MARK TWAIN, my spiritual mentor since beginning my long journey as an author and the guy I stole more from than anyone else I have stolen from, he has a great many great quotes but this one I purely love: "KEEP AWAY from people who try to belittle your ambitions. SMALL PEOPLE always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too, can be great."
I have had my collegaues in the teaching profession say to me, "Rob, you actually think anyone can do what you do, don't you?"
"Of course and why not? When it comes to writing fiction, guess what? Doing of it is the teacher, and I pretty much taught myself, set up my own curriculum and went at it. So why not another? Why not my students?"
Of course not all students succeed, and not all great young writers prevail. It is a myth to believe that well crafted writing alone will lift an author to the top of his profession. Most never get past all the frustration and need for patience, the time it takes to evolve into a talented writer who can actually make shapely fiction. For it takes years, and for most of us, a lifetime as truly, there are few things in life that require as much self-teaching and practice and skill-building as crafting solid fiction.
Dearn R. Koontz once advised me to slow down, adding, "Robert, you don't do your best work until you turn 50 anyway." He was right of course but at the time I was teetering on 50, and very frustrated and feeling I had put in way too much time on a dying propostion to begin with...contemplating quitting altogether. Who needed the headaches and the heartaches and the belly aches from hunger and depression at not achieving the gold ring?
What Koontz meant and what I know now is that it has taken me 30 years of continuous writing to get to the level of proficiency I am at currently. Sure there are those amazing wonders among us out who careen to the top of the bestseller list with their first publicaiton but scratch the surface and 99 percent of the time, you will learn that first publicaiton came only after six, seven or even ten previously written UNpublished novels.
I feel indeed I am doing my BEST work in a checkered career now, that my more recent titles -- all of which have been written within the last few years as Kindle Originals are my best to date works, books I could not have written when I was young and full of eager impatience to be published.
With each book I have written, I have gotten better over these many years, and to get so good as to be speed writing with confidence, most of us have to go through the harrowing period I call the Valley of Death thorugh whch Job himself must suffer...that it takes the patience of the biblical Job to prosper in any of the major arts - be it film, sculpting, painting, computer graphics, poetry, biography, fiction. Whatever your addiction craves to create.
Frightfully now, up on Kindle bookshelves, my readers can go wayyyy back in time, look over my early works, and see how terribly weak they are compared to my latest works. What a difference; it is like when Martin Cruse Smith went from doing a schlocky vampire vs. Native American horror novel to writing such as Gorky Park, not that any of my books are Gorky Park. But I began writing thin books, thin in size and in depth, lacking setting and character but with a lot of plot. Only over time and with experience(s), did my novels fatten up completely to the point they turn some folks off due to sheer page numbers.
My newer work, however, are character-driven, filled with fully realized characters rather than the thin shadows of my early, past c
Me, at a Hats Off to Women's conference.
I am always looking for some great articles to share with my readers and this is one that I felt like sharing. It is by Noelle Sterne and was featured in the September 16, 201o issue of The Writing World @http://www.writing-world.com
I highly recommend subscribing to their newsletter.
Below is a little about Noelle Sterne and a brief excerpt for the readers to see if the article appeals to them.
Writer, editor, writing coach, and consultant, Noelle Sterne holds the Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University and publishes in writers’ and mainstream magazines. Her articles have appeared in Archetype, Children’s Book Insider, Pure Inspiration, The Write Place At the Write Time, Writer’s Digest special issues, Writers’ Journal, and The Writer. Her short storyabout a boy with healing powers appeared in the Star Stepping Anthology (2008). Noelle is currently working on a collection of essays offering candid counsel and relentless support to writers: First You Find Your Desk: Start Writing and Keep Writing with Less Agony and More Joy.
As a children’s author, do you know you can use more resources to publicize your book than mainstream authors? I discovered many of these avenues after the publication of my children’s book Tyrannosaurus Wrecks: A Book of Dinosaur Riddles (HarperCollins). This book, in print for eighteen years, was featured on the first
dinosaur show of PBS-TV’s Reading Rainbow, which continues to air
and is now on DVD.
Great newsletter from Darcy Pattison that arrives in my email box Check it out and subscribe.
8 Ways to Enrich Your Character: FICTION NOTES
| 8 Ways to Enrich Your Character | | |
Character Revision: 8 Ways to Jumpstart a Make Over
You have a first draft, but you realize that your character needs work. How do you retrofit a character when you revise?
I don’t think of a personality transplant. Instead, I try to add to and enrich a character. Here are 8 suggestions on how to revise your novel’s character.
