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Monday, July 19, 2004
PaleoNova Notes
Volume 1, Issue 1
PaleoNova is a Cooperative Content Creation Community that draws upon the best of the Past into our work of the Present to build the best possible Future. We each work collaboratively or individually to make culture in myriad forms and styles, to reclaim the Old Ways, to develop our own ways, and to explore New Ways as well. We respect but are not enslaved by tradition, building upon the works of those who have come before, and making room for those who choose to join us, even as we prepare and provide resources for those as yet to come.
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In This Issue
Foreword
News Bits & Rumor Control
My Experiences with Publishers by Taylor Ellwood
A Paying, Pagan Market: A Top Ten Article Wish List from Elizabeth Barrette Editor of PanGaia
Plugs, Mentions & Appearances: What Are PaleoNova Folks Up To?
Alumbo.com – Another Themestream? ( A Preliminary, cursory Review)
Silver Star: A Magickal Manifestaeon from Frater Aion
A Sampling of Online Resources for Writers
Garrett Looks At: The Louis Claude St. Martin Fund
Tips: Submitting a Proposal
Endword
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Foreword
Merry Meet, Hail, 93, Namaste, Ave, and Welcome!
Right now there are not many resources that cater to the needs of those of us who are actively developing books, tapes, CDs, and other such things along the New Age Spectrum, especially not if you happen to be working on projects that deal with the various flavors of contemporary or historical occultism, Paganism, or even the gentler forms of energetic healing such as Reiki. Sure, there are tons of places to go for general advice, listings, and leads, but very little that deals with our specific concerns, interests, or needs. Until now.
Alternative and Emerging forms of belief, practice, and experience are our meat and drink, our chosen and dedicated fields of endeavor, experience, and expression. To that end a few members of the PaleoNova community are collaborating to bring you this strange little email newsletter that will hopefully grow into the kind of resource so many of us engaged in these widely diverse fields want, need and have been looking for.
PaleoNova Notes is dedicated to collecting, gathering and disseminating information and articles of interest and utility to all of us directly involved within the vast spectrum of New Age pursuits, with an especial focus on the Pagan, Wiccan, Magickal, Occult, Alternative Healing and related ends of things. We are compiling and developing several resources that will find their way into future issues of this newsletter such as a comprehensive Market Guide, Event Calendar, and more. We are an open platform of support for all authors, artists and creators, of all levels of ability and experience, who seek to become the best possible teachers, presenters, guides and experts that they can be, in service to our respective communities.
The PaleoNova community itself began a few years back as a way to collectively communicate and collaborate amongst a bunch of scattered authors who focused on the peculiar sorts of stuff that make up the Pagan, Magickal, Occult and New Age genres, markets, and communities. Thousands of posts, myriads of intense online discussions, a few arguments, and numerous comings and goings later and we have a fairly diverse and dynamic community that has become a support system of sorts for the various authors and artists who have joined it. Far from perfect, PaleoNova remains a work-in-progress, a shared effort and rewarding collaboration amongst those of a like mind who have contributed their time, effort, input, and fellowship to develop an online environment dedicated to mutually assured success. PaleoNova Notes is intended to build upon the foundation of the PaleoNova community by becoming the resource we’ve all been looking for, and to paraphrase from some Wiccan traditions; because it’s been here beside or inside us all along.
On behalf of all of the PaleoNova Co-Moderators & PaleoNova Notes Co-Editors,
Be Well,
Jim
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News Bits & Rumor Control
News: Congratulations to Isaac Bonewits and Phaedra Heyman (of CUUPS fame) who are scheduled to be handfasted at this years Starwood festival. Blessings and much happiness to you both.
Rumor Control: Despite rumors circulating all over the internet, and contrary to popular belief, Witchvox is NOT in financial trouble! http://www.witchvox.com/wren/wn_detail.html?id=10376
Promotion: PaleoNova gear will soon be available at http://www.cafeshops.com/paleonova, including T-shirts, baseball caps, and more. We’ll be running a quick and easy to guide to using cafepress.com, zazzle.com, deviantART.com and other such service to promote your work in upcoming issues of PaleoNova Notes.
If you have some news, an announcement, an event, or press release that you think would be of interest to our readers, subscribers or members, please feel free to pass it along to: owner-paleonova@yahoogroups.com or jdg@tcq.net.
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My Experiences with Publishers
By Taylor Ellwood
In my short writing career I’ve only worked with three publishers. However despite having only worked with three publishers I came to a realization that every writer should have about how to work with publishers to get your writing out. That realization was based on a need to change from one publisher to another. But that change occurred in large part because when I worked with my first publisher I made a lot of assumptions and took many givens into play that I really should have checked into. Only after I had realized that I needed to make myself more active as a writer could I really begin to appreciate that a writer needs to know more than just how to write articles and books.
Working with a publisher involves a lot for a writer. The obvious givens are deadlines for the manuscript of the book, as well as doing a fair amount of marketing and promoting of your book. Sometimes a publisher will help you with the marketing and promoting, setting up a book tour, or giving you materials related to your book that can be used to promote it. However more often than not the onus of marketing lies on the writer. The two publishers I’ve mainly worked with cannot provide me a book tour, for instance. However the one person who can definitely provide a book tour is the author. It is up to the author to network as much as possible and not just with fellow authors, potential agents, or even the magazines the author can write for. You have to network with your audience and that often includes getting on as many e-lists as possible to find out where the latest pagan festival will be.
Even finding out where the latest pagan festival will be is not enough. You have to get in touch with the organizers of the festival or event and arrange times to do workshops. More often than not you won’t get a payment in cash, but you do benefit. Usually you won’t have to pay to camp at the festival or stay at the event. And of course there is the chance that you’ll sell your books at the festival or event. And even after you have yourself a spot at the event it does not hurt to promote the event to people you know.
This is all pretty obvious to most writers, but what often is not obvious to the writer is the relationship s/he has with the publisher. On the surface writing and marketing would seem to be enough, but as I realized in the fall of 2003, it is not enough. The writer has to develop a business philosophy and plan that not only encompasses the writing done and potential projects to do and the marketing needed to get your book in the public spotlight. The writer also needs to understand the role that he or she plays in relationship to the publishing company and the role that the publishing company plays in the writer’s plan.
This role can be as simple as doing the writing and marketing for the book, but it can also get a lot more complicated. The owner of Egregore Publishing, which published my co-written book Creating Magickal Entities, once told me that the most frustrating part of dealing with writers is their lack of knowledge about the costs the publisher incurs to publish the book, as well as distribute the book. And he is right in being frustrated, because far too many writers do not know the publisher side of the business. Now sometimes that is purposely done by the publisher, because the publisher prefers to maintain as much control over the process of getting the book published and distributed and even promoted. And many writers allow that to happen because it’s convenient at the time for them. But that kind of attitude fosters an air of dependency on the part of the author. The author is dependent on the publisher and has expectations of the publisher. Sometimes these expectations are met and sometimes not.
When they are not met the inevitable clash between writer and publisher occurs, but it is not the fault of the publisher I maintain. It is the fault of the writer. The writer should know as much as possible not just about writing but about publishing and distribution of the product. The reason the author should know these details is because s/he needs to establish an equal role with the publishing company, making the publishing company a business team that collaborates with the author to achieve maximum exposure with the least amount of effort needed. The publishing companies do not deal with authors who want to know the details involved in distribution and consequently it is rather easy for the majority of these companies to maintain control over the distribution of the book. The writer does not think about distribution because s/he doesn’t want to do even more legwork to get the book distributed. And certainly not knowing the processes involved in how much the publisher spends to get a book published doesn’t help either.
