Category Archives: Authors

These posts are written and maintained by authors that are members of the Puerto Vallarta Writers Group. Read the individual author’s posts to learn about their published works and how to purchase them.

Do Public Libraries Accept Self-Published Books?

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During a recent meeting at the Puerto Vallarta Writers’ Group, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle Chapter, one member asked if public libraries accepted self-published books.

To get the answer, I asked Maria Ruiz, facilitator and moderator of the Puerto Vallarta Writers’ Group; Neil B. Goldhar, PVWG member; and Dr. Marion Moss-Hubbard, Ph.D, the senior public information officer for the San Diego Public Library, San Diego, California. All three are self-published authors.

Maria Ruiz: SUBMITTING SELF-PUBLISHED BOOKS TO BIBLIOTECA LOS MANGOS (The Mangos Library)

Does the Puerto Vallarta Biblioteca accept self-published books?

Yes, the library does accept books.

How does an author submit a book to Biblioteca for consideration?

There is a case in the front where they keep the new books. Anyone there can accept the books.

Is it possible to add the title to the Biblioteca catalog?

You need to talk with the Biblioteca director to find out how to add the title to their catalog.

Are there other local book outlets?

A Page in the Sun, is a local book store and café, accepts books on consignment. That’s a good place because almost all of their clients are English Speaking. The Bibloteca does not have many English speaking visitors.

Neil Goldhar: HOW DID YOU SUBMIT YOUR BOOK TO BIBLOTECA LOS MANGOS?

It was easy. I asked the library manager if she was interested in adding my book to their library collection. She said ‘yes.’ That was it!

Marion Moss-Hubbard: SUBMITTING BOOKS TO MAJOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE U.S.A.

How is the world of self-publishing changing?

Self-publishing is becoming more popular and accepted as the publishing industry changes. Desktop publishing and creating eBooks is becoming easier.

Do major libraries in the U.S. accept self-published books?

Libraries in major cities generally do not take self-published books, although some, particularly smaller libraries, may take them on a case-by-case basis. Even books that are given as gifts to libraries often are not added to the collection, since space is always an issue and it costs staff time to catalog books.

If a book is added to a library collection, it is generally cataloged and available (via the internal delivery system) to all libraries throughout that library system.

Are there any exceptions?

Librarians do review and often add books to their collections that are on the New York Times Best Seller list, regardless of publisher. Having a nationally known book review or receiving a major book award can also boost the chances of acceptance.

Libraries also may have local author programs, like San Diego Public Library’s Local Author Program, that display local submitted books published each year.

How would an author create national interest in a self-published book?

One avenue is to go through a company, like The Jenkins Group [and Smash Words] (see links below), that advertise to Libraries and the Media on a person’s behalf. It is pricey though. Sometimes self-publishers spend more money than the book is worth to promote it. It is important to be strategic in marketing energy and money.

Submit your book for reviews based on your specific market. Start small with local publications and leverage those reviews to larger publications. It is a good idea to do your homework and check the policies about each publication to make sure they accept unsolicited works. You don’t want to waste time sending out a lot of books for review that will never get into the reviewer’s hands.

Social media like Facebook can be an inexpensive way to advertise, if you work it and get a large following.

How does an individual submit a book to a library for consideration?

Almost all libraries have a way to submit requests for books to be included in the collection. Check their websites for submission policies or contact the library to ask about the policy.

CONCLUSION

There are several levels of self-publishing. However, in general, if the author pays for the publication, it’s self-published.

If your goal is to have your self-published book on the library shelf, the first step is to contact the library and ask.

If the library does not have a policy for including books by self-published authors, consider working with the library to develop a policy.

Bottom line: Regardless the library policy, continue writing!

