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Inside the World of Self-Publishing

An informative evening on self publishing was sponsored by The Atlanta Press Club with The American Society of Journalists and Authors at The Commerce Club Wed., May 26. Attendees were well fed with tasty hors d’oeuvres  from Dania’s Restaurant including hummus and pita bread, spanakopitas, lamb-filled pastries and toasted bruchettas topped with herbed tomatoes. Self publishers Peter Bowerman (The Well Fed Self Publisher, The Well Fed Writer, The Well Fed Writer: Back for Seconds), Patrice Dickey (Back to the Garden), Echo Garrett (Why Don’t They Just Get a Job, Sam Bracken – My Orange Duffel Bag), Robert Levin (A Brief History of Howard), B.B Rose (Halls of Poison Ivy, The Bad Ol’ Boys) and Jan Schroder (Souper Jenny, Murphy’s, Just a Stage) informally displayed and discussed their books at tables before a panel discussion began. People, including a writer who sat next to me with an unpublished self help book, were anxious to hear from the experts.

 On the panel were Peter Bowerman , Echo Garrett, Jan Schroder, and Ahmad Meradji –  president and CEO of Apex Book Publishing and Booklogix Publishing Services. The authors talk the talk and walk the walk with the tremendous amount of experience they generously shared. All agreed that the stigma of self publishing is less now and people in general don’t even know who the publisher of a book is. The main advantages of self publishing are those of control, quick turnaround and profitability.

Even when a publisher handles a book, the marketing now is still up to the author. It is important to use good professional design. Several ways of marketing books include using websites and amazon.com.  Selling in bookstores seems to be too much trouble.  ISBN ownership is less of an issue with self publishing. Digital print on demand may be a good option for those first starting out with less financial risk. Offset printing costs less per book, but requires more output and upfront costs.

The future of the printed book  is not in jeopardy. It appears to be in the same place that the music industry was with the introduction of the CD and digital music. The current number of books in Kindle format is actually quite small. However, being ahead of the curve is another benefit of self publishing. Garrett’s book, Sam Bracken – My Orange Duffel Bag, uses three types of paper, is within a zippered cover and contains a DVD. Such customization is more difficult with a conventional publisher.

No matter what form a book takes or how published, the writers agree that books give credibility to a writer and can be used as a base for expertise and, possibly, a career.

Written by Atlanta Press Club member, Nancy E. Spraker, for our blog.

Nancy E. Spraker’s photos and articles about sailing, aviation and travel appear in SAIL Magazine, Aviation for Women Magazine and other publications. The magazines Veranda, Georgia Trend, Art & Antiques as well as printed collateral have benefited from her proofreading skills. Visit her Web site: www.NancySpraker.com.  

Christiane Amanpour Speaks to the Atlanta Press Club

When the announcement was made this spring that ChristianAmanpour would leave CNN for ABC News my initial reaction was, there goes someone else out CNN’s spinning door.  But it’s way more than that.  Amanpour is among a select group of respected international broadcast journalists during the past quarter century and you could mount a convincing case that she is the best of her generation.

This August, Amanpour will slip into the Sunday morning chair at ABC “This Week,” the network’s premier public affairs program whose lineage traces back to the legendary David Brinkley.  She will be the first journalist of this kind – international boots constantly on the ground – to hold serve on Sunday.

Amanpour began her distinguished CNN career 27 years ago as a do-everything production assistant.  Now she laughs about early reporting efforts which she says were fairly dismal.   Not one to stay put, Amanpour moved from Atlanta to New York where there were better assignments, higher visibility and a better path toward her goal to become an international journalist.

Amanpour was in Atlanta recently to deliver Georgia State University‘s commencement address and participate in an Atlanta Press Club mid-morning brunch.  You can find edited excerpts on http://mikekleinonline.com/ .  All excerpts are from the Press Club event where she was, as always, uniquely engaging during 45 high-spirited minutes.

Written by Mike Klein

Mike Klein is Editor at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.  He was a CNN Executive Producer, Supervising Producer and Vice President of News Production between 1984 and 1998.

