CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA The Virginia Festival of the Book 2003 was the platform for Infinity Publishing to launch an innovative publishing program with their flagship book, Breathe Better, Live in Wellness. This book by Jane M. Martin, who is the first author invited to become part of the new Authors Who Make A Difference program, helps people with breathing problems win their battle over shortness of breath, take control of their lives, and discover a newly restored quality of wellness. Infinity Publishing’s Authors Who Make A Difference is an imprint designed to showcase the work of specially selected authors whose goal is to improve the lives of readers with specific problems by providing real-world focused help.

"Our objective," says Tom Gregory, President and CEO of Infinity Publishing, "is to support these selected authors and promote their books to the mainstream public through our collective efforts. Only a few books will get this imprint. We're being very discriminating with this in keeping with the high standards of the program."

“The selection of Jane Martin's book was based on the quality of her book as well as some staggering statistics. Pulmonary Disease affects over 100 million people in the United States," states Gregory. "It is one of the top four killers in this country. Jane's book reaches out to this population with help to improve the quality of the lives of our friends, parents, and loved ones who suffer from a chronic lung disease. It's a book and an important message we wanted to get behind."

Jane Martin, a Respiratory Therapist with over two decades of experience, works with people suffering from a variety of pulmonary diseases. Her book is an education in a variety of lung diseases, highlighting state-of the art treatment and methods of management, and steps toward cures. “Most importantly, perhaps,” explained Jane Martin. “Breathe Better, Live in Wellness provides a public platform for the voices of patients telling their amazing stories, thereby helping each other ease their struggle.”

The keystone of Infinity’s Authors Who Make A Difference program is the selective alignment of author and advocate working together to create an exceptional second edition of the author’s book. “We want to embrace the once fruitful interactions between author and editor though Infinity’s pairing of author and advocate,” said John F. Harnish, Author’s Advocate and Special Projects Director for Infinity Publishing. “Working together, they take a good book and improve it into a great second edition. The Make A Difference Advocate provides the positive support a traditional publisher’s editor might have provided to an author. However, a major difference is the author retains all rights to their book and has the final approval on suggested changes. Also, the author/advocate team shares a 70% – 30% split of the second edition’s royalties.”

“Our in house Print-On-Demand publishing enables us to always have an accurate count of how many books have sold, so we’re able to pay royalties monthly to all of our authors.” Explained Tom Gregory, “And because we print books as they are sold and ship the same day, there is never a problem with unsold books being returned.”

Traditional publishers frequently based their publishing selections exclusively on projected sales and the recommendation of bean counters. Infinity authors chosen for the AWMAD program have a first edition book with an already proven history of sales and reader acclaim. The improved second edition, created by the author/advocate team, is enhanced and expanded to provide more direct benefits for the reader. For authors invited to be part of the AWMAD program, Infinity waives the standard $400 fee to add a new title into their POD system.

As a new twist on book pricing and marketing, the author/advocate and publisher want the folks who will benefit the most from the book to be able to buy the book at an affordable price. So instead of pleading with bookstores to consider handling the book and selling at an outrageous discount to the meddlers in the middle of the book distribution chain, Infinity will be going outside these costly distribution channels. Infinity’s AWMAD marketing efforts will be carefully targeted, making Jane’s book available to pulmonary support groups at a special discounted price direct from Infinity Publishing. In the case of “Breathe Better, Live in Wellness,” the target area includes pulmonary care providers and folks with a breathing problem. That’s why for her participation in the 2003 Virginia Festival of the Book, instead of doing a traditional reading in a bookstore, Jane went directly to the target, to the need, presenting two in-service presentations in conjunction with the Martha Jefferson Hospital and the University of Virginia Hospital.

“Developing this exciting new program came as a natural evolution while Jane and I were working together on her second edition.” Explained Harnish, “We’re certain our new publishing program will provide many opportunities for us to be more proactive in promoting worthy books we firmly believe in—and we know these selected non-fiction books will directly help the readers. Jane has certainly established a high benchmark of excellence to measure other candidates by.”

When asked about the fated timing of the launch, Harnish replied, “The alignment of so many positive circumstances were such that this is the very best time for us to launch this highly beneficial program. Life goes on, and now hopefully with a bit more helpful and tender caring for folks who are often overlooked in this troubled world. Sometimes you have to press on regardless of the timing and involve yourself in making something happen to start to make a difference. That’s what Infinity is doing, we’re making a difference—one book at a time.”

Read John's AWMAD Rant in the Pub-Forum—03/30/03

Read the March Edition of Infinity Publishing's newsletter: The Author's Advocate