Sunday, March 19, 2023

Is There a Place for Older Authors? by Michael R. French


Approaching 30, Adrian, a talented software engineer, takes stock of his wealth and accolades - and how unhappy he is. He doesn't make friends easily, dislikes social media, and was bloodied in a divorce. He finds no common purpose in a country defined by political vitriol, distrust, and inequality. Taking a leave of absence from his company, he travels to Japan with a samurai sword that his grandfather stole from a Japanese captain in World War Two. Adrian is determined to find its rightful heir. Doing the morally correct thing, he hopes, will make him feel better about his life. Ghost with Two Hearts is now available to purchase in print and as an e-book at Amazon.com.  Add it to your GoodReads reading listing as well.

 

Is There a Place for Older Authors?

I’ve been writing and publishing for almost fifty years. Through successes and disappointments, through the detours where life takes you with no exit signs in sight, perseverance pays a dividend. The best way to understand who I am and how I’m evolving as a person turns out to be through my writing. My cognitive age is somewhere in my forties.  Emotionally, I rank myself between twenty-five and seventy-eight (my chronological age), because I think my empathy gene is healthy. Curiosity and the desire to explore are ageless. In fact, they may get better with time.

Readers, of course, have different tastes, interests, focuses, and obsessions that usually reflect generational challenges. That was certainly true for me, starting in high school. But my reader friends and I back then, as now, had our favorite classics. Mine was Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha. I also loved war novels written well before I was born, starting with All Quiet on the Western Front. Emotional and intellectual explorations about why humans go to war are both generational and timeless. My generation dealt with the Vietnam conflict.

Mixing one’s imagination with memory, to produce effective stories, is something that may also get better with the passage of time. I’ve learned writing techniques over the years I didn’t have when I was younger, not just about characters and plot but how and when to show emotion. When I was younger, I was terrible at controlling my own emotions—I was an instant gratification dude—but writing helped settle me down. In order not to produce something instantly forgettable, you teach yourself to write with a certain objectivity where care and precision are honored.    

We live in a judgmental, temperamental, and skeptical society. It’s not always a pretty place. Writing is a safe harbor. It’s also self-empowering. No matter how old you are, or how long you’ve been writing, no one can tell you that your career is necessarily winding down.

 


About the Author: Michael R. French graduated from Stanford University where he was an English major, focusing on creative writing, and studied under Wallace Stegner.  He received a Master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University.   He later served in the United States Army before marrying Patricia Goodkind, an educator and entrepreneur, and starting a family. In addition to publishing over twenty titles, including award-winning young adult fiction, adult fiction, biographies and self-help books, he has written or co-written a half-dozen screenplays, including Intersection, which has won awards in over twenty film festivals.  He has also had a long business career in real estate, living in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  His passions include travel, collecting rare books, and hanging out with friends and family.   He describes his worst traits as impatience and saying "no" too quickly; his best are curiosity, taking risks, and learning from failure. French’s work, which includes several best-sellers, has been warmly reviewed in the New York Times and been honored with a number of literary prizes.

 Find Michael online at:

Author website:  http://www.michaelrfrench.com/ 

Blog:  http://www.michaelrfrench.com/blog 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRFrenchAuthor/?fref=nf

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Michael-French/author/B001ITYVES?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrfrenchbooks/ 

Friday, March 3, 2023

Book Spotlight: Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard

 

1,000 years after Earth has been decimated by an alien invasion, a young hero rises from the ashes and rallies the last survivors in an all-out rebellion for freedom that explodes across the continents of Earth to the cosmic sprawl of the Psychlo empire…

Title: Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000
Author: L. Ron Hubbard
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Pages: 1092
Genre: Science Fiction, sub-genre: Alien Invasion, Classic Science Fiction, Space Opera, Military Sci-Fi, Adventure Sci-FI


If you liked Dune, Atlantis Gene, Foundation, Enders Game, and Starship Troopers, you’ll love Battlefield Earth.

Sadistic Aliens…

…Man is an endangered species.

Is it the end of the world or the rebirth of a new one?

In the year A.D. 3000, Earth is a dystopian wasteland. The great cities stand crumbling as a brutal reminder of what we once were. When the Psychlos invaded, all the world’s armies mustered little resistance against the advanced alien weapons.

A young hero rises from the ashes and rallies the last survivors in an all-out rebellion for freedom that explodes across the continents of Earth to the cosmic sprawl of the Psychlo empire.

