by Tamara Merrill

Amazon KDP Compared to Draft2Digital

For the first time, The Guided Pen 2023 Anthology will be distributed by Draft2Digital. This decision was made for several reasons. Primary among those reasons is the opportunity for wider distribution. But there are other important reasons. This move will allow all future Managing Editors to publish using one account; an account that is assigned to SDWEG. The formatting of the title, author, illustrator, cover designer, etc. will become standardized. The anthology will be published each year using the SDWEG logo as the imprint.

The board intends to move older editions of the anthology to Draft2Digital, thus putting all of our books in one basket. This is not a quick move but will take several months.

There will be no change for the purchasing public. Paperbacks and eBooks will continue to be sold on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc., but our distribution will be much wider.

As this year’s Managing Editor, I thought you might like to know more about Draft2Digital and how it compares to Amazon.

Draft2Digital and Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) are two different platforms for self-publishing eBooks, and each has its own set of features and advantages. Here are some key differences between the two:

Distribution:

Amazon KDP:

Amazon KDP primarily focuses on publishing and distributing eBooks through the Amazon Kindle Store. Amazon does have a wide distribution opportunity, but it is less complete, and many retailers and libraries will not purchase Amazon-distributed books.

Draft2Digital:

Draft2Digital offers a broader distribution network. It allows you to publish your eBooks to multiple online retailers and libraries, including Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and others.

Royalties:

Amazon KDP:

Amazon offers different royalty rates depending on the pricing and distribution options you choose. For example, you can earn either a 35% or 70% royalty on Kindle eBooks, depending on factors such as pricing and exclusivity. Royalty rates for Amazon purchases are lower per book.

Draft2Digital:

Draft2Digital offers competitive royalty rates and provides a single dashboard to manage your royalties, making it convenient for authors who publish on multiple platforms. They also provide a 60-70% royalty rate when distributing through various retailers, depending on the list price and the retailer's policies. Royalty rates for D2D purchases on Amazon are lower per book than the royalties from other “stores.”

Formatting:

Amazon KDP:

Amazon KDP offers the Kindle Create tool and guidelines to help you format your eBook for Kindle devices and apps. You can also upload your own professionally formatted eBook.

Draft2Digital:

Draft2Digital provides an easy-to-use formatting tool and offers automated conversion to multiple eBook formats (ePub, MOBI, PDF) for various retailers. This can save you time and effort in preparing your eBook for different platforms.

Marketing and Promotion:

Amazon KDP:

Amazon provides various promotional tools and opportunities, such as Kindle Countdown Deals, Kindle Free Book Promotions, and advertising options like Kindle Ads and Amazon Advertising, to help you promote your book to a wide Amazon audience. Their advertising platform is limited to Amazon promotion.

Draft2Digital:

While Draft2Digital doesn't have the same direct marketing tools as Amazon, it offers some promotional features, such as universal book links that make it easy to share your book across platforms. Additionally, you can use Draft2Digital's "Books2Read" service to create a reader-friendly landing page for your book, with links to various retailers. They have recently added multiple new, easy-to-use, marketing tools. The universal book link is easy to use in social media, newsletters, emails, etc.

Pricing and Fees:

In both cases, the author(SDWEG) sets the price for paperback and eBooks.

Amazon KDP:

Amazon KDP is free to use. There are no upfront fees, but Amazon takes a commission from your book sales.

Draft2Digital:

Draft2Digital is also free to use, and they also earn their revenue by taking a small percentage of your book sales when your books are distributed through their platform.

In Summary

Draft2Digital is a much smaller company than either Amazon or Ingram Spark. Their publishing, reporting, and formatting functions are straightforward and easy to use. Customer service support is readily available.

Both Amazon KDP and Draft2Digital have their advantages, and the choice between them depends on your publishing goals and preferences. If you want the widest distribution, Draft2Digital might be the better choice. However, if you're primarily targeting Amazon customers or prefer Amazon's promotional tools, Amazon KDP may be the right option for you. Many authors also choose to use both platforms to maximize their book's reach.

Every November, novelists, both published and hoping-to-be-published, take on the challenge of writing a novel in one month. That makes November National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo.

