Patrick Swenson, Publisher and Editor: Small Press, What's It All About? 7/8/04

Mary Rosenblum

Hello, all. Glad you could make it to our Professional Connection live interview!

Tonight, we'll be visiting with Patrick Swenson.

Patrick & Honna Swenson edit and publish the quarterly semi-pro SF magazine Talebones. In early 2000, the parent company, Fairwood Press, began publishing a book line. Their books include The 10% Solution by Ken Rand, the 2003 ALA Best Book Strangers and Beggars by James Van Pelt, and their newest title, Imagination Fully Dilated: Science Fiction.

Mary Rosenblum

Patrick, welcome, I'm so glad you were able to come back and visit with us again!

coway

Welcome Patrick, glad you are here!

Patrick Swenson

Thanks again for having me here! I can't believe it was January last time I was here

Mary Rosenblum

It is hard to believe, isn't it? This time, I thought we'd focus more

on the small press aspect of your double hat as editor and publisher.

Patrick Swenson

It's been so long that we've actually had two new Fairwood projects out since that -- Imagination Fully Dilated, an anthology, and another project due the end of the summer.

lilithangel

Thank you, Patrick, for making time for us! Is that the new Talebones logo I see up at the top of your site?

Patrick Swenson

Lilith, yes! It just went up there a day ago, so you're one of the first to see it!

.

We'll be using it for our next issue.

Mary Rosenblum

Oh, what are your new projects? I knew I was out of date! And now I'll have to go take a look at the new logo! Cool.

Patrick Swenson

It's a big departure for us. The first time sine 1995 we haven't had our "signature" bone font.

lilithangel

It looks great.

Patrick Swenson

We had two projects debut at Norwescon.

One is a small chapbook project from Jay Lake called *Green Grow the Rushes-Oh*

interconnected stories about Britain and the Green Man and the other was a story collection (trade Paper) by Spokane writer James Glass called *Matrix Dreams.*

Mary Rosenblum

Oh yes...and each links to a verse, right?

Patrick Swenson

Yes, they connect to a verse of the English counting song of the same name. All very short stories, all amazingly done.

Mary Rosenblum

What is Jim's collection about?

Patrick Swenson

It's a collection of the stories he has published over the last dozen years, with a few previously unpublished stories.

His work has been In Analog, Talebones, Aboriginal, Figment, etc.

I think four new stories.

Mary Rosenblum

Great.

Patrick Swenson

The project for this upcoming summer is our first novel project by local author Kurt R.A. Giambastiani who has a four book series out from ROC books, the Fallen Cloud Saga (an alternate history series).

geordee

Patrick: could you define "Small Press" for this newbie?

Patrick Swenson

Geordee, well, basically, small press means we don't pay a lot (certainly not professional New York standard rates), and have a smaller distribution. And really, it varies from there

based on size of the press, distribution, cash flow, advertising budget (or lack thereof!), and so on.

Nowadays, you here the term alternative press as much as small press

and that includes webzines and audio and ebook sources. Usually a small staff is involved. With Fairwood, we're a staff of myself and my wife, and a few associate editors and/or copyeditors.

coway

In small press if your book ends up really good, does that make a difference?

Patrick Swenson

Oh, Coway, you bet it can, depending on the press

there are stories of books coming out of the small press, being picked up by major publishers later

whether for mass market paperback rights, or a repackaging deal.

But your book can be

really good, and not make a difference if the word doesn't get out there about it.

That’s the challenge a small press publisher (and the authors) have to face.

Mary Rosenblum

How does Fairwood Press go about publicizing its books, Patrick?

Patrick Swenson

Mary, we have to approach it as cheaply as humanly possible, because

we don't have a big budget. We just don't have a huge cash flow. We got initial money up front from a small public offering (S-Corp) to get our first book published, and have

managed to keep going and be in the black since then. So for publicizing our books, we do whatever we can that

the big New York boys do, within reason, and a few other odds and ends.

Some of which I learned from one of my mentors starting out, Stephe Pagel from Meisha Merlin publishing.

