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May 11, 2008

My poor stupid Oprah book isn't ever gonna get done. The latest thing I'm calling it is Oprah's Dead Son. Maybe I'll make it a pome, instead. All advertising is spam. Here's Ginny Good in its entirety:

http://everyonewhosanyone.com/ggsyn1.html

Here are some sample chapters from The Audio Book of Ginny Good.

Chapter 7: North Beach, New Year's Eve, 1962
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch07m.mp3

Chapter 13: San Francisco, Tijuana, Mississippi, New York, Summer, 1964
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch13m.mp3

Chapter 19: La Honda, May, 1965
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch19m.mp3

Chapter 23: Haight-Ashbury, Fall, 1967, Part 1
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch23m.mp3

Chapter 24: Haight-Ashbury, Fall, 1967, Part 2
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch24m.mp3

Chapter 32: Hillsborough, CA, Summer, 1982
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch32m.mp3

Chapter 35: Ashland, OR, February, 2003
http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch35m.mp3

Here's the index to the audio book:

http://everyonewhosanyone.com/ggsyn.html

If you want a copy of the whole huge fifteen-hour extravaganza on .mp3 CDs for free, give me an address and I'll send you a copy. There's a bunch of other stuff on my little website, too. Click some links and see. Thanks. G.

Gerard Jones
everyone@everyonewhosanyone.com
http://www.everyonewhosanyone.com

"...they'll have me whipped for speaking true, thou'lt
have me whipped for lying; and sometimes I am
whipped for holding my peace. I had rather be any
kind o' thing than a fool: and yet I would not be
thee, nuncle..."

Monkfish Book Publishing Company
27 Lamoree Road
Rhinebeck, NY 12572

http://www.monkfishpublishing.com

The esteemed buyer, seller, promoter and adult trade publisher of GINNY GOOD by self-effacing, mild-mannered, obsequious me. G.

November 16, 2006
Interview with Paul Cohen re: "Self-Publishing"

GERARD JONES: What a "self-published" book lacks is the vetting process, the assumption that if a reputable agent sold the thing to a reputable publisher, the book's gotta be worth hyping and the media (book reviewers, talk shows, awards guys, booksellers, etc.), hype the Bejesus out of it. If it's "self-published" the assumption is that no good agent could sell it or wanted to sell it and no good publisher wanted to buy it...so why should the media waste its time and no reader, therefore, will waste his or her time reading the thing. People buy hype, period. Hype costs money. Money makes money. With enough hype The Cleveland Yellow Pages will sell a billion copies. Without any hype, the greatest literature of all time won't make a dime. You know all this, but your potential clients need to know it and need to be willing to make an investment in themselves and in their work for their own exquisite reasons, whatever they may be, and not with the hope of realizing a monetary return on that investment.

PAUL COHEN: The vetting process is important. Epigraph is not a self-publishing company in that sense. We will not accept a client's book for publication if it hasn't a chance of competing. What would be the point? The idea behind Epigraph is to level the playing field for authors whose books could compete against traditionally published authors if they were given equivalent access and publishing services.

The bias against self-publishing is at an end. Editors, publishers, booksellers, reps, etc all realize that what makes a book a success is the content and the marketing, not the ownership of rights. Readers do not care or even know who published their favorite book. The bias against bad books, on the other hand, remains. Editors and booksellers understand the difference and they understand too that the publishing industry as a whole is undergoing profound changes. When Steven King self published one of his new novels online a couple of years ago, it sent a message and a question through the industry about the theretofore inviolable structure of traditional publishing contracts. It proved that the publishing contract, and all that it implied, had fallen behind the march of technology. As more good self-publishing companies develop, self published works will be seen not as vanity projects but as author empowered. If self-publishers are smart, they will become known as uber-marketers of their work. If they do that successfully, booksellers will buy their works with confidence.

GERARD JONES: What your "trade publishing" option has going for it is that people will end up with a "real" book, nicely produced, with a credible distribution network. That's worth $10k to people with a spare $10k to throw around, but other than corporate clients, there are very few individual "authors" who can possibly have any hope in hell of recouping their investment.

PAUL COHEN: Authors have to know up front that publishing is not (for most people) directly profitable. Most books that are published do not make money, even for publishers. There has to be some other reason to publish. It's that other reason that makes publishing worthwhile. Whatever that other reason is, it should be worth the initial investment to publish. If authors approach self-publishing in this way, and as an investment in their own work or career, they can have some peace of mind while they are doing it and make better publishing decisions because of it. Those authors are more likely to recoup their investment and even make a profit over time.

