Subtext

CigarOne of the questions we ask authors who participate in our book brief feature is: “Does your book have any underlying theme, message, or moral?” The reason I ask that question is because I want to know what you want your readers thinking about when they have finished the book. I want to know if it is meant to prompt some kind of introspection or an examination of issues.

Some authors struggle with that question. Some will say the book is just intended as pure entertainment. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I think Milton Berle said that. He may have stolen it from Freud. Continue reading “Subtext”

Are Traditional Publishers Avoiding the “R” Word?

redhead reading
What about the readers?

A few weeks ago I travelled back in a time warp. I attended a writers festival and discovered there are still some rickety, old fences being propped up by the pomposity of the old gatekeepers.

The writers festival in question is truly a magnificent event. It’s held at a library and the organizers are exceptionally generous in giving time to self-published writers alongside agents and publishers from the traditional world. This was the second year they’ve invited me to speak and a few months previous the same group even hosted me one evening to give a reading. The organizers offer a balanced blend of information for writers. These are progressive people who understand the current state of books and publishing. I sat on an early morning panel and there were five of us. Four were self-published authors and the fifth was a well-known local traditionally published writer who was a nice addition to the group. For sixty minutes we talked about connecting with our readers, working at our craft and producing professional product. We answered questions from the one hundred and fifteen audience members and tried to pass along the information that has been so freely given to us. Continue reading “Are Traditional Publishers Avoiding the “R” Word?”

After the Gold Rush

ProspectorI was talking with another author, DV Berkom, yesterday about indie publishing. Both of us wrote as staff of Indies Unlimited and both of us agreed on a major reality of self/indie publishing.

Namely, that there was a “Golden Age” when everything came together at once and it was a virgin New World ripe for the taking… but that’s changed.

A lot of the people whose advice we take on publishing–largely because we see their big successes as meaning they know what we should do–were very encouraging because of those successes, but it’s important to realize that the environment in which they achieved them is no longer the same. Some might even say, no longer exists. Continue reading “After the Gold Rush”

Blocked or Bored?

AC Flory1
AC Flory

The very first article I ever wrote for Indies Unlimited was a tongue-in-cheek look at writer’s block. Sadly, it wasn’t as funny as I would have liked because I don’t really ‘do’ funny. This time around I’m just going to speak from the heart.

“I have had writer’s block for close to a year, and it was horrible.”

Don’t get me wrong, I have written screeds of words this last year – assignments, articles, blog posts etc – but my creative writing has been stalled. Every now and then I’d get a rush of inspiration, but it never lasted more than a day, and then I’d be back, staring at a blinking cursor that would not move. Continue reading “Blocked or Bored?”