Community Spotlight 3

Hello, friends! It's Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. That means everyone is eating King Cake – no matter what diet they follow the rest of the year. Since you may not have had the pleasure of trying one of these over-the-top sweets, I brought a large one for us to share. It's my favorite style, filled with cream cheese. Pass these slices around the table until we all have one. You may want to check it before you take a bite. One slice will have a tiny plastic baby inside, so don't break a tooth. Traditionally, whoever finds the baby brings the next King Cake to share.

We are celebrating, today, but not Mardi Gras. We are celebrating the first corporate support for our community blog. Let me introduce WestBow Press.

Michael Marcus has been telling us about self-publishing, one of many options available to writers, today. WestBow Press represents another option, what the industry is calling "indie" (for independent) publishing. For writers who have neither the time nor the energy to become as knowledgeable as Michael or Sunny Carney, another self-publisher who has visited the blog, indie publishing is one alternative.

This option will likely be more expensive for a writer than self-publishing, but having professional help and getting a book published within 90 days may be worth the extra costs. It certainly was for me. (I'll write more about that in a later post.)

You may be familiar with the term "affiliate program." In an affiliate program, a person refers a potential customer to a company. The company pays the person doing the referring a fee for customers who buy something. WestBow Press has an affiliate program where the person who refers others receives $5.00 for each person who links to their web site (and registers on the site) just to check out WestBow Press and $100 if someone who has registered buys one of their publishing packages.

What we have is a modified affiliate program. By linking through the WestBow Press icon on our blog, registering on the site and using the promotion code WBPAW20101 (also shown with the icon), you get the $100 as a discount. That's right. I don't get the money, you do. This discount will apply on top of any other promotions or special offers they have on the web site. No matter how many publishing packages you buy, the discount always applies when you link through our blog, register on the site and use the promotion code. (Note: WestBow Press also offers other services, such as marketing, and the discount does not apply to them.)

For those of you who are unfamiliar with WestBow Press, here are a few basic facts. WestBow Press is a division of Thomas Nelson Publishing. Thomas Nelson is a top-rank traditional publisher in the Christian market. As a part of their business model, they decided that WestBow Press will publish books of all genres – any subject matter – as long as they contain Christian morals, inspirational themes and family values. The company has editorial standards that reflect their Christian worldview. Check them out. WestBow Press may be just what you need.

Disclosure of Material Connection: The WestBow Press icon is an affiliate link. This means if you click on the link to their site and register there, I will receive an affiliate commission of $5.00. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."