The fate of the Galaxy lies on the Battlefield of Earth.

You’ll love Battlefield Earth because of the characters you’ll love and hate and the unexpected twists that keep the pages flying.

“Over 1,000 pages of thrills, spills, vicious aliens and noble humans. I found Battlefield Earth un-put-downable.” —Neil Gaiman

“Battlefield Earth is a terrific story! The carefully underplayed comedy I found it delicious. A masterpiece.” —Robert A. Heinlein 

“Pulse-pounding mile-a-minute sci-fi action adventure that does not stop. It is a masterpiece of popular adventure science fiction.” —Brandon Sanderson

“Space opera that hits the right notes. It’s provocative, exhilarating and genuinely enjoyable.” —SCIFI.COM

“Like the Harry Potter series, its got concepts like good vs. evil, the noble savage and the hero’s journey—and people go crazy over it!” —Dr. David Powers, Educator

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B41I4NI/ 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/battlefield-earth-l-ron-hubbard/1100824883?ean=9781592129577 

BooksaMillion: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Battlefield-Earth/L-Ron-Hubbard/9781592129577?id=8748446917116

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/battlefield-earth-a-saga-of-the-year-3000-enlarged-expanded-l-ron-hubbard/15283828?ean=9781619865099

Book Excerpt  

To get Battlefield Earth, Chapters 1-13 delivered to your inbox, click here!
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About the Author

With 19 New York Times bestsellers and more than 350 million copies of his works in circulation, L. Ron Hubbard is among the most enduring and widely read authors of our time. As a leading light of American Pulp Fiction through the 1930s and ’40s, he is further among the most influential authors of the modern age. Indeed, from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King, there is scarcely a master of imaginative tales who has not paid tribute to L. Ron Hubbard.

Website: https://battlefieldearth.com/battlefield-earth/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/be_the_book

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BattlefieldEarth

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be_the_book

13 chapter download (eBook): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y2zuqaj7yi

1 hour download (audio): https://dl.bookfunnel.com/243bnk6m09

Discussion Guide: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y84enq7cje

Bloghttps://battlefieldearth.com/blog

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GalaxyPress/playlists

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29532708-battlefield-earth

Other books by L. Ron Hubbard: https://galaxypress.com/l-ron-hubbard-books/

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/JRbxWRwMI5w

Making of the Audiobook video: https://youtu.be/wABlKjhRDkQ

Brandon Sanderson’s Review video: https://youtu.be/S-80Tx1olgc

Short trailer: https://youtu.be/sU_V3O5Gemk


Sponsored By:


Thursday, March 2, 2023

L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Volume #39

 

 

From vampires and werewolves to space exploration and time travel, you will love these 12 original and diverse stories because they were selected by some of your favorite authors… 

Title: L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Volume #39
Author: L. Ron Hubbard, Kevin J. Anderson, S.M. Stirling, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lazarus Chernik and 24 Award-Winning Authors and Illustrators
Publisher: Galaxy Press
Pages: 544
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy Anthology

This is an anthology with 24 new authors and illustrators and bonus content by L. Ron Hubbard, Kevin J. Anderson, S. M. Stirling, Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Short Description of Each Story:

Join a team of time travelers who set out to save London from a terrorist’s nuclear attack … when a blast from the past changes everything.

Meet a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua in Key West … this is one beach party that’s about to get wild!

Follow Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., who’s investigating the craziest case of his so-called life.…

A miracle? An omen? Or something else? One day, they arrived in droves—the foxes of the desert, the field, the imagination….—“Kitsune” by Devon Bohm

When a vampire, a dragon and a shape-shifting Chihuahua meet on a beach in Key West, fireworks go off! But that’s just the background.—“Moonlight and Funk” by Marianne Xenos

The Grim Reaper, trapped in an IRS agent’s dying body, must regain his powers before he dies and faces judgment for his original sin.—“Death and the Taxman” by David Hankins

In a metaverse future, a woman who exposes falseness in others must decide what is real to her—the love she lost or the love she may have found.—“Under My Cypresses” by Jason Palmatier

Vic Harden wasn’t lured by glory on a daring mission into the reaches of outer space—he was ordered out there by his editor.—“The Unwilling Hero” by L. Ron Hubbard

Dangerous opportunities present themselves when an alien ship arrives in the solar system seeking repairs.—“White Elephant” by David K. Henrickson

