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eNewsletter 25 January 2002 |
The Chi Rho Press eNewsletter One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love. Contents: -------------------------------------------------- Welcome once again to the Chi Rho Connection, the electronic newsletter of Chi Rho Press. Thank you for passing this Chi Rho Connection on to others. To join our list, send an e-mail message to
ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoo.com. Direct all other e-mail to Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. See the end of this eNewsletter for a complete list of e-mail addresses at ChiRhoPress.com. -------------------------------------------------- 1. Improved Credit Card Access -------------------------------------------------- 2. Featured Book: Positively Gay -------------------------------------------------- 3. New Promissory Notes Offered -------------------------------------------------- 4. FYI: Chi Rho Press Royalties -------------------------------------------------- ***** --------------------------------------------------
We are glad you are partners in ministry with us here at Chi Rho Press. We are eager for your comments, your suggestions, your assistance with selling our books, and your own purchases! And of course, we covet your prayers for this ministry. Grace and peace, Adam DeBaugh, Director
--------------------------- If you've received our Chi Rho Connection as a result of the good offices of someone passing it along to you (which we certainly encourage) and would like to receive it directly from us, please follow the directions at the end of our Connection to subscribe. For orders, please e-mail to us at: Orders@ChiRhoPress.com.
If you have questions, please e-mail to Question@ChiRhoPress.com. For comments and suggestions about this eNewsletter, please e-mail to Connection@ChiRhoPress.com. To learn about our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsor Program, please e-mail Angels@ChiRhoPress.com.
For all other correspondence, please e-mail Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. Our snail mail address is: Chi Rho Press, Inc. Our telephone and fax number is 301/926-1208. Our Canadian friends can order using credit cards on our web page or through our Canadian distributor, MAP Enterprises, Mary Ann Pearson, Box 340, 54 Copyright 2001, Chi Rho Press, Inc. ****************************************** SUBSCRIBE: ChiRhoPress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com R. Adam DeBaugh, Director, Adam@ChiRhoPress.com. Visit the Chi Rho Press Website http://www.ChiRhoPress.com
Vol. III, No. 2
25 January 2002
Sophocles
2. Featured Book: 'Positively Gay'
3. New Promissory Notes Offered
4. FYI: Chi Rho Press Royalties
5. Adam's Last Word: Exciting Times at the Press, Inez Berry's Passing
Please visit our Web site at http://www.chirhopress.com to see our entire lines of books, handouts, tchochkas, and stained glass.
Thanks to the hard work of the Press' Editor/Office Manager Kevin Stone Fries, we now have our own merchant account! This means we are not limited to our Web page when accepting credit card payments, but can take credit card payments over the telephone, by fax, by e-mail, by snail mail, or even in person. (Wait until you see our cool little 'knuckle-buster!')
Our first real credit card payment was taken over the phone from a bookstore customer for over $340! A new bank account has been opened to receive and keep track of credit card payments (especially important for royalty payments!) and other systems are in place.
So whether you want to order something on line, over the phone, by e-mail, in person, or any other way, you can now pay by credit card. You can even call us to become a Guardian Angel and we can take your contribution over the phone on your credit card.
Chi Rho Press accepts VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover/Novus.
Chi Rho Press is now carrying this book in part because our founder and Director, Adam DeBaugh, wrote the chapter entitled, 'Using Your Gay and Lesbian Voting Power.' This is an important book and the updated new edition, in the bright red cover, is an important addition to every LGBT library.
'I wish we had published that!' says Adam DeBaugh. 'But I am proud to have been a part of Positively Gay since the publication of the first edition in 1979. This book has been a classic for 22 years, a must read for all LGBT people and their allies!'
'Positively Gay has been widely and consistently praised for its practical treatment of the variety of topics affecting the lives of gays and lesbians. In this revised, third edition, Dr. Betty Berzon has brought together an impressive list of contributors from diverse backgrounds, disciplines, and approaches to spotlight significant but frequently overlooked issues that often take center stage in a gay or lesbian person's life.' (From the book jacket.)
Author Michelangelo Signorile says, 'Positively Gay was the first gay book I ever read. It scared me. It challenged me. It excited me. And it eventually made me feel good about myself.'
Sections of the book include, Being Gay: Personal Issues, Social Options; Partnering: The Special Issues of Same-Sex Coupling; Family Relations: Fresh Perspectives; Aging: A Season of Grace; Religion: Reconciling the Spiritual Dilemma; The Practical Aspects: Taking Control of Your Life; People of Color: The Special Experiences of Minorities Within a Minority; Young People: The Future of Our Community; and Telling Our Stories. There is also a helpful discussion guide.
Authors include the compiler and editor, Betty Berzon, Mark Thompson, Betty Fairchild, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Rabbi Denise Eger, Rev. William Johnson, Father Robert Nugent, Brian McNaught, R. Adam DeBaugh, Teresa DeCrescenzo, and John Preston. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank wrote the Foreword.