What can the author do? It is the obligation of the author to not only learn how to be an effective salesperson and writer, but also be aware of the costs involved in publishing writing as well as the potential problems that publishers can run into with distribution. How many authors for instance really go out of their way to find out what the wholesale price of their books is? How many go out of their way to develop relationships not just with potential fans, but also small independent bookstores and even the occasional large brand bookstores? How many authors handle the distribution of their own books to the magazines and various other people who can do reviews of the book? More often than not such matters are handled by the publishers, but those same publishers cannot provide the personal touch that a writer can provide.
When I figured out my philosophy of writing as a business I realized that I had to learn everything about the writing/publishing business. I work with my publishers as equals and in fact will not accept any role that does not entail full knowledge of the processes involved in not only getting the book, written, revised, and marketed, but also distributed. For instance I handle the distribution of my writing to independent bookstores as well as getting review copies to the appropriate people. Obviously the large scale distribution is handled by the publishing company. And with the marketing and promotion, again it is a team effort. I make suggestions to the publishing team and we work out a marketing plan that has me involved completely in it, right down to scheduling the festivals and events I want to go to. And surprisingly the amount of work involved is not a large amount and even has the side benefit of strengthening the network I’m creating.
I realize too that many writers may feel they don’t have time to learn the publishing side of the business, but all it really involves is a willingness to openly communicate with the publisher and ask questions. When I started asking my publisher questions and making suggestions and even handling details such as the cover art for my upcoming book I showed that I wanted to be part of the team. I’m not just an author, I’m a publisher. And of course this is true of all writers, because the book you write is a product that you want to get out in the marketplace. I will add that while I write fulltime I also go to graduate school fulltime, in one of the more intense programs dedicated fittingly enough to workplace literacy. I teach two classes and take two classes, as opposed to the usual class load in most Ph.D programs which involves taking two classes and only teaching one class. And between writing, attending school, and teaching classes, I also manage all that I’ve managed above, spending approximately two to three hours a day online alone networking and somehow I’ve managed to keep my sanity.
My point in saying that is that no writer has an excuse not to learn the publishing side of the business. You owe it to yourself to understand how the entire business works, because in doing so you make yourself far more effective and useful for the publisher and yourself and consequently become far more known and even make some money in the bargain. I say all of this with only a year’s experience, but in a year I went from not being known to actually achieving a lot of recognition.
Author Bio
Taylor Ellwood is currently pursuing his PH.D in Literacy, Rhetoric, and Social Practice at Kent State University. He is the author of Pop Culture Magick, available this September from Immanion Press and the co-author of Creating Magickal Entities. Taylor is currently writing his third book Space/Time Magick as well as more articles. Check out Taylor’s webpage at http://taylorellwood.chaosmagic.com or his livejournal at http://www.livejournal.com/users/teriel. Taylor can also be contacted at ashmage@hotmail.com.
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A Real, PAYING, Pagan Market -- PANGAIA
By Myrrh & Elizabeth Barrette
Recently I had the opportunity to ask PanGaia Editor Elizabeth Barrette what she’s been up to so far this summer. So far she has two water gardens, a tub and a kiddie pool, stocked with cheap but pretty feeder fish (goldfish, rosy reds, and white clouds) and tadpoles, plus plants. Quote Ms. Barrett: “Few things are more magical than watching tadpoles turn into frogs.”
She also mentioned getting her summer writing assignments for the 2006 Llewellyn annuals, including several articles, a set of 13 poems, and miscellaneous other stuff. If you are interested in writing for the various and sundry Llewellyn annuals Elizabeth recommends that you might consider contacting the Annuals editor around April or May with a query letter, as that seemed the best time to catch them, and they would most likely have a good idea of what they wanted, still needed or the sorts of things that they had already seen too much. You can find the Annuals Editor email address, and guidelines by surfing over to the www.Llewellyn.com website. We’ll do a feature on the Llewellyn Annuals in an upcoming issue of PaleoNova Notes, editor willing, of course.
Also this summer, Elizabeth is booked for two panels at Libertycon in July and her recent article "Do Women and Men Really Write Differently?" provoked some lively discussion in the Internet Review of Science Fiction. This is one busy lady, and one who really knows her stuff.
PanGaia is one of the few paying Pagan/magickal magazines out there. Published by Anne Newkirk-Niven, one of the few successful Pagan publishers still plugging away in the world of print publishing. PanGaia has managed to survive in a market that has seen nearly every other similar publication bite the dust. PanGaia offers not just a good solid read, it’s an actual factual paying market that is actively looking for Pagan-oriented material – and that’s something that PaleoNova folks are always looking for, or at least they talk about finding such a thing often enough. You can get detailed writer/artist guidelines from the PanGaia website (http://www.pangaia.com ). Then, after checking out a few issues, either by subscribing, or going to the library or browsing Barnes & Noble or your local occult bookstore (assuming you have one handy), you can consider pitching your article ideas to Elizabeth.
To be extra helpful to both all you budding writers and Elizabeth both, I asked the delightful Ms. Barrette just what sorts of article ideas and other ‘stuff’ she would most like to see come across her desk from prospective and hopeful authors and authors-to-be. Here follows her current Top-Ten list of the kinds of articles/submissions Elizabeth Barrette would really like to see for PanGaia (in no particular order). Make of it what you will and best of luck!
PanGaia TOP TEN LIST for Things Elizabeth Barrette Would Most Like To See
1. Pagan fiction
2. Anything that includes an innovative and effective solution to a ecological/theological problem
3. Humor, particularly if it pokes fun at religion or government in a lighthearted rather than snide way
4. Serious scholarship which is delightful instead of dry
5. Fresh topics for "Toe to Toe" debate forum
6. Scientific mysticism
7. Leadership and organizational ideas
8. Memetic engineering
9. Interviews with prominent Pagans
10. Features about Pagan temples, festival land, or holy places that people can visit
Elizabeth also noted: “People are welcome to pitch me ideas, proposals, whole manuscripts; I'm flexible. Detailed guidelines are available upon request. I'm always looking for more contributors.”
You can learn more about PanGaia, and its sister publications SageWoman, NewWitch, and Blessed Bee by checking out their respective web-pages:
www.pangaia.com
www.sagewoman.com
www.newwitch.com
www.blessedbee.com
We’ll be featuring each of these excellent publications, and potential markets, in future issues of PaleoNova Notes…and perhaps we’ll even be able to get publisher Anne Newkirk Niven to consent to an interview as well.
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Plugs, Mentions & Appearances: What Are PaleoNova Folks Up To?
Magickal Group Dynamics: A Practical Workbook Debuts
Lisa McSherry (Maat) lisa@cybercoven.org has been invited to speak at the Real Witches Ball in Columbus, Ohio the weekend of July 29th-31st. She will be doing two workshops, one on the Life Cycle of a Magickal Group, the other on Magickal Group Dynamics.
