Congressmen accept bribes?http://ping.fm/2nqcW

My thriller: TARGETED selling strong on Kindle! http://ping.fm/iGOu5

Singles For Sale

No reason to be unpublished. Amazon now has singles, see it here: Kindle singles.  Get your short stories together and submit one or two!

Borders Rip Off

It's sad to see the giant book store chain, Borders, go under. I was a big Borders fan, particularly after I held my first book signing there and saw my books on their shelves. Their coffee shop was the site for many informative critique sessions that helped launch my novel writing career.

But as Borders goes about the business of liquidating their assets, they are ripping off their loyal customers. MSN Money has the details here: Borders Jacks Up Prices. It appears that even with marked down prices, readers can buy books cheaper on Amazon or at Wal-Mart. Nice try, Borders. It's easy to see why your business failed with that kind of model.

Worked most of the day on a technical manual, Yikes!

The End

What we all feared has materialized: Borders will close forever. This hits our own little critique group particularly hard. Hopefully, we can regroup and find a suitable location. Read the story here: Borders Closing.

Help For Writing

I'm flying home from Vegas today where I attended the Public Safety Writers Assoc Convention. My trip was fruitful, in that I delivered a well-received presentation on the subject of "Developing Undercover Characters for Your Mystery/Thriller." I also won seven various awards for writing; but the First Place award for fiction novel (TARGETED) is the one I most cherish.


I met a multi-talented man, C.Scott Wyatt, who has a doctorate from the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota. His doctoral work explored teaching writing using technology, focusing on students who have special needs. Scott graduated from the University of Southern California with degrees in English and journalism. He also earned a master’s degree in composition and rhetoric from California State University, Fresno. 


His website, Tameri Guide for Writers, is chock full of information. I recommend Scott's site as an additional resource for you, my fellow writers.

Book Recomendation

I just finished my review of Inmate 1577 by Alan Jacobson for the New York Journal of Books.  I was thoroughly intrigued by his level of research and character development. Read the review and decide for yourself if you want to read it. I highly recommend it, particularly for thriller/mystery writers.

A Catholic priest on the run from Chicago cops. Only $3.99 on Kindle! http://ping.fm/NiJrh

Cops murdered on the streets of Chicago: Targeted only $3.99 Kindle http://ping.fm/ovmIZ

Find my reviews here on the New York Journal of Books http://ping.fm/0xN1m

Planning Your Book

Writers are often asked about the process of writing their book(s). Questions regarding the plot, characters, length, and ending are always topics for discussion. And just as there are authors who write with different styles, so also are there varying ideas on how to organize or plan a book.

A successful writer, John Connolly, said this:  "Again, every writer is different. The two most extreme examples I've found are James Lee Burke, who doesn't even know what the book is going to be about when he starts writing, and Jeff Deaver, whose outline is nearly as long as the eventual book, even down to including paragraph breaks. The rest of us fall somewhere in between. I don't plan anything on paper, but I have a rough idea of the plot and I'm prepared to watch it change as I go along." 


As for me, I have an idea about the book I'm about to write and the main characters. I put that on paper, not in any outline form, but as generalized notes. As I get further along in the book, I expand on the story or sub-plot and create additional characters, ensuring I write them down for the sake of consistency. In my case I write thrillers/mysteries, so I ensure I note clues and pieces of evidence to ensure I've addressed all of them by the book's end.


The bottom line: don't worry so much about the process, sit down and start writing.

Digital Is Here To Stay

The recent Book Expo in New York confirmed what many have been thinking: digital books are dominating the publishing world.  Indy authors are in control, publishers are not. You can publish everything from a short story to a novel on Amazon--by yourself. And there's a new company, BookBaby that will convert your manuscript straight to ePub and mobi which are the formats that allow ebooks to publish on ereaders and mobile devices and sold on major ebook stores. So what are you waiting for, get published!

Now just $3.99: http://ping.fm/4yBgB

Make Money by Pricing Low

I've been following this whole eBook phenomena, particularly since I have four eBooks for sale. It seems to be a money making proposition and a viable option for anyone who wants people to read their work. Here's a link to an author who sells for .99 http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/welcome-to-the-wg2e-john-locke and makes his money by the sheer volume of sales. (Recall my past post in which I talked about eBook readers who shop by price).

I am experimenting myself, by having my publisher reduce the cost of my new fiction release, Targeted, to just $3.99, and my non-fiction release next week, Lessons From The Street, for .99 (comes only in eBook). I'll keep you posted.

Get Free Books or Books at Reduced Prices for Kindle!

Here's a great site that allows those of you who have Kindles or Kindle apps for your iPhone, iPad, or computer (all Kindle apps are free). Follow this link: http://www.ereaderiq.com/ to choose from hundreds of titles, or use the site to follow price drops. This is an excellent tool for those of you on a tight budget and/or those who just love to read.

Hippocampus Magazine

I had a short story accepted by this new online magazine that debuts next month (May). Hippocampus Magazine is creative non-fiction site that also seeks submissions for memoirs, interviews, personal essays, etc. According to their website, "Hippocampus Magazine is an exclusively online publication set out to entertain, educate and engage writers and readers of creative non-fiction. Each monthly issue features memoir excerpts, personal essays, reviews, interviews and craft articles." 

If you are interested in submitting work for publication, check out Hippocampus submissions. It looks to have a bright future.

Monthly meeting of the Riverside Writers today at Salem Church Library.

It's Now Mainstream

Electronic publishing, e-books, e-readers, are things we used to think were anomalies--something only a very few utilized. All that has changed and writers and readers are drifting toward electronic everything. How many rejection letters to agents or publishers does it take before one throws up their hands? That will vary with each individual, but even those who have been published in the traditional manner, i.e., printed books sold through brick and mortar stores, are gravitating toward e-publishing.

Here's a link to an excellent blog post that makes the case for this non-traditional route. E-publishing gets your work in to the readers' hands while also making you money at little or no cost. And for most of us, self published e-books mean more money than traditional royalties offer.  Here's the link: The Writers Guide to Epublishing.

Free Book on Kindle

Award-winning author and friend, Dan Walsh, just told me his historical/romantic/Christian novel, The Homecoming, will be free for Kindle owners the entire month of April! It's a fantastic read, check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Homecoming-The-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B003EQ4KXA/ref=sr_1_2_title_1_ke?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301680513&sr=1-2