Ginny’s Fiction Writing Blog
By Ginny Wiehardt, Fiction Writing Guide | My Bio
Reader Question: Chapter Length?
Wednesday July 14, 2010
“New Writer with Cats” left this question in the forum recently: “Is there any rule to follow regarding how long a chapter should be?” and another writer, Lucy, answered: “There’s no set length: it varies from book to book. . . . My approach to chapters was to look at what authors I admire did, and then to think about what breakdowns would work best with my book.” She also said that she thought about chapters in terms of rhythm, noting when some chapters were longer than average
To check out Kathy’s great post go to: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com
This Week: Two Manuscript Revision Checks
Posted: 18 Jul 2010 09:30 PM PDT
Even if the summer has kept you from finishing that book you are working on, you can still set a goal to help advance your story. This week pull out one of your works-in-progress and just check for these two things:
Passive or negative voice: Avoid is/was …ed sentence structure and stick to primarily to subject-verb-object patterns to convey action. Do a search for “ed ” to can catch these problems. Also search for “it was”, “it is”, “there is”, “there were”, and “there are” phrases throughout your manuscript. Search for use of the word “not” to help you rephrase negative construction into positive statements.
Http://www.darcypattison.com
is the url for Darcy’s website so you can subscribe to her newsletter. What better way to learn than to learn from someone who is a talented writer.
Mentor Texts: Novels to Learn From: FICTION NOTES
| Mentor Texts: Novels to Learn From | | |
I’m finally — after two major life events, a grandchild and my daughter’s wedding — ready to start a new novel. I’ve found two mentor texts that I’m hoping will show me something about how to proceed.
Novels to Imitate and Learn From
Educators often use mentor texts when teaching writing to kids. The idea is to choose texts that in some way model the type of writing you want as a result. This means you need a good vision for the end result, or the mentor texts you choose won’t help.
For my new novel, I know that I”ll have quite a few characters and that the POV will probably change often; each section might be quite short; that I might be playing with 3rd person and omniscient POVs. I’ve been looking around and found two that are interesting in this respect.
The first is the 1979 Newbery book, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It features over a dozen characters; it moves in and out of omniscient and 3rd; it has very short sections. Interestingly, Kathi Appelt’s Newbery Honor book, The Underneath, also features multiple characters and she us
*8 Good Writing Practices* By Neil Gaiman.
Special thanks to Judith Hans-Price for sharing the article with Iowa SCBWI listserv. There are few better than Neil to use as a expert in the writing field.
*8 Good Writing Practices*
1. Write.
2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3. Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it,
finish it.
4. Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it
to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that
this is.
5. Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for
them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they
think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
6. Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches
perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the
next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
7. Laugh at your own jokes.
8. The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance
and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule
for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So
write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it
as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that
matter.
I subscribe to this newsletter and think others would enjoy it.
Writing Contest Tips
By Ginny Wiehardt, About.com Guide
See More About: to read more and finish the article- follow the above link.
Most
writing contests involve at least two tiers of judges. Preliminary judges whittle down the stack of applications into a manageable group, usually twenty to fifty applications, for the main judges, who then read the applications carefully. The good news is that most entries eliminate themselves in the preliminary phase, either by failing to follow the rules or by careless writing: only a small percentage make even this most rough cut. What can you do to make that your application makes it? Read on.
1. Think About Your Title.
It can be the hardest part, but it’s also the first thing, after the cover letter, that the preliminary judges see (and in blind contests, it’s the first thing the main judges see). That first impression will color the way they view your work, and they way they might feel about passing your manuscript on.
2. Proof Your Entry.
No matter how many contests you’ve won or books you’ve published, have someone else read over your entry. Grammatical mistakes and misspelled words give the impression that you decided to apply yesterday. Maintain a professional image: you never know who is going to see your application.
Preparing a Winning Entry to Writing Contests
0 Comments on Writing Contest Tips. as of 1/1/1900
Posted: 16 Jun 2010 10:54 AM PDT
Writing a book is a serious commitment. It’s something that just about everyone thinks about doing at one time or another, but actually sitting down to devote hundreds of hours to one task takes a big dream and lots of elbow grease.
Whether we came to it early in life or late in life, chances are there was someone along the way who crystallized that feeling of, “Hey, I want to do this” or, better yet, “Hey, I can do this.”
Who is the most influential person (or people) who set you on this path? Was it an author, a mentor, a loved one?