Lisa plans to have her newest publication, tentatively titled Magickal Group Dynamics: A Practical Workbook on hand. As the title implies, its a workbook for magickal groups describing various scenarios, situations, and solutions, with lots of exercises for them to do to improve the dynamics. If you're in the area, it'd be great if you could make it. Information is at: www.pagannation.com
You can learn more about Lisa’s work at: www.cybercoven.org and we’ll have reviews of Lisa’s books as well as some articles from her in future issues of PaleoNova Notes.
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Book of Kaos Launch!
Orryelle has added wyrd stills and a short video from the altogether amazing and exciting Book of KAOS tarot deck at: http://www.crossroads.wild.net.au/tarot.htm. This is one of the most gorgeous and potently inspired Magickal Tarot decks you’re likely to come across any time soon. Highly recommended. Also while you’re there click over to http://www.crossroads.wild.net.au/morph.htm. And check out the updated the Metamorphic Ritual Theatre page. Orryelle is one of the most ferociously original and always fascinating psychonauts, accomplished magickal artists, and fellow explorers you’ll ever meet.
Enjoy!
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POP! Goes the Chaos Magician
Taylor Ellwood has two essays in the just released book: Pop! Goes the Witch, edited by Fiona Horne and published by Disinformation (ISBN: 0-9729529-5-0 - www.disinfo.com). The first is Invoking Buffy: How to use Pop Culture Icons as God Forms, and the other is entitled Divination and Space/Time Magick.
Taylor also maintains a growing resource guide that authors can use to get in touch with radios, magazines, bookstores, etc. It's updated on a regular basis and if anyone has suggestions or additional resources/links/etc. that might be of interest or potential use, by all means please do feel free to forward them. You can find the page under the aptly named "resource" link at http://taylorellwood.chaosmagic.com/
Taylor will be presenting workshops and book signings at the following events:
Pagan Pride Day September 17 at Butte College California
Pagan Pride Day September 26 at Findlay Ohio
(Book Signing Only) October 23 at Aquarius Books, Cincinnati Ohio
Victory of Light Psychic Festival Nov. 20-21 Cincinnati Ohio
Be sure to check out Taylor’s article My Experiences with Publishers in this issue and look for his latest book Pop Culture Magick, available this September from Immanion Press (www.immanionpress.wox.org ). Taylor is also the co-author of Creating Magickal Entities and is currently hard at work writing his third book Space/Time Magick as well as writing many more articles that can be found all over the Internet and beyond. Click over to Taylor’s website http://taylorellwood.chaosmagic.com or visit his livejournal at http://www.livejournal.com/users/teriel to keep track of this dynamic new voice in contemporary chaos magick and more. Taylor can also be contacted at ashmage@hotmail.com.
Creating Magickal Entities by David Cunningham, Taylor Ellwood, and Amanda Wagnerer, Egregore Publishing, ISBN: 1-932517-44-8, http://www.egregorepublishing.com
Pop Culture Magick by Taylor Ellwood, Immanion Press, ISBN: 1-9048530-7-2, http://www.immanionpress.wox.org
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Jodi’s Got Class
Jodi Wetherup (ierne) has been a member of PaleoNova since sometime in early 2001. She's been writing most of her life, but found her niche online at Suite101 writing her column Women and Pagan/Spiritual Healing Methods in December of 1999. Since then she has worn many hats at www.Suite101.com, including Chief Copy Editor, and currently resides as Dean of the Society and Culture School and the Mind, Body and Spirit section of the Health School at SuiteUniversity. WPSHM has been altered recently to include several other topics and is now known as the Alternative Healing Hub.
Jodi has developed and teaches three courses at SuiteU - Introduction to Alternative Healing Methods 101 & 102, and Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki Complete. Come fall, she will also be teaching Building Better Body Image. Other courses are waiting development, in a filing cabinet in her imagination. You can learn more about her SuiteU/Suite101 projects by going to her profile at: http://www.suite101.com/profile.cfm/ierne
Jodi’s courses at Suite101: Intro to Alt. Healing 101 & 102:
http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17976/overview/47424
http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/18353/overview/47424
- and -
Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki Complete: http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/18482/overview/47424
Pagan Muse started out as Triskele Pagan Newsletter in 1999; a print 'zine coming from her printer, mailing out 8 times a year. Slowly, it moved to the net, and in 2001 became Pagan Muse with its own domain name and website. Eventually, this was removed and became part of the 3Sides Publishing network. 3Sides is just now beginning to work its way into becoming a print publisher for "alternative" thought. It is 3Sides and Pagan Muse which sponsor the Pagan Muse Short Fiction Contest annually. For more information: http://www.sacredtriskele.net/3sides/ (Editor’s note: PaleoNova member Elizabeth Barrette won last year’s contest!)
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Kheph’s Update
Aaron Leitch, one of our Co-Moderators at PaleoNova and a frequent contributor to Diamond Fire Magazine has a new book titled "Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires" scheduled to hit the bookstores March of next year. Check out Aaron’s homepage http://kheph777.tripod.com/ or go directly to a special preview page at: http://kheph777.tripod.com/indexsecrets.html We hope to run an interview with Aaron highlighting his new book closer to its release date. We will also be featuring a review of Diamond Fire Magazine (diamondfiremagazine@comcast.net) in the next issue of PaleoNova Notes.
Aaron is also currently working, on an administrative level, with the "Sanctuary of Maat" Order of the Golden Dawn. They are a kind of Golden Dawn version of WitchSchool, using the Cicero's "Self Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition" book as a curriculum. The URL is: www.ritual-magic.com and it is WELL worth taking a look at this site, especially if you are at all interested in the Golden Dawn, ceremonial magick, Hermeticism, etc.
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WitchSchool.com
WitchSchool.com has been wildly successful and continues to grow. They now have over 110,000 active members worldwide, and are beginning to establish Campuses. They have established working groups in six countries and expect that to double shortly. Nick Farrell & Aaron Leitch of PaleoNova are currently hard at work developing a comprehensive Hermetic curriculum for www.WitchSchool.com . Keep checking their website for breaking news or further developments, and we’ll drop you all a special notice once this exciting new course debuts. If these two hyper-busy authors have the time to spare we’ll try to get a double interview from them both about their class, latest books, and other projects, as well.
According to their website Witch School is still looking for teachers to develop online curricula and to teach various course online. This is an excellent opportunity to further develop your already (or even soon-to-be) published book or manuscript into a truly powerful, value-added sort of multi-media juggernaut. If you build the course, you determine the core references, and by using your own works, you get to expand upon things that might never have made it into your book(s) due to any number of factors. Definitely something to consider. Check the Witch School website for details.
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Press Release: Your Guardian Angel and You
By Denny Sargent (Aion) http://www.psychicsophia/aion/
Publisher: Weiser Books; Publication Date: February 2004; Price: $16.95; ISBN: 1-57863-275-7
Available at bookstores everywhere and through the publisher at (800) 423-7087 or orders@redwheelweiser.com.
Reviewers contact: Laura Lee Mattingly: (617) 542-1324 x111 lmattingly@redwheelweiser.com
Encountering your Guardian Angel will change your life. It has reenergized people and added depth to friendships and marriages. I have facilitated this powerful relationship between human and angel and seen it help people leave abusive relationships and help alcoholics stay sober. It has caused people to more deeply understand their faith and to 'practice what they preach' in their daily lives. It has, in every instance, helped people to discover their true will, the God-given mission assigned to them on this earth, and the hidden talents that they have within them but have yet to develop.
