Tag: Books

The Closer

No, not THAT Closer…

The opening line of a book is given great importance, for it is that sentence which invites the reader to further investigation. But what of the closer? Is the last line of a book important?

It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known. – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which. –George Orwell, Animal Farm

After all, tomorrow is another day. –Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind Continue reading “The Closer”

No Experience Is Wasted

Crunch time in the marketing department. Only a week before the biggest trade show of the year and I was making sales literature for products that didn’t exist yet. Everyone else had gone home. The factory workers left hours ago. During yet another trip to the copier in the engineering department, I stopped on the catwalk and leaned against the cool metal rail, listening to the sigh and wheeze of the ventilation required even when the assembly lines sat idle. Then I saw the forklift. A colleague and I had a running joke. When the job broke us, who would be the first to commandeer a forklift and race it across the factory floor? I didn’t want to wait. I longed to climb into the cockpit and take the beast for a spin before crashing it through a plate glass wall.

And because of my secret identity as a writer, I didn’t have to wait. It went into the novel. Everything goes into the novels, eventually. Continue reading “No Experience Is Wasted”

Straight Up: Q&A with Mark Coker

Mark Coker

I recently had the opportunity to interview Mark Coker, one of the visionaries of the indie author movement. In 2008, Mark founded Smashwords to accelerate the death spiral of the bloated, inefficient, out-dated publishing industry—or as he put it:  to change the way books are published, marketed and sold.

Mark and his wife co-authored Boob Tube, a novel that explores the wild and wacky world of Hollywood celebrity. He also wrote the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide, The Smashwords Style Guide and The 10-Minute PR Checklist.

Mark says when he’s not writing or working on Smashwords, he enjoys gardening, traveling and hiking tall mountains, the tallest of which has been Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Here, I ask him nine questions, and he gives expansive and fascinating answers.

So buckle up and get ready for the word straight up, from Mark Coker. Continue reading “Straight Up: Q&A with Mark Coker”

SIX things all indie authors should know

Indie authors understand that being out there on one’s own means having to tackle all aspects of book writing, publishing, and promotion. It might seem daunting, it is certainly hard work, and a steep learning curve, but help is available.

Six!

Few participants in other industries help each other in the same way that authors pitch in for others like them. The huge helpings of camaraderie and assistance, advice and support, must be seen and felt to be believed.

It’s possible to learn enough in a year to be able to write a book and present it to one’s readers in a form that satisfies industry standards, simply because so much help is available.

Here are some points that one needs to know: Continue reading “SIX things all indie authors should know”