My most influential writing personages have been Roald Dahl, who made me want to be a writer when I was a kid (I subsequently moved onto other dreams), and my wife, whose support was there whenever I battled the Am I Crazies.
My thoughts on who influenced me would be the authors of the Velveteen Rabbit and Little Women. Who influenced you?
Recently I was asked to do a presentation and I had no idea where to start. So, I went on the internet in search of some basic information on where to start. I needed to know “tips” and fast as the speaking event was the next day.
Here is something that I found that just might help others faced with the same dilemma. Be sure to follow the link to get the entire article.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadpres.html
Big Dog’s Leadership Page – Presentation Skills
Templates PowerPoint Visual Aid Presentation Presentation Outline and Training Outline
Introduction
 Presentations and reports are ways of communicating ideas and information to a group. But unlike a report, a presentation carries the speaker’s personality better and allows immediate interaction between all the participants. A good presentation has:
- Content – It contains information that people need. But unlike reports, which are read at the reader’s own pace, presentations must account for how much information the audience can absorb in one sitting.
- Structure - It has a logical beginning, middle, and end. It must be sequenced and paced so that the audience can understand it. Where as reports have appendices and footnotes to guide the reader, the speaker must be careful not to loose the audience when wandering from the main point of the presentation.
- Packaging – It must be well prepared. A report can be reread and portions skipped over, but with a presentation, the audience is at the mercy of a presenter.
- Human Element – A good presentation will be remembered much more than a good report because it has a person attached to it. But you still
As most of my regular readers know, I love it when I read something that speaks to me as a writer. I love to point others to articles/blog posts, etc. that I think will be beneficial.
This one is from Rachelle Gardner’s site @ http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com. Be sure to go to there and read all of her blog entries.
Rachelle’s blog post for June 2, 2010.
Today we’re going to talk about the one-sentence summary, also known as a logline, a hook, or a one-sentence pitch. (It is not a tagline, however.)
What: About 25 words that capture your novel, memoir, or non-fiction book.
Why: To get someone interested in reading your book.
When to use it: The start of a query, or anytime someone asks you, “What’s your book about?”
What it does: A one-sentence summary takes your complex book with multiple characters and plotlines and boils it down into a simple statement that can be quickly conveyed and understood, and generates interest in the book.
     
 It’s my humble opinion, of course, but one could learn alot from subscribing to this newsletter. I know I do. |
http://www.darcypattison.com
Subscribing to a good newsletter is a great way to acquire the skills needed to grow as a writer. The reader has the opportunity to benefit from the journey of a more experienced writer. With a newsletter it comes right to your email. You can print it off and take it with you to read at your leisure or you can put it in an email file to look at later.
Darcy Pattison ([email protected]) on behalf of Darcy Pattison ([email protected])
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| Sent: |
Thu 6/03/10 4:21 PM |
| To: |
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| Can you say that in a novel? | | |
Are there untouchable topics in literature? No, of course, not. But there are topics that are difficult to do well, or it feels like you are preaching.
You know the ones: alcoholism, abortion, medical ethics, underage drinking, etc. These are hard to put into a story or novel and have it work.
Dealing with Flash point, Difficult Topics
I’ve been listening to Mary E. Pearson’s novel, The Adoration of Jenna Fox and she does a stunning job of addressing medical ethics. It’s reminiscent of Peter Dickinson’s 1989 novel, Eva, but takes the discussion in new directions. Here are some of the things she does right as an author treading lightly.
Character. The novel works because the character is front and center. This is above all a character novel, with all the ethical dilemma from the medical “miracle” taking place within the character. She IS the ethical problem and has to resolve how she feels about herself. So, it’s not a theoretical issue; it’s an issue of
 My most recent article, one of five articles written the last two years, is published on the Institute of Children’s Literature Rx for Writers @ http://institutechildrenslit.com/rx/ws03/blocking.shtml.
I would recommend to new writers that you subscribe to the newsletter. (The link to subscribe it at the bottom of my article.) There are a lot of interesting articles found in the archives which could help them learn more about writing. Some of the writers who have contributed to the index include: Paula Morrow, Debra Vetter, Harold Underdown, Lois Lowry, Uri Shulevitz, Kristi Holl, Jennifer Reed, Kent L. Bown, Jr., Katherine Patterson, Dori Butler, Linda Sue Parks, Verla Kay, Jan Fields, Jane Kurtz, and Stephen Roo.
I have two more scheduled to appear in the newsletter, one in November and another in December.