The goal is to complete writing at least 50,000 words in one month. And even though writing is usually a solitary activity, NaNoWriMo encourages writers to join group writing sessions, to select writing accountability buddies, and to share results along the way.

So, even if you haven't already joined NaNoWriMo, don't think it's too late. Check out the link to the organization's site and start writing now.

For more information, check the NaNoWriMo home page: https://nanowrimo.org/

SIGN UP

Young writers and educators, explore our Young Writers Program

Anne Hoiberg's latest book, Tears of War—Stories of Refugee Women, packs an education and a call to action. To further that call, she has teamed with a local theatre group to bring the message to others at the same time as another worldwide effort to promote understanding of refugee and asylee issues will take place in San Diego.

From November 3rd through the 5th, Little Amal, an 11-foot giant puppet, visits San Diego to showcase her role as a refugee successfully surviving the harrowing journey from war to peace. Vantage Theatre serves as a local partner of Little Amal’s visit. The refugee puppet was created by the British production companies, The Walk Productions and Good Chance, in collaboration with the South African Handspring Puppet Company.

To honor Little Amal, Vantage Theatre's Executive Director Dori Salois and Anne Hoiberg are presenting a unique performance highlighting the stories of six refugee and asylum-seeking women from Anne’s book, Tears of War—Stories of Refugee Women. The women will present their stories of fleeing their war-impacted country, surviving the horrific journey to refuge, adjusting to a refugee camp or a neighboring country, and resettling in San Diego.

Please join Vantage Theatre’s presentation on Saturday, November 4th, at 3 p.m., at the La Jolla Library, 7555 Draper Avenue, La Jolla. To reserve a seat, please get in touch with vantagetheatre@gmail.com or 858-461-8552. A suggested donation of $20 can be processed at http://vantagetheatre.com/wordpress/donate or with cash at the door. Proceeds will be contributed to Casa Cornelia Law Center (a pro bono law firm for asylum-seeking migrants) and to the six refugee women. After the program and during the reception. Anne will sign her book, Tears of War ($20.).

Anne Hoiberg received a grant from California Humanities to create a play, documentary films, and the book, Tears of War—Stories of Refugee Women, which Montezuma Publishing published in December 2022. Tears of War highlights the strength, courage, and resilience of thirty-seven refugee and asylee women originally from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. These refugee or asylum-seeking women from fifteen different countries responded to Anne's interview questions about the terrifying journey from war to resettlement in San Diego. The book also includes a brief history of the country from which they fled. The histories of the fifteen countries provide a backdrop for the emotional stories of these women and the impact of colonialism and civil war on their lives.

The powerful stories include many successes of refugee and asylee women overcoming the challenges and establishing new lives and careers, many devoted to assisting others. Some stories do not yet have similar happy endings. All are stories of determination and will to survive and thrive.

Horror literature has always been a source of fascination for me. It offers a unique blend of thrills, chills, and thought-provoking narratives. Among the multitude of authors who have left their mark on this genre, there are five whose work holds a special place in my heart: Stephen King, Mary Shelley, Toni Morrison, Octavia E. Butler, and Victor LaValle. In this blog post, I'd like to share my deep admiration for these authors and explore the profound impact their stories have had on my love for horror fiction.

For as long as I can remember, Stephen King has been a literary companion who's kept me up late into the night, eagerly turning the pages of his spine-tingling tales. From the moment I picked up The Shining, I was hooked. King's knack for crafting relatable characters in chilling scenarios is nothing short of genius. I've felt the terror of the Overlook Hotel, the ancient evil lurking in Derry, and the psychic abilities of Carrie White. King's stories are not just horror; they're journeys into the deepest recesses of human fear and imagination.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a timeless masterpiece that has haunted my thoughts since I first encountered it. Her exploration of the consequences of tampering with the unknown, the loneliness of the creature, and the moral dilemmas of creation are themes that continue to resonate deeply with me. Shelley's work transcends mere horror, delving into the very essence of what it means to be human and the ethical dilemmas we may one day face in our relentless pursuit of knowledge.

