Back On The Horse: Call For Submissions & Two Important Promotions This Week

            As previously stated, Doubt It Publishing is rolling forward in June with this year's round of submissions for our 2012 Author Of The Year.  From June 1st through November 1st I'll be reviewing full length manuscript submissions for fiction, nonfiction and poetry.  Doubt It Publishing is looking for: humor, horror, short stories, self-help, memoirs, essays, rants, poetry and suspense. If your book is gripping and engaging I want to see it!  Send either a query, sample chapters or full manuscript to: bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com. 

There is no reading fee or entry fee of any kind.  The only criteria is that you must reside in the Buffalo area and possess a talent for writing along with a willingness to work hard promoting your book when it comes out next year.  As 2011 Author Mark McElligott knows, marketing and campaigning for his book (Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind) is every bit as important as writing it.  You can review the Author Agreement details at http://www.doubtitpublishing.blogspot.com or by joining the open Doubt It Publishing group on Facebook.  If you know someone who's working on a book, please pass the word along.  Again, I am only picking (and working with) one author per year so that I can give them my undivided attention as well as the full brunt of my networking, marketing and media experience.  If you have any additional questions, feel free to email me at: bigwordsmalbag@yahoo.com.

Getting back to Mark McElligott, he chose to promote alongside me shortly after I launched Mockery, so while I'm starting to wind down on appearances for my book he'll be taking the baton and running with it in the coming months.  This Thursday I'll be reading and signing at Talking Leaves Books on 3158 Main St. from 7 p.m. (SHARP!) to 8 p.m.  Talking Leaves is another venue very close to my heart because it's local, I've done a promotion there for almost every book for the last decade and it's a great store.  Somehow Jonathan has a knack for stocking the ONE Bukowski book that I don't own every time I visit.  If you like poetry, they've got one of the largest selections in the tri-state area and they feature a comprehensive and diverse selection of local authors. 

This Saturday, Mark McElligott and I will both be reading at Stockman's Tavern on 9870 Transit Rd. in Swormville (between Amherst and Lockport) from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.  Stockman's is a great bar with a great crowd, so please mark your calendar and make the time to come out and join us.  This will be Mark's first full-length reading, so please join me in welcoming him and his incredibly funny new book Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind.  Copies of Mockery and Random Thoughts will be limited, so either show up early or buy both on http://lulu.com  for the low low price of $15.

I'll see you out on the town this week.  Ladies and gentleman, start your submissions!

Thanks,

Tom Waters  

Mission Statement Of Sorts

     Welcome to the new site.  Since founding Doubt It Publishing two years ago, it's about time that we had an official site for interested consumers, curious authors, and puzzled literary agents.  With five published and successful books under our belt, it's high time that we made our presence known.
     Doubt It Publishing was conceived almost a decade ago as a means to trumpet the unbelievable talent and untapped potential of a strong literary undercurrent in Buffalo, NY.  There are too many unsung and brilliant voices in the region and instead of charging unreasonable 'entry fees' for contests, hooking up our pals for book deals and publishing their books under vanity presses with university connections or funding the company for our own selfish means while extorting the raw talent that fuels us, we decided to do something honest.
     This is the beginning of a new publishing house.  Reasonable publishing commissions for a select number of new authors per year.  As a founder and fellow writer, I'm not out to exploit someone else's work and I have no desire to profit on someone else's brain child since we're in the same boat.  I plan on paying charging 15% on sales of the book while working directly with each author to implement a publicity plan that's specific to the their goals, availability, and the genre itself.  While I am not a distributor, Doubt It Publishing will distribute through lulu.com (and by extension Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers) where we can set a price point and thereby calculate a fair commission for contributors. 
     I've got fifteen years of experience writing for every newspaper, weekly alternative paper and magazine in Buffalo and beyond.  I've promoted my own books in corporate bookstores (Media Play, Borders, FYE), local proprietorships (Talking Leaves, Rust Belt Books), coffee shops (Spot Coffee), nightclubs (Desiderios, Magruders, Lafeyette Tap Room) and more.  I've promoted on the air with Brian Kahle, Country 106.5 FM WYRK, and Time Warner Cable.  As the host of a radio show (The Big Words I Know By Heart Radio Hour) that's gone on to attract hundreds of downloads per month and unique hits in the neighborhood of 100,000 or more, I'm happy to say that I can bend the ear of a specific audience.
     I'm looking to take on one new author per year.  After a successful anthology launch (Voices From The Herd: An Anthology For Buffalo NY), it's time to take Doubt It to new and ambitious heights.  If you're a Buffalo author and you have a polished manuscript, I'd like to hear from you.  Please send a query with a cover letter, and synopsis to bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com.  The clock is ticking on 2010.  We've got two months left to select a new distinguished author for 2011. 
      You can print on demand or pay through the ear for a local 'publisher' who's juiced in with all the right people and make less than nothing.  Or you can trust my experience and place your convictions in a fellow writer who's been toiling away in the trenches right along with you.  Life has afforded me a modicum of success, connections and media access.  I'd like to share it with somone else.  My deadline is January 1st, 2011.  Fiction, Nonfiction, or Poetry. I'm specifically looking for short story collections, contemporary fiction or consistent and challenging poetry.  If you have a talent in written word worth promoting (and a desire to actively promote your book in Buffalo), I'd like to partner with you.

Sincerely,
Tom Waters
Publisher
Doubt It Publishing