Also self-publishing doesn't have to cost $10,000; that's just an example on the website. If you really want to do it on the cheap, say, to get started, you can self publish for free on Lulu.com. Self-publishing is a way to be proactive in the development of your intellectual property. Sometimes it's the only way. Rather than be a victim of the publishing industry you can take matters into your own hands.

Some authors do make money self-publishing. Most recently, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki self published their Why We Want You to be Rich because it allowed them to donate a half a million dollars to their pet project, teaching business and money-making skills to kids in public schools. Self-publishing is no different than traditional publishing in that sense. If you sell a lot of copies, you'll make money.

GJ: You seem to have "hype" options, as well. That gets even more expensive and doesn't ensure a better return.

PC: The hype options are about making sure books sell through. Epigraph, unlike most self-publishing companies, provides national distribution to bookstores. That's not something the author has to do. The author's publicity dollars will go further having that kind of support. The author is also not alone; they are working with a team. As you said, there is no guarantee that promotion will improve your return on investment but from my experience promotion nearly always produces a better end result than no promotion.

Authors have to learn to think more long term about the development of their intellectual property. The idea that a book has only has three months in which it should be marketed is quite damaging to the longer term prospects for that book. What most books need to succeed is prolonged and targeted marketing. The savvy self publishing author will still be promoting when his traditionally published competitor closes shop in 3 months.

Thanks for the interview. It's like the Dalai Lama says, "There'll be no money but on your deathbed, you'll receive total consciousness." So, you'll have that going for you.

GJ: That Dalai Lama guy, he's one smart cookie. Thanks. G.

Unbridled Books
200 North 9th St., Ste. A
Columbia, MO 65201
(573) 256-4106

2000 Wadsworth Blvd., Ste. 195
Lakewood, CO 80214
(303) 506-3622

http://www.unbridledbooks.com

Chelsea Green Publishing Company
85 North Main St., Ste. 120
P.O. Box 428
White River Junction, VT 05001
(802) 295-6300

http://www.chelseagreen.com

How do we get our listing updated? It's way out of date. We also just put a book on the NY Times Bestseller List: Read all about it. We have a revitalized editorial program, among other things. Thanks, margo

Hey, margo, you just tell me what to say and I say it. I moved you up the page a ways, too. Go see. Thanks. G.

Chronicle Books
85 Second St., 6th Flr.
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 537-4200

http://www.chroniclebooks.com

City Lights Books
261 Columbus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 362-8193

http://www.citylights.com

John Wiley & Sons
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
(201) 748-6000

(Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer)

http://www.wiley.com

Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer
989 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 433-1740

http://www.josseybass.com

Encounter Books
665 Third Street, Ste. 330
San Francisco, CA 94107
(800) 786-3839

http://www.encounterbooks.com

The Overlook Press
141 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10012

http://www.overlookpress.com

Harvard University Press
79 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

http://www.hup.harvard.edu

Fordham University Press
University Box L
Bronx, NY 10458
(718) 817-4795

http://www.fordhampress.com

Dzanc Books
1334 Woodbourne Street
Westland, MI 48186

http://www.dzancbooks.org

Feral House
PO Box 39910
Los Angeles, CA 90039

http://www.feralhouse.com

New Directions Publishing
80 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10011

http://www.ndpublishing.com

Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
(410) 516-6900

http://www.press.jhu.edu

Allworth Press
10 East 23rd Street, Ste. 510
New York, NY, 10010

http://www.allworth.com

Catbird Press
16 Windsor Road
North Haven CT 06473

http://www.catbirdpress.com

Persea Books
853 Broadway, Suite 604
New York, NY 10003

http://www.perseabooks.com

Verso Press
180 Varick Street, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10014

http://www.versobooks.com

We do not accept unsolicited fiction at all. Also, we are a Leftist publisher so we will not consider a book proposal unless it implicitly or expressly deals with left-leaning politics. Our submission guidelines and company information are on our website. No telephone calls please. Thanks for keeping us on your list.

