New for 2011

We here at 2 Moon Press, are excited about many things that we are gearing up to premiere and also start in 2011. We are determined to see a even more successful 2011 than we did in 2010, and to do that we will be implementing many new things such as...

• We are revamping the way publishing is done. We are doing this by letting the author design their own packages with a specialized publishing calculator. This will allow the author to go to our web site, and easily and quickly determine what they want, and see a price right then! We also will have 2 base packages in case the author just wants to have a pre-designed solution.

• We are adding video of our operation, and also explain what we do, and how we do it. This will let potential clients know who we are and what we do.

• Most exciting for authors of all will be something NEVER heard of in publishing EVER! We are going to for every publishing job is going to come with A MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! We are offering this new feature that will cover time frames to get your book published, also marketed! NO ONE ever has done this, and this we think will be a huge way to show prospective authors that at 2 Moon we mean business!

• We will be at more trade shows and author events this year, showcasing our authors books, and also our services.

• Price! You will not find anyplace else better pricing, and value for your dollars than with us. We are adding more services, better per book pricing, and best of all we are guaranteeing placement into Barnes & Noble, Borders online. Plus availability to most book sellers in North America!

Merry Christmas

We here at 2 Moon have have a wonderful year in 2010. We have seen great books, wonderful people in the great town of Marshall, and some of the most talented authors in the small press arena.

Merry Christmas to every single one of you and your families.

2 Moon has new signage up.

Well we recently remodeled our offices, and today we got new signage up for the place. 2 Moon wants to thanks Steve Lake for the help today with the help of hanging it. Also thanks Steve, for the cupcakes!!

New kids series coming.

I wanted to post and brag about a new childrens book chapter reader series we are putting to press this week. Written by Kristina Garcia. "The Country Secrets" reader series is designed for first and second grade children. Each book tells the story of a child, and something interesting that they encounter, that in the end teaches them a wonderful lesson.

Each book can be read on its own, as each story is independent. However, there are a total of twelve books by Kristina that we are releasing. We hope you will look for these books on our web site, and also on Amazon. Plus make sure you bug your local bookseller for these wonderful books. They will make a great Christmas Present.

2 Moon Newsletter

Well we are in the works for something new here. We are planning a monthly news letter for authors, in it we will address writing, marketing, and also showcase books by our authors. There will be event notifications. Not only for 2 Moon but also for authors in general.

You do not have to be a 2 Moon author to get this free PDF Newsletter. Just look on our web site soon for a Newsletter page, and there you will be able to sign up for it. And do not worry WE  DO NOT give or sell email addresses to anyone.

2 Moon E-Books

In an effort to better serve our clients, we are in the process of offering KINDLE versions of all of our books, so we can sell them in our about to be released online book store.

We also are partnering with EZ-Read to offer our E-Books by and through their web site. Great thing is our authors who have an ebook through us, will have the ability to see where their book rates, and get customer feedback as to their writing.

Website Updates

Well another round of updates are being done, and soon you will see some new and interesting things on our site. We are implementing video and also downloadable PDF samples of all books. Plus we will finally have our shopping cart up and running.

We also will be adding many events to the event pages that we have set up.

Something also is in the works, and will be up and running soon. We are going to have an "Meet the author" section, where those authors that want it, can have a special page with a little more of a expanded bio about there is present.

The Endless Debate

One of the most strongest debates online seems to be if an author is "really" published if they "pay" for their publishing services? This question has been the topic of fierce debate, and we want to chime in on this as we are a Pay to Publish operation.

Vanity publishing is a term used by some to describe a Publisher who charges for their services. We are curious as to how can anyone with a straight face can claim that paying to publish your book means you are not published. After all, what is the definition of "being Published?"

To issue (printed or otherwise reproduced textual or graphic material, computer software, etc.) for sale or distribution to the public.

