Aspiring Arts Blog

WOW… A WHOLE YEAR! I can’t apologize enough… it’s been a whole year since I’ve written to this blog.  That is inexcusable and I promise to do better? Ok, so I won’t wait another year to update you.  That’s more believable!

So, to catch you up on the entire process… The Basics of Money is doing good.  It hasn’t picked up to the groups and orgs like we wanted but we are making individual sales.  And honestly, my day to day has me so stretched and stressed that I haven’t really pushed it.  I’ve taken on the task of establishing and operating  a non profit foundation (that will use TBOM as class material (wink, wink)) so that has delayed the production of our eBooks, the “From Mack to Marriage” novel and marketing on TBOM.  But I am getting everything back on track.  I’m getting push and assistance so progress is in progress!

I miss the publishing game and the book signings so it’s back to business at full steam!  If it’s been a while since my last post and you need a fix of the publishing game drama, send a message and I’ll drop everything and blog my heart out!  Otherwise, watch for movement on AspiringArts.com and at www.algreer.org.  I urge you to join the cause and make a helpful donation of money or time.  Every little bit  is needed and appreciated.

As always,

Stay Blessed & Be Easy…

Publisher

I’m so glad I made that new creed because it has been a LONG time since I’ve been on here.  Remember all those directions I told you I was getting pulled in last time??? DOUBLED!  Something will have to give and at this pace, it’ll be my regular gig because I have to keep doing the publishing and writing thing.

Anywho, I’ve officially switched hats from writer to publisher and I’m still courting several opportunities to push TBOM into the right hands.  We’re courting schools, youth programs, colleges, churches, community programs… you name it, I’m talking to them!  TBOM is a great tool and the world needs to know it!

Other than that, I’ve began to stretch myself thin again and started working on my non-profit but that’s another blog.  LOL

The publishing game is taking a swing, has been for a while now, and Aspiring Arts is going to try it’s hand… We’ve just set in motion the plans to release 2 new eBook titles that were originally set to go to print.  Our erotica collection of short stories, poetry, and an exciting new read called Erotic Conversations, and the long awaited book of poetry.  If successful, you’ll begin to see more eBook titles while still doing print runs for those nostalgic few.  Depending on the demand, we may be doing the Amazon Kindle2 too.  It’s still a bit pricy right now but it is pegged to be the iPod of the book industry.  Go figure.

Oh well, that’s about all for now.  As usual, I promise to do better (remember the creed).

Stay Blessed… Be Easy!

Publisher 🙂

Ok… I’m really sucking at this once a week thing.  I’m pulled in so many different directions that I’m lucky to get on here once a month.  NEW CREED: I’ll get on here and post new info as soon as I can!  There.

Anyways, so much to catch you up on!  First off, BEA was the BOMB! It was so much more than I expected.  I learned a lot, met a lot of interesting new folks and networked my rear end off…  I was completely caught off guard for everything that was there and I was feeling down on my self for not being better prepared but then I remembered that I never been to BEA and didn’t know what to expect… that was the entire reason for going; to know what to expect and hit it hard next year.  So look out NYC, I’ll be ready for you next year!

Bad news – I had to push the launch of the new title “The Basics of Money: Tips for the Individual and Young Couples” off from June until late July due to delays in printing our CDs and finalizing funding for the 1st print run.  Also, editing and corrections are taking longer than anticipated.  So our new target date is the end of July.  We’re still courting our secret weapon.  No progress has been made with that as of yet.

Good news – We are in talks for getting BOM added to the fall roster in a community college as supplemental text.  That is GREAT if you’re not already aware.   Also, we have a new investor!  The funds will be used for marketing, printing and overhead.  This is a much needed and appreciated boost in helping us reach our goals.  It shows that someone else believes in our vision and direction.

Shetia Mays of Mays Media Inc. has been contracted for all PR activities.  We’ve worked with Mays Media before and they are truly amazing.  They’re going to help spread the word about Aspiring Arts and our future authors so we can get the publicity our authors deserve.  Shetia works as hard for her clients as we do for our family!  I expect nothing but good things to come out of the relationship.

OK… That’s all I got for now.  I think you are as up to date as I am.  If I think of anything else, I’ll post again.  Otherwise, I’ll blog again shortly.

As always… Stay Blessed and Be Easy!

Publisher

WHEW!!! We’ve made it past Tax Day and still have some bit of sanity!

What’s good.  I hope everyone is doing well. We’re off to a rough start.  I planned to be here every week and keep up the blog but between editing, planning, taxes and things, my 24 has been jammed packed!  Anyways, things are still moving ahead at full steam.  The application added with The Basics of Money book has been thoroughly tested and adapted for businesses for compliance with the tax season and I’m proud to announce that it passed with flying colors.  It’s ready to meet the public.  CD Label design is complete and we’re working on printing the labels, stuffing the sleeves and loading the application on each one.  And to help us make more industry connections, the AAP team will be attending the Book Expo of America at the L.A. Convention Center May 29th – June 1st.  This is the industry event of the year and imperative that we attend.  Be sure to check back after the conference for the details.  That’s all I got for now.  Just editing, finishing up pre-production details and still courting our secret connection. 

Till next time,

Stay blessed… Be easy!

Publisher

Well, here we go.  This is my first blog so please bear with me 🙂  The purpose of this blog is to keep you all updated to the happenings of Aspiring Arts.  We’ll give the details on all of our backend processes for signing authors, book production, titles in the works and all!  I hope you enjoy it and learn something about the publishing business in the process.

 So we have a few things going on now.  I have created the website (of course) and loaded the cover to the new title coming out in June, “The Basics of Money: Tips for the Individual and Young Couples”.  This is a non-fiction title aimed at helping folks get a hold of their personal finances and plan for the future.  Our cover designer is the BOMB! She came back with this cover in less than 48 hours… We got our ISBNs assigned and the barcode image made.  We can’t file for our CIP (Catalog in Publication) # or the copyrights until I have a final page count. The author is on the last 2 chapters and we’ve started on editing the first sections already.  We are under the gun for this release and really trying to stick to the June release date.  We’ve began reaching out to some groups that I can’t mention just yet because I don’t want to damage our courting of them. But I will say that if this goes thru, we’ll be able to reach a great number of folks and the revenue made will get those new titles out just that much quicker!

Ok, the business side has been taken care of; we have the business address established, IRS business handled, banking, toll free # and all have been done.  We are open for business! After this title, we are working on a title for a fall release, “From Mack to Marriage”, and we have determined that we need all submissions for our holiday release by the end of June in order to finalize contracts, editing and all.  The holiday release is our annual anthology to showcase new authors.  The anthology is titled “Small Talk”.  This holiday’s book is titled “Small Talk: For the Love of It”.  Now, we’re working with a PR team to help get the word out and submissions in.

Well, that’s it for now.  I’ll try to get back in here and update you every week.  If something big happens, I’ll be on before Sunday!  Enjoy the week, stay blessed and be easy!

Publisher