What Are the Odds My Book Will Sell?

My new POD publisher has published thousands of books so I can expect them to sell lots of copies of my book, right?

Don’t Quit Your Day Job By Laura Roberts

The words “Don’t quit your day job” are usually meant as an insult, but what if this overused phrase were actually the key to new opportunity?

Gator Fun!

After spending so much time sifting through and then discarding or packing all our belongings during the move, I told the kids we are going to stop buying them so much “stuff.” I’d prefer to spend our money on memories (like day-trips, fishing, snorkeling – that sort of thing) than on material objects they’re just going to throw away in a few months anyway.
So, for Frank’s 19th birthday, I sent him the link to a website showing hundreds of fun things to do in Florida…

Do NOT Use Odd Punctuation and Misspelled Words in Book Titles!

Do NOT Use Odd Punctuation and Misspelled Words in Book Titles!

Last month, we received a manuscript with a book title that featured odd punctuation and characters in the middle of words in the title. Last week, another author submitted a book with three of the four words in the title purposely misspelled (all the s’s had been changed to z’s).
Some authors think they’re being clever in this regard, or perhaps they think this will make their book title more memorable and that these things will increase sales. However, the opposite usually occurs…

Giving Kids More Responsibility

Angela,
I loved your story about how you folks handled Frank and Ali in high school. It reminds me of something I read a while back about research on kids who went to magnet schools for music and how they fared in the real world afterward. There were only two factors deemed to be significant in the difference between those who were successful and those who were less so. Not talent as such, but (a) the involvement of parents in their education and (b) number of hours practiced.
As folks say here in Australia, ‘Good on you’.
— Bob

Writing Advertorials Can Be a Lucrative Freelance Writing Niche By John K. Borchardt

Writing Advertorials Can Be a Lucrative Freelance Writing Niche By John K. Borchardt

Advertorials provide information about products or services but are written in the style of an objective magazine or newspaper article. Advertorials provide readers with descriptions of new products and technology, overviews of new developments in a certain industry or assessments of the impact of government programs and new regulations on their business. These can be just as journalistic as any other article…

Breaking Into the World of Music Journalism By C.M. Saunders

There are two things that have thus far dominated my life. Rock music and writing. I thought long and hard about how to combine my twin obsessions and make them profitable, and the obvious answer was to be a music journalist…

Whispers And Warnings For August 17th

“Misconception76” – Allegedly admits plagiarizing Cynthia Eden’s novel, Deadly Heat, and posting it to FanFiction.net.
CaSTT / ucastt.com / Darren “Dag” Cox – Writer alleges she’s owed $845.
Neftyanik (a Russian firm) – Sued by Forbes for allegedly publishing “an unlicensed ‘special edition of the magazine.”
Rihanna – Fires lawyer after losing first round of copyright infringement lawsuit filed by photographer.
New Edition singer Johnny Gill – sued for Twitter post.