Toni Morrison's Beloved is a novel that defies easy classification. It's a ghost story, a historical novel, and a meditation on the profound traumas of slavery. Morrison's storytelling is as poetic as it is haunting, and her characters are etched into my memory. Beloved has a way of lingering, much like the ghostly presence at its core, forcing readers to grapple with the painful legacy of racial injustice and the haunting effects of the past on the present.

Octavia E. Butler's Fledgling introduced me to a new kind of horror—one that blends supernatural elements with thought-provoking social commentary. Her reinterpretation of the vampire mythos challenges conventional notions of power, consent, and identity. Butler's ability to make me ponder real-world issues within the context of a vampire society while maintaining an eerie atmosphere is a testament to her storytelling prowess.

Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom is a recent discovery that left an indelible mark on my reading journey. LaValle's talent for mixing cosmic horror with social critique is both brilliant and deeply unsettling. As a fan of Lovecraft's work, I was captivated by how LaValle reimagines and critiques Lovecraft's themes while delivering a haunting narrative that forces us to confront the horrors of racism and prejudice.

These five authors—Stephen King, Mary Shelley, Toni Morrison, Octavia E. Butler, and Victor LaValle—have not only fueled my love for horror literature but have also enriched my understanding of the world and its complexities. Their stories have resonated with me on a deeply personal level, leaving me in awe of their ability to craft tales that continue to haunt my thoughts. As I continue to explore the realms of horror fiction, I am grateful for the enduring influence of these literary masters, whose work has forever left its mark on my heart and soul.

For those who write shorter pieces, this opportunity may be right for you.

“I have always loved chapbooks. The first two books I published were chapbooks. What excites me is when a chapbook takes itself seriously as a literary form–up to something unique and different from other 'packaging,' other narrative or lyrical delivery devices—the novel, the short story collection, the novella, etc. It is not a 'minor' form for me. I love when a chapbook presents itself on an equal footing as those other forms. Not lesser or better but different, special. Its content is unable to be expressed in any other manner but this compact, shaped-charge of a book.” –Michael Martone, Guest Judge

OPEN: Submissions Open Through December 17

Guest Judge: Michael Martone

For the fourth year, The Masters Review is open for submissions of literary prose chapbooks! They're interested in collections of flash fiction, creative nonfiction essays, short stories, and anything in-between. They encourage you to be bold, to experiment with style and form, as long as you stay under 45 pages. One chapbook will be selected as the winner by their guest judge, Michael Martone! The winner receives a $3,000 cash prize, along with manuscript publication and 75 contributor copies. Their chapbooks are distributed internationally and are available through Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. A digital version of the chapbook will be made available to their newsletter subscribers six months to a year after the print publication.

Submissions will be accepted between September 1 and December 17, 2023. The Masters Review staff will select a shortlist of five to ten chapbooks to pass along to Michael Martone, who will pick the winner and write an introduction for the manuscript. The winning chapbook will be published in Spring 2025. Last year’s winner, Coats by Naomi Telushkin, selected by Kim Fu, will be published next spring. Masterplans by Nick Almeida, our inaugural winner, was chosen by Steve Almond, and Matt Bell selected Love at the End of the World by Lindy Biller as the winner of our second contest.

All submissions must be single-author prose manuscripts of 25 to 45 pages. They are not interested in poetry. All manuscripts must be complete: no excerpts, no chapters of a novel, no works-in-progress, or any other incomplete work. Individual pieces may be previously published, but submitted manuscripts should contain some unpublished material. If you have questions or concerns about whether your manuscript would qualify, please email them at contact@mastersreview.com.

SUBMIT NOW

ADD TO CALENDAR

"I love getting to know new work and new writers through a contest, and I love getting to see novels before they go out into the world, so judging The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest provides both of those things at once. I have waited years for a book based on an excerpt I read, and it is the best kind of waiting, and I am someone impatient in life. As a judge, I'm looking for an excerpt that will give me that kind of anticipation, a book that I will want to wait for. I want an excerpt that gives me a sense of the novel as a whole, rather than an excerpt that can stand alone/separate. I like novels that are difficult to excerpt, novels that contain elements of the whole in any part." –Matthew Salesses, Guest Judge

The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest is open through November 12, 2023. Prizes include $3,000 for first place, $300 for second place, and $200 for third place. Maximum words for submission is 6,000. The Masters Review requires a $20 fee for submissions.

