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1.
The Power of Networking and
Different Types of Networking
I
missed an issue last
month, but I'm back with a
June newsletter that I trust
you will find interesting
and informative. I had been
wanting to do something around
networking and when a story
dropped itself in my lap last
week, I realized I have different
examples of networking that
would make for a fascinating
issue.
My
trusted author colleague,
Susan
C. Haley, author of the
award-winning Rainy  Day
People (available in
print and audio), and with
whom I shared a panel discussion
on Authors Helping Authors
(see Article 4 below), has
written extensively about
four principles of networking
and what they mean and involve.
While geared toward books,
the priniciples could apply
in any business.
The
four principles are:
1. Networking is first getting
to know yourself; your strong
vs. weaker attributes, a prioritizing
of what you wish to achieve.
2. Networking is a reciprocal
process.
3. Networking is action; physically
doing something. It’s the
perpetuation of action begetting
reaction. We must take responsibility
in the creating of our life.
4. Networking is balance.
It’s imperative to maintain
a balance between your expectations
and your contributions.
“I have learned that networking
is a process," writes Susan.
"Results aren’t instant. I
think it’s as much a building
of a recognizable name as
interest in a specific title
or titles. For me, by being
active in writing groups,
online communities, message
forums, e-mail lists and now
some E-zines, I’ve drawn interest
in my writing based on my
Florida Writer column, list
messages and comments on issues
other than my books in various
forums. With auto signatures,
I've been able to draw a fairly
large audience to my web site.
“My ‘Miracle’ story led to
Pauline
Hager (author of Memoirs
of an American Housewife in
Japan) recommending my
web site all over the place.
I’m very grateful to her.
It’s a long process, my friends.
Expecting instant or huge
results quickly will lead
to disappointment. I'd like
to impress on people not to
give up if results aren’t
instant and to be prepared
for a continuing effort at
exposure and also to embrace
a reciprocal attitude in helping
other writers. I’m continually
evaluating my own motivations,
and I work sincerely hard
at being honest and genuine
in my ‘networking’ efforts.
Actually, I think my personal
reward comes more from that
than selling a book.”
Susan was widowed at 55, and
through writing was able to
deal with the despair but
realized. "it was a solitary
existence." A friend helped
her publish two books and
led her to the Florida Writers
Association. When asked to
lead a chapter in Sarasota
County, she panicked.
"I learned that if I’d take
a step forward, others would
do the same," she wrote in Infinity
Publishing's Author's
Gazette. "They’d meet
me in the middle. To ripple
a pond, all one must do is
throw in their pebble. Next,
I started tossing pebbles
into the ponds of other writing
groups, assuring them we were
all under the same creative
umbrella. FWA wasn’t an invader
of their independence, but
a support net; its fibers
reaching across the state
and beyond.
"It became apparent that the
third principle of networking
was doing. It’s attending
workshops and conferences,
visiting bookstores and related
places of business. It’s researching
reading clubs, organizing
events, becoming familiar
with the local publications
and media. Most important
of all, it’s offering an outstretched
hand, a smile, a welcome,
a thank you.
"I then discovered a fourth
principle of ‘networking’,
Balance. It’s being willing
to learn as well as teach,
to listen as well as speak.
It’s being a shoulder to lean
on as well as seeking one
on which to lean. It’s giving
encouragement as well as looking
for it. It’s attempting to
be what others would wish
to emulate and creating something
others would want to use or
share, or in my case, read."
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Eco-Libris
putting "stamp" on marriage
of books and trees
(Networking
Note: I placed an announcement
in the Sustainable
Business Network of Greater
Philadelphia e-newsletter
about my next book event.
An e-mail from fellow member
Raz Godelink was the next
one I received.)
You
look at the Harry Potter tomes
and may bemoan the trees that  died
making J. K. Rowling rich
and famous and Harry Potter
an icon. (Only the last three
books indicate they were published
on recycled paper). What if
there could be an exchange
to bring some of those trees
back?
Enter Eco-Libris,
which has come up with a nifty,
simple and affordable idea
which marries the love of
books while being environmentally
friendly. Raz Godelink is
CEO of Eco-Libris, which has
offices in Newark, DE and
Seattle and recently joined
the Sustainable
Business Network of Greater
Philadelphia. Targeting
authors, book stores, book
publishers, book clubs – just
about anyone involved in the
book industry – the idea is
they buy a certain number
of stickers from Eco-Libris
for a certain number of books.