“I hope you will allow me to help you meet and communicate with the best friend, the wisest teacher, the closest mentor and the coolest coach you have ever had: your Guardian Angel.”
For more information on having Denny Sargent present workshops contact him at: aion@psychicsophia.com. PaleoNova Notes Issue 2 will have a review of Denny’s book, as well as Tips on how to handle doing your own press releases just like this one from Weiser Books.
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http://www.spiralnature.com is a website devoted to original articles, interviews, reviews and more – as long as it deals with magick, philosophy, religion, spirituality and related topics. An excellent resource in general, and a place well worth considering contributing fresh, original and relevant material.
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Special VIP Guest List For Upcoming Metaphysical Events
If you’re interested in being added to a special VIP guest list to various metaphysical events and parties hosted by a celebrity metaphysical author and tarot reader, you can sign up at: www.goddessy.com or ask for details via email: goddessy@goddessy.com. There was a mention of some possible free gifts and other offers that might follow if you sign up.
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Isaac Bonewitz Update (For more details visit: http://www.neopagan.net)
You can sample MP3s of Isaac’s third album, She Said by visiting: http://www.neopagan.net/MP3s.html, and he plans on having MP3s from the first two albums, Be Pagan Once Again and Avalon Is Rising, available there on or around August 1st. Also, the folks at ACE (organizers of Star-wood) will have CDs of the first two CDs available at Starwood this year and online at http://www.rosencomet.com.
eBook versions (Acrobat PDFs) of two of Isaac’s very popular works Witchcraft: A Concise Guide and Rites of Worship are available online from http://www.neopagan.net/IB_Books.html.
Isaac has also just signed a contract to write a book called Sons of the Goddess: Being a Pagan Man, which is scheduled for publication in fall of 2005. This will be based on interviews and questionnaires distributed this August, and he hopes/plans to include materials from non-Wiccan men and
boys, as well as from members of Pagan men's groups. If you would like a copy of the questionnaire, just send him a self-addressed stamped envelope (or envelope with a Postal Reply Coupon): P.O. box 1010, Nyack, NY 10960-8010.
If you are interested in working as an intern for the Arch Druid Emeritus and live in the proximity of the Rockland County, NY area, you might consider dropping Isaac a quick note. He could use some help getting his library in order and stuff like that. Who knows what it could lead to; it’d be a chance to work for one of the most famous names in modern Paganism, possibly something to tell your grandkids about.
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The Ultimate Guide To Goddess Empowerment by Sophia
(Andrews McMeel Publishing, ISBN: 0740734962, List Price: $16.95)
Every woman could use a little supernatural assistance now and then. With help from renowned psychic Sophia, now you can do as the ancients did and summon the power of a goddess. Need money? Summon Lakshmi, Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. Want to advance your career? Call upon Athena, Greek patroness of career women. Having a run of bad luck? Invoke Fortune, Roman goddess of good luck and help in gambling. For every dilemma, there is a goddess who has the power you seek. Sophia brings the power of the ancients to you in this fun guide designed to help you get what you want out of life.
We plan to have an interview with Sophia regarding her various projects, ongoing Goddess Empowerments, working with her current publisher and her ultra-cool Forest Yurt Temple in an upcoming issue of PaleoNova Notes. In the meantime you can check out her website at: www.psychicsophia.com, she’s expecting you.
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Support Pagan Artists!
The http://www.supportpaganartists.com website offers a fun “Artwork of the Week” feature for Pagan artists. You can also find resources, get a little support, and meet some like-minded artists engaged in a wide variety of media. Highly recommended. For details visit the website or contact: paganartists@hotmail.com
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Get Noticed!
Want to see Your Book, Tape, CD, Class, Appearance, Signing, workshop announcement, press release or other noteworthy accomplishments and projects mentioned in this space? We’re happy to feature anything that might be of particular interest to any of our readers, subscribers and members. All you need to do is send us the pertinent information or contact us about reviews. (owner-PaleoNova@yahoogroups.com)
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Alumbo.com – Another Themestream?
http://www.alumbo.com
A Preliminary Review, Part One
So, I was wandering about the electronic ether looking for potential markets and good bits to include in the PaleoNova Notes and came across this web site. At first blush it appears to be a variation on the old and now defunct themestream.com model. As you may recall, Themestream died, owing many folks money, like myself I might add. In its hey-day Themestream was a heady experiment that really looked promising. Who wouldn’t love being able to make money off of their articles and build up a following of loyal readers just by posting your material to a web-site? Well, Alumbo.com looks like they’re trying to re-invent that sort of content/community collaborative/cooperative atmosphere all over again. With some skepticism I have been checking them out and this is my preliminary review. I’d welcome hearing from anyone else who’s looked this service over or joined – it’d be great to hear from someone who’s been using it for a while now as to how they think it’s performing.
Alumbo offers you the chance to join its online community, post articles, and even sponsor a particular community. There’s a Pagan community, but it’s fairly skimpy compared to the various offshoots of the predominant form of monotheism. It looks a lot like the usual way this gets handled, Pagans are okay to take money from, but perhaps not if anyone notices or complains. I could be wrong. Pagans might or might not be token members at Alumbo, but that is a distinct impression I got on every visit over a three month period. There are, however, several mainstream-acceptable New Age columnists and the like available at Alumbo, including one titled “Good Vibrations,” (http://www.alumbo.com/article/10307-Good-Vibrations ) that I have found interesting at times. You’ll have to go searching through the website to see if there’s anything that appeals to your personal tastes, but so far it has been kind of meager pickings for myself. Of course they haven’t been going all that long, so one probably ought to make allowances for their still being kind of new and all.
Who knows; it could well become a seething nexus of controversial commentary and insightful articles beyond anything we’ve seen to date…but to be honest, I really doubt it. It might be a good venue for more New Agey kinds of stuff like crystals, meditation, yoga, and healing modalities. But I’m not so sure it’s all that competitive with all the other venues already out there begging for content of this sort. At this time the features touted for Alumbo members don’t sound all that impressive, and frankly their model is too closed-loop from the looks of their recruitment copy – but that might just be my impression, having gone through the Themestream meltdown.
You can’t expect to squeeze money out of members-only readers without providing quality content, and even then people are reluctant to subscribe to a website that basically is peddling material we all can get for free through www.witchvox.com or one of the other fine Pagan or New Age oriented websites already going strong and with an established, sizeable membership/audience.
One thing I do like about Alumbo is the ability to set your own “anonymity level” to suit your situation, this is a nice feature that could be of interest to still-in-the-closet writers, or others who can’t just come out as the author of such things at this time for whatever reasons. For that reason alone there are indeed folks who might find this service more useful and friendlier to their situation.
I don’t mean to discount Alumbo’s efforts by any means, but they seem to need our content more than we need their structure, and the audience/readers just don’t seem to be there yet, nor are they likely to come, unless some sort of breakthrough or promotion happens. Sure, Alumbo does reach out to its audience by making your content available via a free and personalized subscription-email newsletter, but in three months I have yet to see much of anything that I found interesting come my way. (See the ‘Good Vibrations’ link above.) So I’m going to post an article or two and see what happens then. I will keep checking on Alumbo’s progress and in that regard I do think that there is serious potential in Alumbo, if the right people, at the right time, do the right work…just like how Themestream might or could have worked. Let’s hope this one doesn’t fizzle out leaving a bunch of us holding the bag again. I will report back in three months about my experiences at Alumbo.
