I'm traveling to the heart of Mexico soon...

And, I'm excited!

There are literally hundreds of reasons to go! Like, for example, the bounty of writers, poets, playwrights, comedians, documentarians, journalists, editors, publishers, agents and artists who will meet, mingle and collaborate at the 7th Annual San Miguel de Allende Writers Conference, beginning February 16th.

Nevertheless, like all seasoned procrastinators, I put off booking the trip...until last week, that is, when I landed on Laurie Gough's travel essay, "Think in Colors." I was immediately seduced by the scents, flavors, textures and, yes, colors that triggered my own memories of sun-drenched days and music-filled evenings far away from the daily grind.

Imagine my ability to overcome my serial stalling after Gough's captivating intro:

"To describe the magically eclectic high desert town of San Miguel de Allende, think in colors. As the morning sun peeks over the Sierra madre, the 470-year-old town begins to glow: the towering spires of La Parroquia church in the center of the town blaze fairytale pink; houses along the winding cobbled streets shimmer saffron, tomato red, ochre, butternut, mango; massive jacaranda trees fill the skyline with shocks of purple; canopies of bougainvillea drip fuchsia down the alleyway; a blue doored bakery floods the street with aromas of freshly baked bread; multitudes of long-necked egrets explode out of the trees like white shooting stars; street vendors sell mixed cups of color—pink watermelon, orange papaya, yellow pineapple, all mixed with sprinkles of green lime. Hallucinatory murals of animals and humans splash buildings; walls graced with vibrantly painted frescoes—fantastical visions of Mayan poems and wild creations—bleed color all over the street.

And this is just early morning."

Laurie Gough is author of Kite Strings of the Southern Cross: A Woman's Travel Odyssey and Kiss the Sunset Pig (www.lauriegough.com). You can meet Laurie at the conference this year, or even work with her in the Travel Writing Workshop she's teaching!

And, there are many other appealing workshops planned! Everything from Jayne Navarre's "Thinking like a Publisher: Advice for Writers Seeking Publication" to Kate Fowler's "Ninja Marketing for Writers: Create Your Own Video Book Trailer." As an environmental writer, I'm also looking forward to Wayne Grady's workshop, "Great Lakes: An Omen for the Lakes of the World — and Our Planet." And, because I'm an eternal, albeit reluctant, optimist, and believe that my children's book manuscript will some day be published, I've signed up for Sandra Gullard's "Internet Book Promotion for Luddites." Perfect! 

There will also be stunning places to recharge...back to Gough:

"San Miguel's jardin, the center of the city since 1737, is the most popular spot in town. In this shady town square, people drink coffee on benches beneath lollipop-shaped laurel trees as they gaze up at the spires of La Parroquia spiking the blue sky; vendors sell ice cream, balloons, tortillas, and corn-on-the-cob laced with mayo, chili and lime; young people parade the perimeter looking for love. To sit in the jardin on a sunny day or cool evening is to step back to a pre-television era when every small town had a square where people met to gossip, greet, laugh and watch the world go by." 

I'm already packed.

And to kick off this remarkable literary festival, this year's speakers include Margaret Atwood, Jo Harjo, Elena Poniatowska, Naomi Wolf and Jackie Robinson's daughter, Sharon Robinson, author of Testing the Ice and Safe at Home.

I'm looking forward to revisiting old friendships and striking up new ones, working one-on-one with editors and agents like Susan Sutliff Brown and Andy Ross and exploring the city with the remarkable Dianna Hutts Aston, whose Coretta Scott King Honor Award-winning children's book, A Moon Over Star, is an perennial favorite in my pre-K classroom!

If you would like to join these writers, and many more like them, follow this link: http://sanmiguelwritersconference2012.org.

If you do, I'll see you soon!

Dear Inkubate Writers,

Here we are and it’s the middle of Hanukkah and it’s almost Christmas Eve, so we thought it appropriate to wish you all Season’s Greetings and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

Speaking of the New Year, we expect that Inkubate will be a very important part of the year for our community and, as we promised early last spring, the first quarter of 2012 should be full of news and important developments.

A great holiday gift to your writer friends would be to send them your unused invitations, which can be accessed on the bottom right-hand-side of the Writer Dashboard page. If you run out, please ask for more. If you're a writer who has not yet registered, please submit this form to get started: http://www.inkubate.com/Invitation/Request

We look forward to seeing you all next year at writer workshops and festivals. By the way, Inkubate is proud to be a sponsor of the upcoming 7^th Annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference. Beginning February 16^th, the international venue welcomes Margaret Atwood and Naomi Wolf as Keynote and Featured Speakers. Here is the link, in the event that you would like to attend: http://sanmiguelwritersconference2012.org/

Warm regards,

Jay Gale, Principal, Publisher Relations

Stacy Clark, Principal, Writer Relations

Thomas Obrey, Principal, CTO

Erik Dodier, Principal

Our Founder and Principal of Publisher Relations, Jay Gale, shares his current views on the rapidly evolving publishing industry.

