As you can see as you hold it, this Authors Inkspots is indeed a new newsletter format. It replaces our longer and more traditional Authors Ink newsletter which many of you have been receiving three and four times each year.

We have prided ourselves as a no-dues national literary club, but the escalating costs of our mailing, newsletters, and color catalogues have brought us dangerously close to turning the color of our Authors “ink” from a definite black to a deficit red. Thus, in order to keep our club free, we have decided to publish a more basic twice-a-year newsletter and a less fancy but equally thorough catalogue.

You’ll still find in this newsletter our most popular features: all news and publicity concerning our upcoming Dickens Destinations tours abroad; my speaking schedules; announcements of new books, CDs, DVDs, and literary conventions. Alas, there won’t be room for my “In Plain Engelish” columns, but having written them for nineteen years, I do believe that I’ve had my say on just about all literary issues that have caught my fancy and (if I did my job properly) yours.

Let me urge all of you (who are able) to visit our website – www.authorsink.com – since we shall be updating this source frequently and consistently to keep you current in regards to our most recent activities, sales, and schedules. Of course, you are always just a free phone call away from Denise at 1-800-392-4434, but our website is designed to be our most efficient manner of communication. In fact, look for it to be redesigned and offering many new features in the near future.

This seems to be a good time once again to remind you how deeply grateful we are for your continued interest in Authors Ink and my lectures. When I taught my first class in freshman composition at UCLA back in 1971, I never could have dreamed that thirty-five years later I would be blessed with a national club of thousands of literary lovers eager to share my enthusiasm for great writing, great writers, and, yes, their feckless fathers!