Louisana State University Press
PO Box 25053
Baton Rouge, LA 70894

http://www.lsu.edu/lsupress/index.html

Pushcart Press
PO Box 380
Wainscott, NY 11975

Black Classic Press
P.O. Box 13414
Baltimore, MD 21203

http://www.blackclassic.com

Paul Dry Books
117 South 17th Street, #1102
Philadelphia, PA 19103

http://www.pauldrybooks.com

The Charles Press Publishers
117 South 17th Street, #310
Philadelphia PA 19103

http://charlespresspub.com

Watson-Guptill Publications
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

http://www.watsonguptill.com

Regnery Publishing, Inc.
One Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001

http://www.regnery.com

Bancroft Press
PO Box 65360
Baltimore, MD 21209

http://www.bancroftpress.com

BkMk Press
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5100 Rockhill Road
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499

http://www.umkc.edu/bkmk

Rugged Land
401 West Street, 2nd Flr.
New York, NY 10014
(212) 334-8228

http://www.ruggedland.com

Justin, Charles & Company
236 Huntington Ave., Ste. 311
Boston, MA 02115

http://www.justincharlesbooks.com

Dear Gerard Jones: Thanks for the update. You've clearly put a prodigious amount of effort into Everyone Who's... and I would imagine it's quite a useful tool for some people. Thanks, and best of luck. --sph

Dear Stephen: I just add stuff as I come across it and rely on kind e-mails like yours to correct what I get wrong. If I'd known it was gonna be so prodigious I never would have done it. Oh, nice website, by the way. Thanks. G.

Princeton University Press
41 William Street
Princeton, NJ 08540
(609) 258-4900

http://www.pupress.princeton.edu

Sterling Publishing Company
387 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016

http://www.sterlingpub.com

Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 726-6000

http://www.oup.com/us/

Cambridge University Press
32 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10013
(212) 924-3900

http://www.cambridge.org

FC2
Department of English
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1580

http://fc2.org

Gerard, we specialize in experimental fiction (novels and short fiction). The best place to get an idea of what we do is our website, which also has our submission guidelines. I can't tell enough from what you've said about your books (except that if one really is a memoir we're not interested in that) to know if they're aligned with our leanings. Brenda

Columbia University Press
61 W. 62nd Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 459-0600

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/index.html

Sourcebooks, Inc.
1935 Brookdale Rd., Suite 139
Naperville, IL 60563

http://www.sourcebooks.com

Hi Gerard, Just letting you know Marie Macaisa is a project editor with MediaFusion but not an acquiring editor on that line. MediaFusion acquisitions are reviewed by everybody so it's fine to submit to: Acquisitions, MediaFusion. Thanks for the note. And keep up the good work, Dominique

Hey, Dominique, got it. I'll fix things. Thanks. You too. G.

http://everyonewhosanyone.com/ggsyn.html

F+W Publications, Inc.
4700 E. Galbraith Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45236
(513) 531-2690

116 E. 27th Street
New York, NY 10016

(Adams Media)

http://www.fwpublications.com

Hey, Lauren, dat's egzactly what updates is for! I'll fix things. Thanks. G.

Thank YOU, Gerard. I appreciate your good work. :) Lauren

Adams Media Corporation
57 Littlefield Street
Avon, MA 02322
(508) 427-7100

http://www.adamsmedia.com

White Pine
PO Box 236
Buffalo, NY 14201

http://www.whitepine.org

Workman Publishing Company
708 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

http://www.workman.com

Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
P.O. Box 2225
Chapel Hill, NC 27515

http://www.algonquin.com

Barricade Books
185 Bridge Plaza North, Suite 308-A
Fort Lee, NJ 07024

http://www.barricadebooks.com

We publish nonfiction only as for example the upcoming Power Beyond Reason which proves that President Johnson while in office was a manic-depressive paranoiac—and his disease kept us in the war in Vietnam and cost thousands of American lives... —lyle stuart

Dear Lyle: Sounds like a good, eminently believable, book, but let's not forget the three million Vietnamese lives it cost as well. Thanks again. G.

http://everyonewhosanyone.com/audio/GGch17m.mp3

Dear Gerard Jones: How come I'm not in your directory? I'm Carole Stuart, publisher of Barricade Books and Lyle Stuart is President. If you want more information, let me know and I'll send it. You do want to be completely up to date, right? We've been publishing for nearly 13 years! Carole Stuart

Dear Carole: I had you in there at first, but I couldn't find an e-mail address for you, so I took you out. Anything you want to say I'd be more than happy to put in, sure, as little or as much. Thanks again. G.

I'll look it over...I like the information—very helpful. Carole

Thanks. Take your time. Hey, your mission is the furtherance of free speech. So is mine. Ha! G.

Yes and it's caused us a lot of expensive grief. (See Steve Wynn v. Barricade Books and v. Lyle Stuart.) Anyway....

