November 1, Items of general interest to all writers How to Write a Children s Book 10 Club Members Recommend Web Sites 10 Cartoons 11

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1 WLOV NEWSLETTER November 1, 2017 Just 3 months until EXPO 18! What: WLOV s Central Florida Book & Author Expo When: January 27, 2018, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Where: Eisenhower Recreation Center In this edition of the Newsletter Mainly of interest to writers in The Villages Page Message From Your President 2 Upcoming Writing-Related Events 2 Message from Your Expo 18 Chairman 4 Bookmarks for Expo 18 4 Club Ambassadors for Expo 18 5 Credit Card Reader for Expo 18 Authors 6 Florida Sales Tax Info for Expo 18 Authors 6 Annual Book Cover Contest 6 Oct 4 Panel Discussion on Book Genres 8 WLOV Want Ads 8 Club Member Appointed Chairman of FWAY 9 Congrats to WLOV s RPLA Winners 9 Valentines Day Love Story Readings 1 st Announcement 9 Items of general interest to all writers How to Write a Children s Book 10 Club Members Recommend Web Sites 10 Cartoons 11 WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 1

2 Message From Your President WLOV has three events in a row that require registration and prepayment. Most importantly, the 2018 Central Florida Author & Book Expo is less than 3 months away. (Note. We ve had a terrific response by local authors, and all tables may be fully reserved by the time you read this. If you send in a reservation you may end up on a waiting list.) More info about Expo 18 is provided on pages 4-6. In conjunction with Expo 18, WLOV is again sponsoring a book cover contest. The rules are slightly changed this year. You may enter up to 3 covers, one each per category of fiction, non-fiction and children s. The cost is $5 per cover entered. More details are on page 6. The third event requiring registration and prepayment is our annual Breakfast Meeting and Holiday Entertainment, Wednesday, December 6, 8:30 a.m., at Laurel Manor Rec Center. All guests of WLOV members are welcome to attend. The cost is $13 per person for a deluxe breakfast buffet, prepared by LaHacienda Catering. You can pre-pay at the monthly meeting November 1 st, or mail in your check (WLOV; P.O. Box 1067; Lady Lake, FL 32158). The deadline for receipt of payment is November 25, One more reminder: Dues are due! $15/year for You can pay at the monthly meeting November or December, or mail in your check to the address above. And if you re reading this and not a current member, please consider joining. For writers it s a tremendous bargain in The Villages. Following the Events Calendar you will find much more information pertaining to our members and to writing in general. Larry Martin President, WLOV drlarry437@gmail.com WLOV Calendar of Upcoming Writing-related Events DATE Wed, Nov 1 Nov 1-30 EVENT Laurel Manor Rec Center, 8:30 10:30 am Speaker: DV Havlin, Prize-winning author Tips for the Author: Novice or Old Hand I ve met the enemy and he is me. National Novel Writing Month: NaNoWriMo For details, see and WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 2

3 UPCOMING EVENTS (CONTINUED) DATE Thurs, Nov 2 Wed, Dec 6 Wed, Jan 3 Wed, Jan 3 Jan Sat, Jan 27 EVENT Pinellas branch of Sumter County Library, 2 p.m.; presentation by Bill Pullen of his new book It Started at The Savoy Laurel Manor Rec Center, 8:30 10:30 a.m. Annual Holiday Breakfast open to all WLOV members and guests; see President s message, above Laurel Manor Rec Center, 8:30 10:30 a.m. Florida writer, book coach and publishing consultant Rik Feeney will present Marketing for Book Events. This talk will be of special interest to anyone signed up to sell books at Expo 18 (January 27) or similar events. There will be Q&A afterwards. For more information on Mr. Feeney see Laurel Manor Rec Center, noon to 3:30 p.m. Mr. Feeney will present seminar on Marketing Your Kindle Book. Registration form will soon be posted on Annual Book Cover Contest. Open to all WLOV members and anyone who has reserved a table at Expo 18 to sell books. Registration form on Covers entered in the WLOV Book Cover contest will be displayed at Savannah Center Jan 17-21, Winners will be announced at the Central Florida Book & Author Expo, January 27 WLOV s Central Florida Book & Author Expo Eisenhower Recreation Center (for more info see next page). Table reservation form on Bradley ballroom - one of the two large spaces that will be hosting Expo 18 at the Eisenhower Rec Center on Saturday, Jan 27, WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 3

4 Message from your Expo 18 Chairman Mark Newhouse, Expo 18 Chairman Now is the time to start spreading the news! Invite your friends and neighbors. We have a full house of authors who deserve our support. Please consider adding your name to our Ambassadors Club, so you can distribute our flyers and/or bookmarks to clubs and organizations you already attend. And please volunteer to visit a local school or library to form a relationship and support that is mutually beneficial. Ambassadors can ask the school or library to include information about Expo 18 in their events calendars. Contact me for any help, or with your ideas. mark@newhouse.net or Remember, you are the best PR. So start spreading the word and let s rock Eisenhower again! Thank you. Bookmarks for Expo 18 Jack Hayes has again done a masterful job in designing our Expo bookmarks. These bookmarks are being distributed by our ambassadors to various TV clubs. Below are the front and back of the bookmark. If you have not signed on to be an ambassador, and would like to distribute bookmarks to one or more of your clubs, please notify Mark Newhouse (mark@newhouse.net or ). These bookmarks will also be available at our Nov 1 and Dec 6 meetings at Laurel Manor. A blog post on using bookmarks for marketing your books is at: WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 4