USEFUL LINKS

Writers’ Digest Magazine, “7 Reasons to Self-Publish Your Book”

Writers’ Digest Magazine, “5 Tips on Writing First Drafts”

Writers’ Digest Magazine, “The 7 Deadly Sins of Self-Editing”

Biblioteca Los Mangos, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA, USA

A Page In The Sun, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Writers Group Puerto Vallarta

The Jenkins Group

Smash Words

New York Times Best Seller List

National Book Awards

San Diego Downtown News, “A New Library For a New Age”

San Diego New Central Library Construction Webcam

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Lynn Bradshaw, Sailor and Writer
She and her husband are retired and live year-around on their sailboat, LA VITA
Currently in Marina Riviera Nayarit, La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico
(Twenty miles north of Puerto Vallarta, MX)

BLOG: la-vita.us/blog/
EMAIL: sv.lavita@gmail.com
MEMBER: Puerto Vallarta Writers’ Group (PVWG)

Carol Eames

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Author Profile:

Carol attended The Ontario College of Art, and later graduated from The York University. She has a B.A. in Psychology and B.ED. She also has a Visual Arts Specialist Certificate from York. Carol taught elementary school in Toronto and surrounding areas for many years and retired in 2008 to Prince Edward County in Ontario.
Carol started writing several years ago, first poetry then short stories. She has had her non- fiction short stories published in horse magazines such as Equus and sailing magazines such as GAM, and Latitudes & Attitudes. In 2008, she published a fiction novel, Pelican`s Paradise and in 2010 a children`s Alphabet book for pre-school aged children. Her newest short story is about her husband, Garry, and his trip across the North Atlantic. It has recently been accepted for publication.

Carol enjoys sailing, gardening and painting. She is the mother of four children and has six grandchildren

When not enjoying beautiful PV, she is sailing with   Garry, on their old C&C on Lake Ontario during the summer months.

WordPress Help for our Authors – Admin Access and Your Profile

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If you haven’t applied for being an ‘Author’ on our website, you first must be a PVWG Member … learn how to be a Member here, and then from your Member Admin screen, apply to be an Author User on WordPress … learn how to use the Member Admin here.

Once you have applied to be an ‘Author’ you will receive an email with your Username and Password that you will use to access the WordPress Admin area at http://www.pvwg.com/wp-admin.php.

The Admin screen looks like the following.

I will use my ‘Author’ account to demonstrate the following pages. Enter YOUR Username and Password into the fields like this…

Before you click on the ‘Log In’ button, I recommend you click in the box beside ‘Remember Me’ so that when you want to log in again in the future, your Username and Password will already be in the boxes, and all you will do is click on the ‘Log In’ button… this little tip will save you a lot of time and frustration when you can’t remember your Password.

If you do forget your Password, you can click on the link … ‘Lost Your Password?’ … below the main white box and your current Username and Password will be emailed to your email address that you have registered as an ‘Author’ with WordPress.

The first screen you will see after logging in is called the ‘Dashboard’ and looks like this…

This is the Dashboard that is used by ‘Author’ users… it is a simplified version of the regular WordPress Dashboard. You will have access to your Posts only, not those of other Authors.

On the left border of the screen you will see the links to the pages that you will use. We will be going through each of these areas in this and some up-coming posts.

For today, I am going to begin with the ‘Profile’ link and its page. This is an important first task to complete.
Click on the ‘Profile’ link.

On the images below I am showing you how my Profile is completed. If you complete yours the same way you will save some time in figuring out what everything is for. Of course you need to use YOUR information, not mine.

In the ‘About Yourself’ section, the ‘Biographical Information’ appears below each blog post that you publish, so viewers will see this automatically. You can change this information at any time by returning to your Profile and updating it.

The ‘New Password’ is only used if you want to change your Password, otherwise leave this section blank.

In the ‘Avatar’ section, you can upload an image of yourself that will appear with your posts. and comments.
Click on the ‘Choose file’ button, and select the image on your computer that you wish to use, and ‘Open’ it.

IMPORTANT!
When you are finished making any changes on the Profile page, click on the blue ‘Update Profile’ button at the bottom of the Profile page.

If you make a mistake, simply return to this Profile page and correct the error, and then click on the blue ‘Update Profile’ button again.

