Published on November 24, 2009
New writers are often instructed to “write what you know.” That doesn’t always help, of course. Without research and interviews, I never would have been able to write about the making of Kentucky bourbon (unfortunately, no tasting allowed) or the value of metaphors in medical hypnosis. Yet, it has been priceless advice at other times. Especially with one major event in my life. Writing about something I sadly did know resulted in two books and a new tangent in my career.
Published on November 18, 2009
We have all completely recovered from H1N1 / Swine Flu – well, those of us who caught it, anyway. Richard, Ali and Frank never caught it but the rest of us did.
It’s a relief to not need to be paranoid about it anymore. “Go aheads, kids, touch all the doorknobs you want!” Ha ha ha.
Published on November 18, 2009
At the risk of offending some authors, and after yet another uncomfortable and embarrassing email discussion with an author this week, I must bring this up.
Many authors choose to put their photo inside or on the cover of their book. This is usually a good idea because readers want to get to know the authors of the books they read. Sometimes, however, a photo can kill a book. How? Well, again, this is a bit uncomfortable but somebody needs to say it. So, here goes…
Published on November 18, 2009
This Week:
- How Free Will Some Freelancers Go? By Dawn Josephson
- Thinking Outside the (Bookstore) Box By Margaret Nava
Published on November 18, 2009
top page
There has been a great deal of commotion about Google’s controversial and potentially anti-competitive plans to digitalize millions of books, or the pricing war going on between Walmart, Target, and Amazon. It is surprising that only little attention has been paid to an even greater threat to authors and publishers by Scribd.com, a web site allowing the distribution of copyrighted documents, including digitalized versions of popular works such as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Published on November 18, 2009
A person who owns a membership website asked me to donate 25 e-books for the first 25 paid members they receive. Then, if they like it, they would consider paying a discounted fee for it. Before I say yes, I told her that I wanted to check with my publisher first. They say that they would promote it in a few ways on their website, but they don’t have a lot of members at this point…
Published on November 18, 2009
I was watching my local news on TV one evening, and saw a story about a family in my area who had adopted nine siblings out of the foster care system. This adoption was the second-largest in my state’s history. And of course, the writer in me thought, “What a great story! I wonder if any magazines would be interested in their story.”
Published on November 11, 2009
Max is all better and has resumed normal activities.
Mason (who got sick about five days after Max) was sick for about five/six days total. His fever finally disappeared on Saturday morning, but came back with a vengeance that night…
Published on November 11, 2009
worst book proposals and query letters
I’m still hacking and sneezing so this week I’m going to share another installment of our popular column, World’s Worst Book Proposals. Yes, we can learn from others’ mistakes!
Published on November 11, 2009
Coming from a journalism background, the book publishing business had been quite mysterious to me. But I’ve learned more from BookLocker in the past few weeks than I was able to pick up from several books and a writers’ meetup group. (They’re great for inspiration and encouragement though!) I just wanted to let you know I appreciate the trouble you’ve taken to be transparent. Thanks.
Carol Frey