LEARN MORE

SUBMIT HERE

Need a reminder to submit? Add us to your calendar to be notified on the opening day of this contest!

ADD TO CALENDAR

About the Judge:

MATTHEW SALESSES is the author of eight books, most recently The Sense of Wonder (Little, Brown, 2023), the national bestseller Craft in the Real World (a Best Book of 2021 at NPR, Esquire, Library Journal, Independent Book Review, Chicago Tribune, Electric Literature, and others), and the PEN/Faulkner Finalist and Dublin Literary Award longlisted novel Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear. He also wrote The Hundred-Year Flood; I’m Not Saying, I’m Just Saying; Different Racisms: On Stereotypes, the Individual, and Asian American Masculinity; The Last Repatriate; and Our Island of Epidemics (out of print). Forthcoming is a memoir, To Grieve Is to Carry Another Time (Little, Brown).

Matthew was adopted from Korea. In 2015 Buzzfeed named him one of 32 Essential Asian American Writers. His essays can be found in Best American Essays 2020, NPR Code Switch, The New York Times Motherlode, The Guardian, Time, VICE.com, and other venues. His short fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, American Short Fiction, PEN/Guernica, Witness, and elsewhere. He has received awards and fellowships from, among others, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, Dublin Literary Award, Bread Loaf, Glimmer Train, Mid-American Review, and [PANK] Books.

Matthew is an Assistant Professor of Writing at Columbia University. He earned a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Houston and an MFA in Fiction from Emerson College. He serves on the editorial boards of Green Mountains Review and Machete (an imprint of The Ohio State University Press), and has held editorial positions at Pleiades, The Good Men Project, Gulf Coast, and Redivider. He has read and lectured widely at conferences and universities and on TV and radio, including PBS, NPR, Al Jazeera America, various MFA programs, and the Tin House, Kundiman, and One Story writing conferences.

Introducing VAMP and So Say We All

From the So Say We All website: A highly-produced multimedia reading series, The VAMP Storytelling Showcase presents an evening of several writers performing works with audio /visual accompaniment revolving around a changing theme. All participants are chosen by blind online submission, given writing and performance workshops to further improve the material and its delivery, and the final product is curated in a featured capacity, monthly since 2009.

So Say We All is therefore another opportunity for you to write a short story, probably tightly related to your personal life experiences, and get a new experience performing your piece. So Say We All and VAMP Long Story Short performances happen each month. This post announces the November presentation and the deadline for submitting a piece to be considered.

Family, tourists, termites, "little green men," even Aunt Flo: Visitors come in many forms. We have all sorts of feelings and reactions towards them. We are them. For better or worse, sometimes they're here to stay.

Send So Say We All your true story!

* Submission deadline: October 23, 2023, 11:59pm *

Submit here 

(Showcase date is Thursday, Nov. 30th. Make sure you're available on that date!)

RSVP & Follow this event on Facebook here.

The following information is also from the So Say We All website about VAMP. (Sorry, I couldn't find an explanation for the acronym, but I've attended one of the sessions and it was GREAT.)

Writers are encouraged to submit a 5-10 minute long (4-6 page, 12 pt. font, double-spaced) story related to a show’s theme through the “submit” link on our website. We highly encourage the use of images in power-point style presentation during the writer’s final performance, but these do not need to be submitted up front.How the VAMP process works:

• Writers submit a first draft of their true stories to our submittable account, indicating which VAMP theme they are submitting for.

• A panel of blind readers are assembled from volunteers who have previously performed at VAMP. Each reader, along with the show’s producer and SSWA’s Program Director, upvotes, downvotes, or stays neutral on each piece submitted.

• Scores are tallied and top-scoring stories are identified. Final selection begins with the show’s producer and Program Director, taking into account factors that will make the show as a whole the best it can be. These can include if there are two or more stories too similar in theme, if there is a range of performers that represent the community, if there is a balance of humor and poignancy, etc. Submitters who have never performed at VAMP before are given extra attention.

