience. As well as established writers, older forms, voices from beyond… At Libros, we consider poetry, fiction, drama, and short stories from Canadian authors. We know that not every book gets published, but we also know that there are those who deserve to get published but don't. That is why we are here.
         Libros Libertad is free. Free from corporate pressures; free from interference from the suits in accounting; free from marketing gurus; free from the agendas of arts bureaucrats and their funding criteria. So, Libros Libertad can take risks with new or unfashionable talents, voices from across the whole range of world culture – be they avant garde or traditional. Genres and genders don't matter. Vision and voice do.

         At Libros Libertad, we are as flexible as you want us to be. We accept complete submissions as well as samples of your work, whether it's a couple of poems or a complete chapter of prose

         Libros is now releasing e-books on the Amazon Kindle platform and Smashwords at www.smashwords.com

         Here is a recent article about Libros’ last books by Carolyn Cooke of The NOW newspaper:

“Surrey publisher Libros Libertad seems to have kicked into high gear recently. The last three titles are all from right here.

The Second Wedding of Doctor Geneva Song, by Robert N. Friedland, is a novel about a woman who marries outside of her culture, and pays a heavy price for it. This book has earned rave reviews so far, and for a good reason.

George Amabile's Small Change is a collection of short stories and an excerpt of a novel in progress. The stories explore the reality of growing up in an inner city environment, but with humour and a sensitivity to the going concerns of boys reaching for adulthood. Like Friedland, Amabile's work has been published in many countries and in many literary magazines.

In a different vein, Manolis, owner and publisher of Libros Libertad, has just released his latest tome of poetry. Vortex is in both Greek and English and, as the name implies, takes readers into the turbulent waters of life. His work has a lovely classical lyricism to it.”

 ***

 And I asked...

Who pays the publishing costs--the author or the publisher?

Libros pays the expenses of the publications from editing to formatting, lay out, print, promotion, etc.

Do you pay royalities?

We pay 10% royalities every January.

Do you publish ebooks, print or both

We have started turning some of our old books into e-books and of course every new one is done automatically. Yes we do both print and e-books.

Guest Post: Mary Woodbury of Moon Willow Press

I just discovered that Moon Willow Press has closed. (2019)

My new small publishing company in Port Moody is Moon Willow Press. I am an environmentalist involved in the local community on several projects, including speaking up against oil sands pipelines running through culturally sacred and ecologically bio-diverse areas in the northern half of our province as well acting as a steward for the Fraser River and Burrard Inlet.

I am committed to producing provocative books that use sustainable print materials, and for this reason print only on FSC-certified or post-consumer paper. I  also donate a portion of sales to tree planters in the world who are working in areas such as Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Malawi that suffer from deforestation. My press is partnered with Eco-Libris and Green Press Initiative.

I have written a toolkit for green publishing, which is free at www.moonwillowpress.com site. In my first year of publishing, I also have two titles that are just e-books: The Little Big Town is a young reader's story about a rough transition experienced by a young girl who moves from a large city to a small, rural area. A collection of short stories, Smoke Ghosts & Other Outré Tales, is a fascinating and imaginative collection of travel vignettes.

This year's print titles (also on Kindle) are a fiction literary road novel, Infernal Drums; an eco-poetry collection, The Sacred River of Consciousness; and the novel The Lottery Winner. Two titles are slated for 2012 so far, a science-fiction title calling for the preservation and resurrection of the great forests of the earth, The Philodentrist Heresy, and an as yet untitled novel about a group of people adapting to a world devastated by climate change.