Omega Publications Part Two

Again this week Gayle Farmer from Omega Publications is my guest blogger.  Here she talks about some of the different types of books Omega has published. Omega has a very diverse background of offerings. 

I hope you've enjoy reading the Q&A format we've presented this in.

M: Tell me about the poetry book you’re working on.

G: Tapestry. I’m very excited about the prospect, really. You don’t see too many books of poetry, so it’s kind of unique. I’ve collected a wonderful group of poets whose work runs the gamut from funny to romantic. It’s uplifting, heartwarming, all the poets are very talented, and we’ve decided to put everything together and create a kind of heirloom piece. Books are wonderful keepsakes and they make the ideal gift for family members.

M: I bet it’s different from working with one author on one story.

G: Well, of course, everyone has an opinion on some level, but with this particular group, as well as the short story writers from Mosaic, they’re professionals who left their egos at the door. What they want is the best possible book they can get and they know we’re determined to give it to them.

Now, when you have a debut book from a debut author, it’s very different.

M: Mama’s and their babies!

G: And then some. The fic editing usually goes pretty quick and they have no ideas about setup for the interior pages, like the non-fics often do, with their photos and graphs and such. It’s usually fine until we get to the cover. Then they can start to unravel.

Whenever possible, I like to speak with my authors, so we usually have at least one phone conversation. I want their idea for a cover. I’m very chatty, so if I have to, I’ll start asking questions and throwing ideas at them, making them give me an answer until finally we begin to hear what they want, what they see. Because it’s much better that we all ‘see’ it early on than to have put hours into a cover only to hear them start to voice concerns then.

Do you love black and white? Does a lot of color suit your theme, do you see a particular image? Finally they get comfortable enough with me that they relax. Next thing you know, they’re telling me exactly what they see. Still a perilous journey ahead, but at least everyone’s heading in the same direction, lol.

Then, just when you think it’s ready to go, done to perfection, they want to add something, or worse, take something out. Every time the pages change, as you know, the spine width changes and there goes the cover! Jeff refers to himself as a ‘natural bald’ and he means it. It can be frustrating but it’s very fulfilling.

M: I know just what you mean! How about non-fiction? Is there a difference there?

G: Oh yes. Well, depending on the subject it can be a lot of fun. We’re in the process of publishing a book by Elizabeth Joyce, a well-known and highly regarded psychic who has worked with various police entities in solving crimes. This particular book, Ascension, deals with New Age philosophy regarding the year 2012. Seems that in December of that year, all the planets are going to line up and usher in some very big changes in this world. Her books had all kinds of graphs and charts and it was a wonderful experience for Jeff, as was the cookbook.

That was interesting, but depending on the subject, it can get pretty dramatic. We published a non-fiction book by Sasha Petrova called A Leaf on the Wind, the true story of a woman who’d been raped and abused by her father from the age of four into her teens. Now, that was hard.

M: I can imagine, especially if it was at all graphic.

G: Well, it was, y’know? Not at all salacious, just clinical, factual, which made it worse, somehow. When it’s fiction, then it’s just that. You just go with the words. When you’re reading things that make you want to scream or cringe and you know it’s someone’s life story, oh dear, it can be very intense.

And by the way, if any of the readers have a specific question, I’ll do the best I can to answer it. It’s always fun getting together, Margaret. Thanks so much.

I want to thank Gayle for taking the time to join me again on my blog. I think she’s given some great insight into the world of self-publishing.

If you have any questions for Gayle you can post them here in the comments field.

If you want to know more about Omega Publications, there is a link on the right that will take you to their website.

Until next time

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mc

Omega Publications

This week’s blog is going to be a bit different. I’ve asked my friend Gayle Farmer to talk about her company, Omega Publications, and the kind of books they publish and what they can bring to an author interested in self-publishing. So, with Gayle we will explore the world of Omega Publications and self-publishing over the next few weeks. If you have any questions for Gayle, just post it in the comments area and Gayle can respond in the next blog.

We decided to set the blog up in a question and answer format. 

M: Hi Gayle welcome to my humble little blog.

G: Hey Margaret, I really appreciate you giving me this opportunity.

M: Knowing that I have some writers in the audience, most of whom want to be published, I thought it would be a good match. So what have you been up to? I hear you’ve been pretty busy.

G: I guess! We took on two ‘firsts’ for us, an illustrated cookbook with photos and a non-fiction book with a variety of graphs and boxes. Prior to this, our experience dealt with novels and text-only kind of things.

Jeff survived, and claims he is the better man for it, but there were times in that learning curve when it got pretty hairy. Imagine trying to put a dark, poor quality, B&W Polaroid photo circa 1960, into a book in 2010. But Jeff did! Perseverance and the grace of God, I say, but wait until you see it. We’re feeling like new parents with a beautiful baby.


M: I love cookbooks. What’s the title?

G: Tastes and Tales of Sicilian Cookery, A Back to Queens Cookbook. I can’t tell you how much fun it was. Our wonderful Author/Chef, Thomas Ciapi, found our site on the web and called me on the phone. We spoke for a while, he explained what he wanted, asking me if I could ‘make it pretty.’ “I want the reader to feel it, smell it, but not just the cooking and the recipes,” he said. “The cookbook is more than that, it is the story of my Nonni, my Grandpa Renda and what he means to me and my family. Can you do that for me?”

Thrilled to my toes, I told him yes and I think we have. Jeff did the cover, warm and inviting, yet ultra simplistic, with Chef’s photo on front. I am familiar with both the neighborhoods and the times and I found a lot of nostalgic tears flowing in this one as I grew up outside Manhattan.

M: I get the feeling this is much more than a job for you, isn’t it, Gayle?

G: Oh yes. Just publishing the books I wrote kept Jeff and me pretty busy for the first several years. We published my first two books in 2004, but at the time, we didn’t feel qualified to take on other books, even through we’d been approached. We were still finding questions we had no answers for! God bless the net. If you can figure out how to phrase it, there’s an answer out there. It’s just, who has time for that kind of research? One by one we were able to overcome the obstacles, and of course, as my books began to sell, people sought us out.

M: So basically, you do it all then, from beginning to end? I’ve seen several of your books on the Amazon site and I have to admit I can’t see a bit of difference between your books and something put out by Penguin or Random House. I have a feeling that’s no accident. I’m holding a copy of Mosaic, leafing through it, and it’s beautiful. Love the front cover, but the back cover is really clever, too.

G: The clock! Lol, that was Jeff’s idea and it came out great. He wants to incorporate a clock and autographs on the back of the new anthology of poems we’re doing. You just might be familiar with that!

M: Yup! I haven’t said much about it here, so go ahead and explain.

G: It’s called TAPESTRY, Poetic Threads of Life. It’s still in the production phase and is kind of a, well … pairing is too strong a word, but, maybe a flip side of Mosaic, which contains short stories. I’m so proud of that one. I think the cover is super and wish there were places like Writer’s Digest where they judge covers like they do novels. I really think it’s a winner. It was the first Fanstory anthology book and I have to say there’s some really good stuff in there, from funny to scary to outrageous and everything in between.

Speaking of covers, I certainly can’t pass over the newest cover on the OP horizon, done by Margaret Clark! That is so exciting, such a plus for OP to have you there in the wings. Gives me a sigh of relief, and I love your ideas for the Paris Metro cover.

M: Thanks Gayle, I appreciate the opportunity. You gave me a clear vision of what the book was about and the author’s ideas, and such. I like what we have so far! 

G: Me too. You captured the whole idea perfectly. But there’s so much to it, isn’t there? Now we have to knock gently on the author’s muse and hope for concurrence! This can be a very emotional time for the author.

M: Well, I have a lot questions I’d like to ask you about Omega. I understand that Omega doesn’t accept every ms offered, which is very different from most POD’s. Tell us about that.

G: We won’t publish junque, regardless how you spell it! Mostly we turn away the far-out stuff. OP will not publish material that will incite violence or hatred based on race, sexual orientation, religion or ethnicity. Added to that, we do not publish porn or anything that glorifies sexual violence. It’s on a case-by-case basis, of course, unless you’re talking Klingon. We especially like Klingons.

M: I have to chuckle at that. Give me an example.

G: Okay, we had a guy who was a Native American and wanted his book published. He had the money and was ready to go. I requested he email me the ms in an attachment. Shortly thereafter, the ms arrived. It was incomprehensible, even with what he considered translations. We’re just not equipped to do that.

Not long after that I got an ms from a guy, also money in hand, who’s rewritten the Bible, New and Old Testaments, mind you, and wants to publish. He warned me that there will be NO EDITING. Solid caps, bold, yet. Well, I passed on that one, too. There have been others, actually, but you get the picture.


M: So how does your submission process start?

G: We deal with electronic ms only. We ask for a short synopsis, the first chapter, total word count, genre and target audience.

I check every ms we receive. If it looks like something we want, I read random passages for continuity, spag, style issues and if it’s something we want, I get back to the author. I have three other editors available to me and depending on what the ms needs, I’ll send the book to the proper editor. Then we talk with the author about the costs, any special editing needs and the price of the package they choose. My edit covers spag… spelling, punctuation and grammar issues as well as POV loss and is included in the price of all the packages. If the ms needs editing beyond what I am able to provide, there is an extra charge.

We spend time on the phone with the author if they’re unsure what to do, but most of our contact is email. We stress how important it is that the ms be as clean and ‘publishable’ as they can make it before we get it, since most authors don’t have the extra money required for an in-depth or line edit, especially if they can do a good bit of it themselves.

