Guest speakers Tamara Spellman, Patrick Swenson, and Elliott Wolf gave members good insights into alternative publishing and tips on getting published.

April 1st Panel doesn’t fool around.

Tamara Sellman founded and edits MARGIN: Exploring Modern Magical Realism (http://www.magical-realism.com). Her short story, "The Rosaries of Raggedy Ann," was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Tamara has had her stories, poems and articles on food and gardening published all over the country.
Tamara said that online magazines are gaining new respect as print magazines now put some of their issues on line. Her magazine is being reorganized so that they can get grants and at some point begin paying their currently volunteer authors. Some tips to watch for are:
1. If you publish online, it “counts“ as being published for purposes of contests or reprints. Online can also get you more hits and recognition than most small circulation journals, with MARGIN currently getting over 50,000 visitors a year from 70 countries.
2. Although plagiarism is an issue on the Web, it is easier to check for your work being used there than in print. Just check Google and search for it if you are concerned. Once you write your work, you own it and have the copyright.
3. Views toward Web writing have changed and now the issue is more about quality regardless of the medium. Quality work will stand out anywhere.

Patrick Swenson and his wife,Honna Swenson edit and publish the quarterly semi-pro sci-fi magazine “Talebones”. The parent company, Fairwood Press, has published titles such as Ken Rand's “The 10% Solution” and James Van Pelt's “Strangers and Beggars,” one of the American Library Association's Best Books of 2003.
Patrick works with a print on demand model for his publishing company. A vendor handles the printing and distribution and this model has worked well to produce high quality and good looking books. Even if you are self-publishing, you need to have an eye-catching and quality look to get sold.

Elliott Wolf, co-founder and CEO of Peanut Butter Publishing provides a range of services to produce and distribute a book and allows the author to maintain autonomy and creative license over their work. The self-publishing company, located in Belltown, It offers authors an alternative to traditional publishing houses. Services include consultation, editing, ghostwriting, illustration, cover design, text layout, copyrighting, printing, binding and warehousing.
Elliott talked about the changes in the publishing industry. There is now very little editing or promotion by the major houses so the author’s efforts are more needed than ever to sell a book. Traditional houses treat authors poorly because it’s their money on the line so they make all the decisions. Elliott’s company helps with self-publishing by deciding on the author’s goals and budget and then helping with many services. The first goal, he says, is to set reasonable expectations, a reasonable budget, and then go from there.