I’ve been cranky lately. For the second time in several months, I’ve picked up a book that I have enjoyed and was anxious to get to the climax of, only to find at the very end NO climax and a “to be continued” with an ad to buy the next book in the series. I’m not averse to a continuing story, I’m just not happy to find out that’s what I’ve got after I’ve read the entire book and was looking for a satisfying resolution. In checking back with the book descriptions, I did not find any clear evidence that these books were only part of the larger story. Yes, they say they’re a series; no, they don’t say you have to read them all to get the full story. Continue reading “How Can You Tell if a Book Is Part of a Series or Serial?”
Author: Melissa Bowersock
eBooksAreForever: Connecting Indie Authors with Libraries
Not 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”
Research: Keeping the Backstory in the Back
Recently I stumbled across this post for Stephen King’s top 20 rules for writers. I can agree with most of them, and one in particular about research really struck a chord with me for a couple of reasons.
18. The research shouldn’t overshadow the story. “Remember that word back. That’s where the research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it.” Continue reading “Research: Keeping the Backstory in the Back”
Self-Publishing Children’s Books
In honor of the International Children’s Book Day, I thought I would talk about publishing children’s books via CreateSpace. My particular experience started after my parents passed away and I was going through their files. My father was an artist and my mother was a teacher, actually almost direct opposites in temperament, so I was surprised and excited to find the layout of a children’s book written by my mother and illustrated by my father. It was very obvious the little project had never seen a publisher, so I determined to publish it for them.
Because the story was short and simple, appealing to younger children, I chose an 8”x10” paperback format for it — easier for small hands to hold, and the layout my parents had designed fit perfectly. Since the original work was done back in the 1950s, my parents had done a literal cut and paste — typing up the text on a typewriter, cutting the lines out with scissors and pasting or taping them onto the board mats where my dad had drawn the illustrations. Lucky for me, the glue and tape held on after all these years, so it was easy for me to see exactly how they envisioned the set-up of the book. Continue reading “Self-Publishing Children’s Books”