Born, raised and a resident in Illinois for most of her life, Valerie Connelly now lives with her husband, Michael, in Wisconsin north of Milwaukee. She divides her time between publishing, writing, teaching, painting landscapes and waterscapes, and traveling to visit her grown children.

Valerie shares her experience as a publisher:

I am a realist. As a publisher of books, this is an essential personality trait. So many of the authors I work with and for are purely dreamers that I have to be a realist. Reality has a face, and it is made of numbers ¯ mind-numbing, dream-busting numbers.

Here are some of those numbers that will boggle the mind of even the most sober realist.

At Book Expo 2007, the buzz was saying that in 2006, 280,000 titles were published in the United States alone, which meant 80, 000 more books were published in the United States than in 2005. This means that of the titles published in 2006, each title had 279,999 competitorslast year. However, only a relatively small portion of these titles actually sold books in quantities that were notable. Why? Because there were 279,999 competitors for the readership's attention, and some titles were far better promoted than others. Some had money supporting their visibility. Some had a famous name as the author. Some had a famous person as the subject of the book. Some had the power of Hollywood emblazoning their tales with films. Some were a phenomenon like we have not seen before. Of course, that phenomenon was Harry Potter. But, the fact is the vast majority of these titles sold 100 copies or less.

Now, let's project conservatively into the future. If this increase were to continue as it did just last year, adding 80,000 books to the pile of newly published books each year until 2015, by that time, each book will have 999,999 competitors, and 5,572,000 more books will have been published in the United States alone. This is simple, third-grade math.

Ms. Connelly's years as an advertising copywriter, graphic designer and print shop owner served her well as she founded Nightengale Press in July of 2003. By January of 2007 Nightengale Press has published more than 40 authors, with 57 books among them, and several more coming through the process into print every month. Nightengale Press has evolved into Nightengale Media LLC offering its authors a first class website, bookstore, marketing opportunites and more.

Read the rest of the article here.

Although your promtoional handouts should have relatively little text - your Book Fair literature should be engaging and informative. The pronotional literature you distribute at your next show will probably be the only part of your press that follows your prospective readership back to their home. Make sure that your literature is well-designed and easy to understand.

What to Include in your Literature

Every publisher is different, so be sure to tailor your literature to the particular genres and titles you offer. Your promotional literature should be consistent with the design of your Book Fair display and the overall scheme of your Book Fair booth.

Generally speaking, ever pamphlet or Book Fair giveaway that you distribute should contain the following information:

• Your Contact Information
• Your Company Name
• Your Company Logo
• Pertinent information about the genrea and titles that you wanted to highlight at your Book Fair exhibit.

Just happened across a good post that's pertinent to the small press, in regards to contracts, etc. It's from 'Miss Snark' — an unidentified blogging literary agent:

First, anyone who writes to me and says "I have a contract in hand and I need an agent" gets a call back that day. Many times I've not taken the author on, but I've looked at the contract and given a few pointers. It's the very least I can do - sort of like banking some good will to make up for some of my other less savory activities.

'Miss Snark' goes on to say:

However, you can always find an attorney versed in intellectual property to give you some advice. You need to be VERY clear that you just want a review, not a negotiation. You also want to sent some limits on time so you don't end up with a bill that's bigger than your mortgage.

She suggests this even when "no money" isinvlolved in the transaction.

Anyway, read more here.