With her spaceship at the wrong end of a pirate’s guns, a former war hero must face down her enemies and demons to save Earth’s last best chance for peace.—“Piracy for Beginners” by J. R. Johnson

Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., faces one of his funniest and most perplexing cases ever—an enlightened ogre, a salamander with low self-esteem, and a raging fire dragon terrorizing the Unnatural Quarter!—“Fire in the Hole” by Kevin J. Anderson

Years after the Second Holocaust, the last surviving Jews on earth attempt to rewrite the past.—“A Trickle in History” by Elaine Midcoh

When I said I’d do anything to pay off my debts and get back home to Earth, I didn’t mean survey a derelict spaceship at the edge of the solar system—but here I am.—“The Withering Sky” by Arthur H. Manners

High-powered telescopes bring galactic life to our TVs, and network tuner Hank Enos figures he’s seen everything—until the day an alien boy stares back.—“The Fall of Crodendra M.” by T. J. Knight

Knights, damsels and dragons, curses and fates foretold—the stuff of legends and stories, but unexpectedly perverse.—“Constant Never” by S. M. Stirling

Determined to save his wife, Tumelo takes an unlikely client through South Africa’s ruins to the heart of the Desolation—a journey that will cost or save everything.—“The Children of Desolation” by Spencer Sekulin

When a terrorist smuggles a nuclear weapon into London, a team regresses in time to AD 1093 to assassinate a knight on the battlefield, thereby eliminating the terrorist a millennia before his birth.—“Timelines and Bloodlines” by L. H. Davis

The Grand Exam, a gateway to power for one, likely death for all others—its entrants include ambitious nobles, desperate peasants, and Quiet Gate, an old woman with nothing left to lose.—“The Last History” by Samuel Parr

Website Address: This is the cover reveal event address:  

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArcuytqj8uGNC4psMldYOJ3he9AMM9CNIO

Twitter Address: https://twitter.com/WotFContest

Facebook Address: https://www.facebook.com/WotFContest

Other Social:

https://www.instagram.com/wotfcontest/ 

https://www.pinterest.com/RealWotF/ 

https://www.youtube.com/user/WritersoftheFuture 

https://www.tiktok.com/@wotfcontest

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1619867680

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWHDJV4K

Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/L-Ron-Hubbard-Presents-Writers/L-Ron-Hubbard/9781619867680?id=8748446917116

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/l-ron-hubbard-presents-writers-of-the-future-volume-39-l-ron-hubbard/1142955660?ean=9781619867680

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/l-ron-hubbard-presents-writers-of-the-future-volume-39-the-best-new-sf-fantasy-of-the-year-samuel-parr/19699175?ean=9781619867680
 

About the Contest

The international Writers of the Future Contest was created and endowed by L. Ron Hubbard. After several years of success in fostering new writers, the Illustrators of the Future Contest followed. The winning stories are illustrated and published in the annual L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future anthology. Described by critics as a perennial “glimpse of tomorrow’s stars,” a “must-have for the genre reader,” and “the bestselling science fiction anthology series of all time,” it is today the most enduring and top-ranking publication of its kind.

The blue-ribbon panel of judges is what makes this possible. The winning stories are selected by bestselling authors, including Brandon Sanderson, Orson Scott Card, Nnedi Okorafor, Kevin J. Anderson, Brian Herbert, Jody Lynn Nye, Larry Niven, Robert J. Sawyer, Katherine Kurtz, and many others. The best of the best are hand-picked each year.

There is no entry fee, and stories are judged blind, making it a fair competition for all authors and illustrators who enter from anywhere in the world. There are cash prizes. The winners are paid professional rates and maintain their rights.

It is an excellent program for new authors and readers, who often discover their next favorite writer.

Quick links to free resources:

Enter the Writing Contest https://www.writersofthefuture.com/enter-writer-contest/

Free Writing Workshop https://www.writersofthefuture.com/writing-workshop/

Writing Podcast: https://www.writersofthefuture.com/podcast/

Writers Forumhttps://www.writersofthefuture.com/forum/

Writing Contest Rules https://www.writersofthefuture.com/contest-rules-writers/

Contest Judges: https://www.writersofthefuture.com/writer-judges/ 

Contest Blog: www.writersofthefuture.com/blog

List of Writers of the Future & L. Ron Hubbard books https://galaxypress.com/l-ron-hubbard-books/

Sponsored By:


Tuesday, February 28, 2023

10 Things You Might Not Know About Altered by Rob Kaufman

 

 

When Frank Devlin walks into Justin Wright’s office, the renowned New York City clinical psychiatrist decides to take on one of the most challenging cases of his career. After their first session, it’s obvious Frank has multiple personalities (“alters”) and each one couldn’t be more different than the other. Justin must get to know each individual alter to discover the best route to take so that Frank can live a full and happy life. He must also delve into Frank’s past, one filled with mystery, darkness, and trauma — the true causes behind his personality split.