After speaking with many publishers, Inkubate has learned that they are kept up at night worrying about the rapidly shrinking retail marketplace, and though this is good news for the makers of Lunesta, it portends an industry in turmoil.

Inkubate agrees that this marketplace is contracting rapidly and that securing access to markets is fundamentally necessary for traditional publishers to survive; but, securing access to a marketplace when you have little or no product to sell is a waste of time and effort.

The publishing world is in rapid transition and while Amazon is using innovation and proactive ways to directly connect with writers, and in so doing dis-intermediating publishers and agents, traditional publishers seem content to execute discovery like they always have—passively—e.g., waiting for writers or agents to query them. And, while this continues to work for the time being, it is unlikely that five years from now these same publishers will effectively be able to compete in a publishing industry whose evolution is being driven by technology.

Inkubate levels the playing field by providing publishers with the same kind of direct access to writers that Amazon has built for itself through its self-publishing models. But Inkubate does more—it ups the ante—by leveraging the one thing that publishers have in their favor that Amazon still has to achieve: imprint brand value. Publishers who do not seize the opportunity to leverage their brand values in the only place that it really matters—with the writer community—are missing the best opportunity that they have to secure primary access to new and undiscovered writers, and this, of course, is fundamental to the long-term survival of any publishing house.

By taking care of that part of their business, publishers can then begin to build new ways to access retail markets, either through leveraging the quality of their content in their negotiations with third party retailers or by delivering that content themselves; in either case, it starts with sourcing the most compelling works by the best authors.

-Jay D. Gale, Principal & Co-Founder

jdgale@inkubate.com

603-491-1168

This is the third in a series of INKUBATE Writer Profiles. Thank you, Rod, for granting us permission to speak publicly about your life and work.

INKUBATE caught up with Rod Butler exactly where you would expect to find him: in a room filled with laughter, children and, of course, puppets. These were young children too—Preschoolers—yet they were thrilled to sit and watch, for a solid half hour, the uplifting antics of this one-man puppet show. Rod told us that when the show was over, and he was packing up, a lady from the school business office came down the hall with a quizzical look on her face, and had to ask him, “What was going on in here? I've never heard the children laughing so much!”

A professional puppeteer for over 30 years, a children's radio personality for over 20 years, and an aspiring author for longer than he can remember, Rod grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. “I was born the same year as Disneyland, and like Walt's wonderland, I've always wanted to entertain people and make them laugh. Especially children. But my adventures really took flight in high school, when I said a simple prayer—that my life and my talents would be used to spread laughter and blessings to others."

In college, Rod began puppeteering for friends, on a children's TV show and at a local children's hospital, where he learned the impact that even a puppet can have on people and families facing difficult journeys.

And all along the way, Rod never stopped writing stories. “Guess it's in my blood, this writing thing. I grew up listening to the snapping keys of my dad's manual typewriter as he wrote short stories for Dime Detective magazine, and later screenplays for Republic Studios, several starring Roy Rogers and Trigger. My stories are a bit more far-fetched than his were, but he must have ingrained in me a love for playing with words.”

Now living in Arlington, Texas with his wife and three children, Rod Butler divides his time several ways. By day, he's the Director of Children's Programming for 90.9 KCBI and the creator and host of their nationally syndicated Coconut Hut Radio Show, heard every Saturday morning from 8 to 10 a.m. CST. Kids call him Bongo Rod, and he's joined on the air by the characters he voices, including Bob Dah Lobstah, Coco & Nutt, Finny the Fish, and a comical superhero, Captain FlashLight, with his trusty LumaDog, Blinkie. Rod has garnered four Tesla Awards for his audio production.

By night, or whenever possible, he continues to pursue his other loves: puppetry, traveling to libraries for their Summer Reading Programs; writing screenplays for his animated series in pre-production, The Brilliant Adventures of Captain FlashLight and producing his very first children's picture book, which was just printed a few months ago by his non-profit company, Filament City Media.

Which brings Rod to INKUBATE with three posted submissions: his picture book and audio CD, “Finneas McBly with a Log in his Eye,” the Junior Captain FlashLight novel, “Time to Shine” and his "HANDS ON!" Puppet Workshop Manual.