M: How is Omega Publications different from other POD’s?

G: Well, first off, we follow industry standards regarding fonts, type/format style, setup, drop caps, offering every feature you see from a traditional publisher. All our covers are original, not made from some standard template. It’s of paramount importance at OP that we meet or exceed industry standards. I’m hoping some day that there will be another level of publisher, who accepts paying clients based upon merit and high standards without the stigma…which is fading fast, by the way, of the old vanity press. POD’s have to have standards, we have to provide the same values of quality, good craftsmanship and expertise the trad houses do if we expect to compete in the marketplace.

Also, we allow the author to pay half his package price when we commence editing and the final payment made just before it goes to print. That gives the author a little time to get the money up, although our prices are low and very competitive. We also allow the author to determine the selling price of her book. Once we hear from Lightning Source what a book will cost to produce, the author pretty much takes over. We highly recommend that ‘your’ book be priced the same as others in your similar genre and size, so if Stephen King is getting $8.99 for his latest endeavor, it just doesn’t make sense for an unknown writer to price his debut novel at $23.95.

M: How about marketing the novel once it’s in print? What do you do?

G: Every book we do has the ‘check inside’ feature on Amazon. We also include an author’s page on our website where the author can link to other sites, sell things, talk about themselves. We belong to Smashwords and a variety of similar sites that promote our works, like Google. The ebook market is huge and we want to ride that wave.

But as all best selling authors will tell you, they’re expected to do the marketing. You have to be crafty; talk with your town librarian, see if they have a ‘local authors’ area where your book might belong, and donate one or two, same with bookstores, especially the smaller local ones. We give a fair return rate, so they are inclined to provide the space as a service to local talent, especially in resort towns. If you’re big on seminars, they encourage you to bring books to display and sell. Any kind of community thing, fairs, swap meets, events like that are a good place to market your book. Check with your local high schools and colleges, see what they might be planning. Also, for those of you who can do public speaking, see if you can’t give a little talk at mid-grade and higher, especially if you write for YA. To kids, anyone who has published a book is pretty cool, at least in my experience.

M: From the things I’ve heard today and the horror stories you read about authors and their POD experience, Omega sounds very different.

G: It’s like night and day. Everyone who knows me knows that I’m all about being the best I can be and that translates directly to my work. After seeing some of the junk other POD’s put out, I wish there was another word for Omega Publications; I like Indy Press.

M: Well, I think we’ve covered quite a bit here. Thanks Gayle for the information on Omega Publications and the great advice on self-publishing. We look forward to next week’s blog.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments just post them in the comments field.

Until next week

ttfn

mc

Life is busy, busy, busy!

Lots going on these days.

Next week I will be welcoming a guest blogger to my blog. My friend Gayle Farmer and her husband Jeff are owners of Omega Publications. Gayle will be sharing information about some aspect of self-publishing. I’ll be nattering on about graphic design—a little thing that I have 33 years of experience doing. I hope you’ll check out my blog next week and see what interesting things Gayle has to share.

A humbling offer

Gayle has also asked me to design the cover for a book that her and Jeff will be publishing soon. I am humbled that she has asked me to do this. I love what I do, both with my writing and with graphic design, and hope that Gayle and Jeff will like what they see. Next week I’ll share some thoughts I have about the future of graphic design and book covers as books move to electronic publishing.

Contest

Some might recall my blog from a month ago when I talked about my interview with Linda Fildew at the RWA conference in Orlando. I was a bit disappointed that they were pushing their interviewees to a contest they are starting on their website. Well, I still feel a little disappointment, but I haven’t let that stop me. I went and registered for the contest. I am in the process of writing a summary of the book and doing a quick read through of the first chapter of my book “Is This Love?”. Then I will be entering the contest. I think sometime this weekend I will push the submit button. If you want to check it out, or even enter the contest, go to www.romanceisnotdead.com and check out the contest and my entry, under the name Margaret Clark.

New book

As if I need more to do, I’ve started working on a new book. It’s a contemporary romance/suspense novel. It’s been rattling around in my head and I just need to get it out. So far it’s coming along pretty well. I needed to start a new project. I’ve been living with the old ones too long. They don’t seem to be going anywhere at the moment, so I thought maybe something new would get me going again.

Poetry

I am also working on some poetry that will be published in an anthology. Poetry is a challenge for me. Most of the stuff I'm really proud of have been poems I've written as an emotional reaction to something. When I try to write one because I have to, it never seems to come out like I'd like it to. But I have about 10 poems ready for the anthology and I'm hoping for 12. The publisher, my friend Gayle, has been gracious enough to give me an extension to get my poems completed. 