Preliminarily, on a scale of 1 to 5, five being the most useful (Go There Now) and 1 being the least useful (Don’t Waste Your Time), I’d rate this service a solid 2.5 – right now. We’ll see how they stack up in a few more months. Alumbo ‘might’ be able to become anything with the right amount of effort, diligence, perseverance and hard work, not to mention time, money, and your precious content. Invest if you will, but I’d highly recommend starting somewhere else, first. Maybe if you had an established reader-base this would be a more attractive venue to consider. They do offer a service allowing you to tap into their content for your web-site, which might prove appealing to someone trying to assemble a new site…so there could be some value here, under the right circumstances, if the stars are right and the gods are willing.
If you are interested in learning more about how you could submit stuff to this service and find out for yourself just how it works go to: http://www.alumbo.com/submitcontent.html . To learn about sponsorship at Alumbo go to: http://www.alumbo.com/sponsorship.html . To learn about the free content for your website or email newsletter go to: http://www.alumbo.com/cgi-bin/contactus.pl?src=sitenews_freecontent .
Also, if any of our readers have joined Alumbo and dealt with their system firsthand as a contributor, or as someone who has tried out their ‘free content service’ - please consider sharing your insights and comments with us in a future PaleoNova Notes. (contact: owner-paleonova@yahoogroups.com)
*** *** ***
SILVER STAR- A JOURNAL OF NEW MAGICK
A Sublime Magickal Manifestaeon
from Frater Aion
http://www.horusmaat.com/silverstar
This unique Journal of Magick is totally eclectic, with a focus on serious practical and theoretical essays, fiction, rituals, art and poetry that all express The High Art: those countless aspects of magick and the alchemy of the 'Great Work'. The material herein is primarily in, although not limited to, the realm of Thelema. This means operating on the principle of love under will. Other terms such as Tantrik, Shamanic, Chaotic, Wiccan and so on may also apply. The Will to Love is the Law to Live. In the end, Silver Star is what our contributors and readers choose to make of it.
While being in a sense a magickal child of The Horus/Maat Lodge (www.horusmaat.com), Silver Star is not limited in any way to being a 'house organ' for the Lodge. Silver Star seeks to provide an open source and forum for all serious Adepts who will to share with their Brothers and Sisters the work of the Art Magick. A closed system dies. We seek to help inspire the metaphysical knowledge of the New Gnosis as an open system. Our simple goal: The magickal evolution of humanity.
All Magickal contributions welcome!
Deadlines: September 1st and March 1st of each year- send as MS Word documents or text documents. Put SILVERSTAR as subject line and send to: aion@psychicsophia.com
Love & Will!
*** *** ***
A Sampling of Online Resources for Writers
Circa July 2004 (Internet Freshness Date)
Occult Authors Resource Page
Taylor Ellwood maintains a growing resource guide that authors can use to get in touch with radios, magazines, bookstores, etc. It's updated on a regular basis and if anyone has suggestions or additional resources/links/etc. that might be of interest or potential use, by all means please do feel free to forward them. You can find the page under the aptly named "resource" link at http://taylorellwood.chaosmagic.com/
The Hermetic Library at: www.hermetic.com is an awesome resource, and www.levity.com has some tremendous alchemical material that is quite invaluable to anyone interested in that particular field, and the Twilight Grotto pages at www.esotericarchives.com/esoteric.htm are also incredible treasure-troves of esoteric lore. We’ll be doing a comprehensive guide to such in-depth resources in an upcoming issue of PaleoNova Notes, and hopefully we’ll be able to get interviews with some of the wonderful people who are behind these amazing projects as well.
Online Forums
MysticWicks Online Pagan Community and Pagan Forums can be found at: http://www.mysticwicks.com
Online Occult Communities and Forums can be found at: http://www.occultforums.com
We’re planning a feature on the Top Ten Forums out there, so anyone who wants to suggest their favorite, or to point us in the right direction please feel free to contact Jim at jdg@tcq.net with any leads, ideas, or suggestions you might have.
Some Good Advice For Dealing With the Media as a Pagan
Check out: http://www.goatncandle.freeservers.com/media for an excellent article on dealing with the media from a Pagan perspective.
Solid Writing Advcie
http://www.writersdigest.com
The publishers of numerous books and an excellent magazine devoted to the art & science of writing for money, a thoroughly arcane bit of memetic alchemy if there ever was one.
Learn About ‘Real-World’ PR
http://www.writerswrite.com/books/publicity/
This site offers a lot of good stuff--including info on how to market & promote your book; essential reading for any self-respecting author.
http://www.Hartunian.com
Paul Hartunian tells you like it is, and delivers a valuable newsletter offering hints, tips, suggestions and more for handling the opportunities, strategies and pit-falls of modern publicity. It’s not all going to be immediately applicable to your situation, but there will be gems that come along that could really make a difference in your way of thinking. Highly recommended, especially for those who think that they’ve seen it all, or been there, done that. This guy can still teach you a few tricks.
http://www.ereleases.com
Every author wants PR for their book…but most of them wouldn’t know good PR if it bit them in the butt. This service provides a solid array of PR resources that might just be of use to the right book, publisher or savvy author. They connect with more than 35,000 professionals who receive their daily press releases via national distribution including posting to wireservices. Best of all you can receive their enewsletter, graze the website and learn a few decent tricks of the trade without having to become a member. The stuff you glean from this site for free might be worth a whole more than you would at first believe, especially when you learn the harsh reality that whatever PR your book is going to get will most likely come directly out of your own efforts, as so many authors are finding out.
Some Publishing Industry Websites That You Need To Know About
http://www.ambook.org/aba/ Another Publishing Industry site that, along with PW (http://www.publishersweekly.com) is essential to any publisher or ePublisher. Credibility is gained through expertise and application, especially successful application or what is learned through experience--these are good sources of information for what's
going on, what's causing a buzz, and what's looming on the horizon. Any self-respecting author who wants to be taken seriously ought to at least take a look at these sites, if not know them by heart.
http://www.pma-online.org/
Publishers Marketing Association. A great source of articles, advice, insights, and more.
http://www.bookwire.com/
RR Bowker. Big stuff. Great news source. A must-have link for news, updates,info, etc. Major index.
http://www.publaw.com/
A wonderful resource. Loads of legal articles, forms, stuff on trademark, copyright, etc. (Yes, we’ve listed it twice this issue – it’s worth repeating.)
http://www.newageretailer.com
You can help promote your books, etc. at this site that caters to bookstore owners and others engaged in the retail distribution and sales of your products. Just skimming through this site will give you some idea of what’s being released, promoted, and offered to the shop owners, buyers, and distributors.
Three Links No Writer Should Be Without:
http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/loc/infopub/ -The Library of Congress Publisher’s Information page.
http://www.copyright.gov/forms/ -The place to go to register copyrights.
http://www.publaw.com -The Publishing Law Center – they have a free newsletter.
Bonus link: http://www.isbn.org -The official place online to learn about, register for and acquire an ISBN or International Standard Book Number.
