Author: Stephen Hise

Remember all the tumult and furor generated when humankind moved from cave paintings to stone tablets, and again to scrolls before settling comfortably on bound-paper books? No? Well, I don’t either, but I’m sure it was quite a to-do at the time.

If Moses had carried the commandments down from the mountain on a Kindle or Nook, we might have ended up with 15 commandments instead of ten (as Mel Brooks suggests in his movie, History of the World, Part I ). Considering the struggle we have with the ten we know about, perhaps it’s for the best. Continue reading “Print is Dead”

Writing can be solitary work. Even in a crowded household an author spends a lot of time inside his or her own head. It is not fun to watch someone write. The family does not gather round, riveted by your deft keystrokes, shaking their heads in mild disappointment as you hit the backspace key yet again. The act of writing will never be turned into a television show. Probably not.

Still, many writers do have one or more constant companions. Perhaps a cat or dog or boa constrictor abide in silent company with you as you write, curled up on your lap, or nestled right under where you wish to put your feet.

Nothing much else can get through a writer’s wall of concentration. When upon leaving the house, one of your kids says, “Well, I’m off to join a biker gang.” You murmur zombie-like and wave absently in the general  direction from which you heard the sound. However, your animal companion knows when you need a break because it coincides perfectly with when they need to be fed or walked. You adapt to this. It becomes ritualistic, a part of your writing experience. As I write these very words my wife’s cat Koko is curled up at my feet as always.

They may distract, divert, amuse, annoy, inspire or abide quietly with you for hours. You can call it whatever you like but it is something, and when you lose it, you lose something. Yesterday my friend and fellow author Annarita Guarnieri lost her beloved cat and long-time writing companion Dharielle. Our hearts go out to her.

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed what reviewers do and do not want to see from books they review. In Part 2, we covered the etiquette of the relationship between an author and a reviewer before and after a review. In this segment, we find out how reviewers feel indie authors stack up against the traditionally published authors, and where there may be room for growth and improvement.

Reviewers are certainly as diverse a group as authors. Each has his or her own style, preferences, and ethos. Add to this the fact that while these reviewers may have read some of the same titles and same authors, the overlap in the titles they read is likely small, potentially leaving each with an entirely different impression of the quality of indie writing. One could reasonably expect to see some variance of opinion on the quality of indie authors. Continue reading “What Reviewers Want (Part 3)”

In part 1 of this series, we discussed what reviewers want to see (and do not want to see) from authors as regards actual writing. All that stuff is what constitutes the middle of the relationship between an author and a reviewer. There is something more to the relationship on either end.

The relationship begins with the submission of your magnum opus to the reviewer. Next you wait. You keep waiting. You check their website and still don’t see anything. Over an hour has passed, and you are starting to get nervous. My advice (and it really is mine alone—all the reviewers I interviewed were too polite to bring this up), is to keep waiting. Do not call. Do not e-mail. Do not fax. Do not “check in” to see how they like it so far.  Find something else to occupy your mind and your time, because it may take a while. Continue reading “What Reviewers Want (Part 2)”