Maybe people really do want sensationalism

If there’s one sure-fire way to break through as an author, it’s to sell a book about a recent tragedy. And if that tragedy involves a celebrity or politician, all the better. Most of these tell-all books manage to arrive in stores within weeks. No one worries about how well written they are, or how [...]

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Book Publishing around the World

As a writer who lived almost two decades in Saudi Arabia, I read certain articles in Publishing Perspectives and on  literary blog spots with, if not a smirk, a grain of salt.  I have found praise heaped on allegedly “smart” blogs paying a lot of attention to readers and writers in third world countries.  My [...]

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E-books: Are we there yet?

To hear Amazon tell it, yep, we’re there and getting closer to ridding ourselves of those awful, cumbersome creatures called printed books. As Julia notes in her post below, Amazon claims its Kindle sales topped paperback books for the first time. I don’t doubt Amazon’s figures, but I think it’s important to note that not [...]

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Even Stephen King Does It, Now

Birds and bees may not know how to “do” it ( “it” not being cough-cough, but the fine act of self publishing) yet esteemed writers who once might have breezily dismissed the mere notion with the wave of a hand are now on board with much smaller names, all of us gratified and leaning back [...]

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Writing doesn’t have to be a lonely affair

I’d like to begin this post by thanking my friend and writing partner Julia for watching my back the past couple of weeks. She wrote three good posts in a row to keep our blog current (a must for bloggers who want to attract and hold readers!) while I worked on recovering from a severe case [...]

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Writers and immortality

When non-writers ask us why we write, our first response is usually something along the lines of “Because we have to.” And I think that’s true. Most of us have stories and characters floating around in our heads 24-7. Either we plop down in front of the keyboard and let them have their way, or [...]

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A penny for your thoughts

As a modern book shopper, I use Amazon, Ebay and Alibris because buying online and having something delivered to my door appeals to me in terms of time management.  Also, I do not have to drive in traffic, however light it may be that day.  While I do enjoy the periodic visit to Borders or [...]

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Published is published in today’s world

When I began writing on a serious basis in the mid-eighties, self-publishing was known as subsidy publishing. A writer paid a subsidy press a certain amount to publish his or her book. That fee often ran into the tens of thousands of dollars. In return, the publisher agreed to print and market the author’s book. [...]

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The e-book experiment: tentative results

As I mentioned in my post last week, the Grassroots’ Writers Guild is nearing its one year anniversary. As such, we feel it’s important to update readers on the concepts we initially put forth on this blog. Today’s topic is marketing via e-books. Does it work? The early answer is, yes and no. While Julia [...]

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Why writers need writing friends

Being a writer is a lonely business. We spend our days at the computer, typing on a keyboard and watching words appear on screen. If we’re writing fiction, we may talk to our characters or imagine them talking to each other. If we’re writing non-fiction, we spend even more time on the computer doing research. [...]

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