Day: March 21, 2013

Sarah Ettritch Announces New Title

Author Sarah Ettritch is pleased to announce the release of her new cozy mystery, The Missing Comatose Woman.

Private eye Casey Cook lands her first case, and it’s a doozy: find a missing comatose woman. Eager to prove herself, Casey does whatever it takes to get answers, from pretending to be pregnant to fawning over a hairless cat.

As she runs into one dead end after another, Casey wonders whether she should have left her retail job. Determined to show that she can do the PI thing, Casey refuses to give up, chases down every lead, and snags herself a girlfriend along the way.

The Missing Comatose Woman was released in February 2013 by Norn Publishing and is currently available in print and as an eBook from Amazon.com, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Amazon UK, and other online retailers.

My Love Affair With Scrivener

Guest post
by Lara Reznik

I have over twenty-five years managing software trainers, computer techs, and program developers, combined with about the same amount of time as a novelist and screenwriter. So I believe it’s fair to say, I possess good credentials to recognize a sensational software program for authors from both a technical and an end-user perspective. From the moment I viewed the features of the Scrivener program, it was love at first sight. Coincidentally, the same thing had happened the day I met my husband.

When I went online to purchase the program, I discovered that not only did it cost only $45, but, the vendor offered a free week trial. It almost sounded too good to be true. With virtually nothing to lose, I downloaded it that afternoon. After using it for one full writing day, I paid my $45 cognizant I had found a lifetime writing partner. Continue reading “My Love Affair With Scrivener”

Hurricane Sandy Library Update

Congratulations are in order for the over 100 authors from around the world involved in Indie Authors for Hurricane Sandy Library Recovery. As of this week, they’ve shipped out over 500 books to libraries in need in the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

Our own K. S. “Kat” Brooks founded this group back in November 2012 to help libraries which had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Even now, well into March, some schools and libraries have still not reopened. “People don’t realize how bad the situation is,” Kat said. “I received an email from an elementary school principal this week which broke my heart.” Kat shared an excerpt from this email with us:

Yes, our school was devastated by the Hurricane. Our entire first floor took in over three feet of salt water and raw sewage. We have been displaced…  Our kindergarten, first and second grade classrooms, the literacy hub of our building, have been totally destroyed; everything thrown out. Our reading center which housed all of our guided reading books was also destroyed. All of our books are gone.

If you’re an author interested in donating children’s books or if you know of a library in need, you can contact the group through their web page. Please keep in mind, not all books or genres are accepted, and great pride is taken in matching up books with libraries.

The Title Will Tell

Long before the prevalence of internet keywords to help people narrow down a search, the concept applied to book titles. To be more accurate, it applied to books in popular fiction. Literary fiction has its own thing going. You pretty much know if you see a book with a title like As Grow the Wild Tulips, or A Garden in Antioch, you’re probably looking at literary fiction.

With popular fiction, the keywords become genre-specific. You can be pretty sure if you see words like heart, song, secret, or forever that the book is a romance novel. As with all rules, there are exceptions. Other keywords also play a role, so Cannibal Heart might not necessarily be a romance. Neither is this short list all-inclusive. I’m sure there are romance titles that don’t include any of the keywords I mentioned, but those words are strongly representative and indicative of the romance genre. Continue reading “The Title Will Tell”