Patricia Sands

Author

2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist

When the tech stuff tanks, take a stroll …

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If it’s Friday, It must be France …

For whatever reason, I simply cannot download my slideshow of Arles onto this page. I’ll keep working on it.

In the meantime, join me on one of my early morning strolls through our home base of Antibes.

 

Our front yard.

 

Pass through the one original remaining gate in the 500 year-old walls that once enclosed the entire village.

 

Stroll the narrow cobblestone streets.

 

No agenda necessary. Imagine Napoleon attempting to convince new recruits to join his campaign or Picasso rushing through town to his studio.

 

To the other side of the old town. My favourite view of le vieux village.

 

Plan to end up at the daily market with an empty basket to fill.

Where are your favourite places to walk where you live? Do you celebrate your surroundings or would you rather be living elsewhere? Tell me about it.

 

 

 

Lights, Camera, Action!

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Do you love movies? I do! My husband and I go out to the movies at least once a week and watch several more a week at home. Okay, full disclosure – if the weather is really bad, we’ve been known to do a triple-feature . I’m not necessarily proud of that but it is kind of fun when there’s a winter storm raging on the other side of the windows!

There’s one couple though that I believe has watched more movies than anyone else around in the past couple of years. Susan Winlaw and Alexander Law have recently published three terrific books for movie buffs.

Movies About Weddings – A guide to 700+ movies with weddings

Movies About Christmas – Naughty or Nice? (400+)

Movies About Women – Reel women share stories of life and love (500+)

Can you imagine how much popcorn they  must have consumed? I can’t watch a movie without it! Seriously, the amount of time and effort put into these books is phenomenal. They would make wonderful gifts for a wedding shower, birthday or Christmas for anyone you know who loves to watch movies. One-stop shopping right here! Take a look!

I recently had a great chat with Susan.

What was your primary inspiration for publishing books about movies?

 Alex (my husband and co-author) and I have always been interested in movies and we’ve shared our favourite films with friends over the years. This project is an extension of that sharing to a wider audience.

Basically, we wanted to help women find movies they’d like to watch and saw there was nothing like this out there. Sure there are huge books that come out every year from famous movie critics but they are enormous. We started with 3 areas that interest many women. We wanted to bring forward some excellent movies that have been forgotten or are completely unknown and shine a light on them.

  So far you have covered movies about Weddings, Christmas, and now Women. Which was your favourite book to put together?

 Each one had special moments, particularly when I’d watch to review a film that moved me. The more I got into the rich mosaic of Women, the more I enjoyed that theme. We’re working on volume 2 of Movies About Women  and are asking all of our contacts for suggestions. So far there are enough to fill that volume and continue into number 3.

 The books contain an incredible amount of information! What sort of a process do you use and how long does each one take?

The process continues to evolve. Basically we are watching movies all the time from many different sources (in theatres, on TV, through Netflix, from Rogers DVD mailing service, from the Toronto Public Library, etc). We’ll either do a review right then or mark it for a future book theme. This also makes it impossible to answer how much time each book takes, as we’re always working on more than one book at the same time. But our first book in the series took us about 18 months of research and writing to get it to the press copies.

It’s important to know that each one of the films covered in our books has been watched by either Alex or myself and often both of us.

Now for the technical side, I had to learn Adobe’s InDesign to do a professional assembly for our printer in Oshawa and that was quite the challenge. Our first book (Car Advice for Women, And Smart Men) was a slightly smaller format than the movie guide books and we decided to make the Movies About… series a bit larger but no thicker. We wanted them to feel good in the hand. I didn’t know much about the program then, but I’ve learned more with each book, so it is a bit easier now – especially for indexing and categorizing of the movies. Categorizing involves our own personal categories and adding the basic ones that are inside the International Movie Database (IMDB). These categories help readers find the movies that appeal to them.

We have kept the number of pages to a maximum so the book fits into the letterbox and has a one price mailing cost in Canada and the US. We felt that was important and also simpler for us to handle. We also thought it was important that our Canadian purchasers did not have to pay more than our American buyers.

Was there anything that came as a great surprise to you in the journey from the spark of an idea to the final product?

 Yes. There are so many different pieces to put in place to produce the book and the amount of time it takes is staggering. Each piece takes a lot longer than you expect. Crosschecking the spelling of names that you know from seeing them a million times on the screen takes a very detailed hand and has to be done continually. The editing and proofreading is no simple matter and even after 10 times through, you still miss a few things. There are some parts of the publishing process that are outside my grasp, but I am trying to make the contacts to learn what I need and want to be able to share this with other authors who wish to publish their own works.