When a sale is made, the sticker
(above), which says:
“Eco-Libris: One tree was
planted for this book,” can
be affixed to the book. For
each sale, a tree is planted.
Yes, the sticker is printed
from recycled materials: “from
30% post-consumer waste (PCW)
and 70% pre-consumer waste,
and they are printed with
non-toxic ink. The envelope
and the thank you letter,
which you receive with the
stickers, are made of 100%
post-consumer waste,” according
to the Eco-Libris web
site. Their tag line is “Balance
out your books.”
They work with three non-profit
tree planting organizations:
Sustainable
Harvesting International,
which covers Belize, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Panama in Central
America; RIPPLE Africa, which
works in Africa, primarily
in Malawi; and The
Alliance for International
Reforestation, which plants
trees in Guatemala and Nicaragua.
The photo at left is of recently
planted trees at Kachere Primary
School in Malawi. Photo courtesy
of RIPPLE
Africa).
Since
Eco-Libris launched in July
2007, over 47,000 books “have
been balanced out,” resulting
in 61,500 trees being built.
Around 20,000,000 trees are
cut down in the U.S. alone
each year to produce books.
These countries were chosen
because communities have been
devastated by deforestation.
“We chose countries which
could gain the most value,”
said Raz in an interview.
“We wanted to help environments
with reforestation and communities
gain sources of income.”
The
cost ranges from $5 for five
books/five trees to $23.50
for 10 books/10 trees to $47
for 50 books/trees to $93
for 100 books/trees to $450
for 500 books/500 trees. You
go to the web site – http://www.ecolibris.net–
place your order and Eco-Libris
sends you the stickers with
postage paid by them. Their
goal is to balance out 500,000
books by the end of 2008.
Print On Demand (or author
originated publishing) would
seem an ideal partner, because
the philosophy behind POD
contributes to conservation
by only printing a book when
it is ordered. Thereby, there
aren’t a lot of unsold books
lying around gathering dust.
Infinity Publishing prints
on recycled paper. There is
no indication on the iUniverse
books I have.
“The
thinking behind Eco-Libris was
there is a tremendous usage
of paper with a tremendous environmental
impact associated with it,”
said Raz. “It will take time
until we reach a point of sustainable
paper and alternatives. We have
to do something now and not
sit and wait. We do believe
in taking action and in the
power of small changes to make
a big impact...Eco-Libris is
for everyone. It is a green
business that enables people
to do something reasonable,
affordable, yet with an impact:
plant one tree for every book
they read. We believe that taking
responsibility for the environmental
costs of the books we read is
only natural. We strive for
a world where reading books
doesn’t have adverse effects
on the environment, and therefore
our mission is to make reading
much more sustainable than it
is today.”
Raz grew up in Israel. There
have long been campaigns to
donate money to build trees
in Israel and the Jewish holiday
of Tu B’shevat is dedicated
to trees. “Perhaps, subconsciously
that influenced me to start
Eco-Libris,” he says. “Since
I was a kid we were planting
trees in the forest. The need
to plant trees and the value
of trees grew up with me.
I became aware of keeping
trees as a natural resource
and not to just transform
them into paper.”
“What a book is” has changed
over the last several years.
Ebooks and audio books have
gained in popularity. These
developments could effect
Eco-Libris’ businesses. Raz
sees these developments as
a way to reach their goal.
With Ebooks especially, it
can be hard for readers to
adjust to reading a book on
a screen and their instinct
would be to print it out,
thereby defeating the purpose
of preserving paper.
“Firstly, ebooks will become
part of the greener alternatives
eventually,” said Raz. “It’s
something good to support.
Things work in stages and
ebooks will be a better alternative
sooner or later. With Eco-Libris
we want to raise awareness,
so when someone opens up a
book and sees our sticker,
they will think of trees.
Like with food, you think
of the ingredients.”
The name Eco-Libris is devised
from a Latin phrase Ex-Libris
which means‘from the books’
where a label was put on a
book to show who owned the
book. We see Eco-Libris as
the new, green version of
Ex-Libris,” Raz says. “In
our vision people will balance
out their books by planting
trees and will indicate their
commitment to sustainability
by putting an Eco-Libris sticker
on the sleeves of these books.
As people once showed their
love for books with Ex-Libris,
we hope to see people show
their love for books and the
environment with Eco-Libris.”
