Rowena's comments (member since May 22, 2009)

Rowena's comments from the The Next Best Book Club group.

Every summer. One of my holiday pleasures and traditions is to re-read a Regency romance or two by Georgette Heyer.

Hi, Alice,
Congratulations on the interview. I have one on the playlist, too (Knight's Fork) and it was a super experience.

Best wishes,
Rowena

Yes, F.D. Just for one show a month at the moment. Are you the former secret agent/military intelligence expert?

It's a small world, and shrinking, F.D.

:-)

Grace wrote: "Petra X wrote: "I've never been to a book-signing, mostly because I live 2,500 miles from the nearest country big enough to have a book-signing event. I would really treasure a book from an event l..."

You might be surprised. Stores such as Barnes and Noble are receptive to authors who do drive-by signings, so some stores must see an advantage in it.

There's a site, BookTour.com which will tell you which authors are signing where.

Mmmm, F.D.

Were you interviewed by the ever gracious Lillian Cauldwell (who is, I believe, also a GoodReads author)?

I hope that you had a good time.

Nancy wrote: "Jane wrote: "Is that a basketball in his britches?"

A little squishy for a basketball, do you think?"

To me, it looks like its hard and moving quite fast!

Hi, Christina.
Welcome to GoodReads.

Jacquie Rogers has Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues where the narrator is a cogitating mule who has decided to help his human find love and happiness.

Thank you, Robin!

Promo.

I'm thrilled to share the news that "Insufficient Mating Material" is a finalist in the Anne Bonney Readers' Choice awards in the "Most Humorous" category.

I think my favorite is the canderu-inspired scene where Djetth (hero) overhears two former lovers --one a courtesan, the other a princess-- comparing notes, and he realizes that he has to introduce his penis and his unique tattoo into the conversation, and convince both ladies that all human males have penile decorations and that his isn't unique at all. So he pretends that a fish has bitten him.

Andrew, you bring up an interesting point. (At least, I think you do.)

All over the internet, people belong to groups. Lots of groups. Inevitably some other people with similar interests also belong to the same groups, but the groups aren't exact duplicates.

So, someone might ask the same question (such as "What shall I cook my new boyfriend on our first date in my house?") in four or five different places. If you happen to frequent all those places too, it can be a bit irritating. One might even feel that the questioner doesn't trust group A's answers.

But, is that spam?

Of course, if Gerald is the G in DG Mago... then my defense of his right to ask people in more than one group to chat about a book he's enjoying hits the wall.

Grin!

Rowena Cherry

Dylan,
I thoroughly enjoyed one of Agatha Christie's collections of short stories... only I can't remember the name.
I prefer her Miss Marple tales to the Hercule Poirot.

Rowena Cherry

Terri,
I agree absolutely. I didn't realize that we were talking about vanity presses. Some e-publishers also do minimal editing, I've heard.
:-)

Terri,
We are talking at cross purposes. You are talking about the way things should be before the author sends the manuscript to a publisher. I am talking about what happens after the book leaves the author's control.

Here's the order:

1. Author submits a perfectly spelled and punctuated manuscript to a publishing house. (That's your point, I think.)

2. Editor buys it and edits mostly for content, clarity, length, house style.

3. Author and editor agree that the manuscript is perfect.

4. A copy editor checks for spelling, punctuation and grammar, and "House Style" and the editor and author each check that.

Some problems may be introduced at this point, and caught, or not. (This is my point.)

5. A typist types up the original manuscript ready to be printed. "Galleys" are produced, which look like a photocopy of an open book.

6. The author checks the galleys, and points out any new sp/p/g errors that the typist may have introduced.

At this point, it is expensive to make changes.

7. After the author has signed off, another professional proof reader has final say on any sp/p/g issues. (My point).

I don't mean to say that typists always make mistakes, but they are probably rewarded for speed, and they probably do not read the book as they are copying it.

Best,
Rowena

Terri wrote: "I think you are right about the FIRST draft. But I think it is the author's responsibility to run through it for spelling, grammar checks and so on before it goes to an editor. I think that like ..."

Terri,

Unfortunately, the author can read through the galleys (the last edited draft of the book that she will see) and correct all the new sp/p/g mistakes that the copy editor or typist inserted, but... another professional proof reader is also reading those galleys at the same time as the author, and the author never sees what sp/p/g errors the professional copy editor may introduce, or which of the author's requested corrections will be ignored or overruled until the book is in print, by which time, it is too late.

:-)
Rowena

I like to dice Spam (lite) and fry it (in olive oil, of course) with onions and red/yellow peppers, and tomatoes or ketchup, to make a cheap, colorful, tasty sauce to go on top of spaghetti.

Welcome, Angela, Hi, Jessica,

I, too, am from the Detroit area. I'm astonished that today isn't a snow day!

Rowena

M.g.

"so I quoted them in blog...unnamed of course" got my attention.

It seems you have committed two major breaches of etiquette. Of course, if permission to quote was not given, you should have waited for it or followed up (email sometimes does not get through) but in fact, the other error was arguably worse.

Why "of course", M.g.?

Usually, with a review, you are permitted to quote a "snip"... the best three or four lines... without explicit permission. That is "Fair Use" and is expected.

If you quote someone in part or in full, you must give full attribution. To quote without attribution is a copyright violation.

"Full attribution" means that you give the author's name, plus the name and url of the review site if this was a professional review from a review site, otherwise the author's website url, and whatever tag is most useful and relevant, such as "USA Today bestselling author of (name their book)" or else "(Named Prestigious Literary Award/Prize)-winning author of (name of their prize winning book).

Attribution helps you more than it helps the author who gave you the quote, but every author appreciates being thanked and tastefully promoted. That is their reward for the time they spent reading your book.

Now, what should you do?

It seems to me, there's nothing like a straightforward honest confession that you fouled up and an apology. If you have the author's mailing address, I'd recommend a hand written note.

You might say that you were so excited by their kind words that you went ahead and blogged... you might say that you DRAFTED your blog, but were waiting for them to respond with permission before you added attribution, but somehow your blog got POSTED by accident.

Whatever you do, do not ask for your stars back! You must not imply that you think the author has seen your blog and retaliated, because... if you imply that, they will guess that you aren't really sorry.

Moreover, they will be deeply insulted if it turns out that they had nothing to do with your poor ratings.

Meanwhile, since this discussion is public, you probably will want to remove the blog post in question before we all figure out who your mystery admirer was.

Best wishes,
Rowena Cherry

"Keep your pecker up" is another Britishism which is misunderstood in the USA.

A British gentleman's pecker is his chin, and ladies have peckers, too....unlike most of us in America.