5 Club Ambassadors for Expo 18 Below is the list of ambassadors signed up to promote the Expo and distribute bookmarks to their clubs. Anyone is welcomed to sign up and receive bookmarks for distribution. Name Donna Beard Rita Boehm Don Canaan Lindsay Collier Marian Davenport Diane Dean Anne Doblcin Jenny Ferns Joan Gilligan Donna Goldie Barry Greenawald Lorraine M. Harris Ann Heathman John Mallon CC Martin Larry Martin Anna Massengill Jim Meyer Mark Newhouse Sandi Newmark Sigrid Shiotani Paddock Kay Plizka Carolyn Rebholz Wes Rocki Bill Russell Mary Ann Weakley Jan Zahorian Club(s) LaZamora Club Colorado Club CPPG-colored pencil, Chabad & Temple Shalom Mini Cooper Club Rohan Rec Center Bookworm Book Club, Unity Spiritual Center Unity of The Villages Allendale Book Club, Seabreeze Rec Center, Reading Between the Wines The Wisconsin Club The Giving Doll Parrots Are Us African American Club, Guys/Dolls, Golf Group SSRA author s club, Homosassa Odell Rec Florida Writers Association, Oxford Critique Group Central Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, Writers in Time Villages Honor Flight Wannabe Writers, Writers of Villages, Creative Writers Mystery Lovers Book Club, Newport Villas Bookies DAV, Xhula Vista Social Club Writers 4 Kids, It Takes a Village Club, Bookworm Club Villages Photo Club Asian American Club, Summerhill Social Club UMC Choir Colony and Odell Rec Centers Unity of The Villages Geneology Club KTH Club, Gilchrist Book Club Various bridge and whist clubs School and Library Ambassadors for Expo 18 Villages Elementary (Rolling Acres Road) - Available Villages Early Learning - Available Villages Charter High School - Jack Hayes Mark Twain Library - Maggie Wacker Villages Charter Middle School - Available Pinellas Library - Rita Boehm Villages Charter Elementary - Donna Beard Belvedere Library - Barbara Phillips Wildwood Elementary - Available Wildwood Middle - Available Lady Lake Library - Larry Martin Leesburg Library - Bill Russell WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 5

6 Credit Card Reader for Expo Authors This is the simplest way to accept credit cards for book sales. A card reader plugs into your phone, as shown below, and then the credit card is swiped through that reader. You can sign up at for a free card reader, or purchase one inexpensively at CVS or Walgreens. Each book sale generates a small fee: 2.75% per swipe (when you can simply slide the card through the reader) 3.5% + 15 if you must type in the card number because the magnetic stripe doesn't register. To get your own free Square card reader, follow these simple steps: 1. Go to the App store on your smartphone or tablet and search for Square 2. Click on Square - read the details 3. Click install and watch for your Register icon to appear on your phone 4. Fill out your order form. 5. When your Square reader arrives in the mail, follow the instructions to practice accepting credit cards. Many of our authors have used this system, and it comes without any obligation. The system allows you to accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Payment is posted to your bank or Paypal account in one day! Florida Sales Tax Info for Authors Selling books at Expo If Florida Department of Revenue personnel attend the EXPO (they have in the past), they may request to see your Florida Sales Tax Resellers Certificate. If you do not have a FL Sales Tax ID, or your permanent residence is not in Florida, we will have One-time-Event Sales Tax report forms available for your use. This means that we have registered this event with the Florida Dept. of Revenue, so you must report if you make sales, and send in a check for the sales tax on each book/item you sell. The sales tax percentage for this event is 7% (the event is in Sumter County). Annual Book Cover Contest The Annual Book Cover Contest is a great way for WLOV members to promote their books and for WLOV to promote the annual Book Expo, which comes a week later. This year s Book Cover Contest will be held at the Savannah Center, Jan 17-21, WLOV members Jan Zahorian and Donna Beard are organizing the contest. Below is a list of last year s winners, with the winning covers in each category. Fiction: (1 st ) Rick Greenberg for Silent Heroes; (2 nd ) Rita Boehm for Second Chances; (3 rd ) Larry Martin for Sherman's Mistress in Savannah WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 6

