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Red City Reviews Picks Diving for Pearls as Finalist in Ongoing Book Award Contest!

I am thrilled to report that Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt, has been chosen by the reviewers at Red City Review as a finalist in its first annual book award contest. I received an email from them this morning, announcing the finalists. Winners in each category, and the grand prize winner, will be announced on December 1st.

I almost didn’t open the link included in the email. It was one of those days where trying to keep myself focused on several things at once, coupled with (I admit it), the unbearable weight of several recent disappointments, made me hesitate for several minutes before clicking onto the web site. I couldn’t resist shouting as I scrolled to the list of finalists in memoirs—there was Diving for Pearls!!

Two weeks ago, in San Diego, I gave a talk as the September guest speaker to the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild Meeting about my journey as a writer and independent publisher. “You have to keep writing, keep marketing, keep getting your book into public view. And, stay clear about your vision for your book!” In my talk, I offered a number of pointers, including finding sites to have your book receive a literary review, and those that might be having awards contests. Red City Review was one of the places I recommended. What a delight to be able to see my book listed as a finalist.

My upcoming trip to Sweden is around the corner and I am trying to keep track of at least three different strands of thinking in my head:

About the two academic papers I am completing, one for a workshop on “Love Studies” in the Collegium of GEXcel, which is “a collaboration that brings together the Centre for Gender Studies (CGF) at Karlstad University, Tema Genus at Linköping University and the Centre for Feminist Social Studies at Örebro University., and another for a presentation on my research on Hannah Arendt, co-sponsored by the GEXcel and the Centre for Feminist Social Studies (That track clearly has two byways!).
About marketing my new book, Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt , including getting the word out via reviews, submissions to book competitions, and other venues.
About organizing my files and clothes for the trip, which on the way back will include two more lectures on Diving for Pearls, one at Union College, Schnectady, New York on Nov. 3, and the other at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut on Nov. 4.

Today’s news was a welcome boost of spirits and energized me to get on with the remaining tasks, while looking forward to seeing my friends and colleagues in the gorgeous fall colors that will surely be gracing of Sweden in mid-October and likely still be on display on the east coast a few weeks later.

My good friend, Anna G. Jónasdóttir, Senior Professor of Gender Studies, ÖU, and I, share a laugh. And who said feminists have no sense of humor!

 

 

San Diego Writers and Editors Guild Talk

I’ve just returned from a trip to San Diego, where I gave a talk about my book to the members and guests of the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild. About twenty-five people attended and we had a lively discussion about Hannah Arendt and my latest experiences in “indie publishing.”

The day after my presentation I received high praise from those in attendance. “Thank you, thank you for a dynamite evening…” one person wrote.

What follows is a summary of my presentation (without the book reading, which accompanied it).

***

 

While writing and publishing Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt (Thinking Women Books, 2013), I learned a great deal about the perils, pitfalls, and pleasures of being a writer and (now) publisher. The book industry has changed enormously in the last decade or so, as I’ve written about on my blog. Here’s some wisdom garnered from my latest publishing experience:

 

Not already famous? Don’t have a sensationalized (read Hollywood-like) story? It’ll be hard to convince an agent to represent your non-fiction book; even harder for fiction. If you do get an agent stay clear about your vision for your book.

 

Independent Publishing (otherwise called “self-publishing,” a nomenclature I abjure) is an available route. But IT COSTS MONEY AND TAKES TIIME TO MAKE IT LOOK PROFESSIONAL (at least $3000-4000 on average). Check out the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), who offer helpful advice on maneuvering indie authorship.

 

Professional and Cost Considerations:

 

o   INSIDE

Content is yours, but professional editing is key to make it sing! Hire a professional editor (and maybe an indexer, if that suits your genre). Search for someone in you writing genre whose work you respect, and who has considerable experience. My editor, Louise Bernikow, gave me excellent advice and doubled as a cheer-leader when my confidence ebbed.
Layout of print book not same as WORD doc. Templates are available to convert to print and digital formatting. Check out which “trim size” suits your genre best and find a layout to suit.
Joel Friedlander (TheBookDesigner.com) has templates and some excellent giveaways on his site. Sign up for his emailed newsletter.

o   OUTSIDE

You want a professional cover? Get professional help.
Blurbs for back cover: Find writers in your genre you can trust to lend their words of support.