'Positively Gay' sells for $14.95, plus $2.50 shipping and handling. It is available from Chi Rho Press through mail order or on-line at our web site.
To order by mail, please send your credit card information, check, or money order for $17.45 to Chi Rho Press, P.O. Box 7864, Gaithersburg, MD 20898.
Promissory Notes in $1,000 increments are available from Chi Rho Press, at 6% simple interest, repaid in eight quarterly payments over a two year period.
Write Adam@ChiRhoPress.com for the text of the Promissory Note, and send your check for $1,000 (or $2,000, $3,000, or even $5,000!). We will send a signed Note upon the receipt of your check.
Of course, contributions to Chi Rho Press are fully tax deductible. If you are able to make a financial gift to this ministry, we would welcome your support. Our Guardian Angel Individual Sponsors program starts with a minimum gift of $150 a year and our Guardian Angels receive discounts on Press publications, free gifts during the year, and special other perks.
Thanks for your support!
Authors make money from their writing, in part, from royalties. Royalties are a percentage of sales of published books. Publishing houses have a wide variety of policies about royalty payments.
Early in the life of Chi Rho Press, we were negotiating publishing a second edition of a book published by another small house. The author told me he was eagerly waiting for his first royalty check from the first edition, especially since the other publisher had decided not to keep the book in print and returned publication rights to him. Out of curiosity, I asked what his contract said, and he told me that he was to start earning royalties after the first 1,000 books were sold.
Since he was updating and adding new material to his already published work, I talked with the publisher about taking over publication rights for this excellent book. I asked what their press run had been for the first edition and was told 1,000 copies. Only later did it dawn on me that they had cheated the author, he would never earn any royalties because they would never sell over 1,000 books. When I told the author this, he was quite dismayed. He hadn't been told what the press run was and the implications of that decision on his contract in terms of royalty payments.
That is one reason why we have always had a royalty policy that is rather generous by industry standards, and why we involve our authors in all decisions about their books, from page design, cover art, editing decisions, price, and even the press run.
Chi Rho Press is a small, independent publishing house. We started with no capitalization. We have pretty much lived hand to mouth, spending what we take in. Only over the past couple of years has Chi Rho Press sought capitalization through loans and our Promissory Notes program, and most recently with gifts and contributions made possible by our 501(c)(3) status, which make contributions to Chi Rho Press fully tax deductible.
We customarily don't pay advances to our authors but we are proud that our royalty schedule is better than most other houses. Our royalty policy is that we pay our authors 20% of actual sales income for their books. Royalties start being paid after the printing costs (and only printing costs) have been recouped in sales. Royalties are paid quarterly.
Editor Kevin Stone Fries likes to call Chi Rho Press a 'micro-press' and he is right, we are a small house with limited staff and resources, though we are continually growing. For 12 years we have been committed to publishing quality books on religious and spiritual themes of special interest to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and seeking community and our friends. For the most part we have published authors who have not been published before and whose work might not have been published by larger, mainstream houses. We feel that it is important to give our authors the opportunity to have their work published.
Our royalty system won't necessarily enable any of our authors to retire, but we think it is one incentive to come to Chi Rho Press with their manuscripts rather than to some of the big houses.
Just For Your Information!
More exciting changes are in the works as well. We are preparing to launch a new, on-line theological journal, the Chi Rho Quarterly. New books are in the works. Kevin continues editing Dr. Sandy Bochonok's book of daily meditations, 'Living as the Beloved.' We have new manuscripts to review.
Our list of Guardian Angels is growing as well and we encourage our supporters to become Guardian Angels, with your tax-deductible contribution of at least $150.
2002 is going to be a busy and challenging year. Thanks for being a part of it with us!
Inez was an amazing woman of faith. She was intensely loyal to her family, especially her daughter Delores and Delores' partner Judy. She was a great supporter of Delores and Judy's ministry of evangelism and of MCC. Inez was one of the first heterosexual parents who became members of MCC and was a familiar figure at church conferences.
I remember Inez Berry as a wonderful cook, a sweet spirit, a generous and caring woman, and a real mother to many people to whom she reached out with love and devotion. The love and prayers of all of us here at Chi Rho Press go out to Delores and Judy and the rest of their family as we mourn Inez together. May she rest in peace and may light perpetual shine upon her as she finally rests in the loving arms of her creator.
P.O. Box 7864
Gaithersburg, MD 20898
Centre St., Odessa, ONT., Canada, K0H 2H0; e-mail: mapenterprises@home.com;
phone or fax: 1-613-386-5711; or toll free (leave a message) 1-877-245-9569.
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Kevin Stone Fries, Editor/Office Manager, Kevin@ChiRhoPress.com