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3. Connections through memberships
I am the immediate past President
of the Mt.
Airy Business Association.
Our tag  line
is “A Network That Works.” A
couple of months ago, a member,
JAE
Enterprises, Inc., which
consults with for-profit businesses
and non-profit organizations
in any stage of their development, received
a three-year, $1.5
million federal grant to serve
as intermediary to assist non-profits
in Camden, NJ with technical
assistance and training. They
decided to look within the organization
first for PR help. In addition,
I knew of another member who
did a lot of work with Camden
organizations. While the RFP
did not fit him, he had contacts
in Camden that did. With this
example we see how “a network
that works” can work.
I received three queries within
a short space of time through
the membership directory
of the Sustainable
Business Network web site.
I am a new member to SBN so
it was gratifying to see such
a quick response. Two of the
three had not joined SBN yet.
There was a woman who was writing
her business plan and knew she
would need a web site. The others
were referral/ collaboration
partnerships. We’ll see if anything
comes about, but the key is we
know each other is out there.
Maybe, it paid off to pay a
little more to have a more detailed
description on the web site. Be
aware of who does what in different
organizations you belong to,
because the best form of advertising
is often word of mouth. Within
this newsletter, you may have
found potential contacts.
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4. Infinity
Publishing Conference:
Panel: "The Power of Networking:
Four Principles From Networking
to Marketing:
Authors Helping Authors"
and Authors Reading Circle
At
the Infinity
Publishing Conference in
October, 2006, something
special happened. Authors
wanted to talk to other authors.
After a long day of seminars
and dinner on opening day,
20-30 people gathered to read
excerpts from each of their
books. It was a remarkable
event. People were overwhelmed
by the quality of the writing.
The creation of an Infinity
Authors’ community took root. Over the
next couple of months, Lois
W. Stern gathered a database
of authors,their books, elevator
pitches, e-mails and web sites. I
downloaded the book covers
and created an Infinity Authors
page on my book web site. Eleven
authors followed suit.  Infinity's
book cover designer designed
a logo for us. At the 2007
Conference, Susan
C. Haley, Lois
W. Stern, Donna
Jaske and myself
(the core group that worked
on the community during the
year), along with Jerry
D. Simmons, former VP
of Time-Warner Books, presented
a panel: "The Power of Networking:
Four Principles From Networking
to Marketing: Authors Helping
Authors." Listen to the
podcast
of the panel..
The reading circle happened
again. Listen to the podcast
and discover the diverse
talent of writers whose books
you might decide to add to
your bookshelf.
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5.
Next book appearance:
Mt. Airy Authors Day, June
21
On
June 21, I will be among three
authors at Mt. Airy Authors
Day at Lovett Memorial Library,
6945 Germantown Avenue, discussing
my book Beyond
the Cold: An American's  Warm
Portrait of Norway.
Readers have found
Beyond the Cold to be much
more than a travel book. Beyond
the Cold traces the development
of my affinity and passion for
Norway, its people and culture
although I am not of Norwegian
descent. It begins when I spent
a year in Norway with my family
at age 11 in 1969-70 (attending
a Norwegian school) and my return
trips as an adult. The book is
unusual in that it is told through
a child’s eyes and memories and
an adult perspective. Among my
adult trips was to attend the
International Summer School at
the University of Oslo with 500
students from 70 countries, returning
to speak at the 50th anniversary
of the Summer School and my honeymoon.
As I have found a second home
and family in Norway, Beyond
the Cold shows the value of
travel and multicultural experience,
and a country that is more than
cold weather. The book has received
many positive reviews including
Fjell og Vidde, Norway’s
largest outdoors magazine, The
Norseman, and the newsletter
of the Sons of Norway on Long
Island, NY. The book includes
a section about Mt. Airy and the
community organizations.
The
book may be purchased at Buy
Books on the Web, Infinity
Publishing's online bookstore,
or call 877.BUY.BOOK or
610.941.9999.
The
schedule for Mt. Airy Authors
Day: 1:15 p.m.: Lori L.
Tharps, Kinky Gazpacho:
Life, Love and Spain; 2:30
p.m.: Liz Farmer Jarvis, debut
of Mt. Airy history book; 3:45
p.m.: Michael Kleiner, Beyond
the Cold: An American's Warm
Portrait of Norway. Slides
of the country will be shown,
including travels above the
Arctic Circle. More information
see the
flyer.
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| 7.
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