Story power. Human Power. Black Power. To me, story power, human power, female power, black power, et. al. are all trains that run along the same vast system of tracks known as ‘publishing.’ It’s why Black History Month is such a fantastic time to highlight authors of color, to maneuver otherwise fringe/invisible authors—schedule those ‘trains’—to […]
Read MoreThe Synopsis: Why Love Hurts & Pain Can Be Good for Our Writing
There is one word known to strike fear into the hearts of most writers. Synopsis. Most of us would rather perform brain surgery from space using a lemon zester and a squirrel than be forced to boil down our entire novel into one page. Yes one. But alas we need to embrace the synopsis for numerous reasons. […]
Read MoreBarnes & Noble Puts Literary Classics in Blackface for Black History Month
For those who might not know, in the United State, Black History Month is celebrated for the entire month of February. The point of dedicating an entire month is so we can bring focus to the works, art, history, and voices of a specific community within our vast and diverse nation. We can learn, grow, […]
Read MoreAmazon Past Prime: Why Major Retailers & Publishers are Going it Alone
Is Amazon past prime? I really can’t speak for all business fads, just ones American. Americans do love…business. What do we love more than business? Duh. A great business fad. Hey, we DID invent the forty-hour work week just so we could ignore it *hair flip*. As I mentioned in my December post Penguin SOLD: […]
Read MoreDon’t Advertise, PADvertise: Catch Readers With Their Pants Down
Book spam is so yesterday. Seems writers are always looking for some new way to advertise their books, which is fine…but some folks have gone more than a little bit cray-cray. I finally fled Twitter, by and large, because it’s next to impossible to locate real hoo-mans among all the automation. My email has pretty […]
Read MoreNo Sales or Lackluster Sales: It Isn’t the Reader, It’s the Book…Really
Original image courtesy of Juhan Sonin via Flickr Creative commons. No sales or lackluster sales. It isn’t the reader’s fault. It’s the book. Really. This is tough to hear. I know. It’s a writer’s worst nightmare. You researched, you wrote, you finished, and then published your book. You wait for the sales and…. *crickets* This […]
Read MoreFEAR: Why Humans Crave Stories That Scare Them
Fear is, in all likelihood, the single most complex human emotion. Our fears can keep us up at night, but they can also be the only thing that keeps us alive. They can save us, strangle us, liberate us or even destroy us. Like fire, fear can be intoxicating and even addictive and for sound […]
Read MorePenguin SOLD: Publishing, Change & Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Oh MY!
This past week, Pearson, the owner of Penguin for the last half-century, jettisoned its remaining stake in Penguin Random House—the book publishing joint venture it formed six years ago with Bertelsmann, the German media group. According to an article in MSN Money, End of an era for book publisher Penguin: The company originally owned 47% […]
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Writing Voice & Its Importance to Storytelling
Voice. All readers (and literary agents) want to find the next great one, and all writers want to know what the heck it is. If voice were easy to define, then we wouldn’t have dozens of articles, books and classes to demystify the concept. Today, I’ll put in my two cents and see if I […]
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5 Holiday Challenges Only Writers Will Understand
It’s the holiday season, and this is a tough time for most people. For, writers, it’s peace hell on Earth, largely—though not entirely—due to the whole ‘having to wear pants’ thing. We authors, historically, have been a misunderstood group of people. Burned as witches. No holiday there. Survival rate after a political coup? Close to […]
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