What's next for Rod Butler? “Wherever I'm asked to go, and whatever I'm asked to do, I hope that a big part of it will always be laughter!”

Find Rod Butler online:

www.finneasmcbly.com

www.captainflashlight.com

www.coconuthutradioshow.com

www.twitter.com/roddybutler

www.facebook.com/thecoconuthut

In our most recent blog posts we’ve recapped the coverage that Inkubate has received from Publisher’s Weekly and The Huffington Post and we’re gratified to read such favorable coverage.

Both articles talk about the “slush pile” and Inkubate’s plans to digitalize it, thus transforming a burden into an opportunity. Though the term “slush pile” quickly helps industry insiders visualize the problem, Inkubate’s content discovery bears no resemblance to the unstructured, unclassified and hit-or-miss process that the industry has suffered with since the beginning. Instead, Inkubate has created a minable, raw resource of high quality writers and writing seeking a home.

It’s interesting that we have received frequent feedback from users of our site that Inkubate feels like a home. Terms like “inviting,” “safe,” “friendly” and “relaxing” have been shared online and last week, Columbia University’s Laura Costello wrote for EdLab that “Inkubate is clean, adorable, and simple to navigate.” Perhaps it’s the simplicity of our message and refinement of our design that attracts writers to sign on and post their work. Huffington Post Books Editor, Andrew Losowsky sees the appeal as well, writing on October 8^th that “Inkubate requires far less effort on the part of the writer…After all, isn't writing time consuming enough?”  

As publishers begin to inquire about, and use, Inkubate, they are discovering that streamlining writer submissions is just one facet of the sophisticated approach that we’re applying to the process of writer discovery and content provision for the publishing industry. We’re proud to stand alone as the welcoming online place for writers, publishers and agents to get back to the business of bringing great writers to market.

Huffington Post Books Editor, Andrew Losowsky, published a favorable story about Inkubate on Saturday morning. We are delighted to see this news on the heels of Publishers Weekly’s story.

Have a look and let us know what you think!

Here’s the link to the story: http://huff.to/oDBFpB

Earlier this week, Publishers Weekly ran a feature story about Inkubate’s innovative plans to pair writers with publishers, editors and agents. In “Inkubate Plans to Digitize the Slushpile,” Senior News Editor, Calvin Reid reported that the search tools we’re developing will enable subscribers to quickly identify literary works of interest. Publishing professionals use Inkubate to “Discover” content any number of ways, including by author, genre, literary form and writer-generated tags. Inkubate then helps them make contact with the author in a secure and copyright respectful environment.

At Inkubate we see our technology transforming the proverbial mailroom slushpile into a valuable, minable raw resource and we’re clearly not alone. Bruce Shaw, President and Publisher at the Harvard Common Press commented on Reid’s piece, writing, “I'm willing to give it a chance...if it is really well organized, and simple to see what is there (before delving further, if so desired), it could be very helpful...And I’m looking forward to seeing more and talking with them more about it.”

Many other industry professionals, including acclaimed authors, Dianna Hutts Aston and Betsy James, and literary editor & producer, Jody Feagan have concluded that our model just makes sense. Brendan DeMelle, Executive Director and managing Editor of DeSmogblog.com writes “Inkubate is likely to be a win-win for everyone.”

Consider, too, the growing demand for high quality content to feed the eBook business models of major publishing companies and it becomes clear that Inkubate is undoubtedly timely. After all, there simply are not enough editors or agents working in the industry to engage in the process of traditional “Discovery” while simultaneously managing the volume of new work that will be required to fill this emerging market. To remain competitive and relevant, publishing companies need to be able to differentiate their eBook content from that of the online aggregators like Amazon and Google and self-publishers, otherwise they will not be able to command the premium price points that curated works deserve. The sheer volume of eBook publishing that has publishers salivating (750,000 eBook titles in 2010 on top of the nearly 300,000 traditional books) makes it obvious that the old way of initiating Discovery just won’t be sustainable. Inkubate is the engine that will drive this emerging market.

We are excited to be the only company committed to building solutions for writers, publishers, editors and agents as they transition to meet the challenges (and opportunities) of a rapidly evolving industry.

This is the second in a series of profiles of INKUBATE Authors who have given us permission to speak publicly about their life and work.

“You have to remain ahead of the curve,” reports journalist & literary producer, Jody Feagan, when Inkubate caught up with her this weekend in Aspen. “Online is where the world is going and pairing writers and publishers online is the right move at the right time. Professionals want a smarter, easier way to connect – after all, travel is expensive and so are conferences.”

Feagan views Inkubate as the perfect match for writers who yearn to be seen and for publishers and agents who want to explore new work in a safe, secure environment before committing to a face-to-face meeting.