     
I have been working on building my skills in regards to pitching, when I came across this in my email. Nathan’s way of putting what “Voice” is resonated with me. Be sure to sign up for this email newsletter.
Nathan Bransford – Literary Agent
Posted: 10 May 2010 02:14 PM PDT
 Voice is one of the most difficult writing terms to define and pinpoint. We might know it when we see it, but what’s voice made of, really? You hear so often that agents and editors want “new voices” and “compelling voices” and voice voice voice. So what is voice? How do you cultivate it? And how many rhetorical questions do you think can I fit into one post? Voice, at its most basic level, is the sensibility with which an author writes. It’s a perspective, an outlook on the world, a personality and style that is recognizable even out of context. You could drop randomly into a David Sedaris story or an Ernest Hemingway novel and probably guess the author within a few paragraphs because they have strong, unique voices. An author’s voice is often imitated (think: Tolkien), but a truly original voice can never be duplicated.
So what makes a good voice? How do you cultivate one?
Among the essential elements:
Style: At its heart, voice is about style. And not just style in the sense of punctuation and how the prose looks on the page (though that can play a role), but style in the sense of a flow, a rhythm, a cadence to the writing, a vocabulary, lexicon, and slang the author is drawing upon. A voice can be wordy (William Faulkner) or it can be spare (Cormac McCarthy). It can be stylish and magical (Jeanette Winterson) or it can be wry and gritty (Elmore Leonard). It can be tied to unique locations (Toni Morrison) or it can be almost wholly invented (Anthony Burgess). But whatever the flavor of the writing, a good voice has a recognizable style.
Personality: A good voice has a personality of its own, even when the novel is written in third person. There’s an outlook that is expressed in a voice. It’s a unique way of seeing the world and choosing which details to focus on and highlight and a first draft of how the reader will process the reality of the book. Think of how CATCH-22 captured the absurdity of WW-II by boiling down irrational rules and presenting them at face value, or Step
 Lisa Graff, one of the speakers at the recent SCBWI conference, suggested when you are setting up your main characters in your novel, you should consider the following things.
1. Voice
2. Personality
3. Goals
4. Conflicts
5. Ways to overcome the conflicts
6. Emotional Arc
7. Narrative Arc
8. Setting
     
In the WORD processing program, you click on “Tools” then on “Word Count.” That will show the number of pages, words, characters, paragraphs and lines in your article or story. But to check the reading grade level, you have to FIRST set it up in the “Options.” Click “Tools,” then click “Options,” then click the “Spelling and Grammar” tab. Put a check mark in the “Check Grammar with Spelling” check box there, and also put a check mark in the “Show Readability Statistics” check box, then click “OK” to close the box. After that, start the Spelling function in Word by clicking “Tools,” then “Spelling and Grammar” and start the spelling/grammar check process. When it finishes, it will display a box about readability, with the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level at the bottom.
     
 Day1 and 2 picture book rough drafts done . I love being motivated by all the other writers who are doing the challenge as well. I am using one of the ideas generated by the challenge I participated in last November when Tara Lazar had her picture book contest. It’s one that I never did more than wrote the idea down. I never took the time even though I really liked the idea.
Here is a brief excerpt from Paula’s site for my readers to decide if it is something they want to participate in.
The basic rules? Just write 7 complete and separate picture books in one week. Each picture book must have a clear beginning, middle, and end. There is no required minimum word count because picture book lengths can vary from 50 words to 2000 words, depending on the genre.
Caveat: This is NOT to say writing a picture book is easy. On the contrary, it’s EXTREMELY difficult and challenging to write a?complete story with a beginning, middle, and end, an original plotline, and a unique character with a compelling voice for the picture book genre. Every word has to count. Every image and every action has to speak volumes in terms of theme and deeper meaning… while still being kid friendly, fun, and appropriate for the tone of the book (be it a quiet literary picture book or a hilarious, laugh out of loud funny picture book).
Having said that… I want everyone to have fun with this! I’m not expecting Shakespeare or “Goodnight Moon.” This is an attempt to encourage people to finally write that picture book they’ve been dreaming of… please think of this as a fun opportunity to brainstorm and finally write that first rough draft that you can go back to later and revise and improve upon. So often we procrastinate or convince ourselves that our idea for a picture book is not “good enough.” So NaPiBoWriWee is a fun way to have everyone GO FOR BROKE and write 7 picture books in 7 days and see what happens
 Paula Yoo For those who are wondering what I am talking about: Visit http://paulayoo.com/ My Twitter page is here: http://twitter.com/paulayoo and my cat Oreo’s page is here: http://twitter.com/oreothecatyoo
   
0 Comments on NaPiBoWriWee Started May 1, 2010. as of 1/1/1900
Lisa Graff, former Associate Editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux, spoke to the SCBWI members about the importance of distingushing their project from the hundreds of other project that land on an editor’s desk. She covered the need for a fabulous cover/query letter that would catch an editor’s eye.