• The selected cohort begins a literary boot camp that involves participating in group read and critiques to give and receive feedback, work with assigned writing coaches 1-1, and receiving performance coaching to ensure they’re comfortable with public speaking.

• Finally, the cohort members select visual images to accompany their stories, send in their final drafts, and then perform together in front of an adoring audience!

• Videos of performances are uploaded to our Youtube Channel, and selected pieces will appear on The VAMP Podcast.

• We encourage writers to seek opportunities to publish their work, and to treat the VAMP Storytelling Showcase as a powerful growth experience, but not the end of the line for the stories they workshop with us. Authors retain the rights to their work.

• Read our submission guidelines here.
• View upcoming VAMP Showcases and submission deadlines on our event calendar
• Submit here.
• Check out prior performances on our YouTube page.

THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER AND SUBMIT YOUR BOOK IS

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2023!

As the crowning event of the library’s Local Author Program, the Showcase offers published authors an opportunity to present their work to a large audience of readers, publishers, and fellow book enthusiasts. On Friday, January 26, 2024, there will be a special reception to honor participating authors and officially unveil the exhibit. The exhibit will run the entire month of February in the beautiful San Diego Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common downtown.

For more information and to register, please visit the Library’s Local Author website (https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/news-events/localauthors), and follow the instructions below:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

NOW OPEN

If you have registered online but not submitted a copy of your book, please do so asap.

For those who have yet to register, please keep reading:

1. Complete the online registration prior to submitting your book.

2. If you use a pen name, register under your pen name and NOT your real name.

3. If your book is in both print and digital formats, submit the PRINT version only.

4. All authors must submit a high-resolution photo of their book cover to complete registration. (Accepted formats: JPG or PNG. No PDFs.)

After registering, please drop off your book at the Central Library in the book-drop at the corner of J and 11th Streets or mail it inside a sealed manila envelope labeled:

Local Author Book
San Diego Public Library
330 Park Boulevard
San Diego, Ca 92101-7416

If you have any questions or comments, please first see the FAQs (https://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/news-events/localauthors#questions). If your question is not addressed, send an email to localauthor@sandiego.gov and it will be answered in the order received. (Be sure to add localauthor@sandiego.gov to your contacts so that further correspondence does not end up in your junk mail.)

The San Diego Central Library is already planning their 2024 Short Story Contest, and to give their jocund judges a bit more time to sort through your scintillating stories, we're going to open up submissions on Monday, February 5, 2024!

Save the Date! Tell your friends! And start writing!

Win $ prizes. Get your winning story performed live. Take a peek at last year. https://sandiego.librarymarket.com/event/2023-sdpl-short-story-contest-live-readings-and-awards-event

J. Dianne Dotson announces the upcoming launch of her book The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern to be held at Mysterous Galaxy Bookstore on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, at 7 p.m.

Atop a seaside bluff, an ancient lighthouse named the Amethyst Lantern sweeps its violet light across the sea and around the bayside town of Glimmerbight. The citizens do not remember a time in which the Lantern was built. But tales abound of the Inn in its shadow. Long ago, the Inn played host to a wonderous twilight era of a time long passed before the sun’s harsh rays forced humanity to adapt to Night Living. Legend tells that the shuttered Inn still houses a mystic hermit who powers the Lantern, and who may have founded the town itself.

Gentian “Gen” Lightworth and her brother Jas are two teens who live at the edge of the woods beyond which the Inn and the Amethyst Lantern still stand. After their cousin, Mira Celestus, breaks the societal age code by attending the annual Glowworm Ball via magic, something awakens in the Inn. Two giant Luna moths carry an invitation from the Inn addressed to Gen alone, portending that something stirs at the base of the Amethyst Lantern after all. Gen and her friends seek to uncover the truth of the Inn and find that something strange is happening in all the land, something that could threaten the pleasant town of Glimmerbight and force Night Living into a more sinister era of darkness, or even worse, to bake in the brilliance of a savage sun.

PRODUCT INFO

Title: The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern
Author: J. Dianne Dotson
Publisher: ‎Android Press
Release Date: October 24, 2023
Language: English
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1958121337

The book is currently available at the following sites:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Inn-at-Amethyst-Lantern/dp/1958121339/

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1144010400