Marlan approaches each book with consideration for the passion that created it and the audience that will best appreciate it. Authors are as different as snowflakes. Each campaign is crafted with that in mind.
On Monday, April 12, the online arts and culture magazine
“The Artifa[ctuals]" will feature an excerpt from the upcoming novel,
“Tales of Sushi,” by Marlan Warren, which focuses on the attraction between a
lonely Caucasian American divorcee and a charming Japanese chef, who forge a
cross-cultural friendship amid a lively sushi bar scene in the L.A. area.
“The story is based on my diaries from when I frequented
this ‘Cheers’-type sushi bar in L.A. in the nineties,” says Warren, who is also
the author of the novel, “Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged [All’s Not Fair
in Love or War].”
The Artifa[ctuals] was launched in the Fall of 2020 by
author Aris Janigian, whose novels include "Waiting for Lipchitz at
Chateau Marmont," (17 weeks on the L.A. Times best-seller list),
"This Angelic Land," and "Waiting for Sophia at Shutters on the
Beach."
"I really admire Aris’s vision and desire to create a
collision space for critical thought and artistic expression," says
Warren. "It’s an honor to be invited to participate."
I'm excited to announce that I've started creating an audiobook of my "fictionalized memoir" (aka "novel") Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged [All's Not Fair in Love or War].
The e-book has enjoyed success on Amazon Kindle, and it will be coming out soon in paperback.
In L.A. we are still fairly locked down. For everyone that's hard, and it impacts publicists also. Sure you can Zoom, Zoom, Zoom your events and readings...but it ain't the same. It's a stop gap measure. And everyone knows it.
The other day, I decided to check out audiobooks on YouTube -- and wow! What a game changer! A service known as "Great Audiobooks" asks for volunteers to read well known books on the "air." I could listen while making breakfast to The Art of War if I wanted to. And it was so pleasurable that I realized...
The time has come to go Audio! With my book. It wouldn't have to even be every page. Excerpts would do, after the main gist of the setup was absorbed by readers.
A few years back, I reprinted "How To Make An Audiobook" from another blog (with permission) and I must say that at the time, it was rather daunting. You'd need some good equipment and at the very least, a very quiet closet to record in. AND a great speaking voice that suits the content.
But when I heard recently that a tech-phobic friend has been making How To videos on her iPhone, that stirred my own initiative. I haven't yet succumbed to iPhone or adequate video editing equipment (due to financial constraints; I'm not a snob!). And I thought:
"Why not try to make this audiobook with what I have one hand?
So I recorded on my Android phone, which produces an MP4 file, and edited on the low-tech "Movie Maker" app on my PC, along with some jpg photos for a slide show.
And...(drum roll)...it worked great!
Next, I uploaded the nearly 3 min. video to my MarlanWarren YouTube channel. And voila!
My closet is pretty noisy. You can heard the plumbing going and people walking in the hall. But I found that recording after most folks are in bed or before they wake up makes for excellent sound studio conditions.
I had no problem reading. Thanks to my first grade teacher Mrs. Stryker (her real name) who made me stay after school and read until she could hear "expression" in my voice.
Social Media Video Time Limits
YouTube: 7-15 min. for unverified user. Verified users? Up to 12 hours!
Instagram: 1 min.
Facebook: It used to be 2 minutes. But today on my Book Publicity By Marlan site, FB suggested my video post be "at least" 3 minutes! Hallelujah!
Vimeo: Allows a total of 500MB per week with the basic free membership, with a total of 5GB storage.
Twitter: 2 min. 20 sec. Max.
Okay. Yes, it can be a pain cutting the various lengths of your video, but if you want it to have a long "reach," you will joyfully spread it around your social media sites, and don't forget Linked In and Goodreads!
About My Book and the First Audiobook Recording
Posted above is the beginning of Chapter 1 (“Signs”); Page 1.
Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged is a post-divorce tale set
against the backdrop of the O.J. Simpson trial with a consciousness raising journey through the wilds
of Los Angeles.
What saves the story from being straight up Chick Lit are the divorcing woman's close encounters with the generational scars of the Japanese American Internment,
interracial dating questions, and the story’s ultimate warning that no matter how great the sex is, how deeply you feel about someone:
“Don’t go unconscious for love.”
And yes, I recorded the next segment this morning at 4 a.m. and will be posting it on YouTube, etc. very soon!
How to find this e-book, reviews, etc. on Amazon: Click Here
Executive Director of the Annual Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference (AGLAWC), Tony Todaro, has announced that this educational and networking event will celebrate its 26th year with a pivot from its pre-pandemic originally slated venue at the Culver City Doubletree by Hilton Hotel to Zoom, starting Friday, Aug. 7, and running through Saturday, Aug. 15.
"When it comes to virtual writers conferences, one major plus is that writers are able to interact with agents, writing experts, and publishing professionals who might otherwise not be able to attend in person," says Todaro. "Nobody is limited by geographical location anymore."