Exploring the Member Admin area

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To access YOUR Member Admin area, the link appears in the top right corner of your Member Info Profile… ‘Update info’
For a complete description of how to view your Member Info Profile, review my last post… Using the Members page

When you click on the ‘Update info’ link, the next page allows you to enter your email address and your password to access YOUR page on the Member Admin area..
Your email address is the same address as the one where you receive our weekly newsletters.
Your password is the password that you entered when registering as a Member of PVWG… unless you have changed it.
If you forget your password, click on the ‘Retrieve Your Password’ button below the form on the page. An email will be automatically sent to your email address with your current correct password.
Please note that your password is case sensitive.
After entering your email address and password, click on the ‘Submit’ button to enter your Member Admin area.

For our demo, I am using my ‘Jim Faelker’ Member Admin. I have already entered my email address and password to access this next screen.
When you access your Member Admin, your name will appear at the top of the page.

The Dashboard of your Admin area presently includes three general areas … one below the other.
I will begin at the top of the Dashboard for our tour.

In the first row on the LEFT side, you have the opportunity to edit/update the information that appears on your Member Profile in the Search results on the Member page … simply click on the ‘Edit Profile’ link and the resulting page will display a form with your existing information appearing. You then can change, or add to, or delete any of this information. Remember to click on the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
If you change your email or your password, you will need to log in to your Admin area again with the new email or password.

You can also add an image of yourself that will appear on your Member Profile … click on ‘Add Image’.
The instructions for choosing and uploading your image are detailed at the top of the ‘Add Image’ page.

One special note here: if you are using Internet Explorer as your browser, the upload of your image will NOT work. You will need to use another browser such as Google Chrome or Firefox or any other browser.

In the first row of your Member dashboard and on the RIGHT side, you can click on the link … ‘Author on PVWG Blog’ … to request an ‘Author’ User account on our WordPress website blog. Simply complete the form that appears on the linked page and click on ‘Submit’. An email request will be sent to PVWG with your information, and once your new User account is set up, you will receive another email with the information you need to access the WordPress Admin area to begin publishing your own articles on the PVWG website.

On down the Dashboard page to the second row … this row deals with your use of our PVWG Store.

To add a NEW book, product, or service, click on the ‘Add Product’ link. On the new page, you complete the form that appears and click on ‘Submit’.

When adding the ‘Link’ to another page or another website, please be sure the link is correct. The link you provide is used on the Product Listing that appears in the Store to direct the viewer … your buyer … to the page where he will purchase your product.

After you click on ‘Submit’ you will see a new link to ‘Add an Image’ for your product … e.g. your book cover.  Adding this image is a similar process to adding an image to your Member Profile.

On the RIGHT side of the second row, you can click on the link … ‘View My Products’. This link opens a page displaying a list of all the products you have added to the PVWG Store. To the right of the product Name appear links to pages that allow you to:

  • Edit your Product Info
  • Add / Update the Image associated with your Product
  • Delete your Product

All of these processes are quite straight forward so are not described further here.

On down the Dashboard page to the third and final row …

On the LEFT side of the bottom row, you can click on the link … ‘View Member List’. The next page displays a list of all the present Members of PVWG displayed in alphabetical order by First name. At the top of the page is a ‘Sort Selector’ where you can select the sort order by either First name or Last name. After making your selection, click on the ‘Change Sort’ button. The page will reload with the list in the Sort Order you selected.

The actual list that appears on the page is updated automatically when new members register, or when existing members ‘retire’.

And finally on the RIGHT side of the bottom row is a link to ‘Useful Links’. This ‘Useful Links’ page will continue to grow as new links to websites are added in the future. You will also find links to videos that describe

  • how to use the WordPress Admin pages to add / edit articles that you post on the PVWG website as an Author User,
  • how to add images to your posts, or even audio or video files.
  • Lots more to come on this page…

I hope you find this info useful.
Please leave your comments below in the Comment box.

Jim Faelker

 

Using the Member’s page

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Click on the Member page link in the top menu of PVWG.com

To Search for a Member, use the Search tool on the left of the Member page.
Enter the First Name initial and Last Name initial in the search box.
I am going to search for my name … Jim Faelker.
So I enter a ‘j’ in the First Name initial box, and a ‘f’ in the Last Name initial box. You can enter ‘j’ or ‘J’, and ‘f’ or ‘F’.
And then click on ‘Submit’.

