Month: April 2015

Which “The Rescue” Flash Fiction Story Gets Your Vote?

Vote5It’s that time again…time to choose your favorite flash fiction story of the week! The judges have made their choices – there were a lot of great entries this week – and their picks for the top entries are included below. Confused? Check out our rule change for 2015. The judges have whittled down the entries to a select few, and now it’s your turn: time for the public to have the final say. It’s super easy – choose your favorite and cast your vote below for this week’s Flash Fiction champion.

Remember, the winning entries will all be included in the next edition of the IU Flash Fiction Anthology.

Check out this week’s entries here – we’ve even labeled the finalists to make them easier to spot. Make your decision, 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 "The Rescue" entry should win this week?

  • S.K.Fischer (42%, 15 Votes)
  • Jon Jefferson (22%, 8 Votes)
  • Byron Wade (17%, 6 Votes)
  • A. L. Kaplan (14%, 5 Votes)
  • B. P. Crouse (6%, 2 Votes)

Total Voters: 36

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NOTE: Entrants whose submissions are not relevant to the prompts and/or exceed the 250 word limit are eliminated from the poll. ONE VOTE PER PERSON, please. Duplicate votes will be deleted. The results displayed above are unofficial until verified by administration.

Google Mobile-Friendly Algorithm Changes

google search logoGoogle is changing its algorithm again. Unfortunately, this time we have to pay attention. On April 21st, Google introduced perhaps its most game-changing alteration to how it ranks websites than ever before. Forget the cute little Panda and Penguin changes that they instituted in the past, this one can affect your visibility almost immediately. Continue reading “Google Mobile-Friendly Algorithm Changes”

Goodreads Ask-the-Author-fest

Have you been on Goodreads lately? If not, you might be missing out on their new “Ask the Author” feature. Our Melinda Clayton will show you how to get set up with that fun feature right here. So go read that, set up “Ask the Author” on your Goodreads page, then come back here and join in on the Ask the Author Fest.

Today the key is (as it is with all likefests) reciprocity. Don’t be a jerk and not ask a question. If you have no intention of asking, don’t sign up. Now, here’s how it will work.

ask the author likefest image capture
Click photo to enlarge

#1 – Post your author URL which should look like this: https://www.goodreads.com/KSBrooks and paste it in the comments below.  (Not sure where to find your fancy URL? See the image to the right and look for the aqua arrow.)

#2 – Ask a question of the person who enters a link above yours. Don’t know how to ask a question? Click on their link, then scroll down to where it says “Ask a question…” So, you ask a question, and you’ll get a question in return.

This will be fast and fun – so again, don’t be a jerk. Ask a question!

[Don’t forget, if you right-click the links, you can choose to have them open in a separate tab so you don’t have to worry about navigating back and forth to pages.]

PLEASE be sure to reciprocate. This is give and take. If everyone plays by the golden rule, we all benefit.

eBooksAreForever: Connecting Indie Authors with Libraries

ebooksareforeverNot long ago, I wrote about SELF-e, a new program that is connecting indie authors to libraries via a free process created by Biblioboards. While SELF-e provides eBooks to clients free of charge and no royalties are paid to the author, there’s another way that does pay royalties. It’s called eBooksAreForever. This is the brainchild of Joe Konrath and August Wainwright, and they are working hard to keep libraries in the loop on all the exciting changes in the publishing industry. For the basic background of the program, here are some salient points I gathered from their FAQ page. Continue reading “eBooksAreForever: Connecting Indie Authors with Libraries”