For Readers (and Authors, too)
This blog is for anyone that reads my books, as well as for anyone else who is self-publishing, thinking about self-publishing, or just curious about what it’s like to be an author during rapidly changing times. Whenever you visit here, I hope you’ll share your own comments and thoughts. If you’d like to know whenever I post a new entry, please type your email address into the box in the right-hand column and check the appropriate box (and the newsletter one, too, while you’re at it).
Author Tip: Making Hand-Editing Less Painful
If you’re like me, you need to use a variety of editing techniques to end up with a final draft you’re pleased with. That means spending a lot of time and effort, and I’m always looking for ways to make it faster and less painful. Here’s a trick you might find useful. read more…
Something New from WordPress: 2014 in review
I don’t recall getting a report like this last year, but it’s a nice extra from the good folks at WordPress. It gives a summary of a variety of helpful metrics for your site for 2014 (most popular post, most comments, etc.) Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
Flash! Amazon Acts like For-Profit Company!
One of the most incredible phenomena I’ve witnessed since I’ve become interested in self-publishing has been the propensity for many authors to lionize Amazon as if Jeff Bezos’s sole purpose in life was to help avenge the author class against the evil patriarchs of traditional publishing. Well, guess what? The realization has finally begun to dawn that facilitating self-publishing has been a means to an end for Amazon, and not the end itself. read more…
How Many Drafts Does it Take to Make a Book? (and sample chapters)
Some authors dread revising, while others find it hard to stop. Back in the day when authors found publishers and then mated for life, I expect it may have been easy to know when to call it a day and ask for an editor’s invaluable assistance. But in the self-publishing world of today? Not so much. read more…
My Thanks for Recent Reviews
I wanted to give a big Thank You to those readers who have recently posted reviews of The Alexandria Project. Where they are also authors, I’d like to also provide links back to their sites so that you can learn about them and their books as well. read more…
Make this an Indie Author Holiday Season
If you’re part of a family that loves books, here’s a suggestion for how to do good while doing well this holiday season: spend a mere $10 on an Amazon gift card and tuck it in an envelope along with this web address: http://indieauthorreviewexchange.com/
Venture Capitalists Run Amok (Again…)
Heaven help us all, they’re doing it again. The “who” are the venture capitalists, and the “what” is super-inflating another start-up company bubble. One of the subplots in my first book, The Alexandria Project, involved VCs, who I took great delight in skewering, based upon many years of working the the high tech, start up space.
Interview: Senan Gil Senan, author of Beyond the Pale
“The beauty of Brave New World by Aldus Huxley shows us that a dystopia can be packaged as a utopia” – S.G. Senan
I recently reviewed Senan Gil Senan’s excellent dystopian thriller, Beyond the Pale, and subsequently asked whether he would be open to sharing the concepts behind his book. This interview is the result, and I believe that you will find it as fascinating as did I.
Book Review: Beyond the Pale (Senan Gil Senan)
Beyond the Pale is a skillfully conceived and executed variation on the dystopian novel theme, echoing Aldous Huxley’s device of experiencing his brave new world through the eyes of a stranger. In this case, the protagonist is an “Outlander” named River, and happily for the reader (a sequel is promised), it ends better for River than it did for Huxley’s Mr. Savage. read more…
From First Draft to Release: Revise, Revise (Revise!)
The last thing many authors want to do when they finish the first draft of a book is go back to the beginning and dive in again. But that’s what it takes (usually more than once) to produce a book you can be proud of. read more…
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