EXPLANATION to OMNI'S AUTHORS.

I wrote in my Spanish blog yesterday because something happened that upset and worried me at the same time, and I want to put it here as well tp clarify the air.
One of my authors complained and became insulting when I gave him the price of 250 books that he wanted to order, plus the shipping charges from the printing plant to his home. Those charges are set up by the printers, not OMNI, and because his book is 410 pages, and 7x9 in size, each copy weights a bit over a pound. Besides that, he wanted the books immediately (less than the 4 days that would have taken via UPS Standard)... and the price was $348. He is in Topeka, Kansas. This is when he became rude. I asked him to call UPS, FedEx, and the regular post office and check on shipping rates giving weight of package and all the pertinent information... and an hour later he called me and apologized for his rudeness.
The cheapest rate he received from those three carriers was $410. I had told him that my printers use UPS for the hundred of packages that they send daily and therefore get a better rate... and that OMNI has nothing to do or say about that. What hurts me more is the fact that he accused me of "getting a kick back" from the printing plant, something that is absolutely NOT TRUE.
I use vendors and have to abide by their rules as well as my authors have to abide by OMNI's rules.
This is a business, and as such I have to cover my expenses but I don't overcharge anyone. I believe that OMNI's charges are lower than many small publishers out there, and authors can shop around and compare rates.
My printers can print books in two days and the shipping time may be up to 4 days using their Standard rates and depending where in the country the author lives. Rush and Super Rush can be overnight, therefore an author - if he pays those rush rates - can have his books in THREE days after placing the order.
I'd like to hear of ANY publisher that gives that service.
Place your comments below, please.
Thank you!

WE ALSO PUBLISH IN SPANISH

For your information, we also publish books in Spanish, and this month we have an excellent Science-Fiction / Fantasy story written by Palmira S. Ubiñas, a Puerto Rican author who has many published works under her name, plus a CD with her own poetry and in her own voice.

"Los Angeles de Poder" is the unusual story of two people who were created in the future (year 2420) to travel back in time and save Earth from the happenings in 2012. The story is fascinating, written with good taste and imagination, and it took the writer almost fifteen years to create and develop.

It can be purchased through the Internet distributors starting March 15th., or though our website http://www.omnibookpublishing.com/

Mrs. Ubiñas has worked in many venues related to publication and television, and this is her first novel; we hope that she will develop its sequel soon because after the extensive book signing tour in Florida and Puerto Rico that she has starting in April, readers would want to know more about these two characters - these Angels of Power!

OMNI'S YOUNGEST AUTHOR STRIKES AGAIN!

Reyna Hurand is only 14 years old but her imagination has no boundaries.
Last month she surprised us by sending us two new manuscripts for us to publish: "Misfortune in Manhattan", and a sequel with the subtitle 'Kiley and Stella's Encounter'. The first one is ready to be published and out in the Internet for the world to see.

It's the nicely told story of a newly orphaned 14-yr. old girl from Wisconsin who goes to Manhattan to live with her aunt Julianne, and how her life changes completely not only because of the different way of life, but also because she discovers her hidden talents as a writer.

Kiley Fisher is bright, funny, pretty, and totally cool. She knows all about designers and what to wear when and how, and her views of the new world she has been thrown into will teach her a thing or two about friendship and the love of those closest to us.

This is a book for teenagers written by a teenager whose viewpoint sometimes makes you believe she is older than her aunt.

Beware Manhattan! Kiley Fisher is here to stay!

THE BUSINESS OF BEING DEVIOUS

This week’s blog will be regarding unscrupulous people who see nothing wrong about pilfering ideas from others in order to get what they want. When I say this I mean sneaking questions here and there in a nonchalant way and then using the ideas obtained for their own use.
There are many of those around; some of them have pretended to be friends or at least have shown an interest in what we have to say and later used that information for their own purposes. These underhanded, devious, two-timing, cunning people that use slyness in front of a façade of camaraderie should have no place in our lives.
In the publishing business that is something that could happen more often than what we’d like to hear. I’d dare to compare this behavior with plagiarizing someone else’s writing.
This case happened in the publishing business, but it could also happen in our daily lives. There is a saying, “With friends like those, who needs enemies?”… That it is oh! so true. Byzantine behavior has no room to operate among those who have put their heart and soul towards a goal just to see it shot down by someone else’s greed and the false idea that ‘bigger is better”.

Placing big names on the back cover of a book, or well-known logos showing well-known names doesn’t mean anything really, just that the author is paying big bucks towards the subscription on that particular well-known company. A fine silk scarf adorned with Italian designs draws big dollars at Fifth Avenue boutiques, but stitch a “Made in Taiwan” label into the hem, and it suddenly has all the cachet of a K-Mart blue-light special.
It could easily happen among authors. Suppose you are in a writers’ group, and they start talking about ideas, so you, not even thinking that Benedict Arnold is present, tell everybody about this grand idea you have for a story. Lo and behold, sometime later your idea becomes a finished story – one that was not written by you! You wonder how in the world that happened and probably would never think about one of those people in your friendly writers’ group.