7 Children s: (1 st ) Jan Zahorian for The Day the Sun and the Moon Got Stuck; (2 nd ) Mary Lois Sanders for The Vision Seekers; (3 rd ) Peggy Kime for Hoof Prints on Her Heart Non-Fiction: (1 st ) Katherine Edwins Schumm for Fearless; (2 nd ) Jack Hayes for Baseball s Archives; (3 rd ) Doris Hoover for Quiet Moments in The Villages For the 2018 contest, book covers can be entered through January 3, A link to the entry form is on the home page of The entry forms will also be available at the November 1 st and December 6 th general meetings. Authors may enter one cover in up to three categories: fiction, non-fiction, children s. The fee is $5 per cover. If your book cover won last year, that specific cover is NOT eligible to be re-entered. However, you may enter a cover that was also entered last year if it did not win 1 st, 2 nd or 3 rd prize. The cover can be an actual cover from one of your paperbacks, or the cover image printed on cardboard stock. It should be the same size as your actual book cover. For e-books, the cover should be no larger than standard typing paper size. The event is free and open to the public. Anyone attending may vote for their favorite cover. Book cover winners will be announced at Expo 18, January 27, 2018 at the Eisenhower Rec Center. WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 7

8 Panel Discussion on Book Genres held Oct 4 Our Panel Discussion on book genres Oct 4 was well attended and well received. As shown on the introductory slide below, five WLOV authors presented the basics of five different genres, then took questions from the audience. The bottom left photo shows our five panelists (left to right: Mark Pryor, Jack Hayes, Mark Newhouse, Ann Heathman, Larry Martin). More photos from this event are on WLOV s Facebook page. For the Powerpoint presentations or handout used in this event, please visit (under Past Presentations). WLOV Want Ads Need to borrow two 6-foot folding tables for a garage sale this coming weekend. If you have them, please call Jim Meyer at no later than Friday, November 3rd for pickup. WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 8

9 Club Member Appointed Chairperson of FWAY WLOV founder Mark H. Newhouse has been appointed by the Florida Writers Association as the new Chairperson for the Florida Writers Association Youth Program (FWAY). This program is designed to help youth writers throughout the state. On-line resources and local critique groups (meeting at libraries or schools) help young writers hone their craft and enter the youth categories of the Royal Palm Literary Awards and FWA Collections. This is an exciting opportunity to help young people learn about writing. Please contact Mark ) if you would like to learn more about helping young writers in our area. Congratulations to RPLA winners WLOV had two winners in this year s Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Awards competition. The awards were announced at the annual FWA Banquet October 21, held in Altamonte Springs. Jack Hayes (right) won in three categories, two of them for his book Baseball s Greatest. 1 st Place, General Catch-All for Baseball s Greatest 1st Runner-Up for Published Book of the Year, for Baseball s Greatest. 2 nd Place, Published Educational OR Informational, for Embezzlement: The Ultimate Betrayal Mark Newhouse (left) won 2 nd place in the category Published Middle-Grade Fiction, for The Case of the Disastrous Dragon. WLOV finalists in RPLA this year included John Mallon, Rita Boehm and Larry Martin. Valentine s Day Love Story Readings First Announcement By Millard Johnson I am happy to announce WLOV s Valentine s Day Love Story Reading. It will be a social event held Feb 14, 2018, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Fenney Rec center in the Village of Fenney. Villagers whose love stories are selected will have their stories read by members of The Villages Old Time Radio Club, under the direction of Ed Williams. WLOV member Phil Walker, a retired professional radio announcer, will emcee the event and it will be audio recorded. We will soon announce details about how to enter your story, and how they will be judged. WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 9

10 How to Write a Children s Book Previous editions of this newsletter have discussed Classic Books on Writing such as Strunk and White s The Elements of Style and Stephen King s On Writing. This edition focuses on a book for children s authors, How to Write a Children s Book, There are so many different kinds of children s books, from picture books to chapter books, middle grade novels, and young adult. The question is often asked: Should you decide you're going to write for a particular age group and then come up with an idea that fits them? Or should you decide to write a story or article about a particular idea, then choose the age group that's right for it? Whatever you write for kids, fiction or non-fiction, has to be aimed at the right age group or grade level. How to Write a Children s Book has a chapter: How Old Is Your Reader? Experienced children s authors Mark Newhouse and Mary Lois Sanders both recommend this book. From the book s blurb: How to Write a Children s Book Will Start You on Your Way to Being an Author. Whether you want to have a full-blown career writing children's books, be traditionally publish, self-publish, or simply want one book to hand down to your own children and grandkids, How to Write a Children s Book will help you. Here's What You'll Learn from How to Write a Children's Book: Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Bestselling children's authors like Judy Blume, R.L. Stine, Jane Yolen and more share their answers. You'll find out how to know when an idea is worth following, and how to write a smart book. How to figure out which readership is right for you. How to target and hit the mark with your reader and make sure you're writing to the right age. How to get going, using writing prompts provided How to get to know your main character How to plot a great story What editors wish writers knew Five good tools that can get you into bad trouble Club members recommend writing-related web sites Millard Johnson recommends: On punctuating internal dialogue. John Prince recommends: A comprehensive list of resources for authors. pod htm#bookmark14 Industry Standards Checklist for a Professionally Published Book: Checklist-for-Professionally-Published-Books.htm WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 10

11 Cartoons From The New Yorker From Writer s Digest WLOV NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 1, PAGE 11