Wheatmark Author Brings Home Glyph Award

Amy Hirshberg Lederman won the Arizona Book Award Glyph for her book One God, Many Paths: Finding Meaning and Inspiration in Jewish Teachings in the Religion/Spirituality category.

Lederman is an award-winning, nationally syndicated columnist, author, Jewish educator, public speaker, and attorney who lives in Tucson, Arizona. She teaches workshops and leads retreats on any of the topics in this book. You can visit her website at www.amyhirshberglederman.com.

Wheatmark had seven books place as finalists this year (hand claps to you all!) and we are incredibly excited that we had so many wonderful books to share with judges.

Here is a list of the finalists from Wheatmark (and some books to add to your summer reading list:

Art (Art/Music/Photography)
Singing with Mind, Body & Soul,
Betty Jeanne Chipman

Business/Career
The Big Gamble
Jose D. Roncal/Jose N. Abbo

Children-Fiction
How the Dung Beetle Earned Respect
T.L. Onstott

Health/Wellness/Nutrition
Brush Your Teeth!
Dr. David S. Ostreicher

History/Political
Shootout at Miracle Valley
William R. Daniel

Popular Fiction
The Shut Mouth Society
James D. Best

For those who missed it, the 2009 Arizona Book Awards, hosted by the Arizona Book Publishers Assocation, was a great event. Held at the top of the Chase building in downtown Phoenix, it had great views to go along with the fantastic books being honored. Thank you to all our authors for writing such great books and also a special shout out to Jessica Tribble who organized the event.

We can't wait until next year's awards because we already have some fantastic books to submit (and our fancy dresses at the cleaners ready for next year's party)!

Wheatmark Wins Two SASIE Awards

Last month we briefly noted that Wheatmark was a finalist for this year's SASIE Awards. The results are in, and Wheatmark won two awards!

Presented by the Arizona Small Business Association, the awards "recognize and honor outstanding entrepreneurs in the Southern Arizona region whose innovative, enterprising approach to business deserves special recognition." In addition to being named 2009 SASIE — Southern Arizona Smart Inspiring Enterprise — Wheatmark also received the SASIE Spotlight Award for creativity and innovation.

And now we get back to work!

Grael Norton on Publishing Insiders Show

If you missed it yesterday, you can listen to Penny Sansevieri's interview with Grael Norton, a publishing consultant with Wheatmark, on the Publishing Insiders show on BlogTalkRadio. Click on the play button to hear the latest episode or visit the show's website here.

Publishing Insiders Radio Show to Feature Grael Norton

Grael Norton, a publishing consultant with Wheatmark, will be interviewed by Penny Sansevieri on The Publishing Insiders show tomorrow, February 17, at 4 pm Pacific time (7 pm EST).

The show airs live on BlogTalkRadio and you can hear it by accessing the site here.

Grael will also be a featured presenter at the Arizona Book Publishing Association's "Realities of Publishing" annual conference in Phoenix, Arizona (February 28, 2009).

Come, see us at the conference and make sure you tune in to BlogTalkRadio tomorrow!

One Satisfied Customer

Laurens Maas, an osteopathic and homeopathic physician and author of The Hidden Cure: The 5 Laws of Perfect Health, recently left his book editor (the incomparable Lori Sellstrom) a voicemail message that just gave us warm fuzzies in the best possible way.

Whenever an author publishes a book with us, we want them to feel THIS excited about the end result and the service they receive when working with Wheatmark.

Maas's book incorporates spiritual, nutritional, and lifestyle tips to help you enhance your energy levels, your overall health, and your enjoyment of life.

If his enthusiasm for life and the project are any indicator, he may be on to something!

We wanted to share his message with everyone: to share his enthusiasm and the joy of a really great job well done! Click on the play button below to hear the 30-second message:

The Origin of the Name Wheatmark

"Where does the name Wheatmark come from? What does it mean?"

We hear these questions often about the origin of our name as we daily talk to writers about publishing a book. They all seem to love the name Wheatmark, but they don't understand what a book publishing company based in dry, cactus-covered Tucson, Arizona, would have to do with ... wheat.

Heat maybe, but wheat?

Well, when we picked the name, we probably considered Heatmark as well, but someone with slightly more common sense than the one who proposed it must have voted it down.

Anyway, authors tell me they think of Kansas or Nebraska when they hear the name Wheatmark, not Arizona. That's because they don't know the true origin of the word wheatmark and its rich, historic connection to the West.

Here it goes ...

Before I get into it though, I must tell you the true origin of the origin of the word wheatmark. We have struggled with the etymology ourselves until we started hiring for a new publishing position that opened up earlier in 2008. During one particular interview the candidate asked about the company name's origin. We joked we had been doing the research ourselves to no avail. We left it at that.

The next day we received thank-you notes from the candidates. One in particular, from Patrick Burns (master of fine arts in writing!), ended with his own fictional rendition of where the name Wheatmark came from.

So here it goes:

When books were first made out West, the pages were composed of a pulp of part wood, part wheat. Wheat was a luxury then so that books with a high "wheatmark" were considered of great value.

Did you hear that? Out West, books with a high wheatmark were considered of great value! Hence the connection between the name Wheatmark, Arizona, and quality books!

Do you think we hired the candidate? Why don't you find out by calling 1-888-934-0888? (Ask for Mr. Burns.)

Outstanding Author Support

I've been working on the revisions to the author guide for next year. It's our information piece that we send out (or you can look at by clicking the link there) to our prospective authors that are thinking about publishing their book with us.

Under our Basic Publishing Services, our baseline for all our publishing packages, we list all of the things you get by signing with Wheatmark. We start it out by saying we offer Outstanding Personal Author Support.

This, of course, makes me giggle because it sounds rather silly, like we offer a hotline or free hugs for our authors. (Actually, I have personally hugged several of our authors that have come by the office. Wheatmark authors are some of the best people!)

But what does it really mean to offer "outstanding personal author support?" What it means is always having someone willing to listen to your ideas, help you solve your book-related problems, and to guide you to the best possible version of your book--whether it means suggesting more editing, different cover photos, or just high-fiving you on your accomplishment. We are here to assist our authors through the publishing process.

Most independently published authors are coming into the process as newbies. There is a vocabulary to book publishing--trim size, front matter, etc. -- that is just the tip of the iceberg of things that may not be understood. (Trust me! When I started working at Wheatmark my background was in newspaper design. It was liking listening to a foreign language being spoken around the office!)

That's where our amazing staff comes in (you can read about them on our website). They are here to help authors navigate the process. They aren't here to judge your work, review your book, or make decisions for you. They are here to support you throughout the process to get the end result that you have worked towards.

And we will find someone to give you a hug, if you really need it. Remote authors, as one of the editors pointed out, can get virtual hand-holding if required.