Reporting From Haiti: How New Media Helped Deliver the Story

On Thursday, April 1^st, Atlanta Press Club members gathered at the Buckhead Ruth’s Chris Steak House for part of the Evening Enrichment Series entitled, “Reporting From Haiti: How New Media Helped Deliver the Story.”  Four panelists, all Atlanta-area journalists, shared their own personal experiences of reporting on the aftermath of the catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010.

Moderated by Patrick Solomon, Senior Vice President for Global Support Services for CARE, the meeting began with a recollection of events from each journalist, representing CNN, Fox, and Reuters.

Meredith Artley, Vice President and Managing Editor of CNN.com, remained in Atlanta after the earthquake hit.  However, her experience in the newsroom proved to be quite intense as a whirlwind of information poured in from CNN reporters in the field.  Artley recalled that within about 48 hours after the quake struck, nearly 50 CNN reporters and crew were already on the ground.

With regards to new media, Artley spoke of hundreds of videos and photographs making their way to the newsroom not only from CNN crews, but also from the iReports of people in Port-au-Prince and the Dominican Republic.  In addition, she said they were also getting information from social networks such as Twitter and Facebook.  One of the perks of new media in situations like the Haiti earthquake is that it was much easier for people to donate money for victims by texting different charity organizations via cell phone, Artley said.

Jonathan Serrie, a local reporter for Fox News, and his photographer, Tom Jachman, were both embedded with members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.  In their case, new media proved to be a bit tough as they kept losing signals on their phones.  As it turns out, Serrie admitted, blogging and tweeting are not so easy to do aboard a naval ship and while flying in helicopters.

Matthew Bigg, a reporter with Reuters, did three tours, 10 days each, in Haiti.  Despite being right in the heart of the worst destruction in Port-au-Prince and seeing mass graves and bodies everywhere, he said the spirit and valor of the people of Haiti are what most resonated with him.  Bigg spoke of feeling fortunate to be a journalist in that situation, and being able to get the story from both above the line people in the government as well as people on the street. 

All four journalists agreed that new media has changed the way reporters cover natural disasters, and how viewers get their information.  They acknowledged that today’s 24- hour news cycle is much different than it was in 2004 when news reporters were covering Hurricane Katrina.  For the most part, it seems  the Internet, iReporters, social networking sites, and Blackberry’s have truly paved the way for insightful, honest, raw reporting.   

Written for APC Blog by

Caren Sachs, APC member 

Congratulations to Mara Shalhoup, named Editor in Chief of Creative Loafing Atlanta!

ATLANTA, GA 

Mara Shalhoup, senior editor of *Creative Loafing* Atlanta, has been named editor in chief of the paper, which is the Southeast’s largest newsweekly.

Shalhoup joined *Creative Loafing* Atlanta in 2000 and has served as a staff writer, news editor, and senior writer. Since November 2008, she has served as part of a four-person editorial leadership team that includes Managing Editor T. Chante LaGon, Online Producer Alejandro Leal, and Arts & Entertainment Editor Debbie Michaud.

“With Mara’s rich history in the community and deep knowledge of journalism and Atlanta, she is the perfect choice to lead our editorial team,” said Luann Labedz, publisher of *Creative Loafing* Atlanta. “Mara is a standout executive who has been a leader in innovation and is a great example of the paper’s next generation of leaders.”

Shalhoup is the recipient of a number of awards that recognize her journalistic talent. Among them is the Atlanta Press Club’s 2007 Journalist of the Year award. She also was named Best Local Reporter in 2007 by *Atlanta Magazine*. In 2007 the Association of Alternative Newspapers awarded Shalhoup first place for a web feature for her “BMF: Hip-hop’s shadowy empire.” That 2006 series in *Creative Loafing* Atlanta, about a national cocaine and hip-hop syndicate, is the subject of Shalhoup’s first book,

BMF:The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family, which will be published in March by St. Martin’s Press.

In 2005 Shalhoup also received a first place Clarion Award for feature writing for Learning to Hit a Lick. And she is a two-time finalist for the Livingston Award, which honors journalists under the age of 35. Before joining *Creative Loafing* Atlanta, Shalhoup was a crime writer for the *Macon Telegraph*.