*** *** ***
Garrett Looks At: The Louis Claude de St. Martin Fund
Occultism, it’s not just for head-bangers and dirty old men. Many, many people pretend to be “into the occult,” but most of them wouldn’t know the first thing about the occult if pressed. It’s one of those things that gets used to provide a cheap and easy cachet of faux-dangerousness or to give one the faint perfume of the vaguely naughty that is only too common amongst the angst-modeling and common sense-deprived members of the suburbanite wannabes who cluster around pretenders and charlatans at coffeeshops, bookstores and open rituals. We’ve all met the type before; the kid who loudly declares that he is ‘into’ chaos magic but who flunked out of high school physics; the black trench-coat guy who smells of storax and who constantly mutters about how the Goetic demons are always stealing his car keys; the cranky old ceremonial magician who needs Viagra™ to get his wand of will going; the girl so pierced she can’t go through the airport metal detectors but has a deep personal connection to the beings of another plane of existence…hey, they’re not so bad, besides they almost always buy books, so what’s not to like? But are they necessarily occult? Maybe. I doubt it, though.
Less ambiguously occult are the people who actually read moldy old books like Levi’s Transcendental Magic, who practice the LBRP daily for a few years before experimenting with alternative arrangements of the various elements like using it in all English or substituting the god-names, and of course the good people who actually factually do occult stuff without bragging, ego-tripping, or making genuine asses of themselves in public. You may have met one or two. I have. They do exist.
The Occult is a peculiar genre and a strange stratum of society and consciousness. It’s rife with artists, poets, and drunks. It’s also a collection of interrelated paths and traditions that include folks like those involved in establishing the Louis Claude de St. Martin Fund.
Established December 27th 2001, the Fund is designed to raise money for a wide array of esoteric endeavors, ranging from academic research and translation projects, to capital funding for lodges and conferences. This is a real, honest-to-goodness and worthwhile cause for anyone seriously interested, or even just dabbling in the occult, esoteric, or hermetic end of things. These people are engaged in the very real work of manifesting a foundation for esoteric practice that will support both investigating and preserving the past, and providing a well-lit beacon and springboard to stimulate forward progress and development.
Get this: The LCdSM Fund is established as a donor-advised Fund through The Luzerne Foundation, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (for more information on The Luzerne Foundation, see: www.luzernefoundation.org ), and as such is not under the direct control of the Institute nor does any one group specifically benefit from the Fund. All grants must be approved by the Foundation's Board of Directors and have to be made to legally recognized nonprofit, 501 (c) 3 organizations. That means if you are involved in a legitimate esoterically-oriented 501( c )3 organization (and there are a lot of such things out there), you may want to find out more about the LCdSM fund.
The Fund was set up in this specific manner to guarantee its perpetual mission, and by separating things out and establishing The Luzerne Foundation to oversee things the founders added a layer of security to the way all monies will be distributed. Not only must proposed projects pass the needs of the advisors in terms of their contribution to the advancement of Traditional Western Esotericism, but they must also pass the scrutiny of The Luzerne Foundation's Board of Directors as outlined by the Internal Revenue Service. How many other charitable or non-profit organizations do you know of that take that sort of step to ensure they stay on the up-and-up?
The Louis Claude de St. Martin Fund Mission Statement reads (in part) as follows: “To further the study and propagation of the works of Louis Claude de St. Martin, Martines de Pasqually, Gerard Encausse, and their contemporary successors. Secondary considerations given to 17th - 20th century European and European based esoteric movements including, Rosicrucianism, Esoteric Freemasonry, Elus Cohen, Templarism, and Hermeticism.”
That sums it all up very nicely. They cover a wide spectrum of possibilities, and have a definite focus, so they’re not wishy-washy like so many other groups wind up being. You can’t cover everything in any real depth, and it’s nice to see an adult group that’s trying to get something meaningful done without getting bogged down in the dilution of resources brought about by trying to cater to every possible aspect or niche or fragment or special interest. If this group doesn’t cover or support your pet project, look at them as a well done model for what your own group could be. If nothing else these folks have established a solid model for other groups to emulate. Wow; that’d be real leadership. Wouldn’t it? You don’t see that too often these days.
From their Press Release:
“While many people are applauding the 'dis-occultising' of esotericism, there are few resources available to continue the work of research, translation, and publishing, as has previously been done by esoteric fraternities and societies. Sustained by their membership via dues and donations, these organizations created a vast body of information, but kept it only for select readership and use. If the extension of esotericism is to go beyond the realm of 'private organization' or large private collections, and into the light of day for research, study, and application, in essence to be 'democratized', then each individual must take full responsibility for seeing that projects get funded that allow growth and sustainability to continue. Without individual contributions and a sustained effort, Traditional Western Esotericism risks falling into the dustbin of history. It is up to each of us to decide if we will be supporters of its continued expansion, or are simply passing time with peculiar ideas of a forgotten age.”
I urge anyone interested or involved in the occult, esotericism, etc. to at least consider supporting this Fund and its work with your tax-deducible donations.
To learn more you can go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/voxhermes/
Or email: esoteric777@aol.com
Or write to:
The Institute for Hermetic Studies
P.O. Box 513
Wyoming, Pennsylvania 18644-0513
*** *** ***
Tips: Submitting a Manuscript
By Jim Garrison
Okay, you’ve written the greatest manuscript in the world and it’s time to send it off to the lucky publisher you’ve picked from all the possible ones out there. Good for you. Go back and re-read their author guidelines. Did you do everything the way they asked you to? If not, why not? Seriously consider going back and getting everything done the way they require in the guidelines. If they don’t have guidelines, lucky you – you’re flying blind into the maelstrom that is getting your book published. There’s a couple of books mentioned at the end of this article that might be helpful. By all means, if in doubt, look for more advice, go searching the various writer-oriented websites, go look over the writer-focused magazines, and check out the plethora of newly issued or old-school writer’s reference works at your local bookstore or library. You can spend years just going over all the possible references, guides, manuals, etc.
So, having gotten past the hurdle of getting everything into proper format, order, sequence, vetted for typos, and cleanly printed or burned to CD or whatever you need to do, it’s time to go over the pieces beyond the raw manuscript that you will need, and what each piece should provide to maximize your proposal’s chances of success.
What you need
Basically, you need a Cover Letter, the Proposal, some sort of Market Analysis, a Synopsis and three sample chapters – or— a complete manuscript (good thing you checked the guidelines, isn’t it?). Oh, and a SASE, maybe even a postcard. Those are the basics. You could add other bits, depending upon your specific proposal, but in general these are the essential elements that the publisher will expect and look for in your package. The easier you make the job of the people who will review and examine your proposal, the better your chances are of getting it accepted. It’s worth it to you to be professional, to pay attention to details, and to get organized. Think of it as an audition where your first impression is vitally important, and always keep in mind that someone actually will have to handle and read this stuff, and they most often have to wade through quite a number of other proposals, many of which aren’t so well-done or thoughtful. You can stand out from the crowd and improve your chances by just doing things with some care, consideration, and thoughtfulness.
Cover letter
Generally this includes your author information and brief description of your proposal. Who are you and why are you writing this book and why should anyone read it? Answer those three questions succinctly and you have a good chance of moving to the next step. Blow it and your hard work may not even get a second look. Be engaging, make it interesting, but avoid unnecessary hyperbole and never make unfounded claims. Also do yourself a favor – get this spellchecked and proofread before you send it out. The last thing you want is a typo or mistake in this document, it’s a big part of your first impression and you want it to be a good one.