"The schedule is daily and linear, so writers won't have to choose between two workshops or panels happening simultaneously," Todaro says. "We'll have more than 40 literary agents, professional editors, and publishers on hand to give guidance on the craft and business of writing fiction and nonfiction."
Keith Ogorek, President of the Author Learning Center, will kick off opening day with a webinar titled "7 Things Every Writer Needs to Become an Author."
Speaker event topics include how-to's for pitching agents or publishers; writing a memoir; self-editing; ghostwriting; screenwriting. Writers may have their writing read and critiqued by publishing professionals.
"Our faculty is not 'sheltering in place,'" says Todaro. "With this new technology, we consider them our Writers in Residence."
He assures attendees there will be ways to network, share your contact info, etc. And yes, they will still receive goody bags!
For the past 26 years, Todaro, aided and abetted by his wife, Lillian, have organized these writers conferences. Although the learning curve for transposing this massive event to the virtual realm is steep, Tony Todaro is a veteran at staying focused.
He quotes from his favorite t-shirt:
"Being an Executive Director is as easy as riding a bicycle, except you're on fire, the bike is on fire, and everything else is on fire."
(Sounds just a little bit like writing, doesn't it?)
#WritersConference
#LosAngelesWritersConference
#GLAWS
#TonyTodaro
#VirtualWritersConferences This press release will be published and distributed by PR.com Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020.
Creating and Maintaining Websites, Blogs, Social media Outreach
ABOUT MARLAN:
Marlan Warren is an experienced publicist, writing coach, writer, book editor, journalist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, blogger, and website designer. Her skills include writing press releases, creating press kits, one-sheets, and launching events for authors, artists, designers, entertainers, and rock musicians. Marlan arranges for clients to appear on TV morning shows, NPR, and local radio programs. Her filmmaking credits include the documentary, What did you do in the War, Mama?: Kochiyama's Crusaders (currently in post-production), and the cross-cultural documentary, Reunion (shown at film festivals internationally). In addition, she is a produced playwright/director/actor. Currently, Marlan is on the faculty of the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. Her novel, Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged is still selling well on Amazon. Her BFA is from the University of Southern California in Screenwriting and English. She created the award-winning educational children's series, Reading Planet, and sold a screenplay (Midsummer Night Cowboy) for $30,000 in a Writers Guild signatory deal with Shadow Hill Entertainment. Marlan is a featured speaker/panelist at the WC2 Writers Conferences in Los Angeles, California. Video interviews with her on topics ranging from Book Publicity and Marketing to Getting Great Reviews to Memoir Writing can be viewed at the Author Learning Center and YouTube.
I am an experienced, detail-oriented book editor, as well as publicist and website designer.
ABOUT MY EDITING SERVICES:
I provide editing services at all levels of pre-publication.
Manuscripts in early to final drafts
Book Covers (Design and Text)
Amazon Pages (Book Description, Etc.)
One Sheets
Book Summaries
Author Bios
Book Club Discussion Guides
Query E-Mails
BOOK COVER TIPS
YOUR BOOK WILL BE JUDGED BY ITS COVER!
BEFORE
AFTER
In color, the "Before" image looked like a big brown toe. In fact, it was a picture of a rock in the New Mexico area where she lives and writes and rock climbs. I asked the author to show me some more colorful shots from her photo archive, and after we agreed on another image, she came up with a more fitting image that reflects the environment that she was depicting in her story. She decided to make it more visually abstract, evoking the beautiful mystery inherent in this imagery. .
I was honored and grateful to be interviewed by the Author Learning Center (ALC) at the Annual Greater Los Angeles Writers Conference (AGLAWC). You owe it to yourself to check out this amazing writer's resource!
Marlan Warren, Author Learning Center Interview Still
Here's a video clip on this controversial topic from my Spring interview with the Author Learning Center, which you may view on their website at The Author Learning Center
Keith Ogorek of the Author Learning Center interviews Marlan Warren, reviewer/contributor to the Midwest Book Review about how to get great book reviews:
Marlan Warren, Author and Publicist with Roadmap
Communications, explains how to write and acquire book reviews. Through
Marlan’s Bookshelf with Midwest Book Reviews, she chooses to only review books
that she loves. She wants to support other writers and doesn’t feel the need to
write bad reviews and will often let an author know that she’s choosing not to
review their book if she doesn’t believe it’s well-written.
Personally, Warren
resonates with books that contain a human interest focus. That means she’s
written about books containing a wide variety of content, from baby teeth
advice to immigrant stories.
If an author is looking for reviewers, Warren
recommends that they utilize Goodreads. Within Goodreads groups, there are
often readers who want to read and review books.
Warren explains how to go
about finding and pitching a story for a review. If a writer has a compelling
pitch, they should be able to find a number of readers to provide reviews.
