A century of tradition meets cutting edge technology with a promising new model for modern book publishing announced by Unlimited Publishing LLC (UP) and the California Writers Club (CWC) in March 2009. Among the oldest professional writing clubs in the country, CWC is celebrating its centennial in 2009 by making an innovative move into 21st century publishing. Extending a 2008 pilot program between UP and CWC’s Redwood Branch to all of the club’s seventeen branches throughout California, this exciting new program will allow the CWC’s branches to co-publish quality paperbacks with UP, using the latest “Print-on-Demand” book publishing technologies.

According to the program guidelines, individual branches will submit carefully screened manuscripts to a CWC liaison as “contributing publisher.” Upon acceptance, UP will arrange design, production and distribution of selected books at no cost to the authors, the branches, or the club. The selected writers get published with the backing of an established trade publisher and a prestigious umbrella group, and earn generous royalties from all retail sales.

In today’s world, a growing number of writers are using new technologies like “Print on Demand” to publish their own books, rather than fight an uphill battle getting published by traditional book publishing houses. However, authors who self-publish are often charged substantial fees by service providers, or spend many hours juggling complex computer operations to prepare books for publication on their own.

The new series from CWC and UP combines the best of both worlds, allowing writers to get published without paying fees of any kind, while avoiding daunting technical hassles frequently faced by self-publishing authors who try the "Do It Yourself" approach to book publishing.

Authors submit MSS and communicate exclusively with a local branch coordinator.

Local branch coordinators communicate exclusively with the CWC statewide coordinator.

The statewide coordinator is the sole liasion with UP.

Short nonfiction works with a clear audience are preferred. Fiction, humor, memoir and other genres may also be considered. A realistic marketing plan that includes the active involvement of the author and the local branch is required.

Upon acceptance of a MS, the author receives a royalty contract for 10% of cover price on all retail sales. The local branch receives 5%. The local branch serves as "Contributing Publisher" while UP serves as "Distributing Publisher."

Book design takes 30-60 days. The author then receives a galley proof and may make up to 25 minor changes that do not alter the page count or interior layout.

For 60-90 days thereafter, UP will query up to 25 book reviewers of the author's suggestion, and offer advance copies for possible review at UP's expense.

For 90-180 days thereafter, each new book starts in limited advance release, as a paperback available to order exclusively from the Web sites of UP and its printer(s), CWC branches and the author. Those that demonstrate meaningful public demand become eligible for broader distribution through additional printers and wholesalers that supply mainstream booksellers. The most popular can even become eligible for in-store stocking by bookstores, coast-to-coast.

During this period, UP faxes press releases to publications of the author's suggestion, plus additional media of UP's choice. The author and the local branch schedule monthly live events at locations other than bookstores. The author, local branch and UP post announcements to Web sites that focus on related topics. Authors are encouraged to notify their local branch coordinators of nonprofits that serve readers in their subject area; UP can prepare customized special editions that feature the nonprofit's information on the back cover, and earmark a share of proceeds to support their programs and activities.

This innovative program gives new books and their authors a fair chance to prove their public appeal in real life, without falling prey to vanity presses... or needing a degree in computer science! Completely market-driven, it gives authors the dignity of getting their books in print with a "real" book publisher, and rewards those who most actively promote and market their books.

This exciting new program is available exclusively to members of the California Writers Club. Unlike vanity publishing and unlike "Do It Yourself" self-publishing systems or other options that are currently available to most aspiring authors, the CWC Centennial series could rapidly become a powerful new model for more writing groups across the nation and around the world!