The New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards just announced their 2021 list of finalists.  Among the books listed are ones that were published via RMK Publications.  Those books and the catagories they are up for include:

The Flypaper Witch Murders   written by Mary Candace Mize  is a finalist in three categories:   Fiction: Crime  – Fiction Historical  and   1st Book-New Mexico

Fiction Anthology Category:   Seeing the World in 20/20   A collection of award winning stories and poetry from the SouthWest Writers Annual contest

Another RMK author, Jacqueline Murray Loring, whose book Bridge to Socorro was just released, is a finalist in the Political/Current Events category for her book Vietnam Veterans Unbroken.

Congratulations to all of you!

All of these book are currently available on Amazon.

RMK Publications announces the release of “My 40-Year Dialogue with Jesus” by Listens to Father Sky aka Ramon Sanchez.  Click here for more information.

Here is a list of things to consider before you go with either the traditional or self-publishing (Indie) route.

Traditional Publishing Pros

• Wide distribution and more exposure
• Most offer an advance, sometimes a large one
• They do the editing, formatting, cover art
• More marketing power

Traditional Publishing Cons

• Take six months to respond to a query or submission
• Take another six to eighteen months before publication if accepted
• They have power over cover art and title
• Don’t use the marketing power they wield effectively
• Pay royalties twice a year
• Don’t involve you in many of the decisions regarding your book
• Difficult to implement changes
• Lousy royalty rates, between 6% and 25%
• Very hard to break into

Self Publishing Pros

• Paid once a month
• You control price and cover
• Publication is almost instant
• Easy to implement changes
• Every decision is yours
• Great royalty rates  
• Anyone can do it

Self Publishing Cons

• No free professional editing, formatting, or cover art
• Usually Fewer sales unless author works at it
• Less than 10% of current book market
• Greater potential to publish crappy books
• All costs are upfront to the author
• Author must do their own marketing

It is always a joyful time after months of formatting, revision, cover design, and more revisions, when you can finally hit the big yellow PUBLISH button!   Assisting Verne Lucero and his wife, Christy in creating “My Blessed Street” was fun – this memoir hits home to anyone with interest in early 20th century life in New Mexico and how faith can carry you through some really tough times.   Click here for more information.

(Powerpoint Presentation available at end of article after May 2,2021)

You have talents.  You want to make money.  You have ideas…maybe so many ideas that you can’t figure out where to start.

How do you find ways of converting thoughts to cash?

Whether your aim is to write articles, stories or books, you can focus your work in such a way as to capture interest by marrying your own experiences with what various segments of the population wish to know.

Do you write romance? mysteries? science fiction?  So do a LOT of other people.  What would help you capture a portion of these markets for yourself?   There are several popular cozy mysteries with clever and interesting gimmicks, for instance:

• Susan Albert Wittig writes mysteries with herbal titles (and recipes!)
• Lillian Jackson Braun’s “The Cat Who...” is a delightful series starring a news reporter and his Siamese cat, Koko.
• The Miss Fisher Mysteries are written in Australia in the 1920’s with a wealthy flapper as the lead.  The setting adds a great deal of depth to the storyline.

Although the majority of magazines focus on a specific topic, they are always looking for new information or a new angle on that topic.   Garden magazines may have published a hundred stories on the best ways for senior citizens to raise tomatoes, but they will run another one if it is interesting and from a fresh point of view.

Did you know that if you write a lot of stories on one topic, you can combine all those stories into a book?  Rose Marie Kern has had over 1,000 articles published on various elements of aviation.  Her book, Air to Ground, is a compilation of all those articles and is very popular with flight instructors, new students, and aviation groups around the nation.

So how do you find niches that you are comfortable with writing about?  Some people focus their whole lives on one thing – others enjoy multitasking. You need to objectively look at yourself and your life to determine what are things that other people admire about you?  What things do you know so well you don’t even think about them as something others might enjoy?

Start by creating categories describing the basic elements of a person’s existence:  Career/Jobs, Avocations, Passions, Hobbies, Activities, Places you’ve been, Talents.  Include things you may have experienced that are not in the normal realm  such as: Have you every been physically attacked? Do you work with physically challenged people?  Have you experienced a natural disaster up close and personal?