Now I think the key thing to see and understand is the last part of this definition. Sale or distribution to the public. There is a difference between a book printer and a publisher, the publisher not only designs, lays out and issues an ISBN for a book, they market the book, they do events, they work with the author to ensure that the book gets out into the public eye. We live in a day of services, if you go to an agent who gets you into a "mainstream" publisher two things happen.

1. You PAY that agent, or if he doesnt have an upfront fee he takes most of your royalties.

2. You lose the creative rights and control of your story.

After all, the Mainstream publisher is taking the financial risk, so naturally they want to make sure YO)UR book is just like THEY want it to be.

Paying to publish does not mean you are not "published." However it is also important to understand that BEING PUBLISHED is more than paying to have a book printed. Being PUBLISHED, is marketing, distribution, and seeing your book not in the local author sections, but on the shelf among other authors and published works.

So next time you are told you are not an author, ask whomever is telling you that, Who is your publisher?

New Offices

We have been busy here, after staying in our offices for almost a year, we have done and extreme make over of the place. New carpet, paint, and work stations. Not to mention track lighting, and new outdoor signage. We have installed two new work stations, and also did the office and store room.

We hope you like what we have done to the place, please come on in and we would love to show you the place.

Author Tracking

Well we have grown so much these past months, that our manual way of tracking authors is well... not very reliable, and also some things have fallen in the cracks that we want to make sure never fall again. So we have custom designed the Author Tracking Pro (ATP) system.

This system is a software internet package that allows us to track our publishing jobs from initial contact to book delivery. We have designed it so that at any time an author can call us, and can get an update as to where there publishing solution is at. We also are getting ready to implement an online system that an author can enter there personal PIN number, and it will display where they are at.

On the fly verification. One more way we at 2 Moon Press are trying to make the publishing experience better and more efficient.

Seldom Used

We started this blog awhile ago, and frankly have never really done anything with it. However that has changed as of today. We have decided to among the many things we have our fingers into, to keep our clients and also searchers and travelers of "The Cloud" updated and books, events, and other cool and interesting things.

Stay tuned to a computer screen near you for lots of things about 2 Moon Press Book Publishing.

E-Books

The E-Book is one of the most rapidly expanding publishing methods, and one that many people have many opinions on. I know people who are very much against E-Books and what they are and what they entail. Now as a publisher I have to walk the fine line, as I am not "against" the E-Book however I am against what they have become.

Now I know I just said I am against them, however I am not. Have I confused you yet? Let me explain what I mean.

The E-Book has the potential to be something very positive not only for the consumer, but also for the publisher. However the industry has morphed into this arguing and non-standard entity that frankly has taken the fun out of them.

Kindle, Nook, Epub, Ipub, PDF, yadda yadda yadda.... It seems that the creators of the readers are so paranoid that they wont get ALL the market share, that they purposly design their readers to not be compatable with other readers and so on. Who loses in this? Well frankly we all do. What the industry is doing to E-Books and the formats of them, is like me publishing my books using my own written language, that I wont share with other publishers.

What we need is ONE. Yes I said ONE standard format so that we can have a standard to not only use that would make it easier for publishers, but also it would allow the folks who make the actual readers center more on innovation of the reader.

Plus with a standard format, the author wins as they can get their book out to more people in more diverse markets.

I think the E-Book and the reader is a great concept, it is portable, less expensive to purchase books, and you can haul around an entire library. Great things indeed for those that want it, however lets throw something out there.... There is something alot of people are not thinking of here. Without standardizing the language of the reader, you risk that YOUR reader and the format it reads wil one day be obsolete. WOLF was and is a good example....

Now in this writers opinion, the format to go with as the STANDARD is the E-PUB... every reader out there except the Kindle uses it. I say we should make this the one to go with. 2 Moon Press will use this as the standard for its E-Book sales for now on.

I say publishers and authors need to do what they can to ensure that hardware and industry support does not continue to evolve into this miasma of formats that it is becoming.