New York Chapter of the National Writers Union  (UAW Local 1981)

NWU Member Offers Playwriting Classes

ON Mondays beginning Mar 15th and for four weeks through April 5th, starting at 6:30PM until 9 PM, at 292 Henry Street in NYC, phone: 212-353-1176, Laurence Holder will be conducting a playwriting workshop. Call New Federal Theatre and Woodie King for additional information.

ESSAY BY DAVID HORNBUCKLE

How My Book Got Published: A Unique Approach to the Electronic Publishing Paradigm

By M. David Hornbuckle

            In the spring of 2007, I had a problem; I’d written a 30,000-word novella. It was too long to publish as a short story and too short to publish as a novel. If I were a more established author, I could probably publish it in a collection with other stories, but nobody was going to offer me that at this point in my career. I knew there must be some outlets for such a work, so I went to the modern writer’s first resource for research, Google. I came across the website for a just-starting independent publishing house based in San Francisco called Cantarabooks. They not only accepted but wanted unsolicited submissions of novellas, as well as short story collections, and long essays—virtually any kind of original work in English from 20,000-30,000 words.

            I submitted my novella to them, and they offered me a contract to publish it as an e-book, sold exclusively on their website as a PDF file. The contract specifies that they will offer me a paperback contract once the e-book sells above a certain threshold, indicating that my readership is wide enough to justify the cost of printing. The terms are very generous; because of the e-book format, they have little overhead, and I make a 40% royalty on all sales. The publisher retains rights for two years (renewable). The terms of their standard paperback contract are basically the same.

            This is no vanity POD press.Cantarabooks chooses its authors with care and takes pride in the work it publishes. They distribute sample copies to agents, editors and reviewers. They properly edited and designed my book and procured an ISBN number. That said, their unique platform means that they can afford to take a chance on an author that more traditional presses might pass on.

            Publisher Cantara Christopher has written several essays, available on the Cantarabooks Web site, about the way she envisions the future of publishing and why she chose this particular business model. The upshot is that it’s a win/win situation for both the publisher and the author, so it seems like a viable model for other small publishers to take up in the future.

M. David Hornbuckle is the author of The Salvation of Billy Wayne Carter (Cantarabooks, 2007). His short stories have appeared in over a dozen literary journals. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he now lives in New York City and is the leader of the M. David Hornbuckle Dixieland Space Orchestra.

www.mdhornbuckle.net

www.cantarabooks.com