As Justin deals with Frank’s issues, he’s also confronted with his own demons: the kidnapping of Michael, his youngest son, seven years earlier… a wife he adores, Mandy, who refuses to accept her son is gone… a constant struggle with his oldest son, Dylan, who was watching over Michael the day the boy was taken. And his problems get worse as, unbeknownst to Justin, Frank and his alters are secretly weaving themselves into his life in ways that will affect the Wright family forever.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3BlpCjs  

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdLxyAEoQY4

 

10 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT ALTERED


1. “Alters” is short for "Alternate Personalities”

2. Justin’s son, Dylan is named after the son of one of Rob’s best friends

3. Mandy Wright, Justin’s wife, works in the same building Rob worked in twenty years ago

4. Justin’s son, Michael, is loosely based on one of Rob’s closest childhood friends

5. A person living with DID - Dissociative Identity Disorder - can have as many as 100 alters

6. Names of alters often have a symbolic meaning. In Altered, Frank (the host personality) means “free” 

7. Frank’s last name (Devlin) is a play on the word “devil"

8. Justin Wright’s Type A personality is based on the author’s personality, with a little OCD peppered in

9. The title Altered has two meanings: A person who lives with a number of personalities and lives that have been changed (altered) due to horrific experiences. 

10. The book cover was created by a designer in the UK

  

Rob Kaufman novels are known for having characters with whom people can relate, while at the same time, bringing them on a journey from which most people would crumble. His degree in Psychology was the first step toward getting beneath the surface of the people in his life. What followed was a lifelong search for what makes people tick – what forces them to become evil when deep down they are yearning for love. Rob’s characters walk this search with him, deep into the human psyche, creating psychological thrillers from everyday events. Rob’s books are perfect for those who enjoy thrillers but also need strong emotion to keep them deeply involved with the characters. “All my books hit home for me,” says Rob. “There are always parts that make me laugh out loud as I write them... and many, too many, that make me cry. And the great thing is, I’m finding that many readers of my books experience the same emotions.” Rob's books receive both national and international praise with most reviews noting that his storylines are extremely "unique" and "sobering" and the twists and turns are "masterful".

Website or Blog:  www.authorrobkaufman.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AuthorKaufman

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRobKaufman

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/745558.Rob_Kaufman

Saturday, February 25, 2023

A Look at How Women Were Treated in the South Pre-feminism by author Norma Watkins

 



Lillian Creekmore grows up at her family's popular rural spa. She successfully runs an entire hotel, yet longs for a husband. Then she meets Will Hughes. Velma Vernon accepts life on a small, struggling farm until a boy she barely tolerates proposes marriage. To accept means duplicating her parents' hard life. Alone, she leaves for the city and triumphs, not as a wife, but by being the best at her job. Velma is content until the most beautiful man she has ever seen walks into her office. This moving and darkly humorous novel follows the intertwined lives of women willing to surrender everything to a man. Purchase a copy of In Common by visiting Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Bookshop.org. Make sure you also add In Common to your Goodreads reading list.

 

A Look at How Women Were Treated in the South Pre-feminism

 My novel In Common, contains two characters, Lillian and Velma, who make choices that seem insane in our post-feminist time. We forget how little agency women had back then. In the 1940s, ‘50s and early ‘60s, women in the South had no power, little money, and few jobs of their own. The goal of any well-brought up white female in those days was to become a southern lady. A southern lady was not required to wear a burka, but she never left the house unarmored. A shopping trip to downtown Jackson, Mississippi, in the middle of summer, with no air-conditioning and the temperature hovering near ninety degrees, began with a bath, followed by a coating of talcum powder (in the hopeless attempt to prevent clothes from sticking to the skin). Then came the panty girdle and brassiere (worn to prevent the unseemly movement of body parts), nylon stockings, a full-length slip, and finally a nice dress. To this, she added a matching purse, hat, shoes and gloves. Thus encased, she was ready to be seen on Capitol Street, Jackson’s downtown shopping center (where she never chewed gum, or smoked, or ate anything in public).

