6 Places To Find Public Domain Images For Your Books And Blogs

mercedes tabano IIGuest Post
by Mercedes Tabano II

If you’ve been using images for any length of time, you’re probably already familiar with what a creative commons license is. These licenses are good, but mildly restrictive. However, there’s something better than a creative commons license and that’s the public domain license.

Public domain images can be used for any purpose, including commercial, because their copyright has either run out or it was never copyrighted in the first place. With public domain images, you can modify, combine with other images and even use them as a logo for your book all without requiring attribution or compensation of any kind. If you turn the image into something new (by combining it with other images or altering it significantly enough), you can even get a new copyright on your altered image. So where do you find these images? Glad you asked. Continue reading “6 Places To Find Public Domain Images For Your Books And Blogs”

Howling for Flash Fiction Votes

voteguyOh yes, it’s Wednesday. That means it’s time to vote for your favorite flash fiction entry. We have quite a few to choose from in this week’s challenge. Which one will prevail? That’s up to you! Look them over and cast your vote.

Go ahead and check out this week’s entries here. Make your choice, then use those share buttons at the bottom of the post to spread the word.

Voting polls close Thursday at 5 PM Pacific time.

Which flash fiction entry was your favorite?

  • Brenda Perlin (56%, 113 Votes)
  • TD McKinnon (30%, 60 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (4%, 8 Votes)
  • Mandy White (2%, 5 Votes)
  • Marjorie McCoy (1%, 3 Votes)
  • MathoSka Chikala (1%, 3 Votes)
  • AL Kaplan (1%, 3 Votes)
  • Dominique Goodall (1%, 2 Votes)
  • Jennifer Don (1%, 2 Votes)
  • Dianne Gardner (0%, 1 Votes)
  • Thaedeus (0%, 1 Votes)
  • lisamairey (0%, 1 Votes)
  • Susan Faw (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Rhema Sayers (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 202

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll.

Does having an agent make you traditionally published?

AgentryThe world of agentry is changing. And, before you start on me, I scored 78 points in Facebook Scrabble with AGENTRY so it’s a word, ok? Time was, you got an agent, you were on your way. They loved your book, reckoned it would sell and worked hard to pitch it to publishers for you. They did that because it was how they got paid. And some still do.

Any agent worthy of your consideration will tell you that their belief in your writing is the thing that will lift it above the slush pile, but then they would, wouldn’t they? They may be right, but many agents who aren’t worthy of your consideration will tell you the same thing.

Before you sign on the dotted line and start telling your friends that you are traditionally published because you have an agent, and that’s just better, listen up. Here are three stories to add to the less-than-ideal experience Melissa Bowersock described for us last month. I will present them as ‘a friend’s neighbour told me’ just in case the person concerned is reading IU but off the record, only one of them is friend of a friend, the others I watched unfold…with my mouth zipped shut. Continue reading “Does having an agent make you traditionally published?”

Tumblr Follow Fest

tumblr url
Don’t know how to find your URL? It’s easy. Go to your dashboard and see the screen shot above.

These past few days there’s been a lot of talk about Tumblr. Kat Cantwell wrote an introductory post about it. And our Kat Brooks wrote a tutorial yesterday to show you how easy it is to get up and running. So come on down and join in the Tumblr follow-fest!

This is how it works: If you are an author, publisher, publicist, literary agent, book reviewer, librarian (or especially a book-lover), etc., in the comments below, paste in the link for your Tumblr blog. Make sure you show some love to the blog in the comments above yours, and check back throughout the day to catch up. to get your ID, merely go to your dashboard and copy the link next to the BIG pink arrow in the picture above (i.e. – http://ksbrooks.tumblr.com/).

Click on the person’s link in the comments section below, and you will go to their blog. Then click Follow. (See photo below.)
follow a tumblr

This should be fun and should generate a lot of exposure for everyone who plays. Let’s get the party started!