Marty Petty, CEO of CL Media, *Creative Loafing* Atlanta’s parent company,

said: “Mara’s keen sense for the influencers and hot spots that make Atlanta special uniquely positions her to take on this prestigious assignment. CL Atlanta’s readers are in for a treat.”

“Ever since I was a teenager growing up in the burbs, I’ve had much respect and admiration for *Creative Loafing*,” Shalhoup said. “It’s scrappy and smart and provocative and cool. The paper speaks to people in a way that matters, and I’m thrilled to lead a super-talented staff through some changes that will make *Creative Loafing* even more essential. I’m also eager to hear from readers and the community about how we can do a better job.”

ABOUT CL Media.  CL Media owns six of America’s leading urban weeklies ‹ the Chicago *Reader*, the Washington (DC) *City Paper, Creative Loafing Atlanta, *Creative Loafing* Tampa,* Creative Loafing* Charlotte, and *Creative

Loafing* Sarasota. Its holdings also include websites associated with those newspaper properties, the Straight Dope (straightdope.com) and Listen.com sites, and the Digital Advertising Network.

ABOUT *Creative Loafing* Atlanta. *Creative Loafing* Atlanta, founded in 1972, today is Georgia’s second-largest newspaper, with a national reputation for its coverage of news, culture, contemporary music and the arts in its community.

New State Budget Task Force

Georgia’s 2010 version of the General Assembly was barely one hour old Monday when Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and other Senate leaders announced a new budget task force that will be charged with generating short-term and long-term recommendations to cover a multi-billion dollar hole in the current year and 2011 budgets.  Seven private sector and foundation executives were named to the task force.

“The reason we’re moving forward with this initiative is to not have to raise any taxes,” Cagle told reporters in a North Rotunda news conference.  He added, “We’re not like Washington.  We don’t have the luxury of printing money.”

And money is something the state budget desperately needs.  The two-year long recession caused state revenues to plummet creating a $1.5 bilion shortfall in the current fiscal year budget that ends June 30, plus an additional $2 billion in the next fiscal year.  Those numbers are on top of $3 billion already trimmed from state budgets during the past two years.

Cagle challenged the task force to create “foundational changes as to how government has been operating.”  He praised the New Georgia initiative created by Governor Sonny Perdue for its emphasis on best practices, citing Medicaid program improvements and privatization of the state vehicle fleet, but he said consolidation of more state services seems inevitable in this current financial climate.

Senate Appropriations chairman Jack Hill made brief remarks as did task force members Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and Edward Heys, Atlanta deputy managing partner of Deloitte & Touche.  Other task force members include Max Blocker, partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers; Monye Connolly, president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia; Greg Duncan, president of North American Operations for UCB, Inc.; Ronnie Labrato, executive vice president, CFO and treasurer for Georgia Power and Suzane Sitherwood, president of Atlanta Gas Light.  The committee has been in meetings prior to this morning’s Cagle news conference.

Written by Mike Klein

APC Board Member

Hilarious AND Informative Authors Panel

Who would’ve guessed that five accomplished, award-winning and best-selling authors could be as entertaining as a raunchy improv troupe (peppering “F”-bombs and other colorful quips into their commentary) and as informative and enlightening as, well, an authors’ panel? The Atlanta Press Club and the American Society of Journalists and Authors SE chapter presented the program last Thursday night in part to welcome the national ASJA board of directors to Atlanta for its annual meeting.

Hollis Gillespie, Joshilyn Jackson, Janine Latus and Hank Klibanoff, along with Paste magazine book editor and panel moderator Charles McNair, discussed how the Internet — in particular blogs and social media — has shaped the publishing industry and impacted their relationships with their audiences.

To Gillespie, blogging is all about marketing yourself as an “expert” on anything from posting crazy photos of people at Wal-Mart to poodle grooming, she said. “If you’re passionate about something, you can stake your claim on it [online].” Jackson, who started her blog in 2004, said she gets up to 60,000 unique visitors per month, keeps her connected to her loyalist fans, and focuses her novel writing. Having an online presence doesn’t hurt book sales, either, she added. “The only thing that sells books is word of mouth,” Jackson said, adding that activity on social networking sites helps her spread that word. Latus, an ASJA board member in town from Norfolk, Va., said her online strategy is to answer every email with a personal response. She uses her best-selling memoir, which promotes awareness of domestic violence, as a platform.