Some options to consider for your cover-letter:
Professional looking stationary is nice and beats day-glo paper no one can read
Use a personal logo or letterhead
Clip on a business card
Attach a resume that focuses on pertinent experience/training
Include a link to your website(s) if you have one that’s relevant to the project/proposal
Make sure that you include your address, phone number, email, and any other contact information
Stick to the real-world for any titles you care to mention or claim – these need to be verifiable, legitimate, actual things, not accomplishments from out of your own mind
Make sure you look up any terms you use in this letter and know the actual definition(s) and proper usage – you’d be amazed at how many people shoot themselves in the foot by improper word usage; remember you’re supposed to be a writer, a professional user of words…you will be expected to use them professionally
Some things to avoid:
Never send anything scented and avoid perfume at all costs
Don’t smear the cover letter or manuscript with food stains
Get any names you use right, especially the spelling and if you refer to a title, get that right as well – do your research, most of the time an anonymous phone call or perusal of the publisher’s website will get you the details you need
Skip the cutesy crap and make it professional
Don’t use day-glo paper for your letter unless you prefer it to never be read or taken seriously
Don’t waste time writing a letter by hand with anything other than black or blue ink – handwritten can work, if it’s legible, clean, neat and well done – if it looks like a third grader in a hurry scrawled it in crayon, go back to the typewriter, computer, or hire someone else
Proposal
Give them a table of contents. Give them a quick and easy guide to your manuscript – no one is going to read 200+ pages unless it looks worthwhile, your proposal makes it look worthwhile. Do a thorough job and be sure to address all the sections of your manuscript; this is your chance to make the reviewer/editor actually interested and wanting to, rather than just supposed to be, reading your work.
It’s typical to include three sample chapters for some publishers, others want the whole finished manuscript. You’ll know because you checked their guidelines or queried them as to their preferences.
Some publishers choose the three-chapter approach because they handle a lot (thousands) of manuscripts a year. Any more than three chapters can become unwieldy, any less isn’t representative enough to make a good appraisal of your book’s style, merits, execution, depth, etc. These folks are swamped with raw manuscripts and you can best stand out of the slush-pile by being conscientious, courteous and did I mention professional or thorough yet? Those things do help, a lot.
If you’re sending along the entire manuscript (because the author guidelines said to do so), then your proposal needs to act as a condensed version or guide to the highlights and strong points of the manuscript. The reviewer/editor will be using your proposal as a road map to your manuscript – including accurate page numbers, consistent chapter titles, and keeping it all neatly organized. This is a wonderful improvement over some manuscripts competing with yours. Take the time to make your proposal user-friendly, stay on focus, on task and consider giving the reviewer a cheat-sheet that briefly, concisely covers each section/chapter on one handy page. Whatever you do, make sure that you don’t forget the synopsis aspect of the process, even when submitting a full manuscript it doesn’t hurt, and it could help to go the extra distance to provide a synopsis, if it is actually useful to the reviewer/editor going over your manuscript.
Spell it out
Many publishers expect a synopsis of your entire manuscript, even if you include the entire manuscript. It’s not entirely redundant – the materials will get separated and handled by different people at different stages of the process. Be thorough. One to three concise paragraphs per chapter/section ought to be enough to make it sound interesting…but be certain you sell them the book you’re writing. Don’t mislead the editors, reviewers, etc. or it will go badly for you and your book. Also get to the point right away, skip the pretense, and keep in mind that this is being read by people who have to read these things day-in and day-out and have probably been doing so for quite a while. Be kind, clear, and professional. Drop the slang, show good use of English, spell-check everything multiple times, get it proof-read before sending it, and you might want to have a friend ‘test-drive’ the synopsis to see if it fits with the manuscript. This is the quick and easy guide to your manuscript, and as such it must help those evaluating it to do their jobs. As with any writing, you must keep the audience in mind as you construct these materials. Make their task simpler, easier and more enjoyable and you improve your chances of getting published drastically.
The people who will be handling your manuscript throughout the initial evaluation process are human beings like you or me. Treat them with respect and courtesy, respond in a responsible, professional manner to their inquiries, pay attention to their guidelines, and work with them and their process and you’ll get every break and opportunity. Annoy them, insult them, or aggrieve them at your peril.
If you want to use pictures/illustrations
Show them what you’re talking about. Don’t just include a list of words to be interpreted any of a million different ways by whomever is reading them at the moment. Get specific, provide sketches, illustrations or sample photos to explain more clearly, fully, and accurately what you are after or would suggest. Just keep in mind that illustrations take up space, have costs involved with them – unless you can provide them as part of your manuscript (oh, do you want to be paid for these pictures separately? Where did you get them? Do you have the rights to use them?), and there are associated issues of permissions, copyrights to images that you ‘think’ are public domain but might still be registered, and so on. This is not an area to jump in blindly nor to make assumptions either. Make sure you either created the images, or have permission to use them in your work in writing. You’ll need proof of anything you claim. Be prepared, and don’t take it personally if someone calls or emails to ask you about the source of your images. They need to do that to protect both the publisher and you from lawsuits, etc.
Pictures speak louder than words, so don’t skimp on this aspect of things if you are going to include them in your manuscript. You will want to provide the best possible sample illustrations or photographs (duplicates, never the originals) as part of the overall proposal. Don’t assume anything. Give them clean, legible, easy to understand diagrams, charts, etc. If you can’t produce them yourself get someone to help you. Photos can be examples, as long as you clearly note that both in the proposal and on the photos. If you’re not going to be able to provide professional-grade photos, you may not get to include any. Don’t expect the publisher to spring for a photo shoot – that gets expensive and you have to be pitching a book that makes it worth their while to even consider such a thing.
When including illustrations, diagrams, charts, etc. you can include them in your rough manuscript (as long as you have a text-only version saved and handy and noted on the proposal), but a truly helpful thing you can do is to provide a second packet of just the illustrations, each one keyed to a specific page in the manuscript. That way the art issues can be addressed more easily, and thoroughly, without being a bother, and no one misses anything that could come back to haunt you later. Also, make a note of what software you used to generate any tables, charts, diagrams, etc. in case the Art Director decides it might be useful to work from your stuff directly. It’s unlikely, but could happen, especially if you are a master of that form of software. It also wouldn’t hurt to burn a CD with all these images on it and include that with the art packet as a courtesy.
Black and white illustrations are often useful, especially in non-fiction, how-to manuals, and related projects. If you can get your basic ideas across, but can’t draw at a professional-level, the publisher may have your sketches re-done professionally, but that’s another check for them to pay out before the book even gets going. Added costs make a book less desirable, especially from a first-time author with no track record. Even established authors feel the financial squeeze when it comes to including art in their books. You need to make your case for using illustrations compelling. The most compelling case possible is to produce and provide professional grade illustrations that meet the publisher’s Art Director’s standards and requirements and that are available as scalable vector images, high resolution .jpegs, etc. Doing that your first time out would be extremely unlikely. You can certainly try, and if you are willing, able and open to making modifications, and to working with the Art Department’s needs and schedules, you could really help your case in this regard. In any event, the more clean, clear, and well-done the materials you present/provide, the better your chances are to get them accepted or adapted.
