As the chairperson of the EFA Publications Committee for the third consecutive year , I am excited to announce our most successful campaign yet! For the 2018 EFA Booklets Campaign, we will publish FIFTEEN new titles in print and ePub format. There are great new topics from new and returning EFA authors from all over the country, even Hawai’i! All booklets will be available for purchase the first week of October. Mark your calendars for October 3, 2018.The EFA provides its members and others with a variety of resources to provide professional editorial assistance. One of those resources is the program that publishes specialized booklets written by EFA members on different topics of special interest to editorial freelancers. The EFA Publications Committee is charged with working with the authors each year to produce new booklets.

Over the past several years, the process of developing, managing, and completing each annual campaign has changed, but the mission is still the same: to help the authors publish an informational booklet of their choice.  Any profits from the sales of the booklets, which are generally available in print and ePub editions, go back to the EFA to help support the nonprofit organization.

The EFA Publications Committee Booklets Campaign runs annually from about mid-March through about mid-October. There are several steps from the time the annual campaign is announced until the booklets are published on the Lulu.com store.

• With the help of the EFA committee members who publish the website, the “What’s New at the EFA,” and the EFA Twitter account, the opening of the campaign is announced in mid-March. Reminders are sent out several times.
• The cover design for each year changes; in April, the Publications Committee submits to the entire EFA Board design drafts for the covers for the current year.
• The EFA Publications Committee begins to receive tentative title ideas from prospective authors. The committee is open for ideas through the end of May. The prospective authors are encouraged to review booklet titles from previous years.
• In early June, prospective authors are notified if their title ideas are accepted for the current year’s campaign. The number of booklets accepted for any particular year varies. Previous authors are encouraged to submit new titles for the current year.
• Each EFA author must fill out a Letter of Intent (LOI) with their tentative title, and once the LOI has been submitted, it’s time to start writing!
• Each EFA booklet is about 5,000 words (or about 20 pages) long, and the authors have about 60 days to complete their manuscripts. Each author is also expected to edit, re-edit, and proofread their manuscripts.
• Once the completed manuscripts are submitted to the EFA Publications Committee, each author receives a Request for Payment (RFP) form. Authors are paid a $500.00 honorarium for their accepted manuscript. Any sales proceeds for each booklet go back to the EFA to support the organization.
• In August and September, each manuscript is proofread one more time, formatted for print and ePub, and readied for publishing on the Lulu.com EFA store website.
• The graphic designer who designed the current book cover also adds the title, author name, and back cover copy to each booklet, which is then uploaded to Lulu.com.
• All booklets are ready for sale to the public in October.

Additional information about the EFA Publications Committee Booklet Campaign can be found in the FAQ Document.

Could YOU be one of our authors next year? That would be awesome! Now is the time to start thinking about and researching YOUR topic for the 2019 EFA Booklets Campaign, and mark your calendar for the Ides of March next year!

Pamela Hilliard Owens

EFA Publications Committee Chair