Write those elements in boxes surrounding a central box, then see if you can determine how they can be used in your writing. Say you grew up in a big loving family on a Hoosier farmland then got a job that transferred you to the New Mexico desert where you were all alone working for a boss that is into something shady..,  what on your chart can you add to the tale to round out your character and her experiences?

Click here for a blank chart: experience chart

Rose’s Experience Chart

This chart is especially helpful for writing short stories and articles for magazines.  Under Hobbies – you see Dogs/Corgies.  If you have pets, I guarantee you’ve been entertained – write about it!  You may have a gift for crochet or knitting, a special story connected to the baby blankets you’ve made for family, or hospital baby wards.

There are dozens of magazines devoted to craft beers, recipes, woodworking, hunting etc….all of them are looking for a new point of view.  Books, articles, stories…people like familiar topics, but they want a fresh viewpoint.

You could just engage your talent with one kind of writing…but why restrict yourself?  You can choose to be productive on many levels in many directions  You can create multiple streams of income.

Click here for the .pdf of Rose Marie Kern’s presentation on Niche markets

Given May 19th via Zoom during a SouthWest Writers meeting.

Jeffrey Candelaria

The New Mexico Press Women have announced the winners of their 2021 Communications Contest and two books published through RMK Publications took awards!

The Flypaper Witch Murders by Mary Candace Mize came in 2nd place in the Historical Fiction category.

Seeing the World in 20/20 by SouthWest Writers took Honorable Mention in the Anthologies division.

Although not all of our talented authors choose to enter their books into the various contests, we are very proud to have contributed to the success of those who do.

Rose M. Kern’s book on Creating Microclimates for High Desert Gardening took first place in the Crafts division of the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards.   This annual event is sponsored by the New Mexico Book Coop.   (http://nmbookcoop.com).  It has 48 categories of prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction and more.

This compilation is the result of years of experimentation while producing large quantities of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the New Mexico high desert.  It discusses how weather extremes can be modified with advance planning.

The book is available on Amazon.  Click Here

The Flypaper Witch Murders by Mary Candace Mize is now available for sale in both print and ebook formats through Amazon.  Although fictionalized, the story, set in Hungary after WWII, is based on actual events which took place in a small village after the men returned from fighting in the war.

Although the crux of the tale evolves from the pain of a young woman whose gentle father was cruelly murdered by men who’d returned home from the war, the story ripples through the lives of many villagers.  It is richly endowed with love turned to ashes, personal hopes and fears and flavored with the desires, frustrations and triumphs of every day existence.

For more information you can check out Mary Candace’s website: https://www.theflypaperwitchmurders.com

Most people see the restrictions being placed on public gatherings and movement due to the coronavirus as a royal pain in the…well, you know what.  However for those of us with the need to express ourselves through the written word, the enforced inactivity has a silver lining.

If you have been frustrated because there is a story or article in your head that has been fighting to get out – well now is the time!   There are a plethora of short story and poetry contests going on for those who just want to sharpen their skills or need a “writer’s Block” diversion from a book project.  One of the best is from SouthWest Writers in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Their contest has 11 categories with separate awards for prose and poetry in each category.  First place in each category is $50 and 2nd place is $25,  and that is not all.  The authors of winning entries are given the option of having their work published in an anthology by SouthWest Writers!   www.southwestwriters.com

As for books, this is an ideal time to finish your project – especially those who want to self-publish.  Finish the fun part – the writing – and get serious about the steps you will need to take to get to publication including:

• Developmental or Content Editing
• Revision
• Critique
• Line Editing
• Adding the last minute pages
  • Info page
  • Table of Contents
  • Acknowledgements
  • Dedication
  • Author Bio
• Proof reading
• Formatting
• Book Cover Design
• Uploading to your chosen printing house
• Order a Proof copy
• Make corrections
• Re-upload
• Publish!

Remember if you need help with any of this, RMK Publications can help.

Also, for those engaged in either fiction writing or memoir writing there is an excellent book out entitled Revising Fiction by Kirt Hickman.  (Even though Memoirs are not fictional, they are written in the same styles as fictional stories rather than non-fictional reference materials.)

Any challenge in life offers options – this one actually encourages you to succeed in something dear to your heart, because now you have the time to do it!