tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52504070260524667192017-09-12T05:00:06.025-07:00tw's tipstwhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-54263714322445197532017-07-31T10:05:00.006-07:002017-07-31T10:05:44.056-07:00"Come Sit by Me"<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Popular children's book author Lemony Snicket, writing in the NY Times, says:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Want Teenage Boys to Read? Easy. Give Them Books About Sex."</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Actually, my YA novel "Come Sit By Me" has some sex in it, but it's also about the world as seen through the eyes of a real teen-age boy. A teen-age girl who reviewed it said,</span><br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"I felt Come Sit By Me was written by a guy for a guy."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">--Christina Li, Net Galley</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Give it a try.</span>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-9715483168595973392017-07-11T10:50:00.001-07:002017-07-11T10:50:51.824-07:00Group Biographieshttps://qz.com/747119/an-obscure-history-book-is-now-sold-out-because-elon-musk-is-reading-it/<br /><br />Elon Musk, ceo of Tesla Motors, announced that he was reading a book called Twelve Against the Gods, which is a group biography of historical figures, such as Alexander the Great, Columbus, and Casanova. The book is out of print, but online price for it on <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2FAmazon.com%2F&amp;h=ATOfuQa3f7G5-2ynszAWr1zrXpW9yBkNAzQUdDfBnDJHg2-fceq-6Dfe559ZBi6spl5zzwOuNGKw-2a9NCg9TpRxx3L1jvceLDk9jZJ4PgP-AYugkw_TbKozB24FKCV8u0B67AvZ930xnZbvuwua20oruAQ&amp;enc=AZPM4Izbn0SZrfCMhbhhzh6blFll_KFiVMDBYKNnt_qf50j10gqP1HPErYV-68i8rh-xvZmYMfZ7PmsneIKqb8CznYgkMRX_Zg2sSHgeQZf3-gUDy7jm6MZFXzwUU3xlipxc_uFbPprXxWtds_Up_pjYqTJx_lYNsaFBA1SsVrfv7vJYq67bqD46pzIvclLeDYL7ctx2MzkxTzA_KQn-6Odi&amp;s=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> jumped to $99. Previously, it was about $6. This is EXACTLY the kind of book our ex-agent told us never sells. (group biographies) We published a series of eight such bios, all linked to a certain country or geographical area. They too are out of print, but maybe we can interest some publisher in returning them to print. Look for French Portraits, Italian Portraits, South American Portraits, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, African, and Italian Portraits. Good reading!twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-51582396334906508022017-07-09T18:11:00.000-07:002017-07-09T18:11:29.765-07:00The Silence of the PublisherWell, I found an agent to represent my book THE JAIL ROBBER. (Check previous posts for synopsis.) The last adult nonfiction book my wife and I wrote, THE CRIMES OF PARIS, had a clause in the contract (standard) requiring us to submit our next nonfiction book for adults to them. So the agent did that. It was hard finding someone to send it to, because our previous editor there was fired, and his assistant disappeared. So the agent finally did find someone with a pulse and submitted the proposal. Heard nothing for five weeks, so he called and emailed. No response. Aren't publishers wonderful? <br />This is the same publisher whose sub rights person tried to talk the editor at Vanity Fair out of buying the serial rights to our last book. We heard that first from the VF editor, and then the sub rights person at the publisher of THE CRIMES OF PARIS admitted it was true. Her excuse? "I thought it was a different book."<br />Lesson for ordinary writers: Unless you publish under the name James Patterson, don't bother publishing at Little, Brown.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-71634590403232047542017-05-28T14:28:00.000-07:002017-05-28T14:28:04.779-07:00Japanese Battle HelmetWe were in the Walters Museum in Baltimore, where our daughter is the curator of ancient American Art. They have many great things on exhibit. We saw this Japanese battle helmet, which was unlike any we've seen before. Never saw one with axes for decoration.<br />http://art.thewalters.org/detail/33679/helmet-with-phoenix-and-battle-axe-ornaments/<br /><a href="http://art.thewalters.org/detail/33679/helmet-with-phoenix-and-battle-axe-ornaments/">http://art.thewalters.org/detail/33679/helmet-with-phoenix-and-battle-axe-ornaments/</a>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-60528800254606406622017-03-18T16:57:00.001-07:002017-03-18T16:57:26.471-07:00When was the last time that an article on punctuation made the front page of the NY Times? Well, in this case, the lack of an "Oxford comma" cost a company in Maine millions of dollars. What's an Oxford comma? If you have a sequence of three or more things, then in a, b, and c the comma after b is the Oxford comma. Some people, you see, would punctuate it like this: a, b and c. Well, a contract dispute between a trucking company and its employees cost the company several million dollars because it had to pay some truckers extra retirement money because they were included in its retirement plan. They wouldn't have been included had the Oxford comma been used. So remember: always write a, b, and c.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-73636034932557545622017-02-26T18:12:00.005-08:002017-02-26T18:12:56.803-08:00Looking on my previous posts for something new to write about, I found an old post I put up here in November. As you may recall (or if you just read it), I got a rejection from a publisher on the grounds that the idea I sent him was not new enough. So I immediately sent him a proposal for a book on a topic that I positively know hasn't been written about for nearly a hundred years. In case you're interested, it concerns the man who was regarded as New York City's top lawyer in the 1920s. He was known as "the Jail Robber," for his ability to keep his clients out of jail. One of his clients was Nicky Arnstein, who was the husband of Fanny Brice, the person whose life story was the subject of the musical play and movie <i>Funny Girl. </i>In <i>Funny Girl, </i>Nicky goes to jail for getting caught up in some scheme that he shouldn't have. Of course, he's really a good guy.<br />The truth is completely different. Nicky was accused of being a "mastermind" of a complex scheme to steal more than $5 million worth of stocks and bonds, and implicated in murdering one of the messengers who carried the stocks. How the Jail Robber took his case to the Supreme Court, and established a new legal precedent, is only one of the cases in my proposed book.<br />Well, the long and short of it is that I never heard from the publisher. Nothing at all, which is par for the course in the publishing world today, even though it's easier than ever just to send somebody a quick email saying you're not interested. So be prepared to be ignored if you're trying to sell a book. That's my tip for today.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-45599977742054536262017-01-14T21:14:00.002-08:002017-01-14T21:14:17.170-08:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Zhou Youguang, the man who developed the pinyin system of writing for China, died yesterday. He was 111. His obituary mentions that he published 10 books after he turned 100. Encouragement!</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Incidentally, in my last post I mentioned sending a proposal to a publisher. He never responded, despite the fact that email makes it easy to send a stock rejection to writers' proposals. Agents frequently do this too. Does that indicate anything about the contempt they have for writers? I think so.</span>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-78480529171361250842016-11-08T12:46:00.002-08:002016-11-08T12:46:59.615-08:00One of the many things that irritates me about the publishing world is that agents invariably tell you that when you prepare a proposal for a nonfiction book, you must include the titles of at least three recently published books that are similar to the one you're proposing. When I first saw this, some years ago now, I assumed it was to reassure publishers that your idea was original. But I soon learned that the opposite was the case: publishers are as insecure as a herd of sheep--or at least agents think they are. They want to be assured that other publishers have found your topic suitable enough to take the risk of publishing it.<br />So the other day I was pleased to get a rejection from a publisher to whom I'd sent a proposal. (As you probably know, it's extremely difficult to find a publisher who will even consider direct submissions from that lowest of creatures, the writer. Publishers want to be assured that some person calling himself or herself an agent has already approved of the work.)<br />Anyway this publisher replied quickly and praised the idea, but said he was turning it down because "there's not enough here that's new."<br />Wow. So I immediately sent him a proposal for a biography I've been working on for some time, but about which I knew that one of the my former agents would tell me, "Nobody has ever heard of this person." That's another rule: you can't write about anything that readers are likely to find unusual or different.<br />So we'll see what the publisher's reply is to this.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-38883133578146854132016-09-25T11:30:00.000-07:002016-09-25T11:30:01.268-07:00Saw a news report that scientists writing in the Journal Social Science and Medicine report that people who read books LIVE LONGER. People who read up to 3 1/2 hours a week were 17 percent less likely to die over a 12-year period than those who didn't read books. And those who read more than 3 1/2 hours a week were 23 percent less likely to die. So get off the Internet and pick up a book! Especially one that we wrote.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-57988124957190224872016-07-09T17:08:00.001-07:002016-07-09T17:08:12.813-07:00OK, so I found out that Blogspot has a word limit, and I reached it. But to continue...<br /><br />You're supposed to be CREATING the material. (We artists like to feel we're creating, even if it's half a cent per word.) So I would strongly doubt I could churn out 3,000 words an hour.<br /><br />No matter, because if you've read the preceding blog entry, you have probably already realized that the secret of making money in publishing is to provide services to those drudges, writers. I already knew it was more profitable to be an agent than I writer, but this now convinces me that writers truly are on the bottom of the publishing food chain. So there you are. Good luck.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-368031691647412742016-07-09T17:04:00.001-07:002016-07-09T17:04:54.518-07:00I finally figured out how to make money in publishing, and I'm going to share it. I received an unsolicited email today offering me various publishing services for $15 each. Here's a sampling:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">d) I can post an "author spotlight" for your book on a highly popular blog.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">e) I can add 30 likes to your positive reviews on Goodreads. All likes come from unique accounts and multiple IPs.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">f) I can add your book to 35 - 40 popular listopia lists by voting for them. All votes come from unique accounts and multiple IPs.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />g) Do you have a free ebook in PDF format you want to share with the world? I can distribute your free PDF to 15 TOP QUALITY websites. These websites rank high in search engines and are considered to be authority sites for PDF sharing.</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />h) My BESTSELLER SO FAR: I will rate your book with as many stars you want on Goodreads, post 1 honest review, mark your book as 'read', become your fan and add your book to the listopia list of your choice.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Times, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">That's $15 apiece for those "services," OK? So for all 5 would be $75. He offers a discount if you want all of his services.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Now, then. Compare that with an ad I saw on Craigslist. I often check to see what kinds of gigs they're offering writers, since as you may know, I am a writer.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">The ad is seeking people to write erotica for a "new publishing company," not named. They will send you an outline of what you're supposed to write--apparently just a chapter or two, since other writers will be working on other parts of the book. I guess they want to publish as quickly as possible, so why not have many people work on the books?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Times, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif;">Anyway, here's the kicker: they're offering $.005 cents a word. That's half a cent per word. They say that rate is "as per Amazon that's the market rate now." I didn't know Amazon published market rates for working writers, but maybe I missed it. Now this "new publishing company" says you should be able to write 3,000 words per hour, and if you do the math that's a rate of $15 an hour. I think I'm a pretty fast typist, but I don't think I type that fast, and remember you're supposed to be CREATING </span></span>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-63541938272415146082016-06-26T13:02:00.000-07:002016-06-26T13:02:01.525-07:00An award-winning independent film maker has approached Dorothy and me about making a film of IN DARKNESS, DEATH, our YA mystery that won an Edgar award. This would be exciting, to say the least, but experience has told us that interest in making movies is not the same thing as making movies. However, Larry (the film maker) has been sending us links to sites that tell us about the movie business. The latest one was a post by a man who has produced several movies, notably PRETTY WOMAN, the Julia Roberts movie where she plays a prostitute (highly glamorized prostitute, as you may recall.) Anyway this post is rather inspirational, not only for film-makers but for writers, so I thought I would post the link here, in case anybody feels the need for encouragement:<br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWh9Wgur9hI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWh9Wgur9hI</a><br /><div><br /></div>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-37306957995218151612016-06-02T19:27:00.001-07:002016-06-02T19:27:07.684-07:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; display: block; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 19.5px; margin-bottom: 0.2em; word-wrap: break-word;"><a aria-label="“The company that published Tom’s two new YA novels, Booktrope, has gone out of business. Seeking to make lemonade out of lemons, Tom has republished the two books on CreateSpace, and they are available in paper and e-book (Kindle) form on amazon.com. Best of all, Tom is offering both books in both formats at a much lower price. If you want a good summer reading book for boys (COME SIT BY ME) or girls (BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR), pick up one or both at a bargain price.” (Edit)" class="row-title" href="http://871.72e.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=11&amp;action=edit" style="color: #0073aa; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: none; word-wrap: break-word;">The company that published my two new YA novels, Booktrope, has gone out of business. Seeking to make lemonade out of lemons, I have republished the two books on CreateSpace, and they are available in paper and e-book (Kindle) form on amazon.com. Best of all, I'm offering both books in both formats at a much lower price. If you want a good summer reading book for boys (COME SIT BY ME) or girls (BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR), pick up one or both at a bargain price.</a></span>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-53107472248914538442016-05-31T13:06:00.002-07:002016-06-02T19:26:15.391-07:00<br />Well, a lot of hopes and hard work went down the drain when new-paradigm publisher Booktrope announced that it's going out of business. Fortunately, they reverted all rights to their books to the original authors, who are expected to make agreements with the people who contributed to the book and its promotion in some way.<br />I published two books with Booktrope: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR and COME SIT BY ME. These were YA novels that I couldn't get a conventional publisher or an agent interested in. Now that I have the rights, I'm going to bring them out myself on Create Space.<br />The editors and proofreaders I chose from Booktrope's membership seemed to do a fine job. The cover artist who did both books (Yosbe Calme) was absolutely outstanding. Unfortunately, I found that Booktrope's weak link was promotion. It's just very hard to find somebody who has the right contacts in the world of promotion. Those who have such contacts are already working for the major publishers--and as I've discovered, even if you publish with one of those publishers, your book doesn't always get a major promotional effort. Case in point: the Samurai Detective series written by Dorothy and me. Even though the first book got an Edgar nomination, it was never pushed by the publisher, and when the third book actually won the Edgar, we still couldn't get on the publisher's A-list. None of the books were ever reviewed by Publisher's Weekly, and so when IN DARKNESS, DEATH won the YA Edgar, Publisher's Weekly didn't bother to print it on the list of that year's Edgar winners. Once a non-book, always a non-book. If the publisher tells PW that it is pushing a book, that book gets reviewed.<br />One reason for the publisher's indifference (which turned into outright hostility) to our books was that our advance was so low. This is a sign that your book is just a list-filler, and the publisher hopes maybe there will be enough library sales to make back the advance. Ironically, in the same year that IN DARKNESS, DEATH came out, our publisher paid half a million $$$ to an English author who had written a book heralded as "the Christian Harry Potter." It was a huge flop, despite the fact that the author got on the Today show and major advertising. The reason: well, as the reviewer for the Washington Post Book World pointed out, the author couldn't write, couldn't plot, couldn't create characters. Unfortunately, in the very same review, the reviewer contrasted it with our book, which he found superior in all respects despite not being accompanied by glossy brochures, TV author appearances, etc. Well, the publisher couldn't admit his lack of editorial judgment in paying so much for the flopper and so little for a superior book, so the publisher did everything in his power to keep our book from selling. One more sad publishing story.<br />As is the item I began this blog with: the end of Booktrope, where authors really took control. RIPtwhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-43674180056015595232016-03-17T17:11:00.000-07:002016-03-17T17:11:18.798-07:00I was looking at the job site sponsored by Columbia University, and saw a researcher's job. The details revealed that Random House wants a researcher to do work on a forthcoming book about Robert F. Kennedy. The pay? $9 an hour! When you see that book published, recall that the researcher (who might well be the writer of some of the book--uncredited, of course) worked for little more than the minimum wage.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-72884811737764725742016-02-11T14:45:00.003-08:002016-02-11T14:45:30.649-08:00Nice review of BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR. This one by Lisa Fletcher on NetGalley. She also posts on Amazon and GoodReads.<br /><br /><div class="padded-tiny bg-white" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Raleway-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none; padding: 0px 6px !important;"><div class="review-body-display" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 10px 0px 10px 40px; outline: none; width: 600px;">This was a lovely magical adventure which I loved reading, the writing style was fantastic, I loved the main character this was a beautiful read that I enjoyed from beginning to end.</div></div><div class="padded-tiny bg-gray" style="background-color: #f1f1f1; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Raleway-Regular, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; outline: none; padding: 0px 6px !important;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none;"><br /></div></div>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-15470174899970219682016-01-07T08:29:00.003-08:002016-01-07T08:29:56.320-08:00Today's the cover reveal day for the Booktrope version of my YA novel, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WITCH FOR. Can a novel be scary, romantic, and funny at the same time? Let's hope so.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pfFNLAxboiQ/Vo6SamIvxdI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/VGk-JRf2FGg/s1600/witchcover2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pfFNLAxboiQ/Vo6SamIvxdI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/VGk-JRf2FGg/s320/witchcover2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-35480655679891703612015-10-25T17:58:00.001-07:002015-10-25T17:58:12.122-07:00Feeling rejected?The first book in the Harry Potter series was rejected by twelve publishers. The thirteenth one accepted it, but printed only 1000 copies. Keep these facts in mind when you think a publisher's opinion of your book is better than yours.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-14818215943269826502015-08-07T08:20:00.001-07:002015-08-07T08:20:04.484-07:00The latest stop on the blog tour has my "guest post" on the subject, "Do Boys Read?" (The answer, according to most publishers, is No.) Check it out on <a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Findianbookloveaffair.wordpress.com%2F&amp;h=wAQFZqmR3AQEDD768MzoV24uVU0V5njJrPAvcQu6oX42h6w&amp;enc=AZMMlEcJ8yu5e3QUGcFLORxpEQk2aWvk9KKQNq5YCKW3iklQhm889iBcQe9EOxx85poMcR_cREub8IrA5h2KpVUxsFB48uLr6u5ghlWjouYBPIrjrYvpxblYdErkej1N6I6b-KFkJHu9kw5DX7shJrLrooOJKU9uSHffkIHgPsfGTrLOkwCdKa0qb0O5E4fVXXoWE6hPTyRYXi_59X5OzVqF&amp;s=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">indianbookloveaffair.wordpress.com</a>, and leave your comments.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-27890239952119005332015-08-03T15:11:00.001-07:002015-08-03T15:11:14.918-07:00The first stop on the blog tour for COME SIT BY ME is actually librarynerdette.wordpress.com.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-77973019661011801442015-08-02T21:29:00.001-07:002015-08-02T21:29:18.667-07:00Today begins the blog tour to promote COME SIT BY ME, my YA novel about a school shooting. First stop is librarynerdette.blogspot.com, where we do what proved to be an interesting interview.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-19965761856478730592015-07-20T16:51:00.001-07:002015-07-20T16:51:20.060-07:00<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Latest reviewer of COME SIT BY ME writes: "I was enthralled the entire time. I'm looking forward to more from this author." That tells exactly how much effort the publishers of my 100 previous books put into publicizing them.</span>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-21699802902383454282015-07-16T16:59:00.003-07:002015-07-16T16:59:21.234-07:00Here's part of a review from a blogger who writes "My So-Called Reviews."<br /><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Reenie Beanie'; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></span><br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: 'Reenie Beanie'; font-size: 19.7999992370605px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27.7199993133545px; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is definitely a book that will split adults, you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it. With teens I can see this book being hugely popular, not only does it deal with things that are prevalent to their world but each character, good and bad, is easy to connect with. Combine that with a clear writing style, fast paced plot &amp; some juicy twists and teens will gobble this one up! Highly recommended to all YA teens ages 14 and up, this is a must read! I would also highly recommend this to adults who are interested in getting inside the true psyche of today’s American teenager, regardless of what you might find there!</span></span></div>twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-39251108920922805882015-07-03T08:25:00.001-07:002015-07-03T08:25:19.880-07:00CORRECTION: You may NOT get a free copy of COME SIT BY ME by going to the NetGalley website. They have to approve you, by some algorithm I don't understand. Be patient, however, and I think there will be a giveaway of the book later on as part of the promotion.<br /><br />In other news, a publisher called ChiTeen wrote me and said that they had seen COME SIT BY ME was being published, and they reminded me I had sent the book to them for consideration, so now they were no longer considering it. What they omitted was that I sent the book to them last November (2014)! It is the usual thing now for publishers and agents just not to reply to your submissions or queries, and after several months without hearing anything from ChiTeen, I sent the book to Booktrope, which is now about to publish it. Tells you a lot about the speed with which things are done at Booktrope.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250407026052466719.post-69854758086856190562015-05-28T21:14:00.003-07:002015-05-29T12:44:49.364-07:00new book on the wayWe're making progress at publishing my first book with Booktrope.com. I'll write more about the process later, but suffice to say that the editor actually helped me to produce a better book, and the proofreader has done the same. (Can't say that about very many of the editors I've had with traditional publishers.) The cover artist has done outstanding work. Here is an early version:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRRRVNHUa0o/VWfnHkekKBI/AAAAAAAAAFc/j-0l0_D9uks/s1600/comesitcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRRRVNHUa0o/VWfnHkekKBI/AAAAAAAAAFc/j-0l0_D9uks/s320/comesitcover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />We may add a little more color and make the title larger, so that it shows up on the tiny images they use for amazon and other web sites. I think it's one of the very best covers we ever had. This is not, BTW, a horror novel. It's about the aftermath of a school shooting, when Paul, a new student, tries to discover what motivated the shooter. Paul is in danger of being the next casualty. I'll post here when the book goes on sale.twhooblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05780610815398695312noreply@blogger.com0
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