Open your eyes wide, friend, and don’t give away information that may hurt you later. Protect your writing and your ideas and don’t allow underhanded people use them as their own.
It’s a Bad Day at Black Rock, but the shootout isn’t over.

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS?

I wish I had a dime for every time I have written down resolutions for the New Year; I’m sure I could get new toner for my printer with my booty.
Seriously, how many people do you know that actually follow up on them? I’m sure I don’t! But when you think about it, it makes sense to have goals written down, and as an author it’s even better. If you keep an agenda or a desk calendar, go to the last day of the month and write something like… FINISH CHAPTER AND DO RE-WRITES. It’s not a lot and it may be easier for you to start with something small enough that it won’t turn you off for the remaining of the year.

I have a book about Agatha Christie trivia and one of the stories tells about her compulsion to set goals for herself, and after she died her grandson found one of her agendas in which she had written under the month of May: “Kill someone before page 30”. It’s funny in many ways, but also tells about her methodical mind and how carefully she planned her stories. This also brings us to the detail that Dame Agatha always “killed” someone at the beginning of her stories and the rest of the book revolved about solving that murder. This is also just a bit of trivia for those of us who write whodunits.

Earlier this morning I was writing down family birthdays in my 2010 agenda and thought about goals, so I went to the 30th. of each month and wrote something that I have wanted to accomplish this year. Let’s see how that works…

Is setting goals compulsive or maniacal? Not at all. It’s common sense and it may teach us some very good life rules.
The problem for many is to follow up on those goals. Sigh.

Here’s to you, dear author, with OMNI Book Publishing’s best wishes for a Happy and Prolific year 2010. Cheers!

LEAVE THE DISHES IN THE SINK

Taking time to sit quietly and write is very difficult, unless you live alone, and you are strong enough to ignore the telephone and that loud “bing” that computers do when a new email comes in.
I have been working with an author – married and mother of three – who emails me every month and tells me that “she’s getting there” and would have the manuscript sent to me sooner if she had just two extra hours per day to write. What shall I do?, she asks, just leave the dishes in the sink? I could say many things, but it would all be horse feathers on my part. Who am I, who don’t know my own name before my first cup of coffee, to advise anyone about at what time to write? We are all different and we must do whatever works better for us – not what we read about Mary Higgins Clark, who used to start writing at 5 AM before her children and husband were up – or about Isaac Asimov who apparently had three word processors, each with a story in different stages of completion, and moved from one machine to the next and wrote from a page to ten pages whenever his Muse hit him.
Some people get the writing fever and write, write, write for an entire week or until their fingernails fall off; others are lucky enough to be able to follow schedules and write from 1 – 3 PM when it’s time to start getting cookies and milk out for their kids; others are able to sit down whenever they have a new idea for the book and finish chapters without a billion interruptions. The latter are the ones I envy.
Dean Koonz, an author that I don’t read because I don’t follow his genre but nevertheless recognize his greatness, said in a talk show once that a long time ago he made a rule for himself: he’d write three pages daily no matter what. Those three pages, he explained, will soon become five and then seven because his mind would be already geared towards his theme. I have tried that and it works for me too. It may be more difficult the first few days because all you have in mind is those three pages that you are supposed to be working on, but soon you find out that time indeed flies when you are having fun, and those three pages start multiplying. When you reach the six-pages-per-day goal don’t talk yourself into taking a day off because you are ahead of yourself – just keep typing.
How many times have you heard that “writing is a lonely profession”? It could be, I agree, but we don’t write 24/7, and those hours not used for your writing can be filled with friends, spouses, kids, pets, and you won’t have to leave the dishes in the sink until tomorrow’s breakfast. Just find the time and write. If it’s in you, if you have the nagging feeling that you can do better than the newest blockbuster promoted highly in People’s Magazine and the New York Times, then find the time and leave the dishes in the sink.
Alternatively, you can always get paper plates.

By the way, we at OMNI Book Publishing will be waiting for your phone call regarding the publishing of your book. Our phone is 517-541-2942, or send us an email at omnibookpublishing@att.net

THE TRUTH ABOUT MIDDLE SCHOOL

This is truly a delightful book written by our youngest author, 13-year old Reyna Hurand, of Flint, Michigan. It's her second story published, and this young author captures the very essence of being a teenager facing Middle School for the first time. You don't have to be in that difficult age that we all go through to understand the heroine's fears and concerns when she enters Middle School for the first time.Will she be able to become part of the "in" crowd? Will other girls - and boys, of course! - like her? What about her teachers? Can she handle all those classes with different instructors and keep her sanity? Reyna writes using the language of today's girls and boys of that age - sometimes a foreign language to adults - and she does it with humor and great knowledge of that generation that just entered their teen years.Follow the school year with Isabel - "Is" for short - and walk with her the crowded halls of the Middle School. A book for kids 12 to 16... or older, why not?Reyna Hurand shows great talent at 13, and we look forward to her next story and... the next... and the next...