The goal of all this trouble was to be a lady, that prized creature, treasured by men, and kept carefully on her pedestal, away from the hustle of politics or commerce. Having no money of her own, she was to wisely manage the allowance provided by her husband, run the household, have a nice dinner ready for him at night, and give birth to at least one son. She would share her husband’s politics and not bother him with complaints. Women, nice middle-class women like my mother, were not supposed to work. Working outside the home meant your husband could not support you (or perhaps control you), an insult to his dominance. A woman at one of my readings said that when she was in school in the ‘60s, she was required to take a six-week course in Communism (this was in Texas), where the most horrible part of Russian life, they were told, was the women worked.

In my family, we had plenty of formidable women. My aunt, Miss Hosford, ran a sixty-six-room hotel. One of my father’s sisters was an English professor at the local college, but only, she told me, because the public high schools did not allow married women to teach. Another sister was a lawyer and a partner in the family law firm. Aunt Leigh met my Uncle Doug in the ‘30s when she came to Mississippi buying and selling oil leases for her boss in Texas. She taught Uncle Doug the business, after which he tried to make her quit, embarrassed to have a wife cleverer at the trade than him. She pretended to stop and kept a lovely house, but she kept her own oil properties and her own bank account. She operated with sweet guile: buttering her husband’s toast and serving him breakfast in bed while she spent her money as she pleased. “Buy yourself a nice dress at Frances Pepper,” she’d whisper, “but don’t tell your Uncle Doug.”

These powerful women were treated as aberrations. My mother was not to work after she married, though she too knew how to run a hotel, could organize dinner parties for a dozen or a hundred, and copy any dress she saw in a magazine. When she tried to set up as a boutique couturier, my father made fun of her efforts. When the small business failed, he nodded, satisfied. Women should stay home where they belonged. Hard to rebel when you were legally the property of your husband. Unless a woman remained single—the dreaded old maid, a spinster—she could not have a charge account in her own name. She could not borrow money, buy property, or serve on a jury. The moment she married she lost her name. If her picture appeared in the newspaper, she was Mrs. Fred Craig or Mrs. Tom Watkins. Women were chattel, treasured chattel they were told, but entirely the possession of their husbands.

My father’s secretary Mildred went to work for his law firm right out of high school and saw more of him than my mother. Mildred accompanied him to court, took down every word said by both sides, and typed the notes at night. The next morning, back in court, my father began with the advantage of having read the previous day’s transcript. When I suggested to him that he might want to create a career ladder for talented women like Mildred, so she could move on to being a para-legal, or maybe a lawyer, he laughed. He said a career ladder was how you lost a good secretary. A year after Mother died, Daddy married Mildred and made her quit her job. She went from superb secretary to housewife, a role for which she had no preparation and little skill. Every day, she and Annie the cook sat in the kitchen watching soap operas and deciding what to have for supper. These rules were only for white women. Black women worked. If we’d had the sense to notice, we might have seen that those women cleaning our bathrooms and cooking our food were models for the strong, independent women we hadn’t yet dreamed of becoming.

I was trained to be a southern lady, but I was a willful child and became a willful adult. I rebelled against the rules and my place in the pre-feminist, Jim Crow South. After Brown v. Board of Education declared segregated schools unlawful, I argued for equality at the dinner table for years. My father won those arguments, and I usually left the table in tears. In my books, I am still arguing.

 

 


 

About the Author: Raised in the South during the civil rights struggles, Norma Watkins is the author of In Common and two memoirs: The Last Resort, Taking the Mississippi Cure (2011), which won a gold medal for best nonfiction published in the South by an independent press; and That Woman from Mississippi (2017). She lives in northern California with her woodworker husband and three cats. You can find her online by visiting her website or reading her blog.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Using Illustrations in Children’s Illustrated Books by author Marissa Bañez

 



Hope and Fortune is a modern-day fairytale, featuring multicultural, multiracial (e.g., Filipina, African-American, Latina, Asian, Muslim, etc.), multigenerational, and multigender (including a boy) fairies of different shapes and sizes who help a sad little child who has lost her way to find her path.  Each fairy represents an ideal - Hope, Innocence and Wonder, Truth and Virtue, Generosity and Kindness, Strength and Courage, Respect and Dignity, Confidence, Imagination, Happiness, Beauty, Wisdom and Intelligence, and Love and Friendship. Although the protagonist is a little girl, the life advice given by the fairies is non-gender-specific and could resonate with anyone facing a difficult situation at any point in her/his/their life. Purchase a copy of Hope and Fortune on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list.

 

Using Illustrations in Children’s Illustrated Books to Add Depth and Meaning to the Story’s Text

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” In contrast, illustrated children’s manuscripts are usually limited to only 1000-1500 words in total. Authors would be well-advised to carefully curate each illustration not only to complement but, more importantly, to supplement the book’s text to give their stories greater depth and meaning. Unlike publishers who don’t allow the submission of illustrations with manuscripts because they want to use their own illustrators, my publisher gave me a list of illustrators and told me to just submit the completed work for final approval. That was ideal for me because I had a clear view of what I wanted the illustrations to portray. I chose an illustrator willing to give me full creative control.

I wrote Hope and Fortune to be a multi-layered story. At face value, it’s a modern-day fairy tale in which a child finds herself in a scary situation. Twelve fairies give her life advice and then show her the way to safety and security. Beyond that, I wanted to introduce the reader to the concept of diversity. First, I sketched the characters to be multiracial, multicultural, multigender and multigenerational of different sizes and shapes. Then, I learned that numbers, colors, and animals symbolize certain ideals and principles that dovetail nicely into what I wanted to say in the book. For example, in spiritual traditions of certain cultures, people use animals to represent kindred spirits to guide or protect them through their life journeys. The various spirit animals I sketched personify the views and ideals of their respective fairies. The illustrator made the computer-generated illustrations according to my exact specifications.

The Fortune Fairy of Strength and Courage is an example.


Female Asian warriors are the epitome of strength and courage. Red is traditionally associated with the idea of courage. As a symbol of protection and agility, the black cougar (her spirit animal) represents a fierce protector, just like the fairy. Am I asking too much for my readers to read beyond the lines? For those who choose not to do so, I hope they’ll still enjoy the story and lovely illustrations. For others, I want to present a challenge for them to see more and become curious about what I included in the illustrations and why. I want Hope and Fortune to grow with the child and, with each reading, for the child to see and appreciate new things. There’s so much that illustrations can convey. Barring a publisher’s limitations, authors should expand the breadth of their storytelling by judiciously curating each illustration to create a more meaningful experience for readers.



 

About the Author: A first-generation immigrant to the U.S. from the Philippines, Marissa Bañez is a graduate of Princeton University and a lawyer licensed to practice in New York, California, and New Jersey. She has published legal articles for the prestigious New York Law Journal and the American Bar Association, but her true passion is in her children's stories. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and daughter, whose childhood was filled with many original stories and puppet shows made up entirely by her mom. In her free time, Marissa likes to travel, design and make clothes, cook, binge-watch Star Trek shows and Korean dramas, and occasionally strum the guitar. She is currently working on her second book, Hues and Harmony (How the Singing Rainbow Butterfly Got Her Colors), a story about mixed or multiracial children, self-discovery, and respect for others as told through the life and adventures of a caterpillar. It is scheduled for publication on July 20, 2023.You can find her online:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marissa.banez.7/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissa-banez/ 

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Where To Start Book Marketing? by author Claudine Wolk





It Gets Easier!...And Other Lies We Tell New Mothers 

Every new mom learns pretty quickly how difficult new motherhood is but also that nobody tells the truth about it. Author and narrator Claudine Wolk learned the same lesson after her son was born but decided to speak the truth about motherhood with humorous insight and reality-based suggestions. A few crucial tips can make motherhood a bit more controllable and a lot more enjoyable.

Purchase a copy of the audiobook on Libro.fm, Audible or Audiobooks.com. You can also add the book to your reading list on GoodReads.com.

 

Where To Start Book Marketing?

Book marketing can be scary for some authors. It represents the step of making their imagined book a reality. But it doesn’t have to be scary, especially if the author has a good starting point. The first step in book marketing, ironically, has nothing to do with book marketing.

The first step in effective book marketing is to identify your publishing goals.

How do you want to publish your book? Do you want to see it in every Barnes & Noble Store and on every online retail outlet? Do you want to simply create an eBook and pop it on Amazon? Are you an expert who wants to hand out a paperback to participants in your workshops and classes? Do you want a keepsake to hand out to family and friends? Take a minute to think about the answers to these questions. Once you know the way you want to publish you can start to think about the book marketing tasks that will best support that type of publishing. For most authors who would like to see their book in every brick-and-mortar store as well with online retailers, they will have to decide between traditional publishing and self-publishing. In a nutshell here are your publishing choices:

Traditional publishing: the publishing company (i.e., Harper Collins, Sourcebooks) handles everything to create your book. They then distribute it and sell it. The publisher owns the book. The author provides the manuscript, edits and supports the book marketing.

Self-publishing: You create your book, distribute it and sell it. You own your book. You could create a formal publishing company yourself (as a business) and THEN publish your own book in a traditional manner. I created a publishing company, for example, and called it New Buck Press. New Buck Press purchased ISBNs, hired an editor and a book designer, secured a distributing contract, and printed and fulfilled orders for my first book, It Gets Easier and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers in 2008. Today, (lol, just 15 years later) it is not necessary to create your own publishing company entity to self-publish but it is a business just the same – especially if you are serious about marketing and selling your book.

Book Marketing Step Two (Bonus)

Once you decide your publishing method you can move forward with your book marketing plan. Most first-time authors would like to try to secure a publishing contract even if they eventually self-publish. So, the next step in book marketing your book (you get a bonus here with step two!) is to create a pitch, query, and book proposal. Even if you decide to self-publish, I promise you, the time taken to create a pitch, query, and book proposal will be time well- spent. You will use the content from these items in every book marketing step you take.

To Sell Your Book You Need a Tool Box: Pitch, Query, and Book Proposal

The best way I have come up with so far is to explain the process of creating a pitch, query, and book proposal is through the use of analogy: a tool box. Every profession has a toolbox – items that are needed to complete a job properly. As an accountant, my toolbox included a computer, a ten-key (a calculator), an audit box, a GAAP manual, pencils, erasers, working papers, and working paper binders. A painter has his paint rollers, turpentine, paint, primer, thinner, scraper, etc. You get the idea.

A book marketer’s tool box includes the items that she will use to pitch her book to media/agents/publishers for interview, mention, or review. If you, as a book marketer, take the time to create the right tools with care, thoughtfulness and creativity, your marketing efforts will yield the best results for increased sales of your book.

The tools that you need in your book marketing toolbox:

Tool #1: Query | Pitch: A query is most commonly sent to an agent or publisher. It is a one-page pitch that describes your book, why it is needed, who it serves, and why you are the person to write it. You will use the ideas and persuasions that you include in your query again and again in your other tools so take the time to write, re-write, review, and edit your query. Writing a query is a great place to start to create the book marketing tools for your tool box.

Pitch: Elevator Pitch. A one-line description of your book that you could share in the time an elevator ride takes.

Tool #2: Book Proposal: A book proposal is a standard “book industry” document that covers a few of the aspects that you already included in your query plus a few more. It digs deeper than a query. It is a bit like a book report, forgive the pun. One of my favorite books to teach book proposal writing is Write the Perfect Book Proposal, by Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman. It is a great book to help you with your book proposal. It includes standard book proposal components and their description plus actual book proposals that sold and why they sold.

Continuing with the book report analogy, a book proposal includes its own table of contents describing what will be in the proposal that follows. You generally start with an “overview” of the book (you will use what you included in the query) and add your description of the book and why you are the one to write it.

There is an “author” section that is all about you. Again, dip into your query a bit. You want to include why you are the perfect person to write this book plus other biographical information that hopefully demonstrates how your background will help sell your book. Are you a professional doctor, lawyer, psychologist or specialist who adds credentials to this book, for example? Perhaps you are writing a book about trees and you are a botanist? You get the idea.

With these first two steps completed you will be in great shape to market your book.

 


About the Author

 Claudine Wolk is a writer, radio talk show host, podcast host, and book marketing consultant. Her first book, It Gets Easier and Other Lies We Tell New Mothers has affectionately become “the perfect baby shower gift.” Claudine is working on her second non-fiction book aimed at helping writers who want to publish and market a book in the same fun, practical way as her first book. Claudine lives with her husband, Joe, in Bucks County, PA and has three grown children and a baby grandson. More at www.ClaudineWolk.com Other places you can find the author online:

https://ClaudineWolk.Substack.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claudinewolk/

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Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/help4newmoms

Stories and Strategies for Woman Podcast: https://storiesandstrategiesforwomen.buzzsprout.com