For those who are not sure what the difference is between a query and a cover letter Lisa provided a simple explanation. She said for the most part they are the same letter. The difference is that the cover letter is sent with a submission. Query letter do not include a submission for the editor to consider for publication.
Prior to selecting the publishing house to query or submit a cover letter and submission to, it is important to do your research. Finding the right publishing house will increase your chance of getting an acceptance. Go to the library or a bookstore to see what books are selling. Check out the publisher’s catalogs. Get a copy of the Writer’s Market Guide or other similar books to see what publisher is accepting submissions. Once you’ve determined what publisher you think fits your work best, be sure to follow their specific guidelines.
Now you are ready to write your letter.
Lisa answered the question that is often on the mind of a new writer, What should I include in my cover letter?
First, she said, you should make your cover letter your professional introduction to an editor. Be concise but brief, not more than a page of text. Editors are busy people, just like us.
In your letter, you should describe yourself and your project. Your letter should detail your publishing history as well as demonstrate that you are a rational sane person who they would love to do business with.
Then, you should wrap up your letter with a gracious thank-you.
     
View Next 25 Posts
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For a writer with an ego as overinflated as yours clearly is, you ignore fundamentals such as grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your rant and then have the temerity to dismiss readers as trolls. Amazing!
Your obnoxious arrogance and your assertion that readers are fools but that you are a perfect writer are sufficient to dissuade me from reading your work. I would not be surprised to learn others feel the same.
Hack writers were called hacks not because of the speed with which they wrote but because they cranked out garbage. (Can you relate?) Writers like Rex Stout and Georges Simenon wrote fast, but neither has ever been labeled a hack. William Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in six weeks. No one has ever called it a hack work.
Typical it takes an anonymouse to place up such words and not take responsibility for them. As to spelling errors in a blog, get a grip.
I do not condemn all readers; in fact, I love intelligent readers. I grow tired of short-sighted readers who dismiss an author on the basis of say an amazon review for instance.
Rob
Furthermore, where do I say ALL READERS are slow? I am a university professor who routinely sees college students with a 3rd grade reading level...Yikes! As to my having an InFlAtEd Ego, whoever Anon is obviously does not know me in the least. Whatever ego I ever had has been kicked the shit out of me long time ago by this business. But also regarding my ego, if anyone ever deserved a big one it oughta be old timers like me who have put up with having every kinda sorta rugged pulled out from under their legs by publishers and more promises broken than a dog has fleas...but I guess time and experience in the novel writing business counts for nothing in Anon's fevered brain.
And so it goes....the Anonymouse squeaks.
Rob
OH DEAR LORD, I dropped an i for an o in one sentence, perhaps transposed a d with an e in another...did I drop a comma, OMY!! Behead the man! Behead the man!
99 percent of my rant is leveled toward publishers and professionsl or so called professionals who have made my life miserable, Anon, and not 99 percent of readers. Just that piss-poor brain dead 1 percent that go around saying crapola and always ending in, "I will never read your books ever! So there!" As if that is going to make or break someone.
Gore Blimey....God Save me! SHEEZE. And hey Anon, GET A LIFE.
Rob
Paying someone to write reviews for your books on Amazon does seems wrong. They can't be unbiased or factual. In truth, someone getting paid to read a book is equivalent to getting a tooth pulled, you may not like it, but you still have to get it done. I would consider myself a "hack reader" if I tried reading something not for the love it, but for monitory gain. It would be like writing a book about something you hated just because it's what's popular "now." I see no arrogance in what you wrote Rob. You have opinions and views based on what you feel, have experienced, ect. I think you have a right to be proud and happy about what you write, if not then why are you still doing it? I have seen many writers that don't promote their books in the least, and I wonder - how do they think they are going to sell any books??
"Typical it takes an anonymouse to place up such words and not take responsibility for them."
If that's what you're upset about, my name is Les. "Place up"? There's a construction! Oh--and you should've put a period after typical and capitalized It, Walker-mite.
"As to spelling errors in a blog, get a grip."
You posture as a professional. Pros proofread their work and take pains to present it as correctly as possible, whether on a blog or elsewhere.