Yet, while many publishers have their own art departments, they are often overworked and under appreciated. Most submissions include absolutely horrid and incomprehensible stick-figure scrawlings or a cryptically vague note regarding what ought to go where or how to illustrate something that no one quite understands, including (or especially) the author. Don’t do that. If you want images, put some effort, thought, and care into this part of the process. Do your research. Examine the website of your publisher for artist guidelines, consider sending a query to the Art Director asking for a rough outline of what size, format(s), resolution, etc. they prefer or would most like to see in artwork submitted with a new proposal. They’re probably very busy, but if you’re courteous, respectful, and time it right, you can learn a lot of little things that could make all the difference.
If the publisher you are working with does not have an art department, the more you can do for yourself or get taken care of on your own initiative, the better off you will be. Clip art and garage-sale typography can work for some books, but why not put some more effort into your own work? If you’re not the artsy-type, hire someone who is to help you
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Well, I was planning on doing this journal-thing at least once a week. Today was eaten up by a lot of loose ends, productive stuff, but way too time consuming. Well, I'm days away from releasing PaleoNova Notes once and for all upon an unsuspecting world, and I have some exciting leads for a variety of projects that may finally be taken off hold. Not bad. Now I just need to finish the freelance editing job for W.T., wrap-up the first novel, and find an agent.
At least tonight is the monthly reiki share - that's something nice ot look forward to. Speaking of which, I need to get going and take my shower so I don't stink from my walk earlier. It was hot this morning. Great day for a walk, though.
Be Well,
Jim
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Good Morning,
I've been away for a long time. I'm going to shoot for weekly updates on this journal. We'll see how it goes. I feel pretty good today and plan on going for a walk shortly - got to have a life away from the machine.
I hurt all over. Not as badly as it has been doing for the last few years, but it is manageable, at least now it is. It wasn't for a while. Glad to have that behind me.
I have, or had terrible allergies. Exposed to a cat box and I'd have running nose, red eyes, scratchy throat, all that stuff almost immediately. Over time I'd wind up not breathing, wheezing, and sicker than a dog.
Mold, smoke, dust, lots of stuff would set this off, or at least used to...it seems that I'm not reacting as horribly, nor as often any more. Sure, I'm drinking more water, walking a lot, and doing reiki every day.
I feel tons better. I'm feeling more like my self, less like a collection of symptoms.
A lot of stuff has been left lying fallow, neglected, or even simply abandoned because my health precluded any further involvement. That has always bugged me. It's fairly damn depressing to watch all your plans evaporate over time because you can't be there.
Well, my heart is working reasonably well, and I haven't had a major set back or anything despite some recent events that would've sent me into the hospital only a few months ago.
I feel better. Every day I'm feeling better.
It's not happy, happy bullshit, either. There's been some deep healing. Loads of internal work, de-cording, reiki, past-life work, contemplation, meditation, cleansing, purging, and so on. Now I'm ready to build a new life and it's very exciting.
But for now I'm going to go offline and take a walk.
Be Well,
Jim
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Listening to Stevie Ray Vaughn (Greatest Hits II)- an excellent bit of get it going music.
I do it all. I uploaded another score or so of new pieces at MNartists.org (http://www.mnartists.org search for jdgarrison).
Now I have 67 pieces there, with one that needs to be re-sized before it can go back. I plan on having 100 images in place within a few weeks.
Nice thing just happened this morning; a fellow artist sent me apostcard with some kind words and tipped me to the MN Museum of Digital Art...so I will submit five pieces to them for possible display. I'll update here how that goes. They are at: www.mnmoda.com
I clicked on alink at MNmoda and came into a manifesto for Webism...a new fine art movement. It sounds a lot like the sort of thing I have been building, ruminating over from an occult/magickal perspective, so I'm inclined to work within this milieu for a bit and see where it takes me. To learn more about Webism, go to: http://www.lastplace.com/page48.htm
or you can find the link at the MNmoda site; it's hard to miss. It was launched in 1997 so it's not exactly a new thing...I just found it because someone said something nice about my work.
Well, now I'm going to go get this place into shape, I'll probably post a few old essays here later tonight, especially Pop Wicca from the old Themestream days...
Be Well,
Jim
Monday, January 12, 2004
Listening to Robbie Robertson's "Contact from the Underworld of Redboy," again.
This weekend I uploaded over thirty sample images of my art, ranging from stuff I did many years ago to the very newest digital evocations. Today I am going to upload another twenty or so samples. Everything is sized for sample purposes - 72dpi images, various sizes, none will print that well, so if someone wants to use them for anything other than screen savers, they'll have to contact me. I am especially excited and proud of "Healing Hands" which I am uploading today, after I wrap up this update, in fact.
My homepage at MN Artists is:
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=10545
Or you can search for my stuff by looking up jdgarrison.
Saturday night Jody (my partner) and I were invited over to some friends for a fabulous dinner and conversation that went on into the wee hours. If you are interested in Reiki, esoteric astrology, or just want to meet otherwise neat people, check out their website at: www.The-Reflectory.com
I really appreciated William Thomas' clarifying a few things for me on the esoteric astrology end of things - I've been stumbling along under false premises in respect to my natal chart for a while. Nice to have that cleared up. Feels good, too. I have a better idea of why I'm here, and what I'm going to do about it. Good to have that sort of thing happen, especially before you die.
So, now it's time to upload art, then take a break and clean house, then back to work on the novel. Tomorrow will be more writing.
Be Well,
Jim
Thursday, January 8, 2004
I've been a self-defined Pagan for more than twenty years. I've studied every and any magickal path I could get my hands on, reading far too many badly written and poorly thought out books that any one person ought to be subjected to, willingly or not. This has given me a peculiar perspective on several things, not the least of which would be contemporary Paganism, magick, and occultism.
Not that many years ago we didn't really have too many choices as to what to read, what to work with, what groups to join, etc. Now we are overwhelmed with opportunities, options and choices. It's very interesting to see how things have developed, evolved and grown from the casually (or not so casually) sewn seeds of the 1800's, 60's, 70's and 80's.
I look around myself and wonder how newcomers and beginners will find their way or locate the path that's right for them amidst all the hype, books, web-sites, forums, etc. I wonder, but I do not worry. It is incredible how the more modern Paganism, magick, esotericism, occultism, etc. grown and develop that the people who are into these things likewise respond, both synergistically and creatively. Far from being a bunch of backward hicks out in the sticks, such as the term 'pagan' originally meant, we are a technologically literate, and passionate folk, all in all. Even the more Luddite-inclined amongst us are aware of the internet, its impact upon our traditions and crazy-quilt culture-in-formation.
Consider all the email lists devoted to hardcore Reconstructionism.
So, all in all today's constellation of Pagan traditions, paths, and sects tend to be technologically savvy, reasonably literate (most spend more on books than on clothes or most other things save for dining out), and open to spiritual innovation on a level that few other paths have approached.
Interesting combination, don't you think?
Well, I finally took the plunge and did it. After quite a few people nudged, urged and suggested that I do this, I'm finally doing my own LiveJournal thing. Blogging. Hmmm. So this isn't a waste of time, I'm planning on using it as a sort of sounding board for thoughts rolling around in my head and a journal of projects under construction. Maybe I'll share some fiction, some poetry, some rituals, recipes...who knows what all you'll find here.
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jdgarrison's journal