Should I Apply To “Blind” Employment Ads?
Do you feel there is high risk in replying to a blind ad with a Craigslist address?
Personal Injections: My Freelance Success Story By Daniel R. Robichaud
When I was a young writer, I was impatient. Even the idea of immediate success took too long. Why should I have to wait? I had the passion. Words poured from me. What I did not have was the one thing time alone could give me: life experience. I wanted to be the next Great American Novelist, but I only had other people’s lives, ideas and words.
Closing on the New House on Friday?
Barring unforeseen circumstances, we’re scheduled to close on our new house this Friday. In the last 12 years, I’d forgotten what a pain in the you-know-what it is to buy a house and we’re not planning on doing this ever again…
Help! My Book Has Been Attacked on Amazon!
Thumbs up to your readers for saying something about Amazon’s policy of not letting authors reply to hecklers. We’re supposed to just put our work out there and let them take shots at us with no response at all.
I picked up one major heckler right away whom I feel is a member of one or two of the national writer’s groups and is ticked that I didn’t go the traditional literary agent route.
Well hello!!! I tried submitting to lit agents for (count them) 10-years and you, Angie, are the only person in the publishing biz who gave me a ray of hope. Just wait until they get a load of my second in series.
Kuddos lady!!
D.M. Simonds
ANGEL OF THE REALM
https://booklocker.com/books/5280.html
When Soliciting Book Reviews, Professionalism Matters By Yocheved Golani
Some authors shoot themselves and their publishers in the wallet with naivete about the book-reviewing industry. The problem is two-fold…
Do I Need Permission to Feature Local Businesses in My Novel?
My manuscript is a humorous mystery and uses some of the local haunts in (my city). I don’t say anything bad about any of them.
It’s mainly the characters going to places like (a local restaurant), which is considered a local original. I explain why. Also, (a local diner). Everyone in the area where my heroine lives would know this place. They would also know that the bathroom is decorated with (a well-known cartoon character) accessories. This is mentioned in my manuscript. One character also works at a local charity, mentioned by name.
Is it okay to use them as long as I don’t show them in a bad light? Or, should I get them to sign something? If so, what?
Once a Writer, Always a Writer By Melanie Bowden
For nine years, I was a freelance writer, writing coach, and writing teacher. My work was published in numerous magazines, and I published one non-fiction book and a magazine writing workbook. Since math teaching is my first love, I decided to return to it three years ago. I kept writing though for myself and attending my local spiritual writing group.
A month ago a woman who is a member of my local state writer’s club branch contacted me and asked if I would be interested in teaching a writing workshop for them…
Our Daughter’s New Attorney
For over a year now, we’ve been dealing with the aftermath of the accident on Valentine’s Day, 2011 when our daughter and her boyfriend were in a head-on collision. The person who hit them had been dialing his cell phone when he crossed all the way over the center line. Both vehicles were going 45-50 when they hit. Ali’s wrist was shattered and her boyfriend had three broken ribs, a broken leg, and more. Fast-forward 13 months. After months of good-faith negotiations on the victims’ side, the insurance adjuster for the guilty driver told Ali’s boyfriend that if he can’t be a chef anymore because his leg is so badly injured, he “should just go be a greeter at Walmart.”
That was the last straw. Her boyfriend hired an attorney. This week, our daughter hired the same attorney…
Boldly Assuming You “Can’t Be Sued” Will Likely Lead to a Lawsuit
An author recently asked me about using real people (friends, relatives, acquaintances) in a novel. I told her doing so would be very risky from a legal standpoint.
She assumed just calling the book “fiction” would protect her from a lawsuit.
She also assumed simply changing a few names would also protect her from a lawsuit.
Just Because I Rejected Your Manuscript Doesn’t Mean I’m a Racist, Homophobe, Anti-Semite, etc.
Hi Angela,
I was deeply saddened by the article about the woman who made all kinds of assumptions about you because her manuscript was rejected. I want to say for the record that I’ve been working with BookLocker since 2003, and I have never found you or your family to be anything but friendly, accepting, and encouraging. Thank you for everything you do!
Best,
Debra Stang
HOSPICE TAILS: The Animal Companions Who Journey With Hospice Patients and Their Families
VISITING GRANDMA
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Hey Ang,
I read your column today on not being racists for rejecting a book for X reason. Pretty funny. Having been in the writing biz (magazine and newspapers) my entire career I feel for you; as a reporter then editor I’ve been called every name in the book, none that I will repeat to a lady and I wish I had a nickel for every time someone threatened me with a lawsuit. But, that’s the biz and the challenge with nonprofessional writers, they don’t understand how the business works and, more to the point, that it IS a business and that business is to make money.
I think what authors (any writer, for that matter) must understand is that they can’t take their work and coddle it to their breasts as if they were children.
I. too. pitched a book to you that you passed on; you passed because it was based on actual events. You explained (very nicely) that you didn’t want to offend any survivors or risk litigation. I think this would make a nice additive for your readers to know that there are SOME of us out there who can take a rejection without rancor.
Hugs,
Peter J. Gallanis
Assignment Editor
Journatic