Controversy

I had thought to talk a little bit about a particular topic that's been in the news this week. But I think that the news media has done a pretty good job of escalating that story to a higher level of importance than it deserves. Let me just say this, what we need right now is tolerance and to ask ourselves, what would Jesus do? Because the person behind the news story, who claims to be a Christian, seriously needs to ask that question himself.

Until next week

ttfn

mc

What have you read this summer?

A favorite question this time of year is—what book are you taking to the beach with you? When I was a kid it wasn’t a question of book, it was a question of books. I couldn’t get enough reading in during the summer months. There was a library branch only six blocks from our house and I would walk there at least once a week to pick out books.

Neighbors as lending libraries

Half way down the block from our house lived a retired schoolteacher and her widowed sister who had worked as a telephone operator with my grandmother. Their names were Grace and Bell. Grace was the retired schoolteacher. I always thought there was a bit of irony in the fact the Bell had worked for Bell Telephone as an operator. I digress. During the summer, when my friends were either gone on vacation or otherwise occupied, I’d stop in for a visit at Grace and Bell’s. Grace had a collection of children’s books for the neighborhood children to enjoy. I’ll never forget when a copy of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory appeared on her bookshelf. I immediately wanted to read it. There was one catch to reading one of the Grace’s books, you had to read it out loud to her and Bell. This was never a chore for me, these two women where my adopted grandmothers and I loved them. So sitting and reading a chapter each time I visited, which was usually rewarded with a dish of ice cream, was a double joy for me—reading and spending time with these two smart and endearing women.

While I was in elementary school my favorite authors were E.B. White, Beverly Cleary, P. L. Travers and Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew Mysteries), to name but a few. Oh and I have to mention the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren. I wanted to be Pippi and live in her incredible house.

When I moved from elementary to junior high and high school my taste in books shifted a little, although I was still reading E.B. White (The Once and Future King—absolutely love this book. It lead to my writing my English essay on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) and another neighbor’s house became my favorite lending library. My life-long BFF, Debbie, and her family lived two doors down from mine. Her mother, Peggy, was another incredibly intelligent and important woman in my life. She was a second mother to me. When she died of cancer in 1987 it was the closest I’d come, at that point, to feeling like I’d lost a parent. Peggy LOVED to read and she read everything. Harlequin romances were her guilty pleasure—she had boxes of them. She also loved Leon Uris, she raved about what an important book Exodus was. I don’t believe there wasn’t a book genre or author she hesitated to take on. But romances where her first love and beyond the Harlequin books, she adored Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt. And so those three authors became my favorites and I would wait for each new book to be published, knowing that Peggy would buy it and once she was finished with it, I would be given the book to read.

Parental influence

My dad was also a big influence on my reading choices. Both of my parents were avid readers, my mom loved Stewart, Holt and Whitney and we shared books all the time. But it was my dad who got me reading Arthur Conan Doyle. One year for Christmas my mom suggested my brother and I buy my dad a compilation of Sherlock Holmes stories for my dad. We bought him this thick tome that contained all of the complete Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories. My dad loved it. He loved to re-read his favorites and would write on inside front cover of the book the dates he had read it. The volume of Sherlock Holmes stories had a long list of dates. It was such a beloved book that over time the binding began to crumble.

Favorite high school teacher

During high school I had the joy of enrolling in my first literature class taught by Miss Carlson. I can’t recall her first name now, but I adored this woman. She had what I thought had to be the best job in the world. She got paid to read books and then to teach about them. She introduced me to Poe, Dickens and Bradbury—now how’s that for a diverse lot? I couldn’t get enough of these authors. To this day Bradbury will force me to think like no other author. And the chills I got from Poe, especially when Miss Carlson played a recording of Vincent Price reading The Cask of Amontillado, were thrilling beyond words.

As you can see, reading has been a life-long love affair for me. The romance genre has become my favorite, but I also love mysteries, literary fiction and even some sci-fi and fantasy. It is my love of reading that has lead to my dream of being an author. I’ve always had stories rattling around in my head. I’d hear a news story and I would soon have made up a whole mystery around what could have possibly happened. Or I’d see someone in an airport or shopping mall and something in their behavior would soon me making some intriguing story about them. I always thought everyone made up stories like that. But talking to my sister one day I discovered that wasn’t the case. She didn’t think like that. I also learned that most writers are constantly writing in their heads, thinking up story lines and asking themselves “What if?” I’ve been doing this all my life and so now I not only enjoy reading, I enjoy writing too.

So, what have I been reading this summer? Linda Howard, Sherry Thomas and a recent discovery and now a favorite romance author, Georgette Heyer. She wrote Regency romances and began her writing career in 1921. She also wrote mysteries, but I haven’t read any of those, yet. If you haven’t read any Heyer you must, especially if you love Jane Austen. Two Heyer favorites are Bath Tangle and the Reluctant Widow—very fun romps.

And this leads me back to my original question—what have you read this summer?

mc