Which was how to get free advertising on a book in LOCUS, and not only once but three times.

And that's to make an announcement for the People and Publishing page they do every month.

First to BOOKS SOLD, where you announce the project for the first time, and then BOOKS DELIVERED

and then make sure it gets into the FORTHCOMING BOOKS section. In the meantime, we DO make advance reading copies, and send them out to as

many places as we can afford for possible reviews. (Generally, about 50 ARCs, and then a good dozen - 20 finished books after that).

The idea is that people need to see a product at least three times before it starts to imprint on the conscious level. So they say. :)

(whew...long answer!)  ARC = advanced reading copy

Hope that helps.

Mary Rosenblum

For those of you in the audience who don't know

LOCUS is the publication of the SF trade...fans read it,

bookstore owners read it, and so forth.

Patrick Swenson

Oh yes, if you are in the SF field at all, writing-wise, you MUST get a subscription to LOCUS (or find it, borrow, steal)

Another good trade journal for the SF field is CHRONICLE.

Thought not AS good, if you had to make a choice.

Mary Rosenblum

I know you go to quite a few SF cons. is that a useful place to promote new books?

Patrick Swenson

Absolutely, Mary. We wish we could go to more than we do, but it DOES get expensive if you're flying, and

we both have day jobs, and a 2-year-old, and often it's just me that goes.

Certainly we hit all the local cons we can. And if we don't have a dealer's table ourselves, we make sure

that someone in the dealer's room will carry some of our stock for the convention (on a consignment basis, usually, although sometimes

they will buy copies directly for other shows they might go to).

We'll be going to Tempe, AZ in October for World Fantasy Convention

and as luck will have it, it'll be a very inexpensive trip for us thanks to flyer miles and hotel points!

But that doesn't happen often.

Mary Rosenblum

You're not doing WorldCon, then? Boston is a looong way away.

Patrick Swenson

WorldCon is always hard for me because it's Labor Day weekend, and the day after the convention the new school year starts

(I'm a high school teacher)...

and this one is going to be even worse as I'll have five different classes to teach next Fall!

(usually I have 2 or 3)  We always sell books better if we have a table ourselves at a convention, but we can't always get a table due to space. Some of the conventions have "juried" rooms.

Mary Rosenblum

Wow, you WILL be busy. So I'm curious.

If an author comes to you with a well thought out plan for publicizing her/his book will it make a difference to you in terms of acceptance or rejection?

Patrick Swenson

Well, right now, we're in a position to be very, very selective.

We primarily pick our projects right now. But in answer to that, I can tell you that we pick our projects based not only on the strength of the writer's work

but how well the writer can network and publicize his work on his own. How well the writer is known in

SF circles certainly helps. Case in point :

We had a project by a writer who made himself well-known in the SF community. It really started because he started selling

and selling really good stories, and it came to be that he was reaching a point of critical mass, where his name was "out there", not only

from his writing, but from his networking online. It seemed he was everywhere, but it wasn't annoyingly obvious. He was polite, smart about his topics, etc...and

this led me to ask him if he'd be interested in a story collection. And we published his book, and it's our bestseller, and is still going

strong since it came out about two years ago. It made the ALA Best Books list, and boom, there you go. BTW, the author is

Mary Rosenblum

James Van Pelt?

Patrick Swenson

James Van Pelt, and the book is STRANGERS AND BEGGARS. (hah, yep, Mary!)

And we're already talking about doing his next collection, but not until this one dies down.  We're working on a reference project too, a book on plot, that we think will be fabulous.

Mary Rosenblum

He was a guest here recently. Very nice guest, too.

sweet_muse

What is ALA?

Patrick Swenson

Sweet-muse, it's the American Library Association.

Mary Rosenblum

Want to explain why their attention is important, Patrick?

Patrick Swenson

Suddenly we had orders from library wholesalers we'd never even heard about!

