Doubt It Publishing @The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair

The show must go on!

While I'm not sure if I'll be able to attend or not due to work obligations, Doubt It Publishing will have a table at the event along with a catalog of books on sale at The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair.  Doubt It authors Mark McElligott (Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind) and David Waters (12 Priests & 3 Gnomes) will be at the event to hawk their wares, sign some books and meet and greet with attendees.  The boys will also have copies of If They Can't Take A Joke, Slapstick & Superego, Mockery and Poke The Scorpion With A Sharp Stick for sale. 

This will be the third year that Doubt It Publishing will participate in the event.  The Buffalo Small Press Book Fair takes place on Saturday, March 24th at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum in downtown Buffalo from noon-6 p.m.  For more information, feel free to visit:  http://www.buffalosmallpress.org/  

Buy our books already!

Tom Waters

Publisher, Author

Doubt It Publishing  

The Willy Wonka Theorem

            Time to face facts.  Doubt It Publishing cemented the publishing house with Voices From The Herd: An Anthology For Buffalo, NY.  Despite the time involved, anthologies are an easy project to attract local writers.  The project was a colossal success and the proceeds that the book has earned for The Just Buffalo Literary Center will resonate for years to come.   

            Lightning struck twice when heretofore unknown Mark McElligott sent his manuscript along for Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind, which was easily one of the funniest books I've read in fifteen years.  While Mark (and the contents of his book) aren't exactly family friendly, we found a niche for his talent and his book continues to entertain while finding a new audience.    

            The open reading submission for 2011 was less than satisfactory.  I'm slightly saddened to announce that there won't be any Doubt It Publishing Author Of The Year this year because, truth be told, I put all of my eggs in two or three baskets.  Not one, but three promising manuscripts passed my desk that held promise.  One had potential but it wasn't polished enough.  Another had stellar character development but the author's needs and requests were unreasonable.  The final project was perfect but the person behind the collection couldn't commit.

            I've spent the last ten years interviewing writers to find out what works and what doesn’t.  What behaviors succeed, what personality traits work and which ones don't.  In the same sense, I've spent a lifetime learning what it means to run a successful publishing business.  Many schools in the music business open their doors to anyone willing to collect a paycheck and find themselves on the verge of bankruptcy within a few years.  Other ventures weed out new creative endeavors after a short time and turn to subsidy publishing, choosing only to publish and copyright their own work. 

            Doubt It Publishing is an ideal.  A publishing house that was built to foster new, subversive and talented Buffalo authors and save them from the pitfalls and aggravations that I've gone through for the last ten years.  This won't be a vanity house and it won't be a catch-all for any author coming down the pike.  It has to be an imprint that welcomes those of you promising enough to make the cut who are willing to put as much work into promoting your book as you did writing it. 

            2012 is a wash.  The Doubt It Publishing docket for this year has failed.  So we grow, evolve and adapt.  Here's the decision moving forward: The Call For Submissions will be year round from here on out.  As the Publisher and Editor In Chief, I will no longer depend on any one writer or any one manuscript.  There will no longer be a six month reading period.  If you have a promising work and you want to publish and promote it next year, I want to work with you.  The business model remains.  I'm still looking for one book to work with, but I'm swinging the submission gates wide open. 

            Tell me what you've been working on, Buffalo.  You've got all year to do it, and every year from here on out. 

Please send your sample chapters, query letters or entire manuscripts to: bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com   

Out With The Old, In With The New

2011 was truly a banner year all around.  If someone told me this time last year that I’d launch three books in the span of 8 months while working on two more and holding down a full time job, I’d tell them they were nuts.
Mockery got better media exposure than my last three books combined and went on to sell more copies faster than any other book I’ve released.  In terms of sales it’s second only to If They Can’t Take A Joke.  It continues to sell steadily even though the inaugural push is over with.
Mark McElligott’s Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind was a resounding breakout success from a talented and previously unheard of writer.  Together we managed to find a larger audience for his idiosyncratic brand of humor in his hometown of Lockport as well as throughout Buffalo.  And while there was no real launch campaign for Poke The Scorpion With A Sharp Stick, it’s turned a tidy profit since its release in August that would make its previous poetry predecessors proud.  The collection was received as an entertaining step forward compared to both Breathing Rooms.
            Somehow this year I also managed to get banned from Time Warner Cable and earned a film credit for the music video ‘I Wanna Be Oprah’ (which is still available on YouTube).  I guess we can chalk both up to being in the right place at the right time.
            As far as Big Words Radio, Season 4 turned out to be the magic number.  Somehow despite the over-the-top comedy and subversive, offensive content the show turned out to be the Little Podcast That Could, finding an audience of over 3,000 listeners per month.  Season 5 promises to be just as crass and irreverent as it’s always been, so stay tuned!
The next two years should be light duty compared to this one.  I’m putting the finishing touches on Icarus On The Mend: Memoirs Of A Manic Depressive before working on the cover and interior design with cover artist Derek Patrick Evoy and graphic designer Brian Platter (Six Shot Studios) for a firm signed and numbered (50 copies only) hardcover release date of October 25th, 2012.  Exactly one year later the book will appear again in two trade paperback volumes for the general public.
It remains to be seen whether there will be a 2012 Doubt It Publishing Author Of The Year.  The book I devoted countless time into proofreading, editing and consultation on fell through due to contract negotiations and after Voices From The Herd I have zero interest in extending a call for submissions.  I am working with someone on something else but time will tell if the concept bears fruit or not.
Thanks for such a spectacular year, everybody.  I look forward to a productive and financially successful New Year!

Sincerely,
Tom Waters

Early Concept Art for Icarus On The Mend by Derek Patrick Evoy

Book Signing Dec.4th @Talking Leaves Elmwood w/Mark McElligott

After a four month flurry of promotions together, Mark McElligott and I are still a bit tired and weary.  Nevertheless, we are planning some book events during the busy holiday season.  On Sunday, December 4th, we'll both be at Talking Leaves on Elmwood from 4-6 pm signing copies of Poke The Scorpion With A Sharp Stick, Mockery and Mark's breakout hit Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind.  All three books will be available for $15.  Talking Leaves currently has all three books in stock at both their Elmwood and Main St. locations.

I'm also in the process of setting something up at Dog Ears Books in South Buffalo for December, so stay tuned for news about that.  On top of that, Mark's shown an interest in booking an event at Café Karma in Lockport, so odds are strong that we'll book something for him there. 

Even when we're not busy, we're busy.  I'm promoting lightly on Poke The Scorpion until my calendar frees up, so please try to make it out to Talking Leaves if you want a copy.  My time for the next month is deeply invested in proof-reading an editing a possible manuscript for next year and everything else is on a back burner for the time being.  While my poetry books have never been blockbusters in terms of sales, they're steady sellers over the years and they mean every bit as much to me as the humor books or other projects. 

We look forward to seeing you in December,

Tom Waters

Roll The Bones

The deadline for next year's manuscripts has come and gone. 

We are now at November 1st and after a few false starts, promising first drafts and possible manuscripts, I'm zeroing in on one book for possible publication next year.  While I'd prefer to put out one quality book by a promising new author every year from here on out, that doesn't mean I'll settle.  This summer I looked at a great first draft by a local horror author.  She and I both agreed that the raw materials for the plot were in place but that it still had some room to grow. 

There were a number of other books that crossed my desk, but they just didn't feel right. 

About a week ago, a new author approached me and sent me a sample chapter.  The quality of her voice as a writer and the audacity of her book (for the genre she's shooting for) caught my eye.  While I've never worked in this genre before, the manuscript itself could be well worthy of branching out and learning the market. 

Doubt It Publishing is still a fledgling publishing house.  We've only been around for four years and (despite newbie concerns), a solid catalog is more important than making money.  At the end of the day, I'd rather have a tiny library I can be proud of than a few dollars poorly earned and quickly spent. 

So I leave you with this.  In a month or two, I'll either publish a new author next year or not.  I'm tickled at the thought of tackling a new genre but it all depends on the small details.  My heart tells me to move forward and create a launching pad for a promising author with an incredible voice.  The logical side I retain is so neglected that I await a memo for an appropriate response. 

Expect great news by January or a year of dormancy.  Everything depends on a second revision.  I wish I could say or reveal more, but there's too much at stake.  Random Thoughts From A Broken Mind  was a diamond in the rough and Mark McElligott and I were proud to bring it into the fold.  I hope that this new project is just as fruitful...

Hopeful,
Tom Waters
Editor In Chief,
Doubt It Publishing

Something Borrowed, Something New

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

To say that the last four years have been interesting would be an understatement.  Fate has guided my career as a writer in directions I could never fathom.  After making more money on two poetry books than I expected (which is why I published them myself), I decided to found my own publishing company (Doubt It Publishing).  After that (with the help of co-editor's Cindy Mantai and Alycia Ripley), we released Voices From The Herd, a non-profit anthology about Buffalo with all of the proceeds being deposited directly to The Just Buffalo Literary Center.  After that, it seemed like a natural step to publish one new author a year, so fate guided my hand again and introduced me to Mark McElligott, a 50 year old cartoonist whose writing was among the funniest I've ever read.  Around the same time, I wrote my autobiography (which isn't coming out until next year).

What has all of this taught me after ten years of freelancing, writing, marketing and publishing?  To follow your hunches and stay out of your comfort zone.  I had a stray thought a few weeks ago to delve into the history of Rushford, NY.  As half a native (spending my summers there as a child and taking two weeks in the off season for the past ten years), I've always loved it there and part of my heart will always belong there.  While I despise history books as a genre and prefer biographies and autobiographies, Rushford is the one subject that I'd be willing to sink my teeth into.

So here's the web site for it.  This was built out of a hope that some of you will find it and find yourselves willing to loan or email me documents, memoirs or heretofore unseen information about the history of Rushford.  When I used to conduct print interviews for Artvoice, I preferred to research my subject backwards and forwards before I even started typing; Rushford won't be any different.  Research on the town has already begun, but this is a new genre for me and a much larger topic than a single artist, so any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.

I'm astonished to find that there isn't much in the way of books in print, web sites or archived data about Rushford.  In Buffalo you can throw a rock and find three books about Niagara Falls, The Appalachian Trail or The Adirondaks.  It's sad that there aren't many books in print about such a beautiful man-made place and that alone solidified my decision to start writing this book.  I've got a three year window to research and write it.  I'd like to give the history of the area the justice it deserves.

Here's where you come in.  If you have any out of print books in your possession, newspaper clippings, maps, old photos of the town or oral history about Rushford (that you can back up), please email me at your earliest convenience at:

bigwordsmailbag@yahoo.com

This is a very long term project with a lot of hard work ahead for me.  Unlike the autobiography, there won't be any play by plays, teasers or behind the scenes spoilers before the book is released.  If you live in Rushford, know something about Rushford that no one else knows or if there's something about the town that you find important to its legacy, please email me.  You have my full attention.

Sincerely,
Tom Waters