Category Archives: Blatherings

A Brand New Day

Posted on June 11, 2011 | 3 comments

Buy Now!

No, I’m not talking about the best album/disc Sting ever did. I’m talking about getting up one morning and realizing that everything you did the day before is in the past. I have been trying to figure out where togo with my life for quite some time.

I have a good life. I have a wonderful husband, I am building new bonds with my family, and I have a company that is moving toward success. What else could I want? That’s just it. I feel like something is missing and I am not at all sure where to look for it.

I spend a lot of time watching people and listening to how others have acheived success. I have found a tremendous amount of inspiration from the top people in their fields: John C. Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, the late Mary Kay, and even Donald Trump. We study the stories and instructions of Robert Kiyosaki.

Buy Now!

Twenty years ago I would never have imagined that I would be living a good life as the owner of a publishing company. What I discovered today was that I want more. I want people to hate me because I am so wildly successful and have cornered the market on books. I want Echelon and our authors to be the most well-known, sought-after people in the universe. Stop laughing, I’m not kidding.

I long to see my author’s names at the top of every best seller list known to man. There books lining the shelves in bookstores, grocery stores, convenience stores, truck stops, airports…did I miss any? Why am I posting all of this on my Blog? Simple. The most important people claim that when you want something bad enough, it isn’t enough to work hard. You have to work smart, and you have to write it down. That’s right. WRITE IT DOWN.

I will find new and exciting ways to draw readers to our books, because our books are damn good and they deserve to be read. I am tired of letting bad reviews get me down. I am tired of feeling pitiful because someone said there are 6 errors in our last book. Shit happens. Get over it, people. We are not perfect and if you ever find a perfect book out there, then good for you!

Buy eBook Now!

Echelon Press has published some of the best books in the industry in the last decade. We have put authors into the mainstream who probably would not have made it without us. How? Determination. Pure and simple. We wanted it, so we did it.

I am not going to sit back and watch the rest of the world have all the fun and make all the money. I’ve got books lined up that are really freaking good and you should not take my word for it, you should buy them, read them, and then tell all your friends about them. Why? because that’s what you do. You find a good shampoo that smells good and makes your hair soft and shiny and you tell your friends. Hello, read a good book, tell everyone you know.

We don’t claim to have published the great American novel, but we do have damn good books. Want to laugh? Cry? Be shocked? Be scared? Then we have an entire catalog of books for you to try.

So, what the hell does all this have to do with a brand new day? I don’t really know, but the song was in my head and I couldn’t come up with a better title for this Blog. Obviously my ambition is running a little deeper than my creativity today.

3 Comments

Posted in Blatherings, Business

My Jet Setting Journal: Printers Row

Posted on June 9, 2011 | 4 comments

: Award winning author Sam Morton hard at work.

Okay, I don’t exactly jet set, but sometimes I do get a little heavy in the foot and speed…shh that is a secret…so it feels like I am jetting. Last weekend my absolutely incredible husband and I drove to Chicago for the Printers Row Lit Fest.

First order of business. We had a giveway for a Slick eBook Reader and the lucky winner was Laura Pond. Congratulations and thanks for your support of Echelon Press.

Some of you might rememeber that last year (2010) I had some unhappy words to say about the Chicago Tribune and their treatment of Echelon Press and my authors. If you search back you can find my blog post, but don’t bother. After I posted that Blog I was contacted by a Trib employee and she told me she would do everything she could to help me out this year.

The men of Echelon hard at play!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I was in no way asking for special treatment, only for what we had already earned in the way of seniority and placement. At any rate, this little gal obviously moved heaven and earth (and after meeting her this weekend, I can see that she would be quite capable of doing so) and the organizers of the Lit Fest took pity on us and we ended up back where we had been several years prior. It was a grand location and it afforded us the opportunity to be in the direct path of tens of thousands of eager readers of all ages.

Award winning authors J.R. Turner and Luisa Buehler

2011 proved to be the 2nd most successful event in Echelon’s ten year history. Now, I’ve been hearing authors talk who are not all that keen on book fairs/festivals, well, I am here to tell you that Chicago has one of the BEST book fairs I have ever been to. This was our ninth year attending and I fully intend to keep going back. I would like to thank Amy Guth for all her help and for being so damn beautiful (and I don’t mean that to sound creepy), if you ever see her pictures, they do not do her justice. Best of all, she is an absolute delight!

I also want to thank the authors who attended this year with Echelon. Gale Borger, Luisa Buehler, Norm Cowie, Marlis Day, Robert Goldsborough, Sean Hayden, Sam Morton, J.R. Turner, Marc Vun Kannon, Claudia Whitsitt, and Jen Wylie. Also, big thanks to our special guests, Martin Bartloff and Tami Su.

The smallest dill pickle chip I ever sawed!

Special and sincere thanks to our two helpers Shannon (Gale Borger’s daughter) and Julia (Marc Vun Kannon’s daughter). Without the two of you we would have been in a fine pickle. You are incredible young women with hearts of gold.

In closing, I just want to say again, that the people who came by our booth over the weekend were incredibly enthusiastic and eager to meet our authors. You are a tremendous group of people and we hope to see all of you next year.

Special thanks to my absolutely, incredibly, splendiferously, wonderful husband. Goodness, how I do love you!

Marc Vun Kannon and the delightful daughter Julia.

Authors Claudia Whitsitt and Mary Welk

Gale Borger and her lovely daughter Shannon.

4 Comments

Posted in Blatherings

How Good Are you?

Posted on June 8, 2011 | 9 comments

Howdy, been a while since I blogged so I thought I would pop in and open a discussion with a few questions. I’m posing these questions to authors who have books they are promoting (or supposed to be).

1. Has your website/Blog been updated within the last two weeks?

Seriously. People tend to visit their favorite websites every couple of days, or at least once a week. If you have not updated your site in more than two weeks, chances are those people will no t make a third trip back and you will be replaced with the “California Cows” website.

2. Have you finally added a SUBSCRIBE button to your website/Blog?

I don’t know about you, but my list of favorites on Internet Explorer is long and chaotic. I try to keep it organized, but that is not my strong suit. By adding a SUBSCRIBE or Follow button, you offer your readers a chance to find you with a lot more ease than having to sift through all the clever little sites (like: Army Wives) to try to find yours again.

3. Don’t you want readers to tell others about your website/Blog? Okay, so do you have a SHARE button on the upper screen of your site?

There are so many social networking sites out there now that it is just crazy for you not to encourage your readers to share the link to your website/Blog. Make it easy for them. This is all ab out exposure and I would be remiss if I did not tell you all to get out there and EXPOSE YOURSELF. I mean, not full frontal or anything, but in a big way.

The book industry is in a constant state of change and as authors and readers, we need to make every effort to keep up. Authors need to find new and creative ways to introduce their works to readers. With every book or story an author puts out, they need to be writing with one question in their mind: What makes this book stand out above the rest and how do I convey that to readers?

Readers, I beg of you, please be open-minded when you are browsing the bookshelves and online catalogs. Just because you have never heard of an author doesn’t mean they are not great at what they do. Variety is the spice of life and by opening your mind to new an exciting things, you may just come across a new favorite author, or two.

Tell you what. The first five people to post their thoughts on this Blog will get their choice of one of Echelon Press’ eBooks. You can check out our catalog by clicking on this link.