The ALA list was a list of 100 books, culled down from about 700 nominations, I believe. A lot of libraries will simply order everything from that list

or a good portion of the books from that list. It bodes well for his future titles then, too. We had large orders from Scholastic Book Fairs from that ALA thing, plus an order from Perma-Bound (they make hardbound versions of books for libraries and schools). Very exciting!

seajypsey

Please explain SF, I am not sure what this means

Patrick Swenson

Seajypsey, it used to mean just Science Fiction, but also now includes

the term Speculative Fiction, so that it could include fantasy, dark fantasy, alternate history, etc.

It was a word coined by Hugo Gernsback, the Father of Science Fiction magazines. the first...

term was "scientifiction" which he used for AMAZING magazine, and then when he had to bow out of there and start his new magazine, he couldn't use that term

so he came up with science fiction.

Mary Rosenblum

I had forgotten the Gernsback connection!

He is the origin of the name: Hugo Award, yes?

Patrick Swenson

Ha, yeah, I've been rediscovering SF's roots now that I have a class of it to teach.

Yes, it was named after him.

Mary Rosenblum

That is the top award in SF for those of you who don't recognize it.

ducky

Can you give a generalized description of a typical contract you might offer on a book?

Patrick Swenson

Sure, ducky. Obviously, as small press, we don't have the same contracts as the big boys. We don't try to buy as many rights, and there are obviously fewer

hurdles to go over. Since we are a very small press as far as the goes, we do not offer an advance against royalties (at this point). But, instead of an advance, we offer a

significantly more generous royalty percentage. We give our authors 50% of all profits,

profits being defined as the positive difference of total income generated by sale of said copies less the total expense incurred in production of all copies of the edition (i.e., setup fees, image rights costs, digital storage costs, printing costs, postage, etc., but not including general business and administrative costs not specific to production of the edition.

We offer a certain number of complimentary copies to the author (it varies, depending on how we iron out the contract, from 20-50)

and allow them to buy additional copies of their book at 50% discount of the cover price.

Mary Rosenblum

And just as comparison, you will get an advance for a first novel of about 3 - 5000 dollars, typically in genre, and only get 5 - 8 % royalties on paperback, and maybe 10% royalties on hardcover. So that 50% of the profit is very good.

Patrick Swenson

We don't pay royalties on any copies the author buys

Mary Rosenblum

Neither do the big houses, Patrick!

Patrick Swenson

Good point, Mary. See, we don't have too much of an idea

how well an author is going to do because generally we're not talking about signing Stephen King to do books. We didn't pay an advance to James Van Pelt, but since

we published it, it has sold quite well, and we've now paid him royalties in excess of 2500 dollars.

And that doesn't include the money he's made on HIS end, selling copies he buys from us at his discount.

Mary Rosenblum

That's very good. He might not have done much better if he had signed with Tor, for example.

Patrick Swenson

Of course that's not typical for small(er) press, but every once in a while you get lucky

and one book can help you publish a bunch more.   No, not much better, and TOR (or any other New York house) would not likely buy a short story collection from a new writer.

margieh

Is your "50% of all profits" true of most small presses?

Patrick Swenson

No, Margieh. Although it depends on the type of press. We feel we can afford it because we print our books on demand and we don't have a huge cost up front.

Mary Rosenblum

No kidding.

sweet_muse

The author can have their family and friends and people in their community buy the books.

Patrick Swenson

On sure, muse, but that alone won't make a book profitable. We only know so many people personally.

Jim Van Pelt has been very good about getting signings in his area ... the first one he did, he sent out postcards and mailers and such, and he sold

something like (I forget the exact number) 80 books in two hours. But he's not been that productive since then, since most

people he knew in that area already bought copies. But Jim goes to a lot of cons too, and when we go to the same ones, it's great, because we can double-up on promotion.

shayon-joseph

The technology you use for actual printing of books, is it in line with POD technology?

Patrick Swenson

Yes, Shayon. We decided early on that POD would be the only way we could afford to start our press. And in the four years since we started, we've seen POD improve quite a bit. It's a force to be reckoned with!!

