Humans are the weirdest creatures in the universe. We like to state that we are creatures based on habits, but the current corona situation is proving that wrong, at least in my case. I have been working full-time from my home office for 10 years now, so I am 100% accustomed to home isolation as a home office/internet based business professional since 2009 and a writer for publication since the 1990’s…or so I thought.
I know…I am stuck on CNN day and night obsessing about what is going on. I am planting all kinds of veggies (just in case…) and am sewing masks to donate. It doesn’t get worse than this. But even though my husband believes I have watched too many zombie apocalypse movies, these times require that we all feel useful rather than powerless.
Well after being self-quarantined for almost a month, and now following the shelter in place order; my restless mind has totally taken over my days and nights. I worry about my elderly parents living in my home, I worry about my daughters, as they both have to work still (even if part-time is at home), one with the Texas government, the other with a federal hospital.
Finally, the winners of the 2019 copyright books for the Literary Awards have been selected. Selecting these winners was a challenging process for our judges! All participants should be proud of their books as we can tell you first hand that the quality of all of the books received has raised the standard of Indie publishing for sure. Well done!
It has been a fierce competition again this year due to the amazing quality of most of the participating books. As usual we can only select a few finalists, and as usual it’s proving to be a very difficult task again this year!
Publicity strategizing many times includes advertising in print format publications or digital magazines. But how can we decide when, where and how?
I need to preface this article by saying I’m not a big romance fan. I’d rather read about dragons than someone falling in love. That being said, I do enjoy a well-written love triangle from time to time.
This past week, I received feedback from an author on our last editorial, Book Reviews – An Author’s Best Friend (Even When Not-So-Positive), where he shared his “most extreme hostile review.” This author forwarded to us a review of his book which basically comprised of everything reviewers should avoid when reviewing. I decided to address this through today’s editorial for two reasons:
All authors worst nightmares are bad reviews. But should we really fear them? Granted, the best scenario would be for all writers to receive all five stars reviews, even for their first book. But realistically most of us need a few books under the belt to begin a profitable career, and still most of the money earned will likely come from speaking engagements and other types of events.
Anyone who has ever walked into any bookstore or library has seen that rather than allowing the books to roam free and find their own ways to prospective readers, the staff of the respective bookish establishment instead neatly shelves them by some system of organization. Three of the broadest shelving categories out there are Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade.