Southern Writerswww.southernwritersmagazine.com $12.99 May / June 2012

Secrets of researchWriting Your

MemoirVIGGO

MORTENSEN

Unlockingthe Past

Movie marketingwith Michael Catt

ON THE

POET’S ROAD

mazing PhraseA P U B L I S H I N G

www.amazingphrasepublishing.com

FOR AUTHORS ... BY AUTHORS

We understand your writings are very special to you, and when you are ready to publish you want the publisher you choose to care too. We do!

Amazing Phrase Publishing is a boutique self-publishing company. The specialized and individualized author services we provide are what make us unique. Each author receives a personal writing coach and mentor. You get hands-on assistance throughout the entire publishing process, the marketing of your book, and beyond.

We value your hard work. Let us help you make your book a success.

Amazing Phrase Publishing understands dreams.

Writing a book is hard work. Publishing it doesn’t have to be.

Welcome to our home! Come in and sit a spell. This is one of our favorite times of the year. September is here and with it comes the end of summer. We now look forward to fall with its beautiful colors and smells. Soon to follow is October, when “ghost and goblins” will be knocking on doors for tricks or treats. By then there will be a slight chill in the air, but don’t fret; we have hot apple cider and warm pumpkin bread for all.

Southern Writers has a wonderful array of authors and articles for you in this issue. This maga-zine is committed to helping you build your name recognition, assist you in marketing and getting more of your books, and increasing your network. We want to serve you in getting ypurs out into the hands of all who like to read. They need to know they are not alone. So do published authors.

Authors need help creating a following of readers, marketing and selling their books. This new century brought a wonderful smorgasbord of fresh ways that can help authors become known, liked and read. Technology can be overwhelming but we are going to show writers (show don’t tell) how to use it to create a network of fans who will want their books. Some of these tools are web sites, blogs, e-books, and social media; however, there are more.

Our goal is to provide a stage for Southern writers to highlight their work and see what other Southern writers are doing. It is important for writers to interact and network with each other. This interaction will flow over to your readers, which in turn will create more sales for your work.

While region is a factor, we feel the geographical birthplace of the writer is only one defining factor in Southern writing. Embedded in Southern writing is a strong emphasis on family, religion, dialect, community, tradition and social life. And don’t forget our Southern hospitality.

We believe writers should never stop asking questions. The Q and A section will provide a place where writers can ask both general and specific questions. None will be too small or too big.

We will learn more about the authors; not just how they got started but about their pitfalls and joys. Why they wrote the books, what they would do differently. Get to know the authors.

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With this issue we complete our first year of publishing Southern Writers, and it seems like only yesterday we began. It has been so much fun sharing authors with you in our magazine. We have endeavored to bring you inspiring stories by writers in every genre sharing their successes. We’ve offered suggestions on how to market your books so you can sell more, with opportunities to network and build name recognition to increase your readership base. We appreciated all the wonderful emails, memos and notes from authors thanking us for the magazine and telling us how much they are enjoying it and benefiting from the articles and interviews. You’ve told us what you want in a writers magazine, and we’ve listened. Everything we do is to help authors build on their careers and give them a place to highlight their name and their books. We all know authors need their names and books to be visible in as many venues as possible. Southern Writers Magazine understands that, and creates avenues for authors. In August 2011 we introduced our Suite T Blog. Authors are invited to come and blog with the staff on helpful writing issues, and get to know other writers. We introduced our Southern Writers Bookstore in October. Every author in our magazine is showcased on our shelves, by issue and alphabetically by author. In one location, readers can find featured books, discover other books by that author, and order those. Earlier this year we introduced Southern Writers Mic Nite. This is a virtual online stage where subscribers can gain more recognition by showcasing their books, bios, events, and photos, read excerpts aloud (yes, we have audio); basically promote themselves with anything that will be of interest to agents, publishers, fans, and other writers. Mic Nite was created for our subscribers because they wanted more places to put information about themselves and their books. At Southern Writers Magazine, we realize that with the changing of the publishing industry authors have more work to do than just write. They now have to get their name in front of readers, agents and publishers…authors have to market to sell their books. Self-promotion can be a full time job, which leaves little time for writing. The more places you have your name and your book, the more opportunities open for you to sell your book. Let Southern Writers Magazine be part of your marketing strategy. Participate in Suite T, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, get your work featured in our magazine and bookstore, and be sure to join us on stage at Mic Nite. And there’s more to come! Take part in the magazine that helps authors get their names out.

Keep writing, Susan Reichert Editor-in-Chief Southern Writers Magazine

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR