Published on April 3, 2013
Over the weekend, I purchased the ebook Women in the Middle Ages by historians Frances Gies and Joseph Gies for my Nook. I started reading the book and found two words stuck together…and then two more…and then two more. It was pretty distracting because each merged set of words made me pause in my reading. There were other errors, too, like inconsistent indents. I, of course, assumed the book was self-published because there were so many errors. I was wrong. It was published by HarperCollins, “HarperCollins E-books” to be exact…
Published on April 3, 2013
I know a young woman, daughter of a good friend, who entered a nursing school masters degree program many years ago. Evidently, as part of it, students must read a selection of writings by various academics (I think) who wrote significant articles, books, etc. on the history of nursing.
It was a big nuisance, copying from this and that library source. She instantly saw it as an idea for an anthology…
Published on April 3, 2013
Just two days before my event at the local library, the librarian called to touch base. “Now, you are the one who wanted to do a PowerPoint presentation, right?”
Huh? Clearly she had me confused with another presenter. I had no plans for a PowerPoint, but the second I opened my mouth, I heard myself saying, “Sure. I’d like to do that.”
For two days, I rushed to create a presentation in connection with my fifth novel’s release. Although I’d created a few PowerPoint presentations before for various teaching engagements, I’d never thought to do one for a novel…
Published on April 3, 2013
I am a new writer, just trying to find someone to publish me that will see the value in my writing and compensate me equally. Can you help?
Published on April 3, 2013
I hear writers making confessions like this all the time. “Ugh. I really should have a website.” Or they’ve established an online presence, but there’s this twist, “I haven’t updated my blog since 2004!”
The underlying reasons vary. I know hardworking writers who are mired in the trenches. But also, at the edge of the pool, you’ll find the technophobes, and social media snobs (yes, some people out there still think Facebook and Twitter are fads). And finally, lots of us writers fall into the awe-shucks humble category, protesting…
Published on March 27, 2013
Last week, I wrote about our planned trip to the Peace River for some fossil hunting. Unfortunately, on Wednesday night, Mason started sniffling. By Thursday morning, he was running a low-grade fever and going through tons of tissues. So, we had to reschedule for this week. Problem is, it’s downright cold outside…
Published on March 27, 2013
Ebook formatting and conversion is not easy. The trick is to know what items in a manuscript will cause problems before you start so you can either eliminate them or change them to minimize the cleanup on the other end. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the errors in numerous ebooks on the market, lots of publishers just push raw manuscripts into software and then put whatever emerges up for sale…
Published on March 27, 2013
Regarding the complaint on Feb. 27, 2013 of a non-paying Canadian magazine – Canadian local BBBs are, if anything, tougher and faster than in the USA.
Bill Phillips
Published on March 27, 2013
Literary legend has it that mystery writer Robert Parker sent a two-sentence query to the publisher of his first novel: “Here’s my manuscript. Want to publish it?” While it was accepted–no doubt on the strength of the author’s bestselling style–most wannabe-published writers need more than this to be taken seriously…
Published on March 27, 2013
book marketing, promotional pitfalls
It seems to me there is a fine line between a press release and a promotional item. Wouldn’t you say that a press release is generally promoting something? Maybe the definition of “promoting” is the key.
Can I send press releases to anyone or only to journalists?