o   DISTRIBUTION

POD publishing is not all the same quality: Amazon’s Create Space, Ingram’s Spark both offer print and digital options. Smashwords for ebooks only. If you want your book in libraries or independent bookstores many require using a distributor such as Ingram. (That’s what I did).
ISBNs: Amazon’s basic plan provides them, but limits how the book is distributed. For Ingram, you’ll have to go to Bowker and buy your ISBNs (you’ll need at least 2—one each for digital and print versions of your book)
You may make more $$ via Amazon, but the types of cover design and trim size of books the basic plan offers are limited.

o   REVIEWS

You need proofs to send to possible review sites AT LEAST 2 MONTHS IN ADVANCE OF PUB DATE for most sites, such as Shelf Awareness.
Plenty of online review sites will review for free, if you send them a book. Blogcritics.org is a very good site (and you might try writing reviews for them too!)
Paid reviews—range from inexpensive (Red City Reviews is one; they have a book contest you can enter for $40 (now closed), which includes a guaranteed professional literary review you can circulate on various web sites, such as Amazon, Goodreads, B&N, Smashwords) to VERY expensive, such as Kirkus (nearly $500)

o   MARKETING

Full time job and can be expensive with no guaranteed results.
Press Release with Good HiRes Photo—a month in advance
Ads—no telling impact, may enhance visibility, may not.
Book Clubs, Speakers’ Bureaus and Book Awareness Campaigns (Susan McBeth’s Adventures by the Book, a local gem of a resource)

o   KEEP WRITING!

 

More Buzz

A few weeks I reported on an article by Midge Raymond that I had read in Poets and Writers. The essay inspired me to get back onto a campaign to position my new book for greater visibility. Resolved to send the book, as Raymond had suggested, to book contests, online review sites, and link it with events that address the book’s content or form, or might otherwise be an occasion for some serendipitous connection, I made a list and started sending my remaining copies to folks I knew, or thought, might be interested.

The list included Red City Review, which describes itself as “a place where authors can receive a professional literary book review for their work at an affordable price.” I entered their contest easily and relatively inexpensively (deadline: Sept 15th; fee is $40 and even if your book isn’t an award winner you will still get a review you can post on several other online sites.) Submitted online and mailed them a copy of my book, although you have the option of sending an electronic copy. Finalists will be announced on October 10th, so not even too long to wait.

Since I had gone to the Jewish Book Council (JBC) event in New York in May to pitch Diving for Pearls,. I had hoped to get picked up by some Jewish Community Centers for Jewish Book Fairs, but that hasn’t happened so far. Surprisingly, not even in San Diego. I knew about JBC’s book prizes and plan to enter this national awards event (Deadline: Oct 8th for books to be received), but it is more costly ($125 per title, with an additional $50 if you enter your book in more than one category) and, I imagine, more competitive than Red City Review. Francine Prose, Thomas Beller, and Gail Sheehy are among those also in the list of JBC authors this year, although the only one among them with a book in my main category (biography/memoir) is Sheehy. That’s one reason why I intend to submit in more than one category.

For the JBC contest, you also have to send 6 copies of your book per category. Still, I think it’s worth the effort and expense to get my book into the hands of folks who might be interested in it, even if I don’t win an award.

Besides contests, I have been approaching folks I know who are writers and bloggers to see if sending them a copy of my book might prompt interest and perhaps a review. I’ve garnered support from, Leora Skolkin-Smith, a wonderful award-winning writer I originally connected to because of our mutual interest in Grace Paley. Her first novel, Edges, O Israel, O Palestine, was recently reissued in anticipation of the book’s being turned into a feature film. Here’s what Leora generously wrote on her Facebook page about her experience reading my book:

Immersed in this brilliant, warm book. What’s great is that as you read it there is a way to make a personal connection because Kathleen adds her own experiences and her struggles with Arendt to the text. So very impressed. Just ordered The Human Condition so might also become an Arendt reader again. I remember Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism from my elementary days, reading it during the Eichmann trials. Also exciting, Arendt was a proud Jewish woman at the same time she was sharply critical of the Zionism that allowed nationalism to dominant, so I guess for me, as a Jewish woman, I need her in my life again. (Also a pretty sexy woman had affairs with Heidegger and others).

