Author: Gordon Long

Gordon A. Long is a writer, editor, publisher, playwright, director and teacher. 
Learn more about Gordon and his writing from his blog and his Author Central page.

5 Ways Not to Submit Your Book’s MS for a Review

BORED - writers send too much info with their book review requestsA lot of writers waste a lot of my time and theirs, querying for a review with stuff I don’t want and never look at. What I want is not industry standard, so some people may disagree. Discussion is what Indies Unlimited is all about. I’d be interested to know, for example, how many reviewers read the promo material before they review a book.

When I read for a review, I mimic the experience the reader will go through, so I can tell the reader what it’s like to read the book. So I’m trying my best to act like a reader when I set myself up to do a review. I think this is the case for a lot of reviewers. Keeping that in mind: Continue reading “5 Ways Not to Submit Your Book’s MS for a Review”

Writing Tip: Word Order Creates Meaning

in writing, keep your DUCKS IN A ROWI am going to let you in on a well-guarded secret. Grammar was not invented to give your Grade 10 English teacher a chance to make your life miserable. It was created to ensure sentences say what we mean them to. And word order is one of the basic tools.

Here’s a rule you can bank on to solve 95% of your problems in this area. Sentence elements with relationships are closer to each other. Stands to reason. If a guy and a girl spend the whole party at opposite ends of the house, chances are they aren’t in a relationship. (Well, maybe a strange one…)

So if we take this sentence: Continue reading “Writing Tip: Word Order Creates Meaning”

Can I Make Money off My Non-Fiction Book?

non-fiction HORSE TRAINERA reader sent in this question: I saw the blog about Page publishing, I’m thinking about writing educational equine books (as I broke my foot and can no longer train horses I would like to write about it) but wondering if there is any money in writing? It sounded from the blog that you need thousands of dollars to get published and that there is no profit in writing. I’m wondering if it is realistic to expect a profit?”

Dear Horse Trainer,

I’ve only written one non-fiction book (plenty of fiction), and here’s my take on making a profit in writing: not right away. In order to write a successful book on horse training, first you have to give a whole lot. Continue reading “Can I Make Money off My Non-Fiction Book?”

Don’t Write “Instinctively”

for writers INSTINCTIVELYI may have mentioned in my post a couple of months ago that inept critics, academics and bloggers may create awareness of a certain usage simply to give themselves something to write about. That was me in my curmudgeonly mode. Now I hope to redeem myself by committing a like deed for positive reasons: creating awareness because I see overuse and misuse of a word.

And to show how much time good writers spend on choosing their words (or how obsessive certain people get about word choice), I’m going to spend this whole article on the usage of one word: instinctively.

Show and Tell

The first argument against using any adverb is when it is being used to prop up a dull verb. Showing an action or emotion is more effective than telling about it. Continue reading “Don’t Write “Instinctively””