There is very little written in sufficient detail for the author/publisher who is in Canada who wishes to publish physical books for the North American audience, let alone publishing to sell to a global audience.

 How do you market and promote these editions? It strikes me they would be very good gift ideas!

 Right now our marketing and promotion is through all of the social media sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, GoodReads, etc) and with our websites and Press Releases that are sent out to all levels of media in both Canada and the US.

I also participate in shows where our audience would go – Word on the Street, Women’s Expo events, women’s networking events and anything that is reasonably priced. I’ve done a few author signings at local coffee shops and Chapters (Bayview Village in Toronto). And I’ve been invited to participate in internet radio/TV shows both here and in the US.

A few weeks ago I was part of a morning show on Rogers local cable in my home town of Woodstock, then did a signing at the Tim Horton’s close by, followed by a visit to Merrifield’s Book Shop.

The books are great gift ideas – especially when packaged together with a big bowl, some popcorn, a DVD and a card that promises the recipient that the movie will be watched together. You have a gift that keeps on giving (as the books let you find many more movies to see for years to come) and the gift of time with that person and that’s PRICELESS.

What future projects do you have in mind and when might we expect to see the next book from Bam Press?

 We have over 30 themes that we’re working on at all times, and there will be 2 books coming next year. We formed BAM Press to do these projects and we know that down the road we’ll be publishing movie guide books in themes that are not of a particular interest to us that will be written by other authors using our format.

 What advice would you give to someone who is considering publishing a similar type of book for the first time?

 Have a lot of money set aside well in advance. Plan your social media as you are working on the books so that you have a large following well before the book comes out. Take all of your time estimates and triple them and have a lot of supportive friends around to keep you going when the going gets tough.

You’ll also need space to store the books when they come off the printing press before you ship them to your readers.

Join writers groups both in your local area and on line and take on line courses to help with the book writing/editing and marketing.

Plan for a good editor as well as good proof readers and do not assume they will catch all the errors. You must also proof it yourself. Take time selecting your printer/binder from at least 6 companies and make on site visits so you can see their operation first hand and get a feel for the people you will be dealing with.

And connect with me as I will share our experiences to save you some time and perhaps some money. You can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn and through our web site http://bampress.com

Susan Winlaw – President BAM Press

Author/Speaker/Publisher/Editor

Movies About Women – Reel Women Share Stories of Live and Love – Pre Press copies are available now.

http://moviesaboutwomen.com

Movies About Weddings – A Guide to 700+ Movies With Weddings

http://moviesaboutweddings.com

Movies About Christmas – Naughty or Nice? A Guide to over 400 Movies With Christmas

http://bampress.com

and in the safety line…..

Car Advice For Women (and Smart Men)

http://www.caradviceforwomen.com

Coming Soon…………Safety Advice For Women

One Yonge Street, Suite 1801,

Toronto, ON, Canada, M5E 1W7      VMail & FAX 416-981-3404

Are you a movie buff? What type of movies do you most enjoy?

While I’m on this topic, I want to suggest that you visit Jillian Dodd’s entertaining blog where she reviews movies on Fridays. Last Friday she reviewed The Ides of March which we just happened to see today. Her comments are spot on! She’s good and she is hilarious!

Van Gogh in Arles

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If it’s Friday, it must be France …

I know … I’m sneaking in under the wire to still post this on Friday. On top of that, I’m kind of taking the easy way out today  – but by accident. Honest! I didn’t know these incredible websites existed until a few hours ago.

First I wanted to explain how to pronounce Arles correctly. The most common mistake that North Americans make is they pronounce the “s” and that is just SO not cool. Don’t pronounce the “s” at the end of any French towns ( um, except for a few exceptions … in fact, hardly ever on any French words but then you run into more exceptions and that’s a whole other story  … we don’t even want to get into that now …  ).

So one day our fabulous friends Christian, Lucille and Hubert (with whom we spent such lovely times in France last summer), gave us a pronunciation lesson for Arles. I was going to explain it to you and then I found this website. Click here! Ha! Just place the mouse on the word “Arles” and you will hear the correct way to say it! Amazing! What’s better is you won’t have to put up with me blathering on, attempting to explain it.

Today I wanted to share with you some more of Vincent Van Gogh’s history in Arles and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. BUT … I can hardly accept any credit for compiling this information. As I began my research, I came across a most impressive website about that very topic. The Web is just SO amazing, n’est-ce pas?