Doesn’t get much better than that!

Besides Leora, another good friend, and wonderful poet and writer, Elayne Clift, offered to read and think about where else to get the book reviewed. Elayne’s new novel, Hester’s Daughters, is a “contemporary, feminist retelling of an American classic from a writer who gives us a stronger, more resilient 20th century Hester.”

Also sent books to Susan McBeth of Adventures by the Book, whom I hope to see on September 22, when I will be talking at the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild on my writing. And to Thomas Beller, whose web site, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood was one of the earliest places I published an excerpt from my new book, years ago, in a different form. Beller’s new book The Escape Artist, about J.D. Salinger is a wonderful read, taking you into stories behind Salinger’s writing, another glimpse at the ever elusive writer and why Beller’s still fascinated with him. Beller acknowledged receiving the book; we’ll see if anything comes of it.

Finally, a Rabbi friend is going to read and post about it on his web site, Religion-Outside-the-Box.

And so, we continue….Keep writing!

 

Book Buzz

thepinstripedsuit.com

A few years ago, before moving to the UK, I cancelled a few magazine subscriptions and changed them to digital only. When I returned stateside, I again ordered paper subscriptions to my regularly read publications—The New York Times, The New Yorker, Poets and Writers (P&W), and Jacobin Magazine. I would have ordered others, but I can only handle so many demands on my time at once. So while I read, The Nation, the LARB, and The Atlantic online, along with occasional others, including digital sources of news and views, such as Slate and RH Reality Check, I limit my mailed subscriptions to these three for now.

Despite the best of intentions, except for the NYT, the other two still pile up in my office until something—usually serendipity—brings them to my attention. Today, having already read the latest P&W, I picked up the previous month’s issue and opened the covers to “The Practical Writer” column, intrigued by the article’s title: “My Book is a Year Old, Now What?”

Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt isn’t yet a year old, but I have been struggling with keeping it in the public eye for some months now. Given lectures and workshops, mailed copies of review, contacted folks on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, followed suggestions from indie writing blogs for how to sustain interest. All that produced, I have to confess, limited results. (My biggest support came from the book’s first review, written by fellow writer, the UK author also named Kathleen Jones. Truly, we are two different people!! Equally important were invitations from my colleagues Jennifer Disney, Lori Marso, and Jocelyn Boryczka to lecture at Winthrop University (last year) and at Union College and Fairfield University respectively this coming fall.)

Midge Raymond, who wrote the P&W essay, is the author of a prize-winning collection of short stories—Forgetting English—as well as two books of guidance for writers. She had some interesting suggestions for creating buzz—team up with another author for joint book readings (have ideas for that one), keep submitting your book for awards (created a list of those, especially ones that don’t cost too much to enter), connect with your local community (am trying to reach out to the Bay Area about my book and have succeeded in getting a few gigs, including one last week at Polis, a community-based discussion center for adults interested in talking about Big Questions). But what really caught my eye was advice from one of Raymond’s informants, Susan McBeth.

Susan was a member of a writing group I had been a member of in San Diego, where she continues to offer author and reader services through her Adventures by the Book. “It’s about finding the right audience to connect with your book,” Susan said in an interview with Raymond. And she ought to know; she works with authors before and long after their books have been released.

Turns out I had promised to send Susan my book and asked her to help me find new ways to connect. But I’d dropped the ball on my way to the east coast earlier in the summer, where I was headed to direct an NEH seminar on Hannah Arendt for schoolteachers. Wasting no more time, I sent Susan an updated email, including notifying her that I would be speaking on September 22 about my writing career and my latest book in San Diego later this month, at the San Diego Writers and Editors’ Guild (Meets at 3851 Rosecrans Street, San Diego). I suggested we find time to brainstorm, once she’d read the book, which I will put in the mail to her tomorrow.

So, the moral of this story? Peruse those magazines you’ve stacked up; there might be good advice even in the older issues. And keep discovering new ways to continue to get the word out about your work, including creating new writing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review of Diving for Pearls

It’s been a busy month. March took me to Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina where I gave a well-received book talk and directed a writing workshop for students and faculty. Two weeks later I was in Seattle at the Western Political Science Association meeting, reconnecting with old friends, listening to paper presentations on panels, and trying to get the word out about my book. Later in May, I am scheduled to give a book pitch at the Jewish Book Council in New York, which handles book promotion for book clubs and book fairs at Jewish Community Centers and synagogues around the U.S. I’ve had support from a professional to hone my pitch, and hope the presentation will be a success, leading to presentations later in the fall of this year. (If you have a JCC or book club in your community, consider suggesting Diving for Pearls).

