Alva’s on a Role; Drum Machine Due; McNally Interview Soon

Last Friday Alva gave Chelsea and me another heads up. She says spring is in the air and she is feeling more hopeful–especially since Congress extended long-term unemployment benefits and provided a 2 percent per paycheck tax cut for 160 million workers. She says that’s about a $1,000 savings per worker per year. Except just as Chelsea and I were catching the spirit, at the height of her enthusiasm Alva blurted out something about better weather being a real plus for the Occupy movement.

So I guess if we are not likely to get much out of Alva the Indie here in the office over the next month or two, so we might as well get what we can now–before she packs her backpack and fades silently out into the 99%!

As for Chelsea and the love of her life are off to Walt Disney World for the week–promising to bring back pictures for possible use on a book that should be out sometime later this year but currently in its final rewrite/editing stage. Nonetheless she has said she will distribute the ALVA Press Newsletter remotely from WDW. Meantime, however, who knows what Alva will be doing? Luckily her PR work hours remain flexible and I keep her on because she is simply great with people!

As for me, I’m on pins and needles waiting for the release of Kristen Henderson’s long awaited book of poetry, Drum Machine, at http://alvapressinc.com. We think it will be ready next week–as soon as Kristen and I have a chance to peruse it and approve it in final form–in both ePub (Nook) and ePDF (Kindle). However if you’re one among us who still prefers the feel of paper and the chance for an author-autographed copy, ALVA is also planning the release of Drum Machine in book form, probably paperback, in the near future.

Norothian Cycle Author Michael Edward McNally

Meantime, do watch for my interview with Michael Edward McNally, the in demand author of the Norothian Cycle and Eddie’s Shorts at

The Sable City by M. Edward McNally http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PLNNLS http://sablecity.wordpress.com/

Roberta in Po-Town, Cookin’

Jolt: a rural noir Midwest Book Review’s Mystery/Suspense Shelf

         Roberta M Roy is the internationally recognized award winning author of
Jolt: a rural noir,the passionate love story of Natalie and Thaw as they struggle
for survival in a tiny mountainside village in an imaginary part of the Northern
USA overrun by forced emigrants fleeing terrorism and a nuclear meltdown, year 2020.

Roy blogs at:   http://alvapressinc.com,    http://alvapressinc.com/robertamroy,  and
http://alvapressinc.com/robertamroyonnuclearsurvival.

Roy is the recipient of a 2011 Jenkins Living Now Award for Inspirational Fiction.

World Mourns Loss of Whitney Houston

Alva the Indie called me. She is in mourning. A generation older, I know what she is feeling. Tomorrow, Chelsea, a generation younger than Alva, will be here and we will all three reminisce and share regrets about the passing of a woman whose heartfelt performances and songs of love, hope, and heartache have touched lives and souls across the generations.

Whitney Houston dead at age forty-eight. The world mourns.

Listen to Whitney Houston here in her 1985 Mel Griffen Show TV debut at age nineteen. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/11/whitney-houston-first-tv-performance-home_n_1271113.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec3_lnk3%26pLid%3D134919

Roberta in Po-Town

Alva Celebrates Distributors and Roy-McNally Interview

Alva the Indie celebrated the regularization of the weekly distribution of 2000 copies of the ALVA newsletter by email by charting how many Opens there were for each media type. Turned out that old friends and magazines were 5% ahead of Radio, TV, Broadcast, and Print. Alva decided that was because magazines are more interested in the little press (little guy) human interest side of the news. Yeah, I suppose Alva’s guess is as good as mine and she was unwilling to accept my suggestion that the difference may have been due to probability and chance.

But I am so glad Alva is back! (at least for the winter).

Last week Alva brought in a great big sheet cake she had made and decorated with B&N, Apple, Sony, Kobol, Borders, and Diesel to celebrate Alva Press’ agreement to facilitate the distribution of its eBooks on more than seventy wholesaler distribution sites. She called it our ‘Go Get’em Now’ party.

BTW: Alva thinks Chelsea’s reliability and skill in getting out the newsletter is simply awesome! As for Alva, she’d rather deliver newspapers door to door than do, as she calls it, all that computer stuff.

Do you ever wonder why ALVA keeps Alva employed here? Well, I’ll tell you why. First of all, when Alva is here she is wonderful with the phone–any opportunity to talk is a plus for her. And not to forget how (as long as we can keep her on the premises) we are assured of at least one sheet cake a week–if not to raise our consciences for a cause, then to fete our own advancements and successes like when earlier in the month Alva arrived with black masks we had to don for the party and a cake that read, “The Lone Ranger Rides Again.”

It seems Alva found out that back in November 2011 the MidWest Book Review Small Press Bookshelf had given Jolt: a rural noir a rave review on its Mystery and Suspense Shelf. Called it a ‘page-turning thriller.’ And Alva just wanted to be sure that everybody knew that despite the image of the conflagration on Jolt’s cover, Roberta really was one of the good guys! http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/nov_11.htm#Mystery/Suspense

And then when Michael Edward McNally provided Roberta M Roy with that really great interview the cake read “We Love MEdMcNally!” http://sablecity.com/2012/01/31/tag-line-tuesday-with-roberta-m-roy

So I hate to think of the noise level of the place when Alva arrives prepared to celebrate Kristen Henderson‘s book, Drum Machine, to be released as an eBook, possibly by the end of February. Do check back on that and if you have not done so already, sign up for the newsletter which will for the first 30 days will offer a 10% discount on copies of the eBook of Drum Machine ordered through the ALVA Press, Inc., website.

Roberta in Po-Town, Lookin’ up!

To Amazon.com or Not to Amazon.com?

Alva the Indie’s all upset. She has discovered that Roy’s great novel of passion and survival, Jolt: a rural noir, is now available on Amazon.com in second hand copies at a quarter the publisher’s list price. She knows it’s true because she ordered herself a copy just to prove it was not a pirated one. It arrived today. Alva immediately recognized it as a recycled courtesy copy previously distributed at no cost to an interested party. And Alva understood this. As she put it, “Just normal hooman behavior.”

But what really has Alva’s goat is how Amazon.com is able to list the paperback and hard cover editions of Jolt at lower than the publisher’s list price. Such listing has the potential to force ALVA Press, Inc., Jolt‘s publisher, to sell its beautifully designed and print versions of Jolt: a rural noir at a pricing ratio that if it were to become pervasive, would wipe out this small, striving company for which Alva the Indie works, namely, ALVA Press, Inc.

Then what next did Alva do? Exactly as she always does when hungry for more information. She googled topics related to Amazon.com’s pricing, came up with some links, read through them quickly, and at about 11:30, stomped out of the office without a word.

So much for that . . .  well, not quite. Because when I checked my email later in the day I found one Alva had sent at 11:22 that morning with nothing more than the following links in it:

http://dhamel.typepad.com/twitterlitnews/2011/06/re-twitrlit-and-the-amazon-affiliate-program.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/08/class-action-suit-targets-apple-and-five-publishers-for-price-fixing.ars

Oh, I agree it’s a mess out there–except Alva always takes things so personally.

Nonetheless Alva’s findings have put me to thinking. As CEO here at Alva Press, Inc., I am beginning to believe that it might be better to not distribute the Alva Press, Inc., eBooks on Amazon.com if in the final analysis Amazon is set to undersell Alva Press and/or force ALVA to distribute our eBooks at a rate so low as to drive us out of business. Which raises the question as to whether small presses can exist without Amazon.com.

That said, I’d love to hear what other Indie eBook publishers have to say about the issue of Amazon.com pricing practices.

Roberta in Po-Town, Muddled.

Alva’s Back,Tired but Optimistic

Alva‘s back. Someone dropped her off at my place 2:30 a.m. last night. She seemed tired but hopeful that Occupy Washington received the attention of the Congress it needed. And now she is talking about going down to Pennsylvania to protest shale drilling for gas. Says she heard one mountain collapsed because of the drilling and insists that even if it does not make the drinking water flammable, it is two much of a risk to permit communities to pursue it.

I told her to get some sleep and then we’d talk. Told her ALVA needs her help and that the first mailing of the newsletter went out with all those receiving a copy having to read through the names of the other recipients before getting to the text of the newsletter. Very embarrassing I told her–except we were doing the best we knew how to do. I also told her that if she had been here like she was supposed to be, it never would have happened.

So first thing this morning what does Alva do? Mails out another clean copy of the newsletter to all those same recipients–so they know the first one was a mistake was her explanation. Even more embarrassing. Just means those newsletter recipients probably feel like we’re spamming them–yet she meant well.

Meantime Kristen Henderson has signed her contract for the publication of her book of poems, Drum Machine, to be released first thing in the new year–as an eBook and a paperback.

And Helmy Kasuma has sent his release so ALVA can publish “As I Watch You Sleeping” on the Visiting Writers’ page early next week. Kasuma lives in Jakarta Utara, Indonesia, writes in English and Indonesian, and has published two novellas: Mementoes of Mai and Cinta 3 Sisi as well as a thriller short stry, “There Is Home.” You can find out more about Kasuma and his flash fictions at http://www.helmykusuma.com.

Roberta in Po-Town, Happy Alva’s back at the ALVA office.

Why Do I Love Thee?

How silly can it be. I just love Alva the Indie–so definitely over the edge. Can’t figure out if she talks to me or I talk to her and I’m just talking to myself–all of which gives one a certain sense of freedom. I mean, think of it: On a dime, in mid-sentence I change my point of view, reconsider, revamp, and comment on myself or is it me? Or is it Alva Press? Or is it Alva the Indie? Or Roberta M. Roy, that well-known publisher and 2011 Living Now Awards Medalist in Inspirational fiction and author of Jolt: a rural noir?

Today I have chosen to be Alva Press, Inc., and here’s the reason. We need a heart-to-heart. Why? Well, you see, things here are at a standstill.

After Alva’s links were broken, readership went down and while it is gradually rebuilding it is nowhere where it used to be. Also Roy is overextended now that the school year has begun–and with a nearly all new caseload. Takes too much energy to write and keep up with her blogs and also do all the things that Alva needs done–like tell everyone that Jolt: a rural noir is now available as an eBook at http://alvapressinc.com.

Yup, truth to be told, at this time Alva Press, Inc., is a pretty much one woman operation and while readers are beginning to comment positively about Jolt: a rural noir in places like GoodReads, not much else is really happening.

Just wanted to give you a heads up on the current state of affairs and to ask you if there is anything you can think of to help–like buy or recommend Jolt: a rural noir, Alva Press, Inc. and I would really appreciate it.

Gotta go now. Roy’s calling.

Alva the Indie

Alva’s on the Prowl

Alva the Indie is on the prowl. Having suffered through the publication of Jolt: a rural noir, first in hard and soft cover and more recently in ePub and Mobi, she has decided to offer three writers the chance to publish their book as an eBook free. The only hitch is, each will need to be interesting and well-edited. Poetic, highly researched, and truly literary works would be preferred.

But, hey! Who is Alva anyway. Just some tiny little Indie trying to make her way in the overwhelmingly large world of publishing and just hoping someone would like to come and join hands with her. Let me explain.

About ten years ago Roberta M Roy began the trudge to self publishing. First she did the research. One hundred hours in face-to-face courses with the military on responding to mass events. Then she wrote the book. That was easy. Next she worked with an editor and five rewrites and five years after beginning the writing–Jolt: a rural noir was ready–ready that is for publishing.

By that time Roberta had established Alva Press, Inc., and was blogging on three blogs. And so it was I, Alva, who published Roberta’s book. My byword was quality. Was that wrong? I don’t think so. Didn’t Roberta’s book go on to become a 2011 Living Now Awards Medalist in Inspirational Fiction?

But it shouldn’t be that hard. As such, Alva has decided to play the Warren Buffet of self-publishing and reach out to three other writers by publishing one of their works as an eBook to be listed on the alvapressinc.com website for distribution. Thereafter, royalties will be paid on a monthly basis while the potential for listing with big aggregators like B&N and Amazon.com exists.

So if you or someone you know is in the place where they would like to stand up to the big guys and go with Alva, just send me an email expressing your interest. To do this go the the Contact Us page on alvapressinc.com and email me.

In other, while quality is the byword, variety is the spice of life! So all genres and mixed genres of writing are welcome.

JoltCoverwSpine.

More anon.

Alva the Indie

Win a Free Copy of Jolt: a rural noir

Please go to the alvapressinc.com site. Use the contact us page to email me in your answer to the Alva the Indie poll. First person to answer correctly will win a copy of Jolt: a rural noir and have their name and the answer they proffered announced here and on the alvapressinc.com web site.

Jolt: a rural noir is available in soft cover, hard cover, and eBook forms. The eBook may be purchased (won) in ePub format (compatible with Nook) and Mobi format (compatible with Kindle).

So tell me: Just who is Alva the Indie?

Roberta in Po-Town, Puzzlin’

Ten Years Post 9/11: Alva at Last a Real Company

Alva Press, Inc., celebrates the fact that she is a real company at last!

In a trek that began with my search for knowledge as to how I, my loved ones, and finally, the community, might effectively respond to any Mass Event, I researched and wrote Jolt: a rural noir. To further the word on post mass event and general survival techniques, two and a half years ago Alva Press, Inc, became an online entity. My blog at http://alvapressinc.com/robertamroyonnuclearsurvival is the product of that intent. And now ten years post 9/11 ALVA commemorates the Tenth Anniversary of 9/11 with the release of Jolt: a rural noir in ePub and Mobi eBook forms and recognizes just how far Alva Press, Inc., has come in the process.

No longer is Alva a one-person enterprise. ALVA now includes integrated professional support services in the area of technical support, writing and editing, design, public relations, advertising and distribution. And recently ALVA started a small copying service which is housed at Gallery Ottaviani, 214 Hooker Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY. (845) 452-9227.

ALVA aims not only to please the readers and writers of the world, but to the extent it can, to also serve the community.

READERS

can now purchase eBooks as well as soft and hard cover traditional forms.

WRITERS

can arrange to have their books and manuscripts converted into eBooks for distribution through the ALVA site and any others they so choose.

COMMUNITY

As ALVA is yet a very tiny entity with limited resources, its expression of community care is similarly limited. Nonetheless, ALVA reaches out to help in these small ways:

READERS – Enjoy the variety of three blogs ALVA supports:The Writer Publisher’s WebBlog and Roberta M. Roy’s Personal Blog and the Nuclear Survival Blog — morphed over time into more of a healthy living and general survival informational one.

WRITERS – ALVA offers the first three lucky writers who qualify, the opportunity for free book or manuscript conversion of to an eBook for presentation and distribution through ALVA’s website.

COMMUNITY – ALVA is committed to dedicating $2 from the sale of each of the next 500 books she sells through the ALVA site to the ‘Making Cocoa with Kristina’ Fund. The Making Cocoa with Kristina Fund’s moneies will go toward the purchase of a motorized wheelchair for the young mother and writer, Kristina Jackson. (See Purchase eBooks and Books Here page for more details.)

Have you heard the song “Turning toward Morning” by Gordon Bok? These years and times since 9/11 have been and remain so much a challenge. And while we are not perhaps quite where we would like to be, signs of hope must always be welcomed.

ALVA is but a small, hopeful sprout in a large universe. But I believe that as long as hope springs anew, new answers will emerge. Not only for ALVA and me and Kristina, but also for you, my gentle reader.

Roberta, In Po-Town, Lookin’ toward the Mornin’

*For the complete lyrics to Gordon Bok’s song about how the world always turns toward morning, please go to http://ahistoricality.blogspot.com/2005/08/thursday-lyric-turning-toward-morning.html

This Weekend Hurricane Irene

Well, who knows what the rain, wind, and flooding will mean for Alva and me. Probably (Possibly?) not much in terms of any direct hits. The area is poised for flooding and an emergency shelter has been set up for this afternoon through Thursday in the Mid-Hudson Civic Center. This must definitely come as a godsend and offer reassurance for elderly people using electricity for cooking and cooling as well as for anyone in low lying areas where flooding is anticipated.

My son is taking his boat from the water as it is not that large and if the waters swell there is a chance of it tipping toward its mooring on the stationary dock where it is kept. The most likely result would be damage to its side but in a worst-case scenario, I suppose it could cause it to sink. But then that is just my own speculative thinking and I am not really a boater.

So we’ve brought in the hanging plants and put away the chairs. And I talked to my sister who lives in Raleigh, NC, and her daughter’s college graduation scheduled for today has been canceled and she and everyone around her is tired readying for the storm. And its raining. Luckily for her, Raleigh will just get wind to forty or fifty miles. And rain. Yup, raining hard there now. But the worst will hit around two o’clock when there with rain and more rain, and winds to 40-50 miles an hour.

Here Irene will not hit until tomorrow. Probably with about the same or a bit less intensity as it is and will in Raleigh.

As Poughkeepsie sits high above the river, our biggest concern here will be electrical outages. This in turn could affect Alva and me as most of Alva’s business is on the web.

So if you don’t hear from us for a while, you can guess why.

Roberta in Po-Town, Battenin’ down–like everyone