A Premiere Self-Publisher Offers Insight and Advice

Greetings, fellow scribes and faithful readers! Kathi Macias here, back from a brief vacation and happy to have my dear friend Carla Williams of WinePress Publishing here with us for a great interview. Carla and her husband, Timothy, are at the helm of this respected CBA self-publisher, and we can learn a lot from their hard-earned experience at marketing and promotion. So, Carla, welcome! We look forward to the insights you have for us.

1. Carla, you’ve been in the CBA world for quite a while now. Can you tell us what hat you’re wearing these days, as well as give us some background on how you got there?

I’ve always seemed to wear many hats in my life—pastor’s wife, mom, speaker, author, writing instructor—but now, through WinePress Publishing Group, I’ve added Editorial Director and Publicity Director. How did that happen? About nine years ago my husband self-published a book through WinePress, and from there our ministry moved to

Washington

state, the home of this company. As my husband and I supported the owner, Athena Dean, spiritually, our involvement soon expanded to a more hands-on role. I couldn’t stand the lack of quality of editing and writing WP books had at the time, so in 2000 I jumped in and proclaimed myself Editorial Director. I don’t do much actual editing, but I hire and oversee a full house of professional editors. I continually work at raising the bar for the content of our books and believe our editing standards are now at industry level.

            Then, right before ICRS 2006, we lost our publicist, and it became apparent that the entire publicity department needed an overhaul, so I grabbed that hat and ran with it. I used what I knew about promoting my own books and speaking ministry and applied it to our authors. My husband is now Executive Publisher and oversees the entire business. My role(s) is just one more way that I can be his helpmate.

2. WP is considered by many in the industry to be the premier self-publisher in CBA. How do you think that happened, and what do you see as WP’s role in the CBA world, both now and in the future?

      It happened through a lot of suffering and hard work. Romans 5:3-4 comes to mind: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” My hubby, Timothy, encourages all of us (WP employees) to make “love our goal.” This attitude of love causes us to continually strive to improve all aspects of the business, from the publishing process to editing to publicity and marketing to warehousing and distribution. We don’t see WinePress as competing with other CBA publishers but complementing them. As the market grows narrower and narrower, we provide an outlet for stories and messages to be heard that otherwise might never have that chance. WinePress has raised the bar for self-publishing in the CBA market. As our products match (I say products because we publish and promote more than books), and sometimes surpass, the traditional market products, we force other self-publishers to meet the standard. We continue to find ourselves partnering with other traditional publishers as well. We make it a point to stay highly informed about the market trends and frequently recommend authors to traditional publishers. We have had about 40 authors picked up by traditional publishers, not to mention the dozens of non-published authors we have sent to publishing houses. Likewise, publishers send us authors that they think would do well self-publishing. I see this increasing, especially as we continue to raise our own standards. Many people ask us, “Why wouldn’t I want to self-publish?” And in many cases, that’s a very good question.

3. Self-publishing carries a unique set of challenges when it comes to promotion and publicity. How do you partner with your authors to get the word out about their books?

     The more I become involved with the process of production and publicity, the more I’ve appreciated my traditional publishers. I’ve been writing for publication since the early 1980’s; I’ve published eleven books with various publishers and have an agent promoting several others right now. I have also self–published 12 with Timothy, so I know both sides of the coin well. There are a lot of things—good and bad—that can occur in the publishing and promotion process. The unique thing about self-publishing is that authors are much more directly involved than they are with a traditional publisher. There are things that go on in the process that traditionally published authors have no clue about, but self-published authors do. We try to make the process as easy on our authors as possible, while partnering with and including them.

As Publicity Director I’m particularly pleased with our promotions department. We spent many months researching and interviewing industry experts and authors about the publicity process. WinePress offers many different publicity packages to fit a book/author’s particular needs and message. Some authors don’t feel comfortable doing radio or television interviews, and we offer packages that fit their style. We discover the best ways to reach each author’s market and customize their marketing plan to fit that niche. In many ways, because of our extensive publicity department, self-publishing with WinePress actually allows for greater publicity campaign possibilities than a traditional publisher can provide an average author.

          

4. What advice can you offer authors—self-published or otherwise—when it comes to effective promotion and publicity?

Remember that only you, the author, can really publicize your book the best. You’re the one with the vision and passion, and the only one that conveys it with zeal and clarity. In the process of developing our publicity department, I heard a lot of complaints from authors about their publicist and publicists about their authors. Authors sometimes expect the impossible from publicists, and publicists feel terrible that they can’t always make authors happy and land them tons of media exposure. So many factors affect publicity. You can promote a book until you’re blue in the face, but if media isn’t biting—for whatever reason, and there can be dozens of factors—there is nothing a publicist can do about it.

We tell our authors that even when we send a book out and it seems like we have no results, we have no idea where it will land. Just because we don’t get an interview, great review, or even a sale, doesn’t mean there wasn’t a seed planted. I think we just need to “cast our bread upon the waters”—by self-publishing or otherwise—and wait for God to bring it back.

Comments

[Marilyn]

Great information, Carla! WinePress has raised the bar in the self-publishing industry, and many authors thank you for your dedication and hard work. Kathi, thanks for posting this interview!