Pronoun Confusion: Who Is the Sentence About?

grammar tip pronoun confusion All right, boys and girls, it’s time once again for your friendly, neighborhood grammar police report. Today we’re going to talk about Pronoun Confusion, those times when we have multiple characters of the same sex in a single scene, and how we keep track of them.

One of the chronic issues that we as authors have to be aware of is the fact that we have all the details of our stories in our brains, while our readers only have as much as we’ve given them. When I’m writing, I’m actually watching a movie in my head. I see my characters move, I hear them speak, and of course I know their motives and feelings. Having all this information sometimes translates into complacency; I know what my characters are doing, so it should be obvious to the reader, right? No, not always. Continue reading “Pronoun Confusion: Who Is the Sentence About?”

Is Page Publishing a Vanity Press?

page publishing logoIt’s not often you see commercial on cable TV for a book publisher. Advertising space is expensive, and most non-Big 5 publishers can’t afford it. So when an advert from Page Publishing showed up on the History Channel, I took notice; especially since it was rather long. I jotted down the name and decided to do some research. Inquiring minds wanted to know! What they were touting seemed a little curious to me.

Page Publishing was easy to find on Google. Once on their website, you get the feeling like you’re looking at a glitzy New York publisher — which they seem to be. They spent a lot of money on the site which has plenty of things to look at. I was interested in their process, so I clicked on the overview tab. Everything looked above-board. They offer copy-editing and proofing, typesetting, conversion to eBook, marketing, and publicity, along with distribution and royalty management. Everything a budding author could dream of. They will even send you a box of books for your first signings and to give to family. This at least is better than what some vanity publishers offer. When I was first published with a vanity press, they didn’t even edit my manuscript! And when a box of books I’d purchased got lost in media mail, the publisher would not replace them. Yes, I learned the hard way. Continue reading “Is Page Publishing a Vanity Press?”

Amazon Steps in as Big Brother

Amazon.comGuest Post
by Brenda Perlin

Even though I am an author, I still love reading books of my choice and enjoy the luxury of being able to leave an appropriate review. I know how nice it feels to receive a positive one myself. More than that I do feel good writing should be rewarded. You can see this by my Amazon top reviewer raking which is 1,746 at the moment. Seems I have left 633 reviews on Amazon since June 27, 2012.

Last month while I was trying to leave a review for a smashing new release, one that I paid for and indeed read, I was told by Amazon via email that my review was removed because it didn’t follow the Amazon guidelines. I scratched my head. Did I use any strong language? Give away too much information? I couldn’t imagine what I did wrong until the Amazon review moderator got back to me via email explaining that as a reviewer you must NOT know the author. They stated that, and I quote, “We are unable to post your review because your account activity indicates that you know the author. We encourage family and friends to share their enthusiasm for the book through our Customer Discussions feature or Editorial Reviews feature.” That blew me away. I mean, most of us indie authors know each other in one form or another. Mostly we know each other from social media. I mean, isn’t that why SOCIAL MEDIA got its name? Continue reading “Amazon Steps in as Big Brother”