Welcome to the first of four contests I’ll be holding here at the Color Mastery blog to celebrate being selected as a finalist for Best Craft Book of 2009 in the Ben Franklin awards.  I’m starting off with an easy-peasy contest for week one, and you won’t believe what I’ve got in store for Weeks 2 & 3!!

I’m an independent publisher:  basically, I’m a solopreneur who has a team of dedicated professionals I rely on to create beautiful books.  I don’t have the big advertising budgets of larger publishers, so I don’t do a lot of advertising, direct mail, or other expensive forms of promotion.  I rely on the best and most trusted way of promoting:  word-of-mouth.

I need your help.  Will you help me spread the word about Color Mastery’s finalist status for Best Craft Book of the Year?  Not only is it a fabulous book, but I’ve provided a wealth of fantastic resources here at the website to extend and support the lessons in the book.  So let’s get the word out!

Here’s what you do:

• spread the word to your quilting buddies online and let me know about it either by leaving a comment here on my blog or on my Facebook Fan page.  I respect everyone’s privacy, so I don’t need first & last names, just let me know “I emailed by guild program chairman” or “I suggested my quilting bee do a an author chat” or even “I spread the word about your newsletter to my sister.”

Here’s what I do:

• select a winner from all of the entries late Friday so you Pacific Time quilters can join in the fun, and I’ll announce the winner on Monday.

What will you win?  Well, I’m thinking something big.  Something really big.  So how about a jelly roll in a Wildflower color palette (fabrics personally coordinated by me), a Love Apple table runner kit, and a set of my watercolor notecards? That’s over $75 worth of prizes, just for shouting out the good news about Color Mastery.  Oh, and that colorful fabric goodness peeking out from the behind the prizes?  That’s May’s Color-of-the-Month table runner, which is running a bit late due to all the festivities.

Are you ready?

Set?

Go!  Spread the word!

I want my work to last. Longevity is one of the three main goals I have for my books. The other two? A post for another day.

I realized long ago that it took just as long to write a book that was trendy and out of print after two years as it did to write a classic. And as a quilter and artist, I appreciate books that provide me with lessons for years to come.

I often hear people complain about how expensive books are, which is why I go for those that provide me with lasting value. I enjoy patterns, booklets, and other fun diversions. But they don’t have the lasting value of a book.

Color Mastery has nine quilt projects. If you bought them individually in a pattern, each would average $15.00. Multiply that times nine and you get $135.00.

Color Mastery also has 11 exercises, and has twelve months worth of class material. I teach shop owners how they can offer a different class each month using the exercises and projects in the book. A full-day class averages about $60.00, and 12 of them would be $720.00.

$135.00 worth of patterns/projects, and $720.00 worth of classes is a total of $855.00. Still think a book is expensive? Look’s like the world’s best bargain to me.

The real test of a book-lover’s book is this: does it provide those things that make a reader’s life easier, that will make the book last, and makes it easy to find, or get more information? I printed Color Mastery on museum-quality paper using the best photographer and printer in the industry.

I included an index to make information easy to find. Look at the latest quilt book you bought: I bet it doesn’t have one. Publishers are skimping on this kind of stuff and betting you won’t notice. Bibliographies too. I want to know how to find out more information when I’m interested in a topic, and I know my readers do too. And librarians love them.

Does the book’s binding last? Is it sewn or glued? Color Mastery’s is sewn, of course. And it has a spine, so you can find it on a store shelf or your own.

Look for these qualities when you buy a book. Be a discerning consumer. Expect them in your books and ask for them. And support quilt book authors who give you the best.

You can read more about it here.  After that, get quilting!  A suggestion?  Make the Renaissance quilt from Color Mastery.  Add a border and it makes a great summer throw.  Or make it in a table runner size in your favorite light and airy summer fabrics.

Day Seven of the Color Mastery blog tour finds me at Kay Mackenzie’s All About Applique blog, where we dish about writing, quilting, and artist’s secrets of achieving outstanding color.  Kay is an author of several books on applique, and has an upcoming book from Martingale on applique to be released next month (ssh – I’m hosting a book launch party for Kay at my blog and it will be loads of fun!).

I love being able to network with other authors who share a love of books and quilting.  Join us over at Kay’s blog where we talk about how I came up with the idea for Color Mastery and the publishing process.  And don’t miss my secret for developing more colorful neutrals!