Verbs, Beautiful Verbs: The Core of Any Sentence

verbs are the meat of a sentenceOk, I admit it; I’m a word geek. I love words. I love the way they come together and combine to create images, the pictures they paint. My father was an artist and I’m sad to say I did not inherit his gift for drawing and painting, but I did learn to paint with words.

My pallet is alive with colors. Nouns are my white, the basic foundations of all sentences whether subjects, objects, or extraneous things thrown in to widen the base. Adverbs are black, adding dark contrast, and must be used sparingly. Adjectives are purple where a little goes a long way, and too much simply obliterates the subtler shades. Conjunctions and prepositions are the primary colors, tossed in here and there to combine with the other words, to create the final hues and tones. Continue reading “Verbs, Beautiful Verbs: The Core of Any Sentence”

Book Brief: Deranged Seating

Deranged-Seating by Carole FowkesDeranged Seating
by Carole Fowkes
Genre: Science Fiction/Mystery
19,700 words

In James’s fantasy life, he’s a hard-boiled private detective whose internal monologue sounds like a Mickey Spillane movie. In the actual world, he is a bright young man, bored and stifled by his job as a society page reporter. That is, until his assignment at a high-society fitness party gets him involved with massage therapist Courtney, a good-looking dame with a tough problem. A healthy man dies in her massage chair and she can’t explain it. Despite warnings to leave it alone, James starts to investigate. This leads him to Lester, a wisecracking old-timer who recalls a friend who died in a similar way. Others die and the bodies are piling up. But there’s no explanation, at least not if you’re from this Earth.

Deranged Seating is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon UK.

Continue reading “Book Brief: Deranged Seating”

eBook Sales: It’s all about the Numbers. Or, Is It?

shakespeare wants to know if we should share sales numbersI have never read a blog post where Stephen King claimed to sell 20,000 e-books in a week. Nor have I read a post where Nora Roberts reported selling 37,000 e-books and hitting number one in seven of Amazon’s sub categories. I did not read any of those things. But, I did post that I had 30,000 freeloads over a three day period. And, when one of my novels hit #46 overall a couple of months ago I shared that too. Amazon even mentioned my earning numbers a couple of years back in one of their press releases. And I’ve posted when I’ve hit the top rankings too, and if I make the Movers and Shakers or Hot New Releases list I post that information. Because you guys all want to know. You have to know. Don’t you? Continue reading “eBook Sales: It’s all about the Numbers. Or, Is It?”

What Do Formatting Companies Require from Authors and Why

john low, founder of ebook launchGuest Post
by John Low

So… you have finished writing your book, and now you would like to publish it as an eBook. You have decided that you want to contract out the formatting, but are confused as to exactly what it is that formatting companies need from you. In this article, this will be clarified for you.
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What is eBook Formatting?

What, exactly, is eBook formatting? eBook formatting is the process of turning a manuscript file (like a Word document) into a digital format that can be published as an eBook.

The Difference between eBooks and Prints Books Continue reading “What Do Formatting Companies Require from Authors and Why”