Parisian Phoenix Publishing

Today I took a package to the post office to return some marketing materials to the correct author when the printer accidentally sent them to me.

This was written as a note from the president for the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group December 2024 newsletter.

It offers a summary of what transpired over the weekend with 10 Little Rules, the publisher of Kathleen Goggin’s 10 Little Rules When Good Jobs Go Bad.

THE COLUMN:

A few weeks ago fellow GLVWG member Larry Sceurman, who also publishes with my business as a traditional author, called me and told me that when he opened a recent box of promotional bookmarks for his new dyslexia-friendly children’s book, they weren’t for his book.

We had received a box of bookmarks for Kathleen Goggin’s 10 Little Rules when A Good Job Goes Bad. The company made right and sent us new bookmarks, but I kept looking at that box thinking that I didn’t want to throw them away.

So, I hopped on the internet, found the publisher, and started a conversation. 

I offered to mail them to her, and she offered to reimburse me, and we’ve converted the whole adventure into a social media story. Even the postal worker thought it was unusually nice for me to do such a thing. But in all honesty, it cost $6 to mail the package at media rates and I added a copy of Larry’s novella, one of my books, and our marginalized voices anthology. The books probably cost me $10 at my cost, but I consider it an opportunity to connect with another publisher and possibly new readers.

And it’s a good story.

And as a writer, journalist and publisher, the story is always what matters to me.

As we move toward the holiday season and the end of the year, as we consider our celebrations and our goal setting for 2025, don’t forget about the value of community and kindness— we achieve more at more mutual benefit when we work together.

— Angel