Day: February 6, 2014

Information, Please: The JustAnswer Experience

When I was finishing up my last novel, Stone’s Ghost, I realized I needed some help. My main character lived in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and owned a Sea-Doo rental shop on the lakeshore near the London Bridge. Part of the story concerned his dealings with a difficult customer who manhandled one of the rented Sea-Doos. As I was writing, I took a wild guess at ways a customer could foul up a Sea-Doo, but I really had no idea. When I got to the editing stage, I knew I needed to check the facts to make sure I was telling a credible story.

questions

I did the usual searching online but after several days and scores of sites, the specific information I needed was not coming up and I realized I had to do a much more targeted approach. I found JustAnswer and decided to give it a try. Continue reading “Information, Please: The JustAnswer Experience”

Featured Author: James Raven

James RavenJames Raven was born in London and grew up in the gritty streets of Peckham. His first book was published when he was twenty-five.

He has been a journalist for most of his working life. After reporting for newspapers, he moved into television as a news scriptwriter. He then worked his way up to become Director of a UK News Division.

James and a colleague run an independent TV production company which has made a series of sports programmes and factual documentaries. However, spends most of his time writing. He is the author of a number of books including Rollover, Stark Warning, and Urban Myth.Learn more about James from his Amazon author page and his website.

MaliciousMalicious
by James Raven
Available from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Cover up your webcams…or suffer the consequences.

He calls himself the Slave Master. He spies on women through their computer webcams. Then he blackmails those who unknowingly reveal their secrets to him. His last victim was brutally murdered. Now he’s targeting the cop in charge of the investigation. To him she’s the perfect prey – because she has secrets of her own.

How to add a MailChimp email signup form to your blog

mailchimp-logoLet me say it right upfront: I hate emailed newsletters. Most businesses send them out far too frequently for my taste. I usually let them languish in my spam folder unless I’m in the market for something they’re selling. But with Facebook limiting the organic reach of posts (unless you pay them), a newsletter is one of the few free ways left for us to be certain that our fans get word of a new release.

So when David Gaughran recommended MailChimp, I gave a lusty sigh, bit the bullet, and signed up. MailChimp is free for mailing lists with fewer than 2,000 addresses. The free service also limits the number of newsletters you can send out per year, but the limit is something like 800. I’m only intending to annoy people when I have a new book out, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay. Continue reading “How to add a MailChimp email signup form to your blog”