Feagan is the Founding Director of the San Miguel de Allende Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival and although she no longer runs the annual international venue, she stays involved as a fundraiser in Aspen and Santa Fe. “Susan Page now directs the conference which is scheduled for February 16^th - 20^th, 2012. We’re fortunate that Margaret Atwood has agreed to be our Keynote Speaker and Naomi Wolf is among our featured speakers…It’s a world class event and San Miguel is a destination that everyone loves,” Feagan smiles, adding, “I live where people vacation and although I’m stateside now, I love returning to my San Miguel Casawhenever visitors and writers are not renting it.”

Feagan’s journalistic curiosity was piqued at last year’s conference in San Miguel, when Jamie Ford’s agent was a featured speaker. “She described Jamie’s rocketing e-Sales in January, 2011, after so many people received an iPad over the holidays and began stocking their digital shelves.” Although Ford’s e-Sales of “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” (Ballantine Books, 2009) haven’t surpassed its print sales, Ford’s eBook revenues in just the month of January surpassed his cumulative eBook sales for all of 2010. But, that spike was likely caused by pricing, according to Ford himself who, when contacted by Inkubate, explained it this way: “Traditional publishers price their eBooks to keep from cannibalizing traditional sales, but one of the major retailers dropped the eBook price to $5, and the other online places matched that and sales exploded, rivaling traditional sales, which were significant.” Ford added that those retailers, like Amazon, do so at a loss, simply to push Kindles, Nooks, and other e-readers.

Feagan believes that Amazon will continue to dictate the price of books if traditional publishers fail to step up and modernize their acquisition and marketing models. “Although conferences are where the rubber meets the road, writers and readers are growing increasingly impatient with the patrician time tables of brick and mortar publishers. Everything from the three-month turn-around on a query letter to the lengthy, often one- to two-year development of a novel or children’s book no longer works for writers, despite the fact that most writers do want a traditional deal.” This view is consistent with Inkubate’s analysis of the industry. We see this pent-up demand and goodwill among the writer community as a still "tap-able" resource that Inkubate provides the tools to extract.  All it will take is one or two major publishing companies with a similar vision and the industry will find itself with many good competitive options.

Feagan, who is now active editing a Young Adult novel and producing an art conference in Santa Fe, looks forward to adding her screenplay to Inkubate’s inventory. “It’s my first screenplay – a political thriller with the working title, ‘Heir Apparent.’ I know that Chase Bailey has posted a screenplay on Inkubate, along with actor, Alessio Bordoni, so I‘m looking forward to their company!”

Feagan can be reached at jodyville@yahoo.com.

Her Twitter handle is www.twitter.com/jodyville.

Her Facebook links arefacebook/jody.kobak.feagan and Art Santa Fe.

In his August 31^st GigaOM article, “Amazon Continues on its Mission to Disintermediate Publishers,” award-winning journalist, Mathew Ingram, writes about the many steps Amazon has taken recently to cut publishers out of the market and to build relationships directly with authors. Nathan Bransford picked up on Ingram’s piece last week, describing Amazon as the force that is “disrupting the traditional publisher’s place in the reading ecosystem.” Has one goliath book distributor and now book publisher changed the literary landscape forever?   

Perhaps.

But Inkubate’s diverse inventory of new and established writers’ works offers insulation against the onslaught of Amazon. How? Inkubate transforms the proverbial paper “slush pile” into a valuable, searchable literary resource and provides traditional publishers with inventory and content management for their eBook revenue models.

Over the past year, we’ve had sit downs with the executive teams of two major and well-known publishing titans. They believe that re-engaging writers in a proactive manuscript submission process will attract talented writers who have longed for a traditional career path, but because of industry-imposed roadblocks, have pursued alternate, less resistant publication models.

In 2010, the trade industry generated approximately $30 billion in revenue by publishing approximately 250,000 new trade book titles, 750,000 new eBook titles and an ever-changing catalogue of books still in print. Compare this to 2007, when approximately 250,000 trade books were published and the number of eBooks published was insignificant. The rapid evolution of online technology is redefining what it means to be a writer, publisher, agent and retailer of books.

The migration of authors to self publishing models and the rapid expansion and proliferation of eBooks and eReaders means that traditional publishers who modernize now will reap the rewards that will come from a level playing field, one where writers know that after many decades in the dark, they now have a shot at being seen by mainstream publishers.

Whether traditional publishers are looking for content to drive their trade or educational divisions or to fill the growing demand for quality eBooks, they’ll have to do so in a way that preserves their price point. Being the first to discover the best new writing by up and coming authors is one sure way to build brand value. And, Inkubate’s content is the engine that can drive that process. At its core, Inkubate is a powerful relational database and search engine that enables publishers to search, browse and “Discover” exactly what they are looking for, easily and efficiently.

