Crossing Swords has received its first media coverage! It is featured in the January 2015 issue of the News & Views newsletter for the St. Louis Publishers Association (SLPA), a organization which helps local authors publish their books.
Cindy Safronoff has certainly found the SLPA meetings to be helpful throughout the process of writing her book. The various expert speakers at the monthly meetings have given her important information and tips, ranging from what formatting to use in a word processor document to how to hook the interest of a potential reader in the book description. She participated in a day-long SLPA-organized workshop for aspiring authors last fall, which gave her a useful overview of the whole process of completing a book and self-publishing. Being able to engage with other authors has given her greater confidence in her work. Throughout her involvement with the SLPA, Safronoff has openly shared about her book Crossing Swords at the meetings. She has announced the achievements of progress along the way, asked questions, and on two occasions has willingly taken the hot seat in the front of the room to get feedback and suggestions by the whole group.
One recent guest speaker, author Jean Ellen Whatley, was especially helpful in inspiring her to try a Kickstarter campaign. The article in “The Book Corner” on page 2 of the January SPLA newsletter focuses on the recent Kickstarter campaign for Crossing Swords and the pre-publishing publicity it has created, which continues to ripple out.
The SLPA is affiliated with the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN).