Dear Authors,
I love books. I love, love, love them! Anyone who knows me knows how much of a passion books are for me. And I love helping authors breathe life into the dreams they have of presenting their great stories to the masses. This is the foundation upon which Medallion Press was built and the mission we carry in our hearts ever day. Medallion Press was also built on the philosophy that we will do things differently in this business. We will not accept the status quo just because “it’s how things are done.” Any author who works with us sees that we are not your typical, standoffish publisher. We want you to be involved in the evolution of your dream from manuscript to published work. This will not change.

But, sometimes, businesses need to change in certain areas to evolve as the world is evolving. Publishing has worked off of certain broken, unsustainable models for far too long. I broke one of these models by creating an author-friendly pub house. I wasn’t afraid of taking that chance because I believed it was the right thing to do.

There is something else I think is the right thing to do, and now is the right time to do it: focus on digital content for readers.

Over the last twenty years, technology has been advancing almost faster than we can keep up with. We’ve already seen the life and death of the Beta and VHS formats, with DVDs getting pushed out by Blu-ray discs, which will soon be pushed out by HD television, 3D television, and downloadable digital movies. Going back forty years, we saw the birth of the 8-track, which evolved into cassette tapes, which evolved into CDs, a product now on its deathbed and, for some people, already dead, due to downloadable digital audio.

Advancing even faster than the changing formats are the devices upon which this digital content is presented. In publishing, these advancements can be condensed to even smaller time frames. It was only three to four years ago that we were introduced to e-readers, and already the single-purpose functionality of these devices is outdated. When iPad releases, along with products from Apple competitors, the landscape of publishing will forever be changed. And publishers, like it or not, will be forced to adapt their business to provide content for these new devices.

There are so many advantages authors can realize from digital content in the publishing realm:

• Immediate sales
• No returns
• Unlimited shelf space
• A growing, and much less crowded, marketplace for selling titles
• No defacing of titles; no covers stripped to be returned from retail outlets
• Far fewer degrees of separation between you, the author, and the end consumer
• You won’t have to hear friends, family, and colleagues say, “I went to my local bookstore, but it wasn’t on the shelves.”
• New devices and content platforms that will be hungry for content, allowing your fan base to grow exponentially along with these new devices and platforms

I do not make these claims, or my commitment to them, lightly. As a fellow author, I want you to know that I would never ask our authors to do something that I would not. Therefore, my writing projects will be a part of this change we’re making, including my upcoming Illustrated Romantic Masterpiece titles, Angelique and a revised reprint of Ellie and the Elven King, both of which will be published in e-book format.
Stay tuned. Our e-books won’t just be any old e-books, you can bet!
Sincerely,

Helen A Rosburg

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ATTENTION, ASPIRING, SERIOUS WRITERS:

The 2010 Pen to Press Writers’ Retreat IS LOCKED AND LOADED!

For those of you asking, “What is a Pen to Press Writers’ Retreat?” allow me the honor of enlightening you . . .

Pen to Press Retreats are five intense, hands-on, inspiring days that teach participants how to shape and present a saleable manuscript. You’ll learn in a variety of settings, from workshops to one-on-one mentoring sessions to seminars. To that end, you will write and revise, have portions of your manuscript critiqued, and revise some more. This is a remarkable opportunity to transform your writing!

To top it off, throughout the last two days of each retreat, all of our participants are given exclusive, one-on-one time with agents and editors to whom they can pitch their work.

This is a one-of-a-kind writers’ retreat you simply can’t pass up! Come excited and leave inspired, ready to improve your writing and get that manuscript published!

For more information go to www.pentopressretreat.com.

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