Mathew Ingram of GigaOM

INKUBATE Writer Profile

This is the first in a series of profiles of INKUBATE Authors who have given us permission to speak publicly about their life and work.

Dianna Hutts Aston is not only the face of INKUBATE’S Tour and a twelve-time published picture book author, but she’s also one of INKUBATE’S earliest adopters, having posted three of her unpublished manuscripts this year. They include “Sticks and Stones,” “Martin’s Story” and “Wheels.”

A former journalist and an avid hot-air balloon enthusiast, Dianna grew up in Buda, Texas and remembers the carefree days of summer, while visiting her grandmother in Oklahoma. “My mother remembers me saying, ‘I’m going to the tall grass prairie.’ These were the rolling hills I loved to explore in eastern Oklahoma. I remember that I loved how free I felt and the happiness of roaming the countryside independently. I could see forever then and the sense of freedom was intoxicating. I knew then that I never would want to be trapped.”

Dianna’s current life in San Miguel de Allende is a constant source of inspiration for a writer who thrives on the deliverance of the out-of-doors. Gravitating primarily to nature themes, Dianna’s most recent book, “A Butterfly is Patient” (Chronicle, March, 2011) is masterfully illustrated by Sylvia Long. It’s the duos’ third book in a lyrical science series that has garnered high acclaim. “Every day I open my email, I read another review about BUTTERFLY and I recall the first time I read it to a preschool classroom in Dallas, before it had been officially released. The children loved it, especially Sylvia’s illustration of the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing, the world’s largest butterfly.” The series includes “A Seed is Sleepy” (2007), “An Egg is Quiet” (2006) and also the yet to be released, “A Rock is Bubbly.”

“I love each of these stories because they spotlight the natural beauty around us. I’d like to write another one about bugs, but I haven’t yet identified the theme. ‘A Bug is Creepy’ doesn’t really sound right. I love ladybugs because they quietly and beautifully accomplish their mission. I’d like to think that I’m a ladybug warrior – making the most of the world and resources around me. Maybe “A Bug is Busy?”

Dianna relies on the creative talent of the writer-illustrator community that she has discovered nestled in the Bajio Mountains of central Mexico. “There are so many friends here that inspire me every day. Jody Feagan grew up in Franklin, Kansas, but now lives and works here. She’s the Founder and Producer of the St. Miguel Writers Conference and Festival. She is very with it and knows everyone. I love learning from her. Together, we started the annual Teen Writers’ Workshop and it’s exciting to be involved each year.”

Dianna’s books have won many awards. Her Chronicle series is a highlight. “An Egg is Quiet” not only sold more than 70,000 copies, but it also won the 2007 American Academy for the Advancement of Science Prize for Excellence in Science Books. Publisher’s Weekly’s Starred Review read: “Like the subject matter it describes, this book packages with understated elegance the substantive matter found within it….This attractive volume pleases on both an aesthetic and intellectual level.” BUTTERFLY has also received starred reviews from Publisher’s Lunch and Booklist and has been hailed as a winner in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and The Washington Journal. Scholastic is featuring it in its spring library fair, which means that it will be in every library in every school.

Dianna also received the prestigious Coretta Scott King Honor Award for her 2009 picture book, “A Moon Over Star,” about a girl named Mae and her family who, in 1969, watched with wonder as Apollo 11 landed on the Moon (over the town of Star, Texas). Booklist loved the story: “….the text combines dignity and immediacy in a clean, spare telling of events….A quiet, satisfying tribute to this milestone in human history and its power to inspire others….Perfect for one-on-one sharing, this lovely book has a universality that gives it broad appeal.”

With so many awards and such broad appeal, it’s exciting that Dianna has three children’s submissions posted to Inkubate. “Yes, it makes sense…I have a plethora of unpublished works because of a lack of interest from my editors. That doesn’t mean it’s not good work. Inkubate seems like the logical home for these stories, which I happen to love.”

Dianna’s close friend, Jody Feagan feels the same way: “Online is where the world is going…Travel and conferences are expensive and moving the initial connections between writers, publishers and agents online has real market potential. Publishing is changing and it’s never going to be the way it was.”

In addition to writing for children, Dianna manages her non-profit foundation, The Oz Project (www.theozproject.org), which provides inspirational experiences to children in orphanages, rural villages, and children with special needs.

To read more about Dianna, visit her website at www.diannahaston.com

Dianna on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DHAston

Dianna on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001161814374