If you are in a hurry right now, wait until you have a few minutes and come back to this page. In fact, wait until you have time to bring along a glass of wine or a pastis or a cup of tea or whatever your beverage of choice, so you can just relax and enjoy this. Honest … you’ll love it …

First click on the video here, take a long sip, relax and enjoy … mmmmm …

Wasn’t that beautiful?

Now when you have more time, check out this site below. I’ve already sent them an e-mail thanking them for doing all my work!

Please click here and visit the VanGoghGallery.com to see a finer selection of photographs of Arles than I could ever provide. A painting of Van Gogh is shown alongside a photo of how that same scene looks today. It’s surprising how much of this beautiful town and area has not changed. As you can see, there is a load of fantastic information on this website. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have today. I did spend a lot of time on this when I should have been writing but … c’est la vie! It was worth it and I will catch up tomorrow.

Thanks to Carrie Spencer, our resident WordPress expert from our Wana blogging group, I do know how to set up a slideshow now. Oh, was I excited to receive her simple instructions! I’ll save my Arles slideshow for next Friday as I’ve taken up enough of your time today.

When we visit Arles, we always have a drink or a meal at the Van Gogh café and toast to Vincent and the beauty he left the world in spite of his tormented soul. RIP.

In fact, as I’m typing this, my DH just brought us a glass of wine and we are toasting Vincent again and listening to the Don McLean song for the umpteenth time today. Santé!

Have you visited Arles? If you are planning a trip to France, be sure to include this town. Are you a Van Gogh fan and do you have a favourite amongst his paintings? I love to hear from you so feel free to leave a comment!

Post-Thanksgiving Thankfulness

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The Thanksgiving weekend weather in southern Ontario could not have been more perfect.  This holiday is my favourite.  I love it no matter what the weather but it’s even more fun counting your blessings when the sun is shining!

Taking time to be thankful every day is a habit I have long cultivated and the … ahem … older I get the more I think about it. We all have days when issues drag us down into negative territory. That’s life! I like to recognize each day for the gift it is, grab on to it and make it the best I can.

Before  I do anything more with this fine day, there are some friends I need to thank … in fact, I should have done this some time ago.

Thanks to Social Media Goddess and Mighty Fine Lady, Kristen Lamb, whose blogging course a number of people took a few months ago, a group of bloggers came together in quite an extraordinary way. A unique cyberbond was formed. (I need to interject here that Kristen is running the course again so if you haven’t signed up … do it! Go! Right now! I’ll wait for you to come back. Click here for the link.)

Now for the overdue thanks. Recently, Tameri Etherton(A Cup Of Tea and Sorcery) , Kate MacNicol (Hanging by A Moment), Carrie Spencer (Smartass Romance) and Natalie Hartford (Life Out Loud), talented bloggers all, on separate occasions honoured me with the Liebster Blog Award. I was thrilled. It’s always fun to receive awards. Thanks to all of you! For you readers, when you have time, click on those links. You will be glad you did!

However with everything else that’s been going on in the past few weeks I am only now getting around to passing on the award. The whole point of this is to pay it forward and build community. Liebster, by the way, is a German term of affection. Very sweet.

Ok, then, these are the *rules*: this award is meant to highlight newer blogs. So the blogger receiving the award links back to the blogger who awarded him/her, and tags 3-5 people. For those I am about to award, I should also point out there is no obligation to continue this award. If this is not your cup of tea, don’t worry.

Naomi Bulger, Messages In A Bottle, author of Airmail, a wonderful quick read that is quirky, magical and thought-inspiring … just like her unique blog. Don’t miss it!

Linn B. Halton, author of Touched By The Light and founder of the fabulous loveahappyending.com website which brings together writers, readers, reviewers and literati in general around the world.

Barbara Conelli, author of Chique Secrets of Dolce Vita, who writes about Italy in a way that makes you feel you are there!

Patricia Caviglia, author of Masks, and a young woman who speaks to the reality of juggling the demands of parenting, the day job, and being an author.

Congratulations ladies! Pick up the award and put it on your website. This award means you deserve to be recognized.
Do with it what you will!

Then – tadaaaaaa – last week this award arrived from my friend and fellow blogger, Angela Orlowski-Peart, who writes from the heart and has the best smile ever!

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Thank and link to the person who nominated me.
2. Share seven random facts about myself – which I did here.
3. Pass the award along to deserving blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.
I’m passing this award on to Amy at Everything But The Kid, who puts more energy into every single thing she does than anyone else I know … and always with the cheeriest attitude.
Thanks again all of you, for your thoughtfulness, support, and enthusiasm. Blog on, my friends!