Watch the clip above to learn more about book reviews!
How to Communicate with the Dead and How Cultures Do It around the
World Author: Judith Fein Publisher: Global Adventure Website: http://www.globaladventure.us ISBN: 9780988401990
"Communicating
with the dead has been a secret part of my life for many years." - Judith
Fein
Judith Fein's fourth deep travel memoir, HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DEAD AND
HOW CULTURES DO IT AROUND THE WORLD, invites us along on her decades of
investigations and explorations of the final frontier: Death.
For most of her life, Judith Fein has seen and heard dead people. Not all the
time, thank goodness, or it would not leave much time for this prolific
journalist to write about her soul-searching globetrotting with her
ever-skeptical photojournalist husband, Paul Ross. "Judie and Paul"
are the "Nick and Nora" of the travel adventure-supernatural set. She
can see a ghostly figure in the middle of nowhere and believe it to be a
specter. He can be right next to her, eyes huge, and afterward admit
"maybe" it was real. Their yin-yang bonding and love adds to the
delightful humor of this Odyssey.
The power of your press kit resides in your One Sheet. Here are some faves that I've created: They can be printed out and mailed or viewed online as Electronic Press Kits (EPK).
Genres: Christian Literary Fiction| Dark Humor Paperback: $17.99Pages: 277Words:80,610 In Stock: Barnes & Noble (Rancho Cucamonga & Glendora, CA) Available on Amazon and Kindle ISBN: 978-1632134288ASIN:B075JQVNXF Facebook: @ApocalypseTVBOOK EPK:Click Here Author Website: tallbaugh@apu.edu
Thomas Allbaugh welcomes media interviews, opportunities to read/sign his novel, and lively discussions about religion and spirituality in the 21st Century.
His whole life has been a sham because he can’t accept responsibility for his failure to live by his own convictions.—Apocalypse TV
SUMMARY
Mild-manneredWalter Terry, a beleaguered Christian intellectual professor struggles with reality, religion, and his own authenticity in Race to the Apocalypse, a Reality TV Game Show that brings together religious fanatics, atheists, zombies, the FBI, and “Elvis” as essential players in Thomas Allbaugh’s tightly wound, seriously hilarious novel, Apocalypse TV. Will Walter take up arms against the troubles unleashed upon him by unseen production forces or end up slaughtered as the show’s designated “sacrificial lamb”?
PRAISE FOR APOCALYPSE TV
Apocalypse TVargues against the extreme notion that only members of a certain faith are favored by God, while making a case for spiritual salvation through love, faith, hope, service…and the willingness to persevere.—Midwest Book Review I was caught up from the opening pages to the end of this entertaining novel. Allbaugh has created a story to savor, and one that readers will not soon forget.
—Joseph Bentz, Author of A Son Comes Home and Nothing is Wasted Allbaugh challenges readers to consider conflicting perspectives related to social issues and faith . . .
—OnlineBookClub
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Thomas Allbaugh’s short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Writing on the Edge, In Touch Magazine, Relief, and Broken Skyline: An Anthology from67 Press. His poetry chapbook, The View from January, will be published by Alabaster Leaves Press in Fall 2019, and he is working on a second novel, Radio Eden. He is an associate professor of English at Azusa Pacific University, where he has taught for 18 years.
**********************
Title: Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst: A Book of Poems to Feed the Soul
Author: Artemis Craig
Publisher: Artemis Craig Publishing (Nov. 6, 2013
Genre: Inspirational and Religious Poetry (Christian, Evangelical)
Artemis Craig would be honored to speak on rising up from the ashes of despair through acceptance of Christ as her Savior, and how she found her writer's "voice" again. She welcomes interviews and all interest & shares!
Soul Food for the Soul
By God’s grace, I regained my appetite for the wisdom I received from my grandmother and my mother who taught me about life and introduced me to Christianity while serving up savory dishes of fried corn,okra, green tomatoes, and collard greens smothered in Deep South Chow Chow Relish, along with bone-chewing fried chicken.—Artemis Craig
Summary
Inspirational Verse for Those Who Hunger and Thirst takes us on Artemis Craig’s firewalk from spiritual bankruptcy to redemption via compelling, heartfelt poetry and prose. Through the power of Faith, Poetry, and Love, she finds the strength to cope with Hollywood “failure”; devastating family losses; homelessness; single parenthood; attempted suicide and breakdowns. Her poems honor and reflect “the strong women of God” who wanted her to be saved, and serve as a testament to her “Never Surrender” determination.
Praise!
Artemis Craig has risen out of the ashes of Hollywood as an evangelical poet who has walked through fire, and lived to tell her story.̶̶ Midwest Book Review Her poems are like devotions. Artemis Craig takes us on a journey through her darkest moments, becoming very transparent about her suicide attempts, depression and hopelessness . . . and Hope. ̶ ̶ Ellen Sudderth, ESP Literary Podcast