"Furthermore, where do I say ALL READERS are slow? "
Where do you think I accused you of making such a statement about all readers? Examine my original post and you'll see no such accusation.
"I am a university professor who routinely sees college students with a 3rd grade reading level..."
Stop writing down to them.
"As to my having an InFlAtEd Ego, whoever Anon is obviously does not know me in the least."
I know you from various web groups, and have seen how you make any and every thread all about yourself in blatantly unsubtle efforts at self-promotion.
"Whatever ego I ever had has been kicked the shit out of me long time ago by this business."
I take it that ungrammatical sentences like the foregoing are also acceptable on blogs--professor.
"But also regarding my ego, if anyone ever deserved a big one it oughta be old timers like me who have put up with having every kinda sorta rugged pulled out from under their legs by publishers and more promises broken than a dog has fleas..."
Rugged?
You sound like a pouty kid. Pick up your marbles and go home already!
"...but I guess time and experience in the novel writing business counts for nothing in Anon's fevered brain."
My "fevered" brain? You're the one who couldn't handle the criticism in my original comment to the extent of having to post three separate responses. Seems like I pushed your buttons. :-)
"Behead the man! Behead the man!"
It would put a lot of readers out of their misery....
"99 percent of my rant is leveled toward publishers and professionsl or so called professionals who have made my life miserable, Anon, and not 99 percent of readers."
Aside from having misspelled "professional" the first time above, and omitted the hyphen in so-called, you sound like a whiny, bitter, egotistical old man who never got the recognition or acclaim he thinks he deserves. Get over it and get over yourself! Maybe you're just not that good.
"And hey Anon, GET A LIFE."
LOL! Take your own advice, chucklehead. As I said above, you're the one who couldn't let go of my remarks and had to come back three times to respond to them.
Can you say "insecurity"?
Did someone remove all of the previous comments because Walker's ego was bruised? You should call this site the Nadir Authors Link.
I read with interest this blog yesterday and the comments, pro and con, it generated. It is interesting that all those comments have vanished. Disappointing as well since valid points were raised on both sides.
I don't think there is any "pervasive" feeling against authors thinking their own work is good. I think the issue arises when the author self promotes on a list by tying every comment on every subject into his or her own work. Variations of "Interesting that you speak of Mayan Spaceships, Mary. When I was writing "insert title here" now available on Kindle, I learned that blah, blah, blah" certainly turn me off as a reader. I don't think I am alone in that. My sense of it is that authors who hammer list mates with constant ads for their work, don't get read.
In general, the pervasive attitude I am hearing from more and more readers is that the Kindle, Smashwords, etc is the new vanity publishing. Folks who don't want to be edited, can't get a traditional publishing contract for whatever reason, etc. are finding refuge there. That folks who go that way, no matter how many books they claim to have excellently written, aren't worth reading.
I don't see that as being totally true though I do believe the idea does have some merit. That perception is out there and spreading. Instead of blaming readers, (always a bad idea in my opinion) maybe the focus should be on writing and perfecting the next book?
Kevin
(an unpaid reviewer at Amazon and numerous other places online and in print)
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
Just when the debate between Robert Walker and Morecombe was getting interesting, you removed their posts. Unfair!
I would also postulate that "published author" is now becoming a meaningless phrase because anyone can do it.
The notion that the title 'published author' is antiquated because there are new ways of becoming one is silly. The notion that "anyone can do it" even more so. One need not look very far to find lots of people trying and only a very small percentage of them actually finishing and publishing a novel, no matter how you define publishing.
Clearly not silly at all if you pay attention to what is happening in the industry.
By the way, Larry, I have a question. On Amazon, your kindle book is listed as published by "Xylocopa Press."
Who, exactly, is that? Is that you?
I did some internet searching and they don't seem to exist.
Kevin
Any healthy alpha male has an ego and without any ego we get those people who spend their entire lives on the porch swing. If I have too much ego for anyone, that anyone can lump it. I have for over forty years helped out other authors, have sold and published a book on average one and two a year. Began writing in 1955 in 4th grade or so and now at 62, have written 50 booklegnth works, a few that are pretty good, good enough to have won praise and acclaim and a couple of awards.
I don't have to waste my time with people who have only one interest and that is to attack others. As a group over the years, I have been judged a single genre author, and that was my main lament, and still I say anyone who can't see beyond his nose that I write in more categories than most READERS read in because so many decide they can only read in one category...well none of that would bother anyone who has NO Ego or reason to have No ego. You know the pedantic type.
rob
Where did my comment go??