ART OF GOOD BUSINESS : WRITERS NETWORK OFFERS TIPS TO SUCCESS.

Writing as a business - not just an art - is at the center of the Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network, which has just added a Thousand Oaks chapter.

``We're about making a living as a writer - about the business of writing and publishing - not about the art of writing,'' said writer-editor Mary Embree.

After Embree had successfully written three stop-smoking books for women, she looked around for more writing and editing work. When her editing and ghost-writing clients asked her about publishing, distribution and marketing, it was information she did not have.

``I'd been looking for an organization for my clients. I would have liked to advise them, but didn't know what to do. There was no organization to deal with this, so I started my own,'' she said.

In May, Embree rented a hall in Ventura, sent out press releases and invited Melvin Powers, self-published author of ``Psychocybernetics'' and other books, to speak. Mary offered him dinner in lieu of payment, and he happily agreed.

That first meeting attracted about 35 people, and Mary got busy immediately with a newsletter. The organization has since grown to more than 100 members, with an additional chapter established in Santa Barbara and a new one formed in Thousand Oaks just this month, urged on by Westlake Village author-therapist Steven Heller.

SPAWN helps those involved in the various steps of publishing get together for mutual benefit.

``Photographers, graphic designers and illustrators didn't know how to get in touch with those writing books,'' Mary said. ``It cuts down on the research you have to do to find ways to market and publish your book.''

Monthly meetings feature speakers and ``are full of information with questions and answers and an hour for networking,'' Mary said. Members display their brochures and books, and get an opportunity to make presentations on their work.

Mary's own writing career has had its twists and turns. In the 1980s, she was a writer-researcher for the television program ``This is My Life'' and later moved into a middle management position with a large firm in the Conejo Valley. After a year of that job, suffering from an ulcer and ill health, she decided, ``I'm not going to work for anybody or even apply. I knew I had to do something else.''

She turned to full-time free-lance writing and editing. After editing a book for a physician, she had an idea for a stop-smoking book, ``A Woman's Way,'' and got the doctor's agent to represent her.

Mary is trying to find time to work on her autobiographical book, ``Shadows On the Wall,'' about her years with the CIA. As a young woman, Mary applied for and landed a job in the audio surveillance division of the CIA in Washington, D.C. For a short time, she was married to a CIA operative in the same division. He had an alias and a secret life he could not reveal, even to her.

``I'll never find a job that interesting again,'' she said. But it raised some moral dilemmas. Mary explained her responsibilities involved a great deal of research. She would find, for instance, what were the best poisons for killing people, where to put explosives for the most effective result and what explosives work best underwater.

``I was torn, but I was such a patriot,'' Mary recalled. It didn't take long before she became disenchanted, however. ``I felt the country, under the guise of national security, was doing things in other countries that were unconscionable.''

Years later, she was able to discuss and explore some of these ambivalent feelings by joining the Association of National Security Alumni. The organization - which published a newsletter called, appropriately, ``Unclassified'' - existed primarily for educational purposes, for the public to ``hear the other side.''

Mary is delighted at the enthusiasm and growth of SPAWN and hopes to see the organization eventually become national. The Thousand Oaks chapter met this month and is planning its second meeting from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Dec. 12 at Borchard Community Center, 190 Reino Road, Newbury Park. For information, call Mary at [phone].

Mary feels strongly about the usefulness of SPAWN. ``I think the future is in small publishers and self-publishing. Big publishers are not publishing anybody they're not sure is a big seller. Small ones that survive are the ones forging a new path.''

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Photo: Mary Embree is the founder of SPAWN, a network of more than 100 writers and artists.

Joe Binoya/Daily News