Wow. Oh, thank heaven for actual malice, but I'm sure it cost you a pretty penny nonetheless. Tricky business, this truth telling. The best thing I've got going for me is that I'm judgment proof—when you got nothing you got nothing to lose. You should see what I'm doing with Oprah Winfrey. She's gonna have a cow. I'm absolutely within my rights to use her in the way I do—thanks to Larry Flynt and Jerry Falwell—but still no publisher will touch it with a ten foot pole. That's the main problem with my nonfiction book too. Here's the first couple lines:

"I'm using everyone's real name. They can all sue me. I hope they do. I could use the excitement."

Update May, 2003: We publish non-fiction like CONVERSATIONS WITH A PEDOPHILE and CELEBRITY LIES as well as a line of gambling books and true crime with a emphasis on mob-related subjects.

Routledge
29 West 35 Street, Suite 61
New York, NY 10001

http://www.routledge-ny.com

Dalkey Archive Press
Center for Book Culture
ISU Campus Box 8905
Normal, IL 61790-8905

http://www.dalkeyarchive.com

Granary Books, Inc.
307 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1401
New York, NY 10001

http://www.granarybooks.com

Graywolf Press
2402 University Avenue #203
Saint Paul, MN 55114

http://www.graywolfpress.org

Ig Publishing
178 Clinton Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11205

http://www.igpub.com

Gerard, Thanks and good luck with your book. Monkfish should be a good home—they are with us on Consortium. thanks, Robert Lasnere

Cool. Consortium ain't exactly Ingram or Baker & Taylor but as soon as all the best books start getting distributed by them they'll be Ingram and Baker & Taylor. Thanks. G.

Helicon Nine
PO Box 22412
Kansas City, MO 64113
(816) 753-1095

http://www.heliconnine.com

Newmarket Press
18 East 48th Street, 15th Flr.
New York, NY 10017
(212) 832-3575

http://www.newmarketpress.com

Continuum Books
15 East 26th St., Ste. 1703
New York, NY 10010
(212) 953-5858

http://www.continuum-books.com

Avalon Books
160 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10016

http://www.avalonbooks.com

Dorchester Publishing
200 Madison Ave., Ste. 2000
New York, NY 10016

http://www.dorchesterpub.com

Harlequin/Silhouette Books
300 E. 42nd Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10017

http://www.eharlequin.com

Canada Office

Red Dress Ink
233 Broadway, Suite 1001
New York NY 10279

http://www.reddressink.com

Callaway Editions
54 Seventh Avenue South
New York, NY 10014

http://www.callaway.com

Gival Press
PO Box 3812
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 351-0079

http://www.givalpress.com

Stone v. Stone
9 Barrow Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 941-1200

Autonomedia
PO Box 568 Williamsburgh Station
Brooklyn, NY 11211

http://www.autonomedia.org

Hill Street Press
191 East Broad Street, Suite 209
Athens, Georgia 30601

http://www.hillstreetpress.com

Other Press
307 7th Avenue, Suite 1807
New York, NY 10001

http://www.otherpress.com

Donald M. Grant Publisher
PO Box 187, Surrey Lane
Hampton Falls, NH 03844
(603) 778-7191

http://www.grantbooks.com

Please, remove our company from your list.

I'll put a mark by your name and not send you any more e-mails but I can't remove your company from my list 'cause you are who you are and do what you do. Thanks. G.

That's fine, but I must request that you put next to our company that we are not accepting submissions. Thank you for your cooperation. Karen

Okey-doke. Thanks. G.

Mercury House
PO Box 192850
San Francisco, CA 94119

http://www.mercuryhouse.org

Sepia/BET Books
850 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022

(Arabesque, Sepia, New Spirit)

http://www.bet.com/books/betbooks

Cadmus Editions
PO Box 126
Tiburon-Belvedere, CA 94920

http://www.cadmus-editions.com

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way
Novato, CA 94949
(415) 884-2100

http://www.newworldlibrary.com

(@) = Not a corporate fascist. (Feel free to apply for non-corporate fascist status...simply tell me in fifty words or fewer why you think you're not a corporate fascist.)

(*) = E-mail bounced. Correct information much appreciated. In fact, anyone who knows anything I don't know, let me know.

(!) = E-mail blocked (just mine, not yours), probably 'cause the intended recipient and/or the company by which he or she is owned and operated is an extra brainwashed, super chicken, corporate fascist goon.

(666) = Asked not to be contacted (by me, not by you), very likely because he or she is a happy little slave boy or a happy little slave girl and doesn't want it any other way, uh-huh, uh-huh.

Gerard Jones
everyone@everyonewhosanyone.com