Pulitzer Prize-winner Klibanoff represented the “other” side of the social networking coin — he is virtually unvirtual. With no website, Facebook page or blog, Klibanoff said he is “shameless” about emailing contacts when he will be speaking in their cities, but otherwise stays out of the blogosphere. His current projects include a four-part documentary for public television about cold cases during the Civil Rights movement.

Taylor Branch and Byron Pitts Share Their Unique Experiences with the APC

Taylor Branch and Byron Pitts are storytellers — Branch in books and Pitts primarily on television – but their goals are essentially the same – to enlighten, educate and inform.  They successfully do that without getting in the way, the hallmark of great storytellers.

Branch is the best-selling historian who earned a Pulitzer Prize for “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63.”   Pitts is the world-traveled CBS 60 Minutes correspondent who once was diagnosed as mentally retarded, and who did not begin to read until age 12.  

Branch and Pitts discussed their new books this week during separate Atlanta Press Club luncheons at The Commerce Club in Atlanta.  Here is a brief glimpse into their appearances.

Taylor Branch – The Clinton Tapes – Wrestling History with the President

Taylor Branch knew Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham when nobody knew them.  All three political youngsters shared an apartment when they went to Texas to campaign for George McGovern during the 1972 presidential campaign.   McGovern sustained a bad day at the electoral whipping post and the future was back to the drawing table for Taylor, Bill and Hillary.

Despite their friendship, it was nevertheless surprising when the former campaigner who became President of the United States told his journalist friend he wanted to record “an oral history to give people something to work with,” and something Clinton could use later to write memoirs.  Not everyone was onboard. “Hillary was against the recordings,” Branch says today.

There were seventy-nine interviews during eight years.  Branch’s notes form the basis for “The Clinton Tapes – Wrestling History with the President.”  It is a remarkably detailed review of the man and events that built and threatened to tear down the President.  This volume is history in large chunks, the innermost thoughts from Bill Clinton during his highest and lowest moments.

The actual audio recordings – there were two master copies — remain with Clinton who says they will not be released until after Hillary Clinton concludes her political career.  The book was written from transcribed audio notes Branch made after each interview, including one that took place at the White House on the evening of the Oklahoma City bombing. 

Branch told many stories about his interaction with Clinton, including this one.  “He would pop off and ask me, ‘Do you think I should fire the CIA director?’  My tendency was to say, ‘I’m just here to ask questions.  But I really couldn’t dodge those things.”

We never did find out whether Taylor Branch thought Bill Clinton should fire the CIA director!

Byron Pitts – Step Out on nothing – How Faith Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges

“There are many people on television who happen to write.  I am a person who loves to write who happens to be on television.”  Byron Pitts says there are three kinds of stories.  Here to there stories, search for treasure stories and love stories.  His life is all three wrapped into a package.

The Byron Pitts that viewers know from his stint at CBS 60 Minutes focuses on stories and people who tell them.  “I am less interested in talking with people with big voices.  I am more interested in finding small voices,” Pitts told APC luncheon guests on Tuesday.  Those stories have taken him around the world from Ground Zero in New York on 9/11 to battlefields in distant places and New Orleans for Katrina.  His is the mileage of the network newsman on the move.

Read his biography on the CBS News site and you find the usual biography stuff:   Contributor to 60 Minutes along with chief national correspondent for The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.   Before that, Pitts was a rising star in local television, including three years at WSB-TV Atlanta.  

The official biography leaves out the complete Byron Pitts story.  He was functionally illiterate until age 12 and stuttered until age 20.  Nor does the official version recall his mother Clarice who raised three children alone, or the many people who believed in young Byron and encouraged him to believe all things are possible.

“My grandmother would say, ‘If I can get through today, there is a better day ahead tomorrow.’”

Today Pitts helps lead a 60 Minutes unit that includes four producers, four associate producers and two researchers.  It is a competitive environment.  All 60 Minutes correspondents are going after the same stories anywhere in the world.  “The secret to 60 Minutes is finding a good story worth telling and then telling it,” Pitts said.  And finding it first.

The late 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley gave Pitts this advice:  “Read, read, read.  Then listen, listen, listen.”  He says, “If the person I am interviewing has written a book, I need to read it.  If someone has written a book about the person I am interviewing, I need to read it.”

Pitts and his unit are currently producing a profile of Atlanta’s Tyler Perry, along with segments that discuss war from a child’s perspective, plus reports on IED teams in Afghanistan and the shortage of resources required to assist U.S. personnel who return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Written by Mike Klein

APC Board Member

www.mikekleinonline.com

Furman Bisher Writes Final Column

Over the weekend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution sports columnist Furman Bisher’s final column before retirement appeared in the newspaper and online. Apparently, Bisher typed his column on the same old Royal typewriter he used to write his first, back in 1950.

The AJC’s Steve Hummer writes a tribute to Bisher on ajc.com today, where you can also see photos from Bisher’s lengthy career and read some of his best work.

The Atlanta Press Club wishes Furman Bisher well in his retirement!

Arthur Blank Discusses What it Takes to Run a Successful Company and Football Team at the Atlanta Press Club

The Gorilla Ball, a Night of Laughs and High Recognition

CNN veteran Jane Maxwell received the APC’s 2009 “Willie B” Lifetime Achievement Award on Saturday evening during a ceremony at the Atlanta Zoo.  Maxwell joins a long list of accomplished broadcasters whose careers have been recognized by the Press Club.  She is the first CNN recipient.  Jane was predictably modest, telling the audience she always figured she was fairly anonymous and she seemed genuinely surprised that anyone would know much about her career. 

Maxwell is a CNN Original — meaning she arrived at the network shortly after Ted Turner gave birth.  Jane joined as CNN’s first managing editor several months before the June 1980 launch.  She remained in that same post — directing its ever expanding national bureaus — until the network recognized it should create a Special Events unit that would facilitate long-term planning for substantial events.  Jane founded the unit which she supervised for most of her nearly three-decade career until she retired several months ago.  Her final major project was the 2008 national election cycle.

CNN Special Events carves a wide path across the network’s planning cycle.  Over the past several decades it became the planning and execution center for national political campaigns, elections and inaugurations, for all international presidential travel and summits, for major events including the fall of Communism in Moscow and Berlin, the demonstrations in Beijing, coverage of the U.S. space program and probably its largest challenges, helping to plan and create coverage of both Iraq wars, along with numerous regional conflicts, most of them in the Middle East.

The tasks undertaken by CNN Special Events are as diverse as editorial supervision, arranging last minute passports for international travel, creating mammoth research documents, installation of CNN physical facilities into worldwide sites, coordinating coverage onto CNN’s many networks and integrating networks from other countries that use CNN resources. Special Events also specializes in pens, pencils, paper and bottled water.

On a personal note, I was fortunate to work with Jane for 14 years at CNN.  In the midst of madness, Jane demonstrated an ability to see through confusion, identify goals and create paths that would enable us to achieve success.  Jane knew when to hold firm and she equally knew when to compromise and change the plan.  She molded an extraordinary team that functioned with extreme precision.  Throughout it all, Jane also showed compassion, a sometimes too rare trait in broadcast executives.  Jane would find time to listen to and help anyone.  She did that for hundreds of CNN colleagues.

Congratulations, to Jane Maxwell, 2009 APC “Willie B” Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.

Written by:  Mike Klein
APC Board Member
www.mikekleinonline.com

Footnote:

The Gorilla Ball also featured this year’s blooper reels from CNN, WAGA, WSB and WXIA.  A four-judge panel voted the WAGA entry best of the bloopers.  Entries were judged by Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Anne Elizabeth Barnes, radio and television personality Holly Firfer, Jim Shuler of the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and Capt. Eric Jackson of DeKalb County Fire and Rescue.  Tom Regan of WSB and Doug Richards of WXIA emceed the evening.

The Press Club thanks its Gorilla Ball primary sponsor:  Mitch Leff of Mitch Leff Associates.

Food or prizes were donated by Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Atlanta Opera, Piedmont Park Conservatory, American Roadhouse, Barley’s Sports Bar & Lounge, Chick-fil-a, Mary Mac’s Tea Room, Sweet Luv’s Cheesecakes and Yoforia  .