Marketing and promotion are a full-time job, and often with little indication of how effective any effort can be. But, today, brought welcome positive news on that front.

I’ve been following the work of various writers who are taking on the tasks involved with independent publishing, including my writer colleague, and UK namesake, Kathleen Jones, who writes a blog under the name of Kathy Ferber. I was delighted to receive word from her this morning about her writing the first review of Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt. I was especially touched by the care and thoughtfulness that went into her writing of the review.

I look forward to others’ responses to the book, formal or informal, and thank everyone for taking part on this journey.

Update

I posted yesterday about my upcoming lecture, but wanted to add the wonderful poster that my friend and colleague, Jennifer Disney, helped design for the lecture:

 

I hope to see some old and new faces at the presentation tomorrow night!

Thinking, Judgment, Writing, and Responsibility

Tomorrow I will fly to South Carolina to deliver a book talk about writing Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt. Prof. Jennifer Disney, head of the Political Science Department and director of the Women’s Studies program at Winthrop University, invited me to give this presentation as part of the celebration of the inauguration of Jamie Comstock, the new President of Winthrop University. Since the themes President Comstock has chosen to highlight in her educational mission relate to the importance of global education and civic engagement, I will be connecting to these ideas in my presentation by exploring how Hannah Arendt’s writing encourages us all to think about the world we all share in common and act responsibly by caring for this world. Later in the week, I will direct a short writing workshop for students and anyone interested about writing and responsibility.

Arendt was no stranger to controversy. When she judged harshly the failure of many to think and act when faced with the horrific events of the twentieth century, she garnered criticism from many quarters.  But, she argued, even under conditions of dictatorship we must still take personal responsibility seriously. One of the most controversial judgments she made was about the trial of Adolf Eichmann, which she published in a series of articles written as a “reporter at large” for The New Yorker, and later as the book, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. In it, she contended that it was not monsters, but “ordinary people,” neither stupid nor necessarily ideologically motivated, who committed the great atrocities of the Holocaust. Her phrase, “banality of evil,” has frequently been misunderstood. But it remains in wide circulation and quite relevant to contemporary events, as this recent article in The Hindu demonstrates.

I was invited to write a piece about Arendt for Humanities Magazine, the official publication of the National Endowment for Humanities. I chose to explore Arendt’s concepts of thinking and judgment in relation to the Eichmann controversy. You can read the essay here. The key issues she raised in her writing will be what I will take up in my Winthrop presentation.

Goodreads Giveaway!

In a few weeks, I will travel to the east coast for the first part of a book promotion tour. I will be visiting Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where my colleague, Jennifer Disney, has arranged a lecture and book signing on March 25 as part of the celebration of the inauguration of the new University President, Jayne Marie Comstock.

I’m excited to be participating in a the week’s events! Besides my Tuesday night lecture, I will also be leading a writing workshop for the campus community on Thursday, March 27, from 1100-1215.

As a focus on this event, I have created a Goodreads Book Giveaway. You can sign up for a chance to win a copy of my new book, Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt by using the link below. Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


Diving for Pearls
by Kathleen B. Jones

Giveaway ends March 15, 2014.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

Updates

The hiatus between postings has been lengthened by a return to the USA, saying goodbye to the UK, along with the demands of book launch.

In the interim, Diving for Pearls: A Thinking Journey with Hannah Arendt, has been published in print and eBook and can be ordered through your independent bookstore or online at Amazon or B&N.

Several readers have already sent me positive reviews and I hope to create a page about those responses soon.

In March, I will appear at Winthrop University in South Carolina to lecture on the book and lead a writing workshop in a feminist theory class. That same month, I will also meet with some high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area, and talk with them about their reactions to an excerpt from the book. I welcome your suggestions and invitations for other speaking opportunities.

Stay tuned for more news, including when my essay on Arendt will be scheduled to appear in Humanities Magazine, the publication of the National Endowment for the Humanities.