Terena Scott's Blog, page 40

What You Need to Wear to Be a Pro

Tomorrow is the big book launch, reading, Women in Publishing event, and I am suddenly extremely nervous. It's the first time I'm speaking as the author, rather than hiding behind an author as the publisher. So of course I am now obsessing over WHAT TO WEAR.

My Muse isn't helping. "Wear what you want," she says.

"I don't know what I want to wear."

"Then just wear jeans and a nice sweater."

"But are jeans fancy enough?" I hold up my favorite pair of faded blue-jeans.

"Those aren't. The hem's frayed.

A Great Big Thank You to My Contributors

While writing What You Need to Know to Be a Pro, I thought about the people who had helped me learn to create a company and publish books, either through personal contact or via their blogs and websites I subscribed to. I contacted many of those people to ask if they would share some words of wisdom to be included in the book, and happily many said yes. Here are a few of those people:

Sonia Simone. I've included links to her website many times on this blog and I was very pleased when she sent me

Laura Fogg Gallery Showing, The Launch of the Next Medusa's Muse Book and Other News

Whew! Things are beyond hectic here at Medusa's Muse with preparations for the new book launching soon (and Grad School isn't helping anything!). I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog, but here are a couple of updates from the press.

Laura Fogg, author of Traveling Blind: Life Lessons from Unlikely Teachers, is also a textile artist and you can see some of her art quilts on display at The Art CenterCorner Gallery and Annex in Ukiah, Ca. (201 S. State Street). You can read an interview wi

Happy Small Press Month!

Not only is it Women's History Month, it is also Small Press Month, that lovely time of year when we turn our gaze from the behemoth that is Random House and instead remember the little presses and independent publishers. The micro-presses, university presses, self-publishers, graphic novelists, and mid-sized independents who create works of art that rival anything Random House or Hatchett creates, but aren't as well known because they lack the marketing power of the big publishers.

In honor of

The Book Production That Will Not End!

I was starting to think What You Need to Know to Be a Pro would never be finished. It seemed like every time we thought we were done, we'd find more that needed to be done. First I thought I hadn't prepared the document for In Design correctly because the program wasn't behaving correctly. But then we discovered that the Find/Change feature in my Word program wasn't working the way it should, so I spent too much time marking by hand where paragraph breaks should be. After that it was weeks of "f

Resources Can Change Over Time, Especially TIME

When I was young (meaning under 40) I could manage four creative tasks at once, spending my energy freely on writing a novel, revising another novel, editing a friend's novel, and sketching out a new novel. I could flit from one plot to another like a hummingbird enjoying fresh nectar, feeling renewed after every task, ready for another page of words, another character to develop, and another ending to write.

Those days are definitely over.

While I've been finishing up What You Need to Know to B

The Rules of Working With Your Significant Other

We all know that a marriage can be hard work. No matter how much you love each other and stay committed to the relationship, every day stress and sudden catastrophes can test even the strongest marriage. If you decide to start a business with your spouse, then you've just tripled your marriage's stress load.

My husband is my book designer and right now he's pushing hard to meet the deadline to launch What You Need to Know to Be a Pro. I am technically his boss since I'm the publisher, so I have

Liu Xiaobo

As much as I might disagree with our government at times, I never take for granted my right to free speech. It is the First Amendment that gives us the ability to speak out against our leaders without fear of imprisonment or death.

This is not the case in many other countries.

On December 8, 2008, Liu Xiaobo, former president and current board member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, was arrested for helping to launch Charter 08, a petition calling for political reform and human rights in Ch

Why is it so hard to promote my own writing?

I seem to have a mental block when it comes to my own writing; I simply don't have the self-promotion gene. My book, What You Need to Know to Be a Pro; The Start-up Business Guide for Publishers, will launch next month, but I haven't done a blessed thing to market that book. I should have sent out press releases and marketing materials to reviewers and bookstores MONTHS ago. I haven't even ordered postcards yet! I sent one letter to our local bookstore about hosting a reading, but I still haven'

Product Safety Commision Postpones "Lead Law" for One Year

This just in from the Consumer Product Safety Commission:

CPSC Grants One Year Stay of Testing and Certification Requirements for Certain Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted unanimously (2-0) to issue a one year stay of enforcement for certain testing and certification requirements for manufacturers and importers of regulated products, including products intended for children 12 years old and younger. These requirements are part of the Consumer Product Saf