As an alternative, or in addition, you can enter the full First Name in the First Name box and/or the full Last Name in the Last Name box.

The search results appear below the Selection box area after you click on ‘Submit’.
Using only the ‘Initials’ search, as I write this, the following search results appear.

Using only the ‘Full Name’ search, the following search result appears.

For me, it is easier to type in two initials than to type in a full name and risk spelling either the first or last name incorrectly. I personally always use the ‘Initials’ search even though I then will have a short list of names to choose from.
Of course as our member list grows larger, that short list will grow longer too. At the time of this writing, our member list totals only about 300 people.

After clicking on the name of the member in the search results list, a new screen of contact information that the member has chosen to provide, appears to the right of the list of names.
I am continuing on with this demo by using my own name as the sample.
In the upper right corner, beside the red arrow is a special link to the Members Admin area where each member can change or update their Member Profile information, as well as other Member functions. I will demonstrate the Member Admin in a separate blog post tomorrow.

 You will see below all the contact info is a form to send an email to me. This form does not disclose my email address to the viewer/sender. Of course, if I choose to reply to this email, the sender will then know my email address. When a viewer sends an email using this form, a copy of his email is also emailed back to his own email address for his records.

So how does a Member control the information that appears on his Member Info Profile?
When a new member first registers, the registration form includes some required information, and another group of information fields that are optional depending on what information is applicable or that the member feels he wants to include.
Let’s now see how a new member would register.
Back at the top of the Member page on the right side is a link that when clicked opens the registration form in the space below the link.

Here then is the registration form that appears.
Below the first red arrow are the four required information fields
Below the second red arrow is a long list of possible info items that the member can provide information for… none of these are required, but may be useful if the member wishes to be contacted, or to have the viewer know more about him.

At the bottom of the form are three special areas.
The first red arrow points to the box that prevents the ‘robots’ from registering … we only want real live people as members.
The second red arrow points to the box that must be clicked to confirm that the new member has read and agrees to our Terms of Use.
The third red arrow is the link to ‘Submit’ the registration form info for processing.

My next post tomorrow will cover the Members Admin area.

Jim Faelker

Links- Doug Danielson

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Douglas Allen Danielson—husband, father, automotive machinist, draftsman, architect, USCG licensed captain, marine surveyor, adventurer, freelance writer—a man with careers of varying success in each of these endeavors. He has been writing articles for West Coast magazines since 1997. He is presently writing mystery/adventure novels about a young San Diego yacht-delivery captain who can’t seem to stay away from trouble and beautiful women. Doug is a long-time member of the Puerto Vallarta Writers Group, helped start the Writers Conference in 2006, and was moderator at the group’s weekly meetings for several years. Doug and his wife Karen currently reside in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.

Links – Jim Faelker

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Jim Faelker

Jim Faelker

Hi.. I’m Jim Faelker

Thanks for visiting my posts on the PVWG.com website

To Contact me, click on Members and search for ‘Last name’ … Faelker

I am available to help you with your Internet marketing… website domain registration and website hosting, setting up your WordPress website, social media marketing, linking strategies, mobile websites, and more. Contact me for more information. 

Below you will find links to my posts and other important links that I have:

Posts:

WordPress Help – Admin Access and your Profile
Exploring the Member Admin area
Using the Member’s page
PVWG meeting on Jan. 14, 2012

My Website:

JimFaelker.com

Maria Ruiz

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Maria Ruiz is a published author of short stories. Her stories have appeared in Kings River Life Magazine and Green Prints. Her book, I’ll Be in the Fourth Grade Forever is available at Amazon Kindle http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=i%27ll+be+in+the+fourth+grade+forever&sprefix=I%27ll+be+in+the%2Cdigi

She is currently working on a book of short stories. Her short stores, under the Series “PUFFS of Smoke” are available at Amazon Kindle Store. These include Vivian, Russ, Bobby Joe and others.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Puffs+of+Smoke&x=0&y=0