That doesn't include our specialty chapbooks and paperbacks. We'll do those differently as far as the printing of them, although we do have a sort of

POD mentality with them. For example, Jay Lake's new chapbook, GREEN GROW THE RUSHES-OH, we printed 200 covers, but only 75 insides to start. Bound 'em up, and eventually sold them all. Then we just

printed more insides and we bind as we go.

POD tech is great if you've got the right company to work with.

coway

Who determines if the book is hard copy or paper?

Patrick Swenson

The publisher, coway. We've done trade paper on all our books except for one, and that's due to cost. POD hardcovers are pretty expensive, unit cost-wise.

Very few folks are going to shell out that kind of money for a hardcover unless it's collectable.

Patrick Swenson

I should amend, Coway, that not only the publisher decides, but the editor, and, more importantly, the marketing department!

Mary Rosenblum

Aha, Patrick, here's a good question for you. :-)

shayon-joseph

So, if small press uses POD, what would be the difference between small press publishing my work and my self-publishing with, say iUniverse?

Mary Rosenblum

I think this is a good time

to differentiate between small press and POD houses like iUniverse.

Patrick Swenson

Well, the difference is that with a small press, you're not self-publishing!

Look, there are examples of self-published books coming up and getting picked up by a bigger press and going on

to bigger and better things, but that is very very rare. For the most part, vanity press is just not looked on very kindly by the publishing world. What's missing is the entire

editorial process. I may use POD to make my books, but we go through the whole gamut of publishing to bring a book to fruition. We read it, we suggest changes,

we line edit, we make ARCs, we send them out, we send them to the author to go through for revision (sometimes there's time to do this twice), we design the book, get the artwork, get in touch with reviewers and bookstores and conventions,

we list it in Books in Print, we get it on websites, we do whatever PR we can, we encourage the author to do the same, and the author doesn't pay a CENT to us.

Mary knows the money adage, right?

Mary Rosenblum

Oh yeah.

Patrick Swenson

(She'll complete this phrase...

Money always

Mary Rosenblum

flows from the publisher TO the author.

Patrick Swenson

BINGO.

Mary Rosenblum

NOT the other way around!

I want to amplify here Patrick

because I think there is some general confusion about how POD houses differ from other publishers.

It is in selectivity.

When you publish with iUniverse, no one says, 'this should be better' so even though your book may be good.

iUniverse publishes MANY that are NOT. How can the reader tell? When a publisher like Patrick or Tor or Random House puts a book on the shelf the editor is saying, 'this is good in our opinion'.

Patrick Swenson

Now sometimes, a writer wants to have a book published that they just want for family and friends. Maybe it's a family history, or a specialized book on their city or town, or what have you.

Mary Rosenblum

Yes. POD houses are GREAT for family work, and the like.

I send students there for that reason all the time.

Patrick Swenson

We're a publishing house that simply uses POD for book production. We use Lightning Source, and we use them because they have the best fulfillment, which is another thing you're missing with most POD self-pub houses.

timtassinari

Do authors keep the copyright ownership of their pieces if published in an anthology?

Patrick Swenson

Yes, tim, most anthologies buy one-time rights to publish the story. Rights revert back to the author on publication. There might be a clause in the contract somewhere

that states that the author won't publish the story elsewhere for a period of X amount of time, but that's not unusual, and it doesn't extend

much beyond a year.

I mean it does depend on the contract, in some instances, so always check them carefully. I think our contract states 6 months.

timtassinari

Should we consider a publisher who wants to include our pieces in an anthology without payment to us?  What if they offer no contract, just permission to publish?

Patrick Swenson

Um, I wouldn't think so, Tim, unless there's other circumstances involved.

I mean there ARE magazines that pay only in copies. I suppose anthologies could do the same. Actually, what I've seen

a lot of lately, are anthologies who don't pay upfront, but give authors a percentage of royalties. Of course

you'd be taking your chances on that. If it doesn't sell well and doesn't earn out, you're out of luck.

I wouldn't publish any story with anyone without a contract. You, Mary?

Mary Rosenblum

Not me!

You publish with no contract, you have conferred nothing.

Ma

and what if they sell your story as a movie for a million? What do they have to give you?

Patrick Swenson

A million? :)

Mary Rosenblum

Legal Headache. Well, I'm exaggerating to make my point. :-)

Patrick Swenson

We should all be so lucky.

Mary Rosenblum

T'would be nice. :-)

Patrick Swenson

But c'mon people, you never know if you don't try, so write those babies and send them out! :) Even our small press magazine, Talebones, which we buy fiction for at one cent a word (sometimes two), we have a contract.

coway

Does an author need an agent to get published with your press, Patrick?

Patrick Swenson

No, coway. So far, none of our authors have used an agent. A few of them HAVE agents, but generally, they don't get involved with something like a story collection to a small press.

Mary Rosenblum

Agents are not all that interested in small press because not a lot of money changes hands all at once and in my experience the small press contracts are simple enough to understand.

Patrick Swenson

Some authors won't try us because their agents might tell them NOT to, for various reasons (ie, a NY publisher has dibs on any project that author writes).

Patrick Swenson

So it is with the magazine. We don't get many stories sent to us submitted by an agent. Yeah, we're pretty simple to follow.

shayon-joseph

Generally speaking, are small presses more relaxed in matters of deadlines, creative input (by author), marketing, art-cover etc? Or, is the wrestle the same as one would find with a traditional house?

Patrick Swenson

shayon, it depends on the project, I guess. When you talk about a company like TOR that puts out ... what?...20 titles a month (or more), that's one thing.

But we might have two or three major projects a year. We have a little more leeway. But we do

have to keep to a schedule. Some advance reading copies have to be out a minimum of three months in advance of the book's publication.

if you want any chance at a review (such as Publisher's Weekly). So we have to set a pub date, and work from there.

But I do tend to

offer a lot of input from the author in regards to marketing and cover. I'll give a half-dozen rough ideas of cover to an author and let them decide what they like, or suggest other things

so yes, in that sense, you do have a bit more choice, more input. Good question!

Mary Rosenblum

A BIT more choice? Laughing, Patrick.

You have NO choice on cover with New York!

Patrick Swenson

Kurt Giambastiani said that working on this novel with us has been far better than any of the four he did with ROC as far as input, steps along the way

so that makes us feel good when an established author tells us that.

Heh heh, true, Mary. However, once an author gets a fw books under his belt, there are exceptions. Do you know Mark Anthony? (The writer!).

Mary Rosenblum

Yes?

Patrick Swenson

He has his Last Rune series, and I actually got to see him talk to the cover artist at Worldcon about the artwork for the

next book in the series. Mark was saying he'd really like this and this, and that it had been a while since so -and-so had been on the cover

and the artist (Stephen Youll) was making a sketch right there. When we received a review copy of the book, there it was!

But that's rare. Unless you're big time.

Mary Rosenblum

That is rare. I have been consulted twice by cover artists...but only twice.

Patrick Swenson

What's funny about Kurt's book.

is that we were thinking along the same lines for cover image. I often use Getty Images, buy art from them...it's great because you're allowed to make derivative works from that original

and I started making some covers with a few graphics I'd downloaded (comp low-rez copies), and almost at the same time, I got.

an email from Kurt saying "I know you use Getty images sometimes for your artwork, here's one I found that might be interesting" and it was exactly the one I'd chosen.

(You can see the image on the website (fairwoodpress.com) ...the book is up for preorder.)

Mary Rosenblum

I want to take a look here, Patrick, and the differences besides size in small press and NY traditional publishers. One is the intimacy.

Clearly you have more time for an author than the editor with 6 books this year.

Patrick Swenson

So true. And to be honest, at this point, everyone I've published I've met along the way through various writer functions or conventions. They are generally people I've become

comfortable with. That's not usually the case in NY.

And while I may only have 2 or 3 books to do, I DO have a fulltime job and a magazine to run (and a family), so sometimes it seems like it evens out! Which is why I still select my projects carefully.

coway

By not as many rights, do you mean that this is why if it's good enough, larger presses can pick it up?

Mary Rosenblum

What rights DO you purchase, Patrick?

Patrick Swenson

Well, coway, we don't buy overseas rights, or e-rights, or movie rights. We buy first time rights in North America.

ducky

So what happens when a "New York Big Fish" starts sniffing around a book you've published? What sort of rewards would you reap as first publisher?

Mary Rosenblum

Good question. Does it help you in any way?

Patrick Swenson

The Author, on behalf of themselves and their heirs, executors, administrators, successors and assigns, exclusively grants and assigns to the Publisher and its licensees, successors and assigns, for five years from date of first publication, the right to publish the Work throughout the World

Patrick Swenson

That's the actual language in our contract

Mary Rosenblum

Nice clean contract, Patrick.  I approve. :-)

Patrick Swenson

So far that hasn't happened, ducky.

We also do subsidiary right of book club edition, but after 24 months, that goes back to the author.

But it could be profitable if it did happen.

timtassinari

Do you take unsolicited submissions?

Patrick Swenson

Thanks, Mary. we do that five year thing because we ARE a POD book and it technically never goes out of print. That way we can revisit the contract if need be.

Ducky, I don't think I answered all of your question. Let's say a NY pub wanted to do a mass market edition of Kurt's book. Kurt would make the money off that. But I would

hope that it would reflect back on us.

Tim, no, not at this time. We hope to, someday.

We're starting to branch out into doing novels, and that's where we'd most likely open up submissions.

coway

So if a major publishing house wanted the book they would go through you and the aurthor would not have to deal with it personally but still get royalties? If I understood correctly.

Patrick Swenson

Other than book club, all other rights (not mentioned in the contract) are reserved to the Author

Mary Rosenblum

I don't think that's what you were saying, Patrick, or was it?

Patrick Swenson

Hmmm, no coway. The author would have to deal with the NY house on his own, with their own separate contract. The house might contact me for contact info about the author, they might want to use the cover art (but most likely will use their own).

lilithangel

Patrick, a personal preference question. Does seeing an association (like SFWA or HWA member) on a submission ever add or detract from any deductions you may make about a submission before reading?

Patrick Swenson

They might ask me for the actual e-text. I can't say for sure, coway, since it hasn't happened to me yet.

lilith, sometimes. Membership in SFWA (depending on the level), means that the author has, at least sold some work to pro markets. Mary, I forget the exact wording/amount of sale, etc... Also, if a writer

has been to Clarion, or Clarion West, or Odyssey writing workshops, I tend to take more notice.

Mary Rosenblum

SFWA membership requires three short story sales to major markets or one novel publication, not self published.

shayon-joseph

Since inception of your company how many books have you brought to publication?

Patrick Swenson

Maybe Clarion West because that is in our own backyard, and I meet a lot of these new writers at the parties they put on during the workshop. Think of if as a hurdle they don't have to go over ... they've already introduced themselves to me.

Let me count, Shayon.

Six trade paperbacks (the 7th due out next month), and about a half dozen specialty books and chapbooks.

Patric

We started in 2000.

Mary Rosenblum

And all in the black, Patrick. That's impressive.

shayon-joseph

Patrick it’s apparent you aren't the next "Who Wants to be a Billionaire" by working your small press. Which leads me to believe your drive for "all this" isn't that's the case what drives you?

Patrick Swenson

We're in the black. Most books are in the black or soon will be. (with the exception of the anthology, probably.

Heh heh heh, shayon. The only way I'd get to be a billionaire in this business is by starting with twice that much. :) But

you're right, this all started (with the magazine in 1995) as a labor of love, a hobby of sorts. As we garnered more attention and respect, it became

more of a business. Two businesses, actually. Talebones is a sole proprietorship, and Fairwood is a corporation. Really crappy having to do all that paperwork! Talebones

has never broken even, probably never will, but the good news is that Fairwood, in only a few short years, IS making money, and with very little cash upfront from us

and that is due to the technology now available to us. Niche publishing. Picking your projects. Knowing when you've got something hot, that will sell, and taking the time and effort to get the word out (the hardest part).

ducky

I'm confused about the contract thing. What if New York comes calling only one year into your five-year corner on the North American rights?

Patrick Swenson

That drives me. Also, Diet Coke.

No, actually, I've not had a diet coke in three weeks, since school got out. (Trying to cut back!)

Mary Rosenblum

LOL Patrick!

Patrick Swenson

Most books, after a year, will have done what work they're going to do in the market.  and then it wouldn't hurt to go to a different edition. I still hope that someone, someday might want to put Jim's collection in mass market.  Basically, if there's any problem, the author and publisher sit down and talk in good faith and iron something out.  Terminating rights is not unheard of.

tkat_2

Thank you for clarifying the difference between small press versus Publishing on demand. It makes more sense now

Patrick Swenson

You’re welcome, tkat!

Mary Rosenblum

Patrick, we're almost at the end of our evening. Want to make clear for our audience what you are and are not interested in, for Talebones and Fairwood Press.

Patrick Swenson

Geez, already!!

Where did the time go.

Mary Rosenblum

It does have wings!

Patrick Swenson

For Talebones, there are specific guidelines on our website (www.talebones.com). Sample copies will certainly give you an idea what we publish. You can do paypal with us, or you can do credit card with Project Pulp, like tkat did.

Talebones is always open to submissions. We've never ever closed in our 8 years of publication.

We don't as a general rule, publish stories over 6,000 words.

(We’ll break that rule for the winter issue!)

As for Fairwood, we don't take unsolicited manuscripts. We might in the near future, so keep an eye out for any announcement about that.

I see a lot more questions! I'm happy to hang on longer if need be.

Mary Rosenblum

Got a couple more for you and a lot of thank you's!

janp

Patrick, What do you say to those people who are of the opinion that reading books is declining and will never recover?

Patrick Swenson

I think it has declined due to the nature of our technological high-paced society, and while it may never recover completely, there will always be a need for real books. IMHO!

I'm a high school English teacher, and I do see a lot of apathy for book reading

and it does seem to get harder every year to get kids to read.

The newest generations are living MTV style, fast and furious, online and that's okay too. Personally, I can't read a book on the computer screen. But kids today are growing up with the computer.

Mary Rosenblum

But in my opinion, books do something that NO tech media does --they let readers participate in the creative universe...through imagination.

Patrick Swenson

Absolutely, mary!

coway

Patrick thanks for sending me nice note on my submission and asking me to send you another short for the magazine. I have a short from the book I'm writing, Your Note inspired me. :)

Patrick Swenson

Oh, great, Coway! I'm not likely to remember specifically which one, but... :)  We always try to jot a note down. Sometimes it's just a scribble, but it depends on time.

tkat_2

Thank you for an eye opening evening, Patrick.

shayon-joseph

Patrick, thanks for your time and insight!! Very good session tonight Mary (as always!)............

lilithangel

Thanks again, Patrick, for making time for us with your busy schedule! :)

ducky

Thank You very much for being so forthcoming with information. I've learned a great deal, and I appreciate it.

arfelin

Very interesting stuff! Thanks Mary & Patrick!

timtassinari

My 4 kids read at least a book a month, my selection not theirs, or no video games. Give that idea to the next PTA meeting :) They love reading now they are older :) Thank you

Mary Rosenblum

Good for you, tim!

Patrick Swenson

You're welcome, tkat, shayon, lilith, ducky, arfelin! I enjoyed it!

Mary Rosenblum

Patrick, thanks so much!

Patrick Swenson

That's good, tim! How old are your kids?

Mary Rosenblum

I will definitely ask you back again. You're always a delight.

timtassinari

17 14 10 and 7

Patrick